I've Never Seen

It was so messy, I felt my hands itching to either organize the entire table or flip it. Ever since I was a kid, I was a bit of an organization freak. If everything in any aspect of my day wasn't organized, I would stop everything, sit down for however much time, and perfectly partition all of my items into the best categories. It was so bad that I would sometimes just reorder my backpack, desk, and room instead of studying. That stuff got worse in high school, when my stress was so high, I'd use organizing as stress relief.

Dinner made my stomach churn and my skin itch. Imagine the first time you saw that scene in Harry Potter when everyone sat down for dinner together at those long tables heaping full of food. It was like that, but a billion times worse. Some kind of huge creature was laid out on a huge rod over a fire pit, and people were tearing off different parts of its flesh before bringing it back to the table. I felt bile rise up in my stomach at the sight and smell of it, which was like the stench of burnt flesh I smelled as a kid when I hurt that friend of mine. I told you the story just now.

So, instead of sitting with my buddies and digging in, I sprinted across the dining area to the trash cans. My hand gripped onto the top of the can and ripped it clean off, swinging doors, plastic sides, and all. And I heaved. And heaved. And heaved. Until my throat burned and my eyes watered. Then I realized the smell of the trash itself, which had me puking still. It stopped after some time, and I sat down on the floor, leaning against it. I soon began to cry like a little bitch, so in shock at the sight of the beast, the experience of vomiting so much that the stomach acid started eating away at my esophageal mucous. Alexei made his way over to check on me. What a precious boy he is. He knelt beside me and raised his open hand high above his head. A Valkyrie dropped a cloth napkin into his palm, and he brought it down to start cleaning up my face, wiping at my mouth with one side and folding it before wiping away my tears with the other side.

He cooed at me in Russian, petting my hair as I cried and blubbered to him about how much this sucked and how much I wanted to go home. Slowly, I relaxed as the crying began to cease from his kind actions and comfort.

I was pulled up gently by my upper arms. Alexei spoke to me softly, eyes becoming strict with a kind of parental concern. "You're okay now?"

Unable to speak any words, I opted to quietly nod my head and thanked him with a hug. He petted my hair and rubbed my back, staying in the hug until I let go of my own volition. Just that little action made me smile wider than I had all day. He was so considerate and emotionally smart, letting me hold on as long as I needed rather than letting go as soon as he got sick of it. We walked back to the table together, his hand resting on my back protectively while I leaned into him imperceptibly.

Magnus looked at me with a kind of pity as I sat down, trying to ignore the giant creature on the table. "Vegetarian? I've never seen such a violent reaction to Saehrimnir. There are vegetarian options, you know."

I covered my mouth and tried to push down any bile that threatened to come back up when the smell of cooking meat reached my nose again. Once I was okay, I responded. "Vegan. As strict as possible. I always ate alone at home since my foster family were heavy meat-eaters. Sometimes, I'd leave for hours around dinner time and only come back home once everyone was asleep, just so I wouldn't have to smell that. This is a million times worse."

Alexei grunted, thanking a pretty, blonde Valkyrie who handed him a plate of food. "And she has her horrible memory of burning her friend's scorched flesh. Doesn't leave her mind in a good place." Magnus' eyes brightened, and he winced, understanding the connection.

"Oh yeah. Sorry. Almost forgot about that. You feel better now after getting your guts out?"

"Meh. Kinda. Half-ass. Better than a few minutes ago. I think I just want some vegetables or some shit. This smell is giving me nausea."

Mallory reached behind Thomas Jefferson, Jr. and handed me a little spray bottle, grinning mischievously at me. "Flowery perfume spray. Not for me. Halfborn smells like he walked through an entire landfill after the practice battles, so I use this around me to make sure I still have a sense of smell for the next morning. Try it out."

I hesitantly spritzed the bottle of perfume around me in a circle and nearly fell over from the relief it brought my nose. "Mallory, you're a fucking godsend. Thank you so much."

She laughed as I just sat there, happily drowning in the smell of roses, lilies, and lotuses that enveloped my being.

Alexei laughed at me too, snickering behind his bread at my extreme joy. "To think, just a second a ago, you looked like a drunk girl puking in the toilet after just getting dumped by her short-term boyfriend. What a change that's occurred."

I ignored him. "Well at least I didn't become a babushka within two seconds of seeing someone cry, Alyoshenka. Don't talk shit if you can't back it up with facts."

Alex absolutely cackled at my words, high-fiving me across the table before shoving Alexei over to make him sit with Magnus so the child of Loki could sit with me. I giggled at my new buddy's offended huffing-and-puffing, and I wiggled my fingers at him to say hello from across the table. He scowled at Alex with a mighty glare. "Listen here, сука. If you ever try to take my spot again, I won't hesitate to-"

Fieri smirked at him and wrapped both arms around my shoulders in a mocking motion, which only served to further rile up the already raging Russian. "Won't hesitate to what? Hurt me? Watch your mouth, Vlad the Impaler. My boyfriend's sitting right next to you."

"Stop that. Don't make me fight for you. Not fair, Alex. I already have to fight for my death. I refuse to fight again."

I laughed aloud, covering my face before winking at my friends. "Yeah, Alex. We don't need another Jodha Akbar in the dining room. Not very civilized."

Samirah smirked over her falafel from her spot at Magnus' left. "You know that movie?"

"Dude, Aishwarya Rai starred in that movie! Who hasn't seen it?! Besides these gringos."

Alex stared at me in slight shock. "Dude."

"What? I can say Latino slang! I learned Spanish for almost ten years. Sure, half of it was in school and the other half was me being best friends with my sixth grade Spanish teacher, but just because I learned school Spanish doesn't mean I don't know street Spanish. Admittedly, though? My BFF taught me all the slang I know. He was the most Italian guy ever, but his dad was Cuban."

She nodded in understanding, patting my shoulder. "And let me guess. You didn't understand what he said half the time?"

"Naturally."

"Sucks for you."

"Yep. He was nice, though. Even with his extreme narcissism."

"Of course he was narcissistic. Cuban and Italian pride? I'm surprised you actually became close with him."

"I was too, dude. He was such a prick, but always took time to at least listen to our problems even if he couldn't help us."

"You sound like you had a crush on him or something."

I gave Alex the most deadpan look I could muster. "No fucking duh. Italian and Cuban. The guy was beautiful. But he was super gay. The King Gay. So I gave up on that and found someone else. Got dumped twice, and now I've decided to be one of the Vestal Virgins so I can disprove the stereotype that female virgins are meek and quiet."

Everyone at the table shut up and shot me expressions that implied they thought I was crazy. They're not wrong.

Alexei raised an eyebrow at me. "You had a crush on a gay man?"

I threw my arms up in exasperation. "He was hot! And I didn't know he was gay until much later into our friendship! What do you want me to do?!"

He moved back, putting his hands up in surrender to try and keep me calm. "Relax. Just asking. Was it odd when you found out he was gay?"

"No, I had a moment where everything clicked into place. It was like, 'THAT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING!', and then we became closer friends because neither of our families accepted us, so we leaned against each other for support. It was really nice. He was an amazing friend, ya know? Much like you guys, but we bonded so much more strongly. We felt more like family than friends, almost shutting out our actual families in favor of our friendship. He always called me prima or hermana or baja. I called him cabrón or primo. Sometimes I called him hermano. We were super tight. And then I died."

Alex shrugged and bumped shoulders with me. "Sam is the only one I consider family. We share a godly parent."

I whipped my head around to look at Samirah, not believing what I was hearing. She smiled coyly. "It's true. I was going to tell you, but got distracted and interrupted. Loki is my dad, but Alex's mom."

Alex continued. "Yeah. So I get that whole friends-over-family situation. You're welcomed here, though. You are our family now. Whether or not you wanna be. We gotchu, prima."

My hands reached over and pulled Alex into a tight hug. They moved away after a few minutes, but only after patting my back.

Hearth knocked on the table to get our attention. He started signing at me furiously, eyes drawn together and lips curved into a frown. Blitzen translated. "You better start eating. They don't always have food ready in your room for you. You can't go to bed hungry. If you try, you won't be able to survive tomorrow's melee."

I groaned, putting my face in my hands.

"If you don't want something from here, you can always ask one of the Valkyries to bring you something," suggested Halfborn. Despite his grizzly build and harsh face, he spoke with such an understanding tone. That actually threw off my groove.

"Um, sure, man. Thanks. Actually. Samirah, can I make myself something?"

She raised an eyebrow at me. "You can just call me Sam. I mean, I think you can cook for yourself. There's no rules against it. But we can always have someone bring it to you, though."

"There's usually a lot of thought that goes into a name. I mean, there's power in a name. I just like to respect others in that way." Samirah smirked at Magnus, punching his arm and making him cry out. She turned back to me. "And I like cooking. It keeps me relaxed, helps me get rid of stress. Please?"

"Sure. Come on. I'll take you."

Alexei, having cleared his plate and sat back in his chair, let out a soft sigh and asked me if he could join. "Uh. Yeah? If you want. When I cook, it gets really messy. You may not want to be there when it does."

Fieri, like an asshole, winked at me, telling Alexei earnestly, "It'll be even messier if you join in. But I don't think she'd mind. If you get my drift."

He flushed pink as a flamingo, and I swore to have revenge on Alex Fierro for ruining my innocence and joy that day. "Prepare to die tomorrow, Alex Fieri. No fucking mercy."

They laughed and clapped a hand down onto my shoulder. "As if. Good luck, Flo from Progressive."

By some miracle, I kept my mouth shut long enough to not get into a fight before I made my dinner and had it too. The kitchen was gorgeous. It had literally everything the world's greatest chefs would ever want, and more. It was the best thing I'd seen since coming to this place. I was a bit concerned about the open flames coming into contact with the wooden walls and stuff, but I was too excited at the prospect of finally being able to make something for myself to dwell on the hazardous conditions of the kitchen. I grabbed a small pot and filled it with water. Pasta cravings started rumblin deep within my soul, and I got to work immediately. A few times, Alexei tried to steal a tomato, but I was able to ward him off with threats to melt him in the oven. He didn't appreciate the Russia-and-its-people-are-cold jokes. Unfortunately.

I walked back out to the dining area where people were still stuffing themselves, with a mountain of penne marinara on a plate in my right hand and a piece of spiced pear galette on the plate in the other hand.

Alexei quickly found his spot beside Magnus again, snickering at the sight of our favorite badass hero with pudding in his hair and mead dripping from his shoulders. "Nice look, Magnus. You have a good time with that?" He only replied with a scowl. "So did Alex give you the makeover or someone else? Nah. It wasn't Alex. They're too creative. This is some elementary school shit. Hey, Mallory, was Magnus' new 'do your idea?"

The redhead snickered, nodding at me with a devilish grin on her freckled face. "Damn right. He called me Merida, I called him Lord Farquaad. And then he called me ugly Ariel, and I changed up his whole style."

"Bro… You're awesome!"

She winked at me and then quickly returned to her conversation with Blitzen about fashionable armor or something like that.

After that, dinner was fairly uneventful affair. Nothing else interesting happened. Alexei and I returned to the new people table and hung out with them a lot. Helga and I argued pretty heavily about our beliefs about war and violence, but Alexei was a calming force at the table. Turned out, his dad was Njörd, the Norse God of the Sea. When he and I were still sitting at the Floor Nineteen table, Magnus teased that Alexei would be best friends with his cousin's boyfriend, Percy Jackson. At first I couldn't place why the name seemed familiar. Only when we sat down at the newbies' table did I realize that Percy Jackson was the kid from the news a few years ago who was the center of a national manhunt.

Alexei seemed oxymoronically both offended and honored by the joke. He responded to Magnus by grumbling in his deep voice, "Perhaps. As long as he doesn't plan on committing any more infamous national crimes. I'd like to stay out of the spotlight, please."

But besides that, not much happened. I felt underwhelmed by the event, having expected some crazy shit from this weird new place.

After dinner, though, Magnus pulled me aside to talk to me in private about my claiming. He seemed terse, stiff, as if the news of my parentage had angered him greatly, more than anything else that happened today. He sat me down on one of the couches in his room and started pacing, rubbing his hands together. His expression didn't reveal anything to me, but the hero was still such a mystery in general. There was only so much about him that I could learn from conversation with him or with others.

He stopped and stood up straight in front of me. "Tell me everything. Your life story. Because I need to know where Frey fits in there and how this entire situation makes any sense." For the son of the god of peace, his voice was pretty intimidating. I found myself shaking in my shoes, unable to respond to him.

Magnus sighed, sitting beside me on the bed, eyes more serious than I'd seen so far. "Look. Flo. I'm not mad at you. I just can't believe my dad would have another kid that he just never mentioned to me. As far as I knew, I was the only child of Frey. He and I have a fairly good relationship for not having met each other until a year ago. Ya know? It's just hard to think that I have a sibling whose existence was never even suggested. Dad isn't cold and distant like other gods. Not from my experience. He loves his kids and partners a lot. I'm thinking that if he didn't mention you to me at all, there's a reason he hid you. And if he didn't hide you, and your parent isn't Frey, then someone made a mistake. You get what I'm saying, right?"

I meekly bobbed my head and kept my hands in my lap, watching him quietly before starting the story.

It took a whole five minutes to tell all the details and major events he wanted to know about. Magnus had sat down beside me, getting comfortable as I got into the nitty gritty of my life story. He frowned most of the time, handsome face contorted into anger at hearing my parents' disowning of me and my foster parents' uncaring disposition. But he never interrupted me, wanting to let me tell the entire story without losing my train of thought.

When the ordeal had ended, Magnus sighed pensively, looking at me with a dark, serious expression. "Flo, did you ever do a DNA test with your parents when you were living with them?"

"No. Why?"

He inhaled deeply for a moment. He stopped and took my hands, squeezing them in his. "It may be possible that Frey left you with your parents and changed their memories to include you. The gods aren't above changing humans for their children's benefit. The Grecian gods do that often, using something called the Mist to manipulate ordinary people's memories to keep them from going crazy when they see demigods doing crazy stuff. Dad could have asked Odin or some other great magic user to change your parents' memories."

"But why…? I didn't know I had powers until recently with that theory about my childhood friend getting burned. Why would he hide me?"

Magnus shrugged his shoulders, smiling at me sadly. "I don't know. Maybe you were unexpected. Maybe you're dangerous. Maybe he wanted to protect your mom. Maybe he thought you were unsafe and needed more human scent to protect you."

"Can't he just tell me himself?"

He pursed his lips and nodded. "But the gods aren't known for being super present parental figures. Frey only ever talked to me by dreams. I don't know if he'll talk to you and if he will, I don't know how."

I sighed, pulling my hands away from his to rub at my face. This entire situation was so annoying and messy. I just wanted to get out of here and not deal with any of this shit. Family's always been a hard aspect of life for me to come to terms with. My real parents didn't want me. My foster parents didn't want me. And now I find out my real parents are fake parents, and I have a godly parent who didn't want me either. It would have been so much easier for me if Samirah left me in Hell or whatever it's called here. This was stupid and difficult and annoying.

I was tempted to ask Magnus if I could just die again or go to Hell, but then I remembered my new friends. I couldn't just leave them now. I know, I only met them today. But it only takes me a few hours to start developing that maternal protective love for people. The new kids to Valhalla were friends to me now, despite any disagreements I may have had with them. I couldn't leave them here like that. If they needed me, and I was in Hell, I would be the one to blame. I can't let them experience that.

"How did you find out about Frey being your dad?"

Magnus grinned, eyes a little less serious. "The Norns came to tell me. It was so dramatic. The Norns are like the Fates of Greek Mythology. They tell the future and stuff. They came and told me my dad is Frey. It was a huge thing. People talked about it for so long after it happened. That's pretty much the only reason I'm somewhat popular around here."

I laughed a bit, imagining Magnus with a look of 'What the fuck is actually happening right now?' on his face just like the rest of the einherjar. "Of course you would have in intro like that. Such a drama queen!"

"Hey, I never asked for it! They just showed up! Not my fault. Just be glad yours wasn't like that too. You would be the butt of every sunshine and summertime joke in Valhalla." He shot me a pout, crossing his arms petulantly, as if he had experienced that exact thing a year ago.

"Just saying, but Samirah calls you Sunshine Boy."

Magnus huffed. "Like everyone else? Yeah. You know what's the worst nickname they've given me? Mango Cheese. Do you know how insulting that is?"

"No. Because your name is awesome. Like, dude, I was in chorus for almost six years between high school and middle school. We learned a song in my sophomore year called 'O Magnum'. I mean, it's about Jesus and stuff, and it's about Mary. I saw you for the first time, and then I heard your name and automatically, you became Blonde Jesus."

He rolled his eyes. "If we really are related, you're a great sister."

"Really? My blood brother said the same thing. Weird."

"The only thing that kid and I share in common is sarcasm, Flo."

I snickered and shrugged, patting his shoulder. "Sure, little bro."

He looked at me curiously, staring at my face really hard. "What year were you born in?"

"Two thousand. I'm a winter baby. December twenty-fifth."

He grinned evilly. "I'm older than you by about five years. Who's little now? Also, you're short."

I glared at him. He glared back. This went on for a full minute before we both conceded defeat. "Fuck you."

"No, that's Alex's job."

"You're a heathen."

"We all are. We're in Valhalla, Flo. How dumb can you be?"

"Not as much as you, clearly."

As he opened his mouth to retort at my teasing, Magnus had to get up and answer the door after someone just knocked on it. "Who is it?"

I leaned over the edge of the bed, trying to peek through the doorway and see who was on the other side. My lips coiled into a painfully bright grin when I heard Alexei's deep Russian drawl slide through the doorway. Before I could understand what was going on, my feet were carrying me to where Magnus was standing in the doorway.

The Son of Frey raised an eyebrow at Alexei, his lips pursed into a serious line as his face stiffened quickly. "What do you want?"

Poor Alexei seemed to pale further and shiver with nervousness at Magnus' stiff behavior. My Russian buddy peeked at me for some kind of comfort and at seeing me smile, continued to talk to Magnus. "I need to talk to Flo. Something important that she needs to hear. I need to borrow her…um, sir."

Magnus chuckled lowly at the other teen calling him 'sir'. "I'm not her dad, Alexei. More like her older brother, honestly. But it's fine. Um. What exactly is this about? You guys aren't going off to do something excessively stupid, right?"

The icy blond shook his head fervently. "No! No! We, um, the new kids. We just wanted to figure out a way to keep in touch. We're on different floors and it would be good to have some friends to talk to when our floormates aren't willing."

"Makes sense. Just don't go out to the big tree outside. If you fall into the nothingness, we can't save you."

"Yes, sir."

"Alexei, stop it. I'm not that old."

I interjected, pushing under Magnus' arm to walk to the other side and greet Alexei. "You were scaring him, asshole. What did you expect would happen? You started off by acting like a dad. Of course he's scared of you and is gonna call you 'sir'."

Magnus rolled his eyes, patting my shoulder goodbye before closing the door in our faces.

Alexei pouted and whined, looking at me kind of desperately. It was an odd thing that he did that because the entire time I'd known him, he always had such a strong, stoic expression. "He's so scary. I hope you're not related to him. For the son of the summer god, he's not relaxed or chill."

"Got that right. So who all is gonna be there?"

"The five of us. You, me, Helga, James, and Gabriella."

I hummed in acknowledgement, quickly falling into a steady silence with the taller teen. We walked to the elevator and waited for it to reach out floor, stepping in without any words between us. Alexei pressed the button to the first floor and leaned his back against the wall of the elevator. He only spoke when the elevator began moving.

"What did Magnus talk to you about?"

My teeth bit down on my lip, chewing restlessly. "He asked me about my life story. He wanted to see if there was any possibility that I was a child of Frey too. He said I might have been placed with my fake-biological family for some odd reason, and someone wiped their memories so I would have always been included in their lives. I dunno. All speculation."

He didn't comment on that matter any further, only reaching a hand out to pat my arm. "Magnus is a good guy. Wants the best for you. Just trust him. He already seemed kind of protective of you. He'll help you figure it out."

"That was a lot. If that's Magnus being protective when I didn't include some details, then I hope he never finds out about the stuff I never told him."

Alexei frowned deeply at that, strong features now tense with concern. "What didn't you tell him?"

I sighed. "Do I have to tell you?"

He moved forward and took my hands, pressing them to his heart. "You told me to trust you. You told me that all would be well. I cannot sit there and accept your help if you don't accept mine. What happened that you didn't tell Magnus, Flower?"

My face curved into a soft smile at his earnest tone. "It's a long story. Be prepared. For a few months after my parents left me, I was homeless. Thank goodness, I still had my wallet with me. It had about fifty dollars in cash and a fifty-dollar prepaid gift card from Target that worked like a credit card. I lived okayish. I had enough street smarts to know what my resources were and how I could find what I needed. Sure, I slept in a few twenty-four hour libraries, a few hospitals, even a homeless shelter. Sure, I ate at some soup kitchens, begged some restaurants for any vegan leftovers they had, and even worked at a restaurant for food as payment, but I at least had some food in my stomach and a roof over my head at any given time. Eventually, I realized that my funds were running out. So, instead of freaking out and doing some dumb shit to get money, I decided I'd get a job. I found my way to a ranch near the outskirts of my hometown. The ranch was family-run, but they needed help with some chores here and there. I told them my story, and they were gracious enough to offer me a deal. I would work forty hours a week for the family, and in return, I would receive housing, food, and some extra cash. I accepted with no other doubts. I used what little I had of my intuition to make sure these guys weren't crooks trying to kidnap me or dump me into human trafficking. Thankfully, I was right."

Alexei squeezed my hand and walked out of the elevator with me when it opened after reaching the first floor. "What happened at that ranch? It sounds pretty good so far."

I smiled and nodded. "It was. I was ecstatic that I finally was getting an actual bed and food and money."

We headed towards one of the large fighting halls in the building, walking closer together out of fear of being attacked by some rando.

"The family was wonderful, and I loved spending time with them, even though the farm work was difficult. I learned quickly, though. The animals generally liked me, which made stuff much easier. The horses were my favorite. They were so pretty and nice and fun. I had a great time. The cows were scary, but they were fairly cooperative. Every day, I would get up at seven in the morning and get ready for the day's chores. I would finish up my routine at seven-forty-five and come downstairs for breakfast. They always had some kind of vegan option for me. Usually, it was almond milk, cereal, toast, and apple juice. After that, I would go with the father of the family to clean up the stables. We would tell horrible puns the entire time. After that, I went to work on cleaning up the horses while he handled the cows. We'd finish that work up by lunch time, where the wife usually made me some kind of salad plus sandwich or some kind of new vegan recipe. She was a vegetarian herself, so she often worked with me to make vegan or vegetarian-friendly meals. Wonderful woman. After lunch, they gave me two hours of non-work time. One hour for myself and another hour to take care of their two kids. They had a seven year old and a toddler. The kids adored me, and I loved them. We always got into trouble together, but they were so precious, I always took the blame."

Alexei smiled and nodded, wistfully looking away into the distance with a dopey look on his face, probably remembering his sister and the fun they'd had together.

"After that, I'd get back to work making sure the horses were ready to head out for some time on the paddocks. While they hung out, I fed the cows and other animals. I was scared of the pigs and chickens, but the sheep were so sweet, though rowdy. The family dog helped a lot, though. A massive German shepherd who the family called Button. Such a cute dog. After taking care of the animals and stuff, I'd head down to clean up the house, de-weeding the grass and other stuff like that. While I did that, the wife and husband would go work in the farm, making sure there weren't any issues with crops or anything like that. We'd all come back in for dinner, where the husband's mom would make us something warm and cosy. The wife always made sure to have some vegan options for me. We'd eat together and then put the kids to bed. Soon after, the adults and I would sit down and talk about stuff until ten at night. We wound down by eleven and went to sleep. Same routine every day. It was great. Except for the husband's dad…"

Alexei's face hardened quickly, almost instantaneously. He stopped in front of the hall and gripped me by the shoulders, forcing me to look him in the face. "Tell me he didn't do what I think he did. Tell me it wasn't that bad, Flo. Because if it is, I have to go kill him."

I froze up, pulling at my shoulder to free myself. He took the hint and let me go, stepping back a few paces. "What did he do?"

It took me a minute to compose myself and continue the story. "Every time the wife and husband were out of the house and the husband's mom was asleep, he'd hit me, make me do different tasks for him. If there was something dangerous in the house that had to be done, he would make me do it so his son and daughter-in-law would be spared. Let's say there was some kind of gas leak in the kitchen that no one could fix except for firefighters or something. When his family was busy or distracted, he'd have me do it without any kind of safety precautions. He'd tell me how to fix everything, but if I made even the smallest error, he'd beat me black and blue. I bled for days at a time. But he never hit my face. Never the face. Always the body. Probably so no one would learn of the abuse. I just thought it was because he was drunk or a naturally angry person. After a few weeks of that shit, I realized it was a race thing. Made sense. A ranch in Georgia that was family run in a city where there were only four black people, all of whom belonged to the same family. I knew it was because of my skin. I didn't say anything to the family."

Alexei looked at me gently, trying to make his face seem as kind and loving and friendly as possible. He asked softly, "Can I take your hand?"

I nodded yes, and he laced our fingers together.

"Can I hug you?"

I nodded yes, and he pulled me close, pressing me into a tight, warm embrace.

"Can I rub your back?"

I nodded, and he slowly moved his hands in circles on my upper back.

"Can I kiss your head?"

I shook my head no, and he simply accepted my refusal, continuing to rub my back and hug me.

"Is there more to the story? And do you want to tell it?"

"Yeah. And yes. Sometimes, he'd creep on me. In a particularly perverted way. After hitting me for a half hour, he'd tell me all this perverse, sexual shit. I always vomited after he said that stuff. It was so gross. I can't remember it now, but it was disturbing. But he never acted on his words. For that, I was grateful. The beatings never stopped, though. No matter the occasion, he'd always find a reason to hit me."

Alexei scowled against my hair, trying to not tense up too much.

"I'm just happy that he died violently in a huge car crash a week before I had to leave the family. They all mourned. I pretended to mourn with them, but I always secretly celebrated in my room."

The poor guy choked on air when I said that the old man died in a car crash. "Well, shit. That was unexpected."

"Yeah. I was surprised too, but so happy. It brought me great joy.

He looked at me carefully, crystalline eyes narrowed in concern. "So are you sure that you're okay? That's a heavy burden to bear."

I tried to not smile too much at how considerate he was. "I mean, yeah. Obviously. If it's any helpful indication, me being a sarcastic asshole is a good measure of my mental health. Sarcasm, I'm doing really great. No sarcasm, I'm doing really bad."

"Thank you. I think."

"You are quite welcome."

Alexei patted my cheek and smiled. "Still. Just let me know if you ever need to talk. I'm here for you, okay?"

I rolled my eyes, but only to try and keep him from looking too hard into it. I hated worrying people who had their own worries to think about. My hand patted his face in return, making him snort in amusement. He rolled his eyes back at me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders as we walked into the behemoth battle room.

Waiting at the corner of two tall walls were the rest of the noobs. Helga and James were arm-wrestling like a couple of knuckleheads while Gabriella looked away, face contorted into distaste at the other two teens' obnoxious behavior. James waved hello to Alexei and me, which gave Helga the opportunity to smash his hand into the floor while the brunette Chicagoan was distracted. The poor guy screamed loudly, clutching his hand to his chest as he stared at the blond German-American girl in terror. "What the fuck, Helga?!"

"All's fair in love and war, stupid."

"I completely agree, beautiful." I sat down beside Helga, resting my head in her lap playfully before it got shoved off with a violent push of her hand.

"Don't touch me, idiot."

I grinned evilly, and Alexei grinned back just as evilly. "So only James can touch you~? Does my sweet little Helga have a crush?"

She snarled at me, and I jumped behind Alexei to hide from her wrath. I knew she wouldn't hit me, but I was still terrified. She laughed hard, suddenly changing her expression when she saw how scared I was. "You're so lame. Scaredy-cat. Never insinuate that I have a crush again. Aromantics need no one's opinion on their love life."

I sat down beside her and held my hand out. I felt bad now. I didn't really realize that she could have been ace or aro and that I may have just insulted her after I teased her. And now I wanted a truce so I wouldn't say insensitive shit again. I'd had that happen to me enough when I was living with my apparent biological parents. It happened more when I was living with my foster parents. I knew how it felt to have others completely invalidate everything about your identity: romantic, sexual, gender, or otherwise. Helga just stared at my hand and then at me for a few seconds. I just waited for her to shake my hand.

When it still didn't happen, I explained myself. "I know how much it sucks when people don't accept you for stuff like that. Sexual orientation, romantic orientation, gender identity. My parents ditched me for that same stuff. And my religious affiliation, but that's not important right now. I wanted to say sorry. I didn't mean to offend you or anything like that. I was just making a joke, and it made you upset."

She smiled at me genuinely, and my breath caught in my throat. This girl looked angelic as hell when she smiled that sweetly. "Are you serious?" Despite her having been born in the US, I could tell her German accent was still peeking through her voice.

"I don't joke about this shit. I got kicked out for being bi. My best friend could never come out to her parents. My other best friend was never accepted as being gay by his conservative family. I know what that's like. I don't want to ever make you feel unloved or unaccepted here. We're familia now. We have each other's backs when no one else does."

Alexei turned my hand so my palm faced downwards and then placed his hand over mine. "My country doesn't easily accept the LGBT community. I'm pansexual. My friends and neighbors never knew. One person almost found out, and I was forced to go into a relationship with a girl to hide my orientation. If I hadn't, I would have died in a jail by now. I'll do what I can to protect all of you. I promise."

James put his hand over Alexei's, eyes downturned and sad. "My uncle got beat to death by someone from my church because he was transitioning to female. They called him unnatural, ugly, a freak of nature. He was my favorite person in the world. He never judged me for any aspect of my life. But he got killed by a community so rooted in hating what's different from the norm, and I don't want to let anyone experience that again."

Gabriella gingerly rested her hand on James', eyes more kind and honest than I'd seen all day. "I have gay parents. They took me in when my blood family (mom and her boyfriend) disowned me for being lesbian and having a girlfriend. It's not easy being in this community. I don't often take interest in stuff that other people do, but this is really important to me. It's part of me and my life story. I won't judge anyone for their lives."

Helga bit her lip and rested a hand over Gabriella's, her eyes a little weak with tears. "My mom never talked down to me about not wanting a romantic relationship, but still being sexually attracted to others. She didn't understand it, but she still accepted me. Her boyfriend didn't like me. He always said I was a lunatic, a weirdo, a hateful and disgusting whore. She dumped him when she found out about him being emotionally and verbally abusive towards me. I never got to tell her goodbye and thank her. But thank you, guys. All of you. This is…"

I moved closer and hugged her tightly, rubbing her back. Our other three companions joined in on the hug, wrapping themselves around us in a motion of affection. "We love you so much. We love each other so much. We'll be okay, guys. We'll be fine."

James pulled back first, and Gabriella moved away after him. Helga freed herself from my arms but squeezed my hand gratefully. Alexei and I kept our hands together even when the hug ended. Why? We didn't really know. But it was still nice. James piped up after a few minutes, "We should have an oath or pact or something!"

"What?" came Alexei's response.

"A pact that we'll always be here for one another no matter what," he explained. "Like an oath between the Knights Templar who swore to protect the Ark of the Covenant and stuff. 'The blood of the Covenant is thicker than the water of the womb' kinda deal."

Gabriella snorted. "We don't need a pact to always have each others' backs, James."

"Yeah, but it would be so cool! And we could have matching tattoos or something, as proof! So no one can tell us that our pact means nothing if we get into a pickle and someone makes us hurt one another or something like that."

I smiled nervously. "That sounds like a good idea to me."

Alexei sighed, "You're a romantic, Flo. Shut up."

"Hey!"

He smirked. "You know it's true."

"Guys, James seriously does have a point. If someone captures one of us and says we have to kill someone else in the group, we'd tell them we can't because of an oath. And then they'd say our oath is invalid because it doesn't have any physical proof. What if we did have physical proof?"

Helga scowled. "Like what? If someone says tattoo, I'm out."

Alexei smiled slowly. "How about a brand?"

"We're too poor for that," replied Gabriella.

I retorted, "Not really. We have the hotel money and shit, ya know?"

"They get paid?" asked James.

"No. But they'd make stuff for us if we asked."

"All of you shut up! I didn't mean a clothing line or something like that. I meant, a fire-brand."

This seemed to catch Gabriella's interest. I didn't want to think about why. "How would that work? We ask the hotel guys for a brand and a fire?"

He smiled, shaking his head. "Who needs that stuff when you have a fire starter right here? Flo can do the brand on all five of us!"

"No."

"Flower, come on!"

"I'm not doing that, Alyoshenka. You know the story of that childhood friend of mine. Who knows what'll happen if I can't control my powers?! What if I hurt you guys?!" I protested. "I can't do that to you guys."

He rested a hand on my shoulder to ground me. "Calm down. I'll help train you. I'm the son of a sea god. I'm impervious to major burns and stuff because water has a high heat capacity."

I rolled my eyes. "What if I'm not the child of Frey? What then?"

A beautiful voice teased me from a few yards behind me. "What if you are? What then?"

My head whipped around to denounce that idea quickly. I thought it was some random older einherji that wanted to make fun of us. Nope. It was Jesus.

Okay. It wasn't the real Jesus. It was a guy who looked like he could be Jesus.

Everyone, including me, kind of just stared in awe at the guy that talked to us. He was glowing. Literally glowing. Light was coming off of his skin like he was made of sunshine. He looked like the most perfect version of Marvel's Thor that I could have ever imagined. Muscled to perfection, hair more golden than sunlight, eyes switching between different shades of blue, facial features more beautifully carved than any sculpture of any god in existence. He was adorned in beautiful armor of solid gold with a huge animal-horn staff at his side that he leaned on. My eyes began to burn from watching him too much. When I looked back at my friends, I saw that they'd been covering their eyes for a while. Golden Jesus walked towards us and we all stood up, bending over at the waist as we bowed. It was clear that a god was in our midst.

"And what if you are the child of Frey, Pushpa? What then?"

My tongue turned to cotton, and my throat seized up. The God-Man reached a hand out and tilted my face up by the chin to look him in the eyes. He smiled softly, sadly.

"You look just like your mother, you know. She never did accept my compliments when I told her she was beautiful. But she was prettier than any of the goddesses would admit. Maybe that's why I couldn't stay. She was enough to make me want to give up godhood for her. She never told me about you, Pushpa. Not once. Maybe she feared I wouldn't let her keep you. A bit counterintuitive, though. She didn't keep you either. Her family wouldn't have accepted you. You would have lived a life of misery. No resources, no love. She wouldn't accept that. So, my beloved went behind my back and gave you to another family. She prayed to Odin to change their memories and minds to include you. He did. And I never knew you existed."

Unable to think of anything else to say once my voice decided to work again, I joked, "Magnus was right. I better tell him he's a genius after this."

The beautiful man laughed brightly, face almost glowing more when he was happy. "Always the jokester. It's nice to see you in good spirits after so much darkness, dear one. How are you enjoying Valhalla?"

I shrugged, loosening up after his joy. Everyone else in my little team also relaxed. "Pretty good. Magnus is a bit overprotective, but he and Alex are cute together. Alexei's a sweetheart, and these guys are the best people ever. Magnus' friends are cool too. But I don't wanna fight in a war. I just want everyone to live out their afterlives happily. It's not fair. Why should we fight a war that Asgard started by hating on Loki so much?"

He sighed sadly, eyes a bit ashamed. "I know. I too do not wish for war. But there is not much to be done when it is fated, dear one. We cannot change the future. I will do my best to help you in these times when you must learn of your abilities and destiny. But I cannot change the future."

My heart hardened. Such bullshit. Even a god like Frey was telling me nothing can be done to change the future. I looked at him coldly, trying to emanate as much of my anger as I could in just my words. "Maybe you can't, but I will. Watch me."

His lips curved up into a smile, and he moved forward to pet my hair. "Just as stubborn as your mother. Well, I hope you have a good plan. I'll help you if you want me to."

"We'll see."

Frey became silent after that, chuckling to himself a moment later. "You know, when Magnus first saw me in his dream, he hugged me so tight. I felt so horrible for breaking his heart and leaving his mother alone like that. But you don't seem to need me much. I cannot say it doesn't hurt, but…"

I bit my lip. And now he was guilt-tripping me, though unknowingly. I wanted to reach for him and comfort him, but I was nervous to, out of fear that I'd get burned by his skin and out of hesitation as to whether or not I even cared about him.

"Sorry…it's just weird to me. My whole life is a lie. I'm having a hard time understanding this."

He nodded, smiling almost knowingly. "I know, dear. I know. I'm sorry about all of this. It is far too much for you to deal with after dying. I should have considered that. Just know that no matter what you do, who you discover that you are, you are still my child. I still love you."

This broke my heart a little, and I rushed forward, smashing my face into his neck as far as I could reach, while my hands flew around his waist to grip onto him.

Frey cooed and stroked a hand down the back of my head, pressing me to him closer as he dissolved his armor into thin air. He squeezed me in the hug, pressing his face into my head desperately. He murmured softly in a language that sounded like Danish and continued petting my hair. I didn't cry, but I did tell him in my smallest voice, "I love you too, Papa." I felt him smile against my face and clung onto him for a few more minutes. He just radiated all kinds of positivity, and I was absolutely melting into that joy and goodness.

We split up after a little while. He smiled wider still, cupping my face in his hands. He pressed kisses to my cheeks, chin, nose, and forehead. I quietly accepted them, my own face wide with a happy smile. This was my first time actually being accepted and loved unconditionally by a parent, and I was on cloud nine.

He left me with a few more words of love, a few more words of promise, a few more kisses, and one last hug.

Alexei snorted. "And you call me dramatic."

"Get out."