Welcome Home
"Whoa," Billy breaths out, "this place is ama-"
"Shut up!" America snaps, turning around in her heels.
All four stowaways jump because —aside from Loki— they'd never seen America this furious at them in their lives. There's fire in her eyes that she never shows, not even in battle, and all signs of composure are momentarily gone. For an instant, it looks like she's going to break into a rant. Then, something else crosses her eyes and she seems to recover control. She turns her glare exclusively at Loki, who begins raising his hands. Before the excuses can roll out of his tongue, she barks out an order:
"Female form. Now."
"What? Why-"
"Now!"
As Loki obliges, she turns her head to Teddy. "You too. Female. Now."
Before the order can be given to him, Billy starts murmuring a spell to change his sex.
"I said shut up," America cuts him off. "Not you. You," she looks at Loki and points at Billy. "Change him."
"But, I can-"
"No. You can't. You can not use your magic here, you understand?"
"But-"
"Do you understand?" America's fists are clenched at her sides and she glares at Billy, as Loki's magic makes his hair grow longer and his body change into a woman's.
"Y- Yes," Billy stutters, "but why?"
America can hear people approaching behind them. She can see Kate with her eyes on them and her fingers ghosting over an arrow. She says the first thing on the top of her head, a half truth.
"Magic here's different. Boundless. Your brand of magic could destroy this whole reality in an instant," she speaks quickly under her breath. At least, that last part is the truth. "Not even a single spell. Promise."
"O- Okay. I promise."
Not a whole minute as gone by since their arrival but it has felt like a life time.
"Hello?!" A female voice calls behind America's back, who tenses. The others' eyes jump from the speak to America. She gives them all one final warning look.
"You let me do the talking," she hisses quietly enough for only them to listen.
One deep breath, then she turns around and faces the women of the Utopian Parallel.
They're cladded in clothes similar to her mother's uniforms, except for the long capes that float inches above the floor. Three women, two rather old, with white and blue hair, and a younger girl with purple curls. All beautiful in different ways. All of them oddly familiar strangers.
"Uh, hello," America's body language changes in a second, from the warrior who was seemingly going to rip her friends' heads off, to a runaway child coming back home. "I am-"
"Princess America?" The woman with the short blue hair steps forward. "Oh, sweet child! We thought you were lost for good!"
Before she can react, America is trapped inside a motherly hug. She just stands there, stiffly, not knowing how to respond.
"Princess?" She hears one of her friends whisper behind her back. With their newly female voices, she can't tell who it was, except it clearly wasn't Kate.
"How-?" America finally breaths out confused.
"Oh, darling, you look just like your mothers did when they were your age," the woman is still beaming as she steps back, "you have grown to become quite a Queen."
"Queen?"
This time, her friend's voice doesn't go unnoticed. For the first time, the woman lays eyes on them. "And who is this?"
"Uh, these are my friends," America mumbles, glancing at them. "Kate, Luci... Tina and Barbie."
They all made faces to her invented names but she decides they can suck it for coming in the first place, the idiots.
"Oh, how wonderful to meet America's friends!" The woman smiles warmly at them, but her face falls back into confusion when she looks at America. "We thought we'd lost you forever, Princess. How did you manage to come back? For the Demi-"
"I can explain in private," America interrupts quickly. Then, she remembers her manners and bows her head, "please."
There's curiosity shining behind the woman's eyes, but she nods in agreement. "Very well. Let's go inside. I will personally see that you are all given your own bedrooms at the main castle and we can all talk after dinner."
During dinner, the questions she is already expecting are asked.
"So how did you girls meet?" Is the first one, since the Queens clearly want to begin with a nice one.
"Oh, you know," Kate is quick to reply with a vagueness she's learnt from elegant parties in New York, "saving the day, as all heroes do. Some crazy stuff was happening and we all came together to stop it. Then, we decided to stick together." Her smile is wide and charming and it works wonders on the Queens. America pretends to be too busy eating to hide her relief.
"So, tell us, America" another one says curiously. "What have you been up to since your- since you left?"
America pauses. She knows she can't avoid the question no matter how much she wishes she did. She tries to keep her expression even as she shrugs. "Saving worlds, you know... I got a hang on it pretty early on after I arrived to the Multiverse."
Again, it is not exactly a lie. It's only a half truth: she did get a hang of superheroing rather quickly, when she was just eight years old, but it was more a matter of survival than of heroism. Not that her friends or the Queens —or anyone, really— need to know.
There is a heavy silence after she speaks and she worries someone might infer the hidden truth behind her words. Luckily, Loki picks up the conversation quickly. He seems to have quickly understood the kind of subjects America is avoiding and has spent most of the night being surprisingly helpful at deviating the talk. She never thought she'd be this grateful for the trickster's silver tongue. However, this time, she wishes he'd stayed quiet.
"America never mentioned she was a princess," 'Luci' says with a perfectly innocent look on her face. "I must admit I was quite surprised."
"Why wouldn't you tell them, America?" The girl with the purple curls —now she remembers her, Reni, she was her friend as a child— asks.
"You know the titles are not the same in the Multiverse," America makes a face. "There, it means Royalty."
"As it does here..."
"Everyone's a princess or a queen here," America rolls her eyes. "It's not the same. Either way, it's not what I am." There's a heaviness to that last statement that makes the rest of the people on the table pause. Ugh, great. Now what?
"So, how did you manage to come back?" Is the question that breaks the silence.
Okay, back to business.
"There is holes, in the Multiverse this time," America says firmly, looking at the Queens of the Council. "Reality's fabric's weakened enough to open portals between non-realities."
"Well, I am glad you came back," Reni says with a shy smile, trying to 'see the good side' rather than voicing out loud what they are all thinking: the risk of disappearing the Multiverse is at, just like their world had been so long ago.
"I need access to the Royal Archives," America says firmly. "I need to find a way to close the holes."
Now, the silence feels definitive. The Queens finally catch her meaning: she's not planning on staying.
Later, on the bedroom given to her —not her old one, mind you— America can't shake off the image of the look the Queens gave her when they realized she isn't staying. What else were they expecting? They don't get it. They just never have. They don't understand who she is: she's a superhero. She has to save everyone in the Multiverse. This is bigger than herself and her wish to stay safely and comfortably at home.
Looking at herself on the mirror, wearing a white, red and blue suit that mirrors the ones her mothers used, she wonders if they would understand of be let down by her to. Mother's fake versions of them had certainly seemed disappointed of her, to the point that thinking about it made her stomach ache. She knows they weren't real. It doesn't really help as much as it should.
There is suddenly a knocking on the door that pulls America out of her musings. She walks to it and is surprised to find Reni, looking at her awkwardly.
"I am here to give you access the tone Royal Archives," she declares. The warmth of her voice is gone now.
At least, when it comes to her, America can tell perfectly how she feels: cheated, lied to, let down. She feels her stomach sink to her feet and nods.
They make their way to the room in silence.
When she sees the amount of bookshelves, America needs to catch her breath. They are so damn many.... She will never get through them. She barely had time to learn how to read as a child before leaving the Parallel. Then, she had learnt stuff here and there, mostly enough to get by. Just that.
"Uh..."
"It should be over here," her childhood friend sighs, taking pity of her.
America follows her to a remote area of the library and grabs one of the books she gives her. It takes here a while of passing the pages but she eventually finds it. Her mothers' deaths. What actually happened and she never got the chance to find out. She feels her eyes cloud with tears and furiously cleans them with her sleeves when they make reading impossible. The droplets fall on the golden paper and America curses herself.
"It's alright," Reni says, putting a hand over her shoulder softly. "Do you need a minute?"
Hating her own weakness, America nods.
Once she is alone, it still takes her a while to calm down and go through the details without breaking. When she does, though, it's like a bucket of cold water being dropped on her head.
"Oh..." She hears herself murmur out loud.
That's it. That is what she has to do to save everyone. What killed her mothers.
For the first time, if hits her: it is also what is going to kill her, soon.