Kal hadn't seen Hill since their first and last romp in the bed. Instead, Fury had sent Romanoff for him the last few times the spymaster needed a favor, information or, frankly, to get on the elf's nerves.
So it came as a surprise to him when a bruised and cut up Hill stood at his doorstep in the middle of the night on May 1st that year.
"You knew this would happen," she accused as she stepped into the house toward the kitchen.
"What? That the greedy vermin from the World Council made you play around with forces you cannot begin to fathom and invite disaster onto Earth? Or specifically that an Asgardian prince would come to the Mojave Desert through a portal made by a cube of pure energy to wreck Project Too-Many-Letters?" Kal scoffed as he followed her without healing her first.
"We lost hundreds of good men. Some guy calling himself Loki turned Barton and Selvig and stole the Tesseract," Hill hotly argued.
"And you're cross with me. Why?"
"You could have told me! I nearly died earlier," Hill said through gritted teeth.
"You could have died crossing the road while grocery shopping."
"Heh," Hill scoffed and looked at the elf with a deep set frown.
"Okay, let's play your little game," Kal accepted as he got himself something to drink from the fridge without offering something to his self-invited guest. "I tell Fury in no uncertain terms that the moment he uses the Tesseract for anything other than making it a paperweight that the Earth is doomed. Would he listen to me?"
Hill wanted to argue back immediately, but the words were stuck in her throat when she gave it a deeper thought. Fury wouldn't in a million years be swayed by someone as powerful as Kal. Creating Tesseract powered weapons was for the sole reason of fighting people like Thor and Kal, after all.
"I told you guys about Hydra three years ahead of time. Have you dealt with Stern and Sitwell yet? Or found out that Zola is still alive even if not in the traditional sense as he turned himself in a hivemind?"
Hill bit her lip. They were still using both Sitwell and Stern to find out if the Hydra threat was even real or if it was just a few isolated agents that were turned. Only five agents were working it after Kal confirmed their true allegiance. Fury, Coulson, Barton, Romanoff, and herself.
"Do you mean Armin Zola? The Nazi scientist? Where is he?"
"Why would I tell you now that you're pissed off at me for the wrong reasons?"
"I'm sorry, okay?" Hill pleaded with an aggrieved look in her eyes that changed so fast, Kal had to remind himself he was talking to a professional spy.
"I'm still not telling you. Not for now. You have bigger fish to fry now that Loki is on Earth," Kal countered and leisurely drank his beverage.
Hill gave Kal a complicated look before she bit her lip and stood up to leave.
Kal didn't stop her and merely left her with a single Lifebloom application to heal her small injuries and stayed in the kitchen.
"Curious. This is the first time I felt someone use a spell next to me in this world. The usage of 'Portal' by the mages, shamans, and druids of my world feels a lot different," Kal commented without turning back. "Do you care for a meal? I'm hungry now."
"Sure. I'm told your food is in a class of its own," a pleasant female voice answered.
"Then please, take a seat, Ancient One," Kal offered as he turned around to see a bald woman in yellow robes look at him with a serene smile.
He began cooking something vegetarian because he wasn't sure if she was a monk with certain restrictions and reservations for her diet.
"You arrived much later than I suspected you would," Kal idly commented while stirring some fried rice.
"Your addition to this realm came as a surprise, but all powers that be vouched for your character the moment they tasted your essence," the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth explained while watching him work.
"Yuck, they tasted my essence?"
"Nobody licked you while you were sleeping, Kal'thal Ravencrest," she rebuffed with a small laugh.
Kal shook his head at the Ancient One using his Kaldorei name and asked, "So, what's your verdict?"
"You pose no threat to this dimension and no threat to Earth. Your efforts to preserve the key pillars of this timeline are much appreciated. This realm will need the Avengers for what is to come if this reality is to stand a chance."
"So you don't object to my plan that will result in the birth of a much weaker Vision and will prevent Thanos from getting all Infinity Stones?"
The Ancient One turned her hand and revealed a tea set on the counter in front of her. She pondered the question and answered, "I hadn't known he would succeed. I had hoped Strange had some kind of plan to stop it from happening."
"Not in the reality I saw. The titan wiped out half of the universe for five years, and the Avengers undid it by borrowing the stones from earlier timelines. That was Strange's plan. But that was a plan without me here," Kal revealed casually.
"You seem confident. Are you not afraid that the mad titan of our reality is much stronger than the one you are aware of? That he has allies you cannot begin to understand?"
"Oh? He has a pact with Death here?"
The Ancient One's calm facade broke for a moment before she added with a wry smile, "Thankfully not. The entities that govern our world are not so easily swayed."
"Gods then. Anyone I should look out for?"
She shook her head, "Gods, a celestial being... You are much more cavalier about this than I had anticipated."
"You didn't see the outcome of our talk with the help of the Time Stone?"
"I had no need. I saw several of our meetings when you arrived here, but you never sought me out in the end. And in all of our meetings, you remained respectful - not just to me, but to life... to balance."
"Well, I might be trained by the greatest retribution paladin the elves have ever given birth to before I came along, but even she was raised with the Light. Of course, I was also trained by the first druid and the high priestess of my people," Kal revealed with a shrug.
"Ah yes. Almost makes me blush to call myself the Ancient One in front of you," she playfully added as she poured tea for them both.
"Compared to any human I know, you have earned the right to wear the title."
"And despite your love for life, you're not repulsed by how I achieved it? This long life of mine? You know, don't you?"
"Dormammu? Eh, in my book, you got one over on him. And you did it because nobody of Strange's caliber was born to take your mantle, not out of greed for your own life, your ambition, or to serve him," Kal waved away. Why should he have an opinion on her form of longevity? "Want me to restore your body a little anyway?"
"Sure, I'd love to feel your unique magic personally," the Ancient One agreed with a raised brow.
[Skills used: Nature's Cure, Living Seed, Lifebloom, Regrowth]
[Manual change of class on cooldown. Cooldown: 2h]
[Skills used: Cleanse Toxins, Blessing of Light, Holy Light, Word of Glory, Lay on Hands]
The yellow-robed woman began to light up in all kinds of colors, most prominently green and shining silver as several spells were working their actual magic on her body. Most of the changes were instant, but Kal eventually started paying attention to the stove again as the last heal over time effects coursed through the Sorcerer Supreme.
"Fascinating," the Ancient One whispered as she regarded her own hands. "You truly carry the gift of life within you..."
[Successfully crafted
[
Kal finished the food while the sorceress in front of him marveled over her changed body and put out two plates for both of them.
She took a bite with her gaze still stuck to her free hand, and while not as exaggerated as the other humans who tried his food, she still praised, "This might be the best meal I've eaten in this life..."
"Maybe because your taste buds are healed now," the elf quipped with a cheeky smile.
"True... Please sate my curiosity: Can you teach others to do the same as you?"
Kal shook his head, "I don't know. In my own world, Blood Knights gain their connection to the Light by bathing in the powers of the Sunwell during a ritual after Velen rekindled it with the remnants of the fallen Naaru M'uru. Before that, we drained the Naaru until a seed of this power was birthed within us. Without what we call mana, I don't know if I can teach it even if I become the beacon humanity calls upon to get access to the Light."
The Ancient One stared at him, studied his expressions. She even forgot to eat the delicious meal in front of her for a moment as she thought about the principles of Kal's 'Light'.
"And your nature magics?"
"Restoration druids as we call them merely need a deep connection to mother nature, no matter what kind of mother nature. This planet's core is innocent and magnanimous, so it isn't completely out of the question to nurture a select few talents in these spells. That might change depending on how the birth of the Celestial goes in this reality," Kal explained and took out a booklet from a drawer in his living room. "Here, I anticipated you asking and wrote down how I form my nature spells as taught to me by Lady Sylendra and Lady Tyrande."
"Oh my, you seem to have had many teachers over the years," the Ancient One quipped with a smile.
"Sylendra Gladesong is the leader of the Druids of the Antler in Val'sharah. I saved her daughter's life when I was still a simple hunter roaming the woods in search of strength. She taught me my first druid spell," Kal revealed in fond reminiscence.
"I'm beginning to think I would like your world," the Ancient One commented as she finished her first serving and helped herself to another.
"The everpresent mana adds a lot of beauty this world seems to lack. But we live through our own tribulations. Old Gods tainting the most innocent of beings, twisting their essence into something grotesque. Titans, mad with hunger and rage. An eternal enemy plotting to destroy our world for millennia…"
"Not much different from our own reality," the Ancient One mumbled in realization.
"Uh, a little. Even the most average warrior in my world could easily reach the power level of the Avengers. With mana available to the vast majority, there are no easy threats like a mafia boss slinging dope..."
She hummed in response and waited for someone to break the silence they sat in.
"So, I'm gathering you're not just giving me the Time Stone?" The elf eventually asked.
"You'll have to wait for Strange to bargain for it," The Ancient One replied with a sly smirk.
"I can do a few more years... time is what I have most of all - I hope. It'd be a real bummer if one year here equals a decade in Azeroth," Kal quipped with a grin of his own that was slightly forced. "I was whisked away from my reality during turbulent times."
"I wish you luck. And do watch out for the stones. Getting the Aether can make or break your plan if you're not careful," the Sorcerer Supreme warned as she stood up and made a circular portal with orange sparks coming off of it.
"Will I see you in New York later this week?"
"Only if you appear near 177a Bleecker Street," the woman argued before turning back at the last step before entering the portal. "And do ease your frustrations. Your home is much closer than you believe it to be, I fear."
And with that statement, she was gone.