So... things get interesting here. I think. There's a lo of Cherik, and characters from different realms (and fandoms), a lot of stuff happens here! I really hope you'll like this chapter and, of course, the fic as a whole.
Adding to the dreamcast: Hugo Weaving (characterized as Elrond) as Erynion.
The songs included here are: "Mirror" as sung by Boyce Avenue and Fifth Harmony. And "The Swan Song" as sung by Within Temptation (this last one which is, in some ways, the root of this fic's title; though you can also see all songs as exactly that).
Theme
Each decision we made forged a path, shaped the future, ours and the world's.
Taking Erik Lehnsherr's case put us into SHIELD's path for the second time (or put them in ours, however one wished to see it). It wasn't easy because while there were those who supported us and our decision to help him, there were many others, humans and mutants alike, who did not agree. They even tried to kill Erik just as we exited City Hall after the first audience, a non-magnetic bullet… he'd have died if Darcy hadn't been close enough, and alert enough, she took hold on his arm and shifted with him into the Mirror Dimension. It was just for a second, just long enough for the bullet not to hurt them, though I could sense the unease coming from Erik once they were back, it was normal for someone (someone who wasn't meant to be there) being taken into other dimensions for the first time.
In the end fortune was on our side, there was no proof that Magneto had been directly involved with any of the things he was being accused of, not even Kennedy's murder (which was actually the crime the district attorney was most bent on imprisoning for). It was absolutely insane.
And then something we expected even less happened: an electronic file (or more like a caché of files) was delivered to Darcy, no return address, not even an IP address we might track it from. Only a short message: "From one Gray-Hat to another..." it was signed IronSmith.
"He's like, the third best hacker in the world." Darcy explained when she passed the file to us.
She didn't say it, but we both knew that she, under the user-name TaserQueen was the best hacker in the world, known by some as the Queen of Hackers… the 'Gray Hat' was an epithet that made reference to the fact that she was neither a criminal nor one of the 'good guys'.
The file was… amazing in so many ways we could have never expected. It included interviews from the seventies, to Erik Lehnsherr and other people who'd been presumably involved in the plan to assassinate Kennedy. The most shocking of all was the one that revealed that the Kennedy family had mutants in it, mainly the former president's brother, though the president himself was believed to be one, only with a passive gift. That was why he'd been assassinated; which of course meant that there was no way Magneto could have done that. He'd known, he'd been there to try and protect the man, and instead he'd been made to take the fall. Erik Lehnsherr had spent more than a decade in a tiny cement and glass cell, at the bottom of the Pentagon, for a crime he did not commit. It was insane.
The last few files were even more shocking, at the same time they put things into perspective in a way nothing else could have. The files were from some long-defunct top-secret organization listed as Division X, which had apparently operated during the 60s. The files specifically depicted an operation that had taken place during 1963, beginning with investigating something called the Hellfire Club, a man called Sebastian Shaw (aka Klaus Schmidt); his moves with both the Soviet and American militias. It spoke of work the Division had done with a group of gifted, of mutants, which had been lead by Erik Lehnsherr and another mutant whose named had been blacked-out. I knew the named that belonged there, I still remembered enough of my dreams/visions to know it: Charles Xavier… I also knew every person that had been part of that team, and their code-names. And I remembered how it had all ended… the reports revealed that part too. The way the mutants had defeated Shaw and his team in a beach in Cuba, only to then be fired on by the combined might of the Soviet and American navies… was it any surprise that Magneto went off the deep end after that mess?
However, perhaps the biggest shock of all came when Charles Xavier and Moira MacTaggert arrived to the place of the audience on the second to last day of the trial. They'd been called by the district attorney as experts in mutations; also because Dr. MacTaggert was a former CIA Agent and the only one connected to the operation mentioned in the Division X reports, who was still alive. The man hadn't even warned us, probably thought he'd get one over us. He had no idea, no idea at all…
When MacTaggert spoke of the mission things went insane. It was a mess, as the trial had become a very public matter; SHIELD hadn't wanted to make any information from Division X public (on the one hand, because one of their 'mother' agencies was Division X and they didn't like making their actions public; on the other, because apparently the information we were using was one that had been lost to them upon the destruction of their own base, courtesy of Shaw… which made our possessing it all the more interesting, though Darcy used all and every law to protect her 'source' and won that one). It only got worse when MacTaggert's testimony showed Erik as a hard yet compassionate man who had suffered much in his past, who worried about his people and was willing to do anything to protect them. He might have made mistakes, bad ones, but he wasn't the one that started the 'war' against the humans, the humans did that.
And then came Charles's testimony…
"My name is Charles Francis Xavier." He announced very formal. "I have Doctorates in Biology, Genetics and Psychology. I own the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, which has recently gone public as a school for mutants and other gifted people. I created it with the hope of giving them a sanctuary, a place where they might feel safe, where they might grow up and learn. It's not about separating us from the rest of humanity, but about showing everyone that we're people, just like everyone else." He made a pause, taking a sip from a bottle of water before saying: "That is what the world knows of me. What most don't know is that I'm also Professor X, founder and leader of the first generation of the team known as the X-Men. I am the person whose name is blacked out in the reports you've been given, the one who accompanied Erik Lehnsherr the summer of 1962 in those recruitment trips, who helped train a small group of extraordinary young people, who helped save the world from a third world war."
It was pandemonium, I had no idea what anyone could possibly do at that point. It was quite obvious that the DA hadn't been expecting Charles to say any of that. And Erik… his face looked blank, and yet there was so much emotion coming from him, I felt like I'd drown, and the way he wouldn't take his eyes off Charles, something told me those two were in their own little world, having their own conversation… I hadn't the slightest idea of what they might be saying to each other in the privacy of their own telepathic bond, but suddenly I heard in the back of my head Charles's voice, come from memory (or more like the memory of a dream/vision): "Come Home..." there was so much feeling in those two words, such intensity… it left me breathless. Those two were a match, and I could only pray to the stars that they might give each other, give their bond a chance this time…
Eventually I noticed that Charles wasn't alone. Dr. McCoy and Mr. Alex Summers (an uncle or something of the Summers I'd known in the Institute) were sitting in the gallery, as the remaining members of the first generation of X-Men, and behind them sat the current generation, in full uniform and with glasses or half-masks to disguise their identity.
With Charles there to confirm everything in the report Darcy had provided there was little the DA could do. Erik Lehnsherr had gone from quasi-terrorist to almost a hero, it was insane.
On our way out we came across the Professor and his X-Men. The press was waiting outside City Hall, but they'd managed to stop us while still in the lobby.
"Why did you do it?" Erik asked, it sounded like it wasn't the first time he asked that particular question recently. "Why reveal yourself to the humans now? You know they'll never leave you, any of you, alone after this!"
"This has been coming for a while now." Dr. McCoy commented. "Ever since the truth behind the Institute came out. It was just a matter of time. And really, with the truth about the Cuban Missile Crisis coming out, we were unlikely to get a better opportunity."
"I'm your enemy!" Erik half-snarled half-groaned.
"No, you're not." It was Alex who spoke then. "You were once our mentor, our leader, our friend, then you were a dick and turned your back on us, some of us might have considered you an idiot for thinking you needed to take on the world on your own, and for being so stupidly unwilling to compromise with Charles at all… but we never considered you our enemy. None of us."
"That might have changed." Scott went on. "The way our paths were going, one day we might have truly been enemies. But if that future was ever possible it's gone now, so no reason to worry about it anymore."
I could tell that Erik wasn't sure if he should feel honored or affronted by that, but in the end he just looked down, to where Charles was sitting on his wheelchair beside him. It was only then that I noticed the way their fingers were brushing, almost unnoticed, and the way Charles was staring straight at Erik…
"Ok..." The silver-haired mutant nodded.
None of us had any idea what he'd said 'ok' to exactly, but the soft smile on Charles's face showed them all it was something good. And my match and I… we couldn't help but entwine our own hands as a ribbon of multicolored light twirled around the two mutants, almost dancing as their bond solidified…
xXx
We ended in the Institute, where there was soon a party going on. It only got bigger when a green-haired woman who introduced herself as Lorna Dane arrived and expressed a desire to stay in the Institute as well. She had chosen to leave the name Magnetrix and was in the process of choosing a new mutant-name. Still, she'd heard a lot about the X-Men, and she would like to give it a try. Charles, of course, received her with open arms.
Hours into the party Erik approached me, sitting beside me where I was on a bench (the party was taking place outside). Luka was by the pond, blue and helping Iceman freeze the surface so some of the other children could play on the ice. Rose was in Darcy's arms and they were sitting on a blanket with some of the youngest children (though none quite as young as my baby).
"That song you sang the day of the attack..." Erik said quietly. "Why did you sing it?"
"I told you that day it's what felt right." I reminded him calmly.
"You spoke about someone else's feelings." He murmured. "Were you talking about Charles?"
"Rose will be gifted." I began, seemingly apropos of nothing. "It hasn't manifested just yet, but the gift is in her already. It's strong… so strong that a part of it touched me when she was still in my womb."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Erik obviously wasn't expecting that.
"Rose has the Sight, or will have the Sight, however you wish to see it." I clarified. "While I was pregnant with her I saw some things. The future… and the past. I saw you Erik, you and Charles both… that's what prompted that song last month. Not you, or Charles, but the two of you together. The potential… it's there, it has always been there."
"What potential?" His eyes narrowed at me.
I didn't answer verbally, looking at him, waiting to see if he really didn't know or if he was waiting for me to spell it out for him. He gave me no answer, and even his feelings were tightly clamped down, not like he wasn't feeling, but like he wasn't allowing those feelings to fully flourish, like he refused to allow things like hope… and love, out. Something needed to be done about that, and I knew I'd have to be the one to do it.
*Beloved…?* I called mentally.
He didn't even ask me what the situation was, he didn't need to. Some things were instinctive. We came together in the middle of the backyard, just at the beginning to the paths leading to the gardens. I was swaying as I moved, following a rhythm only I could hear, he was the first to sing:
"Aren't you somethin' to admire
Cause your shine is somethin' like a mirror
And I can't help but notice
You reflect in this heart of mine
If you ever feel alone and
The glare makes me hard to find
Just know that I'm always
Parallel on the other side"
I swayed and half-danced in my spot while he sang, before taking the unspoken signal to begin:
"Cause with your hand in my hand
And a pocket full of soul
I can tell you there's no place we couldn't go
Just put your hand on the glass
I'll be tryin' to pull you through
You just gotta be strong"
We were both smiling then as the duet truly began, our two voices coming together like they had so few times before, never in our current lives. Though that mattered not, it was natural, almost instinctive. Just like breathing, and living, and loving each other with every beat of our hearts:
"Cause I don't wanna lose you now
I'm lookin' right at the other half of me
The vacancy that sat in my heart
Is a space that now you hold
Show me how to fight for now
And I'll tell you, baby, it was easy
Comin' back into you once I figured it out
You were right here all along
It's like you're my mirror
My mirror staring back at me
I couldn't get any bigger
With anyone else beside me
And now it's clear as this promise
That we're making
Two reflections into one
Cause it's like you're my mirror
My mirror staring back at me
Staring back at me"
After the end of the choir it was my love's turn to sing on his own again and I began dancing a bit more around him as he did, feeling the magic and love we were shaping with words, our song:
"Aren't you somethin', an original
Cause it doesn't seem merely assembled
And I can't help but stare, cause
I see truth somewhere in your eyes
I can't ever change without you
You reflect me, I love that about you
And if I could, I
Would look at us all the time"
It wasn't a hard song to follow, and I could tell even as my turn came to sing again, that most people around us had stopped whatever it was they were doing and were focusing on us. I wondered how much of what we were singing they truly understood, not the words themselves, or even the magic woven into it, but the meaning behind them, the true message we delivered:
"Cause with your hand in my hand
And a pocket full of soul
I can tell you there's no place we couldn't go
Just put your hand on the glass
I'll be tryin' to pull you through
You just gotta be strong"
It wasn't a choice, not for any of us, but the moment the second choir came we simply began dancing together, even as we kept singing. We both knew there were eyes on us, many eyes, but none of that mattered in that moment, nothing but each other, our song, our love, really mattered:
"Cause I don't wanna lose you now
I'm lookin' right at the other half of me
The vacancy that sat in my heart
Is a space that now you hold
Show me how to fight for now
And I'll tell you, baby, it was easy
Comin' back into you once I figured it out
You were right here all along
It's like you're my mirror
My mirror staring back at me
I couldn't get any bigger
With anyone else beside me
And now it's clear as this promise
That we're making
Two reflections into one
Cause it's like you're my mirror
My mirror staring back at me
Staring back at me"
Memories came unbidden, of all the things I'd seen while pregnant with Rose, the past and the future. So much that had been, and more that would never be. That was alright, or it would be:
"Yesterday is history
And tomorrow's a mystery"
All movement stopped, and my love and I did nothing but look at each as we sang three lines:
"I can see you lookin' back at me
Keep your eyes on me
Keep your eyes on me"
My love sang next, again the same chorus, though he was the only one singing, I contented myself with echoing some of the lines and dancing around him, reveling in the magic spinning around us, the love. I hadn't feel so much of it since the last time we sang a duet a lifetime prior!
"Cause I don't wanna lose you now
I'm lookin' right at the other half of me
The vacancy that sat in my heart
Is a space that now you hold
Show me how to fight for now
And I'll tell you, baby, it was easy
Comin' back into you once I figured it out
You were right here all along
It's like you're my mirror
My mirror staring back at me
I couldn't get any bigger
With anyone else beside me
And now it's clear as this promise
That we're making
Two reflections into one
Cause it's like you're my mirror
My mirror staring back at me
Staring back at me"
All movement stopped and I raised both hands, clasping them with those of my love, looking at him straight in the eyes, pretending the world around us (and the dozens of mutants staring straight at us) did not exist as I spoke the following two verses straight at him, into his eyes:
"Show me how to fight for now
Cause I don't wanna lose you now"
We were, indeed, each other's mirror, a perfect match, meant to be together from the time the universe was born, and until the last star blinked out of the sky. Together to the end of time…
"It's like you're my mirror"
Cheering and clapping ensued the moment the song ended, the children absolutely delighted. Though there were some present who didn't move, they weren't even looking at us, but instead at someone else, very specific people… and I knew those were the people who truly understood the meaning behind our song. Those who'd found their mirrors…
Perhaps the biggest surprise was discovering Darcy was one such person, though she wasn't looking at any specific person, her eyes to the side, to something in the distance only she knew was there, only she could sense…
xXx
Just a few months later a warning in the middle of the night from Destiny sent a lot of us rushing to Arizona. Luka and I had taken Darcy, Polaris (the name Lorna had chosen for herself), Storm and Nightcrawler with us as we used the Shadow Paths (Darcy could travel them but had trouble taking others, and long distances still taxed her a lot) to get to the location a long faster than we'd have otherwise (the rest would be taking the Blackbird).
We reached SHIELD's Pegasus facility (beyond top-secret) to find the place already half through an evacuation, even as the earth groaned and rumbled beneath our feet.
"They'll never get everyone out in time..." Storm whispered, horrified at the realization.
"That's why we're here." Darcy reminded her. "Get moving people!"
We split, Storm and Nightcrawler were helping the people closest get as far away as possible, with Polaris using her powers to delay the collapse of the buildings as long as possible, giving chance for more people to get out. There was some surprise, when they saw us arrive, but once the people there realized we were actually helping no one said anything, they just kept moving. Darcy, Loki and I split as well, going deeper into the facility, hoping to be able to use our powers to get those who would have no hope otherwise, out.
We combed the place as best we could. Then, my love and I reached the lowest level of the facility roughly at the same time. There were people still there. Five men and one woman, though two of the men were dead already. And the reason became obvious as we all saw the glowing blue cube the African-American man in a black leather duster and wearing an eye-path was trying to place inside a special briefcase… without having the object discharge on him, like it had so obviously done on the ones already dead, and the blonde woman holding her hands gingerly against her chest and moaning in pain even as another man held her.
My first instinct was to go to the woman, heal her hands if I could. I wasn't expecting the vicious curse that abandoned my husband's lips right then.
*Love…?* I asked tentatively in the privacy of our bond.
*That's the Tesseract.* He explained seriously. *The humans have obviously been experimenting on it. It discharged, which is why the whole place is collapsing right now. However, that's not the most worrying part… no, depending the kind of experiments the humans have been doing here, the discharge might have reached any number of places. An echo of power from the Space Stone would be interpreted in a number of ways, depending who detects in exactly…*
*You believe the wrong kind will pick up on this, don't you?* I deduced the core of his anger.
*Midgard is not ready for the kind of monsters that can be found among the stars… you know that as well as I do, my Nightingale.*
*I do. We'll have to keep a closer eye on things from now on.*
*And we'll need to relieve SHIELD from their little toy…*
I smiled mischievously at him. There was no need to say a word, he knew me so well… so with that I stepped out of the shadows.
It was a fairly simple plan. I knew Fury did not like us mutants in general, and since he (like most) still believed me to be one, that made things easy. The moment I materialized in the middle of his super-secret lab he nearly had a stroke, he was absolutely furious with me. I ignored him completely focusing my whole attention on the injured doctor, healing her hands and then telling those still alive that they needed to run because the place was about to fall on top of our heads.
The youngest man in the place, a blonde agent helped usher the scientists out, and when Fury got difficult he did the same with the black man. We were already at the door when Fury remembered the suitcase but then coincidentally (a bit too much of a coincidence, actually) in that exact moment a piece of the ceiling fell (probably all the way to the next level's floor, in fact), on top of a good deal of the equipment, and completely blocking our way to where the suitcase had been.
"We need to get out now!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.
We ran all the way out. Several times I considered slipping into shadows, and bringing others with me but I knew if I tried Fury would want to me to use that to go back for the Cube. So in the end I held back and kept running.
When we reached the ground floor I realized that, by most people's estimations we were too late. It was likely the only reason why the ground beneath our feet hadn't collapsed yet was because someone (either Polaris, or Magneto if he'd arrived already) was holding it up; but while the building likely had enough magnetic materials to allow for that, the same couldn't be said about the land outside.
I caught the flash of pink-purple almost from the corner of my eye, it was enough to make me change course mid-step, almost falling but managing to call on some instinctive elven grace to regain my footing and keep running.
"Follow me!" I yelled to the others.
"The closest door is that way!" The Agent yelled, waving in the direction we'd been running, even as he followed my order and prompted the others to do the same.
"Yes, and right now it leads to a sinkhole at least 30 feet deep, possibly more." I retorted, never stopping. "When I tell you to jump, jump."
They had no idea what I meant, but it was too late for them to question me. We reached the side door right as the ground began giving beneath our feet. There was nothing before us anymore, nothing except a ring of pink-purplish light surrounding a vortex; nothing could be seen clearly through it, like a sort of mirage. Then again, that was perfectly normal when it came to Blink's portals, so I did not worry, I just ran faster and jumped, in the last moment yelling at the others to do the same.
I instinctively went into a roll the moment we came on the other side. The Agent (Barton, I'd eventually learn his name was, Clint Barton) did the same, as well as Fury; the scientists landed in a sprawl but they didn't seem to mind too much. At least they were alive.
I soon realized we weren't on actual ground just yet, but instead on what could literally be called a flying sheet of metal. Which was being kept in the air by Magneto. Polaris was with him, though I suspected she'd been the one keeping the building up as long as possible, while Blink (also there) conjured as many portals as possible to get the last people out of the facility.
My husband landed beside us, making it look like he'd just jumped through another of Blink's portals. A silent signal from him all I needed to confirm that the Cube was safe.
A minute later or so we landed in actual ground, at the edge of the mile-or-so wide crater that had formed where the top-secret SHIELD facility had been. Fury was spitting nails about 'his cube' so we ignored him. The rest were quite thankful for our intervention, a gratitude they expressed also to the others. Blink just smiled at them, though Polaris and Magneto didn't reply, they still had a hard time dealing with humans thanking them for being what they were, and doing what they did with their abilities (it made me wonder how different the world might have been if the US and USSR had never turned against them in the 60s).
Darcy was waiting for us when we stepped off Magneto's creation, and with her was an average looking man in a simple but elegant gray suit.
"Silbhé! Luka!" She called to us brightly. "Meet Agent Phil Coulson. Phil, these are my siblings in every way that counts, Silbhé and Luka… though you obviously know about them already."
My husband and I said polite greetings to the man. We'd met him before, of course, he'd been in the Courthouse the last day of Erik's trial. Apparently someone decided to send him after Darcy tasered Agent Sitwell when he refused to take no for an answer and tried to take IronSmith's files from my sister by force.
I hadn't spoken with the man that day, though I knew Darcy had. And apparently it hadn't been just that day, for the moment Phil Coulson stood beside my heart-sister it was as if the last piece of a puzzle had fallen into place, and suddenly the look that had been in Darcy's face when Loki and I sang 'Mirror' made perfect sense…
It was insane, a mutant and an Agent of SHIELD (it was no secret that SHIELD did not like mutants, or gifted in general). And yet they were a match, nothing could ever be truer than that. I said nothing to them that day, neither of us did, though my love and I promised ourselves we'd do our best to be there for them if they ever needed us. Darcy was as good as a sister to us both, and if Phil was her match, that made him part of the family as well.
Things went quite well. Fury did not get his Cube, but most of the people who'd been there were simply too happy at being alive after what had happened. Also, neither Fury nor anyone else had reason to believe we had the object, so that was good. My love took off for a couple of days to place the Tesseract somewhere safe, where only we would have access to it. Then it was back to work. Mutant-human relations were improving, but there was still so much to do…
xXx
Nearly two years later (Spring of 2014) we got a hell of a shock when two women arrived to the Institute without a warning. The first was easily identified as Destiny, though she'd been going by her 'human' name of Irene Adler. The true surprise was the woman with her, who looked like she might be in her early to mid thirties (at most), lightly tanned skin, straight black hair to her chin and clear blue eyes. My senses were screaming at me who she was, even before Charles said a word, but my brain had trouble processing it all.
Raven Xavier-Darkholme… Raven… the former Mystique… except no.
We didn't actually live in the Institute. It simply wasn't feasible. Instead Darcy, Luka, Rose and I shared a townhouse in Washington, where we were still working, though Dr. McCoy had become the image of mutant-human relations since his appointment as Secretary of Mutant Affairs the year prior. The plan was to train others to be able to do what we did and eventually moving to New York where we all believed we would be more needed.
Charles called us because even with other lawyers and the like who'd been taking on the task of helping mutants, the three of us were still the best at what we did, especially when working in tandem. It took no effort for us to realize what he wanted: for us to help Raven like we'd helped Erik two years earlier.
Charles and Luka immediately began discussing particulars, with Darcy taking notes and offering her own two cents every once in a while. Somehow I was the first to notice the minute wincing in the black-haired woman every time the name Raven was pronounced. It took me a few seconds more to fully understand the emotions coming from her but once I did… it was so obvious. I slipped off the chair I'd initially taken beside my love and went to sit on the couch on the corner, where the 'de-powered mutant' was curled up.
"Hello Mystique, do you need anything?" I asked her as I sat.
No one missed my choice of address, or the way she actually turned to look at me.
She asked for water and it was easy enough to retrieve a bottle and hand it over to her. I was very careful to actually stand and go get it, rather than call it to me, or conjure it, I didn't want to give her any further reminders to her lack of power.
I waited for several minutes while she drank the water, then played with the empty bottle and eventually I took it from her, put the bottle aside and took her hands in mine.
"You're Mystique." I told her straight out.
"No I'm not, not anymore." She retorted. "I'm a human now I…"
"You are whoever you wish to be." I cut her off. "If you wish to be Mystique, then that's who you are, regardless of the color of your skin. You may not have the power you are used to, right now, but that doesn't mean it'll stay gone forever. If there's something I've learned about such things, it's that no one can take that which is yours, not really."
"They took it from me!" She shrieked. "They cured me!"
I felt the tension from my husband and sister but I myself refused to react, to so much as flinch at her words, her tone. I just tightened my hold on her hands and waited for the peak of her emotion to pass before I spoke again.
"Were you sick?" I didn't actually wait for an answer before going on. "No, because mutation isn't a sickness, it's a part of you. You cannot heal that which isn't sick, or broken, or wrong. It doesn't work like that."
"But then that would mean…" The young-looking broke off.
"Whatever was in those darts they shot you with either suppressed your mutation, or simply messed with your system enough to block your gift, but it's not permanent, it could never be." I decided to be dead serious, hoping it'd help. "What we are, what we do, is in our genes, it's encoded into the very core of our beings, you cannot undo that. Undoing it would mean killing us, and you're not dead, are you? I know I'm not a mutant, but that's irrelevant. We're both gifted, so the same applies to us both. All you need to do is be patient, allow your body to fight off the drug, to recover, you will be alright Mystique..."
She nodded once, and I could feel very body relaxing ever so slowly as she fully processed everything that had just been said. On her other side, Irene was smiling (a part of me wondered how much she'd known beforehand of what I'd say… and if she'd been waiting all along for me to do it, was that why she hadn't done it herself?).
"One more thing." I added. "Being Mystique, or being Raven, those don't have to be mutually exclusive. You can be both, all the time, or at different times, it's your choice. A name is a part of you, it represents you, or at least a part of you, but it doesn't limit you. I know this because I've had quite a few names myself, and I'm proud of them. I am Silbhé Arianna Kinross Salani-Hvedrungr legally, it's the name my parents gave me, along with the name I got from my husband of course. I'm proud of that, I always will be. Canary is the name the children here in the Institute gave me, because I'd sing them to sleep, and that makes me happy as well. And then there's the one of Songtress, which you and the others in the Brotherhood began using, and that one gives me pride in its own way, because it's another facet of me. Oh… and my husband calls me Nightingale, so there's that as well."
"Who are you, really?" She asked me, curious.
"All of them, all of me." I answered with a smile, then smirked. "It's a hell of a story, if I'm to be honest. I might tell it to you one day."
I had no idea how she and the others might react to the truth about me. Charles knew some of it, but not everything, not yet. We might yet tell them someday…
xXx
As it happened, I was right, in more ways than one. The legal case went well, easier than with Erik even, especially when we got proof of all the things she'd done through the years to help mutants, like in the war, when she'd rescued as many as she could, both from the enemy military and those like Stryker (and Trask) who were looking for an excuse to turn any and all mutants into prisoners and test-subjects for their experiments. Of course, her baring the name of Xavier did not hurt any.
I had no way of knowing if it had been my words, a very private talk she'd later on with Charles, or something else entirely, but Mystique eventually came to accept that she could be that, and also Raven. Charles was so thrilled at the developments, at getting those he loved the most back, I felt almost as if I were high whenever his emotions touched me.
Loki and I also eventually shared our story with them, as well as Irene and Erik, and a few others. Charles already knew the basics, but no details. I could sense the mix of wonder, awe, horror and fascination as we went through the story. Sometimes with the aid of illusions to exemplify things.
When we left that particular evening, Darcy turned to me:
"You know what surprised me?" She commented. "How none of them asked for clarification or proof about the whole 'match deal'."
"When you really love someone you don't need proof, you can feel it." I quoted at her, then smiled. "Likewise, when you're part of a match you don't really need someone to explain what it is, or how it exists, to you."
She said nothing to that, and I wondered if she realized that she was one of those who'd never asked such questions. Probably not, her bond with Phil was still developing; and yet, they were both clever individuals, if they hadn't realized the truth yet I was confident it wouldn't take them long. What happened after that would be up to them.
xXx
Things calmed down, for the most part, after Mystique's trial. Also, we were proven right when a few weeks later her skin began flickering every so often; about three months after first being shot with the cure, she regained her 'true' appearance, it took her nearly three more before she could shift again, and it was still a bit of touch and go for a while, but just being back in her blue skin made such a difference for her…
It was discovered during the trial that the would-be cure came from the Worthingtons. Something their Labs had been working on years prior, before the mess with William Stryker and Erik's trial had turned the opinion of mutants almost completely around. Then the project was abandoned; abandoned, but not destroyed. An extremist group, off-shot of the more widely known Friends of Humanity (who preached a lot but hadn't done that much, especially since so many people had began looking at mutants positively) calling themselves Purifiers had found the half-finished drug, loaded it into darts, rifles and began using it against any mutant or suspected mutants they came across.
Mystique was actually one of their first victims, as she'd been investigating the rumors of such a drug existing in the first place. Only her girlfriend's timely intervention had saved her from being killed by the Purifiers after the loss of her ability. Then they'd taken the shortest route they could to Westchester (even after so many years and everything that had happened, Raven had never stopped believing in Charles, that he would help her…).
Things had actually gotten worse for a short time. While we discovered that the cure wasn't really permanent on mutants; others had discovered something else: the fact that it was lethal for humans. It was something no one could have ever expected, at the very least it helped stop the Purifiers; when their choice of weapon was more likely to cause their deaths than that of those they were pursuing… the risk was just too great. It didn't take long for the drug to be declared a poison, its use illegal. Many would later claim that it was done to protect humans rather than mutants, but since both sides benefited the matter was soon enough dropped.
Thankfully things did, indeed, get better afterwards. A new team took over from our duties in DC and we all moved back to New York, though Darcy didn't stay with us for long, as she chose to move in with Phil. None of us knew exactly when that relationship had begun, or how, but as long as they were happy neither my love nor I would pry. The three of us still worked together though, and Darcy would stay over sometimes, when we were working on a case or another together, or she didn't want to be alone; which happened relatively often, as Phil was working with a new team, completely off-books, pursuing a group intending on creating the next super-soldier. The three of us were probably the only ones outside a few select people in SHIELD who knew what was going on in that front, and I was quite sure Fury didn't know we were so informed. He would have never stood for it.
At some point after our first contact with SHIELD (a most indirect contact, in the form of job offers for all three of us), before we'd taken our first complex cases, before we became known across the country as some of the staunchest supporters of mutants and their rights, Aunt Kathryn met with us and told us a story. About her past, the fifteen years she'd spent working for the government (or, technically, governments, two of them), first with MI5, a single mission in Africa for the MI6, then the SSR, where she'd met Shannon Carter and Marge Carter-Sholto (a legend better known in some circles as Agent Peggy Carter); and then had come SHIELD. She'd been part of the first team formed in the agency. A team that had reached legendary status, they'd been known as the Elites, and she was given the code-name of Sphinx.
Nick Fury had been there too. He'd been the final third to their team (Shannon being the second). And yes, even back then he had shown a marked dislike for those most would consider 'not normal' (though really, what was normal anyway?).
In any case, that particular conversation helped enough that when we first came truly in contact with Fury we weren't really surprised by his attitude. Though I did wonder if we were fated to clash with the man at every turn, or if there was hope that one day he might become, if not more understanding, at least more accepting.
There was one thing that Aunt Kathryn never told us, though in the end we didn't need her to. The fact that she and Nicholas had been involved once, and it hadn't just been an affair, or a romance, or whatever, it'd been serious, enough that she still kept a sand-glass necklace and a yellowed piece of paper in a secret jewelry box she thought no one knew about. Important enough that Nicholas knew who I was, had known since I'd said my full name (probably the Salani in there). It made me wonder…
xXx
We knew the Convergence was coming, of course we did. We were all curious about it. Seeing how the event only happened every five thousand years none of us had ever witnessed it before (or if we had, in another lifetime, we had no memory of it), and we were curious enough to want to. We couldn't just shadow-walk there. We could have, in the most literal sense, but if the British government had found us in their territory without having entered legally it would have been way too much trouble. And we were simply too famous for someone not to notice us (the downside of the fame). Also, it would have been an abuse of our gifts, and the complete opposite to what we promoted, and tried to convince the government about.
So we made sure our passports were in order, bought tickets and got on a plane. Rose was staying home. Aunt Kathryn had quit her job in the small hospital in Westbrook and moved in to help us with Rosie back when she was a newborn. The first year I'd done my best to work from home, so as to spend as much time with my baby as possible, aunt Kathryn was always there too, ready to help with whatever we might need. Whether in the family, or our jobs. After that first year though, Aunt Kathryn had gotten a new job as a nurse in Metro-General's ER. It wasn't too far from our apartment and she still helped with Rose when we needed her, especially as I began working more out of home as my baby got older.
At that point Rose was three years old and we hadn't yet decided if we'd be sending her to preschool, or have her home-schooled by someone we trusted. Aunt Kathryn had offered to help with that too, but we really didn't want to impose on her. It was enough that she'd taken a few days off work to look after Rosie while the three of us went to investigate the Convergence.
We had known the Convergence was coming. Yet we had no idea just how messy things were going to get… We made it to London alright. It didn't take long for certain people to learn we were in town, knowing already who we were exactly. Much as we didn't like it, we did meet with a number of different individuals, including two men who shared the surname Holmes yet were as different from each other as the day from the night.
We knew who Sherlock Holmes was, of course. Or I suppose that, technically, Luka knew who he was. He'd been fascinated by the man's exploits, especially since discovering the blog of a man called John Watson, who seemed to be completely focused on making his and Mr. Holmes's adventures public. The idea of a man with such an intellect, the things he could achieve, it was completely opposite from Asgard, and yet it fit perfectly with my love. He respected Sherlock Holmes and even admired his skill. So when a man called Mycroft Holmes, who seemed to take a very personal interest in our presence in England. Like he considered himself personally responsible if we ended causing some kind of trouble…
We were invited to have lunch with him, while he asked us all manner of questions regarding our job back home (we were vague, of course, it was none of his business), what we knew about gifted in his country (very little, aside from the fact that at the very least mutants there didn't seem to be pursued by military the likes of Stryker…), and why exactly had we decided to travel to Britain in the first place (a vacation, of course; it wasn't exactly a lie, but not the full truth either, as we weren't about to explain about the Convergence). Darcy soon grew bored with the 'battle of words'; she was good at them too, but tended towards the blunt side of things, and we couldn't afford to antagonize a man with the power Mycroft Holmes had (he'd said nothing about it, but we weren't fools and could read between the lines in him, his assistant and our surroundings, particularly the deference with which some people addressed him). So Darcy soon took off, promising to let us know if she found anything 'interesting'.
A couple of hours later or so I got a message from Darcy, informing us she'd found a sort of space-loop in an abandoned property. The message was followed by a short video that showed a bottle falling, time and again, through the same space; disappearing inches from the ground before reappearing at the top, never stopping. It didn't take us too long to excuse ourselves, and then we were on our way (taking the subway, a cab, and then walking the last bit because we didn't want to be tracked, and we couldn't risk teleporting or shadow-walking anywhere with the Convergence taking place). We were still a mile or so from the location Darcy had given us, when she vanished from our awareness.
Loki and I froze the moment we felt Darcy disappear, completely. We knew it wasn't a matter of her powers. We knew what it felt like when she went into the Shadow Plane while we remained in the material world. No, what had just happened was different. We had no idea what had transpired, and we definitely didn't like it.
We knew nothing about Darcy for almost twenty-four hours and then, right as the two of us were about to go crazy with worry, we sensed it. A number of things in fact: someone traversing one of the Hidden Roads into Earth, and Darcy returning. We were pondering how risky it might be to seek her out, when my phone rang. The moment I saw her name I answered and put her on speaker immediately.
"Darce!" My love and I called at the same time.
"Hey guys, I'm alright, I'm safe, I promise." She assured us.
"Where were you?" I asked.
"What happened to you?" My husband demanded at the same time.
"See, when I got exploring the place with that little loop I showed you I found some kids." She explained. "They were the ones to discover the loop. They told me that a woman had arrived there earlier, a Dr. Foster. She'd disappeared abruptly and they'd no idea where she'd gone, though her car was still there. So I thought to look for her, make sure that the 'anomaly' hadn't hurt her or something. Things got really freaky when I found her, when I tried to touch her this… energy burst from inside her, attacked me. Would have got me if I hadn't moved just in the nick of time." He could hear shuffling before she went on. "Anyway, so I was about to call you guys to see if you knew what might be going on, when there's this flash of light, and big, blonde and buff drops from the sky..."
I could feel the tension in my love, neither of us had any doubts just who she was talking about.
"It was Thor!" Darcy confirmed in her next breath. "Insane, can you believe it? I mean, Norse Gods! Whoever knew they were real?!"
She'd known, of course. I knew she was only saying those things either to keep appearances before whoever she might be with, or to pass on what she believed was necessary information to us before we joined her.
"So he went all Shakespeare on us, tried to touch Jane, and the energy reacted to him too." She went on. "Next thing I know he's calling to Hem-something and I barely managed to get a hold onto him before we were careening through the stars! Next things I know I'm in a hell of a different place, where everything's way too bright and gold, and everyone insists on going around in horses and flying ships… They didn't like me there, though of course I didn't give a fuck about that. I mean, some alien pseudo-god had just kidnapped a human scientist! That's the stuff sci-fi stories are made of. So I refused to allow them to send me back without Dr. Foster. The poor girl was so enchanted with the place, and the rainbow bridge, and the blonde hunk that hadn't stopped holding her hand… she clearly wasn't focusing properly on everything that was wrong with the picture. Which only got more wrong as we learned that the thing inside her was apparently an ancient power called the Aether..."
"What?!" My love couldn't hold back his yelp at that.
"Yep." Darcy went on. "So, bad news all around. The All-Daddy..." I nearly burst out laughing at that part, but managed to control myself as our sister went on. "… went all storyteller on us, going on and on about the Dark Elves, and some bastard called Malekith, and his desire for the Aether… but it was all fine because they were all dead! Except of course they weren't dead and they went after the Aether, and we almost died!"
What followed was a rather harrowing tale, an attack on Asgard, a terrible battle. Darcy might have tagged along on a few of Phil's team's missions, she might even have some training, but she wasn't a warrior, and she was the first to admit to that. It was obvious the whole thing had been rather traumatic to her, and then she told us what exactly she'd done, right when the Kursed had been about to kill the Queen…
"You shadow-walked… in the middle of the Convergence?!" I almost squeaked.
My Maverick, in contrast, was deadly silent. And then I caught the tenor of his thoughts, and the single word that kept repeating in his mind in a loop: MomMomMom…
"Darcy..." He said after what seemed like forever, voice almost choked with so much feeling. "My sister… Thank you..."
"You're welcome brother." Darcy answered, and I could almost see her bright smile.
He knew her story, the family she'd grown up with: a father in the FBI's Most Wanted, a mother that never paid much attention to her, a cousin she'd loved and grown distant from, due to an uncle who didn't want her around anymore, no siblings, no close friends either at school, her hometown or even the Institute… and then we'd come along.
And then we got to the most important part (at least for the time being). Malekith and what remained of his dark elves were on his way. Apparently at some point (with help from Queen Frigg), Sif, Thor, Jane and Darcy had made it out of Asgard and to Svartalfheim, where they tricked Malekith into taking the Aether from Jane before escaping. In the process Jane had managed to catch a glimpse of the dark elf's nefarious plan: to release the Aether's power at the zenith of the Convergence, in Midgard.
We didn't even need time, there was no choice to be made.
"We'll be there." I informed Darcy, before hanging up, then turned to my love. "We knew this day was coming."
Yes, we had. We couldn't have known it'd be like that. With a battle that, considering the stakes and the Convergence, was likely to be witnessed across the 9 Realms. And yet that didn't make us back down. We were guardians of our world and we wouldn't stand down, no matter what the consequences to ourselves might be.
We ran then, towards where we could sense the power gathering. On the way I made several quick calls: one to Charles, to inform him what was going on, he assured us he'd get in contact with Mr. Summers Sr., who apparently headed a mutant school in Scotland, we hoped he and his own people might be of some help. I then called Mr. Holmes to warn him of what was coming, mainly so he might keep other humans away from Greenwich, they'd be safer that way.
We never stopped on our way to what was to become a battlefield. Words weren't needed among us, not even inside our bond, we knew what needed to be done, and were willing to do it. We only gave a passing thought to the possibility of discovery, while we'd prefer for Asgard not to know about us, especially not about my love, it wouldn't be the end of the world if they did find out. I knew they wouldn't recognize me, I looked different enough from my past life and, after a minute or so of consideration, my match made up his mind and shifted into his Jotun skin.
He was wearing a dark-blue button up, dark-jeans, black leather jacket and sturdy boots, all which had been magicked to prevent them from being frozen or damaged by the temperature of his skin, or the ice he'd be conjuring. I took off my jacket, sending it into a pocket-space so it wouldn't hinder me; leaving me in a long-sleeved black top with transparencies in the sleeves, washed-out jeans and black-leather boots. I pulled my shoulder-blade length hair back into a knot at the nape of my neck; nothing fancy and it wouldn't last long, but at least that way it wouldn't be in my face. My skin had gone down a few degrees with my love's change, nothing too serious, but still, part of our bond. As final touch I called on my bow and arrows. The very ones I'd used a lifetime prior, Helena had kept them in a safe place, sent them back to me at some point, along with a collection of blades spelled to return to my hand at a mere thought.
There was no need to ask any questions. We both felt it the moment the battle began, we knew exactly where to go. My love sent me a last look; again, no questions were needed, a single nod was enough. With a deep breath, we threw ourselves straight into the melee.
Darcy must have warned them we were coming, for no one said a word, the two Aesir warriors simply took a look at us and adapted. They did a sort-of double-take at my husband's blue skin, but I imagined they must have convinced themselves that he couldn't be Jotun, for neither of them said a word about it, not even when he began conjuring ice left and right.
We sensed Malekith before we saw him. His first act the moment he left his ship was shoot an energy attack straight at Thor who, in turning his attention to him, stopped paying attention to the rest of the elves, who looked full ready to take advantage of that. A mental nudge at my match was enough to have him focus on guarding my back while I began shooting arrows as fast as I could at the elves trying to get at Thor's back. No one tried to get in my way, not even Sif, though I could tell she was surprised by the speed and effectiveness of my arrows.
The battle didn't last long though, to my honest surprise, the key to defeating Malekith wasn't any of us, but some devices created by Dr. Foster, which somehow forced portals open in specific locations. Thor used them to send pieces of the Dark-Elf king away, one by one. Then, when they ran out of such devices Darcy stepped forth and banished the head as deep into the shadow plane as she could.
My Maverick and I took advantage of the distraction to use our full magic to gather the Aether together and seal it into a new container. It wasn't easy, took a lot of magic and effort, but we managed, I then sent it into a pocket space a moment before we both pretty much dropped to the ground in exhaustion.
"L… Maverick! Nightingale!" Darcy called, rushing to us, worried.
"We're alright..." I assured her, panting just a bit. "Only tired."
"Ok..." Darcy hesitated, looking over her shoulder. "I promised I'd help them send Malekith's ship back to Svartalfheim..."
"Go." I waved a hand carelessly at her. "We'll be fine."
"We'll be right here." My love added for good measure.
We were so tired I wasn't sure we'd have been able to move, even if we'd wanted to. So we just sat there, in the middle of the University of Greenwich's yard, backs propped against some debris caused during the battle.
I didn't even notice it when I began singing. It just seemed… right… somehow, for that moment.
"Winter has come for me, can't carry on
The chains to my life are strong
But soon they'll be gone
I'll spread my wings one more time"
"Is it a dream?
All the ones I've loved calling out my name
The sun warms my face
All the days of my life, I see them passing me by"
I hadn't quite processed what it was I'd fixed my attention on, before that point. Head tilted back, eyes looking straight at what was shown through one of the portals naturally formed by the Convergence… it was Alfheim. The mere realization of that made tears spring into my eyes, but I didn't even think about stopping them. I let them form, let them fall, as I kept singing. I realized in that moment that, unlike most of my songs, in that moment I wasn't singing for my match, or even for our daughters… I was singing for everyone else I'd once known… loved… and lost…
"In my heart I know I can let go
In the end I will find some peace inside
New wings are growing tonight"
"Is it a dream?
All the ones I've loved calling out my name
The sun warms my face
All the days of my life, I see them passing me by"
I could feel my husband's hand in mine as we sat there, side by side. His skin was cool but not uncomfortable at all against mine and I could tell he knew what I was thinking, exactly as I sang. He didn't interrupt me, just held my hand and gave me his support, like he always had. At some point I closed my eye and just… stopped thinking. Focused on nothing but the song on my lips:
"As I am soaring I'm one with the wind
I am longing to see you again, it's been so long
We will be together again"
I sensed the moment the Convergence ended, felt the change in the energies buzzing around us, and the way the ground beneath us seemed to almost shudder for a moment before settling. Like everything was in balance once again. I thought nothing of it, there was a reason why I'd chosen to close my eyes. Seeing Alfheim, seeing my old home, and knowing how against me the odds were of ever seeing it again… I'd rather not focus on the bad things. I'd such a wonderful life, there was no point in focusing on the few things I couldn't really have. I was happy, I really was. Alfheim was my past, and I was at peace with that, at peace with my present and my future too. Perhaps one day something might happen, might change things, but I was happy with my life.
"Is it a dream?
All the ones I've loved calling out my name
The sun warms my face
All the days of my life, I see them passing me by"
It took me a few seconds after the song came to an end, to realize that the sun wasn't warming my face anymore. I felt my husband tense minutely, and it was that which prompted me into opening my eyes. From the corner of my eyes I could see Darcy, standing beside Sif and a doe-eyed, brunette woman who was probably Dr. Foster… apparently holding them back. And then I caught up with what I was seeing before me: the tall, muscled, golden-tanned man with blue eyes and wavy blonde hair, looking not at me, but at my love.
"Brother…" Was the first word to abandon his lips.
The hold on my hand tightened almost convulsively and I could tell my beloved was considering the possibility of dropping into the shadows (with the Convergence passed, it was safe again) rather than face Thor. Especially a Thor who'd managed to recognize him, even in his Jotun skin. I didn't think the blonde had ever seen Loki like that except… except in the days following my passing, and preceding the change in memories… my breathing caught.
Thor's eyes fixated upon our joint hands for several long seconds, and then he followed that arm to me, he was looking straight into my eyes as he spoke the next word:
"Sister… elen sîla lumenn' omentielvo..." He spoke in low (and somewhat choked) elvish.
I could have never hold back the smile that lit my face in that moment.
"Brother..." Loki gasped, as realization hit him.
xXx
It turned out my singing kept having unexpected effects. Even knowing that I could imbue my voice (our voices) with power when singing, I… we didn't exactly control the ways the magic shifted. I knew I was capable of helping people sleep, even children who'd been under terrible ordeals, who felt insecure, afraid…
Charles had been especially thankful to me after my singing had managed to calm down one of his more volatile young students, a boy called John, with a gift for pyrokinesis. The kid had suffered terribly before making it to the Institute and didn't trust any of the people around him, or the things they offered him. Then, three days into my singing them all to sleep, it was as if something had shifted. He was still very jaded, but willing to move on from his hard past. He'd become inseparable with a boy his age: Bobby, who had a thing for ice (and if that wasn't a huge irony, I had no idea what it was).
We'd also known that singing about love both showed others how serious our relationship was, and tended to make other matches sort of… resonate. Which had been showcased with our little duet in the Institute.
We never expected a song to break the spell/potion/whatever keeping memories of my past life sealed. And yet both Thor and Sif remembered, and they hadn't known before arriving to our world to fight Malekith and the Dark Elves. Those were definitely two boons I never expected, the brother and sister of my heart, held equally dear by my own love.
The only downside was that, Thor and Sif being there, remembering us, also served as a reminder of Queen Frigg, and the fact that she did not. It gave me grief, and I know it was much worse for my match, for he loved her with all his heart and soul, regardless of any blood-bond, or lack thereof, Lady Frigg was his mom, and that was all that mattered in the end.
Thor and Sif stayed the night, with Dr. Foster hanging around, she'd an obvious crush on Thor, though I soon began to suspect it being more than 'just' a crush. Though I pushed the thought aside for the time being. In the end Dr. Foster, Jane, as she insisted we called her, guided us to a small townhouse that belonged to a relative or other of hers, where she'd been staying while researching the 'gravitational anomalies' caused by the Convergence. It was a small place, cozy, and certainly more private than the hotel suite where we'd been staying.
The rest of the afternoon was devoted to telling our stories. The past where it concerned Tinúviel was touched very briefly, only enough for Jane to understand, at least a bit, the depth of our bond. The recent years we discussed in more detail. Thor was obviously upset at the fact that his brother had not returned after saving my life, though even he'd to admit that doing so, with what had happened (his blue skin) would have been nothing short of a disaster. He definitely did not like finding out that we weren't planning on going back to Asgard any time soon. Neither he nor Sif did. They simply did not understand why we'd choose to stay on Midgard.
"This is our home now, brother, sister." I tried to explain to them. "Our families are here. I am no longer Princess Tinúviel of Alfheim and Asgard. I am Silbhé Salani-Hvedrungr. I am a gifted, and a social worker. I help families deal when new gifted manifest, or when they get hurt; I help the gifted who've been hurt, find their way again. I also assist Loki and Darcy in helping mutants and other gifted in many different ways. This is who we are, what we do. We have friends here, family, I… we will not abandon them."
Mention of Rose and an offer to get to know her did calm them down some. Not completely, but at least we managed to convince them that us not going to Asgard did not mean we couldn't stay in touch. We weren't forsaking them, just staying where we were needed for the time being.
We weren't expecting the mess that fell upon us the following morning.
Having finished with our Taichi work-out and jujitsu katas, I'd left my husband to his additional practice, while going to the kitchen to prepare some tea for both of us. I loaded a tray with three cups (as Darcy practiced her own martial arts with my love too) and some pastries and was just about to step out of the kitchen when a sense of danger hit me with the force of a rock, and it was coming from my love! I didn't even notice when I dropped the tray, didn't stay long enough to hear the porcelain break, in less than a second I'd called my weapons to me, while almost simultaneously teleporting to the corner of the terrace where I knew Loki and Darcy to be.
I landed in a crouch, over the stone railing, a perfect vantage point. I didn't even take the time to ponder on why my loved ones were being attacked, just balanced myself raised my bow, and began shooting. It took about four seconds and half more as many arrows for me to realize that the ones attacking us (or technically my husband) were Ljósálfar. Though that did not explain why the hell they were doing that. At least Darcy'd had the good sense to slip into the Mirror Dimension for her own safety. My Maverick was using his power to stop any arrows and magical attacks from touching him, but wasn't really fighting back.
I didn't even think about speaking up, trying to reason with them. They had attacked my match! That was enough to make me want to take them down with extreme prejudice. Still, I managed to control myself just enough that the arrows I shot disabled and pinned them down, without killing or permanently maiming anyone (only the fact that they hadn't managed to so much as nick my love kept me under control).
I only lowered my bow when I was sure no one was in any state to attack Loki anymore. The warriors rendered immobile or too hurt to move, the couple of spell-weavers present knocked out (it was easier that way).
"Now, begin talking, fast." I ordered in my most commanding tone. "I want explanations as to why this cowardly and entirely despicable attack upon my consort was perpetrated and who ordered it, and I want the answers now!"
I didn't actually notice it at the time (though Darcy pointed it out later), the fact that I'd started my rant talking like a human girl and ended with the kind of speech-pattern even Loki rarely used anymore (the Shakespearean talking, as she called it).
For all answer I got a bunch of exclamations which could be summarized as various forms of 'princess', 'my lady', and 'Your Majesty' in both Sindarin and Quenya (the two versions of elvish, common and royal, respectively).
I was about to go into a rant, when another voice called to me:
"Tinúviel!" It was a male voice.
I spun around instantly, the hand on my bow tightening almost convulsively, though thankfully I didn't need it. Before me stood a man I knew well, despite the time and many things that had happened since we'd last laid eyes on each other (a lifetime's worth of both): he was tall, about the same height of my love, with alabaster skin, long, straight raven-black hair and deep-blue eyes that shone like stars, he was dressed in tunics and ceremonial armor. He was Erynion, Lord Protector, one of the best warriors in all of Alfheim, head of the Royal Guard; and, once upon a time, he'd been my personal bodyguard, and the closest thing I had to a brother before Thor.
The moment I laid eyes on him there was a part of me (the part that was solely Tinúviel, even when I'd long since assimilated both sides of my soul and heart into one) that wanted to run to Erynion, hold him tight and cry into him like a little girl… or more like I had so many years in the past, when trying to somehow deal with being the crown princess of Alfheim and in love with Prince Loki of Asgard, while knowing I couldn't do both at the same time. But I couldn't do that. I actually had a decently good idea of why exactly my love was being attacked, if the Ljósálfar had somehow discovered about me being Tinúviel's reincarnation… Alfheim might tolerate Jotnar more than even Asgard, but that didn't mean they liked them, and I was fairly sure they'd never abide by one of their royals (even a princes who'd long since abdicated any right to their throne) to be bound to one of 'them' (and they didn't even know he was of Laufey's bloodline!).
So I couldn't be a little girl thrilled at finding her brother, or even a woman delighted at finding old friends again; no, I needed to be the warrior-lady, and the wife…
"Lord Erynion." I greeted him with cold-politeness, mentally begging forgiveness. "Mind telling me why, with no cause whatsoever, my consort was so viciously attacked?"
"He's Jotun!" Several of the elves snarled.
"Yes, and?" I prompted.
"But Princess…!" Several began in obvious disbelief.
"Lets make one thing very clear ladies and gentlemen." I stated as serenely but strongly as I could. "I am not your princess. Yes, I was once Tinúviel, I will not bother denying that. I am not her anymore, haven't been for centuries, and even if I were. My bond to my match will always trump anything else. Loki Odinson is my match, he always has been, and always will be. You raising your weapons at him, meaning him harm, is an insult to both him and myself. I care not about your trust issues, misgivings. The past is painful, yes, I haven't forgotten, haven't forgotten all the blood spilled and lives lost in the Bloody Night, but that tragedy is not on Loki and you will not take your righteous anger out on him. I will not allow it!"
"You are, of course, right, my lady." Erynion said in a very polite and detached manner. "I hope you will forgive my men. In their excitement to learn our dear Princess Tinúviel was walking the Realms once again, they appear to have deprived themselves of any measure of common sense and decorum. You can be sure such a shameful incident will never be repeated."
"I am sure it will not." I nodded.
A small wave of my hand vanished all the bolts, releasing the trapped elves. I briefly considered healing them, then decided such actions would render it all moot. They needed to understand that what they'd done was wrong.
"If it's alright with you, my lord, my lady. I shall escort them to the Hidden Path that leads to Alfheim myself." Sif offered.
I imagined she must have arrived with Erynion, wherever they might have been beforehand. Thor and Jane were standing just inside the house, looking out, thankfully having enough sense not to intervene in what was already a very delicate and volatile matter.
The elves took their leave then, Sif guiding them; which incidentally allowed Erynion to stay behind, at least for a little while… it was all I needed, The moment I was sure the elves were out of range (sight, smell, hearing and any magical senses they might possess) I jumped off the railing and pretty much threw myself into Erynion's arms.
"Muindor!" I breathed out against his chest, as I held on tight.
He held me back just as tightly.
"You're tiny." He commented with a watery smile, after a short eternity.
He was right, of course. Even as Tinúviel I'd been on the short side, when compared to most elves, especially those born into warrior bloodlines like him and Thenidiel; but in my human body I was more than a foot smaller than him! Not that it stopped me from doing whatever I wanted or needed to, or intimidated me in any way.
"It is good to see you again Erynion." I assured him.
"I know." He nodded with a soft smile.
His tone told me that he'd known, that my attitude wasn't against him, that he hadn't taken insult. He'd known I needed to make a stand and would support me, as he always had.
"Who sent them?" I asked, completely serious. "And why now?"
And really, if we were in danger of being attacked again, I needed to know.
"The Elders are behind this." He told me sincerely. "I was of the belief they should not have been so rash in their choices; but alas, I was ignored. Long have some of them believed me to be too close to the situation, to you..."
"Why?" I half-demanded, half-whispered. "Because you deigned to be more than an unfeeling bodyguard to me? Because I saw you as a brother? Or is it their own inadequacy they're trying to foist upon you? Like they tried on me when I refused to dance to their tune so many years ago?"
"A bit of all, I think." Erynion admitted. "As for your second question. It's rather obvious, is it not? The Realms have never forgotten your voice, and every single one of them heard your song yesterday. Tinúviel… your match gave you an apt name."
My mind filled in the blanks. All the realms had heard me sing, but no one outside our own had heard through the end. That, and simply being close enough to be touched by my magic was the reason why Thor and Sif remembered, why the spell had broken on them, when it had with no other. With Erynion and the others… from what I'd been told they had never been under any such spells; they'd refused, disgusted at the mere idea.
"I suppose there are those who still do not like my love." I admitted with a sigh.
"And them learning of his heritage did not help matters any." Erynion added for good measure.
Beside me, my Maverick shrugged, not like he'd apologize for being who he was.
"Even in my last life I knew Loki's heritage could end up causing trouble, particularly with those who did not like my abdicating the throne in the first place." I let out a breath. "It's ironic, you know? How much everyone claims to believe in the teachings of our ancestors, in our legends… until they go against their own plans. They were all willing to believe a match was a gift from the stars, was a bond that could not be denied… until my own pulled me away from the path they wanted me to take. Nevermind that I was never meant for the throne in the first place." I shook my head, mostly to myself. "I should have never been a princess, much less a queen, but I wanted to help Alfheim so much..." I almost felt like crying. "You must know Erynion, I love Alfheim, always have, always will but…"
"But nothing will ever be more important than your match." He finished for me. "I know, I understand… sister."
We made plans for him to visit again (perhaps with his match, Thenidiel), through different Paths so he might see where we actually live, meet our other friends, my human family, our daughter… we also planned on visiting Alfheim ourselves, show Rose my childhood home maybe.
Things weren't perfect, but that was alright, because perfect was boring, and we didn't do boring. We thrived on challenges. Midgard had so much to offer, and one day the rest of the Realms would learn that. Until then, we'd keep on living, getting ready for when that day came.
So, what do you think? Did you like how I brought Thor into things this time? Some of you might be able to guess what's coming, some might not, you will all find out in two weeks. See ya then!