Hi everyone!
No, I'm not dead, I'm pretty much alive and finally updating. The thing is I just stabbed one of my fingers and it hurts like hell... That's great to type, right? :(
Anyway, here is finally the new chapter. But I already started the next one so you might have it a little bit more quickly!
Enjoy this chap
Loki Laufeyson was sitting on his Asgardian throne. He had revealed his true identity to the court a few days ago and they were all coming pledge allegiance to him. He was the true King, he had always known. Lorelei was sometimes at his side, but the shallow purposes of the woman were annoying him most of the time, so she stayed in her apartments most of the days. He would visit her some nights. At his feet today were kneeling the Warriors Three. Not voluntarily, they were prisoners. They had stayed loyal to Sif and Thor, and their fallen King. But Odin was gone, and Thor and Sif were dealing with the renegade Torunn Thorsdottir and Loki's own daughter Hella.
One of those tasked of watching over Heimdall arrived at that moment. His quick pace and behavior showed that something had happened. He sent for Lorelei and sat comfortably. He thought about the celebrations that were going to take place in the night. A victory like this one could only be celebrated with a night-long dinner. He smirked. That was his victory, his pleasure, his crown. He had his throne and his revenge.
Lorelei arrived, cold and splendid as ever. He greeted her with a nod and indicated her place on the second throne, smaller, at his side. She took her place as the Queen of Asgard and had a little smile. He smirked. She enjoyed her place. But not as much as he did. He had power. And the rightful heir didn't know anything about it. Thor was too busy dealing with his pathetic family.
"My King, My Queen… I am here to report to you what is happening of your daughter."
"Speak."
"She was captured. She is in. Midgard will fall and your supremacy will be confirmed over five of the Nine Realms."
"Vanaheim will soon fall, I assure you so. It makes three left."
Loki smirked at what Lorelei had just said. Once Sif and Thor were dead, killed by the hand of their own daughter, he would be the greatest king this Universe had ever seen. He would conquer all the realms of the great world tree, and shape them to his will. He would be fair and firmly cruel, and whole species would kneel before him. He looked down to the three men at his feet. They looked back, glared at him.
"Put them in the dungeons. Forever."
"Steady. Keep her straight."
Torunn sighed. He was so clumsy. She knew that was how she had seemed to her grandmother when she had started her training, but she couldn't help but find it ridiculous. She shouldn't laugh at him. The way his hand was slightly trembling was adorable.
She had given him her sword, and he was trying to keep it steady. He didn't know what a sword represented in Asgardian culture. She had just taken him to the gym and made the blade fly between her hands, before handing it to him. And he was now struggling to keep the heavy weapon up. How could she, being all small and thin, do what she did with it?
"I heard that Asgardian weapons have names. Is that true?"
"Yes, it is. Not only the weapons."
"What's your sword's name?"
She smiled. That was something extremely intimate that he was asking, without the knowledge of it. She didn't answer. She just looked at him holding her sword down. She saw the weight of it in his shoulder and the way he held his wrist. Not used to this kind of weapons. Easily defeated. She shook off what her warrior spirit at immediately whispered to her.
"You're not focused, Leo."
"I'm not a warrior. Why don't we…"
He took a step closer to her. She raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. He just smiled a little. She sighed and took his hand, guiding the sword, supporting both his arm and the blade. She made him pierce an inexistent enemy, turn around. He didn't really care about the motions she was explaining to him. He wasn't a warrior. He wasn't even really a field agent. But he enjoyed this kind of dance. Dance… He had a sudden idea. He turned her around suddenly, earning a surprised look from her. He managed to put the sword back in its sheath, at her hips and looked up at her.
"Dance?"
"Dance? I'm a warrior, Leo Fitz, I do not dance."
"Come on princess."
He took her hand and she started blushing. He guided her so his arms were wrapped around her small frame. She was tensed, he could feel it in the way she moved. The hand he had put on her shoulder felt the tensed muscles. She was such a ball of nerves, it was incredible. Her pale skin was woken up by the flaming blush of her cheeks. Her eyes was twinkling slightly. But she was uncomfortable. He started to back away from her but she took his hand and kept him near.
"No. Stay."
She smiled and he went back to his position. They started moving together, he guided her through the steps. She looked up at him, her grin wide. She relaxed and started to be a little bit more confident. They didn't waltz, they just walked in circles, with a slight rhythm. But it was still nice. Like really nice. There was no music, maybe in their heads, but there was no need for music. His smile and the delicate weight of his hand on her waist, his eyes were smiling too, the way he kept her close was not pressing or demanding. It was protective and warm and she just leaned into his touch. She just hoped this moment would last forever.
Her eyes were perfect. The bluest he had ever seen, but also flawed, with golden and orange too. Now that he had tasted these eyes for the first time, he wanted to see them, always, under different suns and stars. He wanted to see them in the morning sun, still heavy from sleep. He wanted to see them focused and determined on training, full of passion, of rage, of love. He wanted to see them on a raging battlefield, next to a fire in the cold winter nights. He wanted to see them everytime he looked to his side. He wanted to see them before going to sleep, joyful, sad, in pain, through everything. He wanted to see them proud, young and old, always by his side. He could drown in these eyes now. Right now.
He was getting closer to dive into these eyes, heart thundering in his chest, breath heavy and lips parted already. He breathed into her scent, enjoying her smell of wilderness. He was close, really close, close enough for a kiss. He wanted to know how the rest of her tasted, because if her eyes only were this perfect, he could not imagine something more splendid. She was a goddess, his goddess. She was a princess, but not the kind you save. The kind you worship.
"Daughter!"
She walked away. Their lips didn't even brush. She was gone, had taken a few steps backwards, putting space, too much space between him and her. They looked up to see Thor watching them. He seemed quite upset about something. Torunn looked back at him. She whispered that she was sorry and stumbled up the stairs, looking back at him. A few seconds later, angry screaming could be heard all across the base.
"Hola, Philippe."
He sighed. The woman at the other end of the coms was one of his old friends. Somebody who knew him damn well. He heard May coming to sit next to him. She smiled at the agent. They greeted each other, visibly quite happy to see each other, even if it was only my video call. The dark-haired Mexican was standing in her office at the Library. Behind her, they could see one of the monstrous collections of books this place was known for.
Coulson had sent a message to their friend about what the Asgardians had said. Hella had been talking about Ragnarok, and the other aliens had seemed shocked by this. Something was up in Asgard, and they needed all the intel they could have. Where could they find it, except in SHIELD's data base. Eliza Rodrigues and her team had surely went through all the cold cases and old books they could find to find intel.
"Hola, Eliza. How is it going?"
"Good, my friend. We keep running into octopus agents. They are trying to find shelter in here. Too bad for them, they don't know about the Library. But our vaults are getting too full. Would you care to take some?"
"Why not? Let's schedule a meeting."
"I'll take care of the food."
"Right. Always about food…"
"She's a walking stomach."
A young agent had appeared next to Eliza on the screen. She said hello, and introduced herself to Coulson. She was agent Ly, from the Library's science division. May had had a hand in her training, so she knew who the girl was.
"Shut up, speedy."
The agent stopped talking. There was a playful glow in her eyes. She let her superior continue the talk. Eliza Rodrigues explained the subtleties of Viking mythology, and Asgardian History as it was the same thing, to the two agents.
It took a lot of time. Two, three hours. At the end, both Coulson and May had no more trouble making the difference between Jörmunngard, the Midgardian snake, and Fenrir, the great wolf, but they were slightly overwhelmed by the amount of fantastic horrors about to fall down on their realm, if Hella's prophecy was true.
Agent Ly had surrendered and had gone god knew where to check god knew what. And Skye had come ask if everything was ok, after hearing laughs coming from the lab.
"Thank you for your help, Agent Rodrigues."
"It was a pleasure, Melinda. And do not hesitate to come one of these days! We'll be glad to have you here. You can even bring your kids."
She laughed at the sight of their blush. Those two were unbelievable. They had been turning around each other for years. Decades even. The Mexican agent knew they had finally resolved the tension. For her, who knew them damn well, it was clear.
"And leave the prisoners here alone? They would blow up the base!"
"Then, bring them. I heard that the majority of them weren't that bad."
"How do you know that?"
"My little speedy agent, the one you saw earlier, has a lot of friends. Starting with your engineer. Leo Fitz. He kept us updated about the amazing Torunn Thorsdottir and not-that-bad agent Ward."
"Ex-agent Ward."
May corrected, frowning. She still didn't believe the Torunn girl was that nice. She was, above all, a warrior. And a very dangerous one. And she would never really trust Ward again. What he had done, and what he had almost done... She just couldn't forgive and forget.
They scheduled a visit. They would bring Ward, Hella and Torunn. They had a couple of excellent interrogation agents at the Library. They would keep an eye on the two others, maybe find more intel. The Asgardians in general would provide a great source of intel. And agent Rodrigues looked positively excited to meet Thor, one of the Avengers.
"You're smart, Leo Fitz."
He looked up to the woman who had spoken these words. Sif walked into the room. She was dressed in Midgardian clothes, and that looked strange on her. She looked like a normal person, not the Goddess of War. He could see she was uneasy. All the contrary to her daughter, who had adapted really well to Midgardian customs. She was still awkward around a lot of things but… She was almost Midgardian now.
"But… traditions…. on Asgard? You don't understand them well, am I right?"
"I don't know them well."
She smiled. He was fidgeting with a piece of technology. She didn't really understand these. Midgard was more advanced than Asgard on some points. She stood next to him. She had known from Thor than Torunn and the scientist were getting closer. She wasn't angry, she wasn't like Thor. If her daughter fancied the young Midgardian…Sif had no problems with it. Not at all.
"Do you know… what are the traditions and beliefs associated to swords, on Asgard?"
"No."
He knew she was here to talk to him about what had happened earlier, what could have been a kiss. He had a little smile at that thought. He liked Sif. She was strong, and smart, and she was Torunn's mom. And she was a person he enjoyed talking with.
"Thor told me that my daughter gave you her sword... And I guess you have no idea of what that means for our people?"
"I just hope it's not irrevocably engaged."
Sif burst out laughing. He laughed with her. He kinda dreaded to know. He should have been more careful about this. But he trusted the girl about it.
"No, Leo Fitz. It means she trusts you with her life and beyond."
"What?"
"She gave you the power to destroy her. Both mentally and physically. On Asgard... This is sign of... Something almost more important than love."
Here we are!
Tell me what you thought and all!
Until next time,
The Queen of Heart