Thank you, Imperial Dragon, for reviewing.
-n-n-n-n-
"Father!" Magni tackle-hugged Thor as soon as he saw him. "We won!"
Then he saw Bragmir lingering back, picking at the edges of his fur cloak.
"Bragmir?"
His brother nodded.
"You broke the curse! How did you do it?"
"Does this mean we're not finding him a bride anymore?" Ull shouted from across the courtyard.
"What?" Bragmir asked, startled.
"Oh, nothing, nothing," Magni assured him.
-n-n-n-n-
When Hela got back to her gloomy halls, Vali was waiting for her.
"It's about time," he said. "Where have you been? It's not all fun and games down here, you know—"
"How'd you get in?" she asked, unamused.
"Had to open the gates myself." Vali smoothed back his hair. He still looked a little bit wolfy around the edges.
"I closed the gates so none of our forces could die."
"You . . . uh, you did?" Vali had the facial expression of someone who'd just realized that he's sealed his own doom.
"Yes."
"Well, that explains why the Asgardians started popping up like daisies, too, all of a sudden," he said viciously. "They must have figured it out."
She gave the grumpy sigh of someone forced to concede a point, and pushed a hand through him. He scattered like mist.
"Just because I'm dead doesn't mean you can do that!" he shouted, coalescing farther down the hall.
Hela sat down on her little stool and set down her iPod. She clapped her hands for her music to begin.
Nothing happened.
"Wha . . ." She clapped harder, twice. Then she stood up in an angry sweep of her cloak. "Vali! What did you do?"
"He didn't do anything," said Loki silkily.
"Father?"
"Or rather, he did do something. He failed to succeed in destroying Asgard, and he got himself killed, after trying to murder his little brother."
"Well . . ." Hela thought about it for a minute. "I didn't do any of that."
"Well, you completely failed to succeed in destroying Asgard, too," Loki said. He picked up her iPod and pocketed it.
"That's mine!"
"Yes," he said, "but you're grounded."
"You can't ground me! I'm the goddess of death!"
"Nevertheless you are grounded, until you bring your brother back to life and ensure that Nari does not die." He looked past her. "That goes for you, too, Vali!"
Vali groaned.
-n-n-n-n-
It was dark in the house of Thor.
Thor sat on the bench in front of the broad window and looked out over starlit Asgard. Towers had crumbled and fallen today, and he didn't recognize the skyline.
No one knew where Hela and Vali's soldiers had come from, and their bodies had crumbled away into dust a few minutes after Hela left. Vali's body had vanished without a trace.
For the Asgardians, there was a death total of two. A rural shopkeeper and a young noble, the victims had been among the few fighters on the outskirts, who had been too far away from Bragmir to receive the blessing of battle rage, and had gotten to Hel after the gates had opened. They were now in Valhalla.
Jane was asleep with Thrud curled up next to her. In the adjoining room, Magni slept—and in the room beyond that rested Modi. Nari was still in the houses of healing, hovering somewhere between life and death. No one was allowed in his room with him at this point, except for the healers.
Soft feet, like cats' feet, whispered on the floor. Thor spun around and saw a familiar, slight figure.
"Hello, Th—" began Loki Laufeyson.
There was a sound like a rock hitting a piece of meat.
"Ow! Ooaawww! By dose!"
"I should kill you now, brother," Thor growled, picking up Mjollnir. "How dare you enter my home again? What are your plans now? Do you have thoughts of taking away Magni, or Thrud?"
"Doe!" Loki protested, cupping his hands over his face.
"Why did you take Modi from us!"
A long silence.
"I plan to start by breaking both your arms," Thor said.
"I'b sorry!"
"Sorry doesn't help!"
"I wanted subwud to keep Dari safe! I dew Vali ad Sigyn would leave hib, and dat was why I took - It was wrogg of be! I'b sorry!"
Thor paused.
Nari, Thor thought. Poor Nari.
His fingers tightened a little on the handle of Mjollnir. Nari and Loki's faces blended together in his mind.
"You took Modi so that we would want Nari as a replacement?" he demanded.
"Doe! Yes! I-"
"We would have taken Nari anyway."
Loki stared at him.
Thor released him. "You've two seconds to live unless you get out of here."
"You would have taked Dari anyway?" Loki asked, bewilddered.
"He's my nephew," Thor said.
"Oh," he said. "I'b sorry—I'b goig to go get sub ice— . . ."
There was a flash of green light. When Thor's eyes cleared, Loki was gone.
Thor ran to check on his family.
Bragmir's new bed was empty.
Thor panicked.
"Modi!" he shouted, rushing through the halls. "Modi!"
For a second it was fifteen years ago, and Jane was huddled over a half-empty crib while Heimdall searched endlessly.
Then one of the guards called, "He's over here, majesty!" and Thor turned out onto one of the wide terraces and found Bragmir lying on his back with the bearskin in his arms.
Thor leaned against a pillar, taking deep breaths. He couldn't get his voice to work. "What . . . what are you doing out here? I—thought Loki had—"
Bragmir tilted his head to see him. "I want to go home."
"You are home," Thor said firmly, finally finding his composure.
"I can't go back, can I?" Bragmir asked.
Thor was totally at a loss for what the boy was talking about. Then he saw the way his son was clutching the skin of the ice bear, like a child's blanket.
"To Jotunheim? Well—"
"My mother's there. I mean, my foster mother. I can't just leave her."
Thor leaned heavily on the pillar.
"Of course you can't," he said. Curse it all, curse Loki and his stupid evil jokes, curse the woman who had usurped Jane's place and the world that had usurped Asgard's place in Modi's mind.
There was a long silence.
"Come on," Thor said, catching Bragmir's hand and pulling him up.
"What's wrong?"
"Loki got in here earlier. I want to be sure where everyone is." Thor pulled him inside, to Magni's room.
"Hmm?" Magni sat up, blinking in the flare of torchlight. "Whssamatter?"
"Come on," Thor said. He rolled Magni out of bed and took them to check on Jane and Thrud.
"Still sleepy," Thrud said grumpily.
"Thor, what's going on?" groaned Jane.
Thor shut the door and wedged Mjollnir against it. He sat down on the side of the bed and took Jane's hand.
"I just wanted to . . . to check on everyone. That's all."
"Can we go back to bed now?" moaned Magni.
"We're all staying in here tonight," Thor said. "Here, take the spare blanket."
They needed a Loki-proof security system, he thought.
Magni balled up at the foot of the huge bed. He and Thrud both went back to sleep quickly.
Jane hesitated and then ran her hand gently through Bragmir's hair. He jumped a little and then settled back.
"I missed you," she said sleepily.
Thor and Bragmir glanced at each other.
-n-n-n-n-
Well, I'm winding up the story now. There should be at least one more chapter.
In the meantime – Happy Thanksgiving!
Magni: You do realize we don't celebrate Thanksgiving on Asgard.
I was talking to the readers, not to you.
Hildy: Hello, readers! Remember what I said about review—mmphh!
Magni: Hush, Hildy. Happy Thanksgiving, Midgardian readers.