Gifted

Chapter 1

Days and weeks passed and Loki didn't return. There were no notes, no visits, no contact at all. You returned to your life immediately, determined to keep your word to yourself that you wouldn't become a useless depressed lump over your boyfriend, no matter how much his absence hurt. You still missed him deeply and your world was lonely without him, but you kept your word. You went on patrols with Tony. You kept up in all of your classwork easily because of the soulbond. You spent time with the other supers.

It was hard, but you managed your life.

You never took the ring Loki had given you off, choosing to hope that one day he would return.

You searched and searched for the spell-book with the portal spell in it, but it was gone. Vanished like it had never existed in this world. You tried to pull the memories of it from the soulbond, to figure out how to open the portal and follow him, but it wasn't there.

You were cut off.

Your 19th birthday came and went. You allowed yourself tears that day when Loki didn't come back for you. You had hoped the trouble would be over by then.

You graduated from high school top of the year, which was no surprise since you had access to all of Loki's memories and knowledge thanks to the soulbond. You and Tony went to take your graduation pictures by your parents' graves in the cemetery. You even used magic to hold the camera so you could get some shots of yourself and your uncle.

You started college across town and moved into an apartment off campus in Tony's name. They wouldn't let a freshman live off campus otherwise, but since it was in your uncle's name, and he was Tony Stark, they made an exception. It had taken a lot of negotiations with the school and Fury to finally sort your college experience away. Fury wanted you to work full-time for the Avengers. You told him you would after you earned your PhD. You had wanted to be a doctor for so long when you were powerless that you didn't want to give up on the dream now. You got to test out of most of the classes because of your soulbond with Loki, so you only had a few classes and clinical hours to complete to finish your degree. You could probably do it in a year if you really wanted to. Especially since the school was willing to use your hours healing the Avengers toward your clinical hours. It was a completely illogical plan and there were so many rules broken with it, but in the end, all three parties were happy.

You got an emergency call halfway through one of your lecture courses one day nearly a year after Loki had left. You shut your phone off and stood. You gave a small bow to the Asian professor and an apology. She nodded and the entire class turned to look at you. You had permission to leave all of your classes for emergency calls from the Avengers. You had found out quickly, though, that your disappearances were taken better if you gave them a show when you did. You vanished your bag and sent all of your things back to your apartment. You then used magic to change your clothes to your superhero costume, including the cape you never actually wore as part of it.

"Sigyn!" came the roar of the lecture class. With a bow to them, you teleported back to the compound where the Avengers lived. You actually teleported directly into the infirmary. A safe teleportation spot had been created for you there, and it was extra important now that you lived on your own. You vanished the cape, changing back to normal clothes, and rushed to the emergency bay to find the super who needed your help. It was a brand new kid, one you'd never met before.

"He jumped off of the Metropolis building trying to get his powers," one of the junior healers told you as you rushed into the room. Since magic was reintroduced to the world, kids tried stupid things to get latent powers to manifest. Like jumping off the Metropolis building.

"I really wish someone would put a stop to that," you replied as you went over to the kid. You placed your hands on him, your hands glowing blue as you healed the broken bones and put the poor kid back together again. Your powers had grown over the last year and you could do this big of a healing now without being useless for the rest of the day. You finished the healing and smiled at the junior healer. "He'll be ok. Make sure Fury gives him hell for jumping off the Metropolis building,"

She nodded her agreement. "Will do, Healer Sigyn," she replied. You were still getting used to being called that. You were so used to just being Kat. It had been a year of having powers and you still hadn't really adjusted.

While you was home, you checked in on the other patients and healed a couple who needed it. After that, you went upstairs to see if Tony was home. "Kat!" he called the moment you opened his door. You let him wrap you in a hug, even though Uncle Tony wasn't really a hugger.

"Uncle Tony, you just saw me two days ago." you had been called out on patrol with the team just the other night.

"I know, but that's the only time you ever see you anymore, imp," he whined.

You smiled and grabbed the other video game controller on his coffee table. "Up for a game?" you asked. He laughed and you settled on his couch to play for awhile.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. The next Avengers movie is being filmed here next week. Didn't know if you wanted to stop by."

You nodded enthusiastically. "Of course I do!" you replied with a grin. You were friends with a couple of the actors and hadn't seen them in awhile.

"I worry about you, imp," Tony said after awhile of kicking his ass at video games.

You rolled your eyes. "Why on Earth for? I'm one of the most powerful supers in existence, and the only time I even go on patrol it's with you," you reminded him as you proceeded to kill him in the game.

Again.

"You've isolated yourself from everyone," he explained.

"Have not," you replied stubbornly.

"Name one friend you have at school,"

"That doesn't mean anything. I'm only going to be there for a year, two tops. It doesn't make sense to get too attached to those kids," you replied. It didn't matter that you were younger than everyone in all of your classes. They still acted like kids.

"And when was the last time you went on a date?" he asked.

You glared at him. "Do you really want to know about my love life?" you demanded, hoping that would get him to drop it.

"No, but you worry about you enough to ask."

"You know very well when my last date was," you snarled at him. It was uncalled for to be so mean to your uncle when he was just being nice and asking about you, but it wasn't nice of him to bring it up either. He knew that you hadn't moved past Loki.

You wouldn't move past Loki.

Loki had promised to return.

And you were soulbound.

He would return.

"That's what I thought," Tony rolled his eyes. "Kat, you can't just keep waiting around for him to come back. He's not coming back. It's been a year." Tony told you, gentling his tone.

"He will. He promised," you told him firmly, though your words sounded like a little girl's dream instead of the words of the strongest super in the world. You set down the controller and touched the ring Loki had given you the night he left before tracing the patterns of magic that went up your arm, marking you as soulbound. Loki had literally bound your souls and lives together to save your life.

"Kat..." Tony said gently.

You just glared at him. "I'm fine, Uncle Tony," you told him firmly. "I'm sorry I haven't been around as often, but I'm in college now and living on my own."

He wrapped you in another hug. "I know. Sorry, Kat. I just worry about you,"

You nodded and hugged him back. "I know. I don't mean to worry you. I really am ok," you reassured him.

The lie felt hollow in your own mouth.

And no wonder Loki wrinkled his nose at lies. They smelled terrible.