Do You Wanna Die?, 1/4. NC-17
Title: Do You Wanna Die?
Series: #22 in Ready For The Siege
(#1 - Look Over Your Shoulder, #2 - Armed Up To The Teeth, #3 - Misery Inspires, #4 - Broken Underneath, #5 - Change Is Coming Soon, #6 - Lick Your Wounds, #7 - Bitter Sparks, #8 - Father's Will, #9 - To Feel Safe Again, #10 - Hit Your Prime, #11 - Open Your Eyes, #12 - Can't Be Ignored, #13 - Make You Ill, #14 - Aim Straight, #15 - Not The First Time, #16 - Friendly Fire, #17 - Relieved, #18 - Release, #19 - Never Noticed, #20 - How You Live And Breathe, #21 - Love)
Author: Eustacia Vye
Author's e-mail: eustacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Rating: NC17
Pairing: Loki/Natasha, Natasha/Bucky, Clint/Darcy
Disclaimer: Not mine! Some comic backstory is incorporated into characterizations, but this is still primarily movieverse. Warning for eventual major character death.
Spoilers/Warnings: Post-Avengers, AU to the rest of MCU.
Title and series title from "The Royal We" by Silversun Pickups.
Summary: Things started out so well. Unfortunately, it couldn't stay that way when a psychic vampire decided to target Midgard's Runestaff.
One - Taste of Magic
Marissa Tourney came from somewhere in China, as far as Wanda Maximoff knew, but her magic skill came from all over the world. She was fairly vague about where she had learned things-China, Tibet, Siberia, Thailand, Romania, Lithuania and Greece all were namedropped but without any timeline or consistency as far as Wanda could tell-and she was also very vague about who she studied with. Her friend hadn't felt comfortable having Wanda in her home or even in her magic salon. "You aren't a true practitioner, child," the old woman had said in a rather condescending manner. "Your gift was forced upon you. You were changed, altered, as if you could become one of the greats. No, I will not be party to such abominations as that." The woman all but spat at her, and it took a great amount of self control not to let her powers rise to her hands and blast the woman out of existence.
So Marissa brought Wanda into her own apartment in TriBeCa, complaining loudly all the while that it was hardly what she wanted to do in her downtime. But Wanda held power, manufactured or inherent, and to let it run loose was reckless and irresponsible. "I may be many things," she had muttered under her breath, "but reckless isn't one of them."
"I don't know what you know," Marissa said at their very first session, sitting in the middle of her airy and luxurious living room. "We're going to start from the beginning. You ought to go through things very quickly, and we'll get to the harder magic soon."
But the vocabulary she used was different from what Wanda had learned in Asgard, and the viewpoint was different. Marissa was big on manipulating energy and talked about demons and dimensions and artifacts of power. Queen Frigga had focused on the shapes of spells, the intent and power in the world around them. Not necessarily completely opposing viewpoints, but because the approach had been different, Wanda hadn't been sure where to start. It left her frustrated and angry, and a few of Marissa's water glasses had shattered across the room. The woman compressed her lips unhappily, and grumbled something about strange needing to get back home. The phrasing made no sense to Wanda, who suddenly missed Loki.
This method was slow and frustrating for them both. Wanda was intimidated by the older woman, and didn't suggest for a few weeks that she show Marissa what she could do, and what she was learning from Loki. The woman obviously didn't like Loki, and Wanda didn't fault her for it. The man was an asshole even on a good day, but on the good days he could exert a little charm that took the edge off the asshole-ness. Marissa had gotten full on douchebag asshole piece of shit Loki, and he still hadn't apologized properly for it.
Wanda went through her repertoire of spells that she had learned on Asgard and with Loki, taking care not to destroy anything else in Marissa's home. She concentrated hard on each spell, using only the smallest flick of her fingers to send off the spells. Marissa watched her closely, face an expressionless mask.
But when she was done, she saw Marissa nod sharply. "I see. I think I know what our problem is now. It would probably be easiest for you if I use the terminology you learned. It really doesn't matter, but it's more to make it easier to discuss the craft with others. Maybe that's why some of the elders didn't want to work with you. They'd rather spare themselves the headache."
Frowning, Wanda considered her words. "It's a headache to work with me like this?"
"Think of it this way... We're speaking English. I know a multitude of languages. But if I learned something in another, say Mandarin, and I'm more comfortable with how they phrase words, then have to translate it over into English to tell you what I'm thinking about. And if your first language isn't English-"
"Which it isn't," Wanda murmured.
"-then you see the difficulty we're having. It's a matter of getting our language right. Most spells in this world are discussed a certain way. Not because it has to be in order to work, but that's the convention that sprung up with practitioners here. Some other dimensions use similar language, mostly because of the intervention and travel between them. But no one has ever gone to Asgard and come back after studying magic."
"So I'd be the first."
"Yes. Though I've heard tell of their sorceresses coming to Earth and wreaking havoc."
Wanda thought of Lorelei and the little she knew of Amora. "Not wrapped too tight, either of them. One is dead and one is locked up."
"What are their magicians like?"
"They don't really see themselves as magicians. It's not magic like you talk about. It's like a special skill that only few people would even be capable of doing, and then there are different kinds of magic. Not all of it even has a visible component."
It led to Wanda describing the concepts of seidr, galdr, spá and runic magicks as best as she could, admitting she did best with seidr and spá. Much of healing magic involved runes, her weakest point. "I thought about cheating and tweaking the spá," she admitted with a sigh, "but that would be horrible."
"Because you'd be altering someone's fate."
"And depending on what I did, it could be their alternate fates, too." Wanda lifted her hands, scarlet power curling around her palms like a flame. "I probably have about the same finesse as a sledgehammer right now. So I wouldn't just heal them in this particular timeline by changing the spá and making it look like I wanted it to. I could possibly weave alternate timelines into this one, changing who they are as a person, what they were going to be... I could ruin everything."
"A bit dramatic, don't you think?" Marissa asked archly.
"You have three timelines that I can see," Wanda blurted, making Marissa freeze in place. "If I healed you that way, for example, what timeline am I going to affect? I may try to affect only the one you're in, but I might change all three."
"You... You see...?"
"Here. Let me see if I can show you a visual. If I remember how Queen Frigga did this..." She reached out in front of her, as if plucking threads from the air. As her fingers closed together, something shimmered within a red field surrounding her hands. It was a finely woven thread, wavering in time with Marissa's halting breath. "There. If I magnify it..." She loosened her grip with her left hand, then wiggled her fingers to expand the view. Her concentration didn't waver at all, so she didn't see how wide Marissa's eyes got.
Wanda pulled along the visualization of the thread so that the different breaks and reweavings in the thread were plainly visible. "There could be more, but this is what I see. Three lifetimes, end to end, woven into each other, but with sharp breaks. So I could really screw things up without even trying, and I wouldn't want to do that."
"I suppose," Marissa began, voice hoarse, "it goes without saying that I don't want you talking about this with anyone else."
She blinked in surprise and let the vision of the spá fade away. "Uh. Yeah. Sure. I mean, I'm sure there must be a good reason for that."
Marissa stared at her long enough for Wanda to wonder if she was going to be killed. "I had to change everything to escape people that were after me. I would rather not do it again."
Wanda's mouth snapped shut with an audible click. "Sure. Sure, I get it. I understand. I won't say anything about it."
"Thank you."
"I... I can teach you that. Seeing it, I mean. If you're capable of recognizing the spá."
Suddenly there was a flurry of emotion on Marissa's features. Fear, longing, gratitude and hope warred for supremacy before the implacable mask fell back into place. "I think, young one, that we have much to teach each other."
***
James was off with Steve and Wanda had chosen to stay to study with Marissa longer than planned. It left Loki out of sorts, and he found Natasha sitting in the common room reading a book. Wandering into the room, he sat beside her and plucked it from her hands. Russian poetry, which surprised him. "Awaiting your lover?"
She rolled her eyes at him, not impressed with his antics. "Contrary to your belief, not everything is about sex."
"No, it could be about power."
Natasha blew out a breath and leaned back. "Are you that bored that you'd pick a fight with me?"
"Maybe."
"There are better ways to deal with boredom."
"I couldn't think of any other."
Natasha plucked her book back from his hands and snapped it shut. "I suppose you're not inventive enough, then."
"Oh? Do you have something in mind?"
Her lips curled sensuously. "I am particularly inventive, you know that."
It took no time at all to get to her suite. "Is this part of our deal?" Loki asked once Natasha shut the door to her bedroom.
"No. This is just because."
Loki couldn't help but grin smugly at her. "Oh, really?"
"Yes, really," Natasha replied. She walked forward, a cocky saunter in her step that set his mouth to watering. "Most of the toys are in Astoria. All the really fun ones, anyway," she purred. "I may have a wand and a vibrator in the bedside table."
"Or I may conjure something," Loki offered, his mouth going dry as she slid her hands along his chest. By the Norns, she was utterly gorgeous, and all his. Well, not always his, but right now he didn't have to share her with anyone.
One of her hands slid down to his groin, cupping his cock as she smirked. "So eager. You want me to fuck your ass? Want me to make you come screaming my name?" she purred.
Yes. By all that was holy in the Nine Realms, yes.
She kissed him fiercely, tongue in his mouth, her palm abrading the crotch of his trousers. He clutched her close, nerve endings electrified, and he may have melted at her touch. He certainly would never say that he swooned at the promise in her kiss. That was so undignified and very argr.
It was hard to remember that when she undid his trousers and pushed him toward the bed. Her mouth was hot and wet over his cock, quickly bringing him to hardness. He wanted her sopping wet over his mouth, gasping for her orgasm, and must have said so aloud. She pulled back long enough to gracelessly strip off her clothes and climb onto the bed with him. She straddled his face, her smooth, milk white thighs stroking his cheeks. He could smell her arousal, heady perfume he loved to breathe in, and dove right in with lips and tongue.
She groaned and panted, pulling at his thighs before lowering herself down to her elbows and taking him into her mouth.
She was so much better at edging than he was-Loki had no patience for this, not when he was hovering so close himself. He contented himself with licking into her, sucking at her clit and fucking her with his tongue until she growled and clutched at his thigh tightly, unable to suck on his cock. This was real, not feigned, and the delicious bite of her nails digging into his flesh threatened to have him coming right there. He was able to cast a spell keeping his cock hard for her until she no longer needed it. That let him dive between her thighs again, savoring her sweet nectar, making her come again.
He was working on her third orgasm when the bedroom door opened. Only James would dare enter her suite unannounced, and sure enough, there he was, watching with dark eyes.
"Join us," he heard Natasha say, voice fracturing as Loki sucked harder on her clit. "Fuck, if the two of you are inside me at once..."
"I can oblige that," James replied in a casual enough tone. But Loki could tell that he was intrigued, turned on at the sight of Natasha on her hands and knees, Loki servicing her with his mouth, her full breasts rubbing at Loki's stomach, her cheek pressed against his thigh as she struggled for breath.
James had similar disregard for his clothing as Natasha did. Loki patted her thigh in the meantime, right before she was ready to come, making her mewl in outrage. By gesture, he had her on her back, legs splayed wide for him. Loki thought James would approach her mouth as he thrust into her, but was startled by the feel of a metal hand at his back, pushing gently. "Lean forward," James said.
For the most fleeting of moments, Loki feared that James would fuck him. But with Loki leaning forward, James lifted Natasha's hips-and by extension, Loki's - so he could line up his cock with the entrance of her ass. She moaned, long and lusty, as James slid inside, cock slicked with the lube that Loki hadn't realized he obtained.
The three of them awkwardly had to coordinate movements, until Natasha was clawing at both of their thighs and moaning, tightening all of her inner muscles. Loki groaned himself, glad he'd thought of the sex magic. If he hadn't cast it already, he would come right then like a callow youth in his first bedding. James dropped his forehead to Loki's shoulder, a muffled "Oh Christ" reaching his ears. James' hands were on Natasha's thighs, allowing him to drive deeply into her. That let Loki feel confident about this position, at least. James was honorable, and wouldn't "slip" or betray that trust.
Loki fucked into Natasha through her orgasm and his. He was building up to another one, grunting in Allspeak about how wonderful she felt beneath him. James was shuddering behind him, breath fractured, a low whine deep in his throat.
"Come for me, James," Natasha said breathlessly, arching her back and raking her nails down his thigh. She let out a groan as Loki moved one hand to massage her clit. "Fuck, I'm close again. Come, come, just everybody come," she moaned.
"Yes, mistress," Loki snarked, unable to help himself.
She swatted at him, arching and clenching down hard on the two cocks inside her. James managed to grunt "Fuck" as his rhythm stuttered and stopped, a shiver rolling its way through him. Loki managed a few more thrusts before he ended the spell on himself and came.
They lay in a tangled heap of limbs afterward, sticky and not even caring about the sheets getting dirty. "So. Good cure for boredom?" Natasha asked, laughing a little.
"Shit, you guys were just bored?" James asked, lifting his head off of Natasha's shoulder.
"I was the bored one," Loki admitted. "She was reading poetry."
James teased one of Natasha's nipples. "This is better than poetry."
"This is poetry," Loki declared with a grin. "I believe there are a few rather filthy epic poems I could recite for you, if you like. Fuel further times we take to bed."
Natasha ran her fingers through his hair, nails scratching his scalp lightly. Loki leaned into her touch, smiling at her hazy, content expression. Oh, yes, she liked that idea. James seemed to as well. He flicked his fingers across the nipple that James wasn't playing with, making her breath catch. She was sensitive to touch at this point, and he was so very tempted to feast upon her slick folds, even if he might taste himself. He compromised by sliding his fingers between her legs and swallowing her moans with a kiss. James moved to suck on the nipple he had been playing with, stroking her other one gently. She let her eyes fall shut, one hand on either man, her lips curling in a wide smile. "Get bored more often," she managed to say before her breath fractured and her back arched up, pushing her breast further into James' mouth.
It was a quieter orgasm, her body shaking and her moans soft and barely audible. Her body was utterly boneless afterward, limbs splayed and flopping about when she tried to grasp hold of the two of them. "My wonderful boys," she murmured, sounding almost sleepy.
Loki licked her lips and curled up beside her. He would accept anything she wanted to call him.
James leaned over and kissed her softly. "I was going to ask if you wanted to see a movie, but I think your answer right now would be no," he said, his smile easy to hear in his voice.
"I'm not moving ever again," she replied, laughing.
"Shall I bring you dinner in bed, then?" Loki murmured, nuzzling her neck.
"That would be nice. I don't get a chance to be lazy too often."
"Dinner in bed it is, then," Loki declared, nipping at her shoulder.
"And after, I'll wash you off in the bath," James added, stroking her flat stomach. "Among other things," he added with a wicked, saucy grin. He must have had a good day out with Steve.
It sounded like a wonderfully decadent evening, and was right up Loki's alley.
***
Darcy plopped down on the couch beside Clint in the common theater room. He had hearing aids in, thank goodness, because otherwise the sound of the movie would have carried to an adjoining floor. "Hey, sexy," she said, grinning as she twisted to sit sideways, her legs across his lap. He dutifully started massaging her thighs and feet. "Must've been a tough day if you're in here watching Lilo and Stitch."
"That is a perfectly valid movie to watch regardless of my mood," he replied.
"But you're in a bad mood," she guessed.
"Not bad, exactly," he said, leaning forward over her legs to pause the movie. "Just long. And frustrating. Really frustrating."
"I thought you were just going to do your exercise-y stuff today."
"I started off that way, but then I got a call from Sam asking for help, and then I took a bus to Brooklyn to go to the VA."
Darcy frowned. "Why would he need your help?"
"One of his group members was spouting something, ranting and raving, really, and he wasn't sure if it was actually classified information for SHIELD or not."
"No joke?"
"Nope."
"Was it?"
"Technically, no," Clint said, though his expression was drawn. "But it was still pretty shitty stuff to have to discuss and deal with, and I wound up playing intermediary and diplomat for SHIELD. And man, that is not a job I ever wanted. I'm a guy with a bow. Maybe a sniper rifle. I don't want the interpersonal shit."
"That bad?" Darcy asked, a sympathetic frown on her face.
"Military guys with military grade secrets that could potentially destabilize whatever plans SHIELD has in place to trap international baddies. So yeah, that bad."
Ignoring the bitter sarcasm because she knew it wasn't directed at her, she swung her legs off of his lap and leaned in to give him a deep kiss. "You are the best boyfriend ever."
"You mean, aside from the sex thing?"
"No, I mean in ever. You are a genuinely good guy and honestly want to do good. That seems like a rarity sometimes."
"Or we're both cynical as hell."
Darcy's lips quirked. "That, too." She snuggled up close to him and threw her arms around his neck. "How about we go for some really epic snuggling and kissing?"
Clint grinned back at her and wrapped his arms around her. "I like the sound of this."
"If you really want, you can finish the movie."
"It's on Bluray, I think I can watch the rest later," he murmured, drawing her down for another kiss. They continued until Jarvis alerted them with a beeping sound. "Aw, dammit."
"What?" Darcy asked, breathless, glasses knocked askew.
"That's my alarm for the archery lesson I was going to give this afternoon."
"Oh, yeah, you mentioned that. Am I still invited?"
"Of course you are."
"So, let's go. I might've mentioned to Jane it was a group bonding activity, if only to get her ass out of the lab. I swear, she's practically glued to her chair analyzing the data streaming in from that satellite."
"Aw, you're like a baby Machiavelli," Clint teased, getting up. He tugged Darcy up to her feet and then dropped a kiss onto her nose.
"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," she said with a grin. "At least, hear Jane tell it, I'm up to no good. She'd crunch numbers all day, fall asleep at her desk, then wake up and start it all over again. She's gone out of the lab a lot more with me around."
"Let's continue that tradition, shall we?"
Just about everyone in the tower showed up for the archery lesson. Clint chose compound bows and arrowheads that were blunted enough to prevent the others from harming each other. Targets were soft foam, allowing the blunted edges to sink into them if they hit. Natasha laughed when she did pretty well, though she didn't hit the bullseye most of the time. Loki, Sif and Thor had to get used to handling a compound bow, as it was slightly different from the ornate longbows or recurve bows they were used to on Asgard, but easily got the hang of it and started a competition amongst themselves. James ignored them, and helped Clint correct Jane's and Darcy's stances and arm position. Bruce hadn't wanted to come with them, but Jane had insisted. He even let Natasha and Clint reposition his arms a few times when he was holding the bow too awkwardly to really pull back on the string and release the arrows.
Sif was the ultimate winner of the competition, and nudged Thor toward Jane. She wandered over to Natasha in the range, and the two of them had some friendly banter as Thor flirted with Jane. Loki was obviously feeling a bit left out, but announced he tired of the activity and would rather find his student.
Darcy felt a little sorry for him by that point. She hadn't thought she would, given his past attempts to take over New York and manipulate others. As standoffish as he could be, she wasn't finding some evil mastermind at work. That surprised her. He seemed lonely when no one was looking, a charming and prideful mask slotting into place when someone was. As someone that was easily overlooked in a room full of heroes and celebrities, Darcy could see the difference.
"He's just... sad," she told Clint later, when they were ensconced in his suite. "Not like boo hoo, I'm gonna cry kind of sad. I mean, as in the pathetic loser kind of sad. Which of course would make him want to skin me alive if he heard me say such a thing, I'm sure. But he acts like the nerd left over at the end of choosing teams for volleyball, and that's just sad."
"It doesn't make him any less dangerous," Clint pointed out, pulling her into his lap.
"I would never mistake him for a fluffy kitten," Darcy announced loftily.
"I don't think I've ever heard him be compared to a kitten before."
"Because he's not one. He's not cute or cuddly or sweet enough to make you want to smoosh it to bits or make videos to post on the internet. You, I totally would, if I wouldn't be violating any number of indecency laws. I'd probably get smacked for distributing porn, you look that good."
She nipped at his mouth as he laughed, pulling away before he could deepen the kiss further. "I do like this, you know," she murmured. "Just kissing, I mean. You're a damn good kisser."
"Well, good. Let me practice a little more on you..."
"Your lines are so lame," Darcy declared loftily. "But fine, whatever." She grinned at him before leaning in for a kiss again. It was wonderful to have this quiet time together, without any disasters interrupting.
Which of course meant there was an interruption, in the form of Tony and Pepper stumbling through the common areas laughing. They were both dressed in the tightly woven clothing that Tony wore under his Iron Man suit. It resembled long underwear and had sensors embedded in it for Jarvis to pick up, and Darcy frowned at Pepper in similar gear. Her laughter was giddy, and she had Tony's arm in hand. "I finally understand it," she said, eyes sparkling. He was just laughing, as if pleased with the joy that Pepper was taking in something.
"Oh, look!" Tony said, seeing the two of them peeking over the couch. "Mommy and Daddy woke up the kids."
Pepper's expression didn't dampen in the slightest, and Darcy thought that the unrestrained happiness was a good look for her. Usually she looked all business and tense in the halls at SI or when calling HR for personnel files. "Oh. Hi."
Well, that was particularly lackluster for Pepper. Darcy gave her a lame wave. "Hi. Out?"
"Yeah." Her eyes sparkled as if she had a secret. "It's a beautiful night."
Beyond the common areas was the launching and landing areas for Iron Man and the smallest Quinjet for the Avengers. Darcy had a feeling that Tony had taken her for a ride. Possibly in the innuendo sense, too.
Damn, maybe the kissing thing wasn't quite cutting it for her, especially since she hadn't done anything solo in a while, either.
"Well, you guys go have fun," Darcy said, shooing them off. The two of them looked at each other and left through the kitchen, most likely to their penthouse apartment. "Weirdos," she said affectionately, leaning back into Clint. "Where were we?"
"Probably heading back to my place or yours," he pointed out with a grin. "Interruptions like that kind of ruin the mood, don't you think?"
Darcy's brain shorted out at the way he grinned at her, and she found herself nodding. She could ask him what he thought the two of them were up to later. Gossiping about team members and her boss was all well and good, but paled in comparison to how much she liked the kissing part of their relationship. "Good plan," she said, getting to her feet. "My place is closer." And maybe she could figure out if he was averse to watching her masturbate.
It turned out, he wasn't.
***
Loki wasn't the only one able to create portals out of magic, but he was the only one willing to show Wanda how to do it in a manner that she could understand. He seemed to have calmed down in the week since her last ineffectual attempt; most of the time, Wanda could open up a small hole in space and time. It allowed her to talk to Pietro and see how his sword fighting skills were coming along, as if the portal was a small window. Porthole was possibly more accurate a term for what she could make. She could pass along messages and small sized objects; as a test, Pietro had given her a silver and ruby filigree necklace that Maeginbiorn had made. It was imbued with protection spells that one of their fellow altered children was working on. "I think he's going to stay in Asgard," Pietro said. "He likes working with Maeginbiorn, and they're talking about working on spells and jewelry like that one," Pietro had said, nodding toward the necklace. "It would be a whole new market for them."
"I'm glad they're happy," Wanda had told him, meaning it. Her smile turned wistful. "They don't remember anything different than the labs. I barely remember Mama, and I know we never knew who our father was. But it's so tempting sometimes to look into the spá, try to see who she was, what she was like, maybe find out who our father was. Why he abandoned us. If he did," Wanda added with a sigh. "The Baron was full of lies."
"He was," Pietro agreed. He peered at her cautiously, as if afraid of her answer. "Why are you thinking of this now?"
"It was a conversation I had with one of my tutors here about magic and the history of magic and all of that rot I usually curse. But the Romani have always supposedly had magic, but it was the fortunetelling and pretend variety, to hear her tell it. I remember nothing of being Romani, not really. Most of my memories of that time are gone. We were old enough that we should remember at least some of it, right? Why don't I remember it?"
"I don't, either," Pietro admitted, looking away. "I think the experiments did something to us. Not just the power, I mean it did something to our memories." He looked back at her. "Some things, I remember very clearly. Other memories of that time... not at all. As if it was simply erased. So I wouldn't be surprised if they took those memories from us, as best as they could."
"Because I'm sure I would have fought them. We would have," she corrected, biting her lip. "If they really had hurt Mama, we would have fought, right?"
"I know I would have," Pietro told her solemnly.
Wanda pressed her lips together unhappily and turned away with a sigh. "So much stolen from us… Only now am I beginning to understand how much they really took."
"So... Other than these things getting you angry," Pietro began testing the edge of her portal with his finger. He hissed and pulled it away from the edge, sucking on it. "That's hot, Wanda. Like, I think it burned me."
"Don't touch the edges, then," Wanda replied in a huff, not feeling sorry for him at all. "I'm manipulating time and space, dummy. That takes energy, and it's got to go somewhere."
"So you're frying reality, is that it?" Pietro had snarked.
Wanda opened her mouth to say something cutting, but then snapped her mouth shut. "Yeah. I think that's a good way of putting it. Like a magnifying glass over a bug."
Which, now that she thought about it, meant she just needed to make a bigger metaphorical magnifying glass in order to open a person-sized portal. The person-sized portal she meant to make made the small porthole ones, after all. It was just a question of magnitude.
Feeling almost giddy, Wanda had to repress the urge to snap the portal shut and show off for Loki. "Let's see if I can change a portal that's already open," she said, feeling the adrenaline rush through her. This would be kind of like science, right? She heard Jane talking to Bruce at dinner about testing things out, and it made sense. Darcy said the same was true in social sciences and political science. Repetition was the key to prove a theory right or wrong.
Levering more power through her chest - she really had no other way of describing the sensation of her magic and how she could focus it - Wanda paid careful attention to her portal and started to prize it open. Her focus had been about as large as herself, but now she tried to picture forcing it open to Hulk parameters. It probably would have been easier to simply close this one down and start over, rather than reworking the heated edges of her portal, but she was determined to make this work. She could alter the spá, goddammit, she could do this.
Slowly, then with fits and starts, Wanda forced the portal wider and wider. Pietro's stunned expression was worth the mental strain, and she finally gave up when the portal's diameter reached from just over her head to around her waist. It was exhausting, and Loki made it seem too damn easy.
"Ha," Wanda said, triumphant. "I can do this, see?"
Pietro blinked. "Wow. I didn't know you could do any of that. The magic stuff is pretty amazing." He grinned at her, pride in every feature. "You are pretty amazing."
"Yeah, I am, aren't I?" she returned, feeling heady with glee. I did it! she thought, smile widening into a grin. "I'm pretty damn cool, and don't you forget it."
Laughing, her twin brother shook his head. "Wanda, I'm sure no one will ever forget it."
***
Just when Selene thought that this pathetic realm was good for nothing but taunting sips of power, there came a bright burst of energy. It took her a moment to realize it truly was from Midgard, a world otherwise fairly useless and pathetic when it came to magic. The people there really had no idea how best to use their Runestaff. They likely wouldn't even know it had been drained and emptied; no one seemed to realize that the rash of deaths on their world was anything more sinister than death.
Perhaps she would stay near Midgard after all, and devour its people before its Runestaff.
Selene floated in the Void, dreaming of the taste of magic with a smile on her face.
***
***
To Chapter Two - Practice
Series: #22 in Ready For The Siege
(#1 - Look Over Your Shoulder, #2 - Armed Up To The Teeth, #3 - Misery Inspires, #4 - Broken Underneath, #5 - Change Is Coming Soon, #6 - Lick Your Wounds, #7 - Bitter Sparks, #8 - Father's Will, #9 - To Feel Safe Again, #10 - Hit Your Prime, #11 - Open Your Eyes, #12 - Can't Be Ignored, #13 - Make You Ill, #14 - Aim Straight, #15 - Not The First Time, #16 - Friendly Fire, #17 - Relieved, #18 - Release, #19 - Never Noticed, #20 - How You Live And Breathe, #21 - Love)
Author: Eustacia Vye
Author's e-mail: eustacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Rating: NC17
Pairing: Loki/Natasha, Natasha/Bucky, Clint/Darcy
Disclaimer: Not mine! Some comic backstory is incorporated into characterizations, but this is still primarily movieverse. Warning for eventual major character death.
Spoilers/Warnings: Post-Avengers, AU to the rest of MCU.
Title and series title from "The Royal We" by Silversun Pickups.
Summary: Things started out so well. Unfortunately, it couldn't stay that way when a psychic vampire decided to target Midgard's Runestaff.
One - Taste of Magic
Marissa Tourney came from somewhere in China, as far as Wanda Maximoff knew, but her magic skill came from all over the world. She was fairly vague about where she had learned things-China, Tibet, Siberia, Thailand, Romania, Lithuania and Greece all were namedropped but without any timeline or consistency as far as Wanda could tell-and she was also very vague about who she studied with. Her friend hadn't felt comfortable having Wanda in her home or even in her magic salon. "You aren't a true practitioner, child," the old woman had said in a rather condescending manner. "Your gift was forced upon you. You were changed, altered, as if you could become one of the greats. No, I will not be party to such abominations as that." The woman all but spat at her, and it took a great amount of self control not to let her powers rise to her hands and blast the woman out of existence.
So Marissa brought Wanda into her own apartment in TriBeCa, complaining loudly all the while that it was hardly what she wanted to do in her downtime. But Wanda held power, manufactured or inherent, and to let it run loose was reckless and irresponsible. "I may be many things," she had muttered under her breath, "but reckless isn't one of them."
"I don't know what you know," Marissa said at their very first session, sitting in the middle of her airy and luxurious living room. "We're going to start from the beginning. You ought to go through things very quickly, and we'll get to the harder magic soon."
But the vocabulary she used was different from what Wanda had learned in Asgard, and the viewpoint was different. Marissa was big on manipulating energy and talked about demons and dimensions and artifacts of power. Queen Frigga had focused on the shapes of spells, the intent and power in the world around them. Not necessarily completely opposing viewpoints, but because the approach had been different, Wanda hadn't been sure where to start. It left her frustrated and angry, and a few of Marissa's water glasses had shattered across the room. The woman compressed her lips unhappily, and grumbled something about strange needing to get back home. The phrasing made no sense to Wanda, who suddenly missed Loki.
This method was slow and frustrating for them both. Wanda was intimidated by the older woman, and didn't suggest for a few weeks that she show Marissa what she could do, and what she was learning from Loki. The woman obviously didn't like Loki, and Wanda didn't fault her for it. The man was an asshole even on a good day, but on the good days he could exert a little charm that took the edge off the asshole-ness. Marissa had gotten full on douchebag asshole piece of shit Loki, and he still hadn't apologized properly for it.
Wanda went through her repertoire of spells that she had learned on Asgard and with Loki, taking care not to destroy anything else in Marissa's home. She concentrated hard on each spell, using only the smallest flick of her fingers to send off the spells. Marissa watched her closely, face an expressionless mask.
But when she was done, she saw Marissa nod sharply. "I see. I think I know what our problem is now. It would probably be easiest for you if I use the terminology you learned. It really doesn't matter, but it's more to make it easier to discuss the craft with others. Maybe that's why some of the elders didn't want to work with you. They'd rather spare themselves the headache."
Frowning, Wanda considered her words. "It's a headache to work with me like this?"
"Think of it this way... We're speaking English. I know a multitude of languages. But if I learned something in another, say Mandarin, and I'm more comfortable with how they phrase words, then have to translate it over into English to tell you what I'm thinking about. And if your first language isn't English-"
"Which it isn't," Wanda murmured.
"-then you see the difficulty we're having. It's a matter of getting our language right. Most spells in this world are discussed a certain way. Not because it has to be in order to work, but that's the convention that sprung up with practitioners here. Some other dimensions use similar language, mostly because of the intervention and travel between them. But no one has ever gone to Asgard and come back after studying magic."
"So I'd be the first."
"Yes. Though I've heard tell of their sorceresses coming to Earth and wreaking havoc."
Wanda thought of Lorelei and the little she knew of Amora. "Not wrapped too tight, either of them. One is dead and one is locked up."
"What are their magicians like?"
"They don't really see themselves as magicians. It's not magic like you talk about. It's like a special skill that only few people would even be capable of doing, and then there are different kinds of magic. Not all of it even has a visible component."
It led to Wanda describing the concepts of seidr, galdr, spá and runic magicks as best as she could, admitting she did best with seidr and spá. Much of healing magic involved runes, her weakest point. "I thought about cheating and tweaking the spá," she admitted with a sigh, "but that would be horrible."
"Because you'd be altering someone's fate."
"And depending on what I did, it could be their alternate fates, too." Wanda lifted her hands, scarlet power curling around her palms like a flame. "I probably have about the same finesse as a sledgehammer right now. So I wouldn't just heal them in this particular timeline by changing the spá and making it look like I wanted it to. I could possibly weave alternate timelines into this one, changing who they are as a person, what they were going to be... I could ruin everything."
"A bit dramatic, don't you think?" Marissa asked archly.
"You have three timelines that I can see," Wanda blurted, making Marissa freeze in place. "If I healed you that way, for example, what timeline am I going to affect? I may try to affect only the one you're in, but I might change all three."
"You... You see...?"
"Here. Let me see if I can show you a visual. If I remember how Queen Frigga did this..." She reached out in front of her, as if plucking threads from the air. As her fingers closed together, something shimmered within a red field surrounding her hands. It was a finely woven thread, wavering in time with Marissa's halting breath. "There. If I magnify it..." She loosened her grip with her left hand, then wiggled her fingers to expand the view. Her concentration didn't waver at all, so she didn't see how wide Marissa's eyes got.
Wanda pulled along the visualization of the thread so that the different breaks and reweavings in the thread were plainly visible. "There could be more, but this is what I see. Three lifetimes, end to end, woven into each other, but with sharp breaks. So I could really screw things up without even trying, and I wouldn't want to do that."
"I suppose," Marissa began, voice hoarse, "it goes without saying that I don't want you talking about this with anyone else."
She blinked in surprise and let the vision of the spá fade away. "Uh. Yeah. Sure. I mean, I'm sure there must be a good reason for that."
Marissa stared at her long enough for Wanda to wonder if she was going to be killed. "I had to change everything to escape people that were after me. I would rather not do it again."
Wanda's mouth snapped shut with an audible click. "Sure. Sure, I get it. I understand. I won't say anything about it."
"Thank you."
"I... I can teach you that. Seeing it, I mean. If you're capable of recognizing the spá."
Suddenly there was a flurry of emotion on Marissa's features. Fear, longing, gratitude and hope warred for supremacy before the implacable mask fell back into place. "I think, young one, that we have much to teach each other."
***
James was off with Steve and Wanda had chosen to stay to study with Marissa longer than planned. It left Loki out of sorts, and he found Natasha sitting in the common room reading a book. Wandering into the room, he sat beside her and plucked it from her hands. Russian poetry, which surprised him. "Awaiting your lover?"
She rolled her eyes at him, not impressed with his antics. "Contrary to your belief, not everything is about sex."
"No, it could be about power."
Natasha blew out a breath and leaned back. "Are you that bored that you'd pick a fight with me?"
"Maybe."
"There are better ways to deal with boredom."
"I couldn't think of any other."
Natasha plucked her book back from his hands and snapped it shut. "I suppose you're not inventive enough, then."
"Oh? Do you have something in mind?"
Her lips curled sensuously. "I am particularly inventive, you know that."
It took no time at all to get to her suite. "Is this part of our deal?" Loki asked once Natasha shut the door to her bedroom.
"No. This is just because."
Loki couldn't help but grin smugly at her. "Oh, really?"
"Yes, really," Natasha replied. She walked forward, a cocky saunter in her step that set his mouth to watering. "Most of the toys are in Astoria. All the really fun ones, anyway," she purred. "I may have a wand and a vibrator in the bedside table."
"Or I may conjure something," Loki offered, his mouth going dry as she slid her hands along his chest. By the Norns, she was utterly gorgeous, and all his. Well, not always his, but right now he didn't have to share her with anyone.
One of her hands slid down to his groin, cupping his cock as she smirked. "So eager. You want me to fuck your ass? Want me to make you come screaming my name?" she purred.
Yes. By all that was holy in the Nine Realms, yes.
She kissed him fiercely, tongue in his mouth, her palm abrading the crotch of his trousers. He clutched her close, nerve endings electrified, and he may have melted at her touch. He certainly would never say that he swooned at the promise in her kiss. That was so undignified and very argr.
It was hard to remember that when she undid his trousers and pushed him toward the bed. Her mouth was hot and wet over his cock, quickly bringing him to hardness. He wanted her sopping wet over his mouth, gasping for her orgasm, and must have said so aloud. She pulled back long enough to gracelessly strip off her clothes and climb onto the bed with him. She straddled his face, her smooth, milk white thighs stroking his cheeks. He could smell her arousal, heady perfume he loved to breathe in, and dove right in with lips and tongue.
She groaned and panted, pulling at his thighs before lowering herself down to her elbows and taking him into her mouth.
She was so much better at edging than he was-Loki had no patience for this, not when he was hovering so close himself. He contented himself with licking into her, sucking at her clit and fucking her with his tongue until she growled and clutched at his thigh tightly, unable to suck on his cock. This was real, not feigned, and the delicious bite of her nails digging into his flesh threatened to have him coming right there. He was able to cast a spell keeping his cock hard for her until she no longer needed it. That let him dive between her thighs again, savoring her sweet nectar, making her come again.
He was working on her third orgasm when the bedroom door opened. Only James would dare enter her suite unannounced, and sure enough, there he was, watching with dark eyes.
"Join us," he heard Natasha say, voice fracturing as Loki sucked harder on her clit. "Fuck, if the two of you are inside me at once..."
"I can oblige that," James replied in a casual enough tone. But Loki could tell that he was intrigued, turned on at the sight of Natasha on her hands and knees, Loki servicing her with his mouth, her full breasts rubbing at Loki's stomach, her cheek pressed against his thigh as she struggled for breath.
James had similar disregard for his clothing as Natasha did. Loki patted her thigh in the meantime, right before she was ready to come, making her mewl in outrage. By gesture, he had her on her back, legs splayed wide for him. Loki thought James would approach her mouth as he thrust into her, but was startled by the feel of a metal hand at his back, pushing gently. "Lean forward," James said.
For the most fleeting of moments, Loki feared that James would fuck him. But with Loki leaning forward, James lifted Natasha's hips-and by extension, Loki's - so he could line up his cock with the entrance of her ass. She moaned, long and lusty, as James slid inside, cock slicked with the lube that Loki hadn't realized he obtained.
The three of them awkwardly had to coordinate movements, until Natasha was clawing at both of their thighs and moaning, tightening all of her inner muscles. Loki groaned himself, glad he'd thought of the sex magic. If he hadn't cast it already, he would come right then like a callow youth in his first bedding. James dropped his forehead to Loki's shoulder, a muffled "Oh Christ" reaching his ears. James' hands were on Natasha's thighs, allowing him to drive deeply into her. That let Loki feel confident about this position, at least. James was honorable, and wouldn't "slip" or betray that trust.
Loki fucked into Natasha through her orgasm and his. He was building up to another one, grunting in Allspeak about how wonderful she felt beneath him. James was shuddering behind him, breath fractured, a low whine deep in his throat.
"Come for me, James," Natasha said breathlessly, arching her back and raking her nails down his thigh. She let out a groan as Loki moved one hand to massage her clit. "Fuck, I'm close again. Come, come, just everybody come," she moaned.
"Yes, mistress," Loki snarked, unable to help himself.
She swatted at him, arching and clenching down hard on the two cocks inside her. James managed to grunt "Fuck" as his rhythm stuttered and stopped, a shiver rolling its way through him. Loki managed a few more thrusts before he ended the spell on himself and came.
They lay in a tangled heap of limbs afterward, sticky and not even caring about the sheets getting dirty. "So. Good cure for boredom?" Natasha asked, laughing a little.
"Shit, you guys were just bored?" James asked, lifting his head off of Natasha's shoulder.
"I was the bored one," Loki admitted. "She was reading poetry."
James teased one of Natasha's nipples. "This is better than poetry."
"This is poetry," Loki declared with a grin. "I believe there are a few rather filthy epic poems I could recite for you, if you like. Fuel further times we take to bed."
Natasha ran her fingers through his hair, nails scratching his scalp lightly. Loki leaned into her touch, smiling at her hazy, content expression. Oh, yes, she liked that idea. James seemed to as well. He flicked his fingers across the nipple that James wasn't playing with, making her breath catch. She was sensitive to touch at this point, and he was so very tempted to feast upon her slick folds, even if he might taste himself. He compromised by sliding his fingers between her legs and swallowing her moans with a kiss. James moved to suck on the nipple he had been playing with, stroking her other one gently. She let her eyes fall shut, one hand on either man, her lips curling in a wide smile. "Get bored more often," she managed to say before her breath fractured and her back arched up, pushing her breast further into James' mouth.
It was a quieter orgasm, her body shaking and her moans soft and barely audible. Her body was utterly boneless afterward, limbs splayed and flopping about when she tried to grasp hold of the two of them. "My wonderful boys," she murmured, sounding almost sleepy.
Loki licked her lips and curled up beside her. He would accept anything she wanted to call him.
James leaned over and kissed her softly. "I was going to ask if you wanted to see a movie, but I think your answer right now would be no," he said, his smile easy to hear in his voice.
"I'm not moving ever again," she replied, laughing.
"Shall I bring you dinner in bed, then?" Loki murmured, nuzzling her neck.
"That would be nice. I don't get a chance to be lazy too often."
"Dinner in bed it is, then," Loki declared, nipping at her shoulder.
"And after, I'll wash you off in the bath," James added, stroking her flat stomach. "Among other things," he added with a wicked, saucy grin. He must have had a good day out with Steve.
It sounded like a wonderfully decadent evening, and was right up Loki's alley.
***
Darcy plopped down on the couch beside Clint in the common theater room. He had hearing aids in, thank goodness, because otherwise the sound of the movie would have carried to an adjoining floor. "Hey, sexy," she said, grinning as she twisted to sit sideways, her legs across his lap. He dutifully started massaging her thighs and feet. "Must've been a tough day if you're in here watching Lilo and Stitch."
"That is a perfectly valid movie to watch regardless of my mood," he replied.
"But you're in a bad mood," she guessed.
"Not bad, exactly," he said, leaning forward over her legs to pause the movie. "Just long. And frustrating. Really frustrating."
"I thought you were just going to do your exercise-y stuff today."
"I started off that way, but then I got a call from Sam asking for help, and then I took a bus to Brooklyn to go to the VA."
Darcy frowned. "Why would he need your help?"
"One of his group members was spouting something, ranting and raving, really, and he wasn't sure if it was actually classified information for SHIELD or not."
"No joke?"
"Nope."
"Was it?"
"Technically, no," Clint said, though his expression was drawn. "But it was still pretty shitty stuff to have to discuss and deal with, and I wound up playing intermediary and diplomat for SHIELD. And man, that is not a job I ever wanted. I'm a guy with a bow. Maybe a sniper rifle. I don't want the interpersonal shit."
"That bad?" Darcy asked, a sympathetic frown on her face.
"Military guys with military grade secrets that could potentially destabilize whatever plans SHIELD has in place to trap international baddies. So yeah, that bad."
Ignoring the bitter sarcasm because she knew it wasn't directed at her, she swung her legs off of his lap and leaned in to give him a deep kiss. "You are the best boyfriend ever."
"You mean, aside from the sex thing?"
"No, I mean in ever. You are a genuinely good guy and honestly want to do good. That seems like a rarity sometimes."
"Or we're both cynical as hell."
Darcy's lips quirked. "That, too." She snuggled up close to him and threw her arms around his neck. "How about we go for some really epic snuggling and kissing?"
Clint grinned back at her and wrapped his arms around her. "I like the sound of this."
"If you really want, you can finish the movie."
"It's on Bluray, I think I can watch the rest later," he murmured, drawing her down for another kiss. They continued until Jarvis alerted them with a beeping sound. "Aw, dammit."
"What?" Darcy asked, breathless, glasses knocked askew.
"That's my alarm for the archery lesson I was going to give this afternoon."
"Oh, yeah, you mentioned that. Am I still invited?"
"Of course you are."
"So, let's go. I might've mentioned to Jane it was a group bonding activity, if only to get her ass out of the lab. I swear, she's practically glued to her chair analyzing the data streaming in from that satellite."
"Aw, you're like a baby Machiavelli," Clint teased, getting up. He tugged Darcy up to her feet and then dropped a kiss onto her nose.
"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," she said with a grin. "At least, hear Jane tell it, I'm up to no good. She'd crunch numbers all day, fall asleep at her desk, then wake up and start it all over again. She's gone out of the lab a lot more with me around."
"Let's continue that tradition, shall we?"
Just about everyone in the tower showed up for the archery lesson. Clint chose compound bows and arrowheads that were blunted enough to prevent the others from harming each other. Targets were soft foam, allowing the blunted edges to sink into them if they hit. Natasha laughed when she did pretty well, though she didn't hit the bullseye most of the time. Loki, Sif and Thor had to get used to handling a compound bow, as it was slightly different from the ornate longbows or recurve bows they were used to on Asgard, but easily got the hang of it and started a competition amongst themselves. James ignored them, and helped Clint correct Jane's and Darcy's stances and arm position. Bruce hadn't wanted to come with them, but Jane had insisted. He even let Natasha and Clint reposition his arms a few times when he was holding the bow too awkwardly to really pull back on the string and release the arrows.
Sif was the ultimate winner of the competition, and nudged Thor toward Jane. She wandered over to Natasha in the range, and the two of them had some friendly banter as Thor flirted with Jane. Loki was obviously feeling a bit left out, but announced he tired of the activity and would rather find his student.
Darcy felt a little sorry for him by that point. She hadn't thought she would, given his past attempts to take over New York and manipulate others. As standoffish as he could be, she wasn't finding some evil mastermind at work. That surprised her. He seemed lonely when no one was looking, a charming and prideful mask slotting into place when someone was. As someone that was easily overlooked in a room full of heroes and celebrities, Darcy could see the difference.
"He's just... sad," she told Clint later, when they were ensconced in his suite. "Not like boo hoo, I'm gonna cry kind of sad. I mean, as in the pathetic loser kind of sad. Which of course would make him want to skin me alive if he heard me say such a thing, I'm sure. But he acts like the nerd left over at the end of choosing teams for volleyball, and that's just sad."
"It doesn't make him any less dangerous," Clint pointed out, pulling her into his lap.
"I would never mistake him for a fluffy kitten," Darcy announced loftily.
"I don't think I've ever heard him be compared to a kitten before."
"Because he's not one. He's not cute or cuddly or sweet enough to make you want to smoosh it to bits or make videos to post on the internet. You, I totally would, if I wouldn't be violating any number of indecency laws. I'd probably get smacked for distributing porn, you look that good."
She nipped at his mouth as he laughed, pulling away before he could deepen the kiss further. "I do like this, you know," she murmured. "Just kissing, I mean. You're a damn good kisser."
"Well, good. Let me practice a little more on you..."
"Your lines are so lame," Darcy declared loftily. "But fine, whatever." She grinned at him before leaning in for a kiss again. It was wonderful to have this quiet time together, without any disasters interrupting.
Which of course meant there was an interruption, in the form of Tony and Pepper stumbling through the common areas laughing. They were both dressed in the tightly woven clothing that Tony wore under his Iron Man suit. It resembled long underwear and had sensors embedded in it for Jarvis to pick up, and Darcy frowned at Pepper in similar gear. Her laughter was giddy, and she had Tony's arm in hand. "I finally understand it," she said, eyes sparkling. He was just laughing, as if pleased with the joy that Pepper was taking in something.
"Oh, look!" Tony said, seeing the two of them peeking over the couch. "Mommy and Daddy woke up the kids."
Pepper's expression didn't dampen in the slightest, and Darcy thought that the unrestrained happiness was a good look for her. Usually she looked all business and tense in the halls at SI or when calling HR for personnel files. "Oh. Hi."
Well, that was particularly lackluster for Pepper. Darcy gave her a lame wave. "Hi. Out?"
"Yeah." Her eyes sparkled as if she had a secret. "It's a beautiful night."
Beyond the common areas was the launching and landing areas for Iron Man and the smallest Quinjet for the Avengers. Darcy had a feeling that Tony had taken her for a ride. Possibly in the innuendo sense, too.
Damn, maybe the kissing thing wasn't quite cutting it for her, especially since she hadn't done anything solo in a while, either.
"Well, you guys go have fun," Darcy said, shooing them off. The two of them looked at each other and left through the kitchen, most likely to their penthouse apartment. "Weirdos," she said affectionately, leaning back into Clint. "Where were we?"
"Probably heading back to my place or yours," he pointed out with a grin. "Interruptions like that kind of ruin the mood, don't you think?"
Darcy's brain shorted out at the way he grinned at her, and she found herself nodding. She could ask him what he thought the two of them were up to later. Gossiping about team members and her boss was all well and good, but paled in comparison to how much she liked the kissing part of their relationship. "Good plan," she said, getting to her feet. "My place is closer." And maybe she could figure out if he was averse to watching her masturbate.
It turned out, he wasn't.
***
Loki wasn't the only one able to create portals out of magic, but he was the only one willing to show Wanda how to do it in a manner that she could understand. He seemed to have calmed down in the week since her last ineffectual attempt; most of the time, Wanda could open up a small hole in space and time. It allowed her to talk to Pietro and see how his sword fighting skills were coming along, as if the portal was a small window. Porthole was possibly more accurate a term for what she could make. She could pass along messages and small sized objects; as a test, Pietro had given her a silver and ruby filigree necklace that Maeginbiorn had made. It was imbued with protection spells that one of their fellow altered children was working on. "I think he's going to stay in Asgard," Pietro said. "He likes working with Maeginbiorn, and they're talking about working on spells and jewelry like that one," Pietro had said, nodding toward the necklace. "It would be a whole new market for them."
"I'm glad they're happy," Wanda had told him, meaning it. Her smile turned wistful. "They don't remember anything different than the labs. I barely remember Mama, and I know we never knew who our father was. But it's so tempting sometimes to look into the spá, try to see who she was, what she was like, maybe find out who our father was. Why he abandoned us. If he did," Wanda added with a sigh. "The Baron was full of lies."
"He was," Pietro agreed. He peered at her cautiously, as if afraid of her answer. "Why are you thinking of this now?"
"It was a conversation I had with one of my tutors here about magic and the history of magic and all of that rot I usually curse. But the Romani have always supposedly had magic, but it was the fortunetelling and pretend variety, to hear her tell it. I remember nothing of being Romani, not really. Most of my memories of that time are gone. We were old enough that we should remember at least some of it, right? Why don't I remember it?"
"I don't, either," Pietro admitted, looking away. "I think the experiments did something to us. Not just the power, I mean it did something to our memories." He looked back at her. "Some things, I remember very clearly. Other memories of that time... not at all. As if it was simply erased. So I wouldn't be surprised if they took those memories from us, as best as they could."
"Because I'm sure I would have fought them. We would have," she corrected, biting her lip. "If they really had hurt Mama, we would have fought, right?"
"I know I would have," Pietro told her solemnly.
Wanda pressed her lips together unhappily and turned away with a sigh. "So much stolen from us… Only now am I beginning to understand how much they really took."
"So... Other than these things getting you angry," Pietro began testing the edge of her portal with his finger. He hissed and pulled it away from the edge, sucking on it. "That's hot, Wanda. Like, I think it burned me."
"Don't touch the edges, then," Wanda replied in a huff, not feeling sorry for him at all. "I'm manipulating time and space, dummy. That takes energy, and it's got to go somewhere."
"So you're frying reality, is that it?" Pietro had snarked.
Wanda opened her mouth to say something cutting, but then snapped her mouth shut. "Yeah. I think that's a good way of putting it. Like a magnifying glass over a bug."
Which, now that she thought about it, meant she just needed to make a bigger metaphorical magnifying glass in order to open a person-sized portal. The person-sized portal she meant to make made the small porthole ones, after all. It was just a question of magnitude.
Feeling almost giddy, Wanda had to repress the urge to snap the portal shut and show off for Loki. "Let's see if I can change a portal that's already open," she said, feeling the adrenaline rush through her. This would be kind of like science, right? She heard Jane talking to Bruce at dinner about testing things out, and it made sense. Darcy said the same was true in social sciences and political science. Repetition was the key to prove a theory right or wrong.
Levering more power through her chest - she really had no other way of describing the sensation of her magic and how she could focus it - Wanda paid careful attention to her portal and started to prize it open. Her focus had been about as large as herself, but now she tried to picture forcing it open to Hulk parameters. It probably would have been easier to simply close this one down and start over, rather than reworking the heated edges of her portal, but she was determined to make this work. She could alter the spá, goddammit, she could do this.
Slowly, then with fits and starts, Wanda forced the portal wider and wider. Pietro's stunned expression was worth the mental strain, and she finally gave up when the portal's diameter reached from just over her head to around her waist. It was exhausting, and Loki made it seem too damn easy.
"Ha," Wanda said, triumphant. "I can do this, see?"
Pietro blinked. "Wow. I didn't know you could do any of that. The magic stuff is pretty amazing." He grinned at her, pride in every feature. "You are pretty amazing."
"Yeah, I am, aren't I?" she returned, feeling heady with glee. I did it! she thought, smile widening into a grin. "I'm pretty damn cool, and don't you forget it."
Laughing, her twin brother shook his head. "Wanda, I'm sure no one will ever forget it."
***
Just when Selene thought that this pathetic realm was good for nothing but taunting sips of power, there came a bright burst of energy. It took her a moment to realize it truly was from Midgard, a world otherwise fairly useless and pathetic when it came to magic. The people there really had no idea how best to use their Runestaff. They likely wouldn't even know it had been drained and emptied; no one seemed to realize that the rash of deaths on their world was anything more sinister than death.
Perhaps she would stay near Midgard after all, and devour its people before its Runestaff.
Selene floated in the Void, dreaming of the taste of magic with a smile on her face.
***
***
To Chapter Two - Practice