Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

…there was... Secret Wars. On Battle World, a planet composed of all that remained from the Omniverse, the survivors were desperately fighting for survival and trying to avoid the wrath of its ruler Doctor Doom... but this is not that story. What story is this then you ask? Well...

All around this new world phones rang. A mysterious caller with mysterious message... that mysteriously all people ignored (How rude of them.), or rather almost all except three:

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At the Thors law-enforcement headquarters Fandral looked positively shocked and pale and Thor wondered who could be on the other side of the line. She caught only some snippets of the conversation and it sounded... odd, really.

“This can't...”

“Look I'm really not interested... besides, important work...”

“This can't be happening, you're dead.”

“I should tell her, WHAT?!”

The black wines around the panels spread lazily.

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At the building that was once Coles Academic High School in Jersey City Bruno's reaction was similar, but he opted for looking exhausted and saying:

“Look. Just talk to her.” and with this handed the phone to Kamala Khan. “It's for you. The hipster needs something and sounds seriously disturbed.”

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And at the home of the Kaplans Billy was really not in the mood for this.

“Look Loki. I'm grateful and everything, your wards did help keeping my home intact (and apparently my mind unclouded), but this is pushing the limits of our friendship.”

“Okay, I understand. You need help. You got stuck somewhere after the world ended. Great. What can I...”

“You got together an 'elite team' for the rescue. Riiiiight. And I should believe...”

“America?! What are you doing with the jerkass? Okay. Slow down. Of course I'll help. I just...”

After listening for a long time to the instructions from the caller.

“This is madness, you know that, right?”

Teddy who was listening in suppressed his laughter. “Was it anything else with Loki? As ever?”

Billy looked at his boyfriend disapprovingly but said nothing.

“Okay, I'll see what I can do. But I swear you'll be the death of me.” he said and ended the call.

“So? Magic?” asked Teddy.

Billy nodded “Yes. And untold danger. And a team of unlikely people.”

“Sounds like a b-movie. A trippy one from the 70s.”

They just looked at each other for a moment and they didn't have to say anything: This will be one of those adventures.

“We should be grateful.” mused Teddy.

“Yeah. At least he asked this time.”

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Elsewhere Kamala's call also ended, and she was just sitting lost in thought. Darkness flowing in the borders.

She should have said no. But she couldn't. That very little experience she had with the trickster was not exactly pleasant... also Bruno insisted that the guy could not be trusted which somehow gave her the feeling that he kept secrets from her. But she couldn't she owed her life, scratch that every life she managed to save, to the protection spell Loki put on the school…

Which was actually fair compensation for all the trouble…

He couldn't have known…

Could he?…

She shouldn't feel in debt for it…

Yet…

This adventure, Loki's word for it, was going to be strange, mystical, and totally out of her comfort zone. The shadows reached out once more and began to fade. But than again sitting on a patchwork world was not much better, and if the hipster viking needed help he could count on Ms. Marvel!

That's what heroes are for!

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Thor looked at Fandral sceptically.

“It was Loki?”

“Yes. The one we all agreed doesn't exist...” he sounded hesitant, confused even, as black flowers bloomed all around the panels.

Thor felt the same, something didn't feel right and she couldn't place what.

“And he requested help? My help?”

Fandral just nodded in response. Thor felt conflicted, but finally reached a decision.

“Call him back and tell him I'll help. This strange occurrence should be investigated either way.” she stopped for a moment “But I think at this point there is no need to involve our higher ups.”

Fandral looked positively relieved hearing this remark.

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Some days later they met at a secret location. Thor knew the two boys, Billy / Wiccan and Teddy / Hulkling from... somewhere she couldn't quite recall, but the young girl dressed in primary colors was new. And very enthusiastic.

“I'm Ms. Marvel.” she announced “Are you the new Thor?” she asked and when got a positive answer “Can I take a selfie with you?!”

“She already took one with us.” Teddy told her. “I didn't know it was possible to be bigger fanboys than us, but she somehow manages.”

“So, everybody ready do something monumentally stupid in the name of Loki?” asked Billy as he sat down in the middle of a very intricate magic circle.

When all nodded he began chanting... and the world exploded. Not literally of course but there was a flash of light and an audible explosion of silence and whiteness... Thor spoke first:

“Where the Hel are we?”

Chapter Text

Billy felt ill. This place stirred unpleasant memories and he was certain Teddy noticed it too... it looked like...

“Looks like Mother's dimension.” he said finally.

“Too empty to be that though.” mused Teddy. “At least there were some black lines and floating box thingies.”

“Whose mother are you talking about?” asked Ms. Marvel confused and something stirred out of their sight.

“Mother with a capital 'M'. An interdimensional parasite I accidentally let loose on reality once.” he said guiltily.

The young superheroine's eyes widened in shock “And I thought the robot thrashing the school because of me was a big deal.”

Thor looked grimly “I'm pretty sure that's against Doom's law somehow.” she stopped to think about that. Doom was... Doom's law was as things always were, weren't they? Her shadow grew unnaturally long in the whiteness.

“It was totally Loki's fault!” Teddy added in a hurry.

Thor frowned “That sounds like him alright.”

Wiccan was never this glad for the conversation derailing power of the mischief maker and took the opportunity to produce four compasses from his pocket.
“Anyway. He said it might be hard to find him so I enchanted these with a tracking spell.”

“Lemme guess: those always point in the direction of the viking dude?” the girl said.

He nodded and gave one to everybody “Either that or any member of our team if you concentrate on that.”

“OMG! I'm in an team-up again!” Ms. Marvel proclaimed, checked out her new gadget and froze. “Um... I'm not big in this whole magic thing but is this normal?”

Billy looked at the compass in her hand. The needle pointed in a completely different direction than on his. Thor's was the same. He facepalmed.
“That's just great. Either the spell went haywire, or some mysterious force working in mysterious ways against all common sense wants us to split up.”

“The 'find the others' function seems to work properly.” said Thor. “So the magic might be just fine. But I really don't like the thought of dividing our forces.”

Ms. Marvel tried it too “It does! That's kind of neat actually!”

Teddy looked lost in thought for a moment then reached for his phone. The others glared at him. “What? If Loki could reach us from here maybe we can call him too. This is his plan after all.”

Billy felt like facepalming again. This was so obvious and practical, he must be dealing way too much with magic if the mundane solution eluded him like this.

*A short call later*

“He said we should follow the magic even if it's contradictory. Also, and I quote, 'be vigilant because danger lurks in the shadows'.” he gestured around the featureless white “What shadows?” then smiled at his boyfriend and showed him his compass “On the bright side at least you don't have to go alone.”

“Then so be it.” agreed Thor “Albeit trusting the trickster might not be the best idea. But alas we've very little choice.”

Only Ms. Marvel protested: “But my team-up...”

–----------

And after the great evil of Doctor Doom was defeated in the final epic battle on Battle World by the combined power of the heroes of the multiverse Wiccan and Hulkling stood together triumphantly. The Secret Wars ended its patchwork land fell apart as a new Earth arose from the rubble. They won. They truly won. They could go home.

“We should celebrate!” said Billy euphorically. “A big party with my parents. ALL my parents! And brothers and sisters. And the whole team. Do you think Noh-varr can be reached? Even that good for nothing...”

“Who?” asked Teddy curiously.

“I... I don't know. It can't be that important anyway.”

And so the celebrations were held and it was the biggest one New York city has ever seen. And that's saying something, we are talking about New York. All the Avengers were there from Young and Mighty to the Adjectiveless, and all the young heroes from the New Mutants and the students of the Jane Grey academy to all who they knew or heard about, and the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and so forth.

“This is like a fairy tale.” said Teddy as he was lying beside Billy while they were watching the celebratory fireworks. “You know the only thing really missing is:
And they lived happily ever after...”

“You know old fairy tales had very dark turns and... Wait. What?!” Something was missing... Billy thought, he needed to do something. He was forgetting something. Also... he was remembering... he never wanted that destiny, but shouldn't he become the new demiurge? Singular multidimensional messiah and all that jazz? Not to mention... why was everything so eerily quiet suddenly? Why did his body feel so heavy? And Billy felt a jolt of panic.... Teddy? TEDDY!

…

…

This is not real! I refuse to believe it!

Billy lashed out blindly, his magic flashing blue and filling the world with the color of the starry night. Their home faded to nothing, as did their parents and family, the adoring people of the world and the whole Earth, while laughter echoed in the distance and shadows bubbled up under everything he destroyed for a second before it transformed back to the white void again... but the sound of Teddy's breathing slowly returned.

If this was a happy ending it came much to high a cost.

Chapter Text

“AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!” yelled Ms. Marvel.

“Are we allowed to say that yet?” asked Spider-Man.

“I've been waiting all my life!”

“Says the high-school student. I've shirts older than you.” snarked Captain America.

*In a bank some minutes and some fighting with the Radioactive Man later*

Ms. Marvel was still looking at her injured hands 'Mental note: Handling radioactivity requires special protective gear.' while the others tried to figure out how to follow the escaping supervillain, when she caught a glimpse of something... no... someone falling.

“Guys! There! Get him!”

Spider-Man and the others moved quickly to catch the falling mystery person... and of course they succeeded they were the Avengers what did you expect?

It was a young boy. He looked much younger than even Kamala (this uncomfortably reminded her of the teasing about her age earlier), around ten maybe. And he was white... Let me rephrase that... his clothing was all the color of snow, skin unnaturally pale, eyes the palest blue ever, and hair, for lack of better descriptor, silver. Quite frankly he looked weird and out of place.

“How did you get there?” Asked Spidey.

“I'm always there. Once known, I'm never truly gone.” said the boy cryptically.

“Are you alright?” Ms. Marvel asked, yeah there might be some head injury in play here.

“Depends. Are you?” He asked back while smiling wickedly and the shadows grew unnaturally long.

Spidey looked confused. “What does that supposed to mean?”

The boy in white made a shushing gesture “Shh... You aren't even here.” and the other heroes faded to white.

'This can't be true!' thought Kamala and lashed out almost instinctively but the boy just stepped back still smiling.

“How antagonistic of you. I go through all this trouble to save you and this is the thanks?” the boy sounded amused.

She was having none of this... this thing's bullshit “Saving me? You just killed them!” she cried out with tears in her eyes as the boy was effortlessly backing away and dodging her more and more desperate attacks. 'Wait a minute? Backing off... How? Wasn't there a wall in a minute?' She stopped, looked around and... they were still in the bank and everything looked as before. As as if they weren't fighting or even moving at all. This was one of the most unnerving things she ever experienced.

“What did you do?! Tell me!” she demanded.

“Oh well, first introductions! I'm the 'danger that lurks in the shadows' as your 'friend' put it.” Kamala remembered... in that white place... where... “Or as the person who gave me this design described me 'the one thing every character ever written, played, sung about, or dreamed about has to fear'. There are also many more of my titles on this.” he pulled out a long strip of paper with runes on it from his pocket. Kamala remembered that. It was a craze that spun off some online game or something, even she bound one of those to a... “Yes. Thanks for that!”

“You can read my mind?” she asked audibly scared. But trust me she was not as creeped out as I'm currently.

“Not exactly.” he smiled even wider. No... No. No! I refuse to... oh shit. He reached up and pulled down the narration box for her to see “But I can read this.” Let me go you evil little brat! it demanded, while Kamala's eyes widened in shock.

“What the heck is this thing?!”

“It's called a narration. Pretty standard in most stories.” he explained calmly while we understandably got more and more freaked.

“They weren't here.” she didn't even notice the tears on her face “This is not real... I... the shadows...” she looked at hers. The world wavered and fell apart. Some parts faded to the featureless white others became stirring giant shadows that could belong to both of them. Also my box finally got released and pulled back on its rightful place on the fourth wall by a black shadowy wine. Thanks. I think. But really it's all your... um... hi Mr. Shadow, yeah, I shut up now.

“Now go and find the woman, who calls herself Thor.” the boy said as the shadows around him wiggled and changed from.

“Why should I do anything you say?!” she demanded, she had to keep herself together no matter what.

“If not she dies. And quite possibly all off you.” he sounded eerily calm as the darkness waved around him like a cape. “After that you'll meet up with the trickster and you'll help him with whatever half-baked plan he comes up with.”

“Why... Who...”

“It will ensure that the world is saved.” his 'cape' opened into black wings “Oh, and why do I want that? Despite my nature I realize that the end of the world is not in my best interest.” he smiled quite serenely as the shadows rearranged themselves into floral patterns. “GO!”

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Teddy was heavy and it was freaking hard to make progress with him on Billy's shoulder but leaving him was not an option. “Be close you accursed royal pain in the ass... please.” he whispered to nobody in particular while checking his compass. He looked in the pointed direction and finally finally he thought he saw something in the distance.

Chapter Text

Kamala was running as fast she could, which using her powers was a lot faster than normal people but she still wished for super speed. The worst thing about this place was that you couldn't tell if you made any progress at all...

… and then she was elsewhere. She tried to stop but her momentum carried her and she fell and landed face first on the marble floor.

“OUCH! Heroism sure hurts.” she grumbled “At least nobody saw that. Where am I?” she looked around. She was in a city, or at least a daydream of a city if this was anything like her Avengers... thing. It was marble and gold and old timey. Seriously. It was one half art-deco-retro-futuristic the other heavy metal album cover (not that Kamala would ever listen to music like that. She was certain that even thinking about such thing could cause her parents heart attacks).

'So, this is Asgard? Home of the Norse gods?' she thought. There was a jolt of uncertainity... but she really didn't have time for a crisis of faith now, she had to find Thor.

She followed the needle, which unfortunately wasn't as easy as it sounded the city being huge and labyrinthine and the damn thing only pointing in the general direction with no regards of stuff like... walls. She tried to make some disappear by denying their existence but apparently that only worked in her own dream... yeah... let's call it that.

At first she also tried to dodge the occasional people walking by in the hallways, but noticed quick that this wasn't necessary as they didn't acknowledge her at all. Made sense, she didn't belong here. Until someone pat her on the shoulder, and she jumped back startled ready to fight whoever her 'attacker' might be.

“Hey. Slow down, kid.” said the stranger. He was a tall black man trying very hard to not look menacing. “I'm Sigurd. And I think we're on the same side.”

Kamala relaxed a bit on her battle stance but didn't let her guard down. “How can I know you're real? Or not the minion of that creepy boy?”

“Minion? Me? You wound me deeply.” he looked mock hurt “Wait. What boy?”

She sighed and abandoned the battle stance. “Oh god. I so hope this isn't the place messing with my head again.” she looked around “One: How can you see me? Two: Can you help me find Thor?”

“Well, I'm one of the people lost with Loki. You were supposed to save me.” he said and Kamala facepalmed 'it makes sense if he doesn't belong here either'. “The magic kid” 'That must be Billy' she concluded “somehow wove us into this story so I can interact with people which you obviously can't.” he looked around “Also I know my way around Asgardia.”

“Great! Then can you tell me what's that way?” she pointed in the direction she tried to go.

“Not much. The Halls of Healing most prominently. But we're on the wrong side of it.”

“Great. Just great.” she sighed again. “Wait. Who did you mean by us?”

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Jane Foster felt tired. This was nothing new, though, actually it was better than most of her symptoms. She knew the cancer was slowly killing her but in some hours it wont get worse because of the magic any more... Thor Odinson will become worthy again and everything will be okay.

Happily ever after!

Even if that 'ever after' part won't be too long for her. She was not afraid to die, but she wanted her death to mean something. And at this point her musing was rudely interrupted by the commotion outside.

“YOU ABSOLUTELY CANNOT DISTURB THE PATIENT!”

“HEY! SO RUDE!”

“TH... ODINSON WILL SO HEAR ABOUT THIS!”

A teenage girl she knew somewhere 'from where?' run up to her bed, with a tall black man not far behind, checking the gadget in her hand in confusion. “This can't be right.” she muttered and Jane couldn't help but feel that this didn't bode well.

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On the Blue Area of the 'Moon' the Asgardians gathered around the resting place of Mjölnir. Odinson told them to, so he could tell the secret and disspell the curse of unworthiness brought on them by Nick Fury. Everyone was excited if not a bit scared. What was it? What could it be? … Who in the Norns name was that woman approaching from the shadows?

Loki enjoyed the stunned silence as she walked out and stood right before them head held high.

The crowd murmured “What is she doing here?!” “Ignore her!” “How does she dare?” and so forth.

“So lovely. It's nice to see you too. Even considering the circumstances.” she smiled “To answer the questions 'I'm here because my brother invited me.' 'I do what I want.' also you really don't want me to leave. Am I not right brother?”

Odinson looked distinctly uncomfortable as he walked to the fallen hammer in the middle of the circle.

“I don't like your smugness sister/brother. But you're right.” he took a deep breath. “I'm sorry. Please, can you forgive me? Can you forgive us all?” there was dissenting murmur from the crowd but he continued. “As 'those-who-sit-above-in-shadow' we committed a great injustice against you.”

There were voices of confusion and denial. “That cannot be!” “We are what now?” “How?!”

Loki smiled too widely her eyes like green flames “You cannot imagine how satisfying is to hear that, and how tempting to gloat and laugh and say 'no'.” her smile faded into a sad, knowing smirk “But that would be wrong. That would mean I failed. That I knowingly and willingly add more to the worlds of hurt and seas of misunderstanding tangled into this web of lies. So as much for my own sake as for yours: I forgive you.”

There were gasps of disbelief. Odinson's face lit up with gratitude, but Loki raised one hand and continued:
“However if I learned anything about redemption that it's never easy. My forgiveness is a necessary step. But it's just that. One step.”

“And here come the predictable demands.” snarked someone from the crowd. “For a sin we might not even committed.” added someone else. “The Ragnarök cycle hit us too, we had no reason to create it.” complained a different voice.

“Ah, yes. Thanks to the people of Asgard for illustrating my point. I forgive you. But do you, except brother, really think it happened? And was wrong? How many of you would be willing to make amends? To try to understand the whys and figure out how to avoid repeating history?” She looked around with an accusatory eyes “Or maybe you want to repeat it. How was it again, mother? 'Only you saw chains Loki. For the rest of Asgard, knowing the end of the story brought security.'” Freyja shot her an icy glare but several people stepped away from her in shock.

Odinson stepped back from the hammer and began to walk away. Jane rushed... well, it was more like stumbling and her Asgardian nurses were very busy trying to keep her upright, to him.

“Lift it! I know you can do it!” she said eyes full of tears.

He just shook his head “No. I can't. I might be worthy again but I'm not ready, we're not ready...”

“No!” she cried “Please. Please be Thor again... I...” the rest was lost in her tears. The world shook and shivered and fell to pieces around them leaving just Mjölnir, Jane, Loki, Kamala, Sigurd... and Billy sitting in a magic circle.

Jane reached out to the hammer and if flew in her hand once more transforming her to Thor.

“That was freaky. And I don't think I understood what just happened. But so cool!” commented Kamala with eyes wide with wonder.

Loki looked up to the featureless white 'sky' “Happily ever... Once upon a time... is the last great lie.” she smiled at her companions and added “Let's go. We've a world to save!”