A/N: Written for HSWW (Challenges and Assignments)
Assignment #7 History of Muggles: Olympic Games; Task 2: Write a DemiGod!AU
Around the World in Thirty-One Days: 120. Nauru - AU: Norse Mythology
Halloween Bingo: 33. (scenario) getting lost in the forest
Black Cat: Felix the Cat (Looney Tunes) - (character) Luna Lovegood
After School Club: Minecraft: Prompts: (setting) wilderness, (item) map, (action) punching a tree
Word count: 2,369
NOTE: Rolf Scamander doesn't exist in this short story, which is why the children's name is Lovegood (:
It was an early autumn morning, and the sweet surrendering scent of the morning dew filled the forest. Brown, yellow, orange, and red leaves from the tall trees lay scattered on the forest floor. The dark shadows of the voluminous trees and the surrounding bushes had become the backbone of the forest, standing as passive protectors of the peaceful place.
The sun rose in a hurry, blooming into the sky with a warm mellow glow and sending what was left of the moon packing until its next turn. As the morning developed, the sound of young birds filled the air: chirping, tweeting, and warbling incessantly.
Among the sounds from the birds came the sound of leaves crunching beneath some pairs of boots. Those boots belong to a set of twins. They were identical in their appearance from their tall height to their stormy blue eyes. Their ash blonde hair curled at the nape of their neck. One way to know one boy over the other were their expressions. One had a more serious, tenacious look while the other kept a roguish, smug air around him.
"Mum's gonna find out about this, I know it," one of the twins said. He was looking at a map before it was snatched from his hands. "Hey!"
"You always jinx it, Lorcan!" his twin exclaimed, "Mum never finds out until after you've said she'll find out." He rolled his eyes. "I don't know why you include yourself in these things if you're only thinking about getting caught."
"I do not!" Lorcan argued, reaching for the map. "I happen to like these adventures just as much as you do, Lysander, and if you must know, Mum just doesn't want us to get hurt. I'm making sure that we don't."
"Noble Lorcan, for the people," Lysander mocked sarcastically, keeping the map away from his twin's reach.
Lorcan huffed and reached forward to take the map back. "I'd rather be noble and cautious than reckless and unconcerned."
"Say what you want, Brother, but you're not going to ruin the mood for me this time."
Lorcan took the map back from Lysander and examined it. His brows furrowed when he looked from a symbol on the map to the tree they walked next to.
"I think we've been here before," he said.
Lysander scoffed. "No we haven't or I would have recognized it."
His brother rolled his eyes and pointed to a spot on the map. "This is the same tree that was near the stream. We've passed the stream already unless there's a duplicate."
Lysander narrowed his eyes. "Let me see that." Lorcan turned the map so Lysander could take a look. Lysander's eyes swept from the tree to the symbol on the map, recognizing the appearance from the symbol's name.
"Bloody hell, we're going in circles!" he exclaimed.
Lorcan sighed dejectedly. "Now what are we going to do? We're lost and empty handed."
"You're giving up too easy," Lysander remarked with a dismissive hand wave. "All we have to do is keep going and try to follow the map correctly this time." He gave Lorcan an accusing look.
Lorcan made a strangled noise from the back of his throat. "I wasn't the one who would take the map every ten minutes because I wanted to irritate my brother," he retorted.
"Eh, details," Lysander said, waving his hand nonchalantly. Lorcan huffed and looked back at the map, hoping to make some progress with their recent revelation.
"We've reached this same tree four times already!" Lysander huffed, punching the nearest tree, which wasn't a bright idea because it turned his knuckles red. "Ow!".
"Then give me the map back and we could find our way out of here," Lorcan said with a snicker as he watched his brother hurt himself.
"I'm not leaving until I find the antler," Lysander declared stubbornly.
"We don't even know if it really exists."
"Mum mentioned it in her stories, so I know it exists."
Lorcan let out a sigh. "If we haven't found it yet, then it's not here, Lysander."
Lysander clenched his fist in frustration and huffed in frustration. "That's only because we're going in circles!"
"Then give me the map back!" Lorcan shouted.
"Never!" Lysander pressed the map to his chest and twisted it away from his brother's view.
Lorcan stepped up to Lysander and glared at him. "Give. Me. The. Map."
Lysander didn't waver from the look and returned his own. "That may work with Lily and the others, but it ain't working with me."
The young men continued their stare down for a minute or two before they both sprung into a defensive stance from the sound of a twig snapping. They looked around, peering in the area in front of them for any suspicious activity. Finding none, Lorcan and Lysander let out a small breath. They turned to look towards the infamous, large tree casually, only to exclaim in surprise and jump back into the dirt path.
A tall man was leaning against the tree with his arms folded. He wore a plaid shirt and worn out jeans that were lazily tucked into brown combat boots. His hair was long and flowy to his mid-back. The man's eyes were gleaming as he looked at Lorcan and Lysander.
"You boys lost or in some trouble?" the man asked casually, tilting his head in a challenging manner.
Lysander opened his mouth to say something, but Lorcan placed a hand on Lysander's chest and pushed him back gently. "Who are you?"
The man clicked his tongue. "I believe I asked a question first, kid."
"I'm not answering the question a man who mysteriously appears out of thin air," Lorcan answered.
"Heh, smart kid." The man kicked off the tree and approached the twins. Lorcan and Lysander hold their ground until the figure becomes more intimidating when he stood directly in front of them; then they take a small step back.
The man chuckled. "You were looking for something. An antler belonging to a god, right?"
Lysander blinked in surprise. "How did you know that?"
"Luna told me," the man said coolly.
Lorcan and Lysander look at each other with matching puzzled expressions. "Mum?" they said simultaneously.
"How do you know our mum?" Lysander asked.
"Why would she tell you to do that?" Lorcan continued.
"How did she even know what we were doing in the first place?" Lysander continued, sending a glare towards his brother.
"Your mother always knows where you are, kid, mainly because I tell her when I find out myself," the man asked. "I keep an eye out for you on the regular."
"You're not making any sense," Lorcan said with a frown.
"None of this makes sense!" Lysander said before pointing a finger at the man. "Who are you and how do you know our mum?" he demanded.
The man held up his hands. "Alright, alright. It's about time that you knew." The man reached behind him and pulled out a sturdy antler. "This is the very antler that is part of many stories, and it belongs to me."
Lorcan glanced at the ground in thought. "If that's the antler then…"
He heard a gasp from his brother. "You're the Freyr! Wicked!" Lysander exclaimed before peering at the god. "I pictured you to be…" Lysander made a hand motion in front of Freyr. "...taller."
Freyr scoffed. "This is one of my many forms," he explained. "The very form I met your mother in while she was traveling for her naturalist work. One of the most peculiar yet wonderful women I've met in my lifetimes." He looked off vaguely.
Lysander and Lorcan looked at each other at the same time with grimaces. "Please tell me you didn't 'converse' with our mum," Lorcan said.
"I beg of you," Lysander added.
Freyr laughed wholeheartedly. "How do you think you got here?" he asked bluntly with a raised brow.
Lysander wrapped his arms around his stomach dramatically. "I think I'm gonna be sick," he groaned while squeezing his eyes shut.
"Did you just say what I think you said?" Lorcan questioned, ignoring his brother's antics while he processed what Freyr said.
Freyr nodded. "Mhm, I said it."
Lysander popped open one eye as he was not getting the response he hoped for; though he now started to make the connection to the implication the god made. He straightened up and looked at Freyr, then Lorcan, then back to Freyr.
"You're our father?" the twins exclaimed at the same time. Their eyes were wide and mouths were hung open. "No way!"
Freyr scratched the back of his head. "Probably not the best way to tell you that, and your mother may sic one of those strange creatures on me for it…" He shook his head. "Come on, I should take you back to your mother. She would like to know about this."
Lorcan and Lysander didn't dare argue; their curiosity had gotten the better of them. Besides, who would want to question and argue this kind of revelation? Lysander and Lorcan definitely won't.
The final thoughts in their mind were more focused on the next conversation they were going to have with their mother.
The room wasn't silent from the rustling noises coming from the pot cooking on the stove and the distant noises from the creatures in the other room, but the sound of a knife hitting the cutting board as it sliced through carrots was sharp in the three individual's ears; Lorcan, Lysander, and Freyr were seated at the end of the table watching Luna.
She wore a green dress woven with leaves and flowers while thin sticks were tied into her bun. She was looking at them all with a soft, drifty smile on her face, still slicing the carrots with precision. Lorcan and Lysander looked at each other; they knew their mother was one of the most sweetest, calmest people they'd ever meet, but the way she used that blade if someone said the wrong thing was scary.
"I see you've met," she said simply. "It's a wonderful surprise to see you in person, Frey."
Freyr nodded, leaning his elbow on the table. "Heh, there's a right time for everything."
"I thought for a brief moment the Wrackspurts had gotten to me, but I keep my thoughts positive to keep them away," Luna said, "so that means you were only wishing to communicate with me through spiritual means."
Lorcan would look back and forth between the two adults as they talked. Even Lysander wouldn't interrupt with a comment if he didn't want to feel the hidden blunt wrath that his mother could bring.
"Well, I do have other things I have to take care of, being who I am," Freyr remarked.
"Of course," Luna replied with her head tilted slightly. She made one final cut to the carrot before sliding the pieces into the pot. She set the wooden board down and sat down at the table. "I am happy to hear from you through the wind. It was comforting."
Lorcan's eyes cast down at his mother's words, thinking about the particular wording. "Mum, I'm sorry to interrupt but that's what you told us when you tucked us in for bed."
"I want to point out I was not always tucked in because I could do it myself," Lysander said with a finger raised.
Luna laughed softly. "Yes, I told you that because it was true; your father was always in the wind."
"You could have told us he was this guy," Lysander said. "I could have bragged to my friends!" Lorcan cut his eyes at Lysander, who sighed dramatically. "I mean our friends."
"She did tell us," Lorcan said, remembering one of their bedtime stories. "We chose not to believe it," he turned to his mother, "right, Mum?"
"That's right," Luna answered as Lysander sputtered for a response, "and be careful with that Lysander or the Dabberblimps will detect your confusion and try to possess your mind."
Freyr chuckled briefly before clearing his throat. "It's more of my fault then your mothers. I thought of it being better for you not to know, so she told you in her own way without revealing the truth."
"So why did you want to tell us now?" Lorcan asked.
"Better yet, why did you think Mum would do something to you if you did?" Lysander added.
"More of an impulse," Freyr answered, "and I couldn't leave you two lost out there then questions would come up if I did something else." He glanced at Luna. "To answer your other question, that would be me going against the agreement that I made myself."
"I wouldn't do anything to you, Frey," Luna said. "It would happen to you on your own. The Implegimps would have taken care of it."
Lorcan and Lysander ducked their heads while Freyr didn't even flinch; instead, he grinned. "I'd have been looking forward to it."
Luna's smile widened. "Is it possible for you to stay for lunch? Or would your boundaries not allow it?"
Lorcan and Lysander swiftly turned to Freyr with pleading eyes. "Please?" Lorcan asked.
"We want to know more about you that they don't have in books," Lysander said.
Freyr stroked his chin. "I don't think the others would miss me that much since my season is over…" he trailed off.
"Yes!" the twins exclaimed in unison. They gave each other a high five before leaning towards Freyr.
"You've got a lot of questions to answer," Lorcan said.
"Yeah, like what kind of powers we're gonna have," Lysander said with a grin.
Luna and Freyr looked between two boys before Luna stood to stir the food in the pot, leaving Freyr to discuss things with the twins.
"Now I won't be here too long," Freyr started, "but let's get started." He rubbed his hands together.
Lorcan and Lysander were eagerly listening to Freyr's words. When Luna returned to the table, she would drift in with a comment or two, letting the boys in on more information. This was better than any other adventures that they'd taken thus far; but with the knowledge they were getting now, they would have even greater adventures.