Loki woke all at once, aware he wasn't alone. Sitting up, he extended a hand, power called defensively. Belatedly he realized this was Steve's room and the other person was Steve, pulling a T-shirt on.
"Whoa there." Steve stepped back, banging into the dresser behind him. "I bumped the bed, sorry."
Lowering his arm, Loki released the power and tried a smile. "Alas for the furniture in the morning." It was amusing when Steve had to turn to check that the dresser wasn't damaged.
Rolling his eyes at Loki's amusement, Steve said, "I'm going for a run. You want to join me? We can go down to the Mall, check out the monuments to people you knew."
"I never met Lincoln," Loki corrected, swinging himself up to his feet. "Only Washington and Jefferson."
"'Only'," Steve repeated and shook his head. "Come on, let's go. And no beating up muggers this time."
"Oh, as if you were not the first to go after the muggers. Please," Loki scoffed. Then, to see Steve's reaction, Loki shifted his clothes to match what Steve was wearing.
Steve's eyes widened and his jaw loosened. "Wow. That's… Is it real?" His fingers touched the fabric of the T-shirt at Loki's shoulder. Then he chuckled. "I can't get a big head with you around, can I? Come on, Ice Demon, let's see who touches the Washington Monument first."
"Obviously it will be me," Loki declared, as they moved into the hall and the door closed behind them. Steve pocketed the keycard. "I always win."
"You cheat."
"So much whining, so little winning," Loki taunted, unrepetant.
Steve mock glared at him, hands on his hips, and didn't seem to realize what he looked like in that pose. Loki had to bite his inner lip and remind himself that he had slept in the same bed with that and done nothing, so it was a bit late to be thinking those thoughts.
Steve challenged, "Now you've done it. Ready? Go!"
There was something freeing about running for no particular purpose, only the challenge of it. Unlike their "race" in unfamiliar terrain in the snow, here they were on the street and slowed only by traffic. Steve hesitated when the light turned against them, but Loki laughed and launched himself into the traffic.
"Are you crazy!" Steve yelled, but came after him.
"Are we racing, or strolling, Captain Sloth?" Loki tossed over his shoulder and ran. He was a little surprised they didn't gather any police attention being so careless with the traffic, but luckily cars were very slow in their way and easy to avoid.
But Loki was annoyed to realize that Steve wasn't tiring nearly as quickly as Loki was. He was mortal, and it was rather intolerable to lose to him, even if he had been altered into superhuman. Loki formed the spell to open the paths and move ahead, but let the threads go, unused.
Steve was first across the avenue toward the park and Loki dashed across after him, vaulting on top someone's black sedan and jumping to the roof of the taxi next to it on the inner lane. He heard a child yell something excited – knowing he was being watched, Loki flipped off the taxi to the sidewalk.
He landed well, but the sudden halt of momentum cost him time, so he cut across the grass, while Steve was following the paths. Steve noticed what he was doing and went straight for the monument, too, and Loki poured on the speed, trying to beat him.
Steve was two paces ahead when he leaped the low chain surrounding the plaza, and Loki grit his teeth to make the jump himself. On his landing, an uneven paving stone caught his foot and he swore as he stumbled, and by the time he got his balance, Steve already had a hand on the white stone of the obelisk. Loki fetched up next to him, leaning against the shaded stone and panting. "Damn. Foiled in the last five seconds."
Clapping him on the back, Steve said, "It was a good run."
It was disgusting how he seemed barely affected by their race; a bit sweaty but mostly as fresh as if he'd walked to the corner and back. Loki thought longingly of someplace cold, rather than this unseasonable warmth. He tilted his head back against the cool stone and looked at the vertical height of the monument. He thought the general would probably not like this monument at all, but at least it wasn't awful and it gave him the proper honor.
"You want to run back?"
He snorted, and was about to say they should find one of the vendors and get a bottle of water, but noticed two uniformed police officers heading their way. "It appears our stunt has drawn attention. We should go."
"We didn't do anything-"
"Steven, come." Loki led the way, circling the monument, and when they were out of sight of the police, he grabbed Steve's shoulder and cast the way to shift to another path.
As soon as the green glow expanded and fell around them, the sky turned a strange flat orange, bright enough to see well but without shadow. There were no humans visible, a few tumbled shells of buildings overgrown, and mostly a wilderness of scrubby trees and stagnant ponds.
"What the – what the hell did you do?" Steve demanded.
"We won't stay long, just enough to avoid the police. I am not in the mood to deal with them."
"Where are we?" Steve turned around and when he gave a soft gasp of dismay, Loki turned to see only the bottom quarter of what had once been the monument, its upper length shattered on the ground and overgrown. That was interesting, as the monument was not that old as even humans reckoned and he'd had an easy shift to this reality suggesting the timeline was closely related, and yet it seemed very different.
"Is this the future?" Steve asked, voice low in dismay as he stared at the fallen obelisk.
"No. I shifted us to a different version of the city. History happened differently here. Something ruinous it appears." Loki scanned around them again, wary but intrigued. "I wonder..." He had a sudden thought and turned to Steve, with a smile, "Would you like to have an adventure? We could poke around in the ruins and find out what happened?"
"Is it dangerous?" Steve asked.
"Steven, we are gods. Or near enough. We can handle a little danger," Loki said impatiently.
But Steve shook his head, looking skeptical. "I think we should go back."
"Why?" Loki protested. "It's so boring. Don't you want to have some fun? See what's here? We can explore."
But it seemed the more he tried to cajole Steve, the less willing Steve became, as a frown grew on his face and his gaze hit a little too deeply for Loki's comfort. "No, that sounds risky."
"Well, of course it's risky! That's what makes it an adventure." But he could see he wasn't convincing Steve, at all, and gave in with an exasperated groan. "Norns, I thought humans were less dull."
"Some of us want to protect our friends." Steve curled a hand over Loki's shoulder, making it clear he meant Loki himself. "You don't have to take foolish risks just to prove you can, you know."
Loki shook him off. "Don't be ridiculous." He judged the distance back to the monument and figured they'd be at least somewhat obscured by trees as they returned to Midgard. Annoyed, he used the seidr more as a knife and cut open the boundary with a sharp gesture. "Fine. Go." He held open the door and let it shut just behind Steve's boots, so the air displacement ruffled his hair and made him jump a little. "We're back."
All around, the trees of the park and the Monument were all back as they were supposed to be, though Loki noticed the angle of the sun had changed more than he had expected. He'd been careless on the return, apparently.
Well, no harm, no foul, as the mortals said. They were home again, without adventure, so he had to settle for the ordinary.
Natasha was waiting for them in the lobby, arms folded and a baleful look in her eyes.
Loki greeted her cheerfully, even though she was not pleased about something. "Good morning, Natalya. Or is it afternoon already? We were gone a little longer than I expected."
She started without preamble, "There's a video going viral already of someone running on top of moving cars."
Loki smirked at her. "And flipping off them? Because that was a wasted move if no one filmed it."
She was not amused. "I thought you were trying to keep a low profile, not make a spectacle of yourselves."
"We were racing. It was Steven's idea," Loki said and slipped past while Steve was sputtering his outrage. "Do I get paid for this video? It's my trick, I should get a portion. Perhaps I should set up my own-" His voice stopped as a pale-haired head came into view above the divider in the seating area.
Both Wanda and Pietro stepped out into his view, and Loki glanced at Natasha, wondering why she hadn't told him.
"If you had answered your phone, you'd know they were waiting for you," she answered.
He wanted to retort that he'd been in a different dimension how was he supposed to answer his phone, but that didn't matter when the Maximoffs were here. He went to meet them.
"We return," Wanda said with a glance to her brother of confirmation, "to ask you to teach us."
Despite expecting that would be their decision, Loki found he wasn't sure how to answer them today. "I would like that," he started. He glanced down, catching himself rubbing his left wrist with his thumb and forced himself to lower his hands. "But," he cleared his throat to get the rest out, "after yesterday, I think I would be a poor teacher. I am… not stable," he added with a bark of a laugh, because he wasn't sure he had ever been stable, but he certainly wasn't now.
Wanda's small hand took his. "Forefather," she said. "We know."
He stilled. She used the Sokovian word for paternal relatives beyond grandfather, a term more familial than 'ancestor'. "Forefather," he repeated, voice hoarsening, "I like that."
"You are family," Pietro confirmed. "We want nothing that troubles you. Only as much as you offer."
"And not today," Wanda said taking his hand between both of hers. "When you are ready."
The echo of the bond hummed through his blood, reminding him of peaceful bettr times. The feeling calmed him, making him aware of how on edge he'd been, only after those ragged ends were soothed.
He lifted their joined hands and found a smile for her. "This helps me feel better. Perhaps teaching you is what I need to do," he said. "Let us head somewhere with open space and see what we might achieve together."
Wanda's brilliant smile made him glad he'd made the offer. He wasn't sure how to begin teaching them – Elsa had been easy because she'd already had her powers and his aim had only been to help her control them better and keep from using the tesseract. Wanda and Pietro both had potential, he knew that much, but unlocking it was new. Perhaps he could use the remnants of Odin's spell to bind his powers to figure out how he could unbind…
If that didn't suffice, he could bring the twins to the dragon Svafnir. Introducing them as his family would protect them and perhaps she could help unlock their powers. And if not that, there were the Archives on Asgard. He could sneak in, borrow some tomes, and be gone again before seeing anyone.
Strange how the temptation to believe that was the best option seemed to glow in reach, wanting him to go back. He shoved it down with the reminder that he had no desire to see anybody or any part of Asgard. They'd proven themselves false, and he was done.
He glanced at Wanda and Pietro as they walked outside, and was glad for new family. He needed Asgard even less now that he'd found these descendants.
Steve and Natasha tagged along, and they ended up in a small park down the street. It seemed mostly unused, with scarce greenery and a broken swing. But there was a picnic table of metal mesh and four stools, and he took one, gesturing Wanda and Pietro to take the other seats. "I think we will start with something simple, and I will teach you to focus." That much he'd taught Elsa, so it was familiar ground. "Though similar to the Midgardian practice of meditation, its purpose is to bring you into awareness of your powers. Once you know how, you will be able to keep it all the time," he held out his hand and called green fire to his cupped palm, wary of pedestrians and anyone who might be peeking out windows. Both Maximoffs' eyes widened at the sight.
"Without conscious thought," Loki added. "It will become a part of you, like breathing." He closed his hand again, extinguishing the fire. "Once you both can focus, I hope to be able to see more easily how to open your abilities."
The metal stools were not comfortable at all, and holding out a hand for each of them to take, made him anxious about who might come upon them while they were vulnerable. But he raised his eyes to Natasha, standing next to the fourth stool, and she nodded slightly, confirming she would keep watch.
That let him relax and close his eyes, letting himself fall into the familial connection and reach for them. Only partly there, the connection abruptly strengthened, a reddish glow suffusing the bond and he found himself pulled closer to Wanda. Fledgling but strong powers surged outward, engulfing him, and he tried to pull free but it was too late.
He was already… elsewhere.
The laboratory where he had been kept by Schmidt and Zola. Pinned to the table, drugged and poisoned to keep him groggy and weak but still all-too aware of what was happening…
...no, no, I don't want to be here…
Mercifully it changed, and now he was standing in that same room, looking at himself with Wanda beside him.
Her eyes were too big with horror and she shook her head in distress, "No, I didn't want this. I didn't mean to see this… I'm so sorry… I'll make it better, I will." She flung out her hands and a ruby glow covered everything, until when he saw again, he was in a different memory.
… he was holding the hands of Elsa's daughter, a little blonde girl in pigtails and a short dress, and they were dancing together in the hall of Arendelle.… She was laughing and called him morfar, and for a moment, it was perfect, a joyful memory of better times...
Except it had never happened. He'd only ever seen Elsa's daughter as a baby; he'd never danced with Princess Birgitte, not in life, only in dreams. This 'memory' was a lie. The pain of that realization gave him the strength to tear himself free.
Panting for breath, he stared into Wanda's face, fists clenching with a desire to call a weapon for doing that to him, before he stood and rushed to the edge of the path.
"I do not know what happened!" she called after him. "I am sorry, I meant no invasion, no connection like that- "
Panting for breath, he sought calm, closing his eyes and controlling his breathing.
"What- what happened?" Pietro asked. "I felt… pain? But nothing more."
"I… intruded," Wanda explained. "The connection grew strong, and when I tried to make it better-"
"It was false," he snarled, turning to confront her. "You tried to force a memory you made on me."
Wanda shook her head urgently. "No, no, I created nothing. I know that. I only reached for something happy; it was from you, not from me."
"It wasn't real."
"I didn't know it was a dream!" she protested. "It seemed true."
"Well, it wasn't." He clenched his jaw and glowered at her. "I cannot teach you if the first thing you do is invade my mind. There are places you should not go in there, and I will not have you poking in it."
"I'm sorry," she said, and looked down, miserable. "I meant- only to help."
Natasha spoke then, in a reasonable tone that he couldn't ignore. "Lukas, it happened because she's untrained. Train her, and she'll control it."
He rubbed at his face and turned away, unsure he could deal with this right now. Seeing that Hydra laboratory again in his mind made him feel jittery, his mind and emotions unbalanced.
Wanda's soft footsteps approached and she swallowed, before whispering, "I saw your memory. I felt…. No one should suffer like that."
"You shouldn't have touched it," he bit out through his teeth, trying very hard not to lash out at her.
"I know," she said. "You should teach Pietro first. Help him find his power. I know mine."
That offer made his heart twist with shame. She was being kind to him, as if he was some sort of invalid. And it was loathesome to be so weak some mortal girl had to take pity on him.
He inhaled a breath, reminding himself the whole point of this was to try to teach them focus. He should probably demonstrate his own, in that case. Focus, self-control… he could do this.
"No," he said abruptly and turned back, smile fixed. "That isn't necessary. You took me by surprise, but now I am prepared. But in fact I should train you first, your powers are already straining to escape and you need to control them, sooner not later." He glimpsed the disappointment fall over Pietro's face before he glanced away, and Loki saw himself in the reaction, overshadowed by his more powerful sibling. "But we will unlock your power, as well, Pietro. I know it exists, I feel it in you."
Pietro pretended that it didn't matter, shrugging. "I am curious. But I have lived this long without it."
"Come." Loki beckoned him back to the table for them to try again.
Taking their hands, he closed his eyes. This time, Wanda was holding back, even her fingers in his were trying to pull away from him. "Relax, both of you," he murmured. "Picture yourself in the middle of a meadow of snow. It is quiet and calm, undisturbed. It is night above, and the moon shines upon the snow. Concentrate on that image. It is cold and clear, and there is no one near you."
Gradually he guided them to calm, and when they were both more relaxed, he touched the blood bond between them gingerly. Loki had a stronger sense of Pietro's power, but it was quiet, like a lamp beneath ice- he could see the glow, but there seemed no path to it. Turning to the other twin and knowing what to expect with Wanda this time, he was better prepared to hold himself apart from her power as it unfurled. When he thought he was ready, in the pause between breaths, he touched it and when it sought to engulf him again, he shoved it back at her.
His eyes opened as she pulled her hands from his, her fingers glowing with raw seidr, like scarlet threads twined around her hand, before it winked out. She stared aghast at her hands before raising her gaze to his. "What was that?"
"That, dear Wanda, was power." He shook his head in slow amazement. "I never expected to see that from a mortal again, and not in one whose blood is dilute. Perhaps there's more about you than I know." He frowned, curious, whether they got it from two sides, or their father had been experimented upon, or perhaps something else. "Interesting. But I suppose something to research later." He turned to Pietro, who bounced his leg as he waited. "Did you sense it? Your own power?"
Pietro shook his head then reconsidered. "I think so? I felt something."
"Yes, it's there. Strong also, but we will need to work on opening the way. But," he glanced at the girl with the long hair and pretty but very worried eyes, and smiled at her, hoping he could be reassuring, "first, I think I should help you learn some basic control so you do nothing you regret by mistake."
She set both hands in his and Loki closed his eyes. Her psychic ability meant he had to work to keep her back, but it also meant he could teach her mind-to-mind. She was eager and quick, learning as fast as he could show her the basics. Focus, access, control – the three fundamentals that would keep her from using her power by accident now that it had cracked open – she took it all, understood it, and wanted more.
It was a connection that felt so perfect, he didn't want to stop.
tbc...