Thunders Legacy [B. Barnes] [Thunder Wolf B.2]

Chapter 17

Watching the sunrise, Fern let out a content sigh. They'd been back in the forest for a week; part of her missed Wakanda and everything they had left there, but she was happy to be home. Something about watching the sun creep into the sky between Douglas Fir trees and peek out from behind the mountain made her feel at peace.

"Knew I'd find you up here." Lips pressed to the top of her head as Bucky sat next to her on the couch. She convinced Bucky and Steve to move the furniture from the ground-level patio and place it on the roof landing. She was going to need somewhere to sit when Mellan was home. The view was a plus.

"Found me," Fern yawned.

"I didn't mean for you to like it up here so much, you know," Bucky teased.

Fern shrugged with a smile. "If I didn't love it, Mellan would have hated it. It will be nice and cozy when he's ready to visit." Bucky shook his head with a laugh.

"I just got off the phone with Steve," Fern groaned. "Hold on a minute; it's not that bad." Bucky insisted. Fern gave him a doubtful look. "Word has gotten around about your new status."

"What?" Panic.

"Not with the general public." The panic eased slightly. "But with the gods."

"Fuck."

"I know. Thor and Loki should be here any minute. They know more than anyone, seeing as they are gods." Bucky sighed.

Thunder cracked in the air, making the hair on Fern's arms stand. A light came from the sky, hitting the ground twenty yards from the house. Thor and Loki stood there when the light vanished. "I still don't like him." Had Fern and Thor worked out most of their differences, yes. Did she still have a considerable distaste for him despite that, absolutely.

Bucky smirked at her comment upon seeing the Asgardians. "I'll greet the guests while you get ready." He stood, taking Fern's hand to help her to her feet. Bucky's smirk changed to one filled with mischief as he tugged on her hand, pulling her against his chest. Fern gasped, Bucky capturing her lips with his, kissing her deeply.

"Just tell them to come back another time. I'm not ready for visitors," Fern mutters against Bucky's lips, refusing to let him pull away from her.

"As much as I'd love to doll, Mellan's safety is part of this." Bucky sighs.

Fern thinks about the conversation they'd had after returning home. Mellan and the rest of the Thunderbird's safety was their priority. If something happened to Fern, the Thunderbird powers would transfer to Mellan, and Bucky would return to Wakanda to look after the Thunderbirds. If something was to happen to both of them, T'Challa was asked to do his best to keep the creatures hidden.

In everyone's best interests, Fern had been writing down the Thunderbird knowledge that filled her head. Once completed, the information would be stored in a Wakandan vault, safe from unwanted eyes.

"Would you like us to leave you to make another human, or will we talk business?" Loki's voice brought their attention to the two Asgardians.

"Would you like to keep staring at me like that so I'll beat you into a bloody pulp, or leave me to enjoy my home in peace?" Fern glowers.

"Take your anger out on Thor. I'd rather not have to ruin my nice dress robes." Loki rolls his eyes, turning away from her.

"Always happy to beat the puny god." Fern grins. "Start talking; I want to return to my day of doing nothing."

"Most would have forgiven someone for lack of judgment." Thor grunts.

Fern grits her teeth at the comment. "If you'd like to settle this once and for all, Thor, I know a lovely place." The ground rumbled as she gestured to the forest.

"We don't–"

"Lead the way." Thor jumps from the deck, landing on the ground beside the house.

"Fern, we don't have time for this." Bucky grabbed her wrist, holding her back.

"I have all the time in the world to beat the shit out of that stupid god." She growls, turning back to him. "Either this or you share a living space with Ryker, Elder, and Buzz." Bucky drops her wrist, holding his hands in the air. He refused to sleep in that room, Ryker is a bed hog, Elder annoys Bucky to no end at night, and Buzz is Buzz; that hummingbird would never change.

Fern lifts the ground to meet her feet as she walks through the sky into a clearing a few hundred yards from the house. Since accepting Thunder's powers, Fern had come to a whole new understanding of her powers. She could do things that she never knew she could and was far stronger.

"So, how would you like for this to go?" Thor asked, landing next to Fern when she stopped in the clearing.

"You destroy anything, and I'll nail you to a tree and send you back to NewAsgard for your people to laugh at you. Push me too far, and I'll send lightning so strong through you that you won't even be able to handle it." Fern let the lightning run along her fingers. She still found it amazing that her body adjusted to the powers so quickly; the currents felt like she was being tickled.

"If you'd simply forgive me for my mistake, we wouldn't need to do this."

"If you had simply asked questions before acting, I wouldn't be kicking your ass again."

Thor snorted. "Where I come from, creatures like the Thunderbird kill people simply because they can. Did you truly expect me not to protect my friends?"

"Don't you think they would have been fighting Thunder if they saw her as a threat?" Fern retorted.

"They had not seen innocent children die to creatures like that! None of them could have imagined those beasts to be real until the Battle of New York!" Lightning struck the ground around them. "I have watched entire races lose their lives to unimaginable beasts. Do not fault me for doing what I believed was right."

Fern laughed. "I know things after different in the other realms, but when you're welcomed into someone's home, you don't simply begin attacking things. You certainly don't ignore everything that people are trying to tell you. You didn't try to stop, Thor; you merely had it in your head that you would kill Thunder, whether she had hurt anyone.

"Had Mellan been hatched by then, would you have killed him too? He certainly hadn't hurt anyone; the babe couldn't even fly. You left any human decency behind you. I understand you weren't raised to know better, but shit, I'm sure glad you aren't my king. Those poor people will never know what a decent ruler is like; Asgard was always going to ruin with your family on the thrown."

"Then it is probably a good thing that I am not the ruler of Asgard." Thor's posture changed; his shoulders slumped, his knees shook, and the hammer dropped beside him. Thor hung his head. "You are not wrong. I have made many mistakes; I did not have a good example of what to follow. Since coming to Earth, I have learned and continue to do so. If you accept my sincerest apology, Fern, I'm vowing to do whatever it takes to make you forgive me and trust me. I wish to protect the Thunderbirds of Earth, to try and right my wrongs."

Fern stared at the God of Thunder, shocked to see him in such a weak, vulnerable state. She stepped forward, resting her hand on Thor's bowed head. "You're a complete and utter fool, but you have a heart. You have tried time and time again to convince me to forgive you, and I have refused to let the past go. I don't know if that was my stubbornness or something in my soul telling me to make you sweat it out until I felt you truly meant your words."

Thor lifted his head as she removed her hand. He watched as she crouched, gently pressing her fingers to the handle of his hammer. "You do mean what you've told me, Thor. So, I forgive you. I might not be completely warm and welcome, but I will value your help in keeping the Thunderbirds safe. And, maybe after some time, I'll begin to see you as a friend." Her fingers gripped the handle, slowly lifting the hammer from the ground.

"My Thunder god is better than your Thunder god," Bucky smirks from the edge of the clearing. He glances at Loki next to him, the god's mouth agape.

"That she is." Loki grins.

They watch as Fern hands the hammer to Thor, simple words said before they laugh and begin a friendly sparing match.

"You're a lucky man, Barnes. She's a creature all her own." Loki comments.

"Don't I know it."