[2013 – October]

As the mortal woman, his firstborn had taken a fancy to, appeared in a burst of dark blue smoke in the throne room, Odin was one of the first to rush up to her.

Not because he particularly cared or liked this mortal, but because he was concerned about the Aether, and if she was still in possession of it.

Even though he didn't have much hope that this was still the case, as he had felt the familiar energy flactuations of the Tesseract from the method the mortal had been taken from Asgard, and now had been returned.

The mortal man, who was in possession of the Tesseract, was different than the woman his son had taken a liking to.

He was a dangerous and incredibly cunning foe to be able to circumvent his and Heimdall's attempts at locating him.

Odin didn't know how that particular mortal did it, but the perfectly timed actions that man had taken, had thwarted his own plans again and again.

He felt even more conflicted, when he thought about how his wife told him that this mortal had saved her from Malekith and his magically enhanced goon.

Still, this time the intervention of the one the humans called Silverfire had been particularly costly.

Odin had been searching for a way to reignite the Bifrost without the use of the Tesseract, which was absolutely necessary to reconnect Asgard with the other eight Realms and to reestablish the Asgardian reign and power.

Only a few years without the Bifrost and Odin already saw many signs of decline in Asgard, adding to the chaos and bloodshed in the other realms.

He simply couldn't allow this to happen under his reign and so it happened that he came across a passage in his father's personal notes, where he had mentioned the Aether – another one of the Infinity Stones.

With the approaching Convergence, Odin had thought this to be the chance to use the Aether instead of the Tesseract to reignite the Bifrost, which according to his calculations – while extremely difficult – was definitely possible.

Still, finding the Aether wasn't an easy thing to accomplish, as his father had hidden it truly well and hadn't left any clues about its location behind whatsoever.

And when the first signs of the Convergence had shown themselves in the Nine Realms, his sight was involuntarily drawn towards that mortal scientist, as his senses had informed him that she had come in contact with a cosmic force way beyond her control.

Making the connection between these signs, the Convergence and the missing Aether, Odin once again used the Dark Arts to send Thor to Midgard and retrieve that mortal woman.

His joy though was short-lived, as with the reemergence of the Aether, the Dark Elves had also resurfaced and a momentary lapse in his judgement, had caused him to lose the Aether and nearly also his wife.

Sighing to himself, Odin watched as his firstborn son urged the healers to make sure that 'Jane' was okay and well. His other senses taking a look at his adopted son, pacing around in his cell.

He knew they weren't ready to lead Asgard, neither of them able to display enough maturity and wisdom to rule and protect the Nine Realms.

Sometimes though, one simply had to take on a challenge, ready or not.

The Bifrost had to be reignited and the Nine Realms reconnected.

If the Aether and Tesseract couldn't be used to do this, then he would have to use the chance the Convergence gave him to do it in a more forceful and direct way.

The walls that seperated the different worlds were thin enough that Odin was sure to connect them via the Bifrost and then let the ambient cosmic energies fuel the Bifrost, though a spark was still necessary.

That spark would have to be his own life force, which would probably kill him or at the very least leave him with only a few more years to live.

Sighing to himself again, the Allfather left the throne room and went towards the terrace to take a look at Asgard.

Watching with his remaining eye the reason for his hard work and dedication one last time, as his mind was already made up.

…

Sending the female scientist from Earth back to Asgard with a wave of my hand, I took Wanda by her hand and we walked a short distance in the small forest near our home on Xandar.

From the distance we could already hear the joyful laughter of Silver, as she romped around with Penelope.

“Mother! Father!”, Silver called out happily, as soon as she saw us approaching, “Have you finished your work? Can you play with me now?”

“We can, but first come here for a moment, I have something for you.”, I told her with a slight smile on my face.

“What is it? A present?”, Silver asked, curious as any other child.

“Kind of.”, I answered, as I crouched down to her height.

“Wanda, would you please take Penelope with you.”, I said to Wanda, as I had no clear idea of what the consequences would be for what I was attempting.

Raising my hand, I gently carassed Silver's cheek, as I spoke to her my next words with a serious tone.

“It's time to change your heart, sweety. You know the Arc Reactor was only a temporary solution. This one is a permanent one.”, raising the red-glowing enchanted Uru-heart to her eye-level, I continued, “We talked about this, it's the Reality Stone. With this you will be able to grow up and become a big girl like your mother.”

Silver, as an incredibly advanced AI, of course understood the implication that this heart would change her from a lifeform based on technology and magic to a real life form made out of flesh and blood, with the Reality Stone as the core of her being.

“Can't I be a little girl for a little longer?”, Silver asked in a quiet tone, her eyes becoming a little watery.

Her question caught me by surprise, though the meaning behind them dawned upon me a moment later.

“Of course you can. You will always be our little girl. You don't have to change at all, if you don't want to. But this new heart will give you the opportunity to grow up whenever you want, something that was impossible until now. You understand that, don't you sweetheart?”, I explained to her gently, making sure that she realized that I wouldn't force her to become something she wasn't yet ready for.

Nodding and smiling tearfully, she whispered quietly: “I do, Father.”

Giving her a quick kiss to her forehead, I asked her to turn around. And as she was wearing a yellow summerdress, it was easy to revealy her small petite back.

She followed my instructions faithfully, as she opened up the chamber on the left side of her back, where a brightly glowing Arc Reactor provided her with the needed energy.

Using my Spatial Telekinesis, I unplugged the Miniature Reactor, which caused the secondary energy systems to shift into action, so that Silver wouldn't just shut down.

This though was only necessary for a few short seconds, as I immediately inserted the dwarf-forged Uru-heart in the void left behind by the Reactor. The enchanted Uru plates sealed off the chamber from the outside world a moment later.

Suddenly I was pushed back a few meters by a red energy pulse emitted by Silver's small form, followed by a rampant nebulous, blood-red whirlwind, that had started to envelop her body.