A/N: This chapter is a bit of a teaser/set-up for the later chapters. I have a good idea in my head for the direction that I want this story to go in, but it needed to explain what happened with a lot of the characters, and I sort of use Ty and Anders for that in this chapter. I'll try not to do that so much in the subsequent chapters!
Colin Gunderson slowly paced the floors of his wine cellar underneath his West Auckland mansion. He normally spent most of his time at the house he owned closer to the city, but he did some of his best thinking here. It was also more secluded, meaning he could do things such as temporarily host the body of a presumed dead woman.
The woman in question had broken into his wine cellar to shelter from the harsh June weather. She had stumbled out of the vast forest where she had almost died before the goddess spirit Freya saved her from death and attached itself to her body. Katherine Ericson was her name, and she was bewildered to awaken with a collection of memories and emotions that she was SURE weren't hers, but otherwise grateful to be alive.
Until Colin, the owner of the house, had found her, weak and starving in the basement and used her weakness to restrain her in the basement. He had some novelty handcuffs lying around that he used to chain her to a cabinet for the time being whilst he determined her worth and use to him.
"Freya, my dear, I must admit that I am not wholly delighted to see you alive again. However, now that you ARE alive, I believe we may be able to start afresh. I have a plan which requires your assistance."
"Loki, you sick bastard. You tried to kill me. Why the fuck should I want to have anything to do with you?!" Katherine spat. Since Colin had brought her food and water, she had regained strength, but the handcuffs were still enough to restrain her. It didn't stop her tugging against them in rage.
"YOU killed my daughter, so why don't we make it even and call it a day? Need I remind you that I can kill you anytime I so choose? In fact…I could kill you right now. Everyone thinks you're dead. Or I could torture you into submission…" A fire started at his feet and started creeping its way in Katherine's direction. The reflection of the flames in her eyes emphasised the fear and desperation she was now feeling.
"No, please," she whispered, horrified. "No more fire."
"Missing PhD student Katherine Ericson has been found alive in a private stretch of land in the Waitakere Ranges. The 26 year old had been missing for several months and had been presumed dead by police, with her fiancé being arrested for manslaughter. All charges against her fiancé, 30-year old Alan Wilkie, have subsequently been dropped and her disappearance is no longer being treated as suspicious."
"Isn't that the same forest where Axl sent Mum to be banished a few months ago?" Ty Johnson asked his grandfather, Olaf. The two of them were seated in Ty's living room, sprawled over two couches. Olaf was the only family member of Ty's who was both happy with him and not seriously preoccupied with other matters.
Olaf squinted at the television. "Hmm?" He hadn't been paying attention to the news. His mind had been drifting been the latest sexcapade he had had with Stacey, and with the concerning persistent absence of Kvasir. Zeb had wandered down to the basement while everyone else was at Gaia's ceremony, and Kvasir managed to escape. No-one had seen him since then. Zeb was also keeping a pretty low profile since everyone was extremely upset with him for enabling Kvasir to escape.
"That part of the forest. Isn't it owned by Colin Gunderson? Which burnt down after Mum was banished there?" Ty had started paying a lot more attention to the outside world since he had become mortal to distract himself from the world he left behind.
"Maybe. I'm not sure." The forests to the west of Auckland Olaf didn't bother to distinguish the difference; he only knew the direct route through them to the surf beaches. Ty let out a sigh and titled his head back against the back of the couch.
"Have you spoken to any of your brothers lately?" Olaf pressed. He hated to see his family at odds, especially when it was over something that made one of them so happy. Mike needed a boot up the arse to finally realise that maybe Ty becoming mortal was a good thing.
"I'm not exactly flavour of the month at the moment. Mike refuses point blank to talk to me, Axl is just hurt that I wouldn't even consider talking to him first, and Anders has his own problems dealing with Axl and Gaia to worry about little old me." Ty for once, actually felt sorry for Anders. Ever since Helen's death, he had shunned the idea of destiny and straight up refused to even contemplate the idea of a romantic relationship with Gaia.
"Yes, the struggle between Gaia and Idunn is proving to be a lot of trouble for her. It's almost like she has a split personality disorder – one day she's in love with Axl and is abhorring the idea of Anders, and then other days she's back on his doorstep or turning up at his work," Olaf said, shaking his head slowly.
Ty had to admit that it was actually nice to not have to be directly involved in all the mayhem that was occurring in the god-o-sphere as he called it (he hadn't settled on a proper name yet, but that'd have to do for now). Despite his official label as the traitor of the family and the loss of all hope with the love of his life, the warmth and lack of drama that his life now possessed was refreshing.
There was a thumping at the door, which was unexpected. There was no-one besides Olaf that would voluntarily be seeking out Ty's company at the moment. Ty leapt up and went to the door, a puzzled expression on his face. He certainly wasn't expecting to see Anders standing on his doorstep with a desperate look on his face.
"Are you watching the netball?" His face was pleading; a rarity on Anders' face. Anders NEVER had to plead with anyone for anything.
"I didn't know you watched netball!" was the first thing that Ty could think of to say, and he instantly kicked himself mentally for blurting it out like that.
"Please. 14 hot athletic chicks running around in short dresses for an hour? That's exactly my cup of tea." Anders then looked anxiously over his shoulder.
"Hurry up, let me in!" Ty stepped back to let Anders enter, and shut the door behind him.
"Why so desperate to visit me all of a sudden?" Ty asked. He wanted to glower as Anders instinctively sat down in the spot that Ty had been occupying all evening, but he managed to suppress it.
"I'm trying to avoid our new Goddess in Chief and her jealous boyfriend. Each time Idunn takes over Gaia and she makes her way to see me, Axl goes all aggro and has the biggest go at her. Multiple times I've had to threaten to call the police because they're arguing so loudly. And if Axl was any other guy, he would have smacked her one. I've seen how close he's gotten. Fuck, Olaf, you weren't joking about that god and goddess being together shit. They remind me of how Mum and Dad used to be." He leaned forward and tiredly rubbed his face with his hands.
"Oh god, and then I had to use my powers to convince the police not to investigate further into Helen's death. I'm over this, Ty, I really am." Anders was looking wistfully at Ty, no doubt imagining what it would be like to be mortal like him. The thought made Olaf sad.
"Wait, that…that worked?! You managed to talk police officers into something?!" Anders' powers normally didn't extend to positions of authority, unless the person was exceedingly unintelligent or gullible.
"I assume so, or else I'd be locked up on suspicion of murder right now," Anders said sarcastically.
Ty nodded, and sat back to watch the netball. He was pondering what Anders had said, both about him and Axl. Was it just because Ty was mortal, or did it seem like their god powers were getting stronger? He tried to shake the thought, however, and he, his brother and Olaf enjoyed a strongly mortal-focused evening watching sports and laughing and drinking. The way their family SHOULD have done were it not for the fact that they were all Norse gods.
"…and that is where we can find Frigg." Colin explained, with a smug smile on his face. Katherine still hadn't entirely warmed up to Colin yet, especially considering the way he bound her in his basement, but he had allowed her to return home and see her family and friends. Her fiancé, however, was mortified to see her. He had since gotten himself another girlfriend, and she suspected (though she couldn't quite remember) that he had been the one to nearly kill her. Colin reminded her a lot of him. And with that though, she felt the rage boil up inside her body.
She glared at him. "And just what, exactly, does that have to do with me?"
"Well, my dear, you and I are going to start properly taking the world by storm. And then once we have done that, you will parade yourself to the Johnsons and let them believe you are Frigg. They will see your power, but they will think that your power is because you are Frigg. And that allows me to draw Frigg away until we can safely guarantee that we are in a superior bargaining position. What say you?"
Katherine was involuntarily shaking; her balance was slightly off kilter from the burns on her feet that she had suffered a few days earlier.
"Fine. I'll help," she relented through gritted teeth, "but I'm not going to be happy about it." Unfortunately for her, Colin was the only proper way for her to get all the things she wanted in life. Because of that, and her precarious position of Loki being able to easily kill her and get away with it, she had no choice but to obey.
Colin's smile widened. "Excellent! I'll inform the others!"
A/N: The 'mortal' moments that the brothers spend with Ty are going to end up being the only sources of light-heartedness in this fic. So I will do my best to ensure that they are up to scratch. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!