And here we are... surprisingly no one's yet expressed a desire to kill after the latest BoR's chapter... hope that's because you know I'm not leaving things like that and not because no one's read it. Anyway, to the point. I'm warning you all for some drama and a lot of tears in this chapter (no more than in Black Rose, but still), if you've kept up with Bouquet of Roses you must know already what's coming, but still thought I should warn you.
This chapter has a few cameos from DC characters, for this take into consideration their Smallville versions please (though most of them never actually appeared in the series, they were mentioned... also please keep in mind this is happening over a decade before the events of Smallville take place). And for those who are wondering if what you think is coming is really coming... yes. There will be a Smallville crossover, though not here, exactly, rather in BoR.
The song in this chapter is "Into the West" as sung by Annie Lennox (it's the theme for the third LotRs movies, for those wondering).
Finally, slowly but surely we're approaching the present, some of you might already have an idea what's coming, other's not. Hold on tight!
Into the West
There is another world, across the sea of stars, where one day, we will all meet again.
In early 1975 we got a visit, one we could have never expected. Our youngest daughter, Willow, had chosen to drop by; she wasn't alone, though it wasn't Rose accompanying her. It was a man: Johann Reynolds, veteran from the Vietnam War, old friend of Hakon, and with a younger sister who was mutant and attended the Xavier Institute... he (the two of them, really) was there to ask us for Willow's hand in marriage...
I couldn't believe it at first, our youngest so grown up... it saddened me, to think that she'd found a man she loved, a man she wanted to marry him, and we hadn't been there to see it all happening from the start; to see her fall in love, see him make her happy, and when he proposed. He was quite the gentleman, it had been his idea to ask us for her hand, even though Max had already agreed (and as far as most of the world knew, it was his opinion that counted); but he was one of the select few who knew the truth about the woman he was going to marry, her full story, and he respected that she had two fathers; and thus it was only right to ask my love too.
Of course we were delighted to give our approval. Loki took an inordinate amount of pleasure in telling Johann, in great detail what would happen to him if he ever so much as thought about being unfaithful to Willow, or making her in any way unhappy... The man was horrified at the mere thought of being unfaithful; and he was also quite honest when stating that he couldn't promise things would be perfect, but he'd do his best. I beamed at him.
"I'm surprised." He admitted at the end.
"At what?" I inquired as we drank some tea. "Luke's threats? I know some people find him... unsettling when he gets in one of his moods."
"Not really." He admitted. "I already got my fair share from both Max and Alfdis... I'm still trying to decide which was worse. Max might look more like the violent kind... but there's something about a young woman threatening you with a slow death, all while smiling pleasantly at you..."
Luke had to laugh uproariously at that; I could hear his crowing in my head, his pride at Rose...
"But no, that's not what I meant." Johann went on. "What surprises me is... Well, you don't know me, at all. And yet you're so accepting of me... of us..."
"It's quite easy actually." I told him serenely. "Luke and I... we raised Willow as best we could, the same with Rose. We taught them to make their own choices, to make their own lives; and we also made sure they knew that whatever happened, whatever they did, we'd always be here for them... always. It doesn't matter if we don't know you, because Willow does, and she's chosen to marry you. And if she's done that... I know she's not being pushed into it, she's not doing it because she has no other choice, but because she wants to. And I know she knows that if anything goes wrong, she can always come home..."
That applied to both us and the Institute, of course.
I knew not many would be able to understand it, but it was the truth. And the way Willow smiled at us told me she knew it too. She'd made her choice, and she was happy with it, in the end that was all that really mattered.
We arrived to Westchester the day before the actual wedding, got the chance to meet with Rose, Charles, Max, and Max's twin children, Anya's younger siblings. Wendy in particular seemed to find us fascinating; we soon discovered that regardless of what glamour we tried to use, nothing working with her, she could always see right through it. It was fascinating; a facet of her power no one had ever contemplated. Also, we confirmed our suspicion, that Max Eisenhardt was none other than Erik Lehnsherr (though not a comment was made about it).
My husband pouted when being told in no uncertain terms that Max would be the one walking Willow/Anya down the aisle (as most of the guests didn't know about our connection). At the same time, we could be there with no serious glamours, nothing more than the blonde shades in our hair and different styles of clothes. When anyone asked it was simply said that we were friends of the family, from Europe. It was believable enough.
At some point I thought I could see something between Rose and one of the young men present... but it was there one moment and gone the next, and they didn't appear especially close. So in the end I decided to wait and see if she said anything about it, she needed. I couldn't help but feel I was missing something, but chose not to ask about it. Rose had a right to her own life; I could only hope that she would tell me about it, when the time was right.
Willow had asked us to sing for her and Johann's first dance as a married couple, and we were honored to. We chose the song "Tonight I Celebrate my Love" the same one we'd first sung for Ylva's and Fenrir's own ceremony, so many years before (it'd been the start of a good marriage, we could only hope the same for them); it was quite fitting really. It was also on that day that I was officially given a 'mutant name', Charles's students named me: Canary.
"What...?" It took me so much by surprise that for a moment I didn't know what else to say.
"She means no insult." Wendy hurried to reassure me. "The children are just so used to all gifted having a 'special name', and when they learned you didn't have one they jumped at the chance of choosing it. You may, of course, decline..."
"No!" I exclaimed, then formed myself to calm when I could feel several of the children flinch, so I went to my knees, and looked at all of them. "I'm very, so very sorry if I scared you. I didn't mean to. I'm not angry, not at all. I just... I wasn't expecting it. I'd be delighted to be Canary..."
"Yay!" The children all began cheering right away.
They were so young, so innocent, and so full of joy; I was glad my shock hadn't affected them negatively; of course, they couldn't know the true cause for my shock, only my love did, for it was in his mind as much as it was in mine:
The year was 2014, our first visit to the Xavier Institute. We'd been in contact with the leaders of the Institute, and most of the mutant community, during Spring of '13, but we'd never traveled to Westchester. It was a decision based on the fact that we didn't want to risk drawing Thanos's attention upon the Xavier Institute, and especially the children living there. I was already putting everyone at Avengers' Tower at risk; I would never forgive myself if I ended doing the same to kids, innocent children who shouldn't be involved in the upcoming war...
So we'd waited. Past the battle, our six months of 'palace arrest', and settling back in New York. It had been Darcy's idea, back when Hakon was still so young, and his control over his power was kind of flimsy. She'd recommended we attend one of the open classes, see if they could help.
The 'open class' was sort of like a workshop, meant to give the visitors an idea of what the school was like, what young mutants could learn if they were to attend, while at the same time not making them feel too out-of-sorts, or like outsiders. We knew we couldn't exactly have Hakon attend, not when we weren't living full-time on Earth; but still, it was a good visit. Hakon got a few tips on how to control his power better, and had a lot of fun playing with a teenager called Iceman (he seemed to be a favorite among the younger kids).
By the time supper came around Hakon had actually made a few friends (something that made all of us very happy, indeed). He went to find me afterwards, explaining to me how he'd been telling his friends all about me, and how I had the prettiest voice, like magic, and they didn't quite believe him, and could I please sing so they knew he wasn't lying?
I knew it was a bad idea to laugh, much as I wouldn't have been laughing about my son. So instead I kissed his brow and told him to lead me to his new friends. They were just outside. So I ended being lead down several halls and to a small sitting room, the children's sitting room. There I went to sit by the window, with Hakon in my lap, and sang the first song that came to mind, the same one I'd first sung during a Samhain ceremony, back when I was the to-be-Queen of Alfheim: Lalaith Mirloth...
By the end of the song the sitting room was filled, and not only by children; there were also a number of teenagers, and what I imagined had to be at least half of the staff. Charles Xavier smiled at me from the door, a look that seemed to hide a thousand secrets (so much that, ever so briefly I wished I were the telepath, to know what he was thinking exactly), and then...
"Canary!" Someone cried out. "It's you!"
The mutant to call out was a woman, she looked like she could be in her late twenties or early thirties (though I knew better than to trust impressions when it came to the age of mutants... after all, Charles Xavier looked nowhere near the 82 he supposedly was... and lets not mention Raven Xavier-Darkholme); she was brunette, and there was something in her hair, it looked like small feathers of some kind... and instead of arms, she had bird-wings.
"Sirin..." Charles began quietly.
"I'm afraid you have me confused with someone else, miss." I told the woman, not unkindly.
"Oh..." She directed a brief look at the Professor, and I couldn't help but wonder what was being said in their minds, then added. "Apologies ma'am. You just reminded me of someone else, an old friend of the Professor... she has quite a beautiful voice as well."
I vaguely heard my match saying something about no one's voice comparing to my own, didn't hear what (if anything) Sirin, or Charles, or anyone else said in return. I didn't pay the whole thing much mind, choosing instead to focus on the half-asleep child on my lap.
*Oh Stars...* I gasped straight into our bond. *It was me... all along.*
Yes it was, and I had no idea what that meant anymore.
xXx
1976 was quite the eventful year. First we moved out of the mansion in New York, instead going to Hanover, New Hampshire. To the modest apartment where the girls had lived while attending Dartmouth College. It was still in their name, but we knew they wouldn't mind. I even took a few classes, to keep busy, and eventually ended working as a tutor, as did my husband. We took the names of Risa and Lucas Grayson (with our blonde disguises) and began making new lives for ourselves. They were easy lives, with low profiles (especially compared to being related to Howard Stark...).
Hakon retired from the military early in the year. Not because he wanted (both his Papa and I knew quite well he didn't want to), but because he didn't look his age anymore. He was forty, had been in the military for twenty years, and hardly looked a day older than thirty. While he could have probably pulled it off for a few more years... it would have been risky, especially with the volatile attitudes those in power seemed to have towards gifted (one day they saw them as allies, as heroes, and others as risks, potential enemies...).
Our son spent a while with us, took enough classes to validate his law degree (with a new name) and then went to work as a paralegal, before eventually joining a team doing pro-bono work all around the world (it's not like he was in it for the money, and that allowed him to travel, and help other gifted... and for most people not to notice his lack of aging). And while a part of me liked the idea, and would have loved to go with him... another just wasn't ready to give up on my country, and those still living in it, just yet.
And then my first grandchild was born: Django Maximilian Eisenhardt-Reynolds. He was a lovely little boy, completely human, and still the apple of his parents' eyes, and everyone else in the Institute (even those who claimed to be separate from humans).
The greatest shock however, came in 1980... Peggy woke up.
No one understood how it happened, exactly. Steve was still very much lost in the Arctic (which she didn't like, at all). Howard had gone half-crazy over the whole thing, promising time and again to up his efforts to find that plane; and a part of me wondered if that was how it all began... or ended, depending on who you asked.
In the end Marge suggested having Peggy join the SSR again, as a way to keep her busy, and make use of her talents. And so Peggy took the name of Shannon Carter, and soon she'd made herself a figure in the intelligence business again. Officially she was Marge's niece, daughter of his younger brother: Johnathan Carter, a widower and war veteran who didn't doubt to lend his name to the creation of an identity to some top-secret agent, even without having met her (and he couldn't meet her; to others they could easily explain Shannon's likeness to Peggy with familial connections, but Johnathan would have never taken that).
It wasn't a good idea for Lucas or I to get anywhere near the SSR (the people in that business tended to have long memories), so we had to content ourselves with getting calls from Shannon every so often. It was how we learned when they recruited a young agent with great potential from MI5, a young woman called Kathryn Adler...
Tragedy hit our family in 1982, with the death of Johann in a car-accident. There was nothing any of us could have done; he was dead before the ambulance got there. Then, eight months later, my second grandchild: Nina Raisa, was born. Such a lovely little girl...
Lucas and I offered Willow to move in with us for a while at least, to help her with the baby, and the growing Django, but she refused. While she and Johann had had a house in New Jersey, they spent most of the time at the Institute, and that's where she and the children would be staying. It hurt, not being able to help her, but we knew Rose, Max, Charles and everyone else would take good care of all of them. And we were always but a call away.
And then the phone rang, in January of '83; it was Rose, Willow was sick, very, very sick...
I went nearly hysterical, the moment I heard. My husband had to pretty much pack me into the car so we could get to Westchester. There, people were waiting for us, and we were immediately lead straight to our daughter's bedroom. She was in bed, pale, and coughing every so often. Lucas went straight for the medical file on the bedside bed so we would know what was going on exactly, while I went to sit beside my baby and began running a hand through her sweaty hair.
"What's wrong with my baby?" I asked, very softly.
She was half-sleep, and even then it was obvious her sleep wasn't exactly restful, she kept tossing and turning, as if trapped in a nightmare.
"It started as a simple cold, but then it turned into pneumonia..." Lucas murmured quietly. "She appeared to be on the path to recovery, and then the fever came..."
Suddenly there was a pale alabaster hand, with the slightest blue-tint to the skin in my line of sight, as my love pressed his cold palm to Willow's forehead. She shivered almost violently once, then began to settle. The cold touch helping more than a dozen cool compresses would have.
Even as he did all that, I kept focusing on my powers, trying to find something to treat, but I couldn't. Whatever was wrong, it wasn't new, and I couldn't find it...
"A doctor from New York was consulted on the matter." He went on, quietly. "It would appear that Willow's lungs suffered more damage in the fire than we knew... The pneumonia aggravated things and, well..."
"And what?" I demanded, already knowing I wasn't going to like it.
"They've given her a month, perhaps two." He said quietly.
"Yeah well... doctors gave me three months when I was fourteen and here I am!" I couldn't help but snap, holding onto my sanity with teeth and nails.
"You also had an unfair advantage." My love reminded me.
"And couldn't you create another set?" I asked. "The deamarkonian could save her..."
"No." Shockingly, the reply came not from my husband, but my daughter. "No deamarkonian..."
"But Willow..." I began, voice watery.
"Mama, you're here..." She murmured, pressing her face into my touch.
"Of course I'm here, baby, I told you I always would." I assured her, pressing a kiss to her forehead, which was already warming up again. "Won't you let us help you?"
"Not the deamarkonian." She insisted. "It wouldn't be fair. Who could I even ask to do something like that for me? Binding their lives to mine..." She shook her head. "I know Rose would do it, but it wouldn't be fair, not to either of us. Besides, I've already accepted this... I'm going to join my Johann on the other side..."
I couldn't help myself, I burst into tears.
It was worse than accidentally shadow-walking to Salani manor and finding a place that should be my home yet wasn't, a garden that looked nothing like the place that had been my Sanctuary for so many years, the place where I'd met the love of my existence... Even knowing exactly what was wrong, pushing my magic in that direction, nothing could be done. I had no idea what, of everything I was feeling, was wrong with my daughter, and thus, I couldn't fix it.
We stayed inside only long enough to make sure the fever wouldn't spike again, then Lucas was forced to pretty much pull me out of the room, and to where the rest of the extended family awaited us. The moment they laid eyes on us they knew it wasn't good news.
"Oh..." Charles breathed out.
He was the first who saw us enter, the way I practically slid down the wall and curled up against the wall; I was in no mood to look at them, to watch their hopes crumble. They had placed all their hopes on me, on my healing powers, and I was disappointing them...
"I'm no doctor." I tried to explain to the family. "This kind of delicate work... it's the same reason why I could have never healed Charles's spine."
I might be a nurse, I might have read any and all anatomy books I could get my hands on... but books and theoretical knowledge simply weren't enough. If I was honest with myself (which I tried to be), I wasn't sure that, even knowing exactly what was wrong, would have been enough. Some things were just beyond my power, beyond anyone's power...
"Also, it's been so long." I added, even knowing that wasn't really the main point, just to give them something.
"But you can heal!" Max insisted, voice tinted with despair.
"I can, but it's not perfect, it's not absolute." I tried to explain, even as the tears finally began falling. "What I do is heal, not cure. I cannot undo damage. I can coax the tissue into getting better faster, and even that is hard sometimes, and can be dangerous. If I do too much, too fast, I risk having the person go into shock. Their bodies unable to deal with the change... But in Willow's case... I healed everything I could when we found her. I truly went to the limit of what my gift could do, and what she could take."
"And couldn't you have done more, later on?" Peter demanded, testily.
"I honestly don't know." I admitted, regardless of how much it cost me. "I've never been in that kind of situation. And also... I cannot heal something I don't know is there. None of us knew her lungs had suffered such damage. So even if I'd used my powers on her more later on, enough to erase the scars on her body, it wouldn't have changed anything for her lungs. I... I cannot work miracles, and I especially cannot heal what I don't know is wrong!"
My baby! My baby girl was dying... and there was nothing I could do to stop it!
xXx
We didn't plan it, not really, but Lucas and I ended pretty much moving into the mansion for the following months. We helped wherever we could, with Willow/Anya, with baby Nina, Django, even with the younger students sometimes. They took to getting as close to my daughter's rooms as they could every night in order to hear me sing, or play the flute. And eventually I just began singing for them too.
In the end, we managed to give Anya a lot more than a month, we gave her six. She still had that persistent cold, which no matter what we did, simply didn't end; but we made her as comfortable as she could be, and stayed by her side through it all. Then, almost three weeks after Nina's first birthday, the goodbyes began.
"Don't cry Mama..." She whispered when my turn came, I was the last. "You know this is not an eternal goodbye. We'll meet again, one day... All of us. The whole family will be together."
"Yes we will, one day." I nodded at her, kissing her brow with all the love I had.
I knew death wasn't the end... having been dead twice and all that... and I knew that a part of Anya felt relief at her coming departure, because she'd no longer be suffering, she would be at peace, and she would be with Johann again... She had nothing to worry about, she knew her family would be well looked after; we'd be alright. And one day we'd all join her on the Other Side. Or, who knows? Perhaps she'd join us on this one...
"Do you remember what the Other Side is like?" She asked me suddenly.
We'd talked about my deaths before. I'd thought it might be a good idea, to help her not be afraid of death... though I wasn't sure if she'd ever been, not really. She was such a brave girl, my Anya, my Willow... she might not have been of my blood, but she was a child of my heart and I loved her as much as I did any of my other children.
"Not really." I admitted, cocking my head sideways. "I only know it's a good place, a place where you can rest, where you'll find True Peace... where you'll never have to suffer, or feel pain, or worry ever again. Where there's only light..."
"Sounds nice..." She murmured quietly, looking like she was about to fall asleep.
I didn't plan it, not really, but from one moment to the next, I began singing a new song:
"Lay down
Your sweet and weary head
Night is falling
You have come to journeys end"
"Sleep now and dream
Of the ones who came before
They are calling
From across the distant shore"
"Why do you weep?
What are these tears upon your face?
Soon you will see
All of your fears will pass away
Safe in my arms
You're only sleeping"
I was sitting on her bed, with my baby (no matter how old she might be, she'd always be my baby) in my arms, her head in my lap as I ran a hand through her beautiful hair. My match was on her other side, half curled against her back and an arm around her waist, and I could tell he was wishing he never had to let her go. Though we both knew that was an impossible wish. Our little girl was leaving us, and there was nothing we could do to change that. All we could do was love her, love her with all our hearts and pray to the stars that she would be happy, wherever she went.
"What can you see on the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?
Across the sea a pale moon rises
The ships have come to carry you home"
"And all will turn to silver glass
A light on the water
All souls pass"
A part of me did wonder, what the Other Side might be like. I had most of my memories of my life as Tinúviel, and the memories of my life as Silbhé... but I had no memories of the intervening years, the time I'd spent... elsewhere. And my death as Silbhé... that time I'd gone no further than Hel's Hall, so there was nothing to remember from that experience, not really. I knew the Other Side (the Afterlife, Heaven, whatever some people might wish to call it) existed, that we didn't just cease to exist... but I couldn't remember what might exist there. Maybe I wasn't supposed to; maybe it was just the kind of truth those of the living simply weren't equipped to comprehend...
"Hope fades
Into the world of night
Through shadows falling
Out of memory and time"
"Don't say
We have come now to the end
White shores are calling
You and I will meet again
and you'll be here in my arms
just sleeping"
I wasn't sure when it happened, exactly, but at some point the room became really crowded. Hakon was sitting on a corner of the foot of the bed; Django in the other side, with the half-asleep Nina in his arms. Peter, Wendy, Max, Charles, Raven, Irene and Kurt were all standing in between the bed and the window, in silent vigil; the rest of the staff and a number of students either sat on the floor or stood against the walls of the opposite side of the room, and I could sense that those that hadn't fit inside were just out the door. Anya/Willow was someone special, so very special, not just for us family, but for all of them too and they would miss her dearly. They too were there to pay their respects in whatever way they could and to say their goodbyes.
"What can you see on the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?
Across the sea a pale moon rises
The ships have come to carry you home"
"And all will turn to silver glass
A light on the water
Grey ships pass into the west"
Anya Willow's eyes closed as the song came to an end, a serene smile on her face... she never woke up again.
xXx
The next year we got a message from Shannon, it was to let us know that the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division had just been founded, from the remains of the SSR (which, in recent years had been operating mostly as a private corporation, ever since MI5 and MI6 had risen high enough to take its place in keeping the UK safe), Division X (mostly defunct since the Cuban Missile Crisis), and top-secret departments within other intelligence agencies (like the CIA, FBI, NSA, Interpol, and the aforementioned MI5 and MI6) that had been devoted to dealing with the more 'extraordinary' events (or, in other words, less-normal things that might take place). The founders were Chester Phillips, Marge Carter-Sholto and Howard Stark; though only the first two were truly in command (since Howard wasn't intelligence, or military, he served more as an advisor).
They were working on creating teams by putting together agents of both countries, those who seemed most compatible. The first team had already been approved, formed by former SSR star duo (and Marge's proteges) Shannon Carter and Kathryn Adler, and an ex-military man, who was said to have been one of the best in the CIA, before joining the new agency: Nicholas Fury.
We didn't get the chance to ponder much on that, as we got a call from Westchester, asking us for help. They'd been attacked by Stryker and a team who'd tried to abduct several of the students. They'd fought them all off quite successful, the only real injury was (of course), Rose, who'd been shot in her flank. And it was bad...
Though, if I was honest, I didn't know what I was even surprised. We were talking about a girl that was a mix of my love and myself... of course she'd be the kind to get into heaps of trouble (sometimes caused by herself), of course she would fight tooth and nail to protect those who'd earned her trust, those she loved... of course she'd rather take a bullet than watch someone else be hurt, or worse.
There was a somewhat... odd event, that happened at some point. There had been some rumors in recent months about an operation, or possibly an organization called 'Checkmate', which, was supposedly acting in service of the government and the population, by seeking to keep control of 'inhuman individuals'. In my book that was a very twisted way of saying they wanted to take control of the gifted. SHIELD couldn't take an official stand, since the group didn't officially exist at all (much like the Winter Soldier, really); but at least a few decided it might be cause for worry. So, having nothing better to do, my love and I decided to offer a hand.
We made it all the way to Kansas where we, thankfully, didn't have to wait long. As something happened the very first time we got there. A fight, between individuals in rather... interesting costumes. The ones that called my attention most were the two with bird-wings on their backs... their images, I'd seen such images before...
*Is it just me or...?* I began, speaking straight into my love's mind.
*It's not just you.* He replied, eyes fixed straight on the same two. *They look just like the ones in that old painting, in Kontar's and Sharifa's palace...*
*Of Prince Khufu and his consort, Lady Chay-Ara...* I finished for him, calling the memory to mind with a little effort.
*Exactly.* He agreed.
*Is it possible?* I asked, intrigued. *Could it really be them?*
*I do not know.* My love admitted. *Remember that old legend Kontar told us about the people in the painting?*
*How they were cursed by one of their enemies, to find and fall in love with each other lifetime after lifetime, only to then have to lose each other?* I remembered. *You know, I always thought that perhaps, if the curse did exist, it was simply them having to remember; their falling in love could be easily explained by them being a match, and even by the memories themselves. And if they were Warriors...*
If they were anything like Kontar and Sharifa (always fighting for those they saw as their own) then their dying time and again was really no surprise.
Eventually it seemed like the enemies, a bunch of people in odd suits, and a male that appeared to be completely covered in ice, seemed to decide that retreat was necessary. My husband and I looked at each other and silently agreed that whatever 'Checkmate' was, it was probably in some way connected with the team of superheroes and the villains we'd just seen fight... and it probably wasn't a good idea to approach them when they were still on an adrenaline-high caused by the fight. No, it was probably best to try and find them later... at least that was the plan until I felt a stab of dark glee, a second before I saw what looked like a ray of ice, from the corner of my eye.
I didn't stop to think about it (really, was it a surprise the kind of trouble my daughter got into when I was exactly the same...? Or she was the same as me... same difference); I dropped off the balcony where we'd been standing, teleporting mid-fall to appear right in the attack's path, fingers already tracing runes in the air as I re-appeared:
"Algiz!" The shield materialized at my finger-tips just in the nick of time.
"What the...?!" I could hear vague, loud cursing at my back, however, before any of them could move my love was standing right there.
"Who are you?!" The man with the bird... hawk? Wings demanded sharply, weapon (medieval style) raised threateningly.
"Wait!" His partner, the young woman in a similar attire and wings, stopped him suddenly. "Don't attack them! They... they just saved my life..."
"Hawkman! Hawkgirl!" A man in a blue, red a white suit that seemed almost a mock-up of Captain America's get-up, called as he approached. "Are you alright?"
"It was Icicle!" A blonde woman in dark bodysuit called as she approached. "He turned back at some point, shot that ray, then ran away. I'm sorry Hawkman, he slipped away."
"It's alright." Hawkgirl assured them. "We're alright... thanks to them..."
"That still doesn't explain why they did it..." Hawkman practically growled.
"You were in a bind and I knew I could help." I answered simply as I let the shield fall (finally deciding there probably wouldn't be another attack coming). "The right question would be: why shouldn't I do so?"
"Do you always speak in riddles?" The man in the colorful suit asked, sounding confused.
And then, as if the situation weren't already way too complicated, the next words to come out of Hawkgirl's mouth sealed the deal:
"Serrure...?"
For a handful of seconds no one said anything at all, and then.
"What?!" That was Hawkman.
"It is him!" Hawkgirl insisted. "Just look at him!"
"That's impossible, Serrure lived a thousand years ago." Hawkman snapped.
"So did we." She reminded me.
"So it really is you." My love interrupted them, cocking his head sideways. "We'd wondered..."
"We...?" They both turned to me instantly.
"Sharifa? Kontar?" I said the names purposefully as I went to stand beside my husband.
"Rossi?" Hawkgirl asked in return.
For all answer I stepped forward again, using a finger to trace a slash on one of Hawkman's arms, healing it as I went. It was only a flesh wound, easy enough to deal with:
"I may not look the same, but it is me." I nodded.
"How is this possible?" Hawkman wanted to know. "You should have died..."
"You always knew we weren't exactly 'normal'." My match pointed out quite calmly for our situation. "And, in any case, shouldn't we be the ones asking that question? Particularly when we quite clearly remember you dying..."
I flinched slightly at the memory, of the battle, the blood, their refusal to abandon their people, to survive without each other... and the song I'd sung for them as their souls departed the world...
"Someone mind explaining the rest of us what exactly is going on here?" The blonde in black asked with a hint of annoyance.
"I think this kind of conversation is better had in private." I suggested.
And really, civilians had ran away when the battle had begun, but they wouldn't be staying away forever. It would be better if we left before police arrived, or worse.
"Of course." Hawkgirl agreed instantly. "Follow us please."
xXx
We were guided to a town-house which seemed to serve both as living quarters and base of operations of the team; the 'Justice Society of America', we were told they called themselves. The moment we arrived Hawkman and Hawkgirl took off their helmets, setting them on the round table before taking a seat.
"Hey man!" The man in blue and red called loudly. "What are you doing? How do you even know you can trust these guys?!"
"Because we know them." Hawkgirl told them simply. "We've known them for a while..."
"It really has been a very long time, hasn't it?" I asked quietly. "A lifetime..."
"More for us." Hawkgirl murmured. "Quite a few more."
"So you did die." Hawkman said almost at the same time. "Though you were only reincarnated once? And how does he look exactly the same?"
Loki and I looked at each other silently, trying to decide what to say and what not to. In the end we decided to go with the truth... but a somewhat broad version of it.
"That's because he hasn't died, not yet." I began. "I, however, did die. Several decades after the two of you. I don't know if I've had other incarnations, if I did I don't remember them."
"You didn't die?!" Hawkgirl exclaimed in shock.
"You always knew we weren't human, not really." My love reminded them. "Lets just say I belong to a very long living race... Rossi was reincarnated as a human, but our reunion changed her, into a mix of who she was born as, and who she used to be back when you first knew us..."
"Were you cursed?" Hawkman wanted to know. "Like us?"
"No." I shook my head, remembering what I'd told my love not two hours before. "We're not cursed. We're a match."
"A match...?" The blonde in black inquired curious.
"A pair meant for each other." I explained softly. "Whose love shall last till the last star falls from the sky... I speak of soulmates."
"Soulmates?" The woman repeated. "That's nothing more than children's tales..."
"I disagree." My love and I stated at the same time.
"Love isn't a curse." I added for good measure. "The kind of lives we lead... I knew someone once who told me that knowing they were a match gave her hope, hope that even if the worst came to pass, they would have a chance to meet again, to love each other again..."
No one replied to that. Though I couldn't be sure if it was because I made them think, or because they thought I was insane...
Things got better afterwards. Introductions were made, and eventually the other two (Star Spangled Kid and Black Canary) trusted us at least enough to take off their masks and sit down. We didn't really talk much of the past; those were other lives and didn't have much impact in our current ones. Though they did tell us some about the JSA, the team of superheroes they'd formed in the last decade, seeking to keep the world protected. And 'Checkmate', the government group that sought to either turn them into their lackeys or, if that failed, destroy their reputations and their lives as a whole. They were the ones who sent Icicle and the others in the odd suits, seeking to destroy the heroes and, if possible, discover their true identities.
At the end of the day we were offered membership, but we declined. Being heroes was simply not our style. Though we did tell them some things about the X-Men, and how to know when they could trust others (like in SHIELD).
When we reported back to SHIELD we told them very little. We told them what we'd discovered about Checkmate, citing 'anonymous sources', which Shannon knew better than to ask about. We didn't tell them anything of the Society though, much as we might believe in SHIELD and everything it stood for, Loki and I'd never been exactly supportive of the 'Watchmen' approach. If they eventually wanted to get in touch and ally with SHIELD, or any other team or government organization; that would be up to them.
xXx
We never did go back to New Hampshire after Willow's passing. It just didn't feel right. Instead we took to traveling for a while (it's how we eventually ended doing that mission for SHIELD), before eventually ending somewhere in Wisconsin, where we took new names (Rossi and Serrure Zabo, this time), I decided to re-qualify as a nurse, while my love worked fixing things (he'd learned a lot, working with Howard). It was a good, easy life; though not really enough. Which was why when, in 1988, Calvin Johnson, a doctor I'd worked with for a while, who'd gone for a summer to work with Doctors Without Borders in Asia, called to tell me he was planning to stay in China to open a clinic in a small town in the Hunan Province that had no doctors, and to ask me for help... I said yes immediately.
It was truly a small town, with very little resources, and it was not surprising that the people were so glad to have Calvin, and later even Serrure and myself there. Though, from what he told us, it had taken a bit to earn their trust, as they were the kind of town that didn't usually like strangers. He probably wouldn't have been able to stay if it hadn't been for Jiaying...
Jiaying was a beautiful Chinese woman, as Calvin explained to us, she assisted him, as a nurse before I arrived, but more importantly, with translations, as his Chinese was very poor. I myself knew the basics of the language but wasn't exactly fluent, she helped me with that.
Eventually we learned that Jiaying was one of the Elders of the village, which we all found somewhat odd, seeing how she looked like someone in her mid-thirties at most; while the rest of the elders were at least in their sixties. My husband suspected that she wasn't exactly human, but neither of us felt there was enough trust to ask. So we chose to ignore the obvious signs and go on with our lives, deciding that if it truly became important someone would mention it at some point... it never was.
Calvin and Jiaying got married in 1988, in a small but quite heartfelt ceremony. It was obvious how much those two loved each other (I was quite sure they were a match, actually), and both Serrure and I wished them all the best. I suspected that neither of them had had much cause to be truly happy in their lives.
In the Fall of 1991, the four of us were watching in a mix of sick fascination and gut-churning horror the footage of what had happened in Egypt, a mix of pictures and even video people had been taken at the time of the catastrophe, and more recent images of the aftermath; neither of us quite paying attention to the reporter, going into the theories people had of what had happened, and what little was known... we all practically jumped when the phone rang.
It was a mobile-phone. One of the best (which was really nothing compared to what I'd grown used to in the time we originally came from); but the little community really had no landlines, and therefore no phones; so the mobile was our best way of communicating.
"Hello... this is Serrure Zabo speaking..." My husband answered, very formally.
While the phone technically belonged to us, it wasn't uncommon for calls to come in, meant for someone else, most of the time Calvin, but even others in the town.
"What?!" The yell definitely made us all jump that time.
"Serrure..." I call quietly, as he hang up the phone almost violently enough to break it. "Love..."
"We need to go." My love announced instantly. "A plane is being sent for us. We need to get to Changsha Huanghua International Airport."
"A plane...?" Jiaying called, completely confused.
"What's happened?" Calvin inquired, very worried. "Do you need any help?"
Serrure ignored their questions, probably didn't hear them at all; instead he looked straight at me as he four words:
"Rose was in Cairo."
I could have screamed. I could have, but in the end I didn't. There was simply no point. Instead I forced myself to focus. Jiaying and Calvin knew exactly who Rose was (even if they knew not how old she was... or how old we were for that matter). In minutes we were ready to go and Calvin was pressing the keys to his car into Serrure's hand, telling him not to worry about anything and that they'd be waiting for us, they hoped our daughter would be alright.
xXx
It was the worst twelve hours of my life. Calvin's car did help, since it would have been a bad idea to end up calling attention to ourselves by using the Shadow Paths or anything... and since the CIA was sending a plane, we couldn't exactly explain to them why it wasn't necessary. I had no idea how anyone had explained the need of us, when no one knew of Rose's connection to us. So we got to the Changsha Airport, got on the CIA plane... which thankfully turned out to be one either Stark or McCoy had worked on at some point, as it was faster than most planes. That and the fact that no stops were made allowed us to get to Egypt much faster than we'd have in any other circumstances... it was still absolute torture.
Raven was waiting for us at the airport in Cairo. Apparently she'd arrived but a couple of hours earlier, having put her son through his paces, teleporting across half a dozen countries (at least) to get to Egypt, the moment she'd heard something had happened in Cairo and somehow Rose was involved. Her son was keeping watch over my daughter, along with the very Agent who'd gotten her involved in the mess (not like I thought Rose a defenseless child who couldn't make her own choices, but still): Moira MacTaggert.
Raven must have repeated a dozen times how she, Charles and Max had had no idea anything was going on, how they'd have never allowed Rose to go into a potentially dangerous situation without backup. I wasn't really paying attention to her, completely focused on my daughter.
Rose was in a private room in the area of the American Embassy that served as the Infirmary. Apparently the hospitals were filled to capacity with people who'd been affected by the explosion in some way or another; and Agent MacTaggert had believed it to be safer to keep Rose inside the Embassy. The official version of events was that ChaosRose had become aware of the explosion right as it began and used her powers to try and minimize the damage; I knew instinctively that was not what had happened. However, I chose not to ask, instead focusing on using my own gifts to heal my child as much as I could. Even then, it was a full week before she opened her eyes:
"You need to stop giving us these scares Rosie..." I whispered, kissing her brow. "I thought your Papa was gonna go berserk this time."
It really had seemed like that for a moment, he'd been beyond insane with worry.
"You know I cannot make such promises, Mama." She said softly, but dead-honestly. "Not when my taking the risks might make a difference between others living or dying."
"I told your Adar (Father) you would say that." I had, he hadn't liked it anymore than I did, but there was nothing we could do to change it, she was exactly as could be expected from a mix of us, and being raised by us (I could quite clearly remember jumping off a balcony and calling on a shield to stop an attack that could have killed Hawkgirl). "Cannot say I'm really surprised, we're very much alike, you and I; and not just in looks. There are times when I wonder if it's a consequence of your soul coming into being when I was Ljósálfar myself..."
It wasn't something I liked to ponder on for long, as the mere idea of having lost her once hurt, even if it'd been another life and there had been nothing I could do (not the least because I myself had died but minutes later). Still, I didn't think it to be a coincidence that, from the very start of my pregnancy, I'd known her name to be Rose (the name I'd chosen for my baby back then had been Meril, the elven word for 'rose'). And it wasn't about me, or us, trying to substitute one child with another... it was simply an instinct, a knowledge we couldn't quite explain, it was just there.
"Where were you this time?" Rose asked to change the topic.
"China." I smiled as I answered. "The Hunan Province. There's a small village there, they have limited resources. A man I knew, he left his practice in Wisconsin to join Doctors Without Borders. It was supposed to just be a few weeks, but then he apparently realized that there were villages far away from the main cities, they didn't have doctors. So he went to one and built a clinic there. I knew him briefly years ago, when I sought to re-qualify as a nurse. He invited us to join him." She let out a breath. "We knew all along we wouldn't be able to stay where we were forever. People would eventually begin noticing that we don't age. So we waited just long enough to make sure things were alright with Howard and his family, with Marge and hers, and with the newly formed SHIELD, then we packed our bags and left. It wasn't originally the plan to go to China, but there just came a time when we felt like we could no longer stay in America, the risks were too great (and not just of someone suspecting something about us, but of us changing things we shouldn't). So we left."
She nodded. I suspected she'd already been expecting us to do something like that. Maybe not China exactly, but still.
"That's related to something else we need to talk to you about." I decided that time was as good as any to bring the topic up.
"You're leaving." She said, apropos of nothing.
For a moment I wondered if she'd 'seen' it, then I decided it made no difference. It was still coming, and I needed to explain things to her.
"Yes." I nodded. "I will be born next year... or the girl I used to be will... the point is the same. It'll be too risky for us to stay after that."
"I don't understand." She admitted, confused. "I though you didn't meet Papa until you were 11."
"That's true." I agreed with a small smile. "But even before that, Loki took to traveling to this world. We don't know if my birth was somehow connected, or if it was entirely coincidental, but from the summer of next year on, the Loki of this time will begin traveling more often to this world. Eventually meeting me, or the eleven-year-old me. Your Papa and I cannot be here when that happens, it'd be too risky."
I had no idea what would happen if the other Loki realized something was off, much less if he happened to see one or both of us... but I... we'd rather not risk it.
"So you're leaving this realm." She'd obviously caught on to the comments about 'world'. "Where are you going then? I know you cannot go to Asgard, or Jotunheim, or even Alfheim."
"No, none of those." I shook my head slightly. "Not Helheim either. Much as I'd love to spend time with your sister, it's not time yet. We're going to Vanaheim. Few enough people there knew us, even during my past-life, and the way the realm exists, in separate sectors rather than a single Kingdom, it'll allow us to live there without being bothered, or bothering others."
"When are you coming back?" She asked next.
"2012, most likely." She answered.
I didn't tell her why that year exactly, and she didn't ask. Truth was, I wouldn't have known what to say even if she had asked... if there was one thing we'd never mentioned, to anyone at all, but especially not the children, was everything that concerned the Chitauri and their two invasions: in 2012 and 2013. If they knew they'd want to intervene, it would be impossible for them not to... and that was something that couldn't be allowed, the risks were simply too great.
Serrure and I stayed in Cairo for a week more after our daughter woke up, until we were sure she would be alright. Then, accepting that there was nothing else we could do,, that Raven and Kurt would get her back to the Institute safely (and it would be suspicious if we stayed for much longer) we said our goodbyes and went back to China.
Calvin and Jiaying were very happy to see us again, even more when they heard that our daughter would be making a full recovery. We also got the chance to celebrate the news they had for us: Jiaying was pregnant. Things were definitely looking up.
xXx
The terrible news came less than two months later. It was Shannon who phoned us. Howard and Maria Stark had died the night before in an awful car accident. Preliminary investigation seemed to indicate that Howard had lost control of the car (some said he might have been drunk) and crashed. I didn't want to believe it, didn't want to believe that the man I'd called brother for almost fifty years was the kind of man who would get drunk and drive... but it'd become obvious in recent years that I didn't know him as well as I thought I did.
The hardest part was, perhaps, not being able to be there for Tony, Shannon, Marge, even Jarvis, all the people, all our friends and family that were hurting over the loss of both Howard and Maria. But we couldn't be there. The press (the tabloids) had finally gotten tired of speculating about the 'reclusive half-sister of Howard Stark'... we couldn't risk it, not even with glamours.
So instead we waited until the service ended, until the last person left and the workers finished filling the graves; waited until there was no one near who might see us, and then my love and I approached the grave.
"Oh Howard..." I murmured quietly as I dropped to my knees before the tomb. "What happened to us? How did we end up here?"
I'd always known he'd die, before meeting him even, had even had a general idea of when it would happen and yet... even all the theoretical knowledge in the world couldn't have prepared me for what I was feeling in that moment. It reminded me of when I'd lost Willow, though that had been in many ways infinitely more painful.
"Our daughter was here..." My husband murmured quietly.
I saw the perfect black rose amidst all the other funeral flowers quite easily, there was no doubt at all who it was that had put it there.
No more words were said, they weren't needed. Memories kept piling up, conjured by either my Maverick or I, relived by both: memories of the times Howard had tried to meet us, and the coincidental meeting in that park, the day I'd become his sister, when we'd met Peggy, and Dr. Erskine, and then Steve... when we'd joined the war... so much that happened over those years, and even more afterwards. A lifetime word of memories, things we'd never forget, not if we lived thousands of years. And perhaps that was a good thing, perhaps then Howard will live just as long, in our minds, and our hearts... and so would everyone else we'd ever known.
We didn't talk, but we weren't fully silent either. I pulled the black jade dizi from a pocket in my jacket and sitting right there on the snowy ground began playing a quiet melody, my own version of a goodbye to the brother I'd never forget.
So, as you might have noticed I've actually been preparing the Smallville crossover since Necklace of Songs... that was a bit insane, but I liked it. And the whole thing with those two reincarnating and keeping their memories was just so convenient...
So, what do you think about the whole 'Canary' issue? Yes, Nightingale is Canary, she always was. It's something I planned since I decided to make this time travel. You might or might not have realized it at some point. It was never about 'changing' things, or 'not changing' them. Things were as they were (like in HP when the timeturner is used). Also, that's why I couldn't do DoFP like it was in canon, because following that concept, it wasn't possible for Wolverine to travel back and change the past. It would have ruined the point I was trying to make.
Hope you like all the things I've done thus far, and what's yet to come. (You have no idea, and having so much fun... and quite a few headaches, to be honest, writing it). See ya next week!