Welcome back everyone. I was torn between posting this here or posting it as a One-shot. I decided to do both! As you have read from the epilogue, "Once Upon a Time" is coming soon as the sequel to "Pardon my Past." This is a one-shot companion that connects these two stories together.
Loki and Jane are on the rocks when they have not even celebrated one year of marriage or one year of their son Lukas' life. But Jane, goddess of marriage, compassion, and fidelity has been up to no-good...in a good way.
I found that listening to a repeat track of "Broken" (featuring Amy Lee of Evanescence) by Seether gives this chapter the right mood.
A Warrior Mother's heart
One year after "Pardon my Past"
Valhalla
Could she stand another moment? Her body ached all over. Scratches and incisions open or in some stage of healing or flow. Bruises along her right shoulder joint, a broken right wrist, twisted left ankle that she hobbled to her chambers on, bruised right eye...the list went on.
However, the second trial was now complete. Her body would heal with time and Jane Odinson would complete the final trial.
If she wanted to be a valkyrie like her mother Freyja, she had complete it. Not completing her test would prevent her from being a warrior and bring dishonor to her mother.
She had been vexed by the Asgardian people. They treated her as a fragile doll and feared for her what husband would do them if caught dishonoring her.
Jane, a princess of Asgard was not mortal anymore and she wished everyone would get tidbit through their heads.
It was what caused all their problems.
Loki and Jane had done nothing but fight since Lukas had been born. She thought it to be attributed to post-partum depression, but she was not depressed.
She did not want to be feared for what Loki would do people. She wanted to be feared for she would be able to do them.
It was why she wanted to chose the path of a valkyrie.
However when Jane told Loki that she wanted to be one, her husband went ballistic. His anger with her had been unlike anything she had seen ever.
She had been a goddess for nearly a year now. Lukas was still a newborn, but was beginning to show his love for magic and illusions.
They had been trying for their daughter, but to no avail. Vor had not explained the age difference that would be between her children, but said she was destined to have her precious daughter.
Then the fighting began.
Loki accused her of infidelity in all her travels to Valhalla (though she was visiting her mother), Jane flung insults at the showing their son magic at such a young age, and the both of them refused to admit that they had a problem.
So she walked painfully into her chamber, crying as her broken wrist attempted to push the door open.
Jane walked into her chamber, slowly taking off the belt that crossed over her body that held her bow-staff. It dropped with a loud clang to the floor.
The bracers were next to strike the marble floor.
With a wave of her hand, she lit a fire in the hearth. It was one of the simple magic tricks she had picked up as a goddess and used it often.
She parted the sparkling purple veil that surrounded her bed and sat down. Using her right foot, she slid off her boot, but due to the injury of the other her hands would have to take it off.
Hissing, the boot came off. Her ankle was indeed broken and swollen, bruising slightly at the bone.
The first trial had been endurance. She had been forced into running a great distance, swimming across a vast lake, and climbing a mountain with no cables or supports. It spanned several days and nights of no food or drink.
The second trial had been a battle with some Valhalla's greatest warriors. These warriors were being saved for the Ragnarok, the great final battle at the twilight of the gods. She was given her choice of weapons, but it did not matter as many of her combatants were far greater than she.
Freyja had watched and wanted to intervene, but the code was that Jane had to endure the three trials to prove her worth.
She would be given rest tonight, but tomorrow would be her final challenge.
Survival.
Whatever fate awaited, she would have to endure it tomorrow.
Jane fell back onto the fabric and exhaled.
"The life of a warrior," she grumbled before closing her eyes.
The wind blew at the curtains upon the balcony that overlooked Valhalla's fields. The cool breeze fanned the flames in the hearth, but the valkyrie within did not move an inch.
She was not a valkyrie yet, but through the pain, she had been able to be located.
And even after six months of separation, Prince Loki would always know where to find his wife.
His heart ached everyday since the disagreement that had transpired. Jane had been angry that he was already showing Lukas the joys of magic. She had also been complaining that they were not worshiping her because she was the Goddess of Fidelity, but because she was the wife of Loki.
The fight had been so taxing to the point that Jane fled to Valhalla to her mother's hall. It was only until recently that his father Odin had told him she was completing the three trials to become a valkyrie.
He remembered watching Jane stood in the sandy arena surrounded by warriors, brutish and large, having to fight for her life until she defeated them.
How he wanted to intervene, swoop in, and save her.
However, dishonor would have become her. Loki remained on his perch, watching in distain as warriors beat down and destroyed her body.
His wife proved to be the strongest and defeated every single one of them; mostly using her intelligence and knowledge to achieve victory.
Loki moved passed the curtains and entered Jane's quarters very calmly and quietly. He used a cloaking spell so she did not know he was with her. He just wanted to make sure she was well.
She appeared to be asleep on the bed as he moved to stand before her.
Even with all the cuts, scars, wounds, bruises, and all the verbal transgressions she had flung at him, he still loved his wife.
His hand moved to gently pull aside the curtain to get a better look at her.
Jane shot up with a start and took him to the ground, a dagger in hand against his neck.
Loki landed hard on his back, hands up to indicate surrender.
"Release your magic villain, for I am Lady Jane Odinson," she said to him, "a valkyrie."
Oh yes, he remembered. He was still invisible.
The spell faded to where she would be able to see him.
"Loki?" she said. "What are you..."
"I could feel your pain," he told her. "I came to see for myself."
But her hand flung the dagger away and brought her lips to his; kissing him in only the way they used to share their passion.
Loki needed to breathe from the exchange. "You have committed your first mistake valkyrie," he said.
"And pray tell would that be."
He shoved her over to be the one hovering over her. "Never ever throw your weapon away."
"Really?"
"Do I appear to be jesting with you?"
Jane put her hands up to rest at his shoulders. She used her strength to shove him off, call the dagger back to her hand, and roll into a crouch to place it where it once had been.
It during that moment of disorientation that he sat up and found the cold metal meeting his flesh.
"Clever little trick," he said.
The two of them began to spar once they were vertical. His fist came in, but she blocked it extremely well with her forearm. He went high and low, differentiating his attacks.
With a kick of his leg, Jane blocked it with both her hands and twisted to where he rolled in midair, but still managed to land on his feet.
"You certainly are learning."
"Cannot be a valkyrie and not be able to fend off attacks at a moment's notice," she answered him.
Jane went to strike him with a chop, but he blocked it. However, she swung around and clocked him with her opposite arm's elbow.
"You will not give up, will you?" he asked.
"To give up is a dishonor. To die a warrior's death is noble; even if you are my husband."
"Am I?" he asked. "I was beginning to wonder."
"What are you saying?" she asked.
"You have been gone for quite some time. People have begun to speak in that which I am most known for."
Jane stood down from her attack position. "How dare you accuse me of not loving you anymore. I would assume to die a thousand deaths than to not be with you. Loki, son of Odin, I love you everyday, every night, and it has killed me to not have you at my side."
Oh, was she aware of everything that he had done over their separation? His evil transgressions on Midgard, the Chitauri, the tesseract, everything. In his anger and sadness, yes, he turned back to his dark and wicked ways.
"Then why have you not returned?" he asked.
"You know why. This is what I have desired to become. I want to be revered as much as you are. I want to be known for something more than a goddess of marriage and compassion. A warrior's path is my destiny."
"Then prove your worth princess," he said. "Defeat me and I shall forgive you."
Jane came in with a form of attack using her hands and the dagger as her primary weapons.
He blocked the attacks, laughing at her attempts to come out victorious.
Her foot came around to kick at him, but he grabbed it. This was her wounded ankle.
"Never attack your enemy where he can exploit your weakness," he told her.
She smiled. "I'm not."
Jane snapped off her right foot and knocked herself free.
Loki watched with a smile, feeling the tenderness from where his wife had struggled to free herself.
"One of the things Freyja taught me," she said, smiling on her face. Her injured ankle rose to where she was balancing on her good foot. "How to fight when you are injured...and that includes on one foot."
He stood back up.
They went at it again, matching fist for fist, chop for chop, and kick for kick.
It was amusing yet exhilarating at the same time.
Finally, he had had enough of this game.
When his wife took her opportunity to attack him with her dagger, Loki dislodged the weapon, took her arms in a manner that he trapped her against his body, and kissed her.
Jane responded back at him as her fingers grabbed a tight hold of his hair.
They spiraled around in a passionate dance of amorous devotion.
His mouth savored every inch down her chin and profile down her neck. Her responses to the sensuous emotion made him love her even more; no matter how angry he had been at her for the past six months.
"Husband," she spoke at a nearly breathless tone.
"Wife," he repeated her emotional title.
They were destined to conceive a daughter. Why not now?
The following morning
The morning of her final trial, Jane opened her eyes to the gorgeous sun that brought her out of her deadened sleep.
As she felt beside her for her husband, it was considerably cold and empty.
Where was he?
There was a note on the pillow.
My darling wife,
Once you win your final trial today, please come home. I need you. I know you will succeed. My love be with you.
Your husband
Asgard
The trial was over.
Nothing Jane could not handle. After the beatings and endurance, surviving in a labyrinth while being chased by a dragon was nothing.
Now she had to endure the trial within her heart.
Racing back to Asgard, she entered the royal palace adorned in her full valkyrie uniform. She had gone with purple silk to underlay the silver corset and shoulder armor, proper bracers and boots, and a helmet. Her mother had wanted her to select the one with wings, but Jane felt that it was an insult to Loki to wear one modeled after his brother.
She changed it to be headband that wrapped around with two snaking back horns, but low across her crown. It would be an extra layer of protection for attacks to her noggin.
When she returned, Jane immediately went to her quarters to search for Loki and found Thor and Frigga standing on the veranda to the garden.
"Jane, darling," her mother-in-law greeted her with a tight embrace.
"What is this?" she asked. "Where is Loki?"
"Jane, something happened during your valkyrie training," Thor spoke her.
"What happened?"
Within moments, she was whisked down to the dungeons to a cell deep within the corner at the back.
Thor held her hand tightly. She wanted to come down alone, but her brother-in-law refused her to be with Loki without support.
If only he knew what they were up to last night.
Jane walked to the barred wall and put her hands on some of the bars.
"Loki," she called his name.
And her husband looked up at her. Shackles adorned his wrists while links secured him to the wall.
But how? If he was secured to the wall, how did he appear to, spar with, and sleep beside her?
His eyes were radiant and sparkled, but the metal mask that covered his mouth that savored and kissed her before she succumbed to sleep.
"Open it," she said.
"Jane, I..." Thor protested.
"Either open it or I break it down. You choose."
Her brother opened the door to the cell and she raced to her husband's side. "Loki," she said his name. His pain-filled eyes looked up at her.
How could he be here if she was in his arms? Who had she consorted with last night?
"What have you done my beloved?" she said.
"He attacked Earth using a demonic race called the Chitauri to steal the tesseract from the mortals," Thor told her. Jane looked back at him and then back to her husband.
They needed to speak to one another, but without criticism or contrite from those around.
Is this true my husband, she asked, using her mental link she shared with him.
It is, he answered.
Jane wanted to cry at this sudden shock, but she did not give up or show weakness in her first official day as a valkyrie.
You completed the third trial, he said.
Yes, she replied.
I knew you would. She could feel Loki's cheekbones flex into a smile under her hands.
So, if you did come to me last night, then how is it that you are locked up?
A magician never kisses and tells, Loki replied. He did appear to be smiling the best he could from underneath the mask. "Do not worry," his voice told her, a hand coming to her face as best it could. He reverted back to the mental link form of communication. You were with me I swear. An illusion of me in its strongest, purest form that came to you.
So I made love to your ghostly illusion of yourself. Cute, very cute.
I strive to achieve.
Jane looked back to Thor. "Please let him go."
"I cannot honor your request," her family member said. "Loki has committed a tragic crime against the mortals of Midgard and is being punished for it."
"By punishing Loki and Lukas," she shouted. "Lukas already lost me for six months. Do not make him hurt because of our crimes."
"What crimes have you committed Jane?" he asked.
"Being a terrible absent parent. Please Thor, let Loki be free."
"That is something I would desire to do, but you cannot expect me to be able to break those chains. Father put them around him as punishment for what he has done."
She stood up, still holding onto Loki's hands. "Then I will go before the Allfather myself," she said, rising to the challenge.
You cannot do that my love, Loki begged of her, tugging on her hand. You could share a cell with me for that support.
Not if they want to deal with Lukas the rest of their lives or expect their granddaughter to never be born. The prophesy will not come true and Asgard will die. Does everyone want that?
Loki was impressed because he got very quiet and his thoughts were supporting her determination to win.
I got Loki released from prison and we both learned that his magical visitor had completed his task. He in fact was not lying, but in a way he was. His illusion had stayed in the prison cell, but his actual physical body came to Valhalla's chamber.
Lynnea Rose was born to us within that year. Our little huntress had finally arrived and our family was complete.
And they both prayed that that war that ended Asgard would never come.
Stay tuned everyone. Once Upon a Time is coming soon! Remember to review for me!
