𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 || 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘍𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦

A YEAR LATER

"MOM?" Faye questioned, speeding down the steps and making her way to the kitchen. When she found it bare, moved to the living room and found her brother sitting on the couch with his laptop in hand. Textbooks and papers were scattered around him. He almost resembled their Mama at these moments. Becoming so caught up in the work to not even notice the chaos around him.

Leaning on the back of the couch, she hovered over him and stared down at the document he was typing out. Something related to their Mother's work in science whatever, blah, blah, blah. "Hey, runt."

Azrael flinched, nearly topping over his laptop on the floor. Adjusting his glasses, he looked up at his sister and glared. "What?"

"Where's Mom? I wanna find out when we get out of this cabin," she stated with a huff.

Her brother rolled his eyes, returning his attention to his work. "Why can't you just enjoy it?" He asked. "We're away from school. All you complain about is attending classes and doing assignments you don't think you'll need when you're older."

"Because we're not normal, Az. You and I both know that," Faye said. "Now, where's Mom?"

The boy sighed, waving with his hand. "In the backyard."

Faye smiled widely. "Thank you!" She kissed him on the top of the head before walking away.

She exited the house and went around the cobblestone path. Her hand brushed against the logs just before she came around the corner and pushed open the side gate. Lifting her sweater hood over her head, she came to the backyard. She found her mother sitting at the firepit, burning the tips of leather and fastening it to a weird belt. The sleeve of her fleece long sleeve pulled back with her finger tacing something along her skin.

Faye didn't pay it much mind with stopping mere feet from the woman and saying, "Mom!"

Leila spun in her chair with a certain alertness. Relaxing at the sight of the young teenager, sighing. "Yes?"

"When are we going back to London? And when is Mama coming out?" Faye bombarded, unbothered by the tired look in her Mom's eyes.

She waved her hand, blowing a raspberry in defeat. "I don't even know, Faye," she answered honestly. "Whenever she is done with work and free. I am not her keeper."

The girl and her teenage angst, groaned in return, leaving the older woman to her thoughts. Stomping inside with the front door echoing a boom, rattling the entire structure. Leila sighed, grasping her beer and taking a greedy sip.

How long had it been since Malekith's passing? It must've been a year and a half or so. So much time for her to be isolated with her two kids and no sign of her needing to be anywhere. No war calling her name. No messages from Talon. It'd been everything she wanted. This time gave her a chance to raise her kids and experience their abnormal growth.

Yet, somehow it changed her.

A fear clung to her in her sleep. So powerful and embedded that even Jane's soft voice could not whisper her mind to a calmness, and Azrael's worried gaze could not numb the feeling from plaguing her senses. Because although she was a mother and a God, her past clung to her mind.

Her people's butchering placed that in her mind. The woman being scalped simply for being an Alexian. It brought a tear to Leila's eyes. Would she become of that if her secrets came out to her children? Would they suffer such a fate just so her enemies could hurt her?

If that were the outcome, she would succumb to a butchered tongue. Cursed to never speak of her homeland and what had come before her two beautiful children.

Leila rubbed her nose, exhaling heavily with a shake of her head. Unbeknownst of the gate that opened with the faint cry of the hinges.

"Now, if I am reading you correctly, I would say that you are aging from stress." That familiar voice had Leila spinning around with a smile. Nova wearing a warm smile on her lips with her arms wide open. "Am I on the mark?"

"Jesus, Nova," Leila breathed, shooting up from her spot and engulfing the woman in a hug that could snap her back.

Nova groaned, patting her friend's shoulder with a laugh. "Nice to see you too, Emigold."

Backing away, Leila tucked a few loose strands behind her ear. Looking the woman up and down with a mixture of euphoria and curiosity. "What are you doing here? Is Natasha with you?"

"Nah, I came here on my own. Saw you come back on the radar after being gone for a few days. You had me worried for a bit." Nova motioned to one of the two free chairs, smiling. "May I sit?"

Leila waved her forward, following the woman as she continued. "After the battle in Greenwich, Fury was practically pulling out whatever little bits of hair he had left on his head. Took a lot of convincing for Natasha and I to get you out of that argument with the old man," Nova explained, grabbing a beer held out to her. "I expect you to pay me back when I need you."

"And you will," Leila smiled, sipping from her beer. "So, why are you here?"

Nova feigned a look of offence, placing a hand on her chest. "Can I not catch up to my friend that I've missed for 2 years now?" She quipped before sighing, shrugging. "I just wanted to see how you've been. I want to offer my help. If it is babysitting or someone to talk to."

"I saw what happened back in Washington. How are you and Natasha?" Leila murmured, running her thumb in a soft caress against the glass. Its cold and wet exterior overshadowed the heat that seemed to be pumping through her veins of late. "Is that why you're here?"

"God, no. After everything that went down, Natasha and I just went to a domestic lifestyle. Or, at least, what we could consider with our line of work," Nova laughed, scoffing. "I should be the one checking in. After all, my entire point to being here is to check in," Nova pointed out. Eyes ran up and down the other and exhaled heavily. "How're you and Jane doing? Faye causing you two any trouble?"

Leila laughed, twirling her beer with a shake of her head. "You know, if I knew they would grow ten times faster than a normal child, then I might've prepared myself more. Like, if they keep growing, are they going to live past me or something?" She stressed, running a hand through her hair. "Azrael is sticking to school. He's got his head in the right place. But Faye..." The woman was almost at a loss for words when it came to her 17-year-old daughter. "...that girl takes so much after me and I don't know if I'm happy or angered by it."

With the kids growing seemingly slowing down, it made their minds rewire to the age their minds were at. But instinctively, with so little time on this earth, they were still fully developing. And to try and give them an easier time, Leila and Jane had them jumping around schools once and a while or homeschooling them, which should've been the first decision in the first place. Making it so they wouldn't be seen differently or Leila's past wouldn't come into the picture and make the two teenagers start to question who she was.

"So, what? They are you, but grow faster?" Nova inquired, leaning back in her chair.

"Well, a lot faster than most, of course. I had Tony and Bruce come down to run some tests on the two. They said that the pair would slow their aging in a few months from now. Then, the aging will be normal like mine or Thor's. A long and unforgiving lapse of time where they'll start to hate what we gave them," she explained with an exasperated sigh. Leila could already imagine the angst that would come from Faye. "I just can't keep up with them. It was only a year ago I was changing their diapers, and now their going for their driver's license and showing interest in kids in their classes." The woman ran a hand over her face with a defeated sigh. "I just never expected parenting to be like this, you know?"

"Well, I can't say I do. I'm in my twenties and I'm gladly enjoying whatever amount of freedom I may get," Nova said. "But you knew that if you had kids, this was something that was expected. Maybe not them growing so fast, but their tendencies to take after you and Thor."

Ah, Thor, Leila thought with a certain disgruntleness that formed in her chest. He'd come back after around 3 days. Landing on Jane and Leila's balcony. Embracing the mortal intimately as Leila sat on and continued to eat her breakfast. They hadn't spoken since their initial battle with Malekith. Maybe people would think Leila to be acting immature with the father of her kids, but she couldn't get over how she felt.

So, she had coursed Jane into giving her the freedom to take full care of the children. Taking them somewhere that Thor would not check for her. She wanted the truth withheld from him for as long as possible. And when she was ready and when she believed they were ready, she would have them meet him.

But until then, no matter how hard it may be, Leila wanted this time of peace with her kids.

Pursing her lips, Leila shook her head with a lump forming in her throat. "I'm scared for them." She nodded to herself, bottom lip trembling. "I am scared for what they may become. I fear for what they might make sense of who I am. I wish for the day that they may look at me not as an anomaly, but as their Mother who nurtured them to who they are now."

Nova watched her friend quickly swipe away the tears from her cheeks. Blinking rapidly with her gaze falling outwards toward London which stood tall in the distance. Nova mourned for her. Because no matter what she might say or do, Leila might never see her the way she did. And it hurt knowing that this passionate, stubborn woman may never have hope glow in her eyes.

Not so long ago, she once felt the same thing.

"Whatever happened back in Asgard, it's out of your control," Nova spoke, gaining her friend's attention. "Those kids are special. They're given an opportunity we never got. They get to live a normal life and never know the dangers of our world colliding with theirs. It is our decision to separate these two lives we live or choose one over the other."

Leila shook her head. "Then how do I know to choose the right life?"

"I can't tell you the right answer to wrong. That answer is within you. But if you never tell them of what you are and who their father is, the day will come when you might lose them forever." The brutality of the statement made Leila's heart shrivel. Strangling a sob from her throat with the back of her hand covering her mouth. "You must choose who you are to be; Goddess of War or Leila Emigold? Mother of two sweet children."

Nova stood from her chair and soon stood by Leila's side, eyes cast forward. "Your past? Your shortcomings? They are not you. And those two? They are your future." Placing a hand on Leila's chest, Nova shook her head, saying, "And we are not our failures."