Assemble | Avengers | Second Part

Kapittel (29) Tjueni ~ My Magical Daughter

~Alex~

Loki's POV ~

After using my magic to calm Lady Stark and put her to sleep, I carried her to the spare room that's usually occupied by Brunnhilde when we would have late planning meetings. After getting her situated, I quietly stepped out of the room, closed the door behind me, and walked back to where Thor stood with Frig in the living area.

"She should be out for a few hours. Hopefully, she will also be calmer then." I told my brother, taking my daughter from his arms.

"I would say I am sorry about that, but I had hoped she would finally let out her emotions while here. I just didn't expect it to be so soon. Or... from your daughter's magic."

"She shouldn't have her seidr this early. She's only a month old, for Norn's sake!"

"Perhaps we should talk to Mother. She may know something about this new... development."

"Yes, I suppose we should," I mumbled, holding my daughter so she was at eye level with me.

"What is going on with you, little one?"

~~

"Well, nothing seems truly wrong with her." Mother said, examining my daughter while Thor and I watched from the side.

"So, how was she able to do that to Lady Olivia? It's like she... she went through her memories." Thor stepped forward.

"Well, perhaps it's her godly powers." She shrugged, and my eyes widened.

"Godly powers? But she shouldn't be getting them this soon!"

"Well, Liv got her powers when she was young, though I must admit, it wasn't this young. We must remember, though, how Alex's powers are, as well. From my understanding, her people are born able to do magic. I assume that that's how the little one is able to do her little trick so soon."

Frig let out a little coo as soon as the words "Little one" came out of Mother's mouth, her hands reaching up to her own tiny little face.

"Do you know what the problem is, Alex?" Mother's voice asked, though the words didn't come from the woman in front of me.

"I've already fed her, so it's not that. She doesn't need burped, and she doesn't need changed. The only thing she could want is-" I looked to the corner of the room, where the top image of Alex shone bright, her face looking exhausted as the child in her arms cried.

"She misses her father. Just like you miss your husband."

My love nodded as she seemed to sit down, leaning her head back to rest on the wall behind her.

"I know how you feel, darling. I miss my boys too. But we have to believe they're alright. Liv has always been good at multitasking."

"Yeah, alright." Alex nodded to Mother, looking down at our crying daughter. "You hear that, liten en? Your papa is gonna get to us when he can. He's just... in a tight spot right now. But I know your dad. He's probably doing everything he can to get to us. Same with your Uncle Thor." (little one)

Alex smiled as Frig slowly started calming down in her arms, but as soon as the image started to disappear, the Frig with us started fussing, creating a new image in the other's wake.

"Take her." My heart stopped upon hearing her panicked voice. Continuing to look towards the back corner of the room, a new image of Alex shone, her tiered body coming more into view as she seemed to pass Frig off to someone. The image of our daughter's small arms poked out, and Alex let out a watery smile as her own arms very slowly turned to ash. "Mamma elsker deg, kjære." (Mamma loves you, darling)

"Gods, Alex." Mother's horrified voice broke through, and I glanced over to see the woman with tears streaming down her face.

"Please help Loki take care of her."

"Of course, my daughter."

Alex gasped as more of her body disappeared, frantically looking up at Frigga and Frig.

"Mum I'm scared."

And just like that, the love of my life disappeared.

Again.

~~

No one spoke for a while. Thor eventually escorted Mother back to her own cottage, leaving me watching over my now-sleeping daughter. Footsteps could be heard wandering the house, but they were too light to be Thor or even Brunnhilde, so I assumed it was Lady Stark. I glanced over my shoulder as the door to Frig's room was slowly pushed open, my assumptions being confirmed upon seeing a tiered and embarrassed Lady Stark cautiously taking a step into the room.

"Lady Stark. How are you feeling?" I asked, turning back to Frig.

"Um, a little better. Thanks, for... whatever it was you did."

"It is no problem." I nodded.

The two of us stayed silent for a moment before Stark slowly walked forward, joining me at Frig's crip. The two of us watched the sleeping baby, probably both envious that the child could sleep that soundly when I bet the two of us hadn't had a proper rest in weeks. I could feel the woman's eyes on me after a moment, her stair cutting threw me like a knife.

"She did it to you too, didn't she?"

I shook my head as I what I had witnessed flashed through my mind, my heart aching at how terrified my wife looked in her final moments.

"She did it to herself. Showed a bit of what happened in the escape pod she and Alex were in. Showed her disappearing."

"It's horrible, isn't it? To watch the love of your life turn to ash, and there's nothing you can do to stop it." I looked over to the brunette beside me, seeing tears threaten to fall once more. "He was right there. He called out to me before it happened. Jamie looked so scared, and I can only imagine what was going through his mind when he started to disappear."

"What do you think went through his mind?" I asked, the words spilling out before I could stop them.

Lady Stark took a moment, thinking up all sorts of possibilities her lover could have been thinking of before he vanished.

"Any time my brain decides to torment me with the thought, it always comes back to two. He either was remembering his time in Hydra, when they would wipe his mind, making him a stranger in his own body; or maybe he was thinking of the life we were starting to build ourselves. The life we were supposed to have back in Brooklyn. The life we should have had back in the 40s."

"Did he ever speak much of it? His time with Hydra?"

"Only when his mental health got really bad, and he would lash out. Never physically, mind you. It's just like it would force him to talk about it. It's like he would just... explode, going on some long-winded rant of whatever horror Hydra made him do."

"Did... did he ever talk about when he was paired with Alex?" I hesitantly asked.

"Yeah." She breathed out, a small smile spreading across her face. "Yeah, he always said those were the best missions, because he was with someone who understood. They shared a... an interesting relationship. Sometimes I wished we could get in contact with her so Bucky could freely speak with her. I always thought that no matter how much he rambled, he always kept a strong wall between me and what those monsters did to him. Did to them."

"Why didn't you?"

Olivia sighed, shaking her head. "Bucky never wanted to inconvenience her. He also claimed to be nervous about how the Bifrost would affect the baby. I'm pretty sure it's just because he was scared of remembering."

"Alex never talked about it. She constantly had nightmares, but no matter what she would just shrug me off and claim she was fine."

"We fell in love with stubborn ass people," Stark smirked, making me chuckle.

"Yes, yes we did."