Summary: When the Earth began to die, people got desperate and their chance at a new life was called the Avengers Mission, a deep space exploration mission to a planet called Alderra, a goldilocks planet, the perfect in its system and hopefully a new home. But when it fails and you lose both your father and childhood best friend, everything changes and it changes further after a shocking discovery 5 years later that proves the failed mission maybe wasn’t a failure.
Warnings: None, some will be added to future parts if they appear.
Tags: Space, space travel, pilot Bucky, scientist reader, Avengers get mentioned, Thunderbolts mentioned eventually, Interstellar inspired, exes to lovers as well(sorry you divorced him, it'll get better...trust me), reader has lore and tattoos!
NEXT CHAPTER
AN: This is chapter one of a new series!!! I am heavily inspired by the masterpiece that is Interstellar so I made this, only seven chapters so we don't have much haha but I hope you like it!! Also disclaimer, I know little about space so please forgive me and let me know with a comment or reblog if you would like to be tagged. Dividers by @zclhs
Day One
Chapter One
Sedona, Arizona
For the last few years it had always been the same, in and out, faster than anyone could ever hope to catch you and always through a back entrance with a broken camera. In and out like it was your job and pretty much had been after the last didn’t work out. Sure you knew it was highly illegal, always had been and the warehouse didn’t hold your run of the mill items like all the others people loved to loot nowadays. Yours was special, in a spot no one knew about and the man that told you about it was half the reason you were even in that mess in the first place. But this mess was your own and you glared at the guy across from you, an officer with a bone to pick since this was the third time he’d caught you in the past four months and apparently it was three times too many.
You’d paid the bail a few times, got yourself out of this situation but it didn’t look like Officer Rhodes was too keen on letting you go again. He didn’t know what you had stolen, your car with it was sitting in the impound lot, shoved at the back of it after you were brought in, caught leaving through a door that wasn’t exactly that subtle. It was a stupid mistake, one you had made before and the look on Rhodes face when he told you to put your hands up, lights flashing and eyes smug was one you were never about to forget.
“What did you steal?” he asked and you sighed.
“Nothing.”
“I know that’s incorrect.”
“You’re a cop and nothing more and even if you search that place a couple dozen times you won’t notice anything missing.”
“I won’t?”
“You don’t know half the settings on your phone and that warehouse was full of old NASA tech, rovers included,” you muttered and he sighed.
The warehouse in question, a large one a couple miles outside of Sedona, Arizona, was where they stored a handful of technology from NASA when it shut down over twenty-five years ago. People weren’t interested in space travel, they assumed the world would be fine and then it ended five years later when a plague hit and the victims weren’t people but bees. Bees, small and annoying to some people, but the key to almost every piece of life on earth, every crop, every tree, every planet that ever existed was bees and they died when people tried to make life easier. It was supposed to be a miracle insecticide, something to make crops grow faster but it doomed the entire planet and a crop shortage followed after almost every bee died in nearly a year. People looked for NASA to save everyone but they were gone, cast aside, assets surrendered to a warehouse that your father was told about by Nicholas Fury, the last standing director and he told you.
The world always needs someone willing to go further, to look deeper and so people took the opportunity to start again and one billionaire had the idea of creating a new NASA, the American Space Exploration Company or ASEC took its place and sent people up only five years after its founding. The Avengers Mission was supposed to be the last hope for people stuck on a dying planet, an exploration mission sent to a distant planet that apparently looked like Earth. It had earthly qualities, a good sun and a strong atmosphere and ASEC had redesigned space travel so a few years took mere months. Everything was perfect and your father, a man that had been waiting to be an astronaut his entire life, chose to go and see what the universe had to offer. A choice that cost him his life when the ship went missing only a few months into the journey.
Your outings to that warehouse had a purpose, since Director Fury was your fathers oldest friend and his gift when NASA shut down was an odd one…it was a satellite. A deep space probe that had been disconnected years ago and he claimed that if he could get the controls working, he could have it. You had been trying since he died, let it consume and the piece in the back of your SUV that Rhodes would never find was the key. You just needed a way out and that came in the form of a man you had to assume was pissed at you. Rhodes was getting ready to ask about something being stolen a second time when he was interrupted by his Captain and let out a long sigh before following him out of the door. Rhodes returned a few minutes later and wandered over, unlocking the cuffs keeping you to the table and you gave him a wide grin.
“If you do it again, I won’t let them call him,” he said and you nodded, rubbing your wrists as he led you outside and you gathered the few belongings you took with you from the desk.
In the lobby was your saviour, a man that had spent more on bail than food and he was leaning against a wall with a frown on his face, muscled arms crossed over the front of a faded NASA sweatshirt. You were pretty sure it was yours but caught the name etched into the shoulder, S. Rogers, your childhood best friend and another victim of that damn mission. When you met the man in front of you, he also met Steve and they hit it off, became besties and he more than approved of your relationship, encouraged it even and would be pissed if he knew what had happened since he’d been gone. For the man glaring at you with those gorgeous dark blue eyes and swept back brown hair, shoulder length and choppy like he chose to wear it all the time and spotting three day old stubble was none other than your other best friend.
James Buchanan Barnes or Bucky who also doubled as your ex-husband.
“Hi,” you muttered and he relaxed a bit, unfolded his arms and pulled you into a tight hug, chin resting on the top of yours as he sighed. “I know.”
“You are insane,” he muttered and you followed him out and over to your car since he took a cab, he knew he’d be the one driving, he always was.
“I know.”
“This is what…the sixth time I’ve done this?”
“Eighth,” you muttered and he sighed, running a hand through that gorgeous hair as you tried to ignore it. “This time is different.”
“How?” he asked and you sighed. “You stole from that same damn warehouse, the one you’re obsessed with and I’ve told off Fury for telling you about it and for giving your dad that damn device. Serenity is dead, she doesn’t work and you have to realise she never will.”
“She won’t,” you agreed but he didn’t like your tone. “Not until today.”
“Why?”
“Because the part underneath a coat in my backseat is the last one,” you said and grabbed the said coat, unfolding it to reveal a small microchip, barely the size of your average potato chip. “This was inside a rover. It’s the key.”
“You can get her online,” he stated and you nodded, eyes wide with giddiness that close to six years was going to come to something so small.
“I can get her online tonight,” you added and his eyes widened as he drove past dusty fields, crops long dead and pulled down the old country road you called home.
The house was also your fathers and since Bucky never liked keeping you out of his sight he stayed even when you ended and moved all his stuff into a bungalow at the back. You caught him every morning, getting ready for his job with ASEC of all places and would wave, tell him the weather looked nice and mention that the bills were due and he needed to pay half, Bucky’s idea, not yours. Life was peaceful but it was about to be a hell of a lot more exciting and you practically jumped out of the SUV, bolting over to the large garage at the back and unlocking a side door, running over to a mess of control panels and monitors. You tinkered with pieces of Serenity, moving parts and adding stuff to others before getting the microchip situated and sitting back, unsure and almost nervous.
“All this time and you’re hesitating?” Bucky asked and you glared at him before pressing a button and she roared to life.
You had a degree in radio broadcasting and electrical engineering and knew the ins and outs of almost every device associated with the field but Serenity was complicated and had been complaining about having no signal for close to two years. Almost every part had been replaced in that time, paid for by your side gig of tinkering with the equipment at a local station, it paid well and also gave you more than enough time to focus most of it on Serenity. A device built to connect to a satellite and scan deep space for transmissions but you hoped to find a distress beacon, sent by the crew of the Avengers Mission and proof they were still alive. The ship was designed to send out periodic distress signals and so far no one at ASEC had heard one but Serenity would be able to pick up on it, your entire sane mind was riding on that fact.
“I am not,” you said and pressed a few more buttons before it fully powered on. “There she is and she has a signal.” The machine hummed to life, claimed it was operational and would start the scan that would change everything. It had a clear connection to whatever probe Fury had assigned it and just needed time. “It will take time but she has remote access on this laptop, I don’t have to sit here.”
“Good, then I’m making you dinner,” Bucky said but you just scoffed. “I’m serious. We need to celebrate.”
“I just got out of jail.”
“Then have a shower,” he said and you sighed, handing over the laptop. “I’ll keep an eye on it.”
“She means everything to me,” you said and your hand found the chain around your neck, containing your fathers wedding ring and a set of dog tags that belonged to the man in front of you.
“You never took them off…it’s been close to five years and you still wear them.”
“They’re stuck to me,” you said and eyed his chain, wondering what was on it, maybe he got a copy. “Watch Serenity.”
“Like a hawk,” he assured and you sighed, slipping past him and over to the house, not wanting to leave your pride and joy but you knew that he was right and Serenity needed time.
A shower could be had and dinner could be shared before the entire world changed, for the better. Or you hoped at least.
The one thing that made Bucky living so close worth it was the fact that he was a damn could cook and you wandered down into the living room and sighed at the scent of alfredo and chicken, cooking in a pan on the stove. You caught him sprinkle some cheese on top and spices and sighed in relief, taking a seat on a barstool and grabbing the laptop connected to Serenity. It was still displaying a loading screen since there was a lot of space to look through, almost too much and you sighed, worried that waiting was going to take days and you couldn’t wait that. It had already been close to five years and a few days just felt like torture on top of torture.
“It won’t go anywhere,” Bucky said and placed a bottle of beer in front of you.
“Yeah…but I want to be ready,” you said and he rolled his eyes, pulling out a tray of freshly made garlic bread and cutting it up. “God, that smells good.”
“Thank you,” he said and chuckled before plating some pasta, adding a bit of cheese on top and bringing it over to the table as you followed, laptop clutched in one hand but he stopped you.
“Bucky…”
“Sweetheart,” he began and used that endearment you loved. “Leave it on the bar.”
“Five years…that’s how long I’ve been waiting.”
“And you can wait for a few minutes more until it loads.”
“If I miss anything then I’m gonna blame you,” you said and he nodded with a chuckle but you followed his lead and replaced the laptop with the beer and followed him over to the table.
“Trust me, you’ll hear it when it’s done,” he said and you nodded, glancing back at the laptop and that damn loading screen.
“I guess I can take this time to talk to you,” you said and he chuckled. “How’s life been treating you?”
“I see you like twice a week, don’t you know?”
“Still…That’s just in passing and occasionally over dinner, I want to know more,” you admitted and he smiled, not even hiding the blush or the fact that this over relationship didn’t feel very over.
“I’ve been good, busy, and doing lots at work.”
“How is work?” you asked.
“Val is well on her way to completing the tests she had planned for that new pod, the controls feel good, they feel easy to use.”
“Ah yes…the pod that would’ve changed everything,” you muttered and hated that Bucky worked for ASEC.
You’d never tell him you hated it, that was for you, but you did and wished that he wasn’t so qualified from his years with the Air Force, all those hours of pilot experience that were an asset. Whenever Valentina got enough evidence together for another mission, he’d be the pilot, he’d been told it a hundred times over, had all the training, all the skills…but being up there…meant that you could be sitting and staring at pasta as you waited for a transmission from him. The thought made your heart drop but you knew it was only a matter of time, the one thing the planet needed was a new home and a new home was out there, out where things tended to go wrong.
“Has she planned any more missions?” you asked and he shook his head.
“People aren’t that keen about space travel right now. And Val would need proof to go back up there since the last mission didn’t work out the best.”
“They should be,” you muttered and he nodded. “You don’t need more proof that the world is absolutely fucked. I went to the store yesterday, asked them if they had any oranges and they said no, the synthetic shipment hadn’t come in yet. Synthetically grown oranges, it feels like torture.”
“Were they any good?”
“They tasted like an orange…but like someone told you to imagine the taste after not having them for twenty years, there was something missing. We need a new home and a new home is out there.”
“People with money don’t want to fund a quest for a new home.”
“They should,” you shot back and he sighed. “You’ve seen firsthand what happens when desperate people get desperately hungry.”
When you met Bucky he was 21, you were 19 and met at a bar in New York after he got back from a tour in Iraq, a country that had only gotten worse when all the food began to go into a shortage. The entire Middle East had ramped up the conflict since a lot of people were already starving before crops like wheat and barley began to die without bees to sustain them. Sure people had reserves, but those reserves were for lack of a better word…reserved for richer countries and higher tax brackets, people that had never felt what it was to starve for longer than a few hours. He was only back for a few days, enough to rock your entire world and then some and then jet off, leaving you behind with only his name. You thought you’d never see him again, never see a guy that made you feel so wanted in the twelve hours you had together but you got wind that he nearly died and was back close to a year and a half later. You showed up at a VA hospital in Virginia with flowers and a frown on your face, angry that he ran off without telling you, leaving nothing but a cold bed and too many questions but willing to be there for him.
Bucky’s family was all gone and his sister lived in London, so he was alone with a whole new existence ahead of him since the accident that nearly killed him, took his left arm. He was lucky the world was so advanced and prosthetics had come so far but it still took some getting used to and his random hookup was a good enough nurse. You stayed, first for a few months and then forever, or at least what you thought was going to be forever but he was still there, still making you dinner even after you stopped wearing that forever on your left hand. But maybe it could be an unwilling recoupling one day because even after five years you never found someone new and neither did he.
“After the first mission, another is going to be a hard sell without evidence that it can be successful,” he said and you sighed, hating how pragmatic he was, how he said stuff backed by science and not emotions.
“I know,” you muttered and were about to finish off the dish of delicious pasta when the laptop beeped and the entire room went dead quiet.
You dropped the fork with noodles still on it and bolted over to the device, grabbing it as your eyes widened at the message displayed across the screen, that sweet moment of relief. It had worked, Serenity found something.
“What is it?”
“A transmission,” you said and upped the volume on the laptop before bringing it to the table and pressing play.
The entire room was silent aside from your ragged breaths before it started to play something…something odd to say the least, just a series of sounds that didn’t act like they were connected but you noticed Bucky’s eyes had widened.
“What?”
“It’s morse code,” he said and grabbed a pen and paper from the counter before scribbling something down as the message stopped. “Oh my god.”
“What?”
“It says Rogers,” he said and your jaw dropped as he held out the sheet, dots and dashes all in a line and the name Rogers below it in big letters.
He was about to add something else when the laptop beeped again and a second transmission came in and you pressed record before it could start, Bucky grabbing his pen and writing down what he heard. This one was longer, more sounds than the first and lasted for close to two minutes before it stopped and the place went quiet again.
“What was it?”
“Numbers,” he said and handed them over as you pivoted from Serenity’s program to a series of files also stored on the laptop. “God, is that the mission files?”
“Sure is.”
“How do you have those?”
“I have everything,” you said and navigated to the parameters that were given to Clint Barton, the mission’s pilot. “Those numbers are coordinates and they’re for Alderra.”
“That was the planet they were headed to,” Bucky said and you nodded, remembering the day it was announced that they had found something that could be used as a second Earth.
“There’s also this,” you said and moved to a series of files all talking about the Horizon, the ship used during the mission. “Tony Stark equipped it with a failsafe. In the case of stranding you could tell the ship to send off a distress signal which consisted of the last name of the current commander and current coordinates. He quit ASEC after they never got any back, he assumed his failsafe…failed but maybe it didn’t, maybe the ship locked onto Serenity and it can’t be accessed without me or my dad, Fury made sure of that.”
“They sent out a signal but it never got to ASEC, it just got to Serenity who was offline for years.”
“Serenity killed them,” you muttered and glared at the laptop and that stupid satellite.
“Hey, it didn’t. Was that the first and only transmission?”
“Uh…no…but it was the…” You stopped when it did it again, the same short one as before and your eyes widened even further. “It’s on a loop. It sends out a signal every few minutes until someone shuts it off. Steve is alive and he’s been calling for help for five years.”
“Serenity didn’t kill them,” Bucky began and you looked at him, eyes misty with tears. “She’ll save them.”
“I hope so.”
“We need to take this to Val.”
“Really…the woman who hates my guts because I keep stealing from the warehouse she owns and won’t do anything with.”
“She also is the only person who can get us back to Alderra, to see if that signal is correct and Steve is still there, if that goldilocks planet really is the key to all of this.”
“You think she’d make a whole new mission based on two morse code transmissions?”
“Remember what I said Val needed to debate another mission?”
“Proof,” you stated and he nodded as you copied the transmissions to a drive. “All we need is right here.”
“A new home and a rescue mission all wrapped up in one,” he said and you nodded, the weight of it all feeling too great.
“It makes me think,” you said and glanced at the book all about the Horizon, all about that failsafe. “My father was the commander when they left but Rogers was the name that you heard.”
“Maybe it was a last minute change of command, he’s probably wondering why it took so long for Serenity to come online.”
“Maybe,” you muttered but didn’t believe it.
“We’ll talk to Val, see what she thinks and then celebrate when she accepts and we get a fancy new ship and an entire mission to go and get them back.”
“Let’s hope,” you said and smiled, grabbing the beer off the table and drinking half of it as Bucky nodded, smiling wide and doing the same.
There was a lot riding on one singular conversation with a woman who hated your guts because you stole from her, which you did and were fully aware of that and the fact that she was not your biggest fan. ASEC was given every NASA asset leftover from when they disbanded minus one…Serenity, which was Fury’s secret, one he entrusted with only your family. If she knew that Serenity was the reason for this once in a lifetime discovery, it wasn’t about to go well but it was about to be interesting. But maybe it would lead to more, to an opportunity you never thought you’d get and a chance to save a dying world.
American Space and Exploration Company Aka ASEC
North of Phoenix, Arizona
Valentina Allegra De Fontaine, founder of ASEC was already rich when the world began to end and she took that wealth and translated it to space travel, founding a company that could rival NASA. It worked, for a bit but got a bit cast aside when its first and only mission ended in disaster. She had been trying to fund more, so many more but had lost every shareholder that still cared about her in close to 4 years and was desperate to say the least. She needed proof that another mission was worth it, that there really was something out there and like most people, was sick of watching as the world died with no hope of coming back.
You were that proof and ignored the looks you were being given as Bucky led you through the sprawling complex of ASEC’s main headquarters, just north of Phoenix, Arizona. Most of his time was spent outside Sedona, at another of their facilities since ASEC wasn’t just space based, it also made planes and even weapons but Val didn’t like it much when everyone knew that. It was just business at the end of the day and for the most part hers had shifted from probes and ships to weapons but maybe it could be shifted back.
“God, people like to stare,” you muttered and Bucky chuckled.
“They have heard about you.”
“I have a reputation?”
“The girl who stole from NASA, they all want to know why.”
“It is the one thing I never said,” you muttered and he chuckled before pressing the button on an elevator and stepping inside as you followed.
It shot up a large tower attached to the facility, which offered a bird's eye view of the surrounding desert, desert that had always been there, unlike some of the dust bowls popping up in other places. When the crops died, the soil dried up and dust began to spread, choking out the sun in parts of Oklahoma and serving as a reminder to you both that this mission was crucial and you were there for a reason. But Val’s frown from behind her overly large desk didn’t bode well to how you were feeling about finally making it back to ASEC after so many years.
“James,” Val greeted and he nodded, giving her a small wave as she said your name, her frown only going deeper. “I’m surprised you made it.”
“I was told this meeting was important,” you said and glanced at Bucky who nodded and you followed him deeper into the office, taking a seat across from her at the desk. “You’re looking for proof. Enough to warrant another mission and I think I have it.”
“You think?”
“I know I do,” you said and she nodded as you pulled out the laptop connected to Serenity, USB already in place and set it on her desk before pressing the button and the two messages started to play. “This is morse code. The first says Rogers and the second is coordinates to Alderra. Tony Stark outfitted the Horizon with a failsafe that when something fails the acting commander can press a button and this distress signal will be played for as long as it’s needed. They locked onto a satellite nicknamed Serenity by Fury, years ago and he gifted that satellite to my father, who left it with me. I was stealing parts to fix the machine that I need to work it, the one I stole a bit ago was my last piece and I got it working two days ago which is when this message finally came through.”
“How long has it been looping?”
“Since they went offline.”
“Wouldn’t that signal latch onto any satellite?”
“I think something happened to the ship and it couldn’t, it just picked the nearest one and it just so happened to be Serenity but she’s been offline for years. They were calling for help on a disconnected phone.”
“How is this proof?”
“The coordinates are your proof, if it’s broadcasting a current location then it means they made it to Alderra, the mission was a success, they’re just stuck. What we need is a new mission, a new group to go out and see what’s there, what’s left and more importantly…what happened and who’s left.”
“Another Alderra mission won’t go over well, not even with that proof.”
“But,” you offered and she chuckled.
“But we have a ship already in orbit, it’s been up there for years, waiting for the next big thing but the mission was defunded a month before it was about to start.”
“What’s it called?”
“The Hyperion, Tony Stark’s second masterpiece. It can handle it and I have a guy I can send up to get it ready, he’ll be eager to join your cause.”
“So we’re a go?”
“You have to realise that this mission will be an interesting one, especially for gathering a crew, we need to tell people about how the last one failed and the nature of a colonization mission, it usually means you don’t come home. You step off this planet, never to step foot on it again. If Alderra is wrong…that’s it, we’re doomed since it took close to twenty years to find it. But it’s a lot better than synthetic fruit and slop.”
“Humans deserve a chance,” you said and she chuckled. “What they said all the way back when the moon landing first happened was true…Per aspera ad astra.”
“Through hardships to the stars,” Bucky said and you nodded since he had seen the tattoo you had of that famous line on your ribs many times before.
“I’ll see if I can get you eight people, including the two of you and if I can, you have my backing.”
“Another mission to Alderra,” you said and Bucky nodded glancing down at the tattoo the two of you shared on his wrist.
It was a long time ago, back when you got drunk and thought you needed something space themed so despite the better judgement of the artist that did it, you got matching saturn and stars tattooed. A symbol of the stars you both adored and how he loved flying because it got him closer to them and you loved broadcasting because sound was so easy to transmit across them. The wingtips of the planes he flew brushed across the stars at the same time that the sounds you loved spread across them, it brought you together and was a ring long before he ever proposed. Now the ink was a bit faded and it got covered whenever he wore a watch or his sleeves rolled down but at the moment you could see it, a galaxy spread across the wrist of someone who promised you the world what felt like a lifetime ago.
“Do you have a name for this new team?” Val asked and turned to you, the conspirator of this whole mission and you sighed.
“They always say that lightning never strikes twice…maybe it can,” you began and she eyed you. “Thunderbolts.”
“Huh…not what I would’ve picked.”
“What was your idea?”
“I was going to go with the New Avengers, it felt appropriate.”
“Thunderbolts is far superior,” Bucky said and she nodded, albeit a bit reluctantly.
“I guess, I’ll have my team here draft some suit designs during the planning process but if everything goes well, we should be up and away in less than a year,” she said and you nodded, standing and going to leave but she stopped you. “If you steal from me again, you’ll be the only one not going.”
“Noted,” you said and she smiled, watching as you left, a bit more cautious than before.
You waited until you had made it back to the main part of ASEC and held off even more until you and Bucky were outside on a deck and in the cool caress of a final spring breeze before you turned and pulled him into the tightest hug you could muster. He looked surprised but relaxed a bit and embraced the hug as you rubbed at your eyes, almost embarrassed to be so emotional over something as simple as a yes from Val. But it meant that the last five years weren’t a waste and maybe, the world wasn’t so doomed.
“I’m proud of you,” Bucky said and leaned down, going to kiss your cheek but you pulled back.
“Sorry.”
“No…that was me…”
“Look…we’re both going on this mission, we both need to keep a level head and not let what happened distract us.”
“Right.”
“There’s a lot at stake, too much to let it get to our heads.”
“I’ll back off,” he said and stepped back, pulling the sleeve over the tattoo as you sighed.
“Thank you.”
“I still care.”
“I know,” you said and it felt like your mantra as you walked out of ASEC with a slight frown on your face.
There was too much at stake to be worrying about old relationships that may or may not still be a thing and you didn’t want to bother your mind with thinking too much about Bucky or how he felt. There was too much at stake, too much to look forward to and too many factors beyond just the classic…he likes me but we divorced…now what. The world was bigger than the two of you…at least for the moment.
𝐻𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑌𝑜𝑢 | Morpheus( Dream) x Goddess!Reader, Chapter 1 of the Finale
A/N: I thought "Why not give a face claim to Hod and you and Morpheus' children?" And here it is! The gifs from left to right in order are: Lord Meowheus, Hob Gadling, Hod Amund, Alora and Aksel.
Series Masterlist
For as long as Rose knew herself, there was one thing her mother would always say to her.
You have angels watching over you.
As a little girl, the thought of something divine and beautiful protecting her made her giddy, and talk to herself as if there was someone with her...
A friend.
And she wasn't wrong in doing that, because as a child, whose heart hasn't been tainted by the cruelty of the world, she was able to see, talk and even touch you. And she could still remember the days when she touched you, your skin had such a comforting warmth that it felt like the time when her mother covered her with a thick and soft blanket and carried her to her room, with the soft rhytm of her heart lulling little Rose into sleep...
But now, there was no sign of that warmth for anyone.
Throughout the years she grew up,so did her brother who you loved dearly and in return, he saw you as a fun aunt who would always show him the many galaxies he adored looking at. Jed never stopped believing in you, his little child mind being too fascinated and... unaware of the cruelty that lurked around.
His sister, on the other hand, knew everything.
It was easy to blame someone else for your problems, and you were a Goddess, an Angel tasked to protect them... So why didn't you do anything to save them, Rose, Jed and their mom, from her father's cruelty?
Why did you disappear and never came back?
Were they just toys to you?
Did they mean nothing?
All of her life up to this point, she always asked the same questions while looking for a way to find her brother. She begged you to show even the tiniest bit of sign that you were still there and you wanted her to find Jed... Anything, even a simple wave of a cloud...
But there was nothing, at least until she learnt that the woman who wanted to help her, Unity, was her only family left alive.
She took that as your sign, that you stil had her back and wanted to help her. To show her that she wasn't alone.
"Thank you, thank you so much for helping me...' she said breathlessly to her great grandmother's chest, a tear rolling down in relief and hope that she was one step closer to her brother.
Meanwhile from the corner of the room, a shadow, you, watched the exchange with a soft look and warm heart. Even though your heart started to harden after everything Desire and Corinthian did, you would never let yourself be a cruel Queen to those who worshipped you...
To the two humans who never really lost their hope in you.
"You're welcome, Rose... But I fear that your happy days are no longer in your future. I can only hope that I wouldn't be too late to fix everything through your help."
Disappearing after seeing the scene before you, you retreated back to your kingdom, to heal your soul.
And left the rest to the Hecate.
The Kindly Ones would normally never interfere with the human world. After all, they only came when one asked for them to but this, the universe being at the verge of collapsing because of an incoming new threat, they were aware that they needed to take precautions.
And what better way to do it, than reaching to the only human who would be able to wake up the Queen of Life?
"Rose Walker, names are pretty unimportant to us but for you... You may call us as the Kindly Ones..."
"We don't have time, dear... We are only the messengers, Rose, we can only warn you but not protect you. The one who will rose up and do it is someone else..."
"But for that fair lady, we shall warn you, sweetheart. About the Corinthian and now, your guardian's biggest enemy..."
"Morpheus..."
"I don't understand... Who are they, what's going on with my guardian-" she said confused and scared
"All wrong questions sweetheart~ All we can say is that when the time comes let yourself float within the Goddess of Night...For she shall find you."
Morpheus didn't expect to see Heimdall when he arrived back, the guardian looking not so different than the last time he saw him. He still had his armor and the same set of eyes that held the same sterness.
But it also had a slight smile pulling at his lips.
"Heimdall..."
"My Lord... Welcome back. I didn't expect to see you here after a long time."
"I've come to see my children and wife, the Watcher... And nothing shall stop me."
"And no one will cross your path, sir... But I would be careful with my way there, for there is someone who loathes you more than anything. Have a safe journey..." he said with a bow to him, but seeing Morpheus so giddy and happy like this made him laugh freely.
Seeing the confusion on his face, Heimdall sighed anxiously and showed the palace standing behind them." It's not the same as you left it, my lord..."
Gulping at the familiar sentence his lips left, Morpheus shut his eyes and looked at Heimdall with a question mark. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"That I can't tell, but reach the palace and you will have your answer. I need to stay here for our last guest to arrive..."
And the mentioned threat wasn't the girl with who he had a past with, Rose Walker, rather his own flesh and blood...
His Little Dream...
"Uncle Thor, who are all these people and what are they doing here in my mother's chamber?"
Looking up at the young woman standing close to the door with a stern look and hands crossed just beneath her stomach, Hod got up and smiled in her way. "These people are Hob Gadling, your mother's friend, your father and Rose Walker... Her story is a long one so please, listen to us before you decide harshly..."
And after explaining every detail of the story to her, it was safe to say that Alora wasn't impressed.
"So... Did I hear that right? This... mortal is the human my mother is supposed to protect, which I kidnapped to get her here because you asked me to and now Morpheus needs to kill her, the only way to wake our mother, because she is the Vortex? And she also got into the throne room of Morpheus without any difficulty?"
Morpheus tried not to show how it hurt his very being, his own daughter calling him as if he was a stranger to her. He knew that he shouldn't be hasty with how he approaches her but he also couldn't wait for the second chance he had, with his family and... friends.
Looking at her stone-like face, Loki muttered a Well, it's definetly a way to explain everything... at her which did little to no help to ease the tension in the room.
Not caring about the way everyone was looking at her weirdly, Rose scrunched her nose at Alora who had a devilish yet gorgeous smirk on her face and took a step to her form who was standing before the gate with a presence thick enough to make anyone cower in fear.
"Wait wait, who are you again? Because the last time I saw you, you held a dagger to my throat!"
Alora looked at Rose with a teasing rise of her brows and unclasped her hands that were crossed before her front. Taking a step to her form which surprisingly didn't shrunk to itself, and subtle anger flashing through her eyes for this girl was the reason Desire and Corinthian kidnapped her mother and made everything hard for her and her siblings, Alora appeared right before Rose suddenly and stood before her, looking down at her with the advantage she had from her height and lowered her voice.
"Watch that tongue of yours, young missy. I don't know you but disrespect isn't welcomed in our Kingdom. You're lucky that my uncles, aunt and brothers are here because God knows I don't know what I'm capable of doing in my anger..."
The sight was a very familiar one to Matthew, Hob and Morpheus and even though they were slightly scared, Morpheus mostly felt proudness seep through him. He never expected to see his daughter so grown up and strong, so powerful and beautiful like her mother... So...
Him.
And he knew what his personality was like, and what it did to anyone close to him. As a result, loving him or even being near him was hard and knowing how destructive it could be, Morpheus didn't want his daughter to be all alone in the end and wanted to start being the decent father he was always supposed to be.
"Alora, my dream... Please look at me-"
"Don't you dare call me that name ever again! The father who left..." she hissed at him angrily, and seeing the little girl who hugged him and kissed his cheeks to make him feel better be so full of hatred and anger made him stagger back and almost bow down in front of her.
But she wasn't done yet, the anger of her mother manifested with her own and she burst.
"Now, you kneel? Ask for forgiveness? Guess what, Morpheus, I don't accept! I could have forgiven everything but... but the disrespect you showed to my mother... I can't, I shouldn't be loving you but, I do..." a lone tear slipped through her left eye even though her face wasn't moving.
And that one tear burnt the heart of many in the room.
"And I fear... I fear of hating you and also loving you, thinking I would betray my mother... Fuck," she muttered and hastily wiped it, coughing awkwardly to calm herself down and let Morpheus drown in sadness for the cruelty his children had to go through.
"Yeah, guess where she got her attitude..." said Matthew with a slight sad caw! and Morpheus turned to look at him with a sharp stare that was the same as his daughter's. "Yeah, it's as if Her Majesty had given birth to your copies..."
Seeing the tension rise in the room, Hod stood up from his position of kneeling next to your bed and walked up to Alora whose blue eyes were fixed on the young girl and her father. He knew that her anger wasn't towards Rose, rather to everyone in the room who had let her mother down, so he gently took her arm in his hands and led her away.
"Alora, I know you're angry at us but-"
"Oh, anger isn't enough of a word to explain my hatred to everyone in this room, uncle... You also betrayed her trust, didn't you?"
Hod straightened nervously at the implyment behind her words but weren't able to do anything except sigh in defeat. "I know, Alora... And there won't be a day that I will not regret my actions but... We're all trying to be better, help Y/N come back but we need your help..." he took a hold of both of her shoulders and held them thightly in which she continued looking straightly at his face.
" Alora, in order for her to be of help... We need the other key..." knitting her brows together at what that meant, Alora looked around and her eyes caught Rose's and without moving her eyes from hers as if knowing that it was something about her, she talked to her uncle.
"Other Key?" she said as if surprised, and she was. She didn't know who this other person was and what did it have to do with everyone in the room but seeing the desperate look on Rose's face, she felt her defences lower slightly for the girl before her.
No matter how much she wanted, she couldn't exactly hate humanity either, for she felt the love and care her mother had for them even in her womb.
"Jed Walker. He is lost in both the Midgard and the Dreaming and as much as we have a slight guess at where he is... You're the only one who can pull him back from the Void."
Widening her eyes at what Hod said, Alora shook her head violently and took several steps back. Hearing her breath hitch and see her so scared, Morpheus immediately leaped at her and caught her between his arms thightly, hugging her shaking form to his warm chest and humming to calm her. His heart broke at the disheveled look she had but knew that whatever this thing she had to do was no good.
"No, no... I can't, it's too risky. I won't..."
"Alora, you have to-"
"No one will force her to do something she doesn't want to and is clearly aftaid of, Hod..." said Morpheus protectively, hiding his daughter's head to his neck. He felt her keep her breath but let out an exhale at the comfort he gave, and sunk deeper into him. Smiling down at her closed eyes and perfect face, Morpheus kissed the crown of her head and felt happy that even if she was angry at him, she didn't push him away when she needed comfort.
Had it been another time, Hod alongside with others would coo in delight but now, that was an emergency.
" Morpheus, I'm aware of this but if there is someone who could reach him, it's the Goddess of Hope and Dreams, the Lady of Night..."
"Void is a being that has been there even before creation, she wouldn't be able to stand against him... You would be sending her to her death..." he spat at Hod who raised his hands in surrender.
" She doesn't have to fight against it, she just needs to cooperate and we will be taking precautions..."
Everyone's voices started to disappear to Alora when she opened her eyes and looked at Hob and Rose who was being comforted by the man next to her. If he were to let go, she was sure that the young girl would collapse to the golden floors of the palace...
What made her frown was the tear that left her eye, and what her heart screamed at her...
The hope she held alive all those years, the one which was... dying.
The Hope of finding and protecting her brother.
Her mouth hang open in realization that maybe, she wasn't as bad as she thought she was and they shared more than she thought.
Raising her head from its place from her father's neck, she took slow steps to her and nodded her head at Morpheus who held onto her more, assuring him that it was fine and stopped before the duo.
Hob knew that you and Morpheus were gorgeous creatures, all beautiful and unique but he never thought he would be staring at the embodiement of Hope and Night, a beautiful daughter that had your fierce side.
He just didn't understand why she was both and why she was standing before them without moving.
Chuckling at the loud questions inside his mind, Alora gave a side eye to them playfully and held her head high. "Well, Hob Gadling... People mostly hope for the future when they are close to sleeping. Their hopes manifests into their dreams that it's normal for me to be the Goddess of Dreams and Hope... And thank you for the compliment."
Flushing embarrassment, he muttered a you're welcome and looked at Rose to see if she was fine. Nodding at him, Rose lifted her head and looked at her strong ones, deep brown and the endless sky of night meeting in a fierce battle.
And for the first time, Alora was the one to break the silence.
" Is he, Jed Walker, your brother?" Nodding her head in confusion at her question, Rose couldn't asky why she asked that when Alora continued to talk. "Where have you been all this time while he was gone?"
" I looked everywhere and even threatened the woman in adoption center, hired detectives... Nothing came out of them, and now the only way back to him is go-"
"Who said it's gone?" Rose gasped at her and searched her eyes for any malice.
She saw none.
With a soft smile, a smile that suited her rather than the stern look, thought Rose who watched Alora turn to where her mother lay and stare at her longingly.
"My mom always loved your kind, loved listening to them... Perhaps, you and I are not so different than each other, both fighting for their brothers..." Alora took her hand in hers and held it thightly which made Rose dizzy at the intense determination that shone in her irises.
"But your uncle-"
"My uncle talked in his record, I'm the one who makes the last decision. And my devision is set: I'll help but I need to say... It will be hard for me, since he has been gone for a long time..."
Alora's words were caught in her throat when Rose suddenly hugged her and she staggered back with a hand over the girls back to keep both of them on their feet.
"Thank you, thank you so much!"
Though it felt good, I have a front to protect and I can feel a smile break down on my face!
"Okay, okay! Enough emotions, let go of me now, come on!"
Parting from each other, Thor and Loki expected the duo to look at each other with irritation but was met with giggles. They smiled to each other and hoped that maybe, everything would be better now.
"Though I need to ask, only because I wonder... What's the past you and my father has?"
"Ahh, that's... a little bit odd?" asked Rose hesitantly which Alora gave an amused chuckle. She could guess that it was trully something odd for someone who knew nothing about the existence of the supernatural.
"Oh darling, I'm the crown princess of two powerful beings, one being an anthropomorphic personifaction of Dreams. Nothing is odd with me, come on now..."
With a sigh and a reluctant look from Morpheus, Matthew knew that his boss once again fucked up.
"Hey boss... Remember when you told me your wife is quite terrifiying when she was angry? I guess you are about to be roasted by your daughter who is exactly like her."
"Shut up, Matthew..."
So she explained everything, starting from where she first found herself in his throne room and learnt that she was a Vortex to their plan of finding Jed with him in her dreams. Rose told her how her father told her that if she found him in her dreams, that she could also find her brother but nothing they did worked.
"And then these men, I assume your uncles, found me and told me that they could be of help if I accepted to help them as well..."
"Hmmm..." Alora muttered in deep thoughts and walked past Rose who was watching her talk to herself intently.
"It's impossible for him to vanish all of a sudden. I remember hearing his prayers and hopes and it's not like a Gordon Ramsey with a chicken body would suddenly appear and kidnap him, did you know that I used to be scared of him for a very long time? That human always shouts and looks angry..."
Looking at her awkwardly, both Hob and Rose looked at sach other and shrugged their shoulders at the girl who was acting like a queen but now was a rambling mess.
"Is she always like this?"
"Yeah, man! Most of the times when she's anxious-"
"AHHH!"
They both yelled when a sudden playful young man's voice came behind them and turned abruptly to see a boy, who also looked like Morpheus with his spikey hairs look at them coyly. Looking at his features, he had dark, black hair and blue eyes just like the girl who was still busy murmuring, but except, he was more energetic and bubbly whereas Alora was... stoic mostly.
"Who... Who are you? Are you here-"
"To threaten you..? No,no you got me all wrong! I sensed that Alora was in stress and came flying here, quite literally if I may add, to see what this commotion is about... And also to escape from my brother's brutal training... Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Aksel Y/Nson, youngest of the triplets and also probably whom you will get along the first since the lady over here," he gestured to Alora who stopped to look at him with a scolding look and made thumbs up at her before turning back to them, "is pretty stoic and a party-pooper!"
"Aksel, how nice to see you brother... Care to help me?"
"Is it about ruling the kingdom again? Because I swear If I listen to one more lecture, I'll ugly cry..." He whined like a little kid which shocked Morpheus and Hob who expected to see someone stern just like Alora.
Hob looked at the siblings who were bickering back and forth with a open mouth, shocked that you and his Stranger, Morpheus, had kids. He didn't know what to feel, betrayed because you never told him about them or sad, because he wasn't the one who had them with you...
But over all, seeing them both so different yet in harmony made him feel like you left a big part of yourself here, with them.
And it was almost comedic how Alora was like Morpheus' female version while Aksel was like the male version of you...
He wondered if there would be another one that resembled him, though it was impossible.
His thoughts were cut short when he heard a very loud crack and an Aksel laying on the floor with an unreadable, empty look. Alora was standing before him with raised brows and arms crossed, waiting for him to say something when she widened her eyes at what she heard.
"Alora, you shouldn't be too hard on your brother. He is just trying to ease you..."
Even Morpheus was shocked to hear his "father voice" after such a long time that he widened his own pair of blue eyes and looked shakily at the siblings who had a similar shocked puppy look. Alora would have never dreamed of the day that she would hear the "father voice" yet alone from her own father but seeing and hearing it, how caring yet authoritative he was with them with a tender love...
Alora and Aksel flushed in happiness, and everyone chuckled at their cute, flustered look, and how they looked like little kids.
With a small smile that has been reserved for only her brother for a long time, she looked at her youngest brother and helped him up with a sorry father, and looked at them with a thight look around her brother while Morpheus gave them a small smile.
Looking at his son, who was having troubles with standing still with a funny look, Morpheus was glad that his stoic and cold tendencies didn't pass to every single one of his children. It was obvious in the way Aksel was looking around that he was all you except his looks. The way he would scrunch his nose when someone said something stupid, or how he was looking around at new people in wonder reminded him of you and how you ran around in the Dreaming when you first saw it.
He felt the bitter pain of your severed bond again and groaned in pain, which shocked Hob who was close to him and he offered a hand to him in worry. "Are you okay?"
"Yes... But she isn't, I believe the Sleeping is not helping her."
Worry written all across his face, Hob turned to look at your form who was laying peacefully and turned to the Dream Lord. "How? They said it would help?"
"It's about something, somewhere that's connected to her... I believe my daughter is going to say something, agh, something about it..."
"You are in pain, stop being so stubborn and sit down a bit." exclaimed Hob who was still shocked that nobody noticed them and how something was wrong with you, his heart breaking even more for Morpheus and you, it beating in pain. He slowly rubbed his back while holding onto his hands for support, hoping that no one saw them.
But Alora and Aksel's eyes found the pair of them, and looked at them in worry which Morpheus gave a small smile at them to continue. Not believing him, they looked at them for a second and turned their heads slowly to continue, their souls reaching to him silently to heal whatever pain he was in which he gelt deep in his being, and a tear rolled down slowly at their silent care.
"Apart from my rambling, I think Jed is still alive somewhere and someone is doing a pretty damn good job at hiding it. The books in the Dreaming fail to lead us somewhere and the scrolls I have in my domain also are not of help," she explained slowly for Rose and everybody else to understand it and Morpheus, seeing her so authoritative and powerful, felt proud of the young woman she had become even though she had to endure the harshness of the world from a young age.
Catching her father's eye, Alora looked deep into them and for the first time ever since he came, sent a small smile to his way. Yes, she was still angry at him and they needed to talk about everything but seeing how proud he was of her, she couldn't help but feel like a little girl.
As the Goddess of Hope, she had a deep connection with every being in the universe, always hearing their pleads even if it was a mere whisper.
But she couldn't deny the fact that Hob Gadling's and her father's are the loudest ones, their heart beating and praying only for one person.
You.
She didn't know much about you, since she didn't get the chance of being raised by you, but always heard how much of an amazing person you were. How you were more suited to be a Queen than her uncle Thor that even everyone in the kingdom and her uncle himself knew this. She has always been the better one, but my father desperately wanted a man to be the ruler, she remembers her uncle saying to her one day when she wanted to learn more about her family. Even from day one, she proved to him and everyone in the 9 realms that she is the Queen.
That was when she sensed that the unfairness you faced went beyond what the eyes saw.
And then her uncle Heimdall started to tell you and her father's story, of how you met and courted. How he did everything to pursue you but then all started to go wrong.
Of how he disrespected you, how he started to show less interest and rather drowned himself in his work when you always fought for him.
And this only angered her and her brothers.
She remembers thinking that he looked so cool when they first met, and how he looked like he could fall apart at the sight of her. She was just a child at that time, she barely understood what being a bookworm meant rather than being a worm, but now that she was grown up... She questioned...
What was it that happened to him, that it changed the cold and unmerciful King of Dreams?
While she had those thoughts about her own father, she was more sympathetic about the immortal human Hob Gadling. She remembers him and his prayers of the woman he loved coming back, of finally telling her and "his Stranger" of his true feelings...
She didn't understand at first, but seeing them right before her eyes, disdain and love for her father in Hob's eyes and guilt, pain and as equally pure love in her father's confirmed that they were both in love with each other and you.
This new information would have scared the shit out of her perhaps, and it did for what it would mean for their family in the future yet, her face remained serious and she continued explaining their situation which didn't look... good, when her aunt spoke up for the first time.
"There might be a way to find him..."
All eyes turned to Hela who spoke for fhe first time ever since they brought your body here. Watching her slowly rise and look down at you with sad eyes, she turned to them and pointed the huge gate behind you.
"Life never stops, even though dreams do. Even prayers stop at one point but life? Life is ever-changing, accomadating to new ways... If there are any answers, it's in the Library of Life."
"Amazing! Than let's enter-" exclaimed Rose excitedly with the first hint of a solution but was easily calmed down by Aksel.
"Easy, Rose... The thing about our mother's library is... It was used for bad intention which almost ended the whole existence. Therefore she and other Gods sealed it for good and only those who she allowed and had a clear, pure heart would enter."
"And who decides who's worthy to enter?" she huffed out in annoyance at how complicated the Gods were which Alora raised a brow at playfully and decided to tease her.
"You realize that we are the sole people who helps and keep the balance, right? Of course we're complicated things, sweetheart~"
Looking everywhere but Alora and how her red lips smirked at her obvious submission, Aksel scoffed and pushed Alora away from her since the topic turned to... a flirting session.
"Stop trying to seduce people!"
"I'm not! I'm merely saying-"
"Anyways! The one who decides are she or... the Gates. The name of the person is written down on the seal next to hers so that they may enter."
"Great, now we need to find this person when Jed's life could be in grave danger?"
Dear mother, may you help me. I understand she is worried for her brother but I'm this close to slapping her....
"No, not really. He is already here... Hob Gadling... Please step closer." said Alora which elicited a surprised gasp from Aksel, the ever drama queen, and she nudged him hard from his stomach, causing him to fold in pain while she held Hob's hand with a huge a smile.
"Stop being a drama queen, Aksel!"
"How in the 9 Realms I can't, when I thought our father would be the one?! Damn, mom doesn't even trust father, huh?"
Morpheus, as always, were sulking and the fact that you didn't trust him enough hurted him but he also knew that being angry at you for it was unfair since he deserved everything you had thrown at him.
"It's okay, my son... After everything I failed to do with your mother, after everything she had seen me done, I understand why she had chosen him."
Looking at him with shocked eyes, your siblings looked at each other and down at you, with the same thought.
She would have died if she heard him accept defeat...
Aksel looked at his father with guilt at what he had said, and how crestfallen he looked and stood up to walk to him but stopped and curled his hands into thight fists, deciding that the talk they needed to have was for another day and turned to his sister, the sister who had been a mother and father to them, and listened to her.
"Perhaps, she had seen a dark side of him," Alora eyed him curiously to see his reaction which was bowing his head in shame and she smiled sadly at the possibilities of what might have happened between you two and turned to her brother. "We're all greedy creatures, after all... If mom trusted Hob Gadling, then I do as well."
Looking at everyone to see if anyone had something else to say, she nodded her head in gratitude and pointed to the huge gates behind your bed.
"Here, then... I shall accompany him down the halls to the library. And maybe have a talk, alone..."
Hob didn't undertsand how he had become someone important for the durability of fhe universe all so suddenly, he was just a history professor who had been alive almost eight hundred years. He didn't understand what you saw in him enough to decide that he would be the only person to enter a sacred place such as this.
And perhaps, the reason behind his fear was the way her voice rasped at the end or the strong aura she gave around, but Hob shivered slightly yet took her hand and let her lead him deep into the secrets of the Palace of Valaskjalf.
Not knowing the threats waiting for them.
~~~~~~~~
"Were you in love with my mother?"
That was the first thing Alora asked as soon as they were alone and Hob wasn't surprised. Intelligence was the first thing he realized in her and he also saw the recognation in her eyes when he helped Morpheus.
There was no need to deny, and bring even more pain to his heart.
"Yes, more than anything..."
"Then why didn't you marry her?"
"Our meeting and... becoming something more was way later. Your mother was already married."
"Then... you were with her when she was with my father?" She asked calmy, which shocked herself since she thought she would be angry at her mother's possible affair.
"No! I didn't know that she was married, she never told me anything... I guess that's where she went whenever she leaved. I wonder why she lied to me..."
"Hmmm, do you think that she betrayed your trust? When you also didn't tell her about some things about your life..." she said thoughtfully while pointing at him to lay his hand on the marble door.
"No... As much as I want to, I know what happened to her and your father."
"You mean what kind of a man he had been to her?"
"Yes... Whenever I saw her, she always looked sad and broken. I never thought that it was because she was left all alone by the one she was supposed to be loved... Are you angry at us? Her, I mean?"
"Maybe, I'm supposed to..." she muttered to herself and entered the library with Hob on her tail. He tried to deduct her by her posture and voice, trying to see if she felt pain or anger but much like her father, she also guided her feelings well.
But he didn't have to wait any longer.
"But, I'm not. You made her happy when nobody else did, and I felt the deep love she had for both you and my father..."
"No, she doesn't love me surely, especially when she has a-" he tried to deny it with flushed cheeks which Alora chuckled softly.
"Do you question her love, Hob?"
"No, but... Why would she, when she is a literal Goddess? I'm just a human who happened to be-"
"You are the man that helped her and made her happy so much that even her babies felt it. That's enough of a reason for me to like you, and for you to be sure about her love..."
A breath left his mouth and he looked at her back who raced inside the huge library with a smile. He never though how much you loved him, or whether you did or not, since he always thought he was unworthy. But to hear that she felt your happiness... That it affected those closest to you was such a big yet pleasing surprise.
It made his heart burst with affection for the young woman who had so much from you.
And unknown to him, she felt exactly the same. She wasn't sure how her father would react, at both his unanswered feelings for the man and your relationship witg him, but her gut told her that there were bigger problems.
Problems she and her brothers would have to solve, and it all started with the problem on hand.
The Library of Life.
Standing before it, Alora turned to Hob ejose eyes were wide in amazement with a bright and hopefull smile..
"All the answers lie in here, I believe we can find so- Aghh!!"
"Alora! What's going on?!"
Watching the girl writhe in pain on the floor suddenly while holding her chest thightly, eyes wide with pain and body shaking like a leaf, Hob didn't know what to do and panicked. He would blame himself if it was something he did, hurting the only piece he had of you, so he decided to get uo and get help when she held onto his arms thightly, with shaky eyes that were filled with tears of pain.
"N-no... Stay, please. I don't wanna be alone again...! I'm sure it would pass- aghh!"
"Okay, okay, I'm here. What do you want me to do? Rub your back, talk to you to divert your focus somewhere else?"
"Hug me, if that's okay... It's been a long time since I was last hugged by someone..."
And that was what he did, he hugged her thightly to his chest swayed them both back and forth. Resting his cheek on her beautifully-done hair, he shushed her litfle mewls of pains and stroked her back while she let out a sigh of relief after some time, the pain finally starting to go away. But even then, when the feeling of being stabbed brutally and getting thrown off of a cliff disappeared, she didn't stop hugging him.
The warmth only a human body could offer was something divine, how a simple touch could ease all the pain one was facing with. And the warmth Hob was giving to her, was what she always needed but never had.
Thightening his hold on his neck for one last time, she patted his back, telling him that she was okay and they parted. Hob looked into her eyes and wiped a tear that sat on her lashes and held her cheek with his, caloused hands on the softest silk he had touched, as contrasting as it was.
And the look he gave her, a silent ask if she was okay, was what made Alora get closer to the man her mother loved.
"I don't know what happened between my mom and you, but it's clear that she cared about you a lot. Don't take it as jealousy but... Don't break her heart even more than it already is, Hob... Can you do that for me?"
Looking down at her in wonder, Hob realized that her personality was more like yours than Morpheus'. He thought she would take the new bad or try to attack him even but her face held... content at what she said.
"Of course, I would never dream of hurting her anymore... But I wonder, why are you so calm and, dare I say, happy at my relationship with your mother?"
"According to what my family told me, my father failed to give the same love my mom gave to him. And after she met you, she became happier and more lively. How can I hate the one who made my mom happy before she was captured?"
Learning how you were happy while being with him, and possibly talked about him with the people you were close to, Hob smiled and wiped the tears away and helped Alora up while swearing that he would do anything to protect you both.
But he forgot that Alora also had your teasing traits.
"Besides, I have eyes and I can see that you're looking at our father like you want to eat him out~"
"N-NO I DON'T-"
"Ah, don't be scared. We all know it anyways, besides it's okay between people who love each other. And don't act like I'm a child, I know how sex works!"
Giggling at how lost he looked and how his face was all red, Alora patted him and pulled him inside the library while Hob was still trying to get out of his shock.
"Wait... Heimdall said that you were kids when your father met you, but now you're grown ups! How is that possible?"
"It has something to do with our Endless blood, I guess. Since we are hybrids of a Goddess and an Endless, I guess we had a growing spurt and then stopped aging." she said matter of factly while looking through the books, trying to find the one about Dreamwalking.
Nodding his head behind her back, not that she would see, Hob looked around in amazement. There were huge pillars of books and scrolls reaching almost to the top and a globe was hanging in the middle of the room, though it wasn't lit. The place was mostly dark but for some reasons, where Alora was lightened slightly. He guessed it was about her being the daughter of Life and went to stand behind her to see what she was looking at.
The book she was holding was a black book with red carvings that he wasn't able to read, but it wasn't hard to understand that the book wasn't something good.
"Alora, what's that?"
"It's the book that will help us find Jed and have answers... The Darkhold."
"YOU WILL DO WHAT AGAIN?! DON'T TOU KNOW THAT SHIT IS CRAZY AS FUCK?"
"I know, brother but just so you know, we don't have any other choice."
Gripping his forehead in distress at what she said she would do to find Jed, Aksel couldn't help but grab her shoulders and shake her. "Alora, Dreamwalking is extremelly dangerous for both you and your other self and I don't wanna even speak about what happened to those who did it!"
"If you are talking about Strange versions, they all failed and started an incursion because they didn't have absolute control over the spell." she said irritatedly. She knew that it was dangerous, hell she could loose her existence because of it, but there was no other way to help you and Jed.
Aksel looked at her with disbelief and let out a shocked breath at how determined she was to sacrifice herself like that.
For a boy.
Scoffing at her, Alora watched him with shock written across her face at how serious he seemed so suddenly. "And what about Wanda Maximoff? Don't you know what happened to her?"
"Look, Aksel I understand your worry but I'll alter the spell, so that I wouldn't be possessing my other self's body, rather travel along the multiverse and many subconsciousses to find Jed. Only difference will be that I'll be sleeping while doing so... You have to understand that this is rhe only way, please... If you don't have my back, who else is gonna have it?"
Silence fell to room like a rocket, everyone glancing at the two siblings who had been nothing but glued to each other. They understood how he was worried about her, and also understood why she was dead set-on doing Dreamwalking. Hela could see the past replaying itself again, with you in Alora's place and her as Aksel way before she was exiled.
She knew that she had a knack for magic just like you, your mother teaching everything she knew and even more to you and that passed down to Alora, who would possibly get out of this alive and well.
But of course, magic was uncontrollable so anything might happen and Aksel knew this. Most thought of him to be way too young to be serious or understand anything to do with magic or ruling, and it was true. He didn't care about any of those, his only thought being discovering new places and going on adventures with, maybe, someone he cherished a lot.
But he would never let his sister do something reckless, even if it brought what he always wanted.
"Sister, you know I will always be by your side but there was a reason mom locked this deep in the library. Please, you must think this throughly. Do you think mom would forgive herself if something happened to you?"
Watching the exchange silently, Morpheus felt the breath leave his lungs at what his daughter stored in her mind, and how it almost felt like watching you sacrifice everything just to save him and the Dreaming.
The pain was the same, the one that made it though, was different.
Taking a long step to them, Morpheus held the back of his son's head while the other caressed the smooth, marble skin of his daughter's. Normally he would have killed himself than to see his children in pain but knew that when she put her head into doing something, she would do it.
"Be careful, my little dream. The dangers that are waiting for you in the multiverse, and the world beyond it is far stronger... I can't keep them away from you but I can protect you from it." Morpheus gave a necklace, almost the same as his except this was a sapphire, and helped her put it on. After succesfully doing it, he kissed her forehead and squeezed her hands. "This shall protect you, and let anybody know that you are the daughter of the Dream Lord and His Lady Life. Me and your brothers will protect you from here and help you as much as we can. Just say it, and it shall be yours."
Witnessing the power only her parents' names held over the whole universe, Alora grinned and looked down at the necklace she wore, listing everything she needed.
A flat surface, some chalk and sand.
Nodding his head at her wishes, all of them appeared right before them before she even uttered the last part.
"Such a girl dad, seriously. Almost gonna make me cry..." said Matthew looking at how smug and proud Morpheus looked with the ghost of a smile. Smearing the sand around the shrine she will be resting on, she started to draw new runes on the stone bed. All the protection spells she hoped they would work, and every spell to contain her soul safe, already started to weaken her.
Hopping on the bed, she and Aksel turned to the gates that opened widely and came a fuming Amund with his wild curls and angry oceans for eyes.
"Oh fuck..."
"Yeah, 'oh fuck...'! The hell do you think you are doing with that damned book?"
"Uhh, probably save the universe? How did you even know what I was gonna do?"
"Call it a Triplet Telepathy but I knew that you were planning to do something stupid which I wasn't wrong. It's the dumbest idea to ever cross your mind..." he muttered angrily while Rose let out a hey! at him which earned her a hard glare from him. He abruptly turned to Alora and stood close to her with an angry look. "You are not doing it."
"I am. Even father agreed on it!" Turning to Morpheus who had the same stern look as his son, he let out a humorless chuckle. "I see that you had forgiven him, sister, when you were always the one with the most hatred."
"Life is short and he is trying to change, I see no problem...Though my heart still cries for mother-"
"Your eyes tell a different story though, for the cruel man that made our precious mother cry silent tears of pain..." Eyeing him from his sister's shoulder, Amund gave him a cold and unfazed look. "I shall never talk to him for that, but I also know that you will do it anyways. Be careful sis, and when you return we shall speak about it..."
Kissing her forehead and helping her lay down, Amund layed a kiss on her cheek and stepped down. With the exchange both Hob and Morpheus realized that winning over Amund would be the hardest thing Morpheus would do.
"I guess a certain someone is going to try kill you if you get close to him..."
"I believe that it's my concern, Hob Gadling, as their father to resolve this..."
"Maybe, Stranger, but it's obvious that you don't know how to treat a kid with love and care. And Amund is surely a mother's boy who felt the pain she felt, therefore he would hate you beyond understanding..."
"Is that supposed to soothe me? To know that my own son has turned his back against me?" He said tentatively with slow yet heavy steps but Hob didn't budge at his threatening look.
"Yet again, you didn't listen to me... He would hate you but eventually, start to forgive you. You are family, you are supposed to both hate and love each other. Just give them some time, and wait for Y/N to be back. A mother's soothing words could cause wonders."
And with that, while the two of them were looking at each other with deep looks, Alora went in a deep sleep. Winking at her brothers with a happy Wait for me in a few minutes....
But an enemy had found the perfect time to attack, for the only other person who held Asgard together was now weak enough to crushthe powerful kingdom...
Looking through the houses that were closest to where Jed's last prayer was made, Alora looked around cautiously to not miss even a single thing and kept walking while everyone was watching with intense and nervous eyes at what might happen from the outside world. For precautions, she had connected herself with The Book of Life and also Hod who was watching her look through every crevice for a sign from Jed.
"Hey, Alora, everything good in there?"
"Yes, though I haven't seen anything related to Jed yet..."
Looking back at Rose who had been looking at her body for such a long time, Hob turned back to the book and continued speaking to her. He felt like he was talking to you, since she acted almost the same way you usually did, stern yet with an unbending will to complete the task on hand.
She didn't understand how she found all these human houses at the first go, guessing that it would take a long time but having an idea as to why. She thought since they both were the humans you were assigned for, the bond between you and them helped her.
While she was looking around the houses with knitted brows in concentration, hoping for a sign from him. The first one was the unexplainable pain she felt deep in her soul, the scream of help from who she thought was Jed. She was focusing in every single wave through the existence, every disturbance or slight change in life for something to happen.
"I was wondering something Alora..."
"Hmm, what is it?" She said after flinching slightly at Hob's voice which resinated in her mind suddenly while her eyes darted around.
"Why did you suddenly decide to help us when you were so against it?" Rose turned to look at him when his question left his mouth, and waited for an answer or any kind of change on Hob's face.
And the only answer to that, was a shocked yet proud look.
"Is it not obvious? I am the same as her, only wanting the best for my family... I couldn't let her grieve him when I just knew that he was still somewhere. Now, if you excuse me..."
"Sure, sure... Go on. Are you sure that there is no threats, darling? Because you know, that place is full of-"
"Supernatural? I know, and please don't make people even more nervous than they already are, I can hear Aksel and Thor chew on their nails so loudly that it's enough to reach to my ears..." she said and threw a branch that came towards her face, bored out of her mind. And true to her words, they were trully nervous and stopped chewing their fingers when Hob told them what she said.
She would have talked more but when she felt an omnious aura close to where she was, she stopped the connection between him and Hob, warning him that it was so that his mind would be safe.
"FUCKING SHIT, I HATE THIS! ROSE IS LUCKY THAT I LIKED HER ENOUGH TO GO AND DO THIS! WHAT THE FUCK IS A HUGE WORM DOING IN HERE!?"
While hitting the huge worm with whips and slicing it, she settled down on the ground after having to fight it for a long time, she was scared at hearing a boy cheer for her. A boy in a red and yellow suit, who looked like someone she knew.
"What the- Jed?"
"Oh mg God, you know me? You are like so cool and powerful and you know-"
"Easy there kid, I'm here to save you. It seems that you're trapped between realities but you need to come with me, you don't belong in here... Your sister is waiting for you."
And that was how she held his hands and walked from reality to reality, trying to find the right one.
"Hmm, it's odd... Normally, I'm always able to find the right one in seconds, why does it take long?"
Thightening her hold over the boys hand, Hob cheered loudly from the other side and told them that Alora found him safely and now was trying to come back, which elicited a happy sequel from Rose and a relieved sigh from Morpheus, who was sitting down next to you, holding your hand thightly in his after laying a kiss there.
"Our daughter is safe, my love. She is as strong as you are... I promise I'll fix everything, just wake up. If not for me, for our children..."
Amund would have scowled at how his father 'seemed' sorry and ashamed even, if it wasn't for Aksel who nudged him to keep his mouth shut.
"Just don't..."
"Don't what? You didn't expect me fo accept him back that easily like you two, right?"
"I'm not telling you to forgive him, but don't look pass at how he's trying to change. Trying to be a good-"
"He lost that chance when he decided being an ass to our mom, and to us. I'm not saying anything about what you two decide to do with him, right? Then don't intervene with what I decide as well, brother."
Sighing at his harsh words, even though they weren't directed to him, Aksel left Amund with himself and went up to the upstairs to his father. Morpheus immediately felt his youngest son's presence and lifted his glossy eyes to him with a sad smile, a clear sign that he heard everything his eldest son said.
"Your brother pretty much wants me dead, no?"
"I... I wouldn't say that, he is just mostly angry at himself I guess." Aksel stutterred at the absolute crushed look, and how his lips were slightly wobbling. According to what his aunt told him, Morpheus was someone who never wanted to be seen as weak, even when he clearly was in need of help. He would shut himself and stray away from everyone and to his work which would only worsen everything.
But the man sitting before him right now, a man who had nothing else to loose, wasn't the same one as before.
"For what, when he had not done anything wrong?"
"For both loving and hating you, for everyone who let you hurt mom..."
Morpheus shut his eyes thightly at what Aksel said, yet nodded his head and turned back to caressing your damp hair after pointing at his son to sit down with him. Silence fell over them quickly but was cut just as fast when Morpheus looked into a pair of identical eyes to his.
"I'm proud of you, my son. Even though people underestimate you, you proved that even the calm and funny ones could have such an impact... I'm so proud of you, so happy to have children like you... I'm sorry that I wasn't here, sorry that I let my ego get the best of me which resulted with your mother being left alone... I'm sorry that I was captured..."
Hanging his mouth open at what he said, Aksel couldn't believe his ears. His father, the literal King of Dreams and Nightmares was captured? That was the reason their mother was all alone with no protection?
He simply couldn't believe it when he stood so powerful like that.
"Wait, you were... captured? By who?"
"A man that I don't even want to recall. He, alongside his stupid offspring, took everything from me. They were one of the reasons that your mother was left alone, that you didn't have any of us growing up..."
"But... are you not like a super powerfull god or something?" Smiling softly at how he said it matter-of-factly, Morpheus caressed Aksel's hair.
"Yes, I am... But it seems that even I have a limit to what I can or cannot do. They used a spell to bind my sister, your aunt Death, but captured me instead. Your mother tried everything to save me but she also wanted to keep the Dreaming alive... Which resulted in this, all because of me..."
Aksel looked at his father with an unreadable face when he spat the last word so hatefully, seeing the pure disgust on his face. He understood, kinda, why he seemed like guilt was eating him alive, why he always looked at you longingly and in regret.
Maybe, not everything would be easy for his family from now on, but they might as well try.
"I know that you're angry at yourself, much like Amund but... Even though we're angry at you for the way you acted with mom, we could never hate you. Just... don't leave again, don't give up on us-"
"Never, my son, never. I would never let any of you leave me, if that's not what you wish for. I would gladly fight with all of the Hell and even Lucifer if it meant I could be with all of you..."
Smiling at how he sounded so determined, Aksel smiled and nudged his father which Morpheus raised an amused brow. "That's good to hear, dad..."
Smiling bashfully at him, Morpheus felt his heart soar at the name and brought his son for a side hug while still holding onto your hand thightly with a happy face. He felt the hope bloom inside him again, for he had even more reasons to fight for.
But of course, something had to go wrong.
"Uhh, is it me or is Alora mumbling in her sleep? Does it mean something bad?"
When Rose's question ringed through the room, Morpheus and Aksel looked at where she was resting and saw a slight frown form on her face while her lips were moving.
And at the same time, a whimper left your lips as well.
Aksel was all over you the moment it did and torn between going to you or his sister, Amund went to stood before Alora and looked at her face, demanding a clean cloth to wipe her sweat.
"She has been Dreamwalking for a long time, it's starting to affect her body. Hob, you said she found him why is she not returning back?"
"I-I don't know just when Rose asked about her, the vision... just stopped. Nothing is coming from her, no sound, nothing..." he said in a panicked state, not knowing anything and worried for the safety of the girl laying down peacefully.
Meanwhile Alora was trying to hold an energetic Jed back from pouncing on everything he found in what seemed like Asgard.
"Is this your home? This looks amazing!"
Smiling down at him and how he seemed like he was shining with joy, Alora nodded her head at him but pulled him to her body. "Yes, but also no... This place looks just like my home, but it's not. Come, maybe we can find someone to help us..."
And look, she did. The gardens and people were just like she remembered, just more radiant and happier. Many they had crossed paths with greeted them both with happiness and wishings for a good future for the future princess of the kingdom which she didn't... understand a thing.
"So, are you pregnant or something in this time?" Cringinh her face comically at his question, Jed giggled at her pure disgust while she threw her hand to the air.
"As much as I know, no... It must be my mother, probably. But I don't think she would concevieve a child after-"
"Wouldn't dream of cutting you, but... Is that Lady the queen? Because she seems like she is..."
Turning to where Jed was pointing at with literal stars in his eyes, Alora gasped when she saw you. The ever radiant, and beautiful you, caressing a huge bump while holding hands with...
"Hob? Holy shit, mom is gonna have his baby?! And where is my father-"
"My loves, I finally found you. It seems that both of you have a knack for running of." a soft voice she knew very well resonated the hall they were all gathered, a rich and raspy voice. But what brought tears to her eyes was the sight of you giggling with a hint of a glow over your face.
You were happy, and well. You were loved in this universe and even had a bigger family.
And you were obviously married to both men which brought a knowing smirk to her face.
"Not at all, dear. But your kids are energetic as hell today that I begged Hob to come and have a walk with me..."
"The kids are gods among us, of course they will be energetic! Oh, the amount of fun I'll have..."
"I know that look, Hob, you aren't teaching them how to prank any more of my guards."
"Party pooper..."
Kissing his face lovingly at what he said, you hit his chest playfully while Morpheus' slender hands slithered around your wide middle and caressed the thight skin over your belly. The sight made Alora cry silent tears, the sight of what would have been if things didn't go out of hands.
The family she would have had.
"Ma'am are you okay? Why are you crying?"
Feeling the tug over her suit, Alora looked down to see the worried frown on Jed's face. His hands were holding hers thightly and she felt a lump start to occur, so she wiped her tears and cleared her throat silently.
"Yes, I am... It just shocked me to see my family so...
"Happy?" finished Jed in her stead, his own curious eyed watching the sight of three people love and caress each other lovingly. Alora eyed him curiously, knowing that he had a complicated family life just like her. To see the young boy so understanding of adult problems was a sight to behold.
" I think your family has problems just like mine... But they seem such loving and responsible people."
"Yeah, they are... I guess... Oh shit, my mom is coming here!"
Pulling Jed behind a pillar quickly and slapping a hand over his mouth, she watched you three talk so freely as if there were no problems you had to face.
As if they were all you needed.
She wondered what was so different in this universe that you had a happy end, what you did to have it. She wondered if you could sense her being in here, or knew that she was intruding...
"I believe we have a guest that we know really closely, is it not right my dear?"
And when your soft voice came right behind her, she couldn't do anything except turning to you with unshed tears running down her face. Your touch and warmth were just as she remembered, the kindness in them was enough to burn all of the universes and bring life back to them.
A breathless whisper left her mouth. "Mother..."
"Oh, my dear love... Life hadn't been kind to you, has it?"
And this sentence was the last drip to make the crown princess of Asgard break down in front of her mother and family. After all, she was just a little kid who didn't have her parents growing up, it didn't mean that she couldn't seek her mother's hug even if she was grown up, no?
"What-what makes you think that I'm your-"
"I was raised by witches, my love. I can see beyond the eyes see and besides, you are the spitting image of your father. Makes me wonder if I gave birth to his copy..."
Laughing through her tears, knowing that you wanted to make her smile with the last comment, she leaped on your arms while being careful of the huge bump.
Watching the scene unfold before them, both Morpheus and Hob was confused as to why this girl that looked like their daughter but obviously wasn't, was here. They even thought that she was lying but one look in her pool of blue eyes and soul, Morpheus knew that she was his precious, little dream.
"My daughter... I believe there are things we have to speak but first, let's get you two cleaned up."
***
"So, you two are from another reality and you Dreamwalked to find the mortal next to you because your mother's life alongside with the universe's is in danger?" said with a voice laced with worry for the state you were in
Nodding her head repeatedly at her father, she thanked the girl who served her and smiled in her way which made the young girl flush in joy." Yeah, pretty much... I don't know how long it had been though."
"Dreamwalking for long periods of time is dangerous, Alora, even for the Goddess of Dreams. You know this better than anyone."
"And you used the Darkhold, I can only hope that no damage was done to you!"
Bowing her head down like a little kid being scolded you watched your daughter flush in embarrassment and took your husbands' hands into yours to calm them down from their anger and worry. You were just as worried as them, if not more, and knew how protective they were of her, but what was done was done and your only purpose was to bring these two back to their reality.
"Morpheus, Hob, I understand your worry but you are saddening her. I can see that she's aware of the consquences of her actions, so stop scolding her when we're supposed to be happy that she had enough courage to make such a big decision with the utmost care for both herself and the human kid she's protecting."
Inhaling sharply at your words, both men turned to their daughter and watched how she was playing with the boy with a soft yet sad smile. They didn't know what exactly happened that made her not look at them at all but Hob felt his heart break at the sad frown on her lips and drop of her shoulders.
The same ones he used to have when he was lost without you two.
"Is looking at us that repulsive, sweet daughter?" He asked to her, hoping that the answer was no. This version of their daughter was, after all, different than theirs. The woman sitting before her was stoic, stern and held the kind of look that someone who has been through hell and back. But in the end, she still was their little daughter who would run after them whenever she saw them close. The one who would go beyond measures to create something beautiful for them as a gift.
Gasping in shock at what he said so sadly, Alora panicked and immediately shook her head no after making sure that Jed wasn't ruining his clothes. The last thing she would ever want would be seeing you or well, her fathers, hurt by her actions.
"No, no you misunderstood me mother, Hob! I am not disgusted, I mean I am but it's only because you three are being so cute and lovey-dovey! It just feels odd to see three of you together... I mean I know you and Hob were together while you had problems with dad, and he was being an ass to you but I never imagined I would see the day that he would look at both of you with... love..."
"I see, it was a shock to us as well. To know that he had been harbouring feelings for me as well... Does it bother you?" said Hob nervously, while your hand rested over his and squeezed it to calm him. You knew how much he adored her, how much he respected her. She was all you, after all. How could he not seek her love?
"I-I mean not really? It's just... odd, considering my family life in my realm is complicated as hell..."
"You called me with my name and not father... Are we not together in your time, Alora?" asked Hob with a hint of worry. He always had his insecurities since his two spouses were literal Gods and he was just a immortal human. It always ate him alive but thankfully, he had you two to reassure him.
Hearing his heart and how he belittled himself, Alora sweated nervously since she wasn't sure how she could explain this.
"Ahh, well... Not really? I mean I can see the heart eyes my dad does but my mom is... in the Sleeping, and obviously had a big argument or whatever it is that resulted with her captured and dad on a run for his tools. Uncle Heimdall said that mom was hurt beyond fixing with simple words that things are complicated than it seems...
"Oh dear, they are not making it easy for anyone, no?" You said sadly with a hint of disappointment yet with a teasing remark which made Morpheus raise an amused brow at you.
"I sensed some subliminal message directed to us, my wife?"
"Oh, there definetly is, my husband..."
You were aware of how rude that Morpheus was to your that variant, just like the one sitting beside you. But before things got out of hand, you were able to save him from the humans and made up and found Hob to finally confess everything you three had been keeping to yourselves.
Apparently, the bad ending of her every variant had found this one.
But you also knew that if you in her realm could wake up, everything would be better...
Alora, at that time, was watching you two look at each other with such tender eyes and playful smirks that she couldn't help but smile softly at you when she saw a blond woman running after a little kid and lifting him high above the sky.
Now that she looked into it more, she almost looked like...
"Is that Uncle Thor? He has a kid?" She said breathleslly, her saliva almost choking her and her holding onto the wooden table.
"Hmm? Oh, yes! It's surprising isn't it? She, I mean your uncle, has been nothing but an eager father to his son."
"Yeah, definetly an amazing father! Can't believe my eyes that he had it in himself-"
"Brother, stop lifting him like that! You are gonna make him puke, you idiot!"
Watching a brunette come towards her uncle and hitting his head after securing the giggling kid above her hips, Alora turned to her mother with a wide open mouth, shocked written all across her face which made you giggle and Morpheus and Hob to laugh quietly. Her reactions amused them since they were almost the same ones when they learnt that Thor had a kid.
"Don't tell me it's uncle Loki... I swear I'm gonna cry..."
"I wouldn't want you to cry, sweet child but yes, it's him... Though her name is Sylvie, and is rather fond of being the crazy aunt."
"No fucking way... Nope, I'm done. This all is so much for me..."
Leaning back on the chair she was sitting at, she watched how you laughed and got up with her father's help to get to her. Seeing how you were coming to her, she immediately sprung up and held your arms delicately, which you responded with a quiet thank you and took her face between your softer ones to examine her face.
She was still your precious, thoughtful daughter who always tought about others before herself. The one who would jump to help someone in need and stop everything she was doing.
The one that almost died for her fathers, so that her mother could have the life she wanted.
Not knowing that your happiness lied within your children.
"As much as I would love for you to stay, this is not where you belong. You know this, right?"
Lifting her wide eyes at you, Alora nodded and sniffled quietly which made both men stand up and walk towards your form. Immediately wrapping her arms around your neck, she pressed her face to the crook of your neck and inhaled the comforting smell you had. She didn't want to let you go, she just had that sweet life and now that she knew what it was like, she didn't have the courage to stop herself.
Perhaps that's why Wanda Maximoff went crazy, she thought. She saw that she had everything she asked for in another universe...
But she also knew that it was Darkhold's doing for making her want to stay.
"I'm nothing like you, mom..."
"In what way, sweet girl?" You said as equally emotional as your daughter was, your heart crying alongside hers for the pain she held deep in her soul. With tears running through your face nonstop, you took a step back and held her face between your palms when she continued her sentence.
Which only made you choke on a sob.
"I'm not... perfect. I'm not as perfect and excellent ruler like you, I'm not strong like you-"
"And you don't have to be... You don't have to be me, when you can be yourself."
"You are strong enough to stand against all the hardships, darling. And save everyone who needs you." said Hob and put a stray hair back behing her ears which made Alora look at him fondly.
"And you don't have to be scared for anyone, little dream. Not for us, not for anyone... Not even yourself, for as long as you shall believe in yourself, you will find enough power to fight in your blood."
Stepping back with her hands in yours, you looked at the gate open behind you.
Their passage to their time.
"You will be fine, my dear daughter. Ours is a disfunctional, odd family but in the end we can't choose which family we're born into. But we can definetly make it better." Caressing your daughter's damp cheeks with your own tears running down your face, you suddenly hugged her thightly to herself which made her gasp and stiffen, but immediately soften at your touch.
"Don't sacrifice yourself for the happiness of others, not even for mine, Alora... I can't live without any one of my children and I'm sure it's the same for me in your reality."
You always knew that you weren't strong without your family, always knew what was waiting for your family. Even when your mother died, even when your daughter decided to be an Avenger, and eventually, fell in love with a broken yet bright soul just like you did.
And you would be damned if you didn't help your daughter get her happy ending.
" I'm so glad to see the woman you had become, my love... But you must go now, for the family you love more than anything is in danger."
"Danger? What danger? What's going-"
She wasn't able to finish her sentence when the palace and all of the Asgard started to shake violently. Jed screamed in fear and glued himself to Alora who held him thightly to herself while protecting you, with both Morpheus and Hob shielding you three. When the shakes eventually stopped, you looked at her with panicked yet hopefull eyes.
"It's an enemy I thought I had killed a long time ago, but apparently he achieved staying alive. He is in Asgard, alongside with a creation of your father's... They are there to kill all of you, and you're the only one who can stop them with your brothers."
Pulling her to the gate with Jed, you made her stop and touched your foreheads softly which she favoured all the second of it. With a final kiss on the cheek, you went to Hob and stayed next to him who also hugged Alora thightly to himself and stood protectively next to you when Morpheus took a step to her and pulled her to his chest.
"This is my gift to you, my love. It will help you and your brothers in defeting the Corinthian..."
Giving her a sword made out of a shiny metal with a ruby on the handle, Alora watched in amazement at how it shone whenever she swinged it...
When she also saw another one in Jed's hands.
"Thank yo- wait, where did you even get this?!"
"This? Lord Morpheus gave it to me as a gift!"
"You gave him a freaking sword?!" Exclaimed Alora with her hands above her head in anger, which he shrugged his shoulders with a teasing remark, which almost made her even more angry had he not kissed her cheeks sternly, not pulling his lips off of her.
"I'm begging you, Alora, be careful and stand back when you need to. Your life is more important, you hear me?"
Nodding her head at them, Alora almost went into the gate when a little girl that looked like her except the hair color which was a warm brown appeared and called out to her as...
Mother.
"Wha-"
"We don't have time, my dear, but just know that your affections for a certain 106 year old, grumpy, ex-Winter Soldier didn't go to waste!"
"Wait, you know I'm an Avenger!?" She exclaimed in shock while Jed was pulling her to the portal. Laughing at her and how she didn't know about the famous "Sixth Sense of A Mother" thing, you waved your hand at her with a playfullnes you rarely had.
"I also know that you are in love with Bucky, darling! A mother always knows! Now, go before it's too late!"
And when they disappeared behind that gate and you gathered your sweet granddaughter in your arms, you met with your husbands' worried stares.
"Will she be okay? Will us, all of us be fine?"
"Don't fret, my dear, for I know that our family is strong to live past this... Though, I'm not sure whether that variant of me would find it in her heart to forgive Morpheus, for I can already sense the hatred she has for him.."
And you could only trully hope that you, just like other variants, would choose to listen to your heart and logic. Not just your mind, to the path that lead you to your happiness.
****
Dust and rumbles of what had been a peaceful palace was now all shreded, with the screams of terror of their people and the palace staff a mere whisper in the ears of the princes. The sheer fear of it, the booms outside the castle...
They knew that everything they held dear for was at a risk.
"What do you mean we're under attack?! Isn't this place safe and guarded all the time!?"
"Yes, it was... Asgard is our mother but in her absence, it was Alora. We made a great mistake with sending her to Dreamwalk: Whoever decided to attack knew that Asgard was defense-"
"Well, well, well, It's good to see that you two didn't get the stupidity of your father. Aksel... Amund..."
Hearing a sinister laugh all so suddenly, everyone turned where it came from and gasped at the sight of Corinthian, who Morpheus failed to capture and whom he despised with a burning passion.
"Corinthian... You dare to destroy what your Queen built so carelessly? I thought you loved her, even more than me."
"Oh, I do... She has always been the one who was loved, when you were our creator, you weren't our care-giver. But she, even though she had nothing to do with our creation, she treated us like normal beings... And you, Morpheus... You destroyed her. Look at the person she is," he gestured to the bed you were sleeping on, who was silently crying at what your son is telling your husband. "And tell me that you don't see it... I merely wish to destroy anything that's related to you, so that she would finally be free. Starting with... Her."
"DON'T YOU DARE-" screamed Morpheus with pure fear, scared for the first time that everything he had, his second chance at life would be all gone.
He didn't want to revive everything all over again.
Morpheus' words caught on his tongue when he leaped to stop Corinthian from reaching his daughter but an elf, a dark elf appeared and pinned him to the ground...
With the Bracelet of Endless, something that could be used if one wanted to take his powers.
"Oh? You aren't that cocky now, are you? Your wife always knew that your powers could be taken from you but did nothing to prevent it. Being able to see the woman who cheered when she 'thought' she killed me, devastated on her knees at the loss of not only her children but the two men who she loves... I'll be the one rejoicing at her loss and the fall of Asgard!"
Time stopped for everyone, air stiff and their blood froze in fear. Trying to run at Alora's sleeping form, time stopped for Aksel and Amund alongside Morpheus who tried protecting her.
Not realizing that the sand around her started to move and she slowly opened her eyes.
"ALORA!!"
"GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!!"
What nobody expected was for a boom to be heard at the same time as Corinthian's blade almost touched her skin...
And a panting Alora who held a scared Jed in her embrace, blood coming out of her eyes while her face held a deep hatred and determination with her battle armor.
Determination to destroy whoever hurt her family.
"Corinthian... It's been a long time. The last I saw you, you came to terrorise me in my dream..."
"Alora, dear, sweet Alora... The last I saw you, you were barely able to create a whip, and look at you now," he looked at Jed who cowered behind her. "Dreamwalking, and saving people. Without a care of the results, just like your father..."
"I'm the Goddess of Dreams, of course I can Dreamwalk without consquences, unlike other people. And you, Corinthian, are starting to get on my last nerves. That little elf will mean nothing to me when I'll have his head," she said coolly, while circling around him with her shimmering sword in hand.
Chuckling lightly at her, he swinged his blade and they started a fight. A fight that Alora was doomed to loose since she wasted almost all of her powers into Dreamwalking.
And not only her, her family knew this as well.
Morpheus felt sick to his stomach, causing a nauseaus feeling to stir inside his gut at seeing his precious, only daughter fight with everything in her. Cuts and various bruises littering her perfect face while he couldn't do anything to protect her.
He remembered all the times you defended him, all the times he failed you and all the times you came back from a war.
All bloodied and barely alive.
And watching helplessly as his daughter fell and Corinthian, alongside the dark elf stood before her, he shed a tear and screamed at the shield Alora created for them, so that they wouldn't be hurt.
Thinking about their safety even before her own when she was close to her death.
"Your daddy will not be able to save you this time, little girl... You already used enough powers to save a kid who will die anyways so... Any last words?"
"Yeah, I do... Fuck you!"
"Hmm, that's what I thought..."
Kicking her hard and making her fly to the pillar next to her, Alora felt her blood tickle down her face even much faster and groaned while trying to get up but eventually failed. She could hear her father Don't give up pleas, but she no longer had strength to fight. Even though she wanted to save you, so that you could have the life you deserved, her brothers deserved... She no longer had the will to fight..
Even if you told her to keep fighting for one more time.
Whimpering in pain, she laid against the pillar she was thrown at and turned to look at her brothers who were also trying to get out of the shield with desperate and red faces, screaming at her to get up and kick their asses. At that moment, she was just a scared kid. A girl who just wanted to crawl under her mother's blanket while she would laugh and braid her hair...
At that moment... She only wanted to live and have her mother back.
But she was no fool, she could see the spear Corinthian held between his hands. And it would surely bring her death...
But not before she let every emotion out.
" I hope you two knew how proud I am of you, I hope you know... how lucky I am... to have shared my life with you... I'm sorry dad, but I'm not like you... or mom... I can't keep going anymore..."
"Aww, crying to your daddy? Don't worry, I will send you to somewhere he can come and watch you being tortured!"
No longer being able to watch how her father's eyes begged her to do one more miracle, how she felt her heart beating in pain alongside his... She closed her eyes and weakly whispered one more time...
Just like her soul did when she was first born.
"Mama..."
And to think that a mother wouldn't listen to her child's call was simply impossible.
It was as if a button had been pushed, and at last, your eyes opened widely and you abruptly got up while the shield surrounded you went away with a loud cry. Heart beating erratically, sould burning with such hatred, anger and revenge that your powers went overdrive, causing all of the universe to shake beneath you. All gods, angels, demons and every supernatural being turned to the sky and everyone knew that the Life has just returned.
With your arrival, came a smoke. A smoke that will start a new beginning.
For both you and everyone you cared for suffered long enough.
No one understood at first, when everything seemed to shake and all of a sudden it was pure silence. But it was broken when your family saw the golden eyes reflecting the 9 Realms after such a long time...
And right behind Corinthian.
With a war cry, you sliced through him with Gungnir and stood above him with a crazy, sinister smile that reached your ears, which brought both comfort and fear inside everyone in the castle, slowly turning to him with your crown on your head and your armor on.
"Has nobody told you that you should never threaten a mother's children, Corinthian..? I see that my absence caused some lower forms to think they could change everything... Let me fix this for you~"
A/N: PHEW! Finally the end of chapter one of the finale!
I think a lot of people forget Loki has Kids so I give some headcanons about Loki and his kids.
Background:In Norse mythology Loki has 4-6 children depending on the interpretation/story. There is Sleipnir the eight legged horse. Fenrir the giant wolf, Jōrmungandr the giant snake and Hel the half human half zombie.The other two are Váli and Narvi who I can’t find much about. I headcannon some of this do not all is true mythologically.
Odin is a ass to Loki’s kids though that’s true
Sleipnir was Loki’s first child Loki was young (16-20 Human equivalent ) when he had him.
He got stuck/ cursed to be stuck as a Mare (female horse) and had Sleipnir . He was very very surprised to learn he was pregnant.... with a horse.
Despite his surprise Loki was quite ecstatic at the idea of his own child.
Thor was very confused he doesn’t really understand Loki’s magic (no one does). He is Happy about being Sleipnir’s favorite uncle though.
Loki is the mother hen to end all mother hens.
All his children can shape shift into humans. They all prefer their regular form though, and Loki loves them either way.
Odin is kinda awful to Fenrir, Jōr, and Hel. Which adds to Loki’s reasons to not like Odin list.( it is a very long list)Odin has separated all his children because they are monstrous.
Loki cried for weeks when Odin banished/imprisoned his children. It was one of the few times that Thor didn’t agree with Odin.
Thor once found Loki and all his children napping together. Once Thor learned about cameras he wished he had one in that moment.
Some how there was baby At Avengers Tower/ Headquartes. Steve ,Clint and, Nat where gone and babies give Bruce stress. So Thor called Loki . And While they where arguing about whether or not to let Loki near the children, Loki was able to change the baby’s diaper, feed him and get him nearly to sleep.
They never again protested Loki’s Dad powers.
Loki tried to visit his kids as often as possible. A task made difficult by the fact that after the alien fiasco he is no longer aloud to freely travel.
Hel brings messages back and forth between Jōr and her father when she can though.
Synopsis: When the Earth began to die, people got desperate and their chance at a new life was called the Avengers Mission, a deep space exploration mission to a planet called Alderra, a goldilocks planet, the perfect in its system and hopefully a new home. But when it fails and you lose both your father and childhood best friend, everything changes and it changes further after a shocking discovery that proves the failed mission maybe wasn’t a failure. Now you’re forced to confront old fears and finally talk to the man in the bungalow in your back yard for sure he’s your best friend but at one point was also something more. Now forced together for a world saving mission, the two of you will have to learn to work together as the real stakes begin to become ever clearer and the true scope of one little radio call will mean the difference between a world saved and one doomed.
Warnings: None, some will be added to future parts if they appear.
Tags: Space, space travel, pilot Bucky, scientist reader, Avengers get mentioned, Thunderbolts mentioned eventually, Interstellar inspired, exes to lovers as well(sorry you divorced him, it'll get better...trust me), reader has lore and tattoos.
Summary: With only 6 months left till launch, you and Bucky meet the team, see how well they work together and get a taste of what it means to be apart of a group that will change everything. But as the clock ticks down, secrets get revealed and one last message will change everything.
Warnings: None.
Tags: Space, space travel, pilot Bucky, scientist reader, Avengers get mentioned, Thunderbolts appear, Walker the ass(sorry not sorry), Interstellar inspired, exes to lovers as well(sorry you divorced him, it'll get better...trust me). The start of Joaquin X Bob in the background.
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AN: This is chapter two! Chapter one is called Day One, please read that one first!! Also we are closer and closer to our ACTUAL space travel haha...the next one will show how you met Bucky and have lots of flashbacks!!
Chapter Two
ASEC
North of Phoenix, Arizona
1 Month Later
It didn't take Valentina long to find a team and by the time she did you and Bucky had moved most of Serenity's controls to a small rented house about an hour from ASEC. You both needed to be close till we left and Sedona was quite the drive so Bucky got you both a place. It was weird to be back under the same roof, seeing him more than you had in the five years since the Avengers Mission. Sure at first he was always around but when your resolve began to crack and losing your father became too much, everything began to crack. Things broke and couldn't be put back together and it crushed you and the relationship you had been building. Sure that forever promise was made a lifetime ago but it couldn't be kept and a part of you had always regretted it. The regret got worse the closer he got and you had to keep moving and dodging him since the house wasn’t the biggest and even the morning of meeting the team you wandered into the kitchen and yelped when you saw him.
“Oh, sorry,” Bucky said and moved since he was standing beside the island and drinking a coffee which would’ve been fine if he was wearing more than just a towel.
But he was dressed in just a towel that was hanging low on his hips and showing off the training regimen he had to follow as a pilot for a company like ASEC. It wasn’t a bad one, highlighting the abs across his chest and the strength in his right arm, not the left since it was a highly detailed prosthetic. The arm was still obviously a fake and made of a dark metal, pioneered by an African nation named Wakanda and a gift from its king after he lost it in Iraq. The offer of trying out a new arm came as a surprise a few months after he made it to the VA hospital and you started looking after him. But it was a welcome one and Bucky had learned to embrace it, feeling like he didn’t even have a limb difference at all, he was just a guy and at that point, just one crossing too many boundaries.
“You do know I’m here right?”
“I do,” he said and moved to the side, heading for the bedroom as you nodded. “Force of habit.”
“You walk around in a towel at home?”
“Only when I feel like it,” he shot back and moved into his room as you sighed and made your own coffee, pouring some cream in and stirring a spoonful of sugar as he remerged, fully dressed. “Better?”
“Much better,” you muttered and eyed the black ASEC sweatshirt with his last name on the back, one of many that he owned. “How has ASEC been? I know I asked earlier but you barely mentioned it and we’ll be working with them.”
“Once again, it’s great,” he said and chuckled, finishing off the rest of his coffee. “I’m happy to be here, not in danger. They probably would’ve given you a job if you asked.”
“I like my job.”
“Stealing?” he asked and you frowned at him.
“No…the radio station back in Sedona, I fix their equipment.”
“Excellent use of a PhD in electrical engineering,” he said and you sighed, dropping your mug in the sink and grabbing a thin jacket before also slipping on a pair of Nike’s.
“I am using it now,” you said and grabbed the laptop with Serenity’s information and added it to a bag before he sighed and grabbed his keys.
“Let’s hope it works out,” he said and you nodded and followed him out to the car, the thought of the new team in your mind.
Valentina was already waiting when you made the drive over to ASEC and she told you to meet her in a meeting room on the first floor rather than just go right in and talk to the team. She wanted to give you both an overview, see if you approved and wanted to make any changes to a group of people who were willing to leave the entire Earth behind on a theory. Sure it had backing and the distress had kept coming through since you initially heard it, every few minutes like clockwork. From what you could tell, wherever Steve was, he was staying in the same spot and according to Bucky there were very few differences in the morse code. You had to assume that was a good thing and took a seat across from Val as she placed a few folders on the table and Bucky grabbed them, pulling open the first and letting out a scoff.
“What?”
“John Walker?” he asked and she nodded. “You have to be joking.”
“He’s the best engineer we have and you need a guy to work on the engines.”
“Is John that guy?” Bucky asked and Val rolled her eyes.
“He’s the one that said yes to leave the entire planet behind,” she shot back which shut him up but you frowned.
“What’s wrong with John Walker? I haven’t heard that name before.”
“He was supposed to be the new Steve Rogers,” Bucky said and you narrowed your eyes as Val scoffed.
“What he means is that John was set to lead the mission I had planned for 2072 but our funding fell through only a few months before it was set to launch. John freaked out, got himself written up by HR and ended up switching from commander to engineer and it’s been a good move, he’s impressive in that new position.”
“He’s a hot head,” Bucky shot back. “I’ve worked with him on some of the planes.”
“He was the first to volunteer so you’re stuck with him,” she said and he sighed as you grabbed the file and looked him over, eyeing the blonde hair and blue eyes as he eyed the camera. “Don’t let the past ruin this mission and besides, we already have two people with history.”
“We’re fine,” you muttered and she rolled your eyes as you eyed Bucky, catching the doubtful look on his face.
“Next you have your medical officer, Dr. Ava Starr,” she said and you pulled open the next folder, actually hearing about this person.
“Ava is insane, she got a PhD to try and cure her own chronic illness and it worked, she’s doing much better.”
“She needs a specialised suit under her clothes but we’ve determined it won’t affect an EVA suit so she should be all good to go.”
“An asset for sure,” you added and Val nodded. “And we also have Bob Reynolds for the biologist…why do I know that name?”
“He almost got suspended from Stanford after getting high off a drug he was researching. Did his PhD thesis on the effects of rapid detox and got an award for it.”
“I remember, he was able to pioneer a new method of it and changed drug treatment for the better. I’m surprised he’d choose to go.”
“He hesitated until I told him that a botanist named Joaquin Torres also chose to go, and he agreed pretty quickly.”
“Something there?” you asked and Val shrugged.
“God I hope not,” she muttered and you looked over Joaquin’s file before moving onto the last two, one of which held the Commander’s, a name you didn’t recognize. “Who is Yelena Belova?”
“She’s been working with a friend of mine in a covert ops sense, been the head of so many operations it’s hard to count them on one hand and is a valuable asset to this team, trust me.”
“Red Room,” Bucky said and Val nodded. “They were a special forces team. Apparently most of their operatives were put into it…unwillingly.”
“I won’t discuss the nature of her employment, just that it was quite good and her sister is Natasha Romanoff.”
“Talk about an excellent astronaut,” you muttered and remembered Natasha better than most people, a valuable asset to that original team and you had to hope she was alive and wherever Steve was trapped.
“Exactly. Your last team member is her father, Alexei Shostakov and a general mechanic so don't let him touch the engines, he’s been given explicit instructions not to touch those engines.”
“I will make sure of it,” Bucky said and she nodded with a sigh before reaching under the table and pulling out a bag of what looked like sweatshirts.
“The last step,” she said and you pulled out the one on top which really was a black sweatshirt and adorned with a gold asterisk on the shoulder, the crest for the mission with the name Thunderbolts underneath and your own last name across the back. “The team is waiting in a large room on the bottom floor, which has some assets and some equipment to look over. Bring them their sweatshirts and get acquainted before the real training begins.”
You nodded and pulled on the sweatshirt, your name also embroidered across the left part of the chest as Bucky did the same and it was crazy that one little piece of clothing could make everything feel more real. The mission was here, it was happening and there was an entire team waiting for you both to meet downstairs, all of them eager to get started. To say you were nervous was an understatement, you were partially terrified, worried for your life and if this mission, this world saving endeavour, was really going to be worth it.
The team was located in the basement like Val said, all sitting around a table full of equipment as the guy that Bucky wasn’t a fan of, John Walker, eyed what looked like a blowtorch. He was trying to get it working and did right as you arrived, nearly burning off the eyebrows of Ava who was standing a bit too close. She reprimanded him instantly, smacking his shoulder as he chuckled and tossed it back on the table, turning and noticing you standing there, face lighting up in a smile. You rolled your eyes and shoved the bag of sweaters on the table as Val took a spot at the head and smiled out at the small group she had gathered in record time.
“Welcome,” she began and they all nodded. “You are the eight members of the Thunderbolts Mission, the second mission to the planet Alderra in the Prime Versa Galaxy that, as you know, is the one right next to ours on the left. You have already been briefed on that eight month travel time and I expect an answer to who will be staying awake before you leave, or at least before John and Ava head up to the Hyperion a month before launch which is in five months. We have upped our timeline and the lot of you will be on your way before the end of the year. Questions?”
“What is the length of the mission?” The question came from Yelena, standing on Bob’s left with her arms crossed and chewing on a toothpick, her blonde hair slicked back with gel.
“We don’t know,” Val admitted and you sighed. “It could be six months or even forever if that planet is a prime candidate for a new home. Colonization is always a funny procedure and the initial group has a lot to accomplish before we can debate sending more. We do have a group planned for the second colonization ship but it will be waiting for a signal. As soon as you have determined whether Alderra is viable, send off a signal and preparations will begin.”
“Colonization, what a concept,” John muttered and the group muttered in agreement.
“It’s what the world needs,” Val said and turned to Bucky and yourself. “Also this is the last of your team.” She said your name, adding on your role of the main communications expert, as well as a pseudo navigator to Bucky’s pilot role. “And James Buchanan Barnes, pilot. Also…she is the one who found the signal.”
You were unaware if the group knew of what you had discovered and apparently they hadn’t since a series of mutters came shortly after as you sighed and grabbed the laptop, navigating to the signal and pressing play. The morse code began to come through the speakers and the only one who seemed to catch it right away was Alexei.
“Morse code!” he shouted and you cringed. “Wow…Haven’t seen that since days in Mother Russia.”
“It’s the basis for codes like this, encrypted,” you said and Val nodded. “You can thank Tony Stark for that.”
“Rogers was the name, so it was Steve that sent it,” Yelena said and you nodded.
“It defaults to the active commander, we’re under the assumption they crashed and only Steve was left, he sent it off as they went down.”
“No other survivors?” she added and you knew the exact survivor she was referring to.
“None that we know of but we’re hoping to find some when we get there.”
“So all of this is based on a single transmission,” John muttered and you nodded. “A million and some dollar mission for who knows how long, using one of the last ships Tony Stark ever helped to build…for one singular set of dots and dashes.”
“People in the 1960s went to the moon on a dream and some prayers, we can afford a transmission,” you said and Bucky smiled, resisting the urge to mention that phrase you both adored.
“Nat left this planet for a lot less than a transmission,” Yelena added and you smiled at her. “I think we’ll take a transmission.”
“A transmission is all you’re going to have,” Val added and you all sighed. “We have some training to get to in the coming months, so rest up and make some good choices, you’ll have some early days and late nights.” She stopped and paused before she left the room. “Thank you, the world thanks you.”
She left, closing the door as the slam echoed throughout the room and you let out a sigh as the team scattered, going back to whatever they were working on before, only Yelena and Bucky sticking around. She was shorter than you expected, barely five foot three with slicked back blonde and piercing blue eyes that eyed you as if you had something. You expected her to say something, to speak of her seemingly obvious disappointment but she just smiled and grabbed her sweatshirt, slipping it on and smiling down at the name on her chest. She grabbed her father’s and walked over to him, leaving you with only Bucky who watched her go, also eyeing the new Commander.
“So…”
“I think they’re interesting,” you said and he laughed. “I think they could be exactly what we need.”
“Let’s hope,” he said and grinned, walking off to talk more with Yelena as you noted down a few more transmissions that came through, the number only growing and wished it would send you more than just hope.
5 Months Till Launch
A month after the team all met and Val assumed that your ragtag group of wannabe astronauts needed to bond before spending what one had to assume might be forever on another planet. You reluctantly agreed since it was Yelena’s call and she was the Commander so you found yourself in a bar with music that was too loud and vibrated the floor under your Docs. Yelena and Ava wanted to dress up, look nice and make an impression but you didn’t think it was needed and didn’t want to show off before you left the planet. But the drinks made it worth it and you were sipping on your third beer as you listened to Walker ramble about sports or some other thing on his mind. As much as Bucky didn’t seem to like the guy, you did and he made a good conversationalist, always rambling about some random topic or another, something he found interesting.
Tonight the topic had been split between sports or even space travel and he was currently rambling about all the other trips that came before yours, including one of the first. Before NASA was as big as people treated it when they got defunded, space travel was primarily done by a group of astronauts in New York City with nothing but a whole lot of money and a dream. It was led by a man named Reed Richards who had made his fortune in tech and finished his lifelong dream of circling the Earth in a spaceship. It didn’t go anywhere beyond that but he was rambling about his annoyance towards how people treated them when they came back.
“They went and flew around for twenty minutes and suddenly they’re heroes.”
“They proved that manned spaceflight wasn’t deadly,” you pointed out and he scoffed. “This was a decade before the moon landing, they needed a win over the Soviets and the Fantastic Four gave them one. I don’t think we would’ve made it to the moon without them.”
“Yeah well they made action figures of them so…”
“Maybe they went too far.”
“I had an action figure for the Human Torch, Johnny Storm, it was originally my brother's.”
“Did it say the catchphrase?” you asked and he nodded.
“Flame on,” he mocked and you chuckled. “Didn’t even use any flames in space, he was just the mechanic, said flame on whenever Reed turned on the engines.”
“It was a gimmick, people loved gimmicks back then. They’d hate these missions if they were still around, all practicality and our suits will be much less blue.”
“Good thing they stopped those for the Avengers Mission, I couldn’t imagine Steve saying a dumb catchphrase or even your father or wearing one of those stupid suits.”
“They only needed what they got, the Horizon and some dreams.”
“More would be nice,” he muttered and you nodded, sighing and taking a long sip of your beer, too long since the gesture of moving it back made your sleeve slip and he caught sight of the galaxy on your wrist. “Wait…Bucky has that tattoo.” John grabbed it, looking it over and you tried to pull your hand back but he held you in place. “Why do you have matching ones?”
“We’ve known each other fourteen years, you do that after so long,” you said but he looked doubtful.
“No, you get something small but this is big, it’s almost your entire wrist. Are you two more than just good friends?” he asked and you knew this was the part Bucky didn’t like, the curiosity.
“We’ve just known each other a long time,” you said and moved but he grabbed your wrist.
“Look I already think that Joaquin and Bob are hiding something, don’t tell me that you and Bucky are as well.”
“We used to be,” you muttered and immediately regretted it when you saw the look on his face. “At one point we were something. But we're not anymore.”
“Boyfriend?”
“No,” you said and his eyes widened.
“You married him,” he accused and you nodded. “Wow…you marry a guy like that and then divorce him, most people wouldn't. Doesn't it just suck to be on this mission with him, to know that you're going to have to spend so long with him.”
“Bucky mentioned how much he didn't like you, I'm assuming this is a part of it,” you shot back and Walker glared.
“Well sorry for trying to figure out what sort of beef my team is bringing to the mission. It's not my fault you married him, divorced him and still want to leave the planet with him in tow. Do you have any idea how insane that is?”
“Yeah well…it wasn't exactly a classic divorce,” you muttered and his eyes narrowed.
“Oh great, so you break the guy's heart in some world ending way and you're gonna strand yourself with him.”
“We never stopped being friends,” you added and he shrugged. “It ended…but we didn’t stop…we couldn’t.”
“God, what does that even mean?”
“I am trying my hardest to figure it out,” you said and grabbed a whiskey neat off the bartender, drinking it all before you could even get another word out. “I was stupid, I was…not in the right headspace and assumed that there was only one thing I could do…end it, so I did.”
“When?”
“Four and a half years ago, six months after the mission failed.”
“That’s why…”
“Yeah, Walker, you got your answer after all your questioning and all your persistence, you finally got it. I went crazy so I broke his heart,” you muttered and slammed the glass on the bartop, grabbing your coat and walking out of the bar before he could ask anything else.
You wanted air and maybe a ride home but you didn’t realise your conversation had an observer and Bucky was standing off to the side, watching the whole thing unfold. He had heard it before, four and half years ago when it happened and also agreed that it was a rash decision, something you should’ve talked about more. But he also wanted to give you space, to let you breathe and grieve over what happened but it never did get better. You had broken into that warehouse a handful of times before you broke up with him and only did it more afterwards, using the loss of Bucky as an excuse for a bit more rebellion. He watched from afar, bailed you out of jail and made you dinner because he never got over the time you had and wanted more.
It’s why he took that bungalow, why he stayed so close and got a job at ASEC to mirror the people you lost all those years ago, to be a small piece of the many you could never get back and why he didn’t care that you wore his tags on a chain and had been for years. Because he had his own chain and his own version of a pair of tags…but they were round and one had a diamond and he kept them where they mattered most.
Your wedding ring and his…resting above his heart since the day you left it on the bartop.
3 Months Till Launch
A few months after the entire team figured out through Walker that you and Bucky used to be close and your training sessions had been awkward to say the least and full of questions about what that all meant. You kept insisting that you were friends but while the team had gotten more annoying, he had only gotten closer and you caught him slipping more than once. More hand holds and brushes of fingertips when he thought you weren’t looking, smiles that lasted too long and made your head pound with what they could all mean. What you wanted was a break and were wandering down the halls near the lab after a shower, running a towel over dampened locks when you spotted Bob alone in a lab. He spent a lot of time doing research, preparing experiments to be conducted on Alderra but this one caught your eye almost immediately.
“Are those bees?” you asked and ran into the room which startled him and knocked the glasses off the top of his head. “Sorry. Also…I thought you were a biologist?”
“No…you’re good and yes, they are,” he said and you looked down, peering into the small enclosure to find a small colony of black and yellow honeybees. “I am fluent in most fields. Animal biology, human, insects. They wanted me to work on everything so I'm here and getting these guys ready for their little trip.”
“I thought they all died.”
“There’s a colony under protection by the US government in a secure location,” he said and smiled at the bees. “We are taking one hundred of them on our trip, these guys are the lab rats before we go.”
“If these bees are alive, can’t they make more and save the planet?”
“The pesticide hit the soil, it soaked in and ruined it, we can’t reverse that and they’ll all die as soon as they start pollinating. There’s even a theory that it’s in the air so these guys get to breathe filtered air and only filtered air, they’ve never left this cage but seem eager to pollinate.”
“They’ll love Alderra?” you guessed and he shrugged.
“Hard to say. We sent a few probes to the planet a while back and they came back with some geological and biological information and it seems to be pretty Earth-like and very lush, full of plants. The planet might have its own method of growing crops, it’s hard to say until we get there,” Bob said and sighed. “But it will at least be cooler…the other factor that’s been fucking with us.”
“They warned them and they didn't stop,” you said and Bob chuckled since it was all true, global warming was a real killer and had screwed over too many species to really count. “Aren't we also taking eggs?”
“No, that's for the next step,” he said and moved over to a series of drawers in the lab, pulling out one to reveal a series of tubes. “These are fertilized eggs. But they will be brought when we already have a colony established. This mission is so small it would be too much for one group to handle. But they plan on bringing more and more people on the next one, really transferring the population.”
“I always hate that, some people get left behind.”
“It's the nature of losing one home to gain another,” he said and you sighed since he was right and Bob looked just as annoyed.
He perked up significantly when he noticed someone had been watching your conversation and you turned to find Joaquin leaning against the doorframe. He was a good looking young guy with a nice head of hair and bright eyes who looked almost amused to hear Bob talk about global warming. His story was also impressive because he was going to become a zoologist but switched to botany shortly after the Avengers Mission departed. You didn't know why and had meaning to ask so it was like the opportunity had dropped itself in front of you.
“Joaquin right?” You asked and he nodded as he stepped into the room, grabbing your hand and shaking it with a bright smile. “I wanted to ask…why did you switch from zoologist to botany?”
“I did it for Sam Wilson,” he said and you racked your brain for why that name sounded so familiar. “He was the botanist on the original mission back in 2070 and when they went missing, I was inspired. He was my mentor and used to hold lectures at my college for a few years before he went up. I switched as soon as that mission failed, wanting to one day finish what he started.”
“You will,” you assured and he nodded in thanks. “We all will.”
“That's the plan,” he said and smiled before turning to Bob who you just noticed had stopped and was just staring, hands hovering over the tank of bees. “Bob Reynolds right?”
“Yes,” he said and shook his hand.
“I read your PhD thesis on rapid detox, it was impressive, I have some friends who have really benefited from your new ideas.”
“Thank you,” Bob muttered and you wondered if Joaquin caught the blush you could see on his cheeks. “Yours on alternate pollination methods should help a lot of people.”
“It has,” he admitted and sighed. “But not enough. We still need a new home.”
“That's why we're going in a few months,” you added and Joaquin sighed.
“God…It feels like a lifetime from now but it's really not. It also feels like I've been waiting a lifetime for this.”
“Three months,” you said and he nodded with a chuckle. “I'll leave you both to discuss experiments because I'm assuming that bees would benefit from a botanist. Right Bob?”
“They would,” he agreed and his eyes went wide as you moved to the door. “Good luck.”
You walked out with a wide grin on your face and caught Ava and Yelena, dressed in workout gear with towels around their necks. You grabbed them both and stopped them just before the door, shushing them before they could ask any questions.
“What is it?”
“I might have forced Bob and Joaquin to be in the same room.”
“Oh you're evil,” Yelena said and you chuckled as Ava nodded in approval.
“Someone should do that for you and Bucky.”
“We don't need it,” you said and she eyed you, a doubtful look on her face.
“Sure…keep telling yourself that, Bob.”
“That's different,” you shot back and walked off before she could keep mocking you.
“Admit it before I do in space!” She called and you glared, running off and down the hall before she started shouting about it.
1 Day Till Launch
After what felt like forever, it was finally the night before the launch and all of Serenity had been piled onto the ship Ava and Walker took to the Hyperion a month back, the rental had been emptied and you were currently sitting on ASEC’s roof, staring at stars. ASEC had rooms for their astronauts and had supplied one for that night but your mind was whirling too much to really sleep, thoughts elsewhere and absolutely nowhere all at the same time. You weren’t surprised when Bucky found you or when he frowned at the laptop with Serenity on it as you hoped for one last sign that the mission was a good idea. You had still been receiving transmissions from Steve, he was still on Alderra but a part of you wanted more. You wanted to know who else had survived and were taking to the very last second to try and get an answer and so far it had been a lot of the same.
“Can’t sleep?” he asked and you nodded. “Same…I keep thinking about tomorrow.”
“The Hyperion is ready, Ava and Walker made sure of that…it’s just us that’s missing.”
“I know and I was happy that the remote piloting was a success and the docking but it still feels like too much too soon…like we all need to slow down for a second.”
“We can’t, we only have tonight,” you said and he nodded with a sigh, sitting next to you on the blanket and grabbing the beer bottle you offered, taking a long sip. “At least the stars are out.”
“God…Seeing them here and being in them are two very different things.”
“Breathing the correct air and fake air as well,” you said and he chuckled.
“Sunlight, clouds, wind…all missing.”
“But a lot more to gain,” you added and he nodded. “You know…I wanted to ask you something, tonight feels like a good time.”
“Yeah…anything.”
“The saying is supposed to be ad astra per aspera but you always say, per asper ad astra,” you said and he nodded since you had his way tattooed. “Why the change?”
“It can be read either way but the first got more popular but my father who was an electrical engineer who always dreamed of space preferred the second one. It means as you know…through difficulty to the stars and he always claimed you didn’t deserve the stars before the difficulty,” he said and you smiled. “He critiqued the meaning of the main one, to the stars through difficulty as if the stars were the difficult part but he always said they were the reward.”
“You get them tomorrow,” you said and he nodded since Bucky was at one point on a short list for the 72 mission but dropped out after you broke up with him and you never knew why.
“After so long,” he muttered and sighed, eyeing the collection on his wrist. “You also get them.”
“They don’t feel like a reward,” you muttered and eyed the laptop. “It feels like I’m searching for a ghost among a sea of them. I should be after dead stars, black holes, not real ones.”
“You don’t know if Steve is the only survivor,” he shot back and you sighed.
“I know…it just feels like I’m going so far to answer a question that’s so obvious here on Earth. I want to know if my dad is alive but I already know the answer…he’s not.”
“You don’t know that either,” he said and you glared at him.
“You’re just saying that.”
“I’m not,” he assured and you sighed, about to berate him for being so positive when the laptop beeped. “Another one?”
“No,” you said and your jaw dropped. “A new one.”
“What?”
“Listen to this,” you said and pressed play on the brand new transmission that was significantly longer and you watched as Bucky counted the dots and dashes in his head, having basically memorised morse code. “What does it say?”
“The commander is here,” he said and your eyes widened, further. “I think it means your dad.”
“No…”
“That’s what it says,” he said and counted off the dots and dashes which made just enough letters to spell out that life changing message. “The commander is here.”
“God…this changes everything,” you said and he nodded as you placed the laptop on the roof and reached over to wrap him in a tight hug, the closest you had gotten in weeks. “I have to sleep, I have to be ready for tomorrow and this mission…God…it’s not a long shot.”
“Not anymore,” he assured and you grinned, running off to get ready for bed and replaying the message a hundred times before sleep finally overcame you.
Bucky on the other hand did not have a good sleep, he tossed and turned for half the night before finally writing out the message from Serenity on a sheet of paper and staring at it. Eighteen letters came through so it was easy to convince you the last word was here, it was the same amount and you didn’t know enough morse code to spot the difference. But he did, he could basically speak the language he had studied it so much and became the team’s expert in case Serenity picked up anymore. It hadn’t in months and it was as if the world was mocking you, mocking him for wanting this mission to change things between you, to make it better. But he also just did something that would ruin it, it would push you even further away and he crumpled up the paper and tossed it, not wanting the lie to haunt him in the morning.
The message that came through was a few letters off…the last word’s second letter was an E but that was the only similarity and it didn’t say the commander is here.
imagine Steve embarassedly trying to figure out why everyone is obsessed with his butt
Steve stares at himself in the mirror, frowning quietly. Blonde hair, blue eyes, big shoulders, small waist. He turns around and twists his body so he can look down. Normal butt.
“It’s just a butt,” Steve says, mystified. Bucky snorts as he eats an apple, coming over and pinching his ass absently. Steve yelps and goes red, glaring.
“Prettiest patriotic butt there ever was,” Bucky says solemnly, swallowing his bite.
“Why does everyone keep doing that?” he whines. “First you...always. Thor during training. Natasha whenever we go out undercover. Even Tony trips ‘cause he’s staring at me!”
Bucky grins and throws away the rest of his apple, pulling him close by the waistband of his pants. “You just got the most swell, peach round ass there ever was, Stevie,” he says, and kisses him. Steve grumbles, but he doesn’t say anything when Bucky’s hand inevitably make their way down to his ass.
