Christie released a harsh gasp as her body collided with the cold prison cell floor in the dungeons, her head cracking against the stone. "Sh*t," she hissed, spitting blood out before attempting to prop herself up by her elbows, gaining as much strength as she could. But then the dull room surrounding her began to spin, her head started to pound - and then she became unconscious.
….
"Annerledes? Annerledes, please wake up!" came a faint voice from somewhere above her. It was as if she had landed in Asgard for the first time all over again. Christie groggily opened her eyes and groaned as a harsh white light completely clouded her vision. But soon, they all came into focus. Jennie, Renesme and Delilah were all hovering over her, all three pairs of eyes practically pleading for her to be okay.
"Ah…hi there friends," she winced, attempting to give them a small smile - but her face still ached too much. Jennie let out a groan of relief and Delilah placed her hands onto her chest to finally steady her breathing. Renesme was dabbing at the droplets of blood on Christie's forehead with a cool damp flannel, smiling down at her comfortingly.
"Hello you silly girl. Listen, I know you're in pain right now but not to worry - I promise you, you'll be fine soon," she sighed. Christie quickly heaved herself up, only now realising that she was back in her own bed, in her room, safe. There was rain pattering heavily on the window beside her and it was around evening - but she didn't even know what day it was at this point. "No, Annerledes, you mustn't get up so soon-" Renesme began hurriedly.
"I'll be fine. W-what happened?" Christie coughed as her eyes darted between all three of the girls.
"You were…held in the cells for a few hours. Frigga came looking for you and when she heard that Loki threw you in prison for absolutely no reason, she demanded you be taken out. Luckily, her word just about reigns power above his," Jennie explained with tears welling up in her molten brown eyes. "Just about, at least." Christie shook her head and chewed the inside of her cheek, thinking back what had happened.
"How could Loki do that to me? His attitude has completely changed out of nowhere and I don't understand what triggered it…" she muttered under her breath, trying to make sense of it all. But Jennie, Renesme and Delilah were all exchanging looks of panic with each other, saying nothing to her in response, and it was beginning making Christie uncomfortable. "Guys? What's wrong?" she asked suddenly, the feeling of anxiety boiling up in the pit of her stomach.
The girls continued looking at each other and said nothing."TELL ME!" Christie demanded.
"It's the Allfather…he's...he's entered a sleep," Renesme was the one to break the news to her nervously.
"A 'sleep'? What the hell does that mean?" Christie pressured them.
"I believe in Midgard, y-y-you call it a 'coma'? Lady Frigga simply refuses to leave his bedside," Renesme explained it further, nibbling the edge of her thumb.
"What?" Christie murmured as her face went pale.
"They fear he will never wake," Delilah whispered, collapsing into the soft armchair that Jennie usually sat in. Christie's heart plummeted into the pits of her stomach and her mouth started to run dry.
"How…how the hell did that happen?" she croaked out.
"Well that's the thing. I was there, fetching goods for us to use whilst in hiding. It was Loki - he started shouting at him down in the Treasury Hall and before I knew it...he was gone. It must have been stress induced, he looked simply awful," Jennie explained sadly, settling down on the soft bed beside Christie.
"So...Odin in a sleep, Frigga won't leave his side and Thor has been banished…so that just leaves…" Christie trailed off.
"Loki on the throne, yes," the girls finished for her in one voice. That was all Christie needed to hear. She had been contemplating it for too long, the signs had lightly brushed over her but now it was abundantly clear - the threat that was lingering all this time, the one that S.H.I.E.L.D wanted her to manage was never going to be Thor.
It was always Loki.
She practically felt her strength seep straight back to her muscles, and all her pain transformed itself into anger. So this was the game he had been playing all along, just to get the throne? Did he even like her, let alone love her?
Then fine…it was time to play.
"I'm going to talk to him," Christie decided in a firm, but quiet voice.
"What, and get thrown back in the dungeons?" Renesme scoffed as if she was mad. "No, Annerledes, not going to work. Next?"
"No, this time it'll be different. I know what I'm doing!" Christie stressed to them, starting to swing her slender legs out of bed regardless.
"What do you mean?" Jennie frowned up at her.
"Yes Annerledes, what exactly is your plan here?" Delilah asked curiously, folding her arms and leaning against the wall.
"To play along. I need to act like whatever he's doing is the right thing to do, like I'm on his side. Be the queen to his messed up king, you know?"
"And you really think that's going to work?" Renesme blinked sceptically. "If you play up to him? You don't think he'll be able to see through that? You out of everyone knows how clever he is."
"He might be clever, but I do believe he has a soft spot for me. He didn't sentence me to death, he sent me to jail," Christie shrugged, blinking at her reflection in the mirror. She was still bruised all over but she recognised herself enough - she had looked worse before. "I know everything's unpredictable at this point, he's clearly not altogether there. But I've gotta play along and at least see where that takes me."
"Okay, so say by some miracle this does work. What do you do when you find out his grand plan? What's the next step?" Jennie asked, watching Christie proceed to walk into her bathroom, strip off and hop into the shower.
"Well…I actually haven't thought that far ahead!" she called out over the sound of running water.
"Yeah, I was worried about that being the case," Jennie frowned back, beginning to clear up the bowls of healing ointment and the damp pieces of torn flannel Renesme had used to clean her up.
"Well then let us help!" Delilah suggested brightly, always up for a challenge.
"When he's acting like a madman? Not a chance, because if he does something to hurt you, I'm gonna go berserk and I'd probably get myself booted straight out of Asgard the same way I came in," Christie shortly denied the request from the shower.
"So then…you just want us to sit here and wait for you?" Jennie guessed in boredom, slumping further onto the bed.
"Absolutely! See, now you're getting the hang of this!" Once Christie came out of the shower, she dried herself off with a fluffy white towel, put a fresh white serving dress on and combed her long moonlight white locks out so that it was evenly curtaining either side of her face again, highlighting those beautiful delicate features. She certainly looked stunning - and she felt it too. The bruises on her face didn't even matter anymore - it just looked like she had been through a battle and won. "I'm ready," she breathed shakily. Jennie, Renesme and Delilah all moved in to hug her.
"Please continue to check in on us and keep up updated on what's happening," Delilah begged her with wide eyes. "And be careful!"
"I will, I promise. And I'll try and send you elsewhere so that you're safe once I have his trust. If it looks like I'm being mean to you guys, I swear I'm not, but I've got to be convincing," Christie reminded them sincerely, giving them warm smiles.
"We'll remember," Jennie promised before giving Christie an extra warm hug. "You look just lovely, by the way. Good luck - may the gods walk with you."
"Not the God of Mischief, though," Renesme piped up as Jennie and Delilah groaned, "I mean, like, obviously we don't need him walking…with…oh, nevermind."