France was all Seren heard in the days after her birthday. 'You'll need to talk about strategies.' 'Make sure you describe in detail how long it's taken you to find recruits.' 'Describe what each recruit had to be chosen for the Initiative.'
Seren found it hard to breathe sometimes but when she had time to herself and her mind started wandering to dangerous places, she realized it was better to prepare for France. Her birthday was two weeks ago and she still found the ache in her heart was as strong as it was on that day. She missed Steve more than ever and she wondered, silently, if he missed her with the same intensity.
She hadn't had the nerve to call him anymore and he didn't make an attempt either. It drove her crazy but she was too much of a coward to be the first to make a move. After all, she was the one who rejected the idea of a relationship. But now here she was, struggling to continue with her life on her own and being alone wasn't quite working anymore.
At least the knock on her door would serve as a momentary distraction. Seren left her bedroom in a sprint to get to the door. "Coming! I'm coming!" She yelled as if the visitor was going to give up and leave before she could reach the door. She would take any visitor right now, even those door-to-door salespeople. "I'm here, I'm—" she froze in her spot as soon as she met a familiar face. "Thor?"
The mighty Asgardian smiled on the other side. "Good evening, would this be the residence of one Celessian?"
Seren was beyond confused with his presence. This was truly one of the last things she had ever expected. "Thor? What are...how did...what!?"
The Asgardian smiled in his usual goofy manner. "Are you surprised?"
"Uh, yeah! Last time I heard, and saw, you were going back to Asgard!"
Thor presented Seren with an envelope. Seren saw her name written on the front in a familiar letter. Her eyes flickered up at Thor, silently asking if it was truly...real. Thor's smile broadened as he nodded.
"You can trust me," he reminded her.
Seren swallowed hard as she reached for the envelope. She opened it as carefully as possible, as if the paper was delicate, or as if there was something valuable in it. There was.
Dear Seren,
I have no idea what the right words are here. Believe me, I've tried to come up with a few but I feel like no matter how much time I spend thinking, I won't be able to come up with anything right. I'm not good at this stuff so I'm simply going to say what ran through my head at the time of this letter. I understand what you tried to do that night. You've always been loyal to your job and I will not be the person to get in the way of that, and I appreciate you doing the same thing for me. I have no idea what exactly I want from this new world so maybe it's better if I try to figure it out on my own for now. But I insist that it's not forever. As long as I don't end up in ice, it's not forever.
I just need you to know that I meant what I said. You're a star and more than that, you're my star. Whatever happens, whatever you need, I'm here for you.
Finding Thor was completely unintended but it did give me an idea. I never did give you a proper birthday present. Find the best star you can.
Yours, Steve
Seren looked up at Thor with a shine in her eyes. "I—" She sniffed and folded the letter in her hands.
"It's alright," Thor said softly, reaching to rest a hand on her shoulder.
"What are you doing here, Thor?" Seren asked in a strained voice while she tried to wipe her tears as quickly as possible.
"I, uh, recently reconnected with a...friend…" Thor cleared his throat. Seren felt like this was probably more than a 'friend' he was talking about. "She's doing some work here in London and I'm staying around for a bit. I thought it would be nice to also reconnect with some of the friends I made here."
"Steve?" Seren raised the letter in her hand.
"Yes. And once we got to talking, he asked for a favor. A, uh, present for his Lady of the Stars," Thor gestured to her.
Even through her tears, Seren felt the heat warming up her cheeks. "I, uh, I..." She cleared her throat. She tried to keep her breathing pace at a normal rate but she started rereading the letter in her head, and that night, and it all came tumbling down. "I-I can't do it, Thor. I'm—!"
Thor pulled her into a hug just as she burst into tears. "It's alright, Seren."
Seren severely doubted that.
"I think you'll really enjoy his present. Steve thought it would be a good idea for me to follow through on that suggestion I made the last time we saw each other. To Celessia?"
Seren's eyebrows knitted together and soon she pulled away from Thor. "You-you want to take me to...Celessia?"
"Your ancestors' home, yes. Your home too. You could carve a star of your own."
Seren's hand reached up to the current star choker around her neck. It never belonged to her—it was her grandmother's. She never thought she would get to carve a star of her own but now she had an Asgardian who could travel freely. She swallowed hard. "You would take me to Celessia?"
Thor nodded. "Of course. I've checked in and out and there's a few more secluded places we could go through. I wouldn't want you to be overwhelmed and much less be the center of attention when you're not up for it.
"Steve thought of that?" Seren felt new tears pooling in her eyes. Her, actually going to Celessia? The place that up until now were just stories that Atria would tell her?
God, I love that man. That was the most honest, and yet most painful, conclusion Seren had ever come up with. And for now, it was her secret. She kept it away from him the last time they saw each other and she had no idea when she would ever be able to tell Steve to his face that she loved him. She'd never done that in her life and if fate had its way, she never would.
A/N:
To be continued in...Alignment! Thanks for the reads! If you're interested in the sequel, check it out under my profile! We'll be covering WS with some twists ;)
P.S. As always, I have an AO3/Wattpad account under "noblecrescent" and a tumblr account under "saiilorstars" if you'd like to follow :)
I like to add a few little facts as a 'behind the scenes' things every time I wrap up a fic so here's a few:
1. Seren's name was originally going to be 'Serein' and yet it's pronounced different. I changed it to Seren because her name literally translates so perfectly. It's also why I didn't give her a middle name so as to not ruin the flow of her name lol
2. Seren is the first OC out of 3 MCU OCs of my universe, the second being Chloe and the third a black panther OC by the name of Citlalli.
3. Originally, I wasn't going to have Chloe around so much for this fic but I actually love her so much that I included her in more chapters.
4. Currently writing out the AoU plot but I'm honestly already planning out the CW and Endgame stuff and...well I know who will get snapped and who won't ;)
