Loki appears beside his brother at the top of the Avenger's tower and the supers there stand up, weapons at the ready. Loki raises his eyebrows as Thor stands in front of his brother.
"Ah, my friends, Loki is good now. I promise. It's been years since the attack on New York, and he has changed his ways." Thor explains to them. He looks at his little brother and nods. Loki sighs.
"I'm sorry. For everything." He apologizes half-heartedly. "And hello, Wanda." It isn't said rudely, but it's not said kindly either. He hasn't seen her since the day Vladislava was born. He's not entirely sure how this will go. Or how to feel about the lady.
"Hello, Loki." She says, sounding rather sarcastic. They put up their weapons and sit back down, seeming to be fine with Thor's statement. Loki looks at him and he shrugs with a smile. Oh well. Wanda doesn't acknowledge her ex as she sits down next to Vision, the red ghost guy. He shrugs and is about to sit down when they hear childish laughter echo outside the door.
Suddenly, the door opens, and a girl with blond hair and brown eyes is leaning on a boy with brown hair and eyes, laughing. Both looked to be around sixteen. They seem so happy and lost in their moment that they barely notice the people in the room. Loki thinks they might be dating. Because the last time I saw a boy look at a girl that way was when his brother looked at Jane before he moved on. The boy was most definitely in love with that blond.
The girl with blond hair was wearing a green super outfit that reminds him of Sif's armor. And the boy's wearing a red, blue, and black costume with a spider symbol on his chest.
Thor smiles brightly as they stop, noticing Loki. "Brother, this is the man of spiders, Peter Parker. And that is the Vixen, Zipporah Romanoff." He introduces and Loki gives a slight bow. Thor leans in to whisper that "They're both from New York." Loki's eyebrows shoot up.
He clears his throat. "Oh, well, hello. I'm Loki, and I'm sorry for-"
"Don't be," Peter cheers as he runs up and hugs Loki. He stands there awkwardly, giving the boy a strange look as Peter pulls back. "It's not your fault, and if you're here, then you're good. Or learning to be! Which we would totally love to help you with." He chuckles. Loki most definitely has the age right.
This is a child right here. A very sweet and innocent child.
Loki chuckles and then sees that the girl has moved closer. He grabs her hand, kissing it kindly. "Pleasure to meet you, young Vixen." She smiles. "And it's Romanoff like Natasha Romanoff, correct?" He inquires.
"Yes. She's my daughter." The Black Widow answers. Loki furrows his eyebrows and look between them. The only trait they had in common was their peach skin. "She's adopted." Natasha says casually and he nods.
"Ah." Loki breathes. "Makes sense."
"Do you like grilled cheese? Because I make an amazing one." Zipporah offers, sounding rather excited. She knows her father didn't want her but if he's here, she can at lest ask him why he gave her up. Maybe she made a mistake. She sincerely hopes she did. "Just come in the kitchen and I'll make you one."
"Oh. Well thank you, but I'm-" Thor hits his arm, cutting Loki off, and nods towards the blond. If he wants to show he changed, the least he can do is just let her make him something. Plus the girl is rarely this open to strangers. When he met her, it took him over a month to finally get her to speak to him.
"Her sandwiches are really good." Natasha urges. He sighs and waves his hand towards the door.
"Famished. I'd love one." Loki amends. She practically bounces with joy as she goes towards the kitchen and he glare at his brother.
"Pete, stay here." Zipporah says suddenly and everyone looks surprised. "Last time you came in, you nearly burned the kitchen down." She chuckles before continuing inside.
"Fair enough," Peter agrees before sitting down beside Tony Stark.
"Thor, you know I despise children," Loki mutters to his brother.
"Shocking," Wanda says in mock surprise. Loki glares at her.
"Shut up, Witch," he snaps before going into the kitchen.
Wanda scoffs. "So he 'despises' children, does he?" She looks at Thor.
He shrugs. "It's kind of complicated. He never really liked or fit in with other children growing up, and the only child I've ever been able to say he liked was his daughter."
"Loki has a daughter?" Peter asks with a smile. Thor nods and gets a sad look on his face. "What's wrong? Did something happen to her?" He sighs.
"Yeah, my father did."
"What do you mean?" Wanda asks, sounding suddenly interested.
"Well, for eight years, my father and him argued almost every week. Odin thought the child shouldn't even exist. He feared her power, said she was 'too dangerous to be left alive'," he made air quotes and shook his head. "Especially with someone like Loki. My father kept saying that the child will destroy worlds if she was raised by someone as evil as him. So when she was eight...he killed her." Thor explains, his voice sounding sad. Wanda covers her mouth with her hand and rushes to the bathroom, feeling sick to her stomach.
She throws up before leaning back against the wall, feeling tears burn her eyes.
"Wanda?" Tony calls. "Are you okay in there?"
"I'm fine." She rasps. Vision goes in to check on her and pauses when he sees her sobbing. He bends down next to her, squeezing her shoulder.
"What's wrong?" he asks quietly.
"Everything Odin said, I said." She says between sobs. Vision looks confused. Wanda takes deep breaths. "Do you remember when I said me and Loki dated?" He nods. "Well that relationship produced a baby girl." Vision blinks in surprise. "And me and Loki argued because I wanted to put the child up for adoption but he wanted to keep the baby. And Odin's argument was everything I had yelled at Loki. And now she's dead." Wanda cries as Vision holds her comfortingly.
-Back with Tony-
"So the child's death is why Loki attacked New York?" Tony questions.
"No. It's not his reason." Thor says awkwardly, struggling with how to explain it. "Loki had always been the God of Mischief, but when that child was born, he was a completely new person He spent months doing favors for his old enemies to try to make sure they wouldn't go after her. He was kind and gentle. That baby meant the world to him. When my father killed her, it caused something in him to break. Losing the girl fueled the anger that caused him to attack New York."
"Poor Mr. Loki." Peter says softly. They hear a crash come from the kitchen before hearing Zipporah yell at someone to "wait". "Zip," he calls out. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah, all good. I just dropped a pan." She calls back.
"Then why'd you yell?" Natasha questions as she pokes her head into the kitchen. Bread is on the ground along with a pan. And Loki's holding his foot as if in pain.
"Oh, she dropped it on my foot, and I made the joke to throw the pan at her." Loki says with a chuckle. Natasha nods with a small laugh. That's her daughter.
"Be more careful, Zip. And easy with those threats, Loki. Either I'll let her beat your ass, or I'll do it myself." She jokes and leaves. She sits back down and everyone goes back to watching TV.
-With Loki-
Loki snaps at Wanda before walking into the kitchen behind Zipporah. As soon as the door closes, Zipporah spins around, squeezing Loki tightly. "I knew you'd come back! I knew I'd see you again!" She cheers.
Loki pushes her back gently. "I'm sorry but I think you have the wrong person." She cocks her head before chuckling, seeming amused by something. A second later, her blond hair turns black and her brown eyes turn a bright blue that matches Loki. Loki watches in surprise.
"Dad, it's me." She says joyfully. Her voice takes on a slight British accent. "Dad!" She says again at Loki's confused expression. "It's Vladislava." At the mention of her name, Loki thrusts out his hand. She screams as she hits the back wall, and pots and pans clatter to the ground. "Wait! No!" She shouts as Loki pins her to the wall by her throat with a dagger held to it.
"Zip!" Peter calls out. Zipporah makes an illusion of a messy kitchen and Loki holding his foot. Peter asks if they're okay, and they say they are. Then her mom pokes her head into the door, asking about a yell. She makes the illusion Loki lie and say that she dropped the pan on his foot and he threatened to hit her with it.
Loki tries to shout to her about the situation, saying that "It's not what it looks like." But Natasha doesn't hear him. When she closes the door, Loki presses the dagger further into her throat.
"Why couldn't she hear me?" He yells at Zipporah.
"Illusion. I have illusion magic and I made it to where they thought I just dropped a pan on your foot." She explains quickly. "I told you, it's me, Vladislava."
Loki punches her twice, not really thinking about the fact that she's a child. "Don't you dare say that name! You have no right to speak her name." Zipporah scrambles for something to say to show him that it was her.
She takes a deep breath and starts singing softly. "I stormsvarte fjell, jeg vandrer alene. Over isbreen tar jeg meg frem I eplehagen står møyen den vene. Og synger: 'når kommer du hjem?'" Loki stumbles back in surprise. He bumps into the counter and Zipporah uses her power to heal the bruises from Loki.
"How-How do you know that song?" He stutters nervously.
"You used to sing it to me every night before I went to sleep," she says with a smile at the memories, a few tears coming to her eyes. "When I came to Earth, I used to make an illusion of you singing it so I could sleep. I still do that, actually." She hesitates and takes a deep breath before raising her hands to her hips, holding them in front of her. The kitchen fades away to bring them to her old bedroom in Asgard. They see a little girl with bright blue eyes and long black hair laying in bed, a guy with matching traits beside her. He's singing the same song Zipporah had just sang and Loki gasps as a tear falls. The guy finishes his song, giving the sleeping child a kiss on the forehead. "Night, my princess," he whispers and walking out.
The room fades away, putting them back into the kitchen. Loki stares in surprise at Zipporah, tears coming to his eyes. He doesn't say anything, just opens his arms and she hugs him tightly. They're both crying now.
"I-I thought you were..." He can't even bring himself to say the words.
"Sif had been teaching me how to fight. I used my skills to fight the guard and get away. When he found me again, I used an illusion to make him think he killed me. Then I hid away until Natasha found me." She explains, her voice soft. "The guard said you told him to take me out of the palace. I thought you didn't want me anymore."
"What?" Loki exclaims as he pulls back. "No! No, never. I would never have done that to you, Vladislava. Your grandfather sent you away, not me. I searched for you for a month. We all did. I'm so sorry you thought that."
Zipporah starts making that sandwich as Loki asks a million questions.
"Well, I was a sitting duck for your enemies for well over a month before that guard found me again. Or at least, thought he did. I thought it was the only way to get everyone off my tail." She explains when he asks how she ended up with the Black Widow. "I gave myself blond hair and brown eyes, and when she found me, I acted like I had no name. So she gave me the one 'Zipporah' and raised me."
"And you've been happy?" He asks softly, sounding almost scared of her answer. She looks at him and sighs.
"Yeah, I have. Three years ago, I started eighth grade, and I met Peter when I started high school. A year later, we started dating." She says cheerfully. "I've been really happy being with Natasha and the Avengers. But I also really missed my life on Asgard. And you." She smiles and so does he. She finishes making his sandwich and the two catch up. They enjoy their time together, and are continuing to laugh and talk as they walk out. They get a funny look, but Zipporah winks at Natasha through an illusion so no one else notices, and Natasha smiles.
They found each other again.