Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, they belong either to Marvel or Norse Mythology
Author's note: Again, thanks to all of you who love and follow this story.
Please leave a review if you like my story.
AND again: Really big thanks to my beta kalanthia!
Chapter 6
Hope
The following day I was already able to sit up by myself. I had to be careful because the broad bandage around my chest could barely hold my ribs in place. In a sitting position, breathing was more difficult. But sitting gave me the feeling not to be as helpless as when I was lying on my back.
Since Susan and I had confessed our love for each other, I was able to hope again.
Or at least, I got my hopes up.
Hopes of a future that might probably never come.
I told her about my home, the little palace in the gardens of the grand castle, of the apple trees, my favorite trees growing in there that carried luscious golden fruit.
I drew her a picture of a rosy future, promised to marry her if father would allow it. I imagined carrying her beyond the threshold of our shared home, caring for her forever just as she had cared for me when I had needed her most. Never would I allow harm to come at her. But however the odds, this one possible future might eventually become reality.
Susan cheered me up and persuaded me to eat more in order to recover more quickly. She told me about things she always wanted to do, like sitting at the edge of Bifrost with dangling feet, or how much she loved flowers. If I still had had my magic, I would have created the loveliest spray out of thin air and presented it to her, even if I had to crawl to her on all fours. She gave me so much and I could give absolutely nothing back to her. Beside my thanks and the assurance of my love to her. But that seemed to be enough for her. And while we were forging plans for a golden future, I forgot for a while what actually might lay in store for me, how unwell I still was or how much pain I was still in. After a long, long time I was finally and truly happy again.
I also asked myself who she was and where she came from. Maybe she was an Einherjer? But I did not dare to ask her after she had reacted so sourly the last time I asked her a question in that direction.
An Einherjer. It seemed to be the most plausible possibility how she had gotten to Asgard as a mortal. But if she was, then she wasn't a mortal anymore. But even if she was one of the now immortal warriors, the Valkyries had brought lesser and lesser of them to us over the last few centuries. The faith in the Aesir had decreased continuously after we had withdrawn from the other eight worlds. Stop, after they had withdrawn. I was no longer one of them.
However, Susan was not like the other women Heimdall chose with his all-seeing gift to come to Vallhall after their death. She didn't make the impression of a tame and shapeable creature. She was caring, to be sure, but in her heart she had more of a warrioress than of a handmaid. She reminded me of the strident female member of the Avengers, Black Widow she was called, whom I had offended so awfully. Aside from that, Susan didn't make the impression of a woman who had already lived when the gods of Asgard had been worshipped in Midgard.
But it was all the same to me how she had come to be in our realm now, as long as I was allowed to be close to her. As long as she cared for me and protected me from what was in store for me after Odin's trial; at least for a little while longer.
Perhaps she took as little pride in her ancestry as I did, since I knew that I should truthfully be called Loki Laufeyson instead of Loki Odinson. It didn't matter whose son I actually was, the Allfather had raised me as his own flesh and blood and I had been foolish to throw that all away.
Only with difficulty I managed to push these thoughts off for a while, and I thought of Susan instead and imagined how happy I might be with her one day.
And finally Susan decided to bring a mirror to me. She wanted me to see how well I was recovering. Before the events that brought me here, I would have been awfully upset by my wrecked face. But now that my appearance was only relevant for me to a small extent, I only fumbled pensively over the scab of my cut on the bridge of my nose, the crack in my lip that healed surprisingly well. I still flinched a bit when I touched the laceration on my forehead and almost sneered at my black eye. Playfully I uttered how well the purple of my skin suited the green of my eyes and when Susan's lips came close to my face, I closed my eyes and let her gently kiss my discolored lid.
There was little I could hope for or wish for left in my life.
Author's note:
Please note: When I'm writing of the Einherjer, I'm referring to the Einherjer of Norse Mythology: Brave warriors who died in battle, chosen to be brought to Valhall by the Valkyries. And that goes for the Valkyries too. They are Odins shield-maidens riding on flying horses over the battlefields in search for the strongest of the strong. (In case you are wondering: Yes I'm a die-hard Manowar fan.)
In Norse Mythology women don't go to Valhall. But in the classical myths women aren't allowed to bear arms either.
Except the godesses naturally.
Enough mythology lessons...
What do you think of this chapter?
Loki's thoughts are less darker. At least for a while.
Next time he will receive an unexpected visitor...
