Chapter 12:

Reunion

When I woke up, we had already arrived back at my mom's house and Sleipnir had stopped in front of the gate to chew on some of the snowy plants that grew around it. I had expected to be woken up by an angry and embarrassed Death Boy for sleeping on his back, but he didn't budge. That got me worried.

I dismounted Sleipnir and shook Nico. He still didn't move. His head lied on Sleipnir's neck and thing I could hear was heavy breathing. I turned his face and I panicked; his eyes were fully white.

"Hugin, Munin, a little hand here?" I mumbled, my voice shaky. The two ravens flew down from their nest in Sleipnir's head and landed in human form next to me.

"He must be treated." One of them said looking at Nico's wound. It had a purple-ish color around it. Looked preetty ugly. "He might have been poisoned; your father should be able to tell." I only nodded and leaded them to the mansion. There were no huge dog-like footprints, so I guessed Fenris and the others weren't back yet.

I stopped at the door and knocked. Shortly after I heard footsteps coming.

"Did you actually bake a cake?" I asked breathless. I heard a laugh from inside before Loki opened the door and greeted me with a smirk. He didn't seem to mind the cold much, which was weird for a non-godly god. I frowned at him.

"How come you're not freezing?" He shrugged.

"I'm half-Jötun. Get inside." I was shocked by that information but decided there was more important things going on. When he noticed the 'ravens' and nearly dead-Death Boy he was the one to frown.

"What happened to Death Boy? And why are Hugin and Munin with you?"

"We met a particularly non-friendly Jötun named Gay Rod. He attacked Nico and apparently the wound was pretty bad. And these two helped us find Sleipnir." I explained, pointing to the white horse outside. He seemed excited to see Loki. While the ravens brought Nico in, he stepped outside and came over to greet the horse, petting him with a warm smile.

"How you doing, boy? That Thor, can't even take care of a horse. Shame on him." I smiled and Sleipnir neighed at him. Loki laughed as if the horse had told him something funny and came inside again.

"So you met Geirröd, eh? It's been a long while since I've last seen him. Pretty sure he was dead." I gave him a nervous smile.

"We can talk about that later. First, we need to do something about Nico. Hugin-or Munin, I don't really know- said he might have been poisoned and that you'd know. So, can you help?" He smirked.

"But of course. Let's take a look at that brat."

The ravens had put Nico down in the living room sofa; his breathing and eyes were still weird, and he also seemed to have a fever. Loki pushed his armchair closer to the sofa and took Nico's arm in his lap. When he touched the wound, Nico almost jumped and his eyes went back to normal. He looked really scared and breathless. He stared at Loki in a pretty creepy way.

"I'm poisoned, right?" He mumbled, his voice rough and his throat dry. "My body is collapsing. You have to do something fast or I'll die." Loki merely raised his brows at Nico.

"I know that, Death Boy. Geez, this Hades kids. Go back into your coma state and let me work here." Nico lied back down and closed his eyes in pain as Loki kept poking around the wound.

"Yup. It's Jötun poison." I got up extremely fast and almost screamed at him.

"Nico just said that! Isn't it obvious?! Are you actually doing anything useful?!" He gave me an amused stare and turned back to the wound.

"There are many types of poison. If I try to do something that doesn't work for this type he'll die. Now shut up and sit down, you're annoying me." He was so cold I have to say he scared me. He stopped for a moment, deep in thought, and then grabbed my arm. I almost jumped again, but this time in surprise.

"Come here. I need your help." I sat on the floor next to him. He took my arm and raised it in front of him, then stared at me.

"It's frost poison. The best way to treat is to burn it." I began to protest but he stopped me. "If you really want to save him you'll have to do this. Yes, he'll be in great pain but at least he won't die." I gulped and cleared my throat. I was really scared at that point.

"But I don't really know how to trigger the flames. They just come when I'm mad." I could see him hiding a smile.

"Just concentrate. Think of everything that makes you angry. Everything that triggers it. If you concentrate hard enough, they'll come." I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate. I could feel my hand trembling in his grasp. I thought of my mother, of how I was never able to meet her, and of my foster family and how sucky they were and that seemed to be enough. I felt warmth in my hand and when I opened my eyes, there were flames on it. Loki brought my hand to Nico's arm and placed it on the wound firmly. I was pretty disgusted but Nico's scream was enough to cover my thoughts. I automatically tried to shield myself with the closest thing possible, which in this case was Loki. He simply laughed when my face touched his neck and brushed my hair for a few seconds. I blushed a lot but thankfully no one could really see it. When Nico stopped screaming and dozed off again, he stood up smiling. "Let him rest for a while and he'll be fine. I'll make some tea; the others will probably arrive soon." I just nodded, still a bit embarrassed. Hugin and Munin, who had been standing close by watching the scene, went to the kitchen-to talk my dad, I presume. I sat on his armchair and just stared at nothing in particular until there was a knock at the door. I went to open it and Edward and Natasha came in, breathless and also with a few scars of their own. Fenrir, who came in after them, seemed simply happy and messier than before. Edward seemed pretty angry.

"So, how was it?" I asked him as he sat on the stairs. He growled.

"We were attacked by a group of dark elves. They were the ones who were troubling Jörmungand and forcing him to stir. They seem to be leaded by a woman named Alfdís." I let out a small cry of surprise that made Natasha stare at me curiously.

"I heard about her too! A Jötun told me he brought her back or something." He nodded.

"So I was right. This woman seems to be the one to blame for this whole mess. Where's Nico?"

"Oh he's in the living room. He got poisoned, but don't worry, he's better now. He needs to rest though." He simply nodded. Fenrir smelled the air with a frown.

"I know you brought Sleipnir back, but why did you bring those ravens with you?" Edward stood quickly.

"Hugin and Munin are here? Where?" He exclaimed. I gestured to the kitchen and he ran after them. I sat next to Natasha.

"So you two had an interesting day?" I asked her, smirking. She snorted at me.

"Obviously. And apparently so did you." She sighed. "Damn, can't believe you got to kill a Jötun before I did." I laughed.

"Oh, you would've loved Mr. Gay Rod. He had a particular disgust for your dad." She stared at me wide-eyed.

"Was his name really Gay Rod?" When I nodded she burst out in laughter, and I joined her.

A few minutes later and we were all in the living room chatting while Nico snored on my shoulder. Damn fucking boy. Kisses me and then drools on me. Hugin and Munin seemed a bit happier for being near Edward, which was slightly cute but pretty weird. Fenrir drank his tea like a dog, which was quite disgusting.

Loki sighed, placing his feet on the table.

"So, what do you have to report?" Edward seemed slightly annoyed.

"We've dealt with the dark elves that were troubling your son. They said something about a dark elf named Alfdís…" I cleared my throat.

"Yup, we heard about her too. Geirröd said he was brought back to life by her. Do you have any idea who she is, dad?" He narrowed his eyes for a moment, thinking.

"I think so. Something about a Norn." Edward's eyes grew wide.

"A Norn? But aren't they trustworthy?" Loki nodded, taking a sip of his tea. "Besides, I'm pretty sure the future Norn is Skuld."

"Most of them are trustworthy, yes. But not all of them. And it disappoints me to see that you seem to think only of Urd, Verdandi and Skuld. They're the main Norns, yes, but not the only ones. There are many other Norns who roam the realms, making sure that certain things happen. But to make sure that something as bad as the Ragnarök happens, she must be one of the dangerous ones." For a few moments, we were all silent, and all that could be heard was Death Boy's snoring.

"Well, we got Sleipnir, the ravens and we know who the Norn is. So what do we do now?" I One more moment of silence.

"You surely can't go facing Hel's undead army in four puny demigods. So perhaps you should try to talk to the Valkyries or something. You'll be needing help." Natasha seemed to have woken up from a nap.

"Did you say Valkyries?" Loki gave her a smirk that made her blush.

"Indeed I did. Why?" She stood up, determined.

"I want to join the Valkyries. If we're really going to ask their help, let me be the one to do it." Edward nodded.

"The chance of them helping us is small, but Natasha's joining may help a bit. The problem is, we have no idea where they are." I turned to the ravens and noticed my dad had done the same.

"Well?" He asked. They looked at each other and then back at us.

"We know where they are."


Sorry for taking long again guys. I was kinda lacking inspiration. Watching Thor: Tales of Asgard helped haha xD anyway, I'd like to thank once again those following/favoriting this story. It really means a lot to me guys :3 Hope you like this chap!