One of the first things I did after I found out that SHIELD was active was break off part of my consciousness and left it with Nick Fury. It made my powers much weaker, but it was worth it. It meant that I knew about their work with the Tesseract.
It also meant that I knew when Loki passed through the portal.
The same night that Loki passed through the portal was the night I died again.
* * *
To spy on Fury I need to be in a state of complete relaxation. It was something that I had gotten used to, letting my body relax against the bed and losing my consciousness. I could see my body resting there, on the bed as my mind traveled all the way to where Nick Fury currently was. Typically I would just hang around for a couple hours, skimming through his mind to make sure that I had the information I needed from the day.
However, that night was different. Everything felt... fuzzy. Things didn't quite make sense as they seemed to almost blur around me. When the portal opened, I felt my skin burn up and my consciousness seemed to feel like it was breaking. Then, when Loki stepped through the portal, scepter in hand, I felt my consciousness truly break.
The last thing I remember was looking into his blue eyes as he crazily smiled and stood up.
* * *
My body was on fire. I had never been burned alive before, but that was what it felt like as I opened my eyes.
"Oh, thank the chalupas you're awake," A voice said from somewhere near me, "I thought we had lost you there." Groaning, I tried to move, but everything hurt.
"You missed work the last two nights and while Weasel would never admit it, he was worried. I mean, so was I of course. As your BFF number 1, I was super worried. I thought that you had gotten kidnapped again, I was ready to- no Yellow, I am telling her that! Damn it, she just woke up!" I zoned out after that, though 'Pool kept talking. He said two nights, how long had I been out?
I felt something cool soothing my throat and immediately started gulping. I could now make out Wade's face more clearly, he was wearing a sweater and no mask, his expression clearly one of concern.
"What happened?" I croaked out, throat hurting from... Well whatever the hell happened to me.
"Oh, honey you might not like this," Wade said, "I mean, objectively it's a good thing, ya know? But, like objectively, not Aliana-jectively. Not sure how to even tell you this- White we can't just lay it on her like that. Yes, I know there is a joke in there somewhere but that is not the issue. The issue is how we are going to tell her she has soulmarks. Ooops, I just said it didn't I?"
I tried to get up, but that just resulted in my whole body going against me and feeling like every muscle had been punched by a wrestler. Wade lightly held my shoulders as he reminded me to lay still.
"Look, I don't know how it happened, but you are now the proud bearer of four soulmarks," Did he just day four? Like, more than one? "I don't know why you would get them this late, but you're not exactly a normal person. Maybe it has to do with your powers or something. Though, the kids in baldy's school all got their soulmarks at 16."
"Wade?" I looked at him, "Shut the hell up." He audibly closed his mouth and made a zipping motion as I stared up at the ceiling.
Soulmates? What the heck, how was that even possible? I wasn't from this world, heck I wasn't even from this universe! In the 6 and a half months I have lived in this world not once did I think I would get a soulmate, let alone four. How did this happen, the last thing I remember was seeing Loki step through the portal.
Loki... Maybe it had something to do with the tesseract. I have been in the presence of it before, but this time it was active. It made sense, it was an infinity stone afterall, there's a possibility that some wacky reactions happened and now I have my own soulmates.
Issue is, I don't particularly want soulmates. I have too much to do, a whole Thanos to stop and a universe to try and save from the Blip. Also, I don't particularly know how to love. I would pity the person that was mated to me. Not that I believe I wasn't good enough, but I'm not ready to bear my soul to someone and welcome them to my craziness.
"Hello?" Wade's hand waved in front of my face, "Aliana, you with me?"
Shaking myself out of my daydream I smiled weakly at Wade, "Any chance you're my mate cupcake?" Wade shook his head and leaned down to hug me. For the first time in a long time, I cried. My whole body hurt, but it felt good to be surrounded by warmth.
* * *
After a good cry, a cup of coffee, some serious stretching and a warm shower, I stood in front of the mirror in my bathroom. I looked the same I always did with wild, curly white hair that fell just to my shoulders and purple eyes surrounded by light colored eyelashes. A small, round nose and big lips. My skin was a caramel color which contrasted greatly from my hair. I wasn't tall, only 5'2, and I wasn't exactly skinny either. My hips were rounded, but not very big. My breasts were rather average size and my stomach wasn't flat.
I looked exactly as I did before my death, just with different hair and eye color. While I was nowhere near a model, I had always thought I was beautiful.
Staring at my own reflection I put on the most serious face I could.
"Aliana," I told myself, "You are a bad bitch, not a sad bitch. Face the truth, you can't change it." I closed my eyes then opened them again. This time I took in the new marks adorning my skin. They looked just like tattoos, but I knew they weren't.
On my right forearm there was a triangle surrounded by a circle. The design was rather simple, but it stood out against a whimsical watercolor background. Moving my eyes up, I saw the beautiful cursive on my right rib, Till the end of the line it read. Then on my left forearm making its way down to my hand was a snake surrounded by roses. Finally on my left thigh was the beautiful face of a wolf with thin circles going down the back, its eyes a gorgeous blue.
The marks were beautiful and just staring at them made my heart feel tight. But I couldn't bring myself to be happy. No, in fact I could feel my anxiety rising up. This complicated everything, made my life so much harder than it needed to be.
Loki, the tesseract, till the end of the line... Everything was making sense, yet nothing did at the same time. I wasn't dumb and I was a huge Avengers fan. I could recognize the freaking arc reactor anywhere and I knew what it meant for it to be drawn on my skin.
I was mated to motherfucking Avengers.