stuff in italics is a flashback
anyways thank you for reading :)
"I wonder what she looks like," Fandral strode carelessly about the streets on a warm Asgardian morning, Volstagg and Hogun following sluggishly behind admiring what they cared to and dismissing that which was ordinary, "she sounds to be quite atrocious, frankly. But, if on the off chance she isn't, I call dibs, what do you say?" he turned back to his companions for their input, but was only greeted by looks of embarrassment as they stared past his shoulder.
"I say you are, in fact, the most irrational man I have ever had the misfortune of associating with," Sif approached the three from behind a pillar they'd almost passed when she'd heard the preposterous subject matter. "Why don't you start using your imagined vision of her as a lead to track her down as the Great Odin has demanded of you?" she muttered as she bit out of an apple.
Fandral was a bit taken aback by the appearance of the goddess of war and responded with an effort to deviate the attention from himself, "Well, I could, uh, we could ask you the same question! What's your explanation for slacking, hm?!"
With a smirk and a nod of disapproval the woman replied, "I have more important things to attend, unfortunately. Things I have already made clear to the king. Therefore I have been dismissed from the assignment. And now, I must attend to them, good day Volstagg, Hogun." After nodding to the two she started off and yelled back, "get to work gentlemen! She won't be turning herself in!"
"Great!," Volstagg covered his face along with his shame, "what are we going to do Fandral? We have zero capabilities of tracking this girl, I mean; we don't even know what she looks like! And if that woman finds us lolling around again do you have any idea what Odin'll do to us?"
"Volstagg, please, relax. I've got it all taken care of trust me, we just need to stop by somewhere real quick and everything will be fine," Fandral's laid back persona didn't hold much hope for his giant friend, "c'mon! It's fine, I promise! I have everything under control."
"Another drink for the lass!" rang through a man's burly chest as he swung about the room in a drunken stupor; a frail woman under one arm and a hearty mug of mead in the hand of the other. There was laughter and excitement in the solemn tavern as the spirits of the people rose while the sun fell further down into the sky. It appeared to be a celebration of some kind complete with intoxicated dancing and singing of songs such as "Come Ye Heathens!" and "Today We Celebrate". They could have been heard for miles outside the cramped pub, with their lines of "Today we celebrate, In sumbel raise our voice, In feast and blot rejoice, For we are Asatru!" had there been anyone close enough to hear, but their party existed in only a small shack on the outskirts of the kingdom, so they involuntarily kept their celebrations to themselves. This was rather fortunate for them seeing as their meeting was intended to be secret, but once the good news had landed upon the party of what riches were to come, they freed their senses and engaged in the most gluttonous of carousing with which they had no problem now.
"Tell it again Dagný! One more time!" cried the large man as he set the girl upon a table top, then sloshed back to a distance where he could get her in full view as if his ears depended on her figure. "Come 'ere boys!" he wrangled in a couple of the men sloppily dancing around him and pulled them close to his chest, "let us listen one more time!"
"Alright! Alright!" it was the elven woman who spoke now as she attempted to regain composer from the whirlwind of excitement. "Gather round, gather round! Now, where was I? Oh yes the king! It all began early this mornin' aft'r y'all 'ad been freed from the dungeon…
"All guards report to the dungeon at once! All guards to the dungeon at once!" a guard ran about the halls of the kingdom as others flocked about him in response.
"What has happened?"
"We're unsure, your majesty."
"Have you any information of what has gone wrong?"
"We believe it to be members of a gang native to Alfheim, your majesty; they're unruly."
"Light elves…," the king rubbed his eyes and sank into his throne.
"Sir, we need the men now!" the messenger ran into the throne room with a look of fear and urgency. Accompanying soon after came a jolt in the room, almost as if someone were tugging at the ground with a sense of playfulness. "Go, Go! Leave one here, but the rest go!," and with those last words all guards were gone.
After the last of the guards had evacuated the chamber, a loud thud echoed off the walls as the door were shut behind them. He noticed that none of the guards had bothered to stay behind and he was all alone and unprotected. The king paced back and forth for a second, twiddled ideas here and there of what to do, then with defeat and confusion, he slunk back into his throne and sighed deeply.
"Well now that you're comfortable allow me to explain something to you," hissed a voice from within the chamber walls, "'your majesty'." The devious vocals trembled at the jest they had provided. The voice was smooth as it emerged from behind the king's chair, still cradling the old man's weary stature.
He seemed unamused and quite frankly already bored but allowed the voice to unveil itself, "I can assure you nothing will go your way, but come out let us chat."
Before him stood the very guard that had burst in with what he had believed to be treacherous news. His steps were so well thought out as he placed one foot delicately in front of the other, gliding him across the floor, a perplexing contrast to his rougher appearance. "I propose a deal," were his words as he stared into Odin's last good eye.
"I highly doubt it's a worth one minute of my time," said he as he reflected upon the scheme of the soldier, "but since you've gone through such great lengths to get my attention by staying hidden here for months and letting free my prisoners, I assume there's no harm in listening. Besides, I'll have you beheaded as soon as guards return, so go on."
With a wave of disinterest emanating from the king, the soldier ignored his annoyance with his hostage and began to recite his wishes. "Alright then," began the man with a smile, "your majesty. You are familiar with your son, sorry, frost giant, Loki, am I wrong?"
This question, rhetorical or not made the king stir slightly, "what does that have to do with anything? He's been reported dead or were you unaware?"
"Oh, your grace I can assure you he is not. No he is thriving, more so now than ever before, wouldn't you agree?"
Odin's face stayed still and silent.
"It would be a terrible shame though if he were to be rediscovered; raised from the dead, you could say, wouldn't it?" Teeth flashed the king as the man sneered in his face.
"I'm afraid I'm going to ask you to explain further, I am lost," excused Odin.
"Sir I know where your son is and he is not dead in the wasteland of Johtunheim."
The king was now fully on guard as he looked down at the man and let a very drawn out, "and where would that be, precisely?"
The man sneered once again, chuckling this time as he said, "why, quite literally, right under your nose." Suddenly the man took on the figure of the subject he had just discussed, "ta-da!"
The king looked down with a distraught gleam in his eye, "Loki…?"
"Yes, it is me father did you miss my presence or was it nice to have me out of the palace for a while? I'm certain you must have enjoyed my absence, everyone else seems to have," He laughed and danced around at the foot of the stairs leading up to the king. "Father, why must you appear so upset haven't you missed me?"
The king fell back into his seat, "you are not my son."
"Well yes you told me that a while ago, you know sparking my rage and what not, but it's alright now I've tried to take control of a whole world and I've gotten it out of my system!"
"No! You are not Loki! Remove that illusion at once!"
Loki's body stopped dancing and became very serious, but it retained a snicker as it said in a low growl, "you first, 'your majesty'."
A look of panic fell over the face of Odin, "what?" he snapped.
"Well I mean not in front of everyone, that might be a bit shocking for them to take in all at once. You know, coming to the realization that they've been under rule of a tyrant and the enemy of Odin might be a tad too much for their weak hearts."
"Who are you?" The king glared into the teeth of the stranger's smile.
"I'll show you mine if you show me yours."
Odin's face considered the threat of whomever he was dealing with and as he decided to finally reveal himself, the figure across from him shed itself at once also. There they stood, facing one another in contempt and bitterness. The embodiment of Loki had become a woman and the king had become Loki. The woman seemed oddly familiar, but the king was too focused on the fact that he'd been discovered.
"There doesn't that feel better?" the voice was no longer low and threatening, but now that of a chiming lady who was still rough enough to be taken seriously.
"Congratulations! You saw through my illusion! How exactly did you think you could hold that against me though? It's not exactly like you can scrounge up proof, nor can you force me into revealing myself! Honestly, you could have tried a bit harder. Stay where you are, I'm going to have you imprisoned," walking away, Loki transformed once again into the visage of the Great Odin and let out a gruff snicker.
The girl sighed, "you can't honestly believe I haven't thought this through can you?" She swept her hand through the air, and as she did, Loki's illusion dragged away with it.
He was horrified and felt immediately threatened, "how did you…?"
"A-a-ah! A magician never reveals her secrets."
"Alright what do you want?" now bitterly annoyed by the girl's light-hearted attitude, Loki attempted to rid of her as soon as possible.
"Well there are several things I'm interested in to be entirely honest," she paused, "I'm not sure if you'll be able to address every single one, but I'll take what I can get."
"Very well, what are -?"
"Just kidding! No I won't!" giggled the woman, "I want every one of my demands met, and if that is impossible for you, well then, I'm afraid I'll have to kill you. Or worse, I could out you to the entire Nine Realms. So really, the choice is still yours, but there is definitely a better one to be made."
The young ruler had finally had enough and wanted rid of the girl immediately. He grabbed her be the arm and hissed at her intently, "now you listen to me you pretentious elf, I have waited far too long for my chance to rule and I'm not going to allow it to be snatched from me by the hands of some mere creature of Alfheim."
"Please, don't touch you're really not my type," she removed the hand almost in disgust, "Anyways don't worry I don't want to rule over your precious kingdom, that's far more responsibility than I'm interested in."
"Well then what in all the Nine Realms is it that you want?"
"For starters, enough money to make me and my people rich beyond belief."
"You must be joking."
Bang!
Loki turned toward the door in fear and tried to shield himself with his façade of Odin, but the magic of the elf wouldn't allow it, "the guards…"
"Oh don't worry I locked it. Also, I request all my people that are held captive in your dungeons have their charges dismissed."
"I don't thin-."
BANG!
"Fine!"
"Hm, I really didn't think this through all that much, I mean I was betting on you seeing through my plan so I never really got this far. Guess that's what you get for expecting genius out of a frost giant, pft! Do you mind if I come back later?" she began to climb off the terrace.
BANG! "Your majesty?!" came cries from outside the door.
"Wait!," begged Loki, "change me back!"
The elven lady laughed again and snapped her fingers, granting the powers to flood back into the man.
BANG! The door gave and as it did numerous amounts of guards flooded onto the floor, only to trip as they attempted to regain their composure. "Your highness are you alright?!" cried one of the men.
"Seize her!" the body of Odin jabbed at where the woman was standing, however she no longer occupied the area. "Soldiers! Patrol the entire kingdom for an Alfheimian woman! None shall rest until she is found and executed!"
"Yes Great Odin!" Then, just as rapidly as they had entered, the guards were gone, save for a few that stayed behind with their king.
Loki turned to one of his men, "guard," the king's rough voice scratched at his throat, "when the girl is found, make sure you bring her to me."
She swayed back and forth as she acted out the accounts to the best of her impaired ability and finished with, "long story short, boys: we can do whate'r we want 'ere 'cause I got 'im under my thumb!" and she stuck out her thumb as if half-expected to actually see the king under it, "drinks all around!" she yelled to the entire room. Then once again a roar of cheers rose in the tavern for a split second, and then died down again to the still rambunctious atmosphere that enchanted the people within it.
Not all in this pub were cheerful however. To the far corner, shrouded with shawls and a scowl unseen by the party-goers of the evening sat a figure who silently watched and waited for something that seemed to be even unknown to him.
Presently, however, one of the waitress's attending the guests strode over and handed him a drink, "s'from the lady hostin', she granted free drinks to er'yone," she gestured to the elf dancing her worries away in the center of the room on the table she'd refused to get down from. The man nodded as the maid left, but didn't touch the drink the entire night, just kept to himself and stayed silent.
Eventually, the night had finally come to an end and those that were not gone were on their way to leave as they helped each other up and headed to the door, or at least in the general direction of where they thought it would be. The large man that had instigated so much of the night's fun took up two of his mates in his arms and turned once more to the last of the room's occupants which included only Dagný, a few incapacitated fellows, and the waitress. "G'night me darlin'!" he cried to his elven friend, "ya sure ya don't want to walk back with us?" He eyed the man in the corner with a suspicious glance through his glazed eyes.
"I'll be fine," she waved at him half heartedly, "goodnight Ásmundr, rest well!"
"Pray you as well, my child," and with those words he shifted those on his shoulders and shut the door behind him.
After quite unsuccessfully helping to clean up the mess, the maid excused Dagný with a disappointed 'thank you, goodnight' and handed her her coat and sent her away with some bread and waited for the door to shut behind her.
"Alright," she said to the cloaked man, "you; out! We're closed now," but when she turned around to see him out, he was no longer there. There was no sign that he'd ever been there to begin with. The waitress stood for a second rather puzzled, but brushed it off and continued with her closing routine.
Merrily, Dagný walked home as herself without a veil of impersonation. In a tired limpness, her body unconsciously danced and swayed ever so slightly as she rocked back and forth on her heels. As she walked she sang, the wind awakened to join her in song and carry her melody throughout the streets of the quiet kingdom:
Kuulin äänen, kuulin, kuulin äänen kullaltani
Heläyksen, helä-heläyksen hertaltani
Luulin luona, luulin, luulin luona olleheni
Läsnä lämmitelle, läsnä lämmitelleheni
En mie luona, en mie, en mie luona ollutkaan
En mie läsnä, en mie, en mie läsnä lämmiteltkään
Olin viien, olin, olin viien viikon päässä
Kuuen kuukauen, kuuen kuukauen nenässä
Tuuli tuli, tuuli tuli, tuli mielellinen
Ahavainen, aha-ahavainen kielellinen
Sanan toisi, sanan, sanan toisi, toisen veisi
Omalleni, oma-omalleni kullalleni
Kullan lintu, kullan, kullan lintuselleheni
Tuota toivoin mie poloonen
Tuota toivoin mie poloonen
Kun mie saisin minkä soisin
Kun mie saisin minkä soisin
Saisin miehen mielellisen
Saisin miehen mielellisen
Toveritsan toimellisen
Toveritsan toimellisen
Sylissäni syöttelisin
Sylissäni syöttelisin
Käsissäni käyttelisin
Käsissäni käyttelisin
Jo sain mitä halajin
Sain mie miehen mielellisen
Omaksens on ottanunna
Kullaksensa kutsununna
Kaunoksensa katsonunna
Valkiaksensa valinnu
Niin minä hänessä riipun
Sekä riipun jotta kiikun
Niinkun lintu lehtipuussa
Kuusen oksalla orava
Niinkun lintu lehtipuussa
Kuusen oksalla orava
Once her song concluded, the drunken Dagný stood at the steps of her small hidden living quarters. She unlocked the door and hummed the tune as she stepped inside. "I heard a voice of my darling," she sang quietly, shutting the door with care. Then all was silent and still for a moment.
"Agh!" before she could scream for help, her mouth was muffled and tied from behind by a rough set of hands wielding an even rougher dirty rag. She squirmed and struggled, yanking and jerking away from the grip. She tugged at the cloth in her mouth and then at the hands that continued scrambling about her body as they unrelentingly tried to tie her up further. Squirming helplessly, she tried turning around, but the body of her attacker was pressed up so tightly to hers there was barely any room to move between it and the door she was shoved up against. Her stifled wails and muddled movements did no good in regards to attracting a savior, so finally her exhausted body went still and was kept that way as she was knocked in the head by something blunt and hard and all the night around her was washed away by an even darker abyss to which she ceased.
The song Dagny sings is called "I Heard A Voice" and can be found on Youtube if anyone's interested
I thought it was catchy c:
the lyrics are also slightly important but not really so eh
either way I hope you enjoy it so far! should have an update soon :)