A/N: Listen to sad music with this chapter. It helps!
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"ANNERLEDES!" Jennie hissed, skidding across the polished floor until she was directly at Christie's side. "I need to talk to you, now." Christie frowned but nodded, allowing her to take her aside.
"What's wrong?" she whispered once they were out of earshot.
"It's Loki…" Jennie began hesitantly, suddenly feeling a little awkward.
"What-" But before Christie could finish, there came a sudden CRASH! bursting through the walls, startling everyone.
Thor was back.
Loki wearily glanced at the Mjölnir in his brother's hand, seemingly less than surprised by the fact that he'd just appeared out of nowhere.
"Ah. Found its way back to you, did it?" he sneered, cocking his head to the side in amusement.
"No thanks to you," Thor spat, taking a few angry paces toward him. Christie blinked at his words and also stepped forward with confusion plastered all over her face - and clearly, she wasn't the only one that was baffled.
"Loki, what is your brother talking about?" Frigga muttered. But her words were only met with silence. "Son! I asked you a question!"
"Yes, tell her, Loki! Tell her of how you sent the Destroyer to Midgard to kill me?!" Thor shouted, totally enraged. Jennie's doe eyes grew even wider as she realised what Loki had done, and she and Christie exchanged worried glances. Christie in particular - because what if he had seriously injured civilians?
Wasn't that technically her own fault for not stopping him?
"Bizarre of you to think that I did anything when The Destroyer was Father's. How do you know it wasn't just enforcing his final command?" Loki replied breezily. Christie frowned across the room at Delilah and Renesme for some sort of clarification - but they could only return their own looks of bewilderment.
"Loki…what are you on about?" Christie interrupted impatiently.
"He's nothing but a liar, Annerledes. I'd run from him whilst you still can," Thor warned her lowly.
"Ah, always such kind words from you, brother," Loki tutted mockingly. "And now, I bid you…goodbye." And with that, he fired his sceptre directly at Thor, blasting him straight in the chest and sending him flying across the room. It could've killed him.
Loki almost killed his brother, right in front of them.
Jennie let out a horrified scream and took several steps back, grabbing Christie's arm in fear. Now Christie definitely knew that it was time to leave - this was the kind of thing Coulson needed to know about. Loki, whichever one it was, had now depicted the actions of a madman, and there was no time to coax him out of it again.
"Girls, gather your sh*t - it's time to go!" she quickly rallied her friends together, and they did exactly what they were told. It was time. Christie turned her attention to the stunned Frigga. "My queen, I must ask that you allow me to return to Midgard. Asgard is no longer safe," she begged, taking Frigga's soft hand in her own and squeezing it slightly. Frigga appeared dazed both at her request and the situation on a whole.
"You…you want to return to the place you once fled? Why?" she questioned Christie with a frown.
"Because…because I have no other choice," Christie muttered reluctantly. "Loki's become a threat to both your world and mine. I have a strong feeling that he won't be contained on Asgard for much longer. So I need to go home to warn my people so that they have time to prepare, just in case. And I need to take the girls - please let me take the girls."
This was entirely too much information for Frigga to process at once.
"What do you mean, 'prepare'? Annerledes, who are you? Really?" she confronted her shakily. Christie took another patient breath, although she just wanted to get back to Earth as soon as possible and Frigga wasn't making it easy.
"Please Lady Frigga, may we go down with h-her?" Renesme suddenly stammered from behind her.
"Please, my Queen," Jennie begged alongside her as the tears of fear sprung to her eyes. "Asgard is surely to be in ruins with one son going rogue-"
"Ladies, I see you're panicked but I am still utterly bewildered. Why did you come up here, Annerledes? Was anything you said on your arrival even true?" Frigga persisted for an answer. Christie could tell that Frigga didn't want to let them go. She adored her serving girls as if they were her own daughters.
But Christie had no choice. The mission came first.
"I'm…I'm actually an agent…well, assassin. I was sent here on a mission by an Earthly organisation called S.H.I.E.L.D. to monitor potential threats after a number of Asgardians found themselves on our world. The point was for me to come up then report back before any dangers could reach us, so we could be well prepared for anything. That's why I'm here, I am honestly so, so sorry for lying to you when I first landed, but it's my job," Christie finally blurted out in a rush. The girls' mouths hung open in shock for what seemed to be the twelfth time in the last five minutes, and they all turned to Frigga, unsure of what her reaction would be.
"I knew there was something…"
"Please, Queen! May we go? Perhaps we can even return once everything has calmed, but for now…?" Delilah applied a little more pressure, feeling increasingly anxious by the second - which she never usually did. Frigga's eyes darted between all four of them before finally giving a reluctant and stiff nod.
"Fine." She led the girls across the Bifrost at speed to find Heimdall. They could all hear the brothers fighting down below, so they tried to run across as quickly as they could before it got too messy. Heimdall was there at his post, but he was frozen - a literal human ice cube. Christie's heart sunk.
"Ohhh no my dearest Heimdall! Whatever has happened?" Renesme wailed, delicately touching his frozen figure. Frigga took a deep breath in through her nose and touched Heimdall's frozen arm - just for the ice to completely melt under her touch. Just like that, Heimdall had been freed once more.
"Thank you my Queen," he spluttered, trying to catch his breath and his balance. But then it got worse. Suddenly, the beautiful rainbow bridge they were standing on shook violently before half of it broke away and crumbled into an abyss of darkness beneath them.
"What, the hell?" Christie murmured to herself in horror.
"Heimdall, who did this to you?" Frigga demanded to know as she rushed the women into the portal control room.
"Your youngest, my queen," Heimdall spat furiously. Christie rolled her eyes and clamped her hands on her forehead, totally stumped. Loki went for HEIMDALL? Now that was a low blow.
"Loki did this? He's not an ice god! How did he manage to freeze YOU?" Jennie scoffed, throwing her arms about wildly. Frigga turned to the girls with a small sigh.
"My son, he's…he's adopted. His true last name is…Laufeyson. My guesses is that he discovered his parentage," she murmured to them, before abruptly clearing her throat and turning back to the gatekeeper. "Heimdall, prepare the portal to send the girls to Midgard, if you will." Heimdall gave an affirmative nod and plunged his large sword into the golden device.
But Christie's mind was still stuck on what Frigga had just revealed.
"Laufeyson? Laufey's…son…I'm sorry - did I just kill Loki's dad?" she whispered, suddenly feeling extremely guilty.
"Please, can we just leave?" Renesme pleaded, now crying full on tears of anxiety. She was so uncomfortable and couldn't understand for the life of her why they were choosing to discuss the ins and outs of this crisis now.
"Ren's right, we should leave now," Delilah agreed, those bright crystal blue eyes boring into Christie's. As if it heard their request, the portal emitted a loud mighty roar and finally opened, a thousand different glittering colours swirling in spirals in front of their very eyes. A beautiful sight, as per usual. "Right, Ren - you first," Delilah muttered, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly. Renesme nodded and rushed over to give Christie a sad, tight hug.
"You are going to meet us down there, yes?" she sniffed nervously into her shoulder.
"Yeah, of course. I'll be right behind you, Ren. I'm not gonna let you wander Earth alone," Christie assured her gently, hugging her back as tightly as she possibly could. Frigga took Renesme into a warm hug once she was done as well.
"Do great things in their world, Renesme. I know you will put your talents to amazing use and make me proud," she whispered into her ear. "No more fear. Time to be strong, yes?" Renesme gulped and nodded as she let go of her beloved Queen and stepped to the portal wearily. She took a deep breath, and suddenly, she was gone, sucked up in the whirl of colours. Delilah was next. She gave Christie a warm hug too, burying her face into her neck and biting back the tears threatening to fall from her own eyelids.
"See you on the other side, Annerledes. We'll be waiting for you," Delilah assured her, before running up and jumping through as well, fearlessly compared to Renesme. Jennie was last and, of course, she gave Christie the biggest hug.
"Oh god. You guys are acting like I'm never gonna see you again. I'm literally following you down there in a second," Christie laughed weakly as she squeezed her back.
"I know," Jennie sighed, giving a sad smile once they broke apart. "That was just for being so brave and a great friend from the day we met, whether you were a… 'secret assassin' or not." Christie smiled back tearfully and gave a playful ruffle to Jennie's mousey brown locks, before she also stepped into the portal and was gone in a flash. Christie took a deep breath and stepped back over to both Heimdall and Frigga, giving Heimdall a hug first.
"Thank you for looking out for me," she mumbled. Heimdall hugged her back, still towering over her.
"The pleasure is all mine, Miss Annerledes. Stay safe down there - I'll be watching," he nodded, bowing respectfully once they broke apart. Christie smiled at him before finally turning to a broken Frigga, her heart pounding and guilt washing over her.
"I'm so sorry - I want you to know that being a serving girl - that was my mission. But…me falling in l-love with your son wasn't part of it, all of that was true as can be, and I-" Christie's speech was suddenly interrupted by her unexpectedly breaking off into hot, heavy tears, covering her mouth with her hand to try and stifle her sobs.
Emotions again, slapping her in the face - and this time, in front of her boss. Embarrassing.
Frigga gave her a pitiful smile before quickly bringing her in for a warm, motherly hug. It was the closest to a motherly touch that Christie had ever received.
"I always knew you were different. I understand why you did what you did. But please promise me that you'll come back to us eventually. You make my son happy, I know it seems a little hard to believe now, but he loves you - and he'll need you once all of this is over. I shall fix him, I promise, this monster will not win his soul," Frigga whispered. Even she was starting to cry. "Under those complex layers remains the man you fell in love with." But just when Christie was about to reply to Frigga's sweet words, she happened to glance over her shoulder just in time to witness Loki.
He was clinging onto the edge of the broken Bifrost for dear life.
"LOKI!" Christie suddenly screeched, immediately breaking Frigga's hug so that she could run to help him. But Heimdall and Frigga held her back without a second thought.
"No Annerledes you must leave, now!" Frigga demanded loudly, although the tears were still streaming down her face. "You were right, it's far too dangerous for you here! The Bifrost is BROKEN!" But Christie continued to struggle against Heimdall's firm grip, slapping his large biceps repeatedly in a wild attempt to free herself.
"He's gonna fall! Let me GO! PLEASE!" she begged frantically as she kicked and withered about.
"ANNERLEDES! STOP STRUGGLING! HE'D HATE HIMSELF FOREVER IF YOU DIED TRYING TO SAVE HIM!" Frigga yelled as she firmly stood in front of Christie to prevent her from seeing anything else, although it broke her heart to see her struggling and crying in such distress. For a girl that always seemed to keep her cool regardless of the circumstance, this was a huge and sudden turn around.
"Frigga please, p-please let me go! LOKI!" Christie sobbed, her salty tears running into her mouth as Heimdall and Frigga shoved her closer and closer toward the edge of the portal, overpowering her resistance. She could see Loki's grip on the Bifrost weakening. And Loki, from where he was still hanging on, could distantly see Christie being pushed into the portal.
He couldn't believe it - they were taking her away from him. He'd never, ever see her again. What was left of his heart shattered into a million pieces.
What was the point?
"ANNERLEDES!" he yelled with his voice cracking, his face full of sadness and pain. But it was too late.
With one final unfortunate shove, Frigga and Heimdall pushed the screaming Christie into the mass of swirling colours - and she was gone.
"NO!" Loki yelled, still hanging on. He looked up with tearful eyes to his Father and Thor who were running across the broken bridge to help him, but he knew what had to be done. Loki didn't even need to think twice. What was the point of living without Christie by his side? He had caused enough hurt and pain already. Things would be better off if he were gone regardless.
So he took a deep breath - and he let go, falling into an abyss of darkness.
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Next chapter tomorrow x