Kat didn't have much time to think by herself. Loki had noticed her arrival and made a beeline to her. He knelt in front of her, and placed his fingers against her temples, reinforcing his magic.

"Where did you go? What happened?" Loki asked, worried.

"Mom's." She said quietly, voice muffled from her face at her knees.

Loki blinked. Then he sat next to her. She had met her mother.

"Did something go wrong?" He asked softly.

"No, not um, not really." She mumbled.

Loki waited for an explanation, or an 'I'm okay' or 'fuck off, I'm fine' or even a simple 'fuck off'. Eventually, she reached and took his hand in hers, and set it against her temple. He felt her mind give a gentle push at his, and a tiny gap in her wall to let him in.

He took the invitation, and saw her memory first-hand. He also felt her emotions, and it ignited a pain in his own chest. Her emotions resembled a minor, muted version of his at finding out his heritage. She was more confused and displaced, where he had been lost and angry.

When he retreated from her mind, she sighed, and uncurled from around her knees to wrap her arms around Loki's waist and rest her head against his chest. He settled his own arms around her shoulders. Loki was was glad she couldn't see his blushing face. 

"I thought I knew who I was." Kat said softly. "I thought that... I don't know how to explain it. That because Percy's soul got split, I could exist. And then I find out that I was supposed to be born, but I wasn't... I feel like I got cheated out of my life."

Loki frowned, and ran some fingers through her hair.

"For a little while, I felt like a copy. But then I moved on, and thought that copies can be edited, changed from the original. Now... I'm like a hitchhiker." 

Loki stayed silent for a while, just being as comforting as he could. Besides, he was having a hard time believing how comfortable he was with Kat next to him. 

"You know what?" Kat blurted suddenly.

Loki hummed in question.

"I'm a goddess. I have forever. I can live however I want. What's seventeen years against eternity?"

"Not much," Loki replied, "But even one year can change a person forever. Or a single day."

"Yeah." She said, "It's time for me to start living."

~~~~~~

"He- he just-" Winter said. "Where did he go?"

"SHIELD probably. Report what happened." Steve said.

"Then HYDRA will know too." Winter frowned.

"Not if he goes straight to the director. Tell me they don't have Fury on their side?" Steve replied, voice in a plea at the latter sentiment.

"No." Winter answered. "But does he have that much sway with the director?"

"Well," Steve said, "If he doesn't, he'll probably get it pretty quick."

The room fell into silence. For a long while, they both sat there, unknowing of what to do or say. Winter was the first one to break the silence. "So, you used to know me." Winter paused, "Or whoever I was."

Steve swallowed. "I did."

"How well?" Winter asked.

How well indeed. What was Steve supposed to say to that? 'We lived together'. 'You used to clean me up after I got into a fight'. 'You used to save me when I got into fights'. 'We'd share a bed on cold nights'. 'I'd cook for us because you didn't know how'. 'We sent letters to each other all the time when you were away at war'. 'We pranked the bullies together in school'. 

"We were best friends." Steve said softly instead.

"What happened?" Winter wanted to know.

"We thought you died." Steve said with a heavy voice.

Winter was quiet for half a minute, deciding on if he wanted to share a piece of his recollection or not. "The train. I fell."

Steve's eyes widened. "You remember?"

"The bar broke, and you were too far away." Winter said, his voice gaining a gravely quality when it got low. It was usually low. "I remember small bits of time, but not enough to make sense of it all."

"I can tell you-" Steve began, but Winter stopped him.

"If I remember something, I want it to be because I remember, not because I'm trying to imagine what happened."

Steve nodded. He could understand it, even if all he wanted to do was hug Bucky and tell him what he'd missed, and ask how he'd been and what happened to him, and just talk like they used to. "Okay Buck."

"You keep calling me that." Winter observed.

"I- It's your name. James Buchanan Barnes. Your friends called you Buck, or Bucky." Steve said, holding back tears.

Winter felt familiarity at the name. "Don't call me that. Yet. I'm not him."

It hurt. It hurt a lot to hear him say that, but Steve nodded again. "Then what should I call you instead?"

"Winter works fine." Winter replied.

"Like the Winter Soldier? You didn't have a name in HYDRA?" Steve asked.

"The Winter Soldier was my name."

"The Winter Soldier? That's it?"

"Sometimes they called me the asset, but they have a few assets. Or sometimes I was soldier."

When Steve's eyes closed, he didn't think he'd be able to open them again without tears spilling over. "Uh, there are rooms on the ship, if, you know, you want to sleep or something." He offered, rubbing his eyes.

"Maybe later. I think some fresh air sounds good." Winter replied, and stood from his chair, retracing his steps and finding the deck. Percy had been right about the air. After a few minutes, Winter thought that this was the best he had felt in years- Or, with his case- decades.

Winter explored the upper deck of the ship. Oddly, he felt familiar with such a vessel. His wanderings led him to the mainmast. Internally shrugging, he began to climb.

In the Crow's Nest (He wasn't sure how he knew the name) he looked out over the sea. The coastline was a fair distance away, the ship drifting at its leisure. Then looking over to the other side, to the vast openness- Winter felt a tickle of a memory. Curious, he didn't push it away. The memory washed over him like an eager wave.

~~~~~~

"No. No way." Steve said, shaking his head.

"C'mon! It'll be fun!" He said, tucking Steve under his arm and guiding him along through the crowd.

"I don't think so."

"And why not?" Bucky asked.

"It's not safe!" Steve complained.

"It's perfectly safe! Besides, I'll be right with you the whole time." Bucky assured him.

Steve sent a dubious look Bucky's way.

Bucky sent an assuring grin back.

"Fine." Steve relented.

After the ride, Bucky held Steve while he puked.

"Fun, huh?" Steve said, reaching for a water bottle to wash his mouth out.

"Oh, definitely." Bucky grinned.

~~~~~~

Winter found himself sitting awkwardly in the Crow's Nest, staring up at the sky. Deciding that if he was going to have memory-attacks, being high up might not be the best idea. So he climbed down, his thoughts spinning.

Steve used to be a lot smaller.

Winter spent the next several hours thinking, letting the ocean spray soak his shirt.

~~~~~~

Kat hadn't shown up for breakfast, so Loki went to see what she was doing. Dancing, he soon found out. He spent a few minutes watching, admiring her skill. He didn't hide his presence, so she knew he was there.

After a while, she stopped, and bounced over to him. "What's dancing like on your world?"

"Well, it is not like your ballet." Loki said. "Or any of the popular motions on the internet."

Kat laughed. "It would be pretty weird if it was. Can you imagine Odin doing the moonwalk?"

"The moonwalk?" Loki asked. Kat demonstrated for him, and laughed at his face. "That would be incredibly odd, you are right."

"Then what is your dancing like?" Kat asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Loki asked mischievously. 

"I got to thinking. I'm technically a queen. And I know that the previous leadership sucked so I want things to get better. I'm gonna have to talk to Percy about it, about what we're going to do eventually. In the meantime, I wanted to know about the relations between our pantheons." kat said.

Loki raised an eyebrow. "You, interested in politics?"

"I mean, sure. If I fix the fucked up stuff, they can leave me alone." Kat shrugged.

Loki couldn't help but chuckle. "And what does that have to do with dancing?"

"Well, if I have to help broker a peace alliance, I ought to know how to dance like them." Kat said.

"You just want to learn more dances." Loki smirked.

"Guilty as charged." Kat said. "But I have a backup reason that I am serious about."

"Fair enough." Loki said, and his clothes changed into ones that would be more suited to dancing on his world. "Let us begin."

Kat accepted his offered hand. He began with one dance, and showed her step by step, literally. 

As Loki taught her how to dance, he challenged her by telling her about the history of the two pantheon's relations. Asgard had stayed out of Midgardian affairs for the most part. However, on one occasion, a few Asgardian warriors went to Midgard to ensure that a threat wouldn't become an issue. During their time there, they spoke with some Midgardians.

These late nights passing ale around a campfire lead to the sharing of stories. Hence, where the Norse mythology came from. One of the warriors had a mother with a knack for Seeing, though she wasn't a Seer like Queen Frigga. This warrior spoke of what little his mother had been able to share of her Sight. Otherwise, Midgardians would have had no way of knowing who Loki was for at least another century.

The story of the Asgardians quickly grew into legend and myth, and thus the Norse were born.

A few times over the centuries, Asgardian and Midgardian pantheons had crossed paths, though always with high tensions. There was never outright war, or an alliance, but they came to a general agreement to leave each other well enough alone. By that, mostly ignoring the other's presence unless a certain circumstance required them to conveniently remember.

When Thor came to Midgard, tensions were stirred. As it was one lone Midgardian, they could ignore him. With Loki's presence, especially so close to their home, he wasn't sure how long they would ignore him specifically.

"I think I need to talk to my pantheon. Percy too. We have to step into the crown at some point." Kat said, coming to a decision.

~~~~~~

Annabeth plopped down on the couch beside Percy. "What's wrong? You have your thinking face on and you're covered in dust."

So Percy let loose a large sigh and told her about his crazy packed day.

"Wait, Maully can get small?" Annabeth interrupted at one point, and Percy summoned Maully to the apartment, who severely started Paul.

"Where did this dog come from?" Paul asked in a strained voice.

"Maully, over here!" Percy called out.

Maully trotted over to the couple on the couch while Sally and Paul looked on in confusion. Annabeth was in awe as she scratched at Maully's ears. "He's so small," Annabeth said.

"Okay, that is not a small dog." Paul said. And by human standards, Maully was not small.

"Oh, Paul, remember Mrs. O'Leary?" Percy asked.

"...Yeah?" Paul said hesitantly.

"Maully's bigger." Percy grinned.

Paul frowned. "The Mist?"

"No, you're seeing the same size I am." Sally said. She looked at Percy with a hard gaze. She opened her mouth, as if to say something, and then closed it. She found something different to say instead. "You got another incredibly large dog?"

"Not on purpose," Percy replied.

"Of course it wasn't." Sally sighed. "Well, there better not be any dog fur getting in my food."

"Got it." Percy said, and easily convinced Maully to hang out on his bed instead.

The three of them together on Percy's bed was kind of cramped, but oddly comfortable.

"Are you going to finish telling me what happened?" Annabeth asked.

"Oh yeah." Percy said, and jumped back into his retelling.

When he finished, Annabeth seemed stunned. "You absorbed Kat... I mean, now it makes sense! Greek demigods don't know Latin! But you did, because that was Kat's default! And your extra demigod strength was her! It makes so much sense... And yet it's still such a crazy idea."

"Yeah. Do you think Kat will be okay?" Percy asked.

Annabeth thought for a moment. "The both of you are stubborn and tenacious, if nothing else. I'm sure she'll figure it out."

"I'll pretend I know what tentashush means." Percy said, nodding.

Annabeth chuckled. And then a realization hit her. "Percy..."

"Yeah?"

"You said your Mom is True-Sighted?"

~~~~~~

Sally rested her head against Paul's shoulder as he rubbed her back.

"The hardest part is that he hasn't told me." She said softly.

A/N

Hey y'all! Hope you're staying safe with the whole COVID-19. The thing that is probably going to annoy me for the next two weeks(besides my little brother) is that with the whole social distancing, we have to wait until after the whole incubation period to notice any decline in the number of cases. I feel like a ton of people won't get that. Ignorant people annoy me.

I thought that this chapter title should go to Sally. That line actually is kinda making me cry...

I finished the Inheritance Cycle, by the way. 

And I read The Fever King. The book. I was prompted from reading the webtoon... And OHMYGODS the book is fucking fantastic!!! Highly recommend you read! There's lots of hinting that the comic can't portray... And then you get to read the comic and go 'OH OH OH OH OH OH OOOOOOHHHHHH' Definitely a great candidate to re-read.