"No", Lauren whispers. She shakes her head angrily, and stomps her foot down. "No! I won't kill her. I won't."
"Then you choose the other?", Odin asks with an eyebrow raised. He releases his hold on Nadia's throat, dropping her gasping body to the floor where it returns to it's previously frozen state. "You choose instead to end Tamsin's life for the sake of your human one?"
"No!"
Lauren squares her shoulders at him, rage and fear becoming thick in her throat as she goes to speak.
"I choose neither", she says defiantly. "I refuse to kill either of them."
"You have to choose one, human. It is the only way."
The even meter and calm tone of voice he maintains unsettles Lauren even further. One of the women she could be killing would be his daughter, yet he seems completely unaffected by it - in fact, Lauren would go as far as to think he is encouraging her to choose Tamsin over Nadia. She wonders if this was how Bo felt, all those years ago at the glass factory on the waterfront when the fae tried to force her to choose. Bo, ever brave and noble-hearted, chose the side that she thought needed her - the humans. Now Lauren had found herself in a similar seemingly impossible position, only this time there wasn't a third option.
Or... Was there?
"I could never kill Nadia", Lauren begins and she slowly unsheathes the sword. "She was my first love, and deserved so much more than what she got because of me."
Lauren raises the blade, holding the hilt firmly with both hands, studying her reflection in the gleaming metal.
"And Tamsin... Tamsin is the strongest, most amazing person I know. She is beautiful, inside and out, no matter how much she wants to hide that from the world", Lauren sighs, wishing she could see her valkyrie's smile one more time. "I love her more than I could ever explain to anyone, more than I even really understand."
Odin, growing impatient, stomps up to Lauren. His voice is abrasive and angry, pulling the human from her thoughts on these two women that mean so much to her but represent completely opposite sides of the spectrum of her life.
"What will it be, human?"
Lauren smiles sadly at him before bringing the sharp blade up to her own throat, pressing it just hard enough against her pulse point to earn a small bubble of blood.
"Just tell your daughter that I love her."
With that, she dragged the blade swiftly across her throat, only feeling the pain for a second before her knees gave out and she fell to the ground. The last thing Lauren saw before she descended into darkness was Tamsin's still frozen form across from her.
I'm so sorry Tamsin...
"I don't understand what's taking so long", Bo said impatiently as she sparred with Dyson. Kenzi had long since passed out back in Tamsin's room, too many glasses of mead catching up to her in the worst way, resulting in Dyson having to carry her unconscious form through the snow storm – for what it's worth, Tamsin did warn her after the small human's third glass that she was going to really regret it. And after her fourth glass, an hour of throwing up, and a drunken half-tumble down the stairs, Kenzi was still reluctant to admit Tamsin was right.
Tamsin looked up at her from her place on the stairs, where she had taken to braiding Hanna's hair. Eisa had left just minutes after Lauren had, but not before giving a stern lecture to her younger sister. The valkyrie had no time for Eisa's reprimands, however, being far too focused on worrying about her girlfriend to pay just another one of her older sister's many lectures any mind.
"My test took days, Bo." She finished another complicated section of Hanna's braid, happy she hadn't forgotten how to do this in her many years away. Hanna hummed a tune happily as her sister finished up the braid – Tamsin was happy that Hanna hadn't forgotten her. When the valkyrie was here last, Hanna was just barely old enough to hold a sword. Let alone remember the argument between Tamsin and Odin that resulted in her packing up her things and deciding to stay on Earth. "It's different for every one. Brynja's took a week."
As if on cue, Brynja emerged from the room that Lauren had followed Odin in to almost 10 hours ago now. Hanna noticed Lauren's pale, limp body hanging off of her sister's shoulder first, her pained gasp causing the group to look up in her direction. Tamsin let out a cry immediately; she wrapped her hand over Hanna's eyes and turned the girl into her body so she didn't have to see the horrific scene before her. Hanna let out soft tears into Tamsin's stomach as the valkyrie watched her older sister carry Lauren's lifeless body with a smirk on her face. The only thing holding Bo back from driving her sword into the woman's chest was Dyson, his strong arms hooked under her shoulders. Brynja drops Lauren's body not so gently on the floor at the bottom of the stairs just below the throne before she walks up to Tamsin, who sends Hanna away, with her grin growing larger with every step she takes. She again stops mere inches from Tamsin's face, their breaths mingling angrily in the small space left between them.
"Poor poor Tamsin", the larger woman says as she uses her index finger to wipe some of Lauren's blood off of her breastpiece. "Looks like your human didn't make it."
She sticks the bloody finger in her mouth, relishing the metallic taste without breaking eye contact.
"My condolences, dear sister."
Odin returns to the hall just as Tamsin is delivering a solid punch to her sister's nose, rendering her unconscious instantly. Her body falls to the ground with a loud clank of her metal armor on the stone, but Tamsin doesn't mind her sister's lack of consciousness as she gets on top of the other woman and begins to mercilessly pound her fists into her face. The valkyrie doesn't hear her father's command through her sobs, and only slows her blows when he comes up to her and offers her a hand to stand with. She takes it, reluctantly, and stands while wiping her cheeks with the back of her bloodied hands. Looking down at Brynja's pulpy face, Tamsin is almost angry when she sees her sister's chest still rising and falling steadily.
"Your human was brave", he says solemnly as he ascends the steps and falls tiredly down on to his throne. "Braver than most valkyries, even. I was impressed."
Tamsin slowly walks to Lauren's lifeless body, choking back the second wave of sobs as she kneels down and moves the blood soaked hair out of her face.
"What happened?" she asks quietly as she drags her finger tip slowly over her features. Even now, Tamsin can't help but think of how beautiful she is.
"I asked her to choose between you and the one known as Nadia."
Bo finally stops struggling against Dyson when she hears Odin say Nadia's name.
"Nadia?", the succubus asks, all of her anger being dulled for the moment by her confusion. "Why Nadia?"
"She refused to choose", Odin continued, choosing to ignore Bo's question.
"What do you mean, refused to choose? How did this happen?", Tamsin yelled angrily, standing as she reached for her sword – remembering all too late that she had sent it with Lauren. Lauren, who was now dead. Lauren, who had used Tamsin's own blade to end her life. The blonde has to swallow down bile before she can speak again. "How did she end up with her throat slit by my sword if there wasn't even a fight?!"
Odin looks at his daughter with a sad smile tugging at his features – Tamsin was always the most impassioned of his four brave daughters. Eisa was always far too busy running around with boys to ever take her duties seriously, the complete opposite of Brynja, who spent far too much time trying to best her fellow valkyrie's to find joy in much else other than battle. Tamsin, however, fought bravely and valiant, and brought him more heroes than he could count. She was able to care passionately about her duty but still care about her sisters – both biological, and the sisters she gained when she came of age as a valkyrie. The spitting image of their mother Odin would often think, remembering now more than ever how Tamsin's mother would constantly be reminding him that not all heroes die in battle; there are just as many heroes that die for the sake of others so that they may live as there are losing their lives in bloody battle. If this was true, then Lauren was as much of a hero as any of them. Though she would never wish the curse that love brought upon his own daughter, he can see why she would fall for this woman.
"She would have rather ended her own life than take the life of another."
The room was quiet lest for the valkyrie's quiet sobs. Bo, who had suddenly bust in to tears when she neared Lauren's rapidly cooling body as Tamsin was arguing with her father, smiles through her tears and looked up at the blonde.
"Sounds like something only Lauren would do, doesn't it."