A Mighty Heart

A THOR fanfiction

The strength of a woman can carry the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Enjoy.

A bead of sweat rolled down the back of my neck, travelling down between my shoulder blades.

I panted quietly as all of my muscles tensed, my body falling into a crouch. I memorized the feeling of the stone beneath my feet and inhaled, my fingers curling around the hilts of my long swords.

The Aesir soldiers around me charged when I let out a battle cry, my blades cutting the air audibly. One of the men threw out an elbow and caught me in the face, splitting my lip. I retaliated by catching him with a roundhouse kick to the chest, smiling triumphantly before turning back to the fight. I sparred with the men, smiling at the adrenaline that was rushing through my veins.

"Halea," a sickeningly sweet voice called out. "Could I join you?"

I instantly narrowed my eyes but did not turn away from the task at hand, "I am busy and I do not have time to entertain you Sif."

"I wonder if Thor would entertain, then..."

I spun on my heels to face a tall brunette who was just entering the training salle, seething as she smirked at me. "You insist on provoking me Sif- why don't you go play with those other little girls that call themselves Aesir fighters and leave me to training my legion? We both know you only wish to spar with me because you yourself could not join King Odin's soldiers, goddess," I mocked openly, my men moving to stand behind me. "Do not be jealous that I know of my own femininity," the woman in front of me replied. Sif knew well that my standing as the goddess of war was a sore spot for me- other Asgardian women were given titles like the goddesses of love or music; yet, I, due to my birth and tenacity, was given the only title that was befitting.

I was the goddess of war.

"Pick up your sword, Sif," I murmured, watching as she did just that.

She was no match for my innate prowess as a hunter and a warrior, being as I had disarmed her within seconds of the start of our bout. "Now let me show you why they call me valkyr," I hissed before my eyes rolled back. A shriek split the air and then I was surrounded by an impenetrable cloud of darkness, my valkyries beating the air around me before parting slightly.

I narrowed my eyes as my lips curled into a smile: "Get her."

The valkyries moved to surround Sif, clawing and screaming. I watched with careful eyes, willing them to attack without mercy.

"Halea," a deep voice bellowed.

I sighed even as I watched Sif struggle to fight off the valkyries, "What, Thor? I am busy."

"Call off your demons."

Without even turning to face the god behind me, I gave a lazy wave of my hand and my valkyries, smoke and wrath though they were, ceased their assault. Thor moved past me to console Sif on the ground, his eyebrows furrowed. "Olrun, take Sif to her quarters- I will meet you there shortly. However, I must first have a talk with Halea."

I turned to the soldiers standing around me and dismissed them with a jerk of my head before moving to follow. My ears twitched as Thor took one step behind me, his armor hitting the floor with a loud clatter, "If you take another step, I will pull you back by your hair. And I mean it."

My blades flashed down to my sides and I turned my head slightly, turning to glare at Thor over my shoulder.

"How dare you attack Sif?"

"In Asgard, if a beast barks at your door and there is no master around to reprimand it, it is your job as the owner of your house to admonish the animal," I replied scathingly. "You were nowhere to be seen when your… mare of a friend came barking."

Thor chuckled humorlessly, "And so you attacked Sif with your demon birds?"

"As I will attack you if you do not leave me be," I snapped.

Thor chuckled and I turned fully this time, the male flexing his fingers in anticipation. "Then attack me you must."

The sky darkened as we faced off, the sounds of thunder booming. Clouds rolled in and I allowed myself only a moment of distraction as the rain began to fall, feeling the cool sweetness roll across my lips. The rain effectively soaked me through and with a distinctive crack of lightening, I knew the fight was on.

I threw down my swords and went at Thor head on, catching one of his fists in a death grip.

Visibly, we were unevenly matched, Thor a good two feet taller than I and at least one hundred pounds heavier. I was small and petite, but Thor and I both knew that appearances were just that. Many a time I had brought him to his knees or injured him in a mild round of sparring, but now that we were actually in a fist-fight, I knew Thor would not hold back in the slightest.

And neither did I.

Thor punched me in the stomach and I doubled over before kneeing him in the groin, Thor grunting loudly. I head butted him before kicking him, my body arching into a back flip away from the power I knew were behind those deadly fists. He roared and charged me, bringing his hand across my face. The power behind his blow was staggering and I fell to my knees, sliding back across the wet stones.

"You can stop this Halea," Thor panted.

I rose to my feet and glared at him, "Yes- but I don't want to."

My valkyries, hearing the unspoken command that I gave, stepped forward back onto the training salle floor. No matter how menacing I was with my own small army of six behind me, Thor only smiled and threw out one hand, my eyes widening angrily.

"Mjolnir!"

There was a whistling in the air and then Thor caught his hammer out of the air, staring at me as the valkyries grew angry, shrieking at him. He told me once that Mjolnir was like an extension of his arm, a part of him that he only knew had been missing when it was in his hand. He knew its magnificent power because it resided within him, an ever there presence within his soul.

Thor only wielded his hammer more furiously than I had ever seen him fight, every valkyrie that he destroyed disappearing in a puff of ash and smoke.

As I watched him my anger began to wane and to his surprise, the last two valkyries conceding upon my order. Thor's eyes swept over the deadly creatures as they backed away and turned into barely substantial wisps of black smoke that promptly disappeared.

He then looked to me, the sky slowly starting to lighten, his chest rising and falling heavily.

My clothes clung to my form tightly and I would have been a fool not to see the look in Thor's magnificent blue eyes as he took me in. And then there was that tension we had so fought to ignore all these years, full of passion and a fervor unquenched, startling and candid between us.

"I do not wish to fight with you," I whispered, for once completely defenseless and unguarded. "But you force me to lose control."

Thor stepped closer and cupped the place between my jaw and neck, his calloused thumb stroking my cheek. I swallowed nervously, reveling within the warmth of his touch. "And I cherish that about you Halea, but when you lost control and took it out on Sif- a friend that I treasure so- that angered me. But that anger should not have been taken out on you and for that I am sorry, sweet."

I closed my eyes against the burning of oncoming tears, taking a deep, steadying breath. "You don't see me Thor- you have never seen me…"

"Halea, I don't understand-"

I cut him off with a kiss, indulging in the beauty of his mouth. I winced internally as I felt him hesitate, beginning to pull away before his mouth closed over mine, soft, gentle, but with a power that went unrivaled in all of the universe- there was no more hesitation there. Thor dropping Mjolnir with a thud to cup my face in his massive hands. And then he broke the kiss and pressed his forehead against mine, breathing just a little heavier. I ran my nails up the woven leather of his sleeve and to his neck, eliciting a small shiver from him when I caressed the skin there. Fisting my hand at the nape of his glorious blonde mane, I pulled him much closer and wrapped myself around him, groaning quietly. "We are such fools."

Thor nodded before capturing my lips once more, "That is true but I refuse to go without that which I desire."

Then I broke away from him and started back towards my home, leaving Thor there in the salle, undoubtedly with a shocked look on his face.

"And so we are selfish fools."