Marvel's Reaper ( Male reader x Natasha Romanoff x Wanda Maximoff )

Two Journeys

Week Later

The sky above the mansion moves in slow circles of color as the dragons wheel in wide, protective arcs, sunlight flashing off their scales like signals. Drago cuts a path directly over the roofline and rumbles low, a reassurance that passes through the glass and into the bones of the house. In the living room, Wanda and Natasha sit shoulder to shoulder on the long couch, ten weeks along now and learning the exact angle their spines like, learning when to laugh and when to breathe instead.

Rhea stands by the window with her fingers resting against the frame as if she's listening to the wood. Her Zionite energy hums icy blue and the air runs clearer for it. Zaire leans on the opposite wall, arms folded, cyan glow quiet and steady, one eye on the sky and one eye on the door.

The knock comes like a remembered rhythm—three firm, two soft—and then the door chimes again because some people never learned patience.

"That's Rocket," Zaire says, amused.

Rhea's mouth curves. "And the impatient one with him is your Carol."

"Not mine," Zaire says on reflex, but he's smiling when he says it.

Natasha squeezes Wanda's hand once and nods toward the hall. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Wanda says, and she stands with the careful strength of someone who's had a week of good days and knows not to waste one.

They meet their family at the threshold of the living room and it feels like a tide entering a harbor. Steve is first through, shoulders tight and eyes kind; Pepper is right behind him, fingers brushing Tony's wrist like a lifeline. Tony is thinner than anyone wants him to be and trying not to show it; he still finds a way to soften as soon as he sees the two women standing together with that look. Rhodey steps in with a half-salute and a full smile. Yelena breezes past him and hugs Wanda without asking, then Natasha like she's cashing a check. JaeJae hangs back just long enough to let Yelena through and then scoops Natasha into a one-armed hug that leaves her hair more ruffled than before; he bumps foreheads with Wanda and pretends it didn't make his eyes sting.

Brook takes the doorway in two strides and stops because the room has a new temperature; he sets down a bag of food he probably over-ordered and looks to the dragons outside like he's checking his back is covered. Thor fills the entry with a gust of air and sunlight and then shrinks himself down to fit the room, eyes soft. Trey ghosts in on the quiet, his presence a low bell that rings once and settles. Betty slips inside with Ryan, who clutches a stuffed green dragon and refuses to let go; Natasha's mouth pulls to the side when she sees him and he offers her the dragon's paw like a high five.

Nebula follows with a stillness that makes the floorboards behave; she takes up a clean line against a bookcase and watches. Rocket hops onto the armchair like it's a throne and pretends not to be touched by the way everyone lets him. Carol brings the weather with her, a bright steadiness that makes the lamps unnecessary. Pietro is already in the kitchen doorway, arms crossed, pretending he's been here for hours because he needed to be.

They see Rhea and the room rearranges itself. Steve straightens without deciding to. Thor blinks once like his eyes have to adjust. Tony stops halfway to a joke. Pepper's fingers tighten. Rocket's ears go up. Nebula's chin dips by a degree that, from her, is reverence.

Rhea turns from the window, icy blue catching in the light. "Friends of my children," she says, and even the house seems to listen. "Welcome."

Tony finds his voice first, thin but intact. "So, uh... this is awkward because I don't have the right flowers for 'surprise, your presumed-dead mom is breathtaking.' I can send a drone."