Awakening

Wow..I just realized that Awakening is now longer than The Unknown Variable. That's...a bit minhd blowing to me if I'm completely honest. Sorry for the lateness in updates school's been long so I wanted a break over the weekend and then I had a paper on String Theory to write. :/

Anyway, enjoy everyone! :)

Ok, so I played my violin for about four hours, and then got hungry. After convincing Jar that it was ok for me to be eating coffee ice cream and cheese danishes at three in the morning, I popped over to check on Loki. Only to find that he and Adayna were sleeping rather deeply in the master bedroom. Thankfully I could sense them as soon as I appeared in the foyer. I wasn't stupid enough to appear right in their bedroom, I had no desire to be scarred for life by the boy who I practically raised.

Well, I doubted that it would actually scar me, considering I was so old I couldn't even remember my age; but still. Not something I wanted to see.

So, I vanished again after leaving Loki a note to call me in the morning, though this time I went and checked up on Odin.

As I reappeared on our little island that I had warded to the teeth, I was somewhat pleased to find that Odin was actually awake. Perched on top of a cliff in full view of the ocean and the small house behind him, the Asgardian King made for a rather depressing sight. In a day and a half, Earth time, Odin had definitely been knocked down a few pegs. With his tangled hair, dirt covered skin and clothes, slumped posture, and tired expression, he looked almost...ghost like.

To be honest, it sent shivers up my spine, seeing my old friend like that.

But he still deserved it; damn it he deserved it.

"I see you found your lodgings for the time being." I said softly, my voice barely rising above the soft whispering of the breeze.

he sky was filled with stars, and the moon floated high above in the heavens. You could see so many stars from the island than you could from the Tower. Stupid air and light pollution.

Odin didn't respond, so it was with a sigh that I sat down beside him on the edge of the cliff. Glancing over at the Asgardian out of the corner of my eye I couldn't help but be slightly concerned. Yeah he had pissed me off and had treated Loki like shite, but something seemed...different...about the god.

Maybe he had just finally realized his mistakes, that was why he was here after all.

"Hindsight can be both a blessing and a curse." I spoke softly, knowing that Odin would the truth to those words. "Though most of the time, it's a very heavy curse."

I fell silent again, enjoying the warm tropical air on my skin. It was september in New York, and so that meant that autem was literally on our doorstep. Warm days were a rare treat in the city.

The cold didn't bother me, I could feel it, but most of the time it couldn't hurt me. To be honest, I couldn't remember a time when I had died of hypothermia, or hyperthermia for that matter.

I blinked in silent. Who knew I was still discovering things about myself and my Immortal status even after all of these millenia?

Weird.

"You are weird, love."

Sending a mental scowl at the bond I stuck my 'tongue' out at Mortem.

"Would it kill you to stay out of my mind?" I asked with a drawl as I gazed up at the moon, and poked the Bond.

"I'm Immortal." Was Mortem's witty reply. "Besides, your head is more interesting than Reaper reports. I swear, it's like my Duties have nothing better than paperwork for me to do."

I raised an eyebrow at his behavior and gave him a stern feeling through the Bond.

"Glad to know I'm so entertaining." I sighed, I didn't really mind that Mortem kept an eye on me, but still. I didn't go evesdropping on his thoughts whenever I got bored. Actually, I could count on one hnad the number of times that I've peaked at his thoughts at all.

"You should be proud." He said chipperly and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

Mentally shaking my ehad I pushed Mortem back to his side of the Bond. He could bug me laterr, when I dropped in for a visit.

I refocused on odin, feeling slightly bad about being drawn into a mental converstaion with my Bonded while I was sitting right next to him. But I shrugged off the bad feelings, there wasn't all that much I could do about it. Besides, it seemed that Odin hadn't even realized.

"I am a bad father."

Odin's gruff voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I looked over at him in consern. He was glaring down at his hands, which were clenched into tight fists. His eys held dark electric rage and much self loathing. I couldn't help but cringe at the look on his face.

I wasn't trying to get Odin to hate himself, just realize his mistakes and to get his head of his ass.

But I suppose that this was better than denial.

"No, you're not." I said with a sigh as I turned back towards the ocean reflecting the night sky.

Odin grunted, but didn't say another word. Obviously he didn't agree with me, and that was something I was going to fix.

"Odin, yes you made mistakes, and yes I was rather disapointed in you and angry. Noto to mention Loki's emotions, but you must understand. Allfather or not, Asgardian or not, you're still Mortal; and all mortals make mistakes. Even Immortals make mistakes!" I exclaimed, though the mistakes of Immortals usually had really bad, far reaching consinquences. But he didn't need to know that. "I didn't bring you hear for you to wallow in self pitty and self loathing. I brought you here so you can see, accept, and then learn from your mistakes. You are a wonderful King Odin, and a great father. You just...lost sight of that."

"I'm not good for asgard, I'm not good for my family." Odin grumbled under his breath and I had to restrin my self, the urge to smack him was so strong.

"Oh stop that!" I exclaimed and gave into my urge. Smacking Odin upside of the head was insainly satisfying, and I knew that I would be sharing the memory with Mortem and Loki later. "I just said that you're a good king who just lost sight of his family."

Odin didn't respond, though I say him looking at me out of the corner of his eyes.

With a sigh I shook my head and turned back towards the horizon.

"I'm going to give you another peice of advice Odin, since most of my words are simply floating through your ears." I stated as Odin stiffened his shoulders just slightly. I used to use that fraise a lot in Asgard when people weren't listening to me.

Repeating it now probably had brought up memories, good.

"Take your time here not as imprisonment to wallow in your self misery. Take this time as an opterunity to reflect on your wrongs and to plan your redemption. Dwell on how you shall apologise, and where you shall go from there."

Standing, I patted Odin on the arm before turning on my heel.

"You aren't a bad person Odin, so do not think you are. You just...needed some sense talked into you."

Nodding to myself, my Sparks flared and I vanished into the night.

I still had about five or six hours to spare.

My visit with Mortem hadn't been all that intersting. No one besides the Reapers were surprised when I had appeared in the middle of this world's Helheim/Supplicium. Mortem had simply rolled his eyes, kissed me, ordered the Reapers back to work, and then dragged me to his office.

After a while I ended up helping him with paperwork. It had reminded me that sometimes, not having Adiutores in this world wasn't a bad thing. They required a lot of micromanaging.

Well, the truth was that it wasn't that I didn't have any Adiutores, but that I didn't have any in a world until after I had Awoken there and assigned some. Even then they weren't completely official Adiutores, since I was still half human and couldn't perform the correct ritual.

Not to mention I was forced to leave a previously visited dimension in the hands of my 'Adiutore' without being able to return or contact them at all.

To be honest it made me feel a bit guilty.

(I flinched away from memories and thoughts of my first ever Adiutore. She had been an accident, I hadn't meant to...no, no, don't think about it!)

I shook my head, there wasn't really much I could do about it.

So, after spending about three hours hanging out with Mortem and 'helping' him with paperwork, Mortem kicked me out to actually get some work done. He acted irritated but I knew him to well, it was all an act.

So, I returned to the Tower. Pepper was already up, and I was able to get a quick hi in before she vanished off to the office a few floors down. It was actually nice that Stark Tower was NY's Star Industries building as well. Kept her around more often, which made Dad happy.

Romanoff and Barton strolled into the room around seven thirty, and I didn't say anything about the two being together as I finished the french toast, bacon, and hashbrowns. I knew that the two were a couple, their Souls reflected the other's color too much otherwise. It wasn't an uncommon reaction in Souls who care for one another greatly, but theirs was rather strong. It was the closest a human couple would ever get to a Bond.

"Morning Natasha, Barton." I greeted them with a nod as the both pulled mugs out of the cupboard and practically attacked the Jarvis run coffee machine.

Natasha grunted in greeting, knocking Barton's mug away as hers filled first. My lips twitched in amusement as I saw Barton sighed, it looked like Romanoff wasn't much of a morning person.

"How come she's Natasha, but I'm Barton?" The archer asked with a raised eyebrow as he stole the machine as soon as Natasha's mug cleared.

The red haired assassin was curled up in a chair, her mug between her hands before Barton's coffee even started pouring.

"Because," I said simply as I slid the last french toast slice onto the stack. "Natasha asked me to call her by her given name; and, no offence Barton, but I barely know you."

Shrugging, Barton leaned back against the counter as tried to snag a piece of bacon. I slapped his hand away with my spatula, my lips twitching again. Rolling his eyes Barton just sipped as hi coffee. I had never gotten into the drink to be honest, not in any lifetime.

(Mortem found it amusing that I was proud of that fact.)

"You barely know Natasha." Barton pointed out, and I gave him a half shrug in response as I brought all of the food over to the table. I made a lot of food, but then, we had a lot of people with higher than normal metabolisms.

"While I only met her the other day, we've worked together in the past and I kept a very close eye on her while she was profiling Dad. While it is mostly one sided, I have a history with her. You on the other hand, along with the Cap, are new players. So...sorry." I shrugged again, and realized that I was doing that a lot this morning. Oh well.

Barton opened his mouth, thought for a moment, before nodding in defeat.

"I guess that makes sense." Barton acknowledged slowly. "So, I'm assuming that the two of you fixed the whole 'getting shot in the chest but not dying' thing?"

I snorted, amused that Barton was making light of such a situation. Eyeing him closely as I grabbed a plate for myself and settled down at the table with a hash brown and some bacon, I realized that I might have misjudged the archer.

Not that I had built much of an opinion of him in the first place but still.

"Hmhmm," I hummed as I devoured my plate of bacon. Dad would be up in about ten minutes, and I wanted a full stomach before he chased me around the Tower like I knew he was going to.

"Well, that's good." Barton stated before flopping down in the chair, a plate in one hand and his coffee in another. "Cause it was starting to get a bit awkward."

I chuckled, shaking my head lightly as I sipped the large class of orange juice I had poured long before the agents had entered the room.

"You haven't seen anything yet." I told him, my lips twitching between smiling in amusement and smirking in a teasing gesture.

I really had to wonder if the agents knew what they were getting into, joining the Avengers. Cause what I said was true, they really hadn't seen anything yet. Because from what I knew about hero universes, things tended to just get crazier as time went on; and I saw no reason why this universe would be any different.

"I am starting to believe you." Barton said slowly as he finished piling up his plate.

"I already do." Natasha said as she stood and walked back over to the coffee pot.

I blinked, before smiling at her. "She speaks!" I quippped, making Barton snicker.

"She's not much of a morning person, doesn't usually wake up unless she's had two cups of coffee, or someone is trying to kill her." Barton whispered to me, a twinkle in his eye as I nodded shagely.

"Good to know." I stated, and it was. It made pranks to much easier to pull, Dad'll be happy.

"Barton," Natasha said warningly, and the archer gulped before shoving food in his mouth.

Sitting back down, Natasha gave me a small nod. "He can be a bit of a child sometimes."

I chuckled, and shook my head as the spy started loading up her plate with food as well. "You forget who my father is, compared to Dad Barton's a responsible, respectful, middle aged businessman."

I wasn't able to hide my smile as Barton choked on his food in his shock, his eyes meeting mine as he coughed and tried to silently protest. Rolling her eyes, Natasha have him one hard 'twump' to his back, and his breathing evened out. That looked practiced.

I wondered if Romanoff had to do that a lot.

"You're not talking about Tony, are you?"

I blinked as I saw Bruce walk into the room, his hair damp from a shower wearing jeans and a purple button down shirt.

Shaking my head Bruce grabbed a Hulk mug (I have no idea where Dad got one, so don't ask) before setting it below the coffee machine.

Jarvis poured out hot water as Bruce rifled through the cabinet for a tea. He didn't drink coffee.

"Nah, Dad's too childish and immature to be those things." I stated with a wave as I picked up more bacon. Natasha gave me an amused look but didn't comment. I stuck my tongue out at her. Sue me, I really liked bacon.

Bruce snorted in amusement as he sipped his tea, sitting back down at the table.

"Well, businessman and middle aged sound 'bout right." Barton commented and I raised an eyebrow. "And I'll let you know that I'm only twenty seven."

"So? Dad's only thirty four, that's not really middle aged." I replied in a drawl, causing Barton's eyes to widen in slight surprise. Obviously he hadn't read what little info was in Dad's SHIELD file. His age was one of the only accurate things in there.

"And don't lie, I know you're actually 29." I teased Barton, watching his eyes go wide as Romanoff's lips twitched and Bruce hid his grin behind his tea. I had hacked SHIELD more times than I could remember, without trying, and if there was one thing SHIELD was good at, it was having accurate info on their top agents. (Most of the time anyway, but I wasn't thinking about that.)

"Who's 29?" Rogers asked as he too entered the room, dressed in shorts and a wife beater, a damp towel thrown behind his neck. It looked like he had just showered, but from his slightly flushed expression I assumed he had been down in the, recently remodeled, gym.

If he hadn't been down in the gym...then I really didn't want to think about it.

"Barton." I stated simply as I nibbled on the corner of a french toast triangle.

"Ah." He said with a nod, "Anyway, good morning everyone."

"Morning Cap." I said with a cheery little salute while everyone else also gave their morning greetings.

"So, Rogers, I just found out that Stark's not even middle age yet, and Penny discovered my real age. How old are you?" Barton asked cheekily and I really wanted to throw something at the archer.

I knew how old everyone was, duh, Barton probably could've known as well if he had only read everyone's file. Or at least, he would know the Avengers ages.

"Before or after the ice?" Steve asked bitingly, and Barton seemed taken back at the tone of voice. I wasn't surprised, age was probably an issue with him.

But age meant very little to me. I knew that Bruce was 42* at the moment, Barton was 29, Natasha's age actually wasn't known to anyone...but I had a feeling she was either 31 or 32. Dad of course was 34**, Pepper was 33, Happy was 37, Rhodey was a solid 40, Phil was 48*, and of course, Rogers was 94* if you counted the ice, and 24* if you didn't.

I was never going to tell him this, but I found it amusing that the 'leader' of the Avengers was the youngest member. (Thankfully for me, I wasn't technically a member, so that made some amazing blackmail material.)

I was drawn back to my thoughts as Romanoff smacked Barton on the back of his head.

"Ow, Tasha!" Barton exclaimed, rubbing said spot. "What was that for?"

"Your lack of tack," Natasha said simply though her Soul radiated amusement. "You were starting to channel Stark there for a moment."

I snorted as Rogers and Bruce chuckled lightly. I was sorta glad that Dad hadn't completely discovered this side of Barton yet, I wasn't sure if the Tower would survive when that happened.

"Hey!" Barton protested but he was suddenly cut off.

"Miss Penny," Jarvis's interruption caused Barton to jump just a bit, while Rogers' and Bruce's gaze to flicker up towards the ceiling. Natasha had gotten used to Jarvis long ago and Bruce was extremely adaptable. "Your father…"

"PENELLA PIPER MARIA STARK, HOW DARE YOU DRUG ME!"

I paled a bit before grabbing another handful of bacon, I really did like bacon, and fled the room.

"See you later guys!" I called out before vanishing in a swirl of sparks.

It seemed like I was going to be hiding from Dad, at least until Jarvis gave me the all clear. I had no plans on dying any time soon.

Hey, well, yeah it's been a while but I got it up! The whole age thing was random but I was trying to track down...something on Marval Movieverse wiki and a few hours later on top of boring school, that was born.

*these are all of the ages/Bdays (I have them saved) that are actually on the Movie verse wiki. This is how old they are in cannon.

** Tony was supposed to be 42 according to the Movieverse wiki, but I changed his age to fit the whole 'Howard making Evanna&Pen leave before he died' thing.

All other ages I created, as they weren't stated, nor were Bdays mentioned, and I couldn't create ages without Bdays.

Cp