Disclaimer: I don't own "Ragnarok" Netflix or any of its characters, wishful thinking aside.
Authors Note #1: I wanted to write about what might have happened after the credits rolled at the end of season two.
Warnings: sexual content, canon typical violence, drama, romance, angst, age/experience difference, enemies to enemies that fuck, norse mythology.
Today (I want to resolve nothing)
Chapter One
Her fingers trailed along the spines of the books on her shelf. A man called Intrepid. The Body. Bad Blood. A Fine mess. Atlas Obscura. The End. Her lips quirked. Wondering if this was the fates' way of telling her something.
The clock on the wall was obnoxious. Tick. Tick. Ticking. It was past midnight, and she couldn't sleep. She hadn't slept soundly since Fjor and Ran punished her for allowing Magne to forge his hammer. She didn't regret it. But that didn't mean the blows hadn't meant something. It didn't mean it hadn't made her feel-
The weight of their anger had only been heightened when they'd returned without the car. Dragging her off the floor. Somehow missing the honied curl of Magne's scent. Forcing her to look at the distant plume rising from the wreckage. Mouths snarling sounds she hadn't heard since the old days. Their grand revenge, thwarted.
Her lip curled as she remembered it.
Good.
They'd gone after Laurits. Personally, she was surprised Magne had allowed them to live. Especially after they told her what they'd done him. They were lucky the boy was still that - a boy. Thor's wrath had been the thing of legends. Quite literally, in fact. He dealt in absolutes. In the most elemental form of right and wrong. And obviously, nearly killing his brother was subject equal retribution. Likely more than equal.
Thor had never done anything in halves.
Her feelings didn't feel like her own as she watched them seethe. Ran had disappeared into the basement to train. She'd barely seen her since. Rediscovering that old world fear the Gods always managed to instill. Even if the God was an infant. Fjor, however, had been prowling the house for days. Sulking and dangerous. The distance between them yawning and new. Leaving her jittery and tired.
Everything was changing.
Everything old had been made new.
It was exciting and terrifying all at once.
She sighed, abandoning the bookshelf with a toss of her head. A muscle in her cheek jumped with stale anxiety as she stepped over a pile of abandoned clothes. Mind made up as she angled to her closet and pulled on a jacket. Not bothering to check her reflection as she slipped her phone into her pocket and pulled the hood of her sweater over her hair like a teal-grey caul.
If she wasn't going to sleep, she might as well take a walk.
Naturally, her feet took her to the only predictable place.
She'd only been paused outside his house for a few moments when Magne stepped outside. Hammer in hand. The sound her boots made against the shitty asphalt was a singular sort of greeting as he closed the door quietly behind him. Walking down to the gate until they were level with each other.
He was still taller of course.
But the choice to come down from the high ground was purposeful.
Fair.
"What do you want?" he asked. Voice like gravel as the distant growl of thunder rolled high in the clouds overhead.
She smiled, wary and sharp as she looked him over. Bare feet. Threadbare jeans. And a soft grey t-shirt that looked new, but was already too small in the chest. She sighed, giving him a clear up and down. It was unfair he could sound so dangerous with that kind of bedhead.
"Nothing," she lied. Because the ache in her core obviously indicated otherwise.
She didn't wait to watch his frown make tracks. Instead, she tipped her head back, chin to the sky. Watching the lightning dance from cloud to cloud. She wondered if he knew he was showing off.
Beautiful.
"Why are you here?" he tried again. Capitalizing on the thing she was trying to avoid.
"Why are you awake?" she countered.
Magne shrugged. In that moment solely a teenager. And for the first time, she wondered what it was like to live in his head. Just as they'd had little choice when the status quo began to change, Magne hadn't been given a choice either. It had just happened. She'd looked him up online, searching through old school records. Pictures. Yearbooks. Class lists. Newspaper articles. Nothing. He'd been dull and uninteresting. Normal. It was like coming to Edda had flipped some sort of switch. Suddenly – inexplicably – he'd started becoming.
"I'm going for a walk," she told him as the darkness bent the sallow streetlight shadows. Forcing her feet to move as she headed down the street. Tossing the rest over her shoulder. "You coming?"
She wasn't sure which of them was more surprised when she found him waiting for her at the crossroads of the next street. Now wearing shoes and a thin jacket. Hands shoved deep in his pockets as they slowly got used to walking side by side.
His hammer was no where to be seen.
The mountains were wreathed in clouds. A brocaded, grey-coal skirt that reminded her years long gone. The humans set the rhythm now. They were the ones who plotted, created and expanded. Inadvertently providing everything they'd needed to rule over them. Capitalism was so clever, so ruthless, it was a wonder they hadn't created it.
For such a foolish species, humans were endlessly clever. Continuing to evolve when both the Giants and the Gods had long since peaked. She supposed they should be grateful they were so willingly blind. So unopen to what they didn't understand they deemed it impossible or ignored its presence entirely. The only other option was waging war on it - in some form or another. She'd always found them uninteresting. Every lifetime brought its exceptions. But overall, she remained unimpressed.
The truth was, she was cripplingly bored.
Not of this.
Of life in general.
She'd done it so many times.
She'd lived. Gone to school. Gotten a career. Gotten married. Grown old. Died.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Maybe it was time for everything to change.
Magne was silent beside her. Not saying anything as they started up the mountain. Gradually increasing their pace until they were running. Whipping back the trees and dodging cliffs as the wind howled like an animal in her breast.
She felt stunningly alive.
They pulled to a stop when they reached the top. The night sky was clear here, resting just above the cloud bank like a secret. Showing a canvas of glittering stars and a skyline that seemed to go on forever. She pulled in a fractured breath, scenting the air. Letting herself feel it. Letting the world wash over her. She'd forgotten how beautiful it was.
"Why did you do it?" Magne asked, speaking for the first time in hours. Hands twitching awkwardly at his sides.
The smirk that turned her lips up was heavy and fake.
"Do what?" she returned, shifting to look at him.
She told herself the question was warranted.
He could mean anything.
Why she had invited him out tonight?
Why she had helped Laurits with the key?
Why-
"Why did you kiss me?"
Ah.
A/N: Thank you for reading, please let me know what you think. – There will be one more chapter.