Disclaimer: I own Nothing!

A/N: This is another fic I already have up on AO3, and I'm moving it over so it's on both sites.

Chapter 1

Lily Potter looked down at the small baby girl in her arms as she sat in the coffee shop in the heart of muggle London. She felt the Oroborous pendant hanging around her neck and the power stored inside it. It was due to the pendant that she had survived that night, and thanks to Voldemort's 'purebloods are better' spiel, he had only stunned James, hoping to convert him afterwards probably. But, somehow, their two children had mysteriously survived the attack, and sent Voldemort's killing curse back at the evil wizard.

When the two Potters had woken up, they realised how they had both survived, but it took talking with Dumbledore to figure out how their children had survived and how Voldemort was gone. Lily had been unaware that her necklace and the power locked within it would save her life from the most lethal of curses, but it had. And not only that- because she had willingly sacrificed herself for her children, her love, and the love her son, Hadrian, had for her daughter, Emma, his twin, his magic had protected them, combined with an ancient magic. But Albus was sure that Voldemort wasn't gone for good, and so they would need to focus on protecting and training Hadrian. Therefore, Emma needed to be with someone who could take care of her properly while they focused on Hadrian.

James and Albus had suggested Lily's adoptive sister, but she knew Petunia wouldn't treat her daughter correctly. And she couldn't bear to hand her over to someone in the wizarding world and risk seeing someone else raising her daughter. So, that left one option open to her. She had to contact the one person that she had sworn she would never see again. She had been unsure about it when she came up with the option, but when they heard it, James and Albus both agreed that it was probably the best option, but she was still unsure, and she was thinking furiously on how she could get him to agree, if he took her, that she would be able to still have contact with her daughter, her and James. She was unaware of anyone approaching her until someone stopped at her table.

"Hello Sigyn." A smooth, cold, voice said. She looked up.

Loki stopped outside the small café and rolled his eyes. "I know you are following me Captain." He said.

Captain Steve Rogers sighed and stepped up. "Well, you can't expect to just be able to walk off on your own after what you've done."

"I assure you I have no intentions of world domination again. You can come in with me if you want to make sure I am speaking the truth- instead of unsuccessfully scouting from outside, or another booth." With that, he entered the café and walked towards a table that a red haired woman was sat at, a baby carrier on the floor next to her, a bundle in her arms. Steve followed him carefully; weary of what the god might be up to. Loki stopped at the table.

"Hello Sigyn." He said in a cool tone, his face impassive.

Her head snapped up and her forest green eyes met his emerald green eyes. "Loki. Thank you for agreeing to come. Take a seat." She motioned to the booth opposite her. He sat down and the large blonde man took the seat next to him, looking rather uncomfortable. "Who is your friend?"

"This is Captain Rogers." Loki said curtly, before cutting straight to the matter at hand. "What do you want, Sigyn?"

She looked back down at the baby in her arms. The child had just woken up and was looking round with bright green eyes. "My husband and I… we need your help."

"And why should I help you? If I am not mistaken, we severed ties when you decided to leave and become mortal and learn their magics."

"I know but… we cannot look after our daughter."

"And you are hoping I will take her? Why? Why would I do that? Why even come to me in the first place? Didn't you intend to reverse your age and become a part of a mortal family? Can they not take her?"

"My parents are dead and my sister wants nothing to do with me."

"A feeling I share with her then." He snapped.

Sigyn seemed to be holding in a retort, and then she finally spoke after letting out a long, calming breath. "If Emma stays with us, she will not grow up the way she should. Her twin brother is in danger and will need protection and, when he is older, training, and we won't be able to find enough time-"

"Oh so it is not because you can't look after her, it is because you won't look after her. Becoming mortal has addled your mind, Sigyn. You would never have favoured one child over another like this before. You would have treated them both equally. Or would you? I can see I have gotten off lightly now. Any children we would have had would have wondered why their mother did not care about them."

"It's not that I don't care for Emma! Hadrian needs the extra attention. He's the subject of a prophecy."

"So? What right does that give you to decide he is more important than your daughter?" Loki asked. But he knew that if he left the child with Sigyn, the girl would grow up in the shadow of her brother… much as he had. The girl would end up bitter and lonely and Loki knew all too well how those feelings could consume someone. If he took the girl, the downside would be that he would be doing Sigyn a favour, but on the upside… she didn't look too sure about this, and this was his chance to have a child that Odin couldn't claim was a threat to Asgard. Her mother had been Ӕsir, and even if Loki performed a blood adoption ritual, that wouldn't change. She would be his daughter. He could raise her as his. He could prove to himself at least that he could be better than even Odin in one aspect. He could be a better father to the girl than Odin ever had been to him.

Steve on the other hand, was speechless. This woman was just ready to abandon her daughter? And to Loki. He couldn't believe what was happening. Steve's eyes widened slightly as Loki held his arms out towards Sigyn.

"Let me see the child Sigyn." He said.

Sigyn handed the girl to Loki. "It's Lily now actually."

Loki simply sneered as he took the baby and looked down at her. He reached out with his magic and felt a great well within the child. That would surely increase when she gained immortality, but, she would be nowhere near as powerful as him, even if he did decide to go through with the blood adoption, unless… he looked up at Lily.

"I will take her, but if I do, understand this- she will be my daughter. I will raise her as if she were my own. Once I leave this café with her, that is it, no turning back from your decision, and no reversing it."

Lily nodded, her throat constricting. She had known that this was a bad idea, but she had promised James that if Loki was willing to take care of Emma, she would not return with the child today. James thought it would be best for a clean break, at least for now. "I understand." She said.

He looked at her for a moment. "I am unsure about whether that is true… but you will in time. One more thing, when you became mortal, the power you held as one of the Ӕsir was stored within that pendant." He pointed to the pendant around her neck. "You were able to maintain the magic of a witch, but you do not need the necklace to keep that power. The magic stored within the necklace would be better put to use than as simple decoration, would you not agree?"

"What would you use my power for?"

"Just because you have forsaken your birth right does not mean you should deny it to your daughter."

"You would make her immortal anyway, would you not?"

"Her power will still be far smaller than I would like. It would take longer to train her. If she is going to be my daughter, I want her to have the ability and the power to stand on her own if she needs to. To defend herself against any attacker. As it is, if she is simply made immortal, when she is older, her powers will be nothing compared to mine. Or others such as Amora for that matter. And you know how volatile she can be."

Lily cast a worried glance at Emma and unhooked the pendant from around her neck. She held it out and Loki took it before placing it in a pocket, Emma cradled in one arm easily. Lily pulled out a pen and a folder. "Let's get this over with then." She said, opening it up to reveal the necessary paper work. Loki sneered at it, but knew that validating his adoption of the child on Midgard may come in handy later on. He read all of it through using magic, without alerting Sigyn, to change parts of the agreement to suit himself. The original papers had said that the adoption would only last until she was eleven. That wouldn't do. Presumably, she and her husband had hoped that he wouldn't read the small print. They had already signed, so changing the words was easy enough, and she wouldn't realise until it was too late, and he had left with the child. There was even a part of the form that gave him the chance to rename the girl. If he was going to do this, he may as well run the full race, as they say. Under the pretence that he was still reading, he came up with a name for his new daughter. One fitting for a Princess of Asgard. He signed the necessary parts and quickly filled in the part renaming her, not giving Lily a chance to see it, or she would know something was wrong. He could sense the spell on the file, meaning that when the forms were completed and the file closed, the forms would be sent to the right places, and an adoption certificate and copy sent back to the file. He hid his smirk. The laziness of the magical population of Midgard concerning paperwork had just ensured his adoption of the child would never be argued against. At least, not successfully. He signed the last section, and closed the file. Then, he reopened it and slipped out the adoption certificate and closed the file again, sliding it back across the table to Lily who looked ready to cry.

"Don't look so upset, Lily." He put a scathing emphasis on the name. "I did warn you. And remember, you made this choice freely."

He stood up and, ignoring the carrier, left, after Steve moved out of the way. Steve shot a sad look back at Lily, unable to believe that she could just abandon her child in favour of another. Then, he followed Loki out.

Lily picked up the file and slipped it into her bag. It was done. Thankfully, the paperwork was magically binding. She would see her daughter again in just under ten years' time. Making sure that no one was looking, she shrunk the carrier and stood, before leaving. She walked out and found a certain point before apparating home. When there she smiled sadly at James.

"It's done." She said.

"He agreed? Well, at least we know she will be well taken care of. Hey, don't cry, we'll have her back when she's eleven."

"I'm not so sure James." Lily said.

"What do you mean?"

"I… Loki wanted the pendant to give my Ӕsir power to Emma. With her own power, plus that… She will be one of the more powerful sorceresses there."

"So?"

"Even though Asgardians favour strength physically, her magic will be great enough that she will not be granted the permission to do what I did. I think that was why he really wanted the pendant James. An Ӕsir of that strength… Odin would not block her powers. He would not make her mortal unless it was punishment."

"The contract is magically binding Lils." James said.

"I wouldn't put it past Loki to find a way out of it. He has ten years, after all. He's good at doing things like that in less time."

"It's air tight. Albus drew it up himself. Look, it'll be on the certificate, watch." He opened the file which was on the desk and as they both looked down at the certificate, they gasped, realising the truth.

"He even changed her name." Lily said looking at the name on the certificate under the name Emma Lily Potter. Kysa Lokidottir.

"How… how did he do this? We didn't sign this one. We know we didn't."

"He must have used magic to change the forms to a permanent adoption." Lily said. "The trickster." Her laugh was hollow. "I should have known he was up to something while filling in those forms after his little speech about if he took her in then that was it. I should have known he would have noticed. I was betrothed to him at one point for goodness sakes! Oh James, what are we going to do now?"

"We'll figure something out Lily. I promise." James said.

Back at the hotel penthouse suite that the Avengers and Loki were in due to a reconnaissance mission, Loki and Steve entered the living room area, where the team were gathered, including Pepper Potts and Jane Foster, who had been allowed to come along due to the length of the mission. That they could help create a believable alibi didn't hurt either. They all looked round when they both entered and the whole group froze when they registered what they were seeing.

"Yeah." Steve said, "I'm having a hard time believing what just happened too, and I know the whole story." He moved into the room and poured himself a drink at the bar. Even though he couldn't get drunk, he knew he needed something strong to drink.

"Loki… where did the child come from?" Thor asked his brother.

Loki retold what had happened, about how Sigyn had not wanted to raise her daughter, and asked him to take her. He explained the encounter, or at least, the parts that Steve knew about. There was no need to mention he had changed what the forms had said, after all.

"Now, if you will excuse me, I want to make sure Kysa has her Ӕsir powers before we take her to Asgard."

"Didn't Sigyn, Lily, whatever, say her name was Emma?" Steve asked.

"There was an option on the forms for me to change her name. Sigyn will find out when she bothers to look at her copy of the adoption certificate." Loki said, before he headed into his room and closed the door behind him. Loki sat on the edge of the bed and looked down at the small girl cradled in his arms. "Let's give you your birth right, shall we little one?" He asked softly. She just looked up at him before she smiled and laughed. He smiled down at her as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the pendant. He began to murmur the spells that would awaken her Asgardian heritage, and when her full powers were released he seamlessly switched to the spells that would transfer the powers in the necklace into Kysa. When he was done, there was a soft golden glow surrounding her. It faded slowly. He smiled at her again. "Just one more thing to do Little Kysa. And then we shall see about getting you something to eat and anything else you will need." He said, before he drew out one of his smaller daggers and enchanted it so that when he made the cuts, it would not cause pain. He wouldn't have bothered, but he already felt protective over the small girl. She was his daughter, and he would not see her in pain. But, it was necessary to cut her with the runes, as well as himself, in order to complete the adoption. He began the spell and when the time was right, made the cuts on himself and her and mixed their blood together. This would also give her a slight boost to her magic, ensuring that she would be powerful when she was older. But the main reason was so that no one on Asgard could dispute his claim to raise her. Through the blood adoption, he would be her father, just as much as James Potter was. More so, seeing as he had chosen to be her father. Whereas, Potter had chosen to give her up. And this time, if Odin did try to take her from him as he had Hel, Jormangandr and Fenrir, he wouldn't find it quite as easy.

When the spell was done, light surrounded Kysa again. This time, however, it was green, not gold. The wounds on both of them healed and he saw her dark brown, near black hair change to pure black, and her eyes changed from forest green to emerald green. For a moment, they flashed red, indicating the Jotun blood she now shared with him was active, but she would only be half Jotun thanks to her mother. How much that would show would be determined when she was older. When the glow faded, he looked up and around the room. Loki frowned.

"Well, this won't do. There is nowhere for you to sleep." He clicked his fingers and a moment later things had shifted subtly and a large dark wood crib was on one side of the bed. It was only after that last piece of magic that he realised that how tired he felt. Those spells had taken more energy than he had thought they would. There was a reason that the blood adoption was so rarely used. It was such a complete and final spell that it took a lot of magic to use. And many Asgardians did not like feeling so weak and drained. Neither did he, but it was a necessary evil. One he would put up with because of the end result- especially since he had ensured it couldn't be broken. Pushing the tiredness down for now, he stood and went back to the lounge. He looked at the clock and noticed that several hours had passed. Had he truly not noticed all that time passing?

"Jeez reindeer games, you've only just got the kid and you're already looking like you've missed three weeks of sleep." Tony said.

"I am still perfectly capable of killing you Stark, make no mistake about that."

"You wouldn't, you're holding your new daughter." He had obviously come to terms enough with the situation in the past few hours.

"It would be an easy thing to put Kysa in her crib and then come out and kill you."

"Ah." He said, showing he hadn't thought of that. "But it would give me a running head start."

"Not much of one." Loki pointed out. Then, he noticed the bags of shopping in the corner of the lounge. He raised an eyebrow.

"You looked like you weren't coming out for a while, and seeing as you just brought Kysa and nothing for her, like food, clothes and diapers, we went out shopping for her." Pepper said. "Good thing too, all the shops would be closed by now."

Loki nodded his thanks and walked over to the bags.

"Brother, are you sure you are ready for the responsibility of a parent? You do not even have a wife. She will grow up without a mother."

"I will manage Thor. And I am sure our mother will be enough of one to Kysa that she will not feel the absence of her own growing up." Loki said, looking for the food. Kysa was starting to get restless and he was sure she was hungry.

Soon, the Avengers were treated to the spectacle of Loki feeding what was obviously one very hungry baby.

"Is… the big bad god of Mischief feeding a baby?" Clint asked snickering.

"I will shove this spoon so far up that you won't be able to see straight." Loki threatened.

"You'd have to dodge the arrows first." Clint replied. Then he quirked an eyebrow. "Is she on the second pot of that food?"

"With that appetite, Loki I think she's actually your niece." Tony laughed.

"It has been a few hours since she last ate, Stark. Plus, the adoption spells and the transition from mortal to Ӕsir are bound to have taken their toll on her." Loki said, shaking his head as Kysa took another spoonful which put the second pot of baby food as half empty- and then she spat it out- and giggled as Loki wiped it off his face.

"Oh yeah- Karma's a bitch. And your Karma just came round to bite you in the ass in the form of your new daughter." Clint laughed while most of the others laughed at the sight as well.

"Clint!" Natasha scolded. "Language around the baby! She's going to start picking up words like that if you aren't careful."

"I think someone's had enough." Pepper said, looking at Kysa. "It's getting late. You should probably change her and put her to bed."

Loki nodded. "If she'll behave."

"She's your daughter Loki. If you've blood adopted her, and I think you have, she's going to be trouble." Thor laughed.

"How did you guess?"

"You were in there for far too long to simply release her powers. Plus, you wouldn't want anyone trying to take her from you now you've decided to raise her. That would be the only way no one back home could contest you raising her."

Loki was surprised. It was rare that Thor had any moment of insight, but this was obviously one of those times.

"Blood adopted?" Bruce asked. "What's that, and how is that different from a regular adoption?"

"On Asgard, if someone has the magical power available to them, and is worried about someone contesting their guardianship of the child, then the one adopting the child can blood adopt them. It is a complex, and long, spell which includes the mixing of the blood of both the child and the new parent, or parents. Because of this, I am just as much Kysa's father now as the mortal who helped bring her into this world."

"Well, that would end custody battles." Bruce supposed.

"How come this isn't a regular thing with adoption?" Jane asked.

"It takes an inordinate amount of power, and most of the time, there is no issue over the custody of the child with adoptions. People do not see the need. Plus, the child can be no older than two years of age. Sometimes, a child is adopted when they are too old. Especially with the 'glory of battle' killing off their fathers and mothers either remarrying or killing themselves." Loki shook his head and stood up, picking Kysa up as he stood.

He changed Kysa in the en-suite bathroom attached to his room and then placed her in the crib next to his bed. Though he was tired, he mustered up the energy for a few final spells. One to alert him should someone enter the room, another to stop anyone who wasn't him teleporting in or out of the room and a third, a shield around Kysa's crib that would stop anyone who managed to get that far without him coming between them, from straight out taking her unless, once again, it was him. They would have to bring down the spell first. He didn't have the energy tonight to make exceptions from the spells, such as to take Thor or the others into account. He would just have to hope that should some disaster happen, he wouldn't be rendered completely unconscious and unable to be woken while the others were unable to get Kysa out. But, it was only for one night. He could alter his protections once he had regained his strength. Being sure that she was safe for the night, Loki changed and collapsed onto the bed, before falling fast asleep.

A/N: Please review!