Winter's Fire. ~Book Three~

Chapter Two: The Story of Levinia Lokidottir.

Thor had been speaking with Frigga when Heimdall came into the palace and told them that Red had said she was ready to come back to Asgard. And now he was pacing in the Bifrost, listening to his sister's conversation with Steve and Tony, this would be the first time she's stepped foot in Asgard in seventy-one years. 
"When will she be here?" Thor asked for what had to be the tenth time in the span of five minutes since they had arrived. 
Heimdall sighed at that. "Be patient, Thor. She needs to call upon me first." 
Thor stopped his pacing as he turned to face the Bifrost, he reached up to run his hand over his beard. "I don't know how much longer they can wait." 
"I know," said Heimdall. "Believe me, I know." 
It didn't take long after that before Red's voice clearly came through the Bifrost, he could clearly hear the smile in his sister's voice as she said. "Heimdall, beam us up." They could then hear the sound of Tony snickering at what she'd said, though the joke fell flat in Thor's ears, he was still getting used to Midgardian humor. 
Heimdall turned the blade and opened up the Bifrost, the gate in front of them opened up and in a flash of rainbow light, Red, flanked by Tony and Steve, landed in front of them. His sister looked refreshed and happy to be standing before himself and Heimdall, she gave a sort of proud grin one would have when they got off of a roller coaster. Steve and Tony, on the other hand, stood to the side of the room and dry heaved. 
Red looked up at Thor. "I almost forgot how much fun that was," she practically ran across the room and into his arms. "Thor, I've missed your face." 
Thor returned her grin, and even though he noticed how thin and tired she looked, he decided it was better to ignore it for the time being as he scooped her up and into his arms. He spun them around as he gave her the gentlest bear hug he could. "I've missed you too, but they've missed you more." He set her back down on her feet and sighed. "They've been waiting for you." 
She glanced behind him and at the rainbow bridge then at the palace that resided behind it. Her eyes lit up as she marveled at the sight. It had been over seventy years since she last saw it. "I know." Red sighed and looked back up to him. "Over a thousand years of seeing that thing, and it's still breathtaking." 
Behind Red, Steve and Tony had finally been able to gather their bearings. Thor watched them with a chuckle as Steve nodded toward Red. "How was she able to do that for over a thousand years?" 
Tony shook his head. "I have no idea, but I don't wanna do it again." 
Red giggled quietly as she cut into their conversation as their voices echoed around them. "You know that you'll have to do that again, right?" She looked between them with a smirk playing at her lips as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Unless you wanna stay here, of course." 
Steve chuckled at that as he crossed the room and joined their sides. "I'm not leaving your side, Red." 
Without any further conversation, the group walked out of the building and onto the bridge. As Thor turned to face Red again, about to welcome her home, Red turned around to face Tony. "We might be here for a few days, you think you can handle it?" 
Tony easily caught up with them and took her hand into his as they now walked side by side. "Yeah. I think I can do that." He looked around them as they walked, they were nowhere near the city, but the sight was still other worldly. "So, this is where you grew up? It's not too shabby." 
Thor chuckled at the look on Red's face, it was like everything in her could finally be calm now that she was able to come home. Ever since she had to leave, their mother and father had kept an eye on her, and while they were proud of her, and missed her, they couldn't ask her to come back until they had the Tesseract back. The arrangement had caused their mother lots of grief, but now, everything could go back to normal. Or at least, Thor hoped it could. 
Red grinned up at her newest lover and looked at Steve from over her shoulder. "You haven't seen the half of it," she turned her gaze back to Thor with her head tilted. "Are we walking, or do we have a ride?" 
He patted her shoulder. "I got us a ride, don't worry." Off to the side of the bridge, there was one of the many flying boats that they had in Asgard. Back when Red was there, they didn't have this sort of technology. 
Thor had gotten in first and helped Red in while the other two got in by themselves. It was nice to have her back in the place where the three of them had grown up.
+++
Tony sat next to Steve as they flew toward Asgard with water and small buildings passing under them. Together, they watched Red relax considerably as they got closer and closer to the palace, she even had a small smile on her face. He couldn't help but think that she looked like she was where she belonged. 
Steve glanced at him and nodded toward Red. "Is it me, or does it almost-" 
"She looks like she's where she belongs." Tony said as he slowly nodded. He was glad that he wasn't the only one who had noticed it. 
"Yeah..." He trailed off as she turned to Thor and they started to talk about their shared past. "Do you think she'll want to stay?" 
"I don't think so." Tony said with a sigh as he watched her. "She has too much going on back home to just leave." Or that's what he had hoped, he didn't want to say good-bye to her so soon after they had just started... whatever their relationship was. 
Beside him, Steve looked around the city as they flew through it. "I hope so." He turned back to look at Red. "I'll support her if she decides to, but I hope she doesn't." 
"It could be hard to stay good-bye." Tony muttered as he kept watching her. He wasn't ready for good-bye, not yet.
+++
Red remembered it taking longer than twenty minutes to get from the Bifrost to Asgard's palace, but that was because back then, they were still using horses and not these odd flying boats. Technology really had progressed farther than she thought it would in the seventy odd years she had been gone. 
As the boat stopped and Thor helped her down, she looked up at the palace she grew up in. It was odd to be back home after all this time and not feel at home, but she remembered that even when she was in Asgard, she wanted to be in Midgard more than anything, knowing somehow that that was where she belonged. She even remembered fondly that her step-father, Odin, had always thought it was odd that she dressed like a Midgardian man unless she was told otherwise, she had always claimed it was easier to move in. 
Red smoothed down the front of her tank top and looked over her shoulder at Steve and Tony as the guards opened the palace doors and they walked through. She looked around them in wonder as they walked through the hallways she should have long forgotten by then, she smiled as she remembered her and Loki sneaking off to the darkest parts of these corridors to have moments of passion in their youth. 
The moment they had arrived in the throne room, her face broke into a massive grin as she looked up and into the loving eyes of her mother, Frigga. In her past, her mother had shown herself to Red, mostly in moments of need like when Bucky had fallen from the train. 
Frigga gathered up the skirts of her dress and ran down the steps, heading straight for her daughter. She cupped Red's cheeks between both of her hands and smiled down at her. "My dearest Red." 
Red had forgotten how much she had missed her mother's touch until just now. She gave a relieved smile and closed her eyes as her hands reached up and gripped at her mother's wrists. "Mother," she whispered as she felt a few tears fall down her cheeks. "I'm home." 
She could hear Odin getting up from his throne and walking down the steps, when she opened her eyes again, she could see that he was already standing beside her and Frigga. "I was wondering when you'd grace us with your presents, Red." 
Red cleared her throat as she stepped away from her mother and took the knee in front of her father with her head bowed. "I apologize. Things in Midgard are more dyer than I previously thought, and I picked up a few friends along the way." 
Frigga gave Red a warm smile as she looked down at her and brought her back to her feet. She smoothed down her daughter's hair. "We know, dear, we have kept an eye on you for the last few decades." 
That means that every time Frigga hadn't shown herself to Red, she had seen every heart breaking moment Red had been through. And as she looked at her mother more closely, she saw that Frigga looked sad for her.
But still, she gave her parents a thankful smile. "Thank you for keeping an eye on me after all this time." 
"Of course," Odin said before he turned his gaze toward Steve and Tony, who were both standing behind her. "And I should thank you got keeping our daughter safe." 
"It's not a problem, Sir." Steve said with a nervous chuckle. "She's saved me on more than one occastion." 
Tony reached over and ruffled her hair with a smirk still ever present in his voice. "She can take care of herself, all we did was make sure she eats while she tries to find your granddaughter." 
"Yes, Levinia." Odin said with a sigh as he leaned heavily on his staff. "Poor thing, we both assumed she was dead." 
Frigga moved the hair out of Red's face with a grim smile. "We had no idea that she was still alive, let alone still with Thanos of all people." 
Red looked between the two of them with her eyebrows raised higher than she ever thought they could go. "When was she taken? I don't even remember there being a baby around in the castle when I was here." 
Frigga leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I have much explaining to do, my child." 
With her eyebrows still raised, Red now drew them together in confusion. "Mother..." She muttered with obvious worry. "What did you do?" 
Her mother sighed at that and looked down at Red, while her father looked at her with pity in his eyes. "Get yourselves settled, then I will explain to you and Thor." She said as she took a step away from the small group. 
She and Thor locked eyes, both of them were feeling the same mix of confusion and concern, Red could see it clearly on his face. It didn't go away, even as they led Steve and Tony to her old room. It was something she had expected to change drastically, she was surprised when everything was exactly as she left it-the shelves were still full of old sketchbooks and journals, alongside the artifacts she had collected on her adventures with Thor and Loki.
She gave a fond sigh as she set her bag on her bed and sat down. The unease that was growing in her stomach was only getting larger and larger as she reached into her bag and putted out a hoodie.
"Well..." She said to Thor, Tony and Steve as she pulled it on. "Thank God this room is big enough for all of us." 
"It was nice to finally meet your mom and dad." Steve said as he sat down next to her. 
She almost smiled at that as she thought about Bucky and reached up to touch her tags through her shirt. "Makes you wish he was here, doesn't it?" 
"Yeah, it does." He said as he looked up at a painting she had hanging up in the room. It was a depiction of her and Loki, smiling brightly as they wore their symbols of royalty: Loki, with his golden horns mounted on his crown, while she had a headpiece dressed with ruby reindeer antlers.
Tony came over and sat on her other side as he took her hand into his, she never noticed how small her hands were compared to his until just then. "Do you think they would have liked him?" 
"I think they would have." She said with a small smile before she leaned over to kiss his cheek and got to her feet. She flew over to the window and opened the curtains, letting the light of this Asgard morning flood into the room. 
They had idle conversation while they waited for her and Thor to be called on, they mostly just talked about what they had to get done whenever they got home and how they would have to fill the rest of their team in on what they would find out while they were there.
But after a while, as Red got up from her bed for the fifth time and started to pace around, the palace guards came to the room and knocked on it. Red zipped up her hoodie as she turned to look at Tony and Steve. "You guys can stay here and get settled, Thor and I will be back soon." 
Tony got to his feet and kissed the side of her head. "You sure you don't need one of us?" 
Red nodded as she gave him as reassuring of a smile as she could. "Yeah, just stay here, we won't be long." 
Thor opened the door and they stepped out of the room, closing the door behind them as they faced the guards. They looked at each other for a second before they followed them back into the room she, Thor and Loki had used for meetings over the years. 
+++
Tony turned to look at Steve as the doors closed behind her and Thor. He was too curious for his own good, he knew this, and he knew that if he thought of it, he would have brought something to listen in on the conversation the two of them were about to have with Frigga, even if that meant potential death by fire. 
"What do you think Frigga is going to tell them?" He asked as he plucked one of the many books off of one of the surrounding shelves and took a seat on the chaise lounge Red had resting at the foot of her bed. "Also, if Frigga and Odin are Thor, Red and Loki's parents, don't you think it's weird that she and Loki were involved?" He starts to flip through the pages of the sketchbook he was now holding, wondering why she ever stopped drawing when she was this good of an artist.
"I don't question it," Steve said as he kept his eyes on the door. "But... Lokidottir... Red's last name is North, and if she is the daughter of the North, who's her dad?" 
Tony shrugged as he tried to keep his attention on the things she had drawn in her past. But that was a good question. Who was her father if it wasn't Odin?
+++
When Red and Thor entered the room, Frigga was already waiting for them. She watched with her arms crossed over her chest as she watched them sit down. Red didn't want to sit down in case she was told something that was so far out of the realms of possibility that she felt like getting to her feet in a small fit of rage.
She sighed as she locked eyes with her mother. "Mom, out with it, what's with all the secrecy? What are you telling us that the others can't know?" 
Frigga folded her hands in front of her, Red could tell that she was trying to choose her words very carefully before she finally sighed and said. "First, I need to explain how Levinia came to be." 
Thor's eyes went to Red in an instant. "The only lover Loki ever had was you." 
Red let out a bark of disbelieving laughter. "If you're suggesting that Levinia is my daughter, I can assure you-" 
Frigga sighed again and gave the would-be bickering siblings a quelling look. "Will you two quiet down? I'm about to tell you-Red, sit down." Once Red had quickly taken a seat next to her brother with her arms still crossed over her chest, Frigga looked at the two of them as she finally started to tell them what she had been keeping to herself for God knows how long. "Levinia was not... Born, for lack of a better term, she was created by Loki, he made her out of the three of you. She had Red's stubborn but passionate attitude with Loki's sharp features," their mother turned her gaze to Thor. "She had the power to control electricity. She was a lovely child." 
Frigga got to her feet and started to slowly walk around the room as she spoke, already Red could feel long forgotten memories starting to prod at her from the wall she had been running into over the last year or so. "You had taught her how to fly." She said as she touched the back of Red's chair before looking down to Thor. "And you had marveled at her extraordinary ability to control her already strong power when she was so young." 
Red remembered flying around Asgard by herself, giggling as she flew through the air, but with another break through that barrier, she could now see a little girl who was no more than maybe six, flying through the air next to her. She knew that this little girl was Levinia, it was a younger version of her, but she still knew who she was. Small and pale with dual colored green and black hair, and Red's bright blue eyes. 
"But... when you have a powerful child, or anything really, you draw the attention of others, and one of them was Thanos." Frigga said before she paused again, it was like she was letting both Thor and Red catch up with her words before she continued. 
Red leaned forward and leaned her elbows on the table, her hand went to her face and she rubbed at her eyes. She remembered watching Thor marvel at her own power, and then with another flash of light, she was standing off to the side as Levinia showed Thor what she had learned that day. 
"Thanos had his eyes on Levi." Red had finally said after she got her train of thought back on track.
Frigga nodded, confirming her thoughts even though she had already assumed she was right. A year and a half ago, Loki had told them the reason he was leading an army against New York City was because he was trying to get Levinia back. 
"He did. Thanos was infamous for killing whole races of people, but slowed down and started to kill only half by the time he got back to Asgard. He would... save a child or two, take them under his wing, they were called-" 
"The Children of Thanos." Red whispered. Her father, North, died to keep her from becoming one of Thanos's children. She remembered sitting in the palace gardens as she, Thor, Loki, the Warrior Three and Sif tried to come up with a plan to keep Levi out of his hands, she then remembered how their efforts failed. 
Frigga nodded again as she started to pace the room again. "Yes. And he wanted Levinia," she took a deep breath, seemingly to calm herself before she started speaking again. "When Thanos breached Asgard's borders, we all knew that he was there for her." She gestured to the two of them. "You two, Loki, the  Warrior Three and Lady Sif had fought Thanos, his children and their armies with our own at your sides. You fought as hard as you could." Frigga turned her gaze to Red. "You nearly died trying to to keep them away from her, but your efforts were fruitless." She kept her eyes locked on her daughter's as she continued to speak. "You and Loki had taken it the hardest-couples who lose a child rarely stay together, and you two weren't an exception to that rule." 
Red turned her gaze to the table as a tear ran down her cheek, she almost had a lifetimes worth of repressed memories coming back to her in a flood. He came for me, she heard herself saying. He'll come for her. 
"But... how-why did we all forget?" 
"Loki had asked me to alter every Asgardian's memory-save for mine and his, making sure that no one but the two of us would have to suffer." 
Red put her face into her hands and rubbed at her eyes with the palms of her hands, pressing the tears out of her eyes as they flowed down her cheeks. "Oh my God, that poor child." 
Thor got to his feet and rubbed her shoulders, trying his best to comfort her, but she could feel his hands shaking. "How long did you wait before you casted the spell?" 
"The seven of you had been looking for two years before Loki had asked me to make you all forget." Frigga said as if it was the simplest thing in the world. 
Thor's hands froze on Red's shoulders. "Oh my God." 
Red held back a sob that was building up in her chest, it was like it was a monster begging for release. She pressed a hand against her mouth as she let out a whimper. "My... My daughter, and I had gotten myself kicked from Asgard." 
In an instant, their mother was at Thor and Red's side as she wrapped her daughter up and into her arms, she held her against her chest as she petted her hair. "Red, even before your exile, you knew you belonged in Midgard, they needed you more than we did." 
She stared at the wall opposite from her as she wrapped her arms around Frigga. "And then... I found more than I was expecting." Red had been forced to forget Levinia and found everything she was missing when she was cast out. She found herself and Bucky and a little family in the Avengers. She would feel the guilt of leaving her life in Asgard behind for the rest of her life, even if she didn't have a choice in the matter.
Thor stepped away from them as he now paced around the room. She could see that her brother's thoughts were moving just as fast, if not more, than hers were. "What do we tell the others?" He turned around to face her and their mother. "Do we even tell them?" 
Red took a deep breath as she pulled herself away from Frigga and turned to look at him before she ran her hands over her face again and wiped away the remainder of her tears. "It's not our place to keep it from them." She got to her feet and pushed her hair out of her face, glancing between Thor and Frigga before she looked back down to the table." She's only a child to this world, and she's already seen so much more than she should have." And God knows what else she's done or been through.
Thor kept pacing around the room, she could tell that he was struggling to keep his emotions in check. When they were growing up, she was always the one out of the two of who showed her emotions as if she wore them on her sleeve, he was the one who decided it was best for him to be strong. 
"How do we even..." He trailed off as his voice cracked. "How do we tell them?" 
"I don't know." She muttered as she started to remember more and more that their mother had forced them to forget. In another flash, one of her drawing a picture of Levinia when she was still just a little girl, but when she blinks that fragment of memory is gone. 
Red blinked heavily as she turned to face her mother. "Is that why I never touched my drawings? Because I drew her?" She thought about the vast amounts of sketchbooks she had in her room that she hadn't touched since before she left Asgard.
Frigga gave her a sad smile. "Yes, I had to make sure that you didn't know of the past." 
She and Thor just looked at each other as they processed everything that they were just told. How were they going to explain everything that they found out about Levinia? How were they going to explain how they all forgot about the nineteen years they had with her?
+++
Tony flipped through Red's sketchbook, he saw pictures of different landscapes from her life in Asgard, pictures of her friends, they were all very normal things and all he could think of was why she didn't tell anyone that she could draw? 
He paused when he turned the page and found a picture of her and Levinia. His newest question was: Why didn't Red tell them that she knew the Lightning Bolt? "Red knew Sparky." Tony said as he turned to look at Steve, who was sitting on the bed. 
"What do you mean?" He asked as he stood up and made his way over to him. 
Tony flipped through the pages in the book as he showed it to Steve, showing him the pictures she drew the letters she'd written. "She drew Levinia over and over again, wrote letters..." He trailed off as he read over one of the letters. "She was Red's world." 
Steve carefully took the book from him and read over one of the many letters Red had written. "Levinia was like a daughter to Red... why didn't she tell us?" This was one of the few moments in life where Tony could read Steve just as well as he could read Red. 
He knew that Steve wanted to know why Red didn't tell them just as badly as he did. Tony took the book back and walked toward the door. "I don't know, but we'll find out." 
Steve sighed, clearly exasperated with Tony already. "Red told us to stay here." 
Tony turned around to look at him with both of his eyebrows raised. "When are you not going to follow orders? Don't you wanna know?" As annoyed as he was in this moment, he knew that there was a chance that one day-probably not one day soon-Steve was going to disobey the orders they were given, and Tony probably won't like it. He was just glad that that day was not today. 
"They aren't orders." Steve said with another sigh as he crossed his arms over his chest and sat back down on the bed. "She asked us to stay here and wait for her, not because she wanted us too, but because she's our friend and needs our support." 
"So we just wait here? Waiting for someone to take us to her?" He sat back down on the chaise lounge chair and stared up at the ceiling. "What do you think Frigga is telling them?" 
Steve shook his head as he shrugged. "I don't know, but we have to wait here because we're the people she trusts the most." 
That was exactly what Steve needed to stay to convince Tony to stay put. He laid back against the lounge and closed his eyes. "Alright, fine. We'll wait." 
+++
Red floated around the room with her feet a few inches off the ground. She had sent off the guards to collect her friends, both the ones from Asgard and the ones from Earth. She was glad that Thor and Frigga were just as quiet as she was, it gave her a moment to collect her thoughts before everyone arrived. 
What was she going to say? What could she say to explain how they all seemingly forgot that Levinia ever existed at all? Her train of thought was broken as the door opened and Fandral, Hogen and Volgstagg came into the room. 
Volgstagg grinned and came over to her, his arms wrapped around her as he spun her around. "The Northen Fire has returned to Asgard." 
"It's only for a short time." Red said softly with a small smile as she returned the embrace. She did miss everyone, she missed their faces, but they were remnant from another time. She vaguely wondered if they could tell how much she's changed since she'd been gone. 
"Any amount of time is better than nothing, Red." He told her as he finally put her down. She could barely remember the last time she saw him, he had told her he loved her, and she had told him that she would always choose Loki. It was almost funny now, how when she touched down in Midgard and found Bucky. She knew she'd choose Bucky over anyone else if she had the chance. 
"Please take a seat while we wait for the others to join us." Red finally said as she pulled away from him. 
As confused as Volgstagg was, he still let her go and sat down in one of the many chairs surrounding them. She was relieved when the rest of the Warrior Three joined him without the rest of them asking any other questions before she went back to her pacing as she wiped away tears. 
Soon, Lady Sif entered the room and stopped short as her eyes landed on Red. "What's going on? Why is Red crying?" She turned her gaze to Frigga. "Is there something we don't know, Lady Frigga?" 
Frigga sat up in her seat. "As my daughter stated before, she will explain when the others have joined us." 
Sif silently sat alongside the Warrior Three and the room fell silent again. Red was honestly just dreading the moment Tony and Steve came into the room, she wasn't sure if she was going to be relieved when she locked eyes with Tony, or if she was going to just break down sobbing when they both came in. 
Finally, the doors open and both Tony and Steve walk in with two of the palace guards behind them. As she turned around to look at them, she felt the blood drain from her face and her heart sank to her stomach when she saw that Tony was holding one of her sketchbooks. 
Red landed on the ground as he came over to her and set the book down on the table beside them. He knew that Levinia was in her life, and while she knew he didn't know the extent of the story, she could tell that he assumed the rest of what he didn't know. 
But above all of that, she could tell that he was disappointed in her. 
+++
Tony looked down at her, feeling guilty as he watched her shrink back and away from him. He knew that she could tell he was disappointed in her. If she knew Sparky that well, she could have just told them all instead of keeping it to herself while she and Steve were wasting all of that time.
"Red," he finally said. "You have some explaining to do." He finally took a step back as he watched tears well up in her eyes. 
"I know." She whispered as she took a step back and away from him, she rubbed at her already red and puffy eyes as she sat down. "Okay-" she said as her voice cracked. He and Steve stood on either side of her chair as she tried to piece herself together enough to tell the room what she knew about Levinia. 
Tony set a hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. As upset as he was with her, he still wanted to give her some sort of comfort as she processed all of what she might know enough to tell them what she did know. 
"Okay..." She repeated as she pocked up the sketchbook and flipped to a picture of the dual colored hair child and looked around the table at her group of friends. "Who here remembers Levinia Lokidottir?" 
"Who?" 
"The name sounds familiar." 
"I'm assuming she is the daughter of Loki, isn't she?" 
Finally, the woman at the other end of the table sighed and rolled her eyes. "Why don't you three let her explain?" 
Tony reached down and rubber her back as she flipped the sketchbook around to show the room. As the people around them took in the sight of the picture, he could see flames dancing in the blue of Red's eyes, she took a deep breath and swallowed before speaking. "This is Levinia Lokidottir," she said with her voice shaking. "She was not born, she was created. She was meant to be a shining gem based off of myself and Thor and Loki." She set the book back down on the table as she laced her figures in front of her and looked around at each and every one of her friends surrounding her. "She was created back when Loki and I were still lovers, and she was taken during a battle with Thanos." 
Tony now knelt down beside her and rubbed her thigh as she started to explain the story of how Levinia was taken in the heat of battle.
+++
Red kept a surprisingly strong voice as she told the room about the days leading up to the fight, how she was the one who decided Levinia, or Levi, would be hidden in one of the rooms in the upper levels of the palace, and how she blames at decision for her daughter being taken. 
She explained how they all almost died trying, and failing, to protect Levi the way she had been protected when Thanos came for Red. 
As the story went on, Red could tell that everyone in the room-everyone that wasn't her, Thor and Frigga-was slowly starting to remember the existence of a little girl they had no idea existed, as if they were being broken out of a spell, which they were. They were slowly breaking out of a spell that Loki had had Frigga cast. 
"This all happened less than a century ago, and ever since then, she, and a few others, have been known as the Children of Thanos." Red said before taking a deep breath to collect herself, and her thoughts, before she continued. "Or she was until two years ago when she, and her friend Derek, had emerged from the portal during the Battle of New York City." 
The room was silent as it took in the used to be forgotten story of how they lost Levinia, it was almost unbelievable. Red almost wished that it was unbelievable, though there was no way around it, not when they all remembered now. 
Lady Sif was the first to break the stunned silence. "And Loki wished to spare us the suffering?" 
"Yes." Red said simply as she leaned back against her seat. Tony's hand found its way to her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. She knew that this was his way of trying to calm her down. "He didn't want anyone but him, and our mother, to be burdened by the knowledge of Levinia." 
Hogan sighed as he ran his hands through his hair. "No wonder he went crazy." 
Red took a moment to look at each of the friends she and Thor had grown up with. They had fought with them, bled with them, laughed and cried with them, and it was at that moment that she realized that to them, she wasn't just Red North, Agent and founder of SHIELD, Avenger... she was Red Northndottir, Princess of Asgard and, at least for the next few hours, leader of this odd band of misfits. 
Thor stood up and knelt down beside his sister's chair. "So, what do we do now?" 
Red almost shrugged, but she stopped herself. Leaders and princesses didn't shrug, nor did they slouch, she reminded herself. She sat up as straight and tall as she could as she looked down at her brother and then scanned over the faces in the room. 
"We find our daughter," she said in a firm, steady voice that surprised even her. "And we show her that she still has a family that loves her." 
Steve nodded along with her words as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Then that's what we'll do." 
Tony sighed as he looked between his red headed lover and Steve. "For once, I agree with Cap." 
Red smiled at that. "Thank you." She got to her feet as she addressed the room. "Get ready to work, we will be leaving for Midgard at Dawn." She picked up her book and started flying toward the door. 
When she was at the doorway, Fandral spoke up as he turned to face her. "And what will you be doing, your Highness?" 
Red paused at the doorway to look at him from over her shoulder, "I am going to speak with Loki." And then, she was gone and flying down to the prisoners quarters. 
+++
Loki looked up from his book as he heard footsteps coming toward his cell, he had spent nearly his whole life hearing those familiar footsteps, and the last time he heard them brought him back to his time in a glass cell that was being held on a Hellicarrier. 
But even then, he couldn't help but remember a time when he'd wake up to her smiling face every morning when they woke up, and every night when they would go to sleep. HE couldn't help but feel joy at the memories of watching her smile reach her ocean blue eyes. 
Those were memories of decades that had long passed, and she wasn't his Red anymore, she hadn't been his Red since they had lost Levinia to Thanos. Her heart now belonged to a solider that was long dead, and he knew that she would never move on from him. Much like how Loki would never move on from her. 
Loki turned his head to the side, and sure enough, he saw Red standing outside of his cell with her arms folded over her chest. "I was wondering when you'd come to see me." 
"Not like I had the choice, Loki." She said in reply. He almost hoped that she would look at him like she used to all those years ago, this hope was quickly dashed when he saw that she instead had the look of a leader of all that was possible. 
With a sigh, he put his book down and turned his body to face her. "I shouldn't have expected this to be a warm conversation." 
Red's eyebrows shot right up as she looked up at him and let out a bark of laughter that told him that she was well passed upset. "You expected this to be a warm conversation when you had our mother take away my memories of our daughter?" 
"Well, I had my hopes." 
"And your hopes mean jack shit, don't they?" 
It was just then that he noticed that she was holding one of her old sketchbooks in her hands, and with a soft, yet annoyed sigh, she continued by saying. "As upset as I am with you... I wouldn't have been able to remember her, or even find her, without the dreams you gave me." 
Loki got to his feet to stand before her, he took this moment to take in her features. Even when she looked pissed off, she looked beautiful. "You had to know how to find her." He then looked passed her and to the guards who watched them. "Can someone let her in? She needn't stand outside this barrier." 
Red sighed as she looked over her should at them as well. "Please just let me in, I don't have the time, nor the energy, to argue with you." 
"Of course, Princess." One of them said before they opened the barrier for her. 
Red's eyes sparked with fire as she stepped into the cell. "Princess?" She made a satisfied noise in the back of her throat as she looked around the cell. "I could get used to that again." 
Loki gave her a small smile as he bowed his head in her direction, it was more of a mocking gesture. He knew she always disliked nobility and the formality that came with it. "It is among your titles, is it not?" He sat back down and gave her a grin. "You will always be Red Northindottir, daughter of Queen Frigga, Princess of Asgard, and our very own Mespelheim." 
She rolls her eyes at him as she sat down across from him. "You're ridiculous." 
He chuckled at that. "'Tis my job, my dear." He leaned forward as he studied her face. "Anyway, how can I help?" 
Red looked down at the book she was holding. She was trying so hard to put on a brave face, but it was her eyes, as always, that betrayed how she was really feeling. Loki could see anger and sadness mixing with a spark of vengeance that danced in her eyes. 
After a moment of her thinking over her words, she opened the book and started flipping through its pages. "First explain to me this," she turned the book around to face him. It was a drawing of himself, Red and Levinia, all three of them looking happy and like they had had the time of their lives. "Our daughter... why did you make me forget about her? Why did you let me believe that you had imagined her?" 
Loki gave a sad smile as he reached out to touch the picture with the tips of his fingers. He felt memories of watching their daughter learn how to use magic and fly poke and prod at him as he looked at the drawing. "I didn't want you to suffer any more than you had." 
She let him have the book as she leaned forward to put her elbows on her knees. "And while I appreciate that, I've been doing a great deal of suffering the last two years." She sighed as she leaned back in her seat and tried to relax her body. "Please... please tell me where she is, Loki." 
"She's in Chicago." Loki said simply. "You've had the answered all along, just had outside forces keeping you from the city's borders." He watched her reactions very carefully, she was still tense-but that was a given considering the situation they were all in-but she went from sad, to happy, then to angry in a matter of seconds. 
Now, Red just looked frustrated with the whole situation. From what he knew from the times he was watching her, she and her captain had been there dozens of times. "But why?" She finally said. "Who is the magic user? It can't be Levinia, she never had that kind of power." 
Loki kept his eyes roaming over her face as he also leaned back against his seat. "What do you remember of the Ashened?" 
"The Ashened?" Her eyebrows came together as she tried to push past the cloud of confusion that had been over her for the last seventy-two years. After a moment of silence, she said. "I remember that they were a race of people who were all but wiped out by the Chitauri-" she broke herself off as she rolled her eyes. "Thanos, of course. Who did he take as his children?" 
"Dominic was killed by the Guardian when Thanos came for you," Loki explained as he set the sketch book down on his bed. "But his younger brother, Derek, is still very much alive." 
"What powers did the Ashened have?" 
Loki smirked at her. "They had the power to hide whole worlds until they were found out, to look at armies of people and reduce them to ash." He reached over and gave her a small pat on the head. "If they can do that, they can definitely have the power to keep you and your captain away from a city." 
She sat in silence for a long moment as she thought all of this information over, Loki could tell that she was trying to think of some sort of plan of attack to try and get Levinia back. When he saw that there was only one kind of plan she could think of, she said. "We noticed that everything that we had that led us away from Chicago had disappeared, as did everything that linked them to HYDRA." 
"You found out Derek's magic. You can get the drop on them now." 
Red quickly got to her feet and grabbed the book off of the bed. "Thank you, so much." She said. "But I have to go." 
Loki titled his head at that. "Is that all you needed? You didn't want to catch up?" 
Red shook her head. "Powerful people draw in powerful forces." She went up to him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "There's no time to catch up, Loki. I lost her once, I can't lose her again, I'll be back soon." She gave him a small smile as she flew over to the barrier and waved down the guards. 
As soon as she left, Loki gave a soft smile as he reached up to touch his cheek where he still felt the imprint of her lips against his skin. "Good luck, my Little Fire." 
+++
Red flew as fast as she could through the palace and back to her room. She had one thing running through her mind as she burst through the doors of her room and grabbed a bag to start collecting her journals and notebooks. Get to Levinia. 
When she got to the last one on the shelf, she sat down on her bed and looked down at the cover as tears streamed down her face. She had memories coming back to her in flashes, they were memories she didn't even know she had that were practically hitting her, making her feel like she couldn't even breathe as she sobbed. 
Red pulled the sleeve of her hoodie over her hand and wiped at her face as she got back to her feet and went to the door. She opened it and told the guard standing out in the corridor to get Steve, Tony and Thor and bring them to her room. She hadn't been sitting back down for more than three minutes when there was a knock on the door and it opened, revealing Steve. 
"Red?" Steve said softly as he entered the room. 
"Y-yeah?" She asked, cringing as her voice cracked. 
Steve crossed the the room in a matter of secondsand knelt down in front of her, setting a hand on her knee as he always had. "What's the plan?" 
Red took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh as she shrugged. "I honestly don't know, I just know that I can't wait any longer than I already have." As she spoke, she fidgeted with her ring. "I think our best bet is to improvise because when we do plan, it all goes to shit anyway." 
Steve chuckled at that but didn't comment on it as he gestured toward the closed door behind him. "Tony is getting geared up." He gave her a small grin. "Sadly, I didn't have the foresight to bring anything but my shield." 
Red let out a small snort of laughter. "We'll just let Tony show off for us then." With another quiet sigh, she got serious again. "We have to bring her home, Steve." 
Steve stood up and pulled her to her feet as he did. He held her against his chest and rested his chin atop her head. "Red... you need to be ready for the possibility that... she might not want to come home." 
"She left Thanos for a reason, they both did." Red whispered to him as she rested her forehead against his chest and wrapped her arms around his middle. "They're just kids, Steve, they need a chance to be who they are meant to be." 
He carefully petted her head and ran his fingers through her hair. "Then we'll try to get them back." 
Red closed her eyes as she let her friend calm her down. He was always good at calming her down when she wasn't able to do it herself. "I just hope that it isn't too late."
"I know, Red." Steve whispered to her. "I know." 
Red kept her eyes closed as she leaned against her friend, hoping and praying to whoever was listening that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't too late to save both Levinia and her friend Derek.