Eagle (A Loki love story)

Chapter 158

Five years.

Fives years. That's how long I'd lived without her now. Not twenty-four hours after our return that day, the Asgardians made it to Midgard. Thor sobered up just long enough to help them and the team establish New Asgard in Tønsberg, Norway. Then, he vanished there to be king and we'd barely heard from him since. More often, Valkyrie would send short emails. But that happened maybe three or four times a year.

Anton had been dusted by Thanos as well. It had taken so long to get the news because we'd kept his employment to us under wraps. As soon as we found out though, we'd closed down the house semi-permanently. Now, we only went there a few times a year, when everyone came in for major holidays. But over time, the numbers had decreased.

Steve had finally been able to afford an apartment in Brooklyn, and at his suggestion, I had purchased one in the same building. Stark had been more than happy to foot the bill. Natasha and I had been working together to keep the Compound running. Steve chipped in on occasion, but spent most of his efforts with the many support groups he'd founded.

Within a week of our return, Pepper had told Tony her joyous news. He had married her the following day, purchased a plot of land a few hours' drive away, and moved them both there. Not long after, their daughter Maguna had been born. She was four now, a year and a half younger than Dreyma, who had just turned six. As she'd grown, she'd come to look more and more like Mira. Not only that, but some of the facial expressions she pulled, especially when she was lying, gave her away because Mira used to pull the same ones. I couldn't help but be a little proud every time she dupped Tony though. She and Morgan could already pull off large-scale pranks together. Beyond all odds, the two of them had become very close.

After the initial disappointment that Mira was never coming back, Dreyma had asked about her far less for awhile. But this past year, her first year in official schooling, she'd been asking questions. Where was her mother? Was she nice? Had she been pretty? The first time she'd asked that, I'd had to leave the room. Steve and Natasha had come to my rescue then, and briefed me on what they'd told her later. More than once, she'd come home from school sad because many of her friends had both parents come pick them up.

For the moment, Dreyma and I were spending the weekend by Tony. Summer was waning, the leaves not yet turning, but it was cool enough for Tony to be wearing something that bordered on a sweater. That didn't stop either of our daughters from asking for juice pops after every meal though. It seemed that Dreyma had inherited more of my Jotun traits than we'd thought. We'd found this out the hard way, the first time she played in the snow. As soon as she made contact with it, she'd turned blue. Steve, who had been supervising her at the time, had flipped out and nearly fell several times while coming to get me. Not to mention he'd tracked snow all through the Compound. The rest of us had laughed at his reaction on the security footage. She was about as resistant to cold as I was, which made the increasingly colder winters here in New York easier to handle. Tony had no such explanation for Morgan. With so fewer humans on the globe releasing greenhouse gases, the global climate was no longer threatened by human activity. There had even been word of whales in the Hudson a week or so back.

I was watching Tony from the kitchen window as he lured Dreyma and Morgan out of their little playhouse with the promise of food. Morgan emerged first, with a blue Iron Man helm wobbling on her lead. She also had her fingerless Iron Man mitten held like she was going to shoot him. Of course the two of them had managed to uncover his anniversary surprise for Pepper. Belated, but it was the thought that counted with this one. As he was fond of saying, "You can't rush genius." Dreyma was peeking out from behind Morgan. It was comical, as she was much taller than the youngest Stark. Her long, dark hair fell in untamable waves down her back. Yet another thing she'd inherited from her mother, though the color was all from me. I joined them outside when they showed no signs of coming in soon.