"Bruno,'' Fiske piped excitedly, "tell us a story!''
Brunnhilde lifted the child onto her lap. "Alright, little one. But remember: my name is Brunnhilde. Not Bruno.''
"But that's what Loki calls you,'' Erika pointed out.
"And should you ever do what Loki does?'' Brunnhilde asked them, smiling.
"No!" The children chorused.
"Loki isn't all that bad,'' said Astrid, one of the oldest. "He rescued us from Asgard. True, he's betrayed King Thor on various occasions. But he's on our side now. . . I think. And I remember when he and Thor were best of friends!''
The Valkyrie nodded. "Loki has made mistakes. But so have I.''
"But you're perfect!'' Fiske looked up at her with big blue eyes.
She smiled. "Nobody is perfect, Fiske. Not me, not Loki, not even our king. But anyone can be redeemed.''
"King Thor is pretty perfect,'' muttered a pretty girl with blonde ringlets.
Thor had oh-so-kindly put Brunnhilde in charge of the children. At first she was furious. Children! She had fought in Asgard's most bloodiest battles and the king expected her to babysit? But Brunnhilde soon got used to it. More so, she even enjoyed it. She had only watched the children for three days and they already adored her. The Valkyrie would play games them, and read old myths to them. Most of the time, the children crowded around her to listen to stories. Thousands of years ago, when she was fighting alongside the Valkyrie, Brunnhilde never would have imagined that one day she would be retelling her adventures to children.
"Can you tell the story now, please?'' Fiske begged.
"Once upon a time, King Odin sent the Valkyrie to Svartalfheim to hunt a White Stag. He wanted it's head for decoration in the Great Hall. No wars were being fought at the time so he sent the Valkyrie. We arrived in the new realm, set up camp, and set out hunting. Obviously, we couldn't leave the camp unguarded so my friend Tyra and I were left to guard it. Tyra and I were fairly new Valkyrie so we naturally took our assignment serious for the first two hours, then got bored. While we were messing around, the White Stag wandered into the camp. Of course, when Tyra and I discovered its presence we were immediately alert. Tyra was able to corner it, while I went in for the kill. You can imagine the surprise of the others when they returned empty-handed to find us roasting Stag on the spit.''
Brunnhilde stopped her narrative. She thought she heard a commotion.
The pretty blonde girl wrinkled her nose. "You ate the White Stag? Weren't you supposed to give it to Odin?''
"He just wanted the head,'' Astrid reminded her.
"Was it really bloody when you cut its head off?" Fiske asked.
The younger girls whimpered slightly.
"Well, that's enough stories for one day,'' Brunnhilde said, changing the subject.
"Aww,'' Fiske complained. "But the last one was so short!''
"I'll give you a nice long story tomorrow,'' she promised.
A guard appeared at the door of the small chamber. He brow was knit in a worried expression. Sweat beaded his forehead. "Valkyrie?''
Brunnhilde gently lifted Fiske and placed him on the floor with the other children. She ignored their annoyed complaints and hastened to the door. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know,'' said the guard. "An huge ship, even bigger than ours, just appeared in front of us. They don't mean help. They don't mean peace. They mean war.''
The Valkyrie rolled her eyes. "Could that have been any more dramatic?'' She didn't wait for him to respond. "I'll keep the children here until we know more. Don't automatically expect every outsider to be an enemy. ''
The guard dipped his head and hurried off.
Brunnhilde sat back down with the children.
"What was that about?'' Asked one boy.
"Tell us!'' Shrieked another.
"Can you please just finish the story?'' Fiske groaned.
"Hush, hush, please,'' Brunnhilde quieted them. "That was just a guard. He had to tell me something. Adult stuff. Don't worry about it.''
The children settled back down.
Brunnhilde resumed the story, but she was distracted now. Doubt filled her. Within five minutes of the guard's appearance, she was certain something was wrong. The commotion she had heard previously loudened. The people were panicking. Something was wrong.
"Brunnhilde.''
A chill shot down her spine. She abruptly stopped telling the story to the children. She turned around. Loki was standing in the doorway. His expression was impossible to read. He was holding his left hand.
"I need to speak with you.''
A sick feeling stirred in her gut. Wordlessly she got up and left, shutting the door behind her. Once alone with Loki, Brunnhilde spoke. "What the hell are you doing?''
Loki averted his eyes. "Brunnhilde, please. This. . this wasn't supposed to happen. I'm sorry.''
"What's 'this'?'' She demanded. "What's happening? Loki. . . what have you done?''
He did not respond. He kept massaging his left hand. Finally, Loki lifted his gaze. And Brunnhilde understood.
"Thanos,'' she breathed.
Loki nodded miserably. "He found us.''
"He found you.'' Brunnhilde couldn't keep the accusation out of her voice. She saw the hurt in Loki's eyes. She didn't know whether to be guilty for causing it or not. Thanos. She remembered what Loki had said about him. Thanos was here for the Space Stone. Loki had it. He was in danger.
"You need to get out of here. Take the Stone and run.''
"No.'' Loki set his jaw determinedly. "If I leave Thanos will kill you all. It will be a genocide. No, I have to stay. But, Brunnhilde, you have to go.''
She was about to protest, but Loki interrupted. "Take as many women and children as possible. There's a single escape pod on this ship. You need to leave now. He's here.''
Emotion choked the Valkyrie. She couldn't leave Loki and half of Asgard to die at the hands of a tyrant. Yet she knew it was her duty. No doubt, Thor had asked Loki to tell her to go. She would be disobeying direct orders from her king.
She studied Loki. He was as dark and beautiful as ever. He seemed peaceful despite what was inevitably going to happen. Loki understood his fate. He knew this was his fault, and he was willing to pay the price. Brunnhilde noticed his left hand was bruised and swelling.
"What happened to your hand?''
Loki shrugged. "People are bitter. They blame this on me. To be fair, they're right.''
Even though it was true, it still made Brunnhilde angry that the Asgardians had injured Loki. She gently took his hand. There was a discolored bump where the delicate bone that connected to his pointer finger had been broken. Brunnhilde carefully shifted the bone back in place. Loki winced in pain. She lifted his hand to her lips, kissing it. He wrapped his right arm around her waist, pulling her close so that their chests were touching.
"I can't leave you,'' she whispered. She felt a tear trace down her face.
"It's your duty.''
"I don't care. I just want to stay with you forever.'' She buried her face in his shoulder and sobbed.
Loki stroked her hair. "I know. But we were never made to be together. We must part.''
"I don't care what was made. We can create our own future. Please. Please, please, come with me. We can go together. Forget all this—"
Loki pulled away. "You don't believe anything you just said.''
Brunnhilde trembled. This could not be happening. Just when she thought everything would be okay. She was in love. In love with a god. As crazy as it was, it made Brunnhilde happy. She wanted him. She needed him.
"It's alright,'' he said. He forced a smile.
It was not alright. Loki would die.
Loki kissed her lips. "I love you, Bruno.''
"I love you too, Lucky.''
"Now go, hurry!''
With great effort, Brunnhilde pulled away. They stared at each other for a long moment. Then Brunnhilde smiled. "I will you see you again, my love.''
Then he was gone.
I'm almost done, don't worry. You won't have to suffer much longer;)
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