Hey everyone, get ready for angst this chapter and don't forget to review. Also thank you to Winchestergirl123 and TheRealTayler13 for being my first reviewers and the nice words of encouragement you guys gave me.
It was a few days after Thor had arrived that Ylva knew something was up. Whenever she asked him about Asgard he'd try to change the subject or avoid the question all together. So she decided to ask him directly.
She found Thor in the hallway looking out the window.
"Brother, is there something the matter?" She asked.
"I do not think so, is there?" Thor asked.
"You never answer my questions about Asgard, so something must have happened. Please tell me, I need to know if my kingdom is safe" she said.
"Asgard is safe...now" he said looking away from her.
"What do you mean by 'now'"? What happened that would make you so nervous to tell me brother?" She asked, gently reaching out to touch his shoulder.
"Mother was killed. By the dark elf Malekith" he said looking into her eyes.
At that moment her whole world collapsed. She felt her heart shatter, realizing she would never again see her mother. Never hear her voice as she told a bedtime story or sung a lullaby. Ylva would never be able to tell her how much she meant to her, how much she loved her. She couldn't take it.
Turning around, screaming, she swung, punching a nice fist-sized hole in the wall.
"No, she-she couldn't have died, I-I would have felt it. I-" she slumped to the ground, tears streaming down her face.
"Damn it!" She screamed.
"You did not sense it because you were here, on Midgard. I killed Malekith, he and his people are no more" he said.
"But I-I could have helped, I could have saved her!" She exclaimed.
Thor kneeled down to meet her eyes, and wrapped his arms around her.
"You are not to blame sister, mother died doing what she believed was right. She protected Jane, the woman I love. She did not die in vain" Thor said, wiping tears from Ylva's cheeks.
Ylva just nodded, putting her forehead against his.
"Was she...was she already sent to Valhalla?" She asked.
"Yes, she is at peace now. She is happy, I promise" he said smiling sadly.
"Thank you, just...thank you" she said, putting her head on his shoulder.
Suddenly the doors to the hallway burst open, Tony running towards them with the others in toe.
"What the hell is going on?! Why is there a hole in the wall, did you guys get attacked?" Tony asked.
Ylva stood up, clutching her now bruised hand.
"We're okay, just a family thing" she said.
"Oh well alright, I guess I'll go find something to put over the hole for now" and with that Tony turned around and walked out towards his lab.
The rest of the avengers stood there awkwardly until Clint broke the silence with a cough.
"Well we'd better get to our next mission Nat" he said giving Ylva a sad smile before walking off with Natasha close behind.
As Steve was on another mission oddly with Vision this time, that left the twins standing silently in the corridor.
"Ylva are you alright?" Wanda asked, walking over and placing her hand on her shoulder.
"I'm...I'm okay. Like Thor said it was just a family thing, nothing to worry about" Ylva said.
"Well if you wanna talk we're always here" Wanda said grabbing her brother by the shoulder and leaving the Asgardian siblings in the hallway.
"I suppose we should get to bed" Ylva said.
"Yes, I think sleep may be a good choice" Thor said.
The next day Steve and Vision returned from their mission. They were walking into the kitchen when they saw Ylva sitting on the couch in the living room. Before Steve could walk towards her to say hi Vision pulled him back.
"What is it, is something wrong?' Steve asked.
"I sense a disturbance within Ylva. Something is plaguing her mind, and it is not something favorable" Vision said.
"Well then all the more reason for me to go talk to her" Steve said walking over to Ylva and sitting next to her on the couch.
"Hey Ylva, how are you?" Steve asked with a smile.
"Oh god has everyone been talking about it already?" She said irritated.
"Not that I know of, Vision just told me something was bothering you" Steve said.
"Well it was just a small thing, nothing to worry about" she said.
"If you say so. If you want to talk about it telling a friend isn't a bad idea" he said getting up and walking back to the kitchen.
At that moment she realized she should just tell someone. Keeping it all in never worked for long and she knew she'd feel a little better afterwards. So she decided to tell the twins in their session later that day.
"Oh that's awful Ylva, but don't worry we're here for you" Wanda said giving her a sad smile.
"Yeah, it'll be okay" Pietro said taking her hand from across the table.
"Thank you guys I really appreciate you listening to me, I think talking about it really helped" Ylva said wiping her eyes.
"Well now that I'm done with my story, you guys can talk about whatever you need to" she said.
"I've been wanting to talk about us joining the Avengers. It all just happened so fast, I mean one minute we were in a cage and then you all came. I guess in a way you rescued us, if you had never come to retrieve Loki's scepter we'd probably still be in those cells. And we saved people, we used our abilities for something more than tests. I'm so glad we joined you, we've made such good friends and have actually gotten some control of our powers, so...thank you" Wanda said happily.
"There's no need to thank me or any of us, we just did what we thought was right. And I'm glad you both joined too, you two are a great asset to the team and it's nice to have some younger people around here" Ylva said.
"Speaking of which I think I need to go talk to a friend" she said standing up.
"Let's end here today and next time maybe we can go outside, what do you think?" She asked.
"That'd be fun, I've been in the mood for a good run for awhile anyways" Pietro said.
"Yeah maybe we could have a picnic too" Wanda said.
"That sounds perfect, let's do it" Ylva said walking to the door.
"See you later" Ylva said and walked out to the kitchen.
Ylva found Steve sitting on one of the stools in the kitchen eating a sandwich.
"So I see talking about it helped" Steve said biting into his sandwich.
"What makes you say that?" She asked sitting on the stool next to him.
Swallowing he said, "you just seem a lot more upbeat".
"Yeah your advice really helped, it felt nice to just get it all out. And I wanted to apologize for not telling you first. I mean we've been friends for awhile and I still didn't want to tell you" she said looking down.
"Oh it's fine, you don't have to tell me everything ya know. You're my friend, but you also have your own space and your own secrets and I respect that" Steve said, getting up to rinse his plate and put it in the dishwasher.
"Thank you Steve I really appreciate it, but I think you deserve to know" Ylva said, and proceeded to tell him everything that went on with Thor and what he told her about Frigga.
When she was done Steve immediately stood up from his stool and brought her into his arms. By this time she was sniffling, but when he hugged her she broke and began weeping. They stood there in the kitchen hugging, until she stopped crying and stepped back.
"Sorry for that, I didn't think a hug would make me so emotional." she said drying her eyes.
"No worries, friends are supposed to support each other right?" Steve asked.
"Yeah you're right, thanks" Ylva said
"You'll be alright, and if you ever need to talk about anything else don't hesitate to come to me. Even wake me up in the middle of the night if you have to, I don't mind" Steve said putting his hand on her shoulder.
"Thank you so much Steve".