I woke up from one of the most fulfilling sleep I've ever had and the reason for that was the woman laying next to me.
She had proposed staying over for the night and things kinda went all sorts of right after that.
Tucking away the stray bangs of white hair from her face, I kissed her on the forehead, covering her with the sheets before I made my way downstairs after putting on a robe.
I immediately made a beeline to the kitchen to brew me a few cups of morning dew because I was craving some heavy black.
I met Bucky in the kitchen already getting the job done for me and passed the good soldier his deserved praise.
I toasted a few slices to go with it and then prepared some jam while Bucky grabbed the mugs.
"So, rough night huh?" Bucky asked which prompted a grunt from me. I was not in the mood to have a quirky conversation with him as some things were better off not said.
Grabbing two mugs of coffee for myself, I made my way to my room and set one beside the bed along with the toast and a little spell to keep it at just the right temperature.
I left the room and went to my study to continue some of the projects, though few in numbers, I had shelved for some time now.
Due to being able to freely move through space, all of the movement runes on my axe lost their meaning as I was now faster than before, incomparably faster. The only rune that still functioned well, even though I haven't used it all that much since its inscription, was the one that increased my momentum and striking power with every hit.
It was a rather genius moment of thought that made me inscribe it and until I truly fight something that can push me to the limit, I won't be able to use it to its full potential.
I even thought of inscribing a 'worthy' rune on it like Thor's hammer but my knowledge of runes, or the lack thereof, prevented me from doing just that.
The 'worthy' rune wasn't actually necessary but just something I thought would be fun to have on my axe since even if someone picked up my axe I could still call in back to my side in any moment's time.
Since I had been slacking in my magic studies as of late, I picked up a tome and started browsing through it. Apart from the orthodox practice of magic, I also focused on hexes because why not? Curse, imbuing curses to an object, absorbing curses, creating curses, were just some of its little applications. Unless someone knew magic, or was very proficient in the way he handled energy, breaking a hex would prove very troublesome. But even with its fun approach in magic, it still didn't compare to the standard spells most Master Sorcerers knew.
There were spells that could draw upon the power of Primordial God's, Elder Gods, Dark God's, even the Abstracts, and such spells were downright terrifying when a Master cast it.
So yeah, while hexes may be fun to practice, it still didn't compare to the orthodox way of magic unless you were naturally aligned with it like the witches were.
I was deeply engrossed with the books sprawled in front of me that I didn't notice when someone came behind me and wrapped their arms around my neck.
If it had been any other person that my subconscious hadn't marked as truly trustworthy then it would have been keeping tabs on every step that person took inside the house.
"Good morning." Ororo's soft voice filtered into my ears causing me to recline into the chair just so I could feel her embrace more.
"Morning. I would ask you how your night went but I think I have a pretty good idea how it went." I slowly flipped through the pages of the script in front of me while at the same time enjoying the embrace of the woman I loved.
She hummed into my neck, causing the both of us to relapse into a comfortable silence before she broke it.
"Nat said to call you down, it's breakfast time." She said softly.
I hummed in affirmation and she left me while I remained seated. With a wave of my hands, pages were marked as all the open scripts and tomes closed and neatly arranged themselves.
After that, I went downstairs to join the family for breakfast with a smile on my face.
Nat called for a family breakfast, keyword being family. That alone was enough to make my day. While we do eat together most of the time, we don't usually call out to the others as we all just gravitate to the dining table or kitchen anytime food is being prepared. Nat didn't call out breakfast for me or anyone in the household, she called out breakfast for Ororo. Though the time was gearing towards noon, it was still breakfast.
Everyone was already seated at the table before I arrived, clearly waiting for me. Seeing the spread laid out on the table, I couldn't help but mentally praise Natasha.
She definitely had been up for a while in order to have gotten this done. I gave her a grateful nod as I took my seat and commenced the feast before our eyes.
Natasha really went all out as she even prepared chicken, rice, beef, Italian stew, hell even pancakes weren't left out. Ororo understood the gesture since it was pretty clear at first sight that this wasn't a breakfast any family would have on a normal day except on special occasions, giving her silent gratitude to our resident redhead.
Breakfast continued at a hearty pace, like always, since it was a belief of mine that food, especially breakfast should be eaten with peace of mind as there was no other worse way than to start the day cranky.
But alas, it seemed I thought too soon as…
KNOCK*KNOCK*
Though I wasn't pissed, I couldn't deny the fact that I was irritated by the interference.
"Don't worry, I'll get it." I got up from my chair and made my way to the door, opening to find the ear reaching smile of Loki.
"What do you want, Loki?" My patience with this particular god was running thin and I felt that I would flip any second now.
"I thought it wouldn't do for me not to grace my favorite Midgardian with my presence on this fine day." I would admit that for the psycho that he was, Loki did have a particular charm to him, one that enabled him to weasel his way out of tough situations.
Grunting since I was mentally tired just from his presence, I walked back to the dinning table, leaving Loki to let himself in.
I did receive a few raised brows but I chose to ignore it and focus on my breakfast.
"Oh how wonderfully sumptuous. What's the occasion?" My eyes narrowed at the way Loki just seemed to merge himself with the atmosphere and how he casually pulled out a chair for himself to join us at the table. If I wasn't as attuned with my environment as I was, then I wouldn't have realized that what Loki just did was 'lie' to the atmosphere surrounding us, telling it that he was always this casual with us. Though it did seem to be a passive effect, making me realize just how truly complex and terrifying a god's domain of power was.
"I don't believe I've been acquainted with this fair lady here. Name's Loki Odinson, prince of Asgard." Loki introduced himself to Ororo, taking the storm goddess by surprise most likely at the casual way a god just walked into our house.
"I'm Ororo Munroe. Pleasure is mine." Though surprised, Ororo still responded to his introduction, making the God of Lies smile more as he looked between us which caused me to groan.
Perhaps feeling my rising discomfort, he toned down on his theatrics and helped himself to a serving with such sense of familiarity that made all our eyes, except for Ororo, narrow as everyone was keeping an eye on him even as we ate and joked, not letting any of his gestures out of our sight for even a second.
"Is something wrong?" Ororo whispered to me as she caught me giving Loki who was now in a conversation with Yelena a flat stare.
"Gee, what made you think that?" I asked back sarcastically which caused her to roll her eyes.
"Well maybe the fact that you never said anything about him being a close acquaintance of sorts, and also the fact that I feel as if everything at this table feels off." She whispered back.
Ororo definitely wasn't an assassin but kudos to her for seeing through this disguise of a happy breakfast. Loki knew he was being watched but his skin was too thick that he wasn't even affected by it, I could tell. He believed he wasn't in any danger as long as he didn't antagonize us and while I hated to admit it, he was right.
But for the sake of letting breakfast go well, I went along with whatever… this was. Thankfully breakfast didn't stretch out that long and we didn't bother to get up from our seats and proceeded to stare at Loki as he cleaned his mouth before pouring a glass of wine for himself.
Loki wasn't dressed in his usual attire, going for something more earthly. It was rather simple; a white shirt and black vest complimenting his black pants and topping it off with a trench coat, a classic look that he managed to pull off somehow making him appear like someone from the upper strata of society.
"How about we cut to the chase and tell us why you are here, Loki." Steve said with crossed arms, the easygoing expression on his face gone.
"Did anyone ever tell you to loosen up a bit? Trust me, you definitely need to. I recom-"
"Don't change the topic, Loki. I'm already being hospitable enough by not sending you to a dead planet galaxies away from here. Why are you here?" I cut him off before he could suck us into his pace.
"It wouldn't kill you to entertain me for a bit, would it? Anyway, seeing as we are in an alliance of sorts, I thought it would be wise to give you a heads up." The smile on his face widened but I knew that whatever would come out next from his mouth was anything but amusing.
"And pray tell what that is."
"A call has been sent to all Pantheon heads in the Council of Godheads. Father said not to visit Midgard so that our presence here would not be mistaken for an alliance. You should already understand where I'm going with this, right?"
I could feel a headache cropping up but I ignored it in favor of listening to all Loki had to say.
"I don't understand. What does that have to do with us if the Gods decide to convene?" Ororo asked.
"It's not a matter of what, but why. The reason they are convening is because a certain mortal of interest decided to go after the Infinity Stones. Though why they suddenly decided it was something worth convening about still escapes me so I thought you could shed light on that for me, Draul. According to my knowledge, there have been a few handful of people to wield one of the Infinity Stones since the dawn of the universe but none of these people caused the Pantheons to gather just because they wielded the stones. So I figured there is something I was missing since just possessing the stones shouldn't have mattered to them, in fact it would have served as a deterrent and kept them out of your way."
Based on the groans everyone at the table made, sans Loki and Ororo, it seemed like they finally realized what Loki was talking about.
"Am I to believe that your reactions mean that there is indeed something that I am not aware of?" Loki asked.
"That is not your concern, Loki."
"Oh, I beg your ignorance, of course it's my business. Ignorance is the downfall of the mighty, and I pride myself in not being ignorant."
Was it too much to ask for a moment of respite? I still had to deal with the huge info dump that Ororo gave me yesterday and now Loki was here telling me that the Gods were apparently holding a meeting because I just so happened to fuse with the stones.
"What I do find amusing and curious is how the Gods are suddenly acting like this is some unprecedented crisis that would fall on them if they do not stop you, or try to. Not even the Mad Titan who left many a world in ruins could elicit this sort of panic. How disgraceful." And Loki went on one of his power rants about how puny the Gods were and how the lot of them have grown senile. To be honest I was still out of the loop on how all of a sudden I had Loki in my house, even joining me for breakfast. The times sure were getting weird.
"So what? Are we suddenly facing an army of insecure Gods? 'Cause even though we make quite the team, I don't think we'll stand any chance against an army of prideful and stupidly powerful Gods." Bucky said.
"True, but I don't think we would have to. If we have enough power to directly oppose them, then they would rather not fight us since destruction is ensured on both sides. If there is anything a God values more than pride, then it's their life." At least that was from my understanding of Gods. It was also proven with the fact that I had personally met and fought against two main Gods and one was currently in my house.
"I see, no wonder Loki and his brother kept coming back." Yelena said innocently but it somehow worked wonders at pissing Loki off.
"Listen you mewling quim, be grateful that I bask your impudent self with the grace of my presence. I will not be slighted by a little child that has the mind capacity of an ape." Loki snarled.
"*Sigh* Okay, let's put this out there to avoid future problems and complications: 1, you'll have to tone down on your arrogance and pride when you're in my house and 2, that will be the last time you raise your voice against Yelena." I said boredly. Yelena had the quirk of being able to piss people off and Loki had a short fuse so it was better that they knew when to draw the line, especially with Loki.
"That aside, thanks for the heads up, Loki. I don't think we have to worry about what the Gods want, if they do come for us we only have two options: 1, they die or 2, we kill them. I don't think diplomacy will work the moment they take up their arms."
"And why do you think diplomacy wouldn't work?" Loki started, "Don't get me wrong, I would very much like for you to slaughter your way through the Gods, not all of them, just a few, as that would make it easier for me to take over their realms and put them under my rule, but I'm also curious as to why you think diplomacy wouldn't work."
Not that I'm surprised that Loki was still on his delusions to rule the realms, which might no longer be limited to the nine realms under Asgard but also the different realms and empires in the universe which may or may not have been due to my influence.
"Diplomacy on my end wouldn't work if they kill one of us and it also wouldn't work unless they have been trampled upon if we managed to kill a lot of them, which I don't think we can. I might be able to, but not the others." I shrugged and then poured a glass of wine for myself.
"Hmm, an interesting and apt deduction which begs my other question: how many of the Infinity Stones are in your possession? It's just a curious question, nothing else." Loki stared at me while twirling the wine in his glass.
"The Power and Space Stone. It's already a lucky find that I was able to obtain not just one but two of the Infinity Stones. It's like trying to find six gems in the depths of a universe wide ocean. And are you sure we should be having this kind of conversation? What if your father or Heimdall was listening in?" I was not stupid enough to think that I could directly lie to the God of Lies so I made my answer as obscure as possible. He most likely knewl I was evading and there was nothing he could do as I already made it clear from the start that I didn't trust him.
Loki smirked at my question, "Oh you don't have to worry about that. I've long found a way to escape both the Allfather and the Gatekeeper's gaze." He boasted.
"Can you perchance teach it to me? We are allies after all, right?" Loki brows twitched at my request but the short smirk on his face elongated.
"I wouldn't mind enlightening on your ignorance but you'll have to owe me a favor. I take it you are a man who doesn't go back on his words, am I right?"
I stretched forth my hands to him for a shake across the table which he took. "Deal."
"While this visit has borne positive fruits, I should return back to Asgard before father or Heimdall notices my absence. I however will endeavor to visit in a few days time. Until next time Draul, his fierce warriors, my lady… and the child." And before Yelena could throw a plate at his mug, his visage turned hazy and he disappeared.
I frowned a little at the way he left, I didn't feel anything like a spell being cast. One second he was here and the other was like he didn't even exist. It was also how I didn't sense him until he was at my front door.
"He really grows on you. At least we could get a heads up from whatever joke of an alliance both of you have." Steve said as he got up and started picking up the plates with Nat helping him out, his words making me groan.
"Well, it was the best way to get him off my case and I have to say that I no longer know if it was brilliance on my part or stupidity."
"Probably the latter."
"So you guys are going to act as if everything is normal and a mythic God didn't just say Pantheons we're discussing on how to, most likely, kill you?" Ororo's stupefied voice halted all of our actions.
The redhead was quick to placate the whitehead before she flipped out. "Don't stress your pretty little head about it, girl. The more you live with this guy, the more you become desensitized to these things."
Cue another groan from me. I bid the others farewell and rolled my eyes as Yelena practically dragged Ororo away from the dining room and to God knows where, probably to show her around the house that was slowly becoming its own dimension, and made my way back to my study.
….
I was back in the mirror dimension, testing out spells, the lethal kind that you wouldn't want to test out with an opponent unless you wanted them dead.
If I wasn't that in tune with my energy, then I would say that it was likely alive.
It felt as if my spells were slowly gaining some sort of basic intelligence, as they could cause some effects that I didn't think that they could. And it wasn't just my spells, but every type of energy emitted from my body as a whole.
Take for example if I were to shoot a gust of flame at someone, normally I would just douse the person in flames if I wanted them dead but that was no longer what would happen.
The flames would form some type of barrier and will try to keep my target inside them to prevent them from escaping without me even needing it to.
The effects were subtle in all my other abilities but more prominent in my magic. Take for example the Hellfire currently behind me.
I had summoned the flames of hell in one of my tests and the only thing I thought of was that the flames should just chill on one side until I was ready for it and that was what it had been doing since.
Sometimes all I would need was for it to move and it would do exactly that without me actively needing to manipulate it.
It might be due to me fusing with a higher form of energy which resulted in my ability to manipulate the lesser forms all having a boost. That was the most reasonable explanation I could think of as almost all of my abilities seem to work on intent now rather than purpose. Though I was already at what would be considered a master level of proficiency with my abilities, now I was beyond that. Manipulating basic elements was like breathing to me.
The only ability I had that had this sort of sentience before my evolution was my destructive ability.
With a wave of my hand, everything in the mirror dimension started repairing itself until it went back to what looked identical to the training room before the spell dispelled itself, bringing me back to the material world.
I went to take a bath before going downstairs, intent on taking a stroll.
"Where's Ororo?" I asked Nat who looked bored watching TV.
"She said she had to run by Emma Frost and Mystique since she's been out of town for a while. Where are you off to?"
"Taking a stroll." I said.
"Oh wait for me. That sounds better than sitting here and watching all these lame ass TV shows."
Nat went and changed into some comfortable clothes since the weather was getting chilly lately and we both went out. Since I had no particular direction or aim in mind, we just kept walking through any path our feet took us.
"So you finally stopped holding back, huh? With Ororo I mean." Nat suddenly asked out of the blue.
"Am I supposed to know what that means, because I don't."
"I kinda overheard some of your conversations yesterday without meaning to. I was wondering when you will just stop holding back and tell her everything and I'm glad you did because God knows how you love her." She said.
I rolled my eyes as the conversation turned mushy. "It wasn't about me holding back, it's just that there had been no right time to tell her. I've known Ororo for years now, Nat, before I even met Bucky. She was the second friend I made in this world, Clint was the first. But the problem was that we were on different sides and we weren't as close as we are now. Even when we started dating, we still had different goals. Ororo dedicated her time to helping humans while I dedicated mine to surviving. I can't just dump my garbage on her when I don't care about hers, still don't by the way."
"Then why now? I know thing's been changing too fast recently but what really changed?" She asked, way too much invested in this topic than she ought to be.
"I felt it was time to take our relationship forward. I used to think that the only time I would want a relationship was if I somehow was able to stabilize everything around me but looking back at it now, it was nothing but spiteful optimism. If she decided that the troubles were too much for her then that was it…"
"But she didn't."
"She didn't."
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