Epilogue

WHILE ASGARD STILL GLITTERED IN THE GOLDEN sun, Delphia hid away in her room. Even after Delphia came home, the kingdom knew that things were not right. Odin and Frigga could tell that she was depressed. Something had happened while she was on Midgard. She was welcomed back home with a grandiose celebration. Her family was over the moon to have her back home. Though after a little while, they knew that something was wrong. 

Their once vibrant princess was shutting them out for quite some time. Her family had a few different reactions to her self-isolation. It confused Thor the most since all he wanted was for his sister to be back to normal. She was home, so how could she be so depressed? Her mother and father wanted to understand what she had gone through. However, they knew to give her some space before they tried to talk to her about it. Loki was the same way, though he felt like Delphia shouldn't be left to herself. He tried to be with her whenever he could. Whether it was to distract her or get her to smile, he was there.

Time had passed. Far too much time. Decades had gone by in the blink of an eye and nothing felt right. Delphia was a shell of who she used to be. All of Asgard knew it. Her family knew it. She knew it. Though how else was she supposed to react? The man that she had come to love had died, and she could barely do anything to stop it. 

Midgardians view her people as Gods, though how could she consider herself as such a high being if she could do little to nothing to save Steve? For decades, Delphia tormented herself over it. She could have done more, should have done more. Perhaps if she had gone with him, she could have saved him. Though she listened to him and stayed put. She had faith in him enough to come back to her… Despite her visions, what she saw, she wanted to think it wasn't true. Though if she's a Goddess of virtue and visions, then she should have been able to do something to save him.

Still what if she did? Disrupted the future that she had seen and disobeyed him. Gone with him to help him defeat Johann and go back home. What sort of consequences would she have faced? Delphia has never truly thought about what exactly would happen if she rewrote the visions she saw. There are theories about what would happen. Though her mother instilled in her that everything has its reasons, there was nothing that she could do to change what she witnessed. Sometimes Delphia believed that the whole of reality would cave in on itself if she changed time. Perhaps if she had tried to change it, something else would have happened, more catastrophic, something horrible. A cause and effect of sorts. Replace one terrible series of events with worse ones. There was no winning with this.

Not only that, but any visions that she had that might be in the far future did not have any sign of him. The horrible vision of the infinity stones being joined had no sign of Steve. So she knew that there was no way that she would be seeing him again. In some sort of miracle, there was no way that Steve would come back. The vision that she saw, there were other people, people that she had no doubt she'd come to know quite well. Though none of them were Steve.

She didn't find solace in anything. Her life was turned upside down. Delphia knew that she shouldn't be so upset about the death of a being who would never live as long as her, but she couldn't help it. It was Steve. The sweetest, virtuous, most heroic man that she had ever come to know. She came to admire him. To adore him. To love him. Though she shouldn't have. 

The princess shall live thousands of years longer than any Midgardian. It is not ideal to grow to love someone who would die sooner than her by a very long time. Asgardians are not immortal, but they still do not live the short lives that other beings do. It's not a good situation.

Talking to her family about it was… a bit complicated. Eventually, she told them that she lost plenty of friends while on Midgard. Having those nearly familiar bonds with the likes of Bucky and Abraham was something that hurt her since they both were killed. She explained how the deaths of her good friends had caused her to be dragged into a depressive state. After all, they know that she's never had to experience a close friend dying. She also told them about Steve. However, Loki was the only one who knew the extent of their relationship.

Due to his insistence on not wanting her to wallow in her own sadness, he had gotten more out of her. She told him stories about Steve. How wonderful he was. How brave. While Loki didn't necessarily understand the idea of growing attachment to a human, he tried his best to see it from her point of view. His sister was in Midgard, tried to find a safe place to be while staying there, and found that in a few people. More specifically, in Steven Rogers.

Loki understood it a bit better and tried to be there with her to help in any way he could. Most of the time that consisted of just sitting with her in her vast room reading a book in silence. It seemed like all she needed was someone to just be there with her. No need for talking, just to sit and not be alone. Loki understood that she needed time to open up more and overcome this depression. After all, he knew that she had experienced the death of the man she loved.

Thor was the opposite. In the beginning, he tried to be understanding. He let her be by herself for some time. However, he grew restless. He wanted his little sister back. The same innocent, bright-eyed woman who likes to watch him spar against their friends. The woman who laughed at the stories of his battles and marveled at his strength. The woman who liked to tease him with her ability to see into the future. Where had she gone? 

He didn't seem to truly understand just what had happened. Yes, he could understand that she may be upset about the deaths of her friends. However, he figured that she would move on. It surprised him that even after so long she was still depressed. It frustrated him quite a lot.

Still, they tried to go about life normally. Delphia did what she could to try and live her life like normal. After all, she felt like Steve would never want her to live her life like this. So she tried, just for him.

At this point, over seventy years had passed since Steve had died and Delphia left Midgard. She could never think that the death of one man would keep her so depressed for so long. Though perhaps she lives for so long, she just has a much longer time to regret his death. She sat on a chair as she gazed out of her large glass door to her balcony. The doors were open, allowing the nice warm wind to waft into the room. It ruffled her hair as she gazed out onto her glittering kingdom near expressionless.

She's gotten better. She may not have completely overcome the fact that Steve had died, but she is moving on. Delphia has been trying to do that for years now. Her brothers have done their best to help her with it, and it's worked. She no longer just locked herself away. The princess ventured out more with friends and family. Enjoyed the company of her people at some parties and royal duties.

Though while she was for once enjoying her time alone, she was suddenly dragged into a vision.

Her surroundings shifted and changed as skyscrapers appeared and Midgardian cars were zooming around her. It seemed familiar, extremely so. To Delphia, it seems like her vision was showing her New York. However, it wasn't like she once knew it. Things appeared more modern, shinier, and desecrated. Horrible creatures ran around attacking people, destroying buildings, blowing up anything they could set their sights on. Rubble surrounded her as large monsters flew through the air screeching and wailing while running into buildings. The Chitari, she recognized them nearly instantly. Wretched creatures that worked for anyone who offered even the minimum of reward. Why they were in New York was unknown to her, but extremely concerning.

This vision was quick and filled with little to no information. She was pulled out of it just as quickly as she was dragged into it. It left far too much to be desired as Delphia was by far concerned by what that meant. She did her best to catch her breath once her consciousness was dragged back to her room. Gasps left her pale lips as she did her best to calm down from that vision. She recognized some of it. The Chitari were a part of her vision that she had before her first visit to Midgard. However, why was she shown this again? What could that mean? Whatever that was, it was by no means good. She just hoped that she could figure it out soon. She wouldn't want to imagine what this could mean for Midgard.

Delphia Odindottir will return