This is set before the first Thor movie.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. All Characters go to their respective owners, the chapter and fic title to Nightwish.

Story title: From Astral Romance - Nightwish

Chapter Title: From Crownless - Nightwish

WARNING: chapter contains non-con

Chapter Seven: A gull covered in oil with a broken wing

Gunnar was still fuming hours after his defeat, "I had her. Just this one jump, those few inches. Damn this harlot and the God of Mischief. Damn them!"

"My king, would you please calm down?" Hogni said as he looked out of the window. "Your wrath will change nothing."

Sigurd had to agree, "And besides, it was I who had her. You did basically nothing but pretend to fight and then make a fool of yourself when you stomped towards Loki like a rabid bull."

"Oh, and you tumbling to the floor was so honourable now, was it?" Gunnar replied. "Not even you could beat Loki. You cannot even beat the God of Lies and Mischief. Was it not you who said he could beat Thor in a matter of seconds? Now you lost to his younger brother, who is not even a fighter. Thor would not even have to use Mjölnir to beat you, Dragonslayer. And you want to wed my sister? I will not have that. I will not give Gudrun to somebody who cannot even protect her against Loki Odinson."

Sigurd roared, "I will wed Gudrun, no matter what you say! And if I have to bring you Loki's head and the head of his brother and the Allfather!"

"ENOUGH! From both of you!" Hogni yelled. "Both of you have not shown your true worth today."

"Oh, and you did?" Gunnar scoffed. "Asking Loki in a fight instead of just slaying him where he stood for insulting me like this, and then all but begging the harlot to stay here. I would rather drown in the sea than stay here for only a minute longer!"

"My king, you are well within your rights to just do that." Hogni answered calmly. "However, if we had left, we could not have done anything to ensure the Valkyrie comes home with you. And we would have drowned."

"Oh? And what can we do now? I lost the fight." Gunnar answered. "Nothing can be done."

"Oh, we can do something, and we will do something." Hogni said. "Sigurd, you will need to help, though."

Sigurd stood up, "What do you need me to do?"

The guards in front of their door dropped without a sound as an invisible Sigurd stabbed them with his dagger. He carried the bodies inside their room. Then he, Hogni and Gunnar left, all of them armed with their usual weapons and the weapons they had stolen off Brynhild's guards. Sigurd, wearing his Tarnhelm led the way. Every guard they met on their way was murdered as they did not see the attacks coming.

Soon, they were close to Brynhild's bedroom. Sigurd pressed his ear against the door. "She is asleep." He turned to them, taking the helmet off. "You, Hogni, you guard the door. If one of her guards rush to her aid, kill her." He handed him the sword. "This is gram. It was created by Odin himself. My father had it reforged for me after it got destroyed… Oh, how, I would love to bury it in the Trickster's body…" he whispered as he ran his hand along the blade. "It will obey your every command."

Hogni took the sword from him, "Are you sure this will work."

"I am." Sigurd nodded. "Gunnar, you wait for my command." Then he opened the door quietly and peeked inside. "Well, look at this!" He whispered.

"What is it?" Gunnar whispered and pushed Sigurd out of the way. "Oh, this harlot!" He exclaimed as he saw Brynhild cuddled up in Loki's embrace. "Well, maybe you will get your chance to bury Gram into his body." He stomped into the room, but Sigurd stopped him, "What?"

Sigurd turned to Hogni. "Forget the door. I need you to take care of Loki. Do not kill him, though. We do not want Odin's wrath to hit us." Hogni nodded grimly. "Make sure he cannot talk, or else he will call for Thor, and Thor always comes when somebody calls for his help."

"I will just knock him out." Hogni murmured.

"No." Gunnar whispered. "I want him to watch. Pay him back for insulting me like he did. Then you can knock him out."

Sigurd shrugged, "Fine with me. Are you ready? You go first, Hogni."

Hogni's hand tightened around Gram as he kicked the door open and immediately charged towards Loki. Before Loki was even fully awake, Hogni pulled him off the bed with his hand in the Trickster's hair and wrestled him to his knees.

Brynhild woke, and immediately opened her mouth to call for help, but Sigurd clamped his hand over her mouth and silenced her. "Silence! Or your lover dies." Brynhild nodded slowly and Sigurd took his hand away from her mouth.

Hogni leaned down to whisper into Loki's ear, "The same goes for you, God of Mischief. You open your mouth, she dies. I would be very docile now, Loki." Loki, the blade of Gram grazing his throat, Hogni's hand fisting his hair, looked at Brynhild with terror in his eyes, but made no motion to shake Hogni off.

Brynhild struggled mightily against Sigurd's tight grip as Gunnar looked around, "Well, the two lovebirds. You should have told me, Brynhild, that you favour the touch of a God over the touch of the king. However, it is said that you would lose your strength if you lost your virtue, but from what I have seen this morning, that has not happened. Until now." He started undressing, "It is my prerogative after all. I beat you twice. You cannot prove it was Sigurd who did it. So I will take what is mine and what you denied me."

Brynhild laughed, "And still you need him to overpower me like this? You are a failure of a man, King of Burgundy."

Loki hissed, "Be quiet." But he was silent again when the blade broke his skin.

"No, you be quiet, Loki." Her gaze softened. "It cannot be prevented, so let it happen. He still can only ever own my body." She then spread her arms. "Do what you need to do."

All three of them, Hogni, Gunnar and Sigurd were taken aback; that was not what they had expected, and Hogni was almost ready to think the Valkyrie would kill Gunnar during the act. "My Queen… if you even try lifting a hand against my king, Gram will cut the trickster's head off. I advise you to be docile."

Brynhild looked at Loki who still had terror painted on his face- and not because Gram was against his neck. "I will be docile, Hogni."

Gunnar had undressed by now, "Good. That will make it so much easier. Hold her down."

It lasted for a long time. Brynhild whimpered in pain as Gunnar moaned and touched her with hungry hands, insults raining from his lips all the while sloppily kissing her neck. Loki just sat there, on his knees, still completely vulnerable to Hogni and Gram. He did not move, too scared it would end up in Brynhild being killed.

Finally, Gunnar rolled off the bed, exhausted. He got on his feet and dressed again. "Well, that was most alluring. We will leave tomorrow. You may take two of your guards with you. Your riches will remain here as will your clothes; you won't need any of that in Burgundy." He smirked, "And I think it goes without saying that the God of Mischief will stay here. On that note…" he strolled casually over to Loki who looked up at him with pure and unveiled hatred in his eyes. "How does it feel, Loki? That you lost her to me? I think it is a fair price to pay for sabotaging my fight… Take this as a good-bye present." He kicked Loki in the stomach, causing him to double over with a pain filled moan. "We leave. "Good night, my queen." Hogni let go of Loki's hair, Sigurd of Brynhild, and the three men left the room.

Loki got to his feet holding his stomach, and staggered over to the bed, "How could you do that?"

Brynhild turned to him, a weak grin on her face, "You never looked prettier to me than right now." She flicked her hand and watched as Loki's hair slowly grew longer and changed its colour from black to golden blond. "Okay. No. This is much better." She said as she raised her hand to the face of the Valkyrie who looked down at her.

"Oh, Loki… you should not have…" Brynhild whispered as she took the hand and placed it on her lips, watching as Loki slowly transformed back as well. "When did you transform us?"

"As soon as you were asleep. It was a challenge to get you to hold me. For a warrior, you are a very cuddly person." He joked, moaning as he tried to sit up. "Well, that was not at all pleasant."

She sat down on the bed and helped him, "Oh God, Loki… I… I cannot put into words how I feel about this. I am so sorry." She ran her hand over his face, still feeling spittle from Gunnar's kisses. "How do you feel?"

He shrugged, "Svadilfari was gentler. But I will recover…" He looked at her, holding her hand against his cheek, "It was the only way I could think of to protect you."

She bit her lip, "Oh Loki. You should be king of Asgard. You are braver than both Odin and Thor." Then she pulled him upright. "Come on. A hot bath will soothe your aches."

But Loki remained where he was, his hand tilting Brynhild's head slightly to expose the cut on her throat. "He hurt you. Let me heal this first." He closed his eyes as he pressed two fingers gently to the wound. "I can feel your heartbeat." He whispered as he felt the wound healing slowly. Then he let himself being guided to the bath house, limping. Brynhild clapped her hands, and two servants appeared who proceeded to fill the tub. Loki supported himself heavily on Brynhild as she helped undressing him. "You should have told me you wanted me naked. I could have transformed back into naked."

She chuckled, "I would think the God of Mischief could read that on my face." She was trembling slightly, "Loki… I cannot thank you enough for what you have done for me today. You let me keep my strength."

"Are you sure it is still there? I was not sure…"

"You are actually heavy, dear friend." She attempted to joke, but then caressed his face. "My heart is yours, Loki Odinson. It was before as well, but now I know I was not mistaken in giving it to you. Thank you." She cupped his face and kissed him.

Loki returned the kiss, "I would do it over and over again, my Queen. But how are we going to get rid of them tomorrow?"

Brynhild shook her head, "You have done enough, Loki. Leave the rest to me. Gunnar thinks me weak now. He will see the truth soon. The water is ready." She helped him into the tub. "My servants will look after you. Anything you wish, they will bring you."

"Are you not going to stay here?" Loki asked as he sat down in the tub. The water felt heavenly.

"I want to look at the damage done. The other damage, I mean. They came past my guards. I fear the worst…"

"Please stay." Loki whispered. Now that he felt at home again in his own body, he realized how close it had been. His body still ached, and he could feel Gunnar's hands all over his body. He was not weak, or at least he didn't think of himself as weak, but he wanted her with him now. Knowing why he had endured all of this.

She smiled and knelt down next to the tub, motioning to the closest of the women ready to wait on the god, "Please go and see how many have survived. I will come to see you later. Find out where Hogni and Sigurd are, and let me know. And bring some wine for the Son of Odin."

"Yes, my Queen." She left, the other servant following.

Loki had in the meantime soaked himself completely and was now cleaning his hair. He felt her hands joining his as she combed through his hair. "This feels divine."

She smiled, "I am no goddess."

"You will be. At some point. Even if I have to steal Idun again so you can eat from her apples." Loki answered, leaning into her touch.

She cleaned him thoroughly, "I liked that story. I have heard it before. The Gods suddenly growing old because you stole her and the apples. We laughed a lot about it." She chuckled. "Now that I have met you I feel bad that Thiazi roughed you up. You seem to be getting into trouble a lot, Trickster."

"Trouble is my second nature." He joked. "But rarely was my intention so noble as today."

"I can hardly believe that…" she smiled as she massaged his head. "How are you feeling?"

"I never felt better than right now." Loki whispered. "Please come to Asgard with me. Maybe, if my father sees you, sees how I love you… maybe he will change his mind."

She did not say anything for a long while. Finally, she responded, "I love you too, Loki."

Loki had not even realised what he had said, but as she said the words, he knew that he had not been lying. For once, or, as always, when talking to this woman, the truth was much easier to tell than a lie. "So will come with me?"

She nodded, "Yes. I will come with you. There is just something I want to take care of first. Tomorrow, we can leave if you feel well."

"Not better than right now but certainly up for the journey…"