The Witch's Familiar

Chapter 67

When the kiss broke, you looked at Fenna and saw that she was still processing Loki's past, the history he had shared with her. You weren't terribly surprised. It was over a thousand years of memories and experiences he'd shared with her. She finally blinked her way through it and sorrow filled her eyes for all the horrible things Loki had been through. He'd been lied to, tortured, his pain ignored by those who were supposed to love him and care for him.

And now Fenna would understand every aspect of Loki and his life and history like no one ever would. Even you. You didn't hold it against the familiar. It was the nature of familiars to be that close to their witch. That was their job.

You saw the relief in Loki's eyes as well as the sorrow and joy mixed there. You understood the mix of emotions, though. He was relieved that Fenna was there, was in his mind, his heart, his soul. That he was finally understood completely. That she was there to take the burden, to ease his soul of his past horrors.

He pulled her into his arms and let his tears fall into her fur. You turned back to Autumn to give him the moment. The first familiar often affected their witch so strongly, so you weren't entirely surprised by the reaction. You pet Autumn and nuzzled her, glad to have her. /Mate sad?/ she asked, meaning Loki. Even though the words were similar to what Sera would have said, it didn't hurt, or ache of the memory of her.

/Those are happy tears. Mate is happy to find a familiar/ you reassured her. She made a small noise of agreement and nuzzled you.

*

You spent the rest of the afternoon letting the bond settle with your new familiars. It involved a lot of cuddling with Loki watching movies on your tv while the familiars cuddled with you. They needed to stay with you to solidify the bond with them. And you didn't mind cuddling with Loki and stealing kisses. He was quite the excellent kisser. His lips were soft and perfect and he somehow always tasted like a crisp winter's day.

You cursed when you were interrupted by your cell phone ringing. Stupid phone. "Hello?" You asked without bothering to look at the caller ID. Hell, you'd barely reached the stupid thing before it went to voicemail. Besides, with the phone being run by Jarvis, you didn't have to worry about spam calls. Jarvis didn't like spam.

"Y/N, I could use some help at the sanctum. One of the apprentices made a mess in the artifact room. Again," Doctor Strange sounded exasperated again. You knew he hated calling you for help. He hated needing help. He was the Sorcerer Supreme. His magic was different than yours, worked differently. He was powerful, so were you, but you had more experience than he did. Which is why he called you to help out. You'd gotten to be friends, so you really didn't mind.

"We'll be right there," you promised and started to get up, Autumn cradled in your arms. Loki stood with you. You were sure his superhuman hearing let him hear Strange's side of the conversation as well.

"We? You're bringing that fiancé of yours?" Strange grumbled through the phone.

"Strange, you know Loki. He's been helping you in my stead while I was out of commission. He's earned your trust and respect by now and has proven time and time again that he's not evil. He was mind-controlled during the battle of New York and has done nothing but help the team since he's been here. It's beyond past time that you stopped holding the past against him. Especially a past that wasn't his fault," you scolded Strange through the phone. It would be more effective in person and you were well prepared to give him the speech again when you got there. But you wouldn't let Strange keep treating Loki poorly. Though you knew he was mostly just teasing Loki at this point.

"It's alright, magelet. I know the doctor is just poking fun," Loki replied as he scooped Fenna up. He had mischief in his eyes, so you knew he just wanted to get Strange's reaction to him having a familiar. Strange's expression would be worth any teasing now.

"Besides," you said into the phone. "Loki is the master magician of Asgard. He is even more capable of helping sort out your wayward magic problem than I am,"

"Fine, bring him if you must," Strange said with sarcasm in his voice. Though you heard the undertone that Loki's help would be appreciated. As long as Loki was there to actually help and not make a bigger problem.

Usually, when you were there, Loki agreed to not make a bigger problem.

Usually.

Unfortunately, the god of chaos sometimes decided that chaos was more fun than helping fix the problem immediately. At the end of the day the problem always got resolved. It just depended on how much fun Loki wanted to have in the process.

You hoped Strange's reaction to the companions would be amusing enough that Loki would help fix the problem today instead of adding to the chaos.

"See you soon," you told Strange and hung up. You looked up at Loki. "Strange needs our help with some wayward magic," you told him.

Loki inclined his head with a smirk and mischief in his eyes. You prayed again to all the gods that Strange gave him the reaction he was looking for to the new familiars. "Let us go help the Midgardian sorcerer then," he replied pleasantly and offered you his arm.

You placed your hand on his arm and teleported the pair of you to the steps of the sanctum. It was rude to just teleport inside, even if you were invited. That didn't mean you had to knock to go in. It was a reasonably public building. This part of the sanctum was anyway. It wasn't like you were barging into the living quarters. You stepped into the foyer and blinked to adjust to the change of light.

You knew Strange had it set up so dark in the entryway on purpose to confuse those coming into the sanctum, to give his people the advantage. Especially when he always used the opportunity to glide down the stairs with the cloak of levitation.

You rolled your eyes at the display. "We aren't tourists, Strange," you told him dryly as he came to land in front of you and Loki.

Loki waited with bated breath for Strange's reaction to the familiars.

You watched as Strange looked over the fox in your arms and the wolf pup in Loki's. His eyes widened as he felt the magic in them. "What are those?" He finally asked in shock.

"Our new familiars," you answered calmly while Loki's smirk turned to a Cheshire Cat grin.

"Those are not cats..." Strange said dryly.

Which made you and Loki roar in laughter at the expected reaction to your familiars.