I haven't posted a Torn Pages oneshot in forever. But I have been consumed by Epic: The Musical, and was inspired.

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Sutton found herself surrounded by heat and smoke and horrible, wailing screams. The city was on fire, burning down to ashes before she could even figure out where she was in the first place. All she knew was that she was somewhere ancient, foreign. The streets swarmed with men in togas and women in wrinkled tunics, bedraggled looking people with mussed hair and faces flushed in horror. Like they'd just woken to this terror too.

It was such chaos that Sutton's own outfit, completely unnatural to the setting, didn't even draw any looks for once. Not that she was focused on clothing herself.

Men in armor and plumed helmets charged through the streets and tore through the unsuspecting residents. Wherever she was, whatever universe, Sutton found she showed up at the absolute worst time. It was only when she stumbled into a courtyard and came upon a giant burning horse that she got a clue.

"Oh no," she said to herself.

Troy. Troy?

This didn't look at all like Percy Jackson. How in the world did she get sucked into an ancient fanfic? Was that even possible?

An arrow whizzed passed her head and Sutton yelped as she ducked. However a universe that included the Battle of Troy existed, it did. She was here, and she needed to be very careful or else she was absolutely going to die.

She needed to get out of the city at all possible costs.

The cry of an eagle screamed overhead and despite her determination to avoid distraction, she looked. It was the biggest bird she'd ever seen, a golden eagle with a wingspan that seemed unnatural. It screamed again and lightning flashed across the sky. Sutton sensed a sudden rush of otherworldly power. Dread pooled in her gut.

If the Battle of Troy was real here, what else was? The Greek gods? Was this the entire story?

The eagle's flight directed her eye toward another figure. A solitary man in armor marched determinedly up toward the main fortress in the city, a sword gripped in his hand. Sutton wracked her memory for how the story went. She'd read it in high school, though she'd never been particularly passionate about the tale.

There were the gods, Troy and Helen and Paris, obviously, and Odysseus. The guy who came up with the wooden horse trick in the first place. There was something else. Something that had turned her off to the story particularly. Something distasteful.

Lightning flashed again and the memory surged through her.

The baby.

There was some stupid prophecy about the baby growing up evil or something and Odysseus killed him so it wouldn't happen. The dread in her gut curdled into downright horror. Her eyes shot from the figure to the fortress, then up further to the balcony that overlooked all the chaos.

It wasn't her universe. None of these were. And usually, despite all evidence to the contrary, she did try to avoid influencing the story lines. As much as the characters in the universe allowed her. But this. This was different. This was a baby. A life.

She didn't think she could live with herself if she just turned a blind eye to someone killing a baby simply because one of the 'gods' decided it was the only option. Forget the Greek gods. They sucked.

Sutton tore through the courtyard after the lone figure before she could think twice. The fighting around her was still going on, but for once Sutton's small size worked to her advantage. Either the soldiers didn't notice her or they considered her less of a threat than their actual enemies.

There were so many stairs, so much carnage and blood, and Sutton forced her eyes forward as she pushed herself as fast as she could go. By the time that she reached the top, found the last hall, reached the door with the strange buzzing sensation behind it, she was out of breath and frantic.

Sutton slammed through the wooden door and didn't stop to strategize. She saw the figure of a grown man standing before a tiny wooden cradle and she threw herself into him.

The man, Odysseus, did not expect the attack. He slammed into the stone floor with a loud grunt, the metal ting of his helmet striking rock echoed in the room, and Sutton gasped. She'd nearly knocked the wind out of herself.

Doubly unfortunate for her, Sutton was no warrior and Odysseus had been fighting nonstop for the last ten years. Before she could right herself, Sutton found herself flipped around with her back to the floor and a sword in her face.

"Wait, wait, wait, please!"

Perhaps she hadn't fully considered what tackling an adrenaline fueled soldier could bring upon her.

She held up her hands in a show of peace and didn't dare move as Odysseus stared down at her. He had sharp eyes beneath his helmet, calculating, and he only broke his gaze at the sound of talons clicking on rock. The same unnatural golden eagle took up an entire window and it watched both of them with an even sharper expression. The hair on the back of Sutton's neck stood on end.

"Please," she said again, trying to keep her tone soft, unthreatening. "I just want to protect the baby."

She pointed to the cradle and Odysseus followed the line of her finger and grimaced at the sight of it.

"You can't kill him, please. He's a baby."

Odysseus said something in reply, and Sutton realized he didn't understand her. He didn't speak English. Of course, he didn't speak English. It hadn't been invented yet. She just hadn't had an issue communicating with people so far. She for sure did not know Greek.

"Um, fetus," she said as she tried to remember any latin words she knew and hoped it'd be close enough. "Fetus, no mori." She crossed her arms over each other in an 'x' and Odysseus lowered his sword marginally.

"Den katalavaíno ti glóssa sou. Poiós eísai?"

This wasn't going to get her anywhere. Sutton tried to crawl back on her elbows but Odysseus raised his sword again in a warning. Sutton held up one hand again to placate him and offered a grimace.

"I just want to save the baby," she said slowly.

His eyes flickered at the end of her sentence in something close to recognition, though she wasn't sure what might have registered with him.

"Katapatás ekeí pou den aníkeis," he answered. "Tha ítan frónimo na fýgete prin synantísete mia parómoia moíra."

Yeah. Conversation was really only going to waste both of their time and give back up soldiers room to block her in. She was going to have to improvise.

Sutton took in a deep breath and tried to think. She really only remembered the bare minimum of this story. Just enough to get by, but maybe that could be to her advantage. She didn't have any strong opinions about this story besides, "maybe don't kill babies?" That, in turn, left her pretty open to have new ideas.

Like maybe the gods didn't actually know everything. Maybe they were wrong about the baby, or trying to trick Odysseus for their own nasty amusement. It wasn't much of a stretch, honestly, from what she did remember.

She could pretend to be an oracle for a second. Give him a counter prophecy and redirect a few plot points. If she could just get herself to speak a few words of Greek for long enough.

It could make sense. If her body could teleport worlds, why couldn't she be gifted the ability to communicate wherever she went? They were all stories, at their core, right? And stories were about communicating a message.

That unnatural feeling built in the room and thunder crashed loudly, immediately followed by lighting cracking the sky apart. The eagle snapped its wings together causing the air to crackle and it dove into the room, straight at Sutton. Odysseus took a step back, his face going pale, and Sutton was unable to scramble out of the way before the eagle perched itself on her shoulder, talons painfully digging into her joint. She let out a cry of pain and then a cry of alarm as the eagle knocked its beak against her forehead.

Static crackled around her, pressure built; she just wanted to be able to speak.

And then the energy popped. It burst around her at the thought and trailed through her veins and around her head as it sent a shock through her.

"You are not like the others," the eagle said. It curled its feet tighter, dug into her shoulder more. "You are not a normal human."

The eagle's voice both did and didn't come from the creature. It was in the room, and yet it was in her head. It was deep and booming and masculine and yet she heard nothing at all. She knew, somehow, from the voice alone exactly who the bird was supposed to be.

Zeus.

"Get off of me!"

Maybe she was in a different world and maybe the Greek gods actually existed here. But Zeus wasn't her god, and she wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. As far as she was concerned he had no power over her.

She was brave enough or stupid enough to knock him off her shoulder and he was shocked or weak enough to be pushed. She backed away successfully this time, towards the cradle and craned her head to peer inside. Impossibly, thankfully, the baby still slept.

The eagle, Zeus, shrieked disdainfully at her and flew back to his spot in the window, though now his eyes pierced her and nearly shone in the dim room.

"What have you done?"

Odysseus spoke and Sutton snapped her attention back to him. He looked stricken, still, and kept his distance from her. As if at any moment Zeus might decide to strike her with lightning. Maybe he wasn't wrong.

"I don't want trouble," Sutton said.

The words came out fast then slow as she realized they weren't English. Her thoughts were, she was sure. Pretty sure. But when she spoke they came out in sounds that shouldn't make sense to her, but did. She decided now wasn't the time to marvel at it.

"If you did not want trouble, you should not have come here," he said. His words were normal. Human. He still sounded young, a bit too haunted for his age, but nothing compared to what the story told he became. He hadn't yet become a monster.

He'd been about to.

"You can't kill him," Sutton diverted. She finally stood and rounded the cradle to put more space between them. She dared to scoop up the baby with his blankets and hug him close against her chest.

"He's just a baby," she continued. "You can't hurt him. He hasn't done anything."

Her words struck Odysseus like a barb; he looked away in shame and his knuckles clenched white around the hilt of his weapon. The silence lingered too long, was too telling.

"It is the will of the gods," Odysseus finally said. He sounded solemn, resigned. It flared a fire in Sutton's chest.

"Who cares?" She snapped. Odysseus' wide eyes found hers; he glanced at Zeus again in trepidation, as if she truly was in danger of a smiting. "Your gods are selfis-"

Odysseus moved faster than she could anticipate. One moment he was a safe distance away and the next he was right at her side, one hand around her arm and another around her jaw, keeping her mouth locked closed. She was forced to swallow the rest of her tirade against his gods, unable to yank her face out of his grip.

"Be silent," Odysseus hissed. "Unless you have a death wish."

His voice wasn't loud enough to carry over to Zeus if Zeus didn't have any super hearing. He wasn't omnipresent. None of the Greek gods were. Sutton decided he couldn't hear them outside the normal human range.

Zeus ruffled his feathers and screeched at her once more before he suddenly took off. Only when the silhouette of his great wingspan was out of sight did Odysseus release her jaw, but not her arm.

"You are a fool to taunt the gods," he said, voice still low and cautious.

The fire in Sutton's chest still raged at the situation.

"And you would kill a child at the whim of a being that doesn't even care about you."

"You think I want this?" Odysseus snapped back. "If I don't he will kill my wife. He will burn my kingdom down."

"You don't know that."

"It has been foreseen!"

She grit her teeth behind her lips. That was a common lesson in Greek myths, wasn't it? That one cannot subvert fate. How often were the protagonists trapped, ensnared, by the very outcomes they strove to avoid. Sutton didn't know if she had enough power or belief to subvert an entire story. World.

But she had to try. She had to do something.

"Give it to me," Odysseus commanded quietly. His solemn tone did nothing to soften what he planned to do. His regret did not absolve him.

"No. I will not give him to you."

She clutched the babe tighter and he squirmed in her arms as he yawned and readjusted himself. Her heart melted a little more at his cherub-like face. It hardened her resolve.

"Then I will take him."

Her heart sank to her toes and her stomach plummeted. Odysseus reached for the baby and his grip on her arm wasn't weakening and the balcony was mere feet away. Sutton panicked and blurted out the first thing she could think.

"Let me keep him!"

The plea did not deter Odysseus, though it did serve to make him look more pitying. For a second he looked behind him, at the hall, as if checking to see how close some reinforcements might be. Like he might actually rip the baby from her arms while she was held back by his men. Her time was so, so limited.

"Please, listen. Listen to me! I can take him far, far, away-"

"The gods will make him known wherever he goes."

"Not if the gods don't exist where I live!"

That gave him pause. He eyed Sutton as if she were a strange creature to suggest such a thing. It at least paused his actions, and Sutton leapt on the opening.

"I'm not from here," she confessed. "I live in a different realm. I can take him, and it will be as if he is dead to you. I swear, once I am gone, you'll never see him again."

Once more she felt dissected by his gaze. His grip loosened, not enough for her to break away, but enough to let her know he was thinking.

"A desperate woman will do whatever she can to save a child," he seemed to decide. She nearly snarled at him.

"I'm speaking Greek to you because I decided I needed to communicate. Not because I learned your language."

"You are speaking Greek because Zeus bestowed it on you."

If she had more time to argue, she might fight that. She might tell him that perhaps Zeus tried, but it only worked because she wanted it to. Because she believed it could work. But that would have to include a lot of other background information she didn't have the energy to address. Most he wouldn't even understand.

"You are Odysseus, king of Ithaca," she said, dragging up what she remembered from high school english. "Your wife is Penelope and you have a son. It was your idea to hide in the wooden horse and spring a surprise attack."

He blinked at her and finally took a step back.

"What are you doing?"

"You think I'm being hysterical, but I'm not lying. I know your future too. Your gods will give you crumbs and watch you fight to make a meal of it. But I'll give you more. Let me keep him. Let me keep this baby alive and I promise on whatever you find sacred that he'll never touch you or your kingdom. And I'll tell you more. I'll save you years."

"What," Odysseus breathed.

"I told you," Sutton said. "I'm not from here. Look at me; do I look normal to you?"

"Where are you from that the gods can't reach," he pressed.

That was part of his character, wasn't it? He was smart, strategic. She could see the calculation on his face as he considered her words. Perhaps he was willing to listen, but it didn't change the fact that he was also willing to kill a baby if he thought there was "no other option". Sutton didn't have much sympathy for that.

Even if Zeus tried to tell her that dropping the baby off the tower would get her back to Marvel earth, she couldn't do it. She'd rather hop from universe to universe for the rest of her life, or until it tore her apart.

"Another realm, like I said. One with different battles and different heroes. Now do we have a deal? Or do you want to wander the sea for the next twenty years?"

It was just the push she needed it to be. Her certainty on his future (she couldn't actually remember if it was a full twenty years, but it was a scary enough prospect to be a threat) chipped away at Odysseus' resolve.

"You believe that we can escape our fates?"

"I believe I can help you escape yours. That's kind of what I do. Go around and mess up people's stories. But maybe this time it can be a good thing. Now. Do we have a deal?"

There was a pregnant pause. Enough that Sutton's fingers tightened around the baby's back. But finally, finally, Odysseus let her go and stepped away.

"What do you know?"

"I want your word, Odysseus."

"Fine. You have it! Now tell me."

Sutton let out a sigh of relief and she dared to loosen her hold on the baby enough to be comfortable.

"If you want to avoid all problems, then don't go to the cave. There's a cyclops there and he will try to kill you. If you ignore me and go to the cave anyway, for the love of everything, don't tell him your name. He's the son of someone important… who was it," she gave it some thought then snapped her fingers, "Poseidon! That's it."

If anything Odysseus looked all the more pale.

The baby stirred again and blinked open wide brown eyes to stare up at her. There was a sternness to his expression; the kind of look babies give you when they aren't certain about who you are and haven't decided if they'll smile or cry. Sutton gave him a smile first and brushed back one of the adorable little dark curls on his head.

"Hi little guy," she said. "It's okay; you're safe now."

She threw a sharp look back at Odysseus daring him to go back on his word. He still looked rather shaken. And torn. She needed to leave now. Before more soldiers came and the city fully burned down.

Grabbing another of the spare blankets from the baby's cradle, she looped it over her head like a shawl. It looked like some of the women wore head coverings in this time, and having the piece of fabric would at least partially help hide the fact that she was wearing jeans.

"Well, um. It was nice… um… doing business? With you?"

She didn't exactly know the right way to end a conversation like this. One where she told a man he was messed up for being willing on any level to kill a baby and that she was going to take it instead.

Sutton shuffled with the now awake baby. An awake baby that decided he didn't know her and he wasn't exactly pleased about this situation. His cry broke Odysseus out of whatever daze he'd been in. He reached out for her again as she attempted to sneak by him.

"Wait. What else? Tell me all of it."

"All of it?" Sutton parroted. "Do you plan to make the mistake of letting a monster creature live and then tell it your name?"

"No, but fate-"

Sutton groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Look, it's not fate. It's bad choices and consequences. Don't get Poseidon mad at you and you should get home just fine. You'll get to skip all the other monsters and sirens and the getting stranded on an island."

Sutton still didn't have warm fuzzies for a guy who would yeet a baby, but his expression looked so horrified in that instant, nearly hopeless, as if those things were still to come, that she felt a bit of pity bleed out for him. She awkwardly patted his hand with her free one.

"Look, like I told you, avoid one or two bad decisions on your way back home and none

of the rest come to pass. You'll get to see your wife and son before you grow old. Well. Any older."

Ten years was already way too long to not see your family.

"You have foreseen this?" He still tested, still calculated his odds. Sutton turned the baby away from him.

"I've decided it," she settled on. "I believe there are always other ways out. Our choices mean something."

A small, wet trickle ran from her nose and over her lips, and Sutton hurried to wipe it away. Her organs felt sore and the shoulder Zeus landed on ached more sharply. Maybe the adrenaline was wearing off. Maybe she'd underestimated the cost of her goal.

"Dang," she muttered to herself, "I didn't realize it'd be that big of a deal."

"What are you?"

The question was hushed, uncertain. He'd clearly seen the blood and assumed something. Though Sutton doubted gods bled, so that couldn't be on his list of possibilities.

They didn't bleed? Right?

"I don't have the time or ability to explain it in a way you'd understand. You'll just have to trust me. If it helps, I've been told many times I'm a bad liar."

Whether or not he did trust her didn't matter. The baby was crying, soldiers were coming, and Sutton needed to move.

However she felt about Odysseus, he at least kept his word in this instance. She tried to soothe the baby as she hurried out of the fortress and through the winding streets away from the battle. Perhaps it was a reward for defying the gods and saving the baby, but somehow she made it out alive.

Eventually she found a hiding place and managed to calm the baby down enough that he was no longer wailing. She placed her finger in his chubby little hand and let him grip it with all his angry little baby strength.

"I know, you just want your mom. I'm so sorry little guy. I guess…oh boy, I guess I have to take care of you now, huh?"

Sutton groaned and jammed her palm into her eye socket.

"How am I going to make sure you survive too," she asked. "I'm barely getting by myself. I mean, I do hope being with me is better odds than being thrown off a tower."

She'd have to be more careful now, traveling with a baby. She couldn't just act without thinking of the consequences, which really took a bite out of her normal game plan. The baby wiggled and actually cracked a little smile as he shook her finger back and forth; Sutton smiled and tickled his tummy.

"I forgot what your name is," she confessed. "But given what time we're in, I doubt I'd be able to pronounce it anyway. Mind if I come up with something new?"

He let out a little yell and tried to eat her hand. Sutton took that as his consent.

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The regular beeping of a heart monitor and quiet breathing pulled Sutton from the depths. She blinked her eyes open with effort and worked to focus her vision. A hospital. There was a muted TV playing reruns, more flowers and balloons along the wall than she could process, and Tony dozing quietly at her bedside.

Tony.

She let out a choked sound of relief, and that roused him.

"Tony!"

His body sagged in a release of tension as they embraced each other; Sutton's eyes heated with tears as she held him.

"You're safe now, Small Fry. I've got you."

They pulled away enough to look at each other and Sutton had never been so happy to look Tony in the eyes. Brown eyes.

Brown eyes.

Her hand slapped across her chest and a stab of pain radiated from her left side, but there wasn't the familiar bundle she'd grown used to. A chill ran through her and the heart monitor gave an alert.

"Caspian!"

The encompassing terror and dread dwarfed nearly everything Sutton had experienced since the start of her adventure. It ripped through her instantly, devastating.

"Where is he?" She choked out. "Caspian!"

"Whoa, whoa," Tony pushed her back against the hospital bed, "calm down, Small Fry. Are you talking about the kid? He's okay."

The words weren't enough. Caspian had been nearly grafted to her since she took him, tucked in his little sling against her as a comforting weight. Not having him there was jarring. She needed to see him.

"Where is he? Where'd they take him? He can't be alone!"

It didn't take much more of her tearful begging to get Tony to order the doctors bring the baby back. She clutched him against herself and breathed in the scent of him. His hair smelled fresh. Like the nurses had bathed him.

After taking a few minutes to calm down and Tony notifying the team she was awake; Sutton soon found herself once again surrounded by the Avengers. It all felt too good to be true. Like a dream.

She peppered kisses over Caspian's face until he giggled happily. The team watched in various degrees of confusion.

"So," Tony finally broached. "Who's the tot?"

"Caspian," Sutton answered.

"No, I got that," said Tony. "I mean how did you disappear alone… And come back with a kid?"

He watched her carefully, they all did; Steve looked flustered, even, and Sutton blinked.

"Oh," she blushed, "he's not mine. Well, I mean, he is now. But I, uh, I adopted him?"

Bruce raised an eyebrow at that.

"You adopted a child while being forcibly pulled through different universes?"

"Well, I guess I kind of took him. But he'd have died otherwise! Odysseus was going to toss him off a tower."

Natasha actually shook her head and blinked in shock. She stared at the baby with a more evaluating eye.

"Wait, I'm sorry," she said, "are you telling me you took Astyanax? The son of Hector? Prince of Troy? Of the fabled Trojan War?"

"A-styuh-naks?" Sutton repeated. The name was a mouthful. She understood why she didn't remember it. "Was that his name?" She looked back down at Caspian and gently booped his tiny nose. "Huh. Well, I like Caspian better anyway."

"I'm truthfully afraid to ask anything more," Tony said.

Steve rounded the side of her hospital bed in curiosity to get a better look at the baby. Caspian greeted Steve more warmly than he initially had Sutton. Maybe he'd gotten used to new faces by now. He reached up and Steve let him grasp his finger.

"Why Caspian?" Steve asked.

Sutton blushed lightly and shrugged her shoulders.

"I couldn't remember his name and, you know, he's a prince. In Narnia, Caspian is a prince. So."

And even at the smattering of light laughter at her naming conventions, Sutton only swelled with happiness. The happiness and relief boarded on overwhelming and she felt like crying again. She'd done it. She'd made it back home and she'd kept Caspian alive through it all.

She couldn't have asked for more.

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Google translations:

* "I don't understand your language. Who are you?"

** "You're trespassing where you don't belong. It would be wise to leave before you meet a similar fate."