One thing that Jak loved about Bucharest was the markets. New York had them too, of course, but the sellers were always snobbish and their prices were outlandish. The markets in Bucharest had a different feeling to them and, generally, the prices were better than any of the grocery stores. The produce was fresher too. It reminded her of shopping long ago, walking arm in arm with her mother or a servant, their baskets at their hips as they selected their purchases.

The bustle of people haggling with vendors, coraling children, or greeting friends was comforting to Jak, even if she couldn't understand what was being said.

"Engleză?" She asked a butcher, looking at the fine roasts he had for sale.

"Nu, scuze," he shrugged sadly.

"Uh…" she searched her language skills, "Cât costă?"

He told her the price. She had no idea if it was fair or not and she didn't really care. If she didn't have enough money in her pocket, she would conjure more for the slips of paper she kept on hand for just such a purpose. The forgery would stay in place until it passed through two more sets of hands, so the butcher would still be able to spend it himself and she didn't have to feel bad for cheating a small business owner.

She counted her real money first and found that she was a few leu short after buying carrots, onions, and potatoes. Just as she was about to reach into her pocket to enchant the paper, the man waved his hand and shook his head. He took the bills in her hand and patted her knuckles.

"All… uh… good!" He gave her a thumbs up. "Bine ați venit în România. Welcome to Romania. Tourist?"

"No," she smiled at him, "Imigrant."

He pointed at her. "American?"

"Da."

He laughed and she laughed with him before thanking him for the meat that he wrapped up for her. He said another phrase in Romanian that she was fairly certain translated to something along the lines of "pretty girl, but not so smart" and then waved her on her way. Jak smiled to herself as she wandered through the market for a bit longer. She'd brought an insulated bag with her and wasn't worried about the meat. She still had a bit of time to explore before she needed to get back and start preparing the meal.

She passed by a booth selling chrysanthemums and stopped to admire them. The orange flowers seemed to glitter in the sunshine and it was until a moment later that she realized they were glittering. With magic. The smell of ash filled her nostrils and a shiver ran down her spine.

"Te văd acolo…" her father's voice sang from a bit behind her, "I see you there, Jessica."

The voice was too far away to be within reach of her. And even if it wasn't, he hadn't put hands on her yet. She knew he would in a moment if she didn't act fast.

"I'm sorry," she told the vendor of the chrysanthemum stall. Then she used her magic to lift every pot of flowers into the air and create a wall behind her as she jumped over the booth and sprinted for the alley behind it. The flowers crashed to the ground and she heard her father laugh.

"Nonononono," she panted as she ran through backstreets and dodged pedestrians, "Shitshitshitshitshit. How the hell did he find me?!"

She felt fingertips graze through her hair and she sent a blast of magic backward. She heard her pursuer stumble and curse loudly, but he was running again in a moment.

"Come back here you ungrateful, inconsiderate, disobedient wretch!" He called, "You're making things worse for yourself! Stop now and perhaps I will show mercy!"

She wanted to yell profanities at him, but she didn't want to waste her breath as she ran. Besides, her mind was too busy trying to figure out which way to go to dodge him. Taking him back to the apartment would be too dangerous. Though she'd freed Bucky's mind of her mother's magic, she couldn't be sure that she'd cleared all of the hypnosis Hydra had used on him and even if she had, what was to stop her father from re enchanting the Winter Soldier to do his bidding? Bringing her father anywhere near Bucky would be far too dangerous.

She could go to the police, she supposed. They would probably try to stop her father with their guns. It was tempting to let them try, to let them distract him though she now knew guns would not kill him. If she went to the police, however, more people would get hurt in the crossfire and if they somehow managed to subdue him, then they'd ask her questions. Questions that she wasn't sure her fake passport and work visa could answer.

A quiet voice in her head said that she should just stop running. He would catch her eventually and things would be much worse for her if she fought him. Obedience was always easiest when it came to her father, even when it hurt.

"No," she roared, pushing forward. "No!"

She had to stop thinking like that. She had to shake him so that she could, for once in two hundred and fifty years, live the life she wanted. Or perhaps, she couldn't shake him. Perhaps the only way to stop him was to end him.

Before she could plot out how to do that, she felt magic tighten around her ankles and bring her crashing to the ground. Not to be deterred, Jak started crawling. Her father caught up to her in a moment and stepped on her back. She rolled and blasted him with another shot of magic, but it didn't stop him for long before he had immobilized her whole body with magic. She screamed in rage, but couldn't move to do anything.

People around them were filming and shouting. Sirens wailed in the distance. All Jak could focus on was the sneering image of her father looking down at her, enraged.

"I've known where you are for the past two days," he told her, "You dear soldier's arm has a tracking device on it. Once I have you locked away, I'll find him and burn him alive. I hope you're happy with what you've done."

"Let me go!" She shouted at him, "Leave me alone! I'll never stop fighting you if you try to take me with you. I'll never stop trying to get away!"

"You will if I erase your memories and rebuild them in favor of me."

His hand lit up in an orange glow and descended toward her face. But he must have been tired, or maybe it took more energy to hold her in place than it usually did, because she felt the grip on her loosen until she was able to struggle to lift her arms and grab his ankle. She pulled him to the ground and broke free entirely of his magical hold. Calling her own power to her, she lit up like a pink beacon.

"Last chance to forget about me," she told him, building power in her hands, prepared to crush his organs just like she'd done to her mother, "I'll show mercy and let you run away and hide if you go now and pretend you never knew me."

"If you kill me, you'll never know what you are," he told her with a laugh. He didn't look concerned. If anything, he looked pleased at this development as he lay on the ground, staring up at her. "You'll never know what we are meant to accomplish."

"I know what you are," she countered, "You really gave yourself away over the years with all of your aliases… Fencie, Feuer, so many others… I'm surprised I didn't figure it out sooner."

"And what do you think I am?"

"A phoenix," she said, taking a death breath and letting fire erupt on her arms. "That explains how you're alive after Captain America incinerated you. You did die, just as I saw, but you were reborn."

"Your mother was right," he grinned, "You are a bright girl."

"I wonder if you would be reborn if I tear your heart out."

He kept his smile in place, but she saw the way fear flickered through his eyes. She saw the realization that she wanted to kill him. Permanently. And when she saw his poorly concealed terror, she laughed.

"Jessica," he shook his head, "Ruth… no! Jak! Jak, dear, I am your father. If you kill me, I'll be much angrier when I catch up to you again. I'll lock you in a cage because you're a bird too, just like me. There is no one else on earth like us. No one will understand you. You think that Asgardian prince will still love you when he learns you are made of fire?"

"You took him from my memories," she seethed, "I don't need him. I have Bucky."

"I seem to recall the captain was fond of you too," her father rolled his eyes, "I didn't think your mother raised you to be a whore, but it doesn't surprise me."

"Careful how you speak to me, Father, I hold your life in my hands," she pressed her flaming fingertips to his chest, fully intent on burning through his flesh and pulling out his still beating heart.

"Don't be so sure, child." He kicked her and she fell backward. She jumped back to her feet in a moment, but he was already on her, freezing her limbs again and pushing her to her knees. He slowly got off the ground and dusted himself off before looking around at the people who anxiously watched the exchange.

"Don't…" Jak croaked when she realized what he was about to do, "Father don't!"

"It's a bit crowded here for our reunion. Let me fix that."

Flames burst from the ground and engulfed bystanders who screamed in terror and pain. People ran away as Jak kneeled, helpless. Tears trickled down her cheek, cold in comparison to the blaze surrounding them.

"I'll kill you!" She screamed at him, "I'll kill you! You're dead!"

"Shut up," he turned back to her and smiled, hands on hips, "This won't be the first time I've erased a burning corpse from your memory. Last time was the cook. This time a few worthless peasants. Next, I'm thinking Sergeant Barnes on a pyre."

"No!" She sobbed, squeezing her eyes closed, "No, please… Father please don't."

"Don't kill your pet soldier or don't erase your memories?" He laughed, "Don't answer, it doesn't matter. I'm doing both and then I'm taking you away from here. The Avengers have practically given up on finding you already. Once we dispose of the sergeant there will be no trace of you. No one would bother to look for you."

"Oh I wouldn't say that," a devilish voice chuckled.

Jak opened her eyes and looked around. Bodies burned, twitching nearby. People fled. But there was no one else near enough to be heard.

Her father spun around, searching as well. His eyes finally stopped on one of the burning corpses. A crisped, black and red hand raised in greeting and then the cindered person sat up. Bile rose in Jak's mouth as she took in the gruesome sight, but she couldn't look away.

"Sorry for the dramatics," the corpse jumped to its feet and patted out the fire on its kneecap, "I wanted to see what you would do."

"You," Jak's father snarled, "How-?!"

"Please, let's not pretend fooling you is a difficult thing, Uriah."

The corpse's burnt skin fell away in a shimmer of green and revealed pale flesh underneath and sparkling green eyes. Raven hair fell to his shoulders and pearly teeth flashed in a triumphantly wicked smile.

"Loki…" Jak whispered and then looked at the other burning corpses. He caught her looking and flicked his wrist.

"Nothing but an illusion," he assured, "Sorry to put you through seeing that, Jaklyn."

"You'll regret this," her father threw a dozen fireballs in Loki's direction, but he turned each away and left them simmering harmlessly on the pavement.

"That's enough of that," Loki tsked, "Really, can't we talk about this, sorcerer to sorcerer? Or, bird to frost giant as the case may be?"

"Frost giant? You're not… aren't you one of Odin's sons?"

"Adopted," Loki tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, "Rude to bring that up, you know."

"Perhaps we can work something out," Uriah took a step back to stand next to Jak. He grabbed her hair as if he were a dog guarding a toy by clinging to it, "I was too hasty when I dismissed you as a potential suitor for my daughter. After all, adopted or not, you are a prince of the Realm Eternal. You are a god! I am willing to make an arrangement."

"And what do you get out of this arrangement?" Loki asked.

"Asgard's support in my conquest of Midgard," Uriah said hopefully.

"You may recall that, historically, Asgard has not been particularly supportive of that particular endeavor. If Odin would not support my reign, what makes you think he'll do anything but laugh at your plea?"

"Alright, alright… how about this: you can do whatever you want with my daughter, perhaps even marry her if you'd like! And in exchange, you tell no one where I've gone. You let me go, and you help keep the Avengers off my back."

Jak couldn't turn her head to see her father, but she could hear something in his voice that she'd never heard before: true desperation. She'd thought he was afraid of her when she'd been threatening him moments before, but that had been a ruse. He may have actually been alarmed that she planned on ripping his heart out, but he hadn't been worried. Now he trembled. She knew she should feel relieved that someone could put fear into him, but instead she felt a less logical emotion. Envy took root in her heart. It didn't feel fair that Loki could waltz in and scare the shit out of her dad when she had only ever made him annoyed. She wanted her father to fear her too.

"Counter offer," Loki chuckled, but the sound came from behind them this time. "I return you to the Avenger's custody instead of killing you and I still get Jak."

The illusion of Loki in front of them disappeared as the real one slapped a power dampening collar around Jak's father's neck. She felt his magical hold on her release and jumped to her feet.

"What?!" Uriah grabbed at his throat, "No! No! How did you-?!"

"Don't worry about him," Loki turned to Jak as she stared at him, "He's practically worthless without his magic. It's good to see you, Jak, even if you don't remember me."

The problem was, with every moment she spent in his company, she began to remember him more. All of a sudden she could remember the night they met, when she'd fallen through the Realms and he'd turned into a dog. She remembered kicking him and running to Wanda for help. She remembered him following her as she took her suitcase to go wait for the FBI to pick her up the next day. She remembered staying when he convinced her to.

"Thank you," she told him, "For stopping him."

"Well, just between the three of us, I'm the one who orchestrated his escape, so I figured I should probably be the one to capture him again," Loki's smile changed from devious to delighted. Jak could tell that he was excited to see her, to talk with her.

But, as she'd told herself that morning, she didn't care what she'd had with him. It didn't mean anything now. She was with Bucky. And besides, she had more important things to focus on.

"Why was he so afraid when he learned you were a frost giant?" She asked, "I don't know anything about frost giants, except, I suppose that they're cold."

"Right," Loki cleared his throat, "Yes. Very cold. From a place called Jotunheim, also very cold. I only told him to distract him, really. There's an old legend of frost giant's hunting firebirds and freezing their hearts to keep them from being reborn. I only had a hunch of what he was until you confirmed it though."

"Great. I need you to keep that legend in mind for a moment." Jak patted Loki's arm and ignored the butterflies she felt at the contact.

She turned her attention to her father, who was screaming profanities and pulling at the collar around his neck. He didn't have any magic to stop her, so she stepped closer. If he had been in his right mind, he probably would have already tried to run away while Jak and Loki were talking, but he was clearly too distressed about losing his magic to think of it.

Lighting her hand on fire, Jak felt her hair float out behind her and her skin glow bright pink. Loki said her name in a questioning tone, but she ignored him and proceeded toward her father. Uriah turned and looked at her and then his eyes settled on her fire.

"Daughter…" he put his hands up, "Remember that I am your father. I am your only living kin. You and I are the last of our kind-"

"Tell me something, Dad," she grabbed his shirt and the fire licked his chin. "Tell me the truth and I will forgive you everything else."

"What would you like to know?" He put both his hands on her wrist, trying to gently pry her off, but she used her other hand to take her apartment key from her pocket and transform it into a knife. She pressed the blade to his throat.

"Are all of your other offspring dead? No others survived your parenting?"

"All dead, none had magic like you," Uriah flicked a glance at Loki, "I told the Avengers as much when they captured me the first time."

"He's telling the truth," Loki remarked, suddenly right behind Jak, his hand resting on her shoulder. "I can see it in his eyes."

"All dead… except my son," Uriah said and Jak felt a spark of hope.

"I have a brother? He's still alive? Where is he?!"

"He's… working at a construction site right now. He is James Barnes."

"What the fuck?!" Jak screamed, momentarily losing her grip on her knife.

Her father burst into laughter and wouldn't stop until she regained control of the knife and pressed it farther into his throat, her flaming fingertips burning into his chest.

"Sorry! Sorry!" He wiped a tear from his eye, "It was a dad-joke. I couldn't pass up the opportunity. You should have seen your face!"

"James Barnes is not my brother? Right? He's not."

"No, of course not! I hate Brooklyn. I never would have sired a child there. Besides, I had you at the time of his birth. I stopped trying to have children with magic after you were born."

"Good," Jak extinguished her hand. "Thank you, Father. I forgive you."

"Just like that?" Loki spluttered, "He tortures you your whole life and you forgive him after he lied to you to make a stupid joke?!"

"Of course," she turned her knife back into a key and tucked it in her pocket. "I forgive him for making such a terrible joke and nearly giving me a heart attack."

She plunged her hand, a flaming inferno, into her father's chest and melted his ribs as the smell of cooking flesh filled her nose. Her fingers found purchase on his heart. It was hard, like diamond and she wretched it out of his chest. His eyes went wide.

"Winnet…"

"I forgive nothing else," she pushed the body backward as it breathed its last and then handed the heart to Loki, "Freeze it."

He stared, wide-eyed at the corpse and then looked back at her and the blood covered heart in her hand. He opened and closed his mouth, blinking.

"You… wow," he shook his head and then took the proffered heart, "I know that you think you're in love with Bucky Barnes right now, but if this was a marriage proposal, I accept."

"What?"

"I want to see you in battle," he laughed, staring at her, "I want to see you rip out more hearts."

"Just freeze that one," she huffed, already experiencing too many confusing emotions for this conversation. "If you can't, I'll toss it in the ocean or something. It's probably difficult for a firebird to be reborn in the middle of the Atlantic, right?"

"Sorry, sorry, I'm just," he looked at the heart as ice crystals formed over it, "I'm just a bit enamored with you at the moment, elskan mín."

"Don't call me that," she snatched the frozen heart back from him. She picked up her insulated shopping bag and stuck the body part in there next to her slightly squashed roast. "Thanks for your help. Goodbye."

"Goodbye?"

"Like you said, I love Bucky." She started walking in the direction of the apartment. She wasn't sure how vast of an illusion he'd cast when she and her father had been fighting, but there were no people or police around to stop her from leaving the scene of the crime.

"No, no, no, you don't," he hurried to catch up with her, "You just think you do. Once you get your memories back…"

He reached out to touch her forehead, but she grabbed his wrist and looked him in the eye. She was tempted to turn the fire on again, but her slowly rising memories of him gently touching her face and holding her hand stopped her. She shook her head and scowled.

"You'd better keep your hands to yourself unless you really do want to see me rip out more hearts. Yours specifically. I don't care what we were. I don't want those memories back. I want to live my new life here."

"Jak," he lowered his hand and watched her closely, "You're lying. To me and to yourself. You do want your memories back and I can free them for you."

Before she could be tempted to say "yes", her mind screaming at her to let him, she dropped his wrist and threw a blast of magic at him to push him away from her. He flew back and hit a building, leaving a dent in the wall. Another memory flared up, one of him breaking air conditioners and her throwing him off the roof. She shook it away and ran.

A note from the author: I think the emails are broken again lol. Oh well! What can you do?

Thanks for reading! See you in the next chapter.