Choices

Chapter 108
Waking up everyday to darkness was frustrating. It took Seraphina everything she had to keep herself from screaming. Fandral was there for her, but she was aware that his friends needed his help in Asgard.
He refused to leave her until this situation was settled.
The five children had been invited to the palace, welcoming them home. People were weary about it, but at the same time they'd never turned their backs on those with Mechanovian blood.
Seraphina had called everyone together for a big meeting. Told them that the children had been misinformed and that they deserve a chance. Questions were raised as to her father's disappearance and she lied, said Cephera needed him.
She countered any unhappy feelings about that with the fact that she needed to learn how to take care of her people without her father's help. This was her chance to prove her worth as a queen.
The venom used to make her blind was taken as a sample from a grudging Sulu. An antidote was in the making, but until then she'd remain blind.
She'd allowed the kids to get a feel for their new home before having her own meeting with them, Fandral and Rorik at her side.
"I hope you have made yourself at home." She told them.
"The palace is large and the people have been more welcoming than expected." Karzin replied. "I admit, I was angry with Marly for having let you go, but now I think it may have been for the better."
"If only we could find our father." Sulu growled. He still seemed very temperamental. Seraphina was having him watched in secret.
"About your father, we are not sure we'll find him." Seraphina replied.
"Why?" Karzin's tone dropped.
"Because it's possible the man you saw was not your fathers real form. There was an incident on Asgard regarding my sister. She was tricked by a disguised man into bedding him and she became pregnant for him. She realized this afterwards so when he came for her again we tried to capture him, but he got away. I think this might be the same man pretending to look like someone else to get what he wants."
It was half a lie. Seraphina didn't know who got her sister pregnant, but she was sure it wasn't anyone from Mechanova. However, the children didn't know that.
"If that's true, how do we find him then?" Sulu sounded skeptical. The other three children were being very quiet.
"If he approaches you there is something you can do to force him to take his true form." Seraphina smiled in her head. If Katarina was the trickster, she would be caught.
"I'll be teaching you what to do." Fandral stepped up, putting a hand to Seraphina's shoulder to let her know where he was.
"And I'll be learning it as well. We all need to protect ourselves from these lies." Rorik was on her other side. She'd been so happy when he came home.
"Once he is found we can find out what happened to your mothers." Seraphina added.
"He didn't hurt them." Sulu growled.
"He might not have, but he may know who did." Rorik replied his tone dark.
Rorik was just in time when he arrived home. Had he been home sooner, Seraphina would have still been missing. She had plenty of questions to ask her son, but no time to currently do so. The children needed her full attention. Until then, Rorik's secrets would remain quiet.
(Old Loki/Tyr)
In the belly of the palace, among the vast catacombs and ruins, Tyr stood over his pool of glossy grey water. It ripple back and forth of its own accord and he grinned a wicked grin as he watched it.
So many plans and so much time to play. He hadn't had this much fun since his old world.
It was too bad that Hela was the only one of his youngers children he could get to help him, but alas, Fenrir and Jör were far too coddled by Cephera to be of use. They were not the fierce monsters Tyr had raised them to be back home.
Cephera..., the girl who could have ruined it all.
She was sickening. How could one woman have that kind of power over him, even if it was a different him. The Loki of this world was soft. It would take harder work on Tyr's part to make this work.
Loki's plans to protect his wife from Thanos would fail. Tyr would see to that. She would die and if he could swing it, Tyr would make sure Loki was there to see it.
It would break him.
His hopes to live happily with her and their children would die with her and the monster he needed would emerge.
It wouldn't do to just kill her now, he'd have to wait. Wait for when it was the right time. A time that Loki would blame himself the most and then Tyr would be there to whisper of Odin being to blame. Of Thor for not watching over her.
He would rip his younger otherworldly self down to the bare bones and build him back up to devastate the world. It would be the greatest of his schemes.
He had hoped to come between them through betrayal of the heart, but they were too trusting, to loyal for that. So this was the new plan.
Bending over his pool, he dipped his fingers inside carefully. They didn't get wet, instead the water parted the further his hand went in.
This was his greatest creation yet.
He called it the inter dimensional pool. It was his connection to a vast amount of other worlds. However, it was still in its testing phase. If he jumped in now he might never return.
Like his wife had been trying to do by sending small objects through worlds by spells, including her wedding ring, Loki was reaching in his personal pool to grab items from other worlds to bring to him.
Today, he pulled through a forgotten item from his world. He envisioned it in his mind and looked into the pools waters. He could see it laying on the cracked marble floor of Asgards Palace ruins.
Strecthing his hand further he grasped the long shaft of Gungnir. He pulled it off the floor and through the pool with ease.
The staff was broken along the top and scratches marred it's once pristine surface. No matter the shape it was in, it was still powerful. Nothing could stop him now. When the time came he'd been unstoppable.
(Steve Rogers)
"I can't believe how different life is, Peggy." Steve sat by her bedside, as he'd become accustomed to doing. Everyday when he met her he'd tell her about different things that he knew she wouldn't remember but it made him feel calm to see her, to talk to her.
"I never seen an alien," Peggy smiled and squeezed his hand.
"He was tall, blue. He looked built like a rock. Solid and thick. His daughter looks nothing like him. She looks like she belongs to earth." Steve thought of the contrast of tiny Cephera to her father.
"Sounds exciting," Peggy blinked slowly, nodding off a little before looking at Steve with wide eyes. "Steve?" She questioned. "It is really you?"
Inwardly, Steve's heart broke everytime she went through this phase. It was expected in her condition, but still. On the outside he smiled and nodded. He calmly waited for her shock to end and her tears to dry before he began to tell her about his new work with SHIELD all over again.
He left Peggy's house feeling sad and like always he regretted it. She lived a long and happy life. He should be happy for that.
"Every week, once a week you come here." Natasha Romanoff came jogging up behind him.
"Are you keeping tabs on me?" He asked her.
"Maybe," she grinned. Steve returned the smile. There was just something about Natasha that made her hard to dislike.
"Where you headed?" He asked eyeing her jogging pants and tank top.
"No where," she shrugged. "Got no missions today." She added. "You?"
"I'm headed to the facility. I'm interested to see what's happened with Cephera and her father." Steve was concerned that Cephera's help would be terminated if her father got his way.
"The pregnant chick working on the alien tactics." Steve nodded to confirm. "What's she like?"
It didn't surprise Steve that Natasha hadn't met Cephera. The alien girl was hardly a threat.
"She's sweet and kind. She's taught me a lot regarding magic."
"You gonna show me a trick?" Natasha teased.
"Not like that," Steve laughed. "She explained it to me."
"Well, maybe I'll have her explain it to me someday. All this dungeons and dragons bullshit still has my head spinning." Steve nodded. "In fact, I think I'll come with you." Natasha removed her ear buds and turned off her MP3 player.
"You need a lift to your car?" He asked.
"I didn't take a car. You can give me a lift to SHIELD." She waved him onward and Steve obliged.

Notes