So it goes with saying that only things I own with any connection to MARVEL I bought on Ebay or Etsy. MARVEL COMICS & MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE are their own creatures and I have nothing to do with either of them aside from the fact I enjoy reading or watching them, and am grateful for the ability to play in their world. I claim nothing, and I receive nothing for this, expect the pleasure of putting something out into the world.

You can also find this story on ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN under the same title and pen name along with a place to post suggestions.

Don't forget to check out the Photobucket album listed on my profile page too.

DAY THREE

CHAPTER FIFTY

THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012

0816 HOURS

SUBTERRANEAN BUNKER

LOCATION UNKNOWN

NORA

Norsemen, Norwegians, Erik's people. Vikings. The last word freezes my blood with fire. I'm dreaming of a viking child. I'm not doubting Loki's claim on that, because it makes sense. I knew Erik, we talked about the myths, and culture. I knew what a drinking horn was, I just didn't connect it in my head, but once I did all the other details fit. I dream of this child in old, hand spun and stitched clothing, too imperfect despite the care it was clearly made to ever have been manufactured in mass.

The Vikings, whose raiding stopped when they unintentionally brought the black plague back to Norway in 1349 AD, and whose culture was slowly assimilated over the next century by Christianity because all the prayers and sacrifices to the gods of Asgard didn't save them from the disease. With each new generation being raised more and more on the beliefs of the converted until the old ways died out except for old stories.

600 years ago I loved a little blond boy. No, no I can't... His hand drifts out of my hair idly as I press my hand to his chest and use it to push myself away from him. He doesn't stop me out of some sort of concerned confusion, and that gives me the chance to get back to my feet and walk away from him.

But after I start pacing he too rises and I only get to complete one oval before I feel him catch me by the shoulder as I try to make lap two and pull my back gently against his chest as he holds me still.

"I'm sorry if I upset you, we can talk of something else." I shouldn't laugh but the sound is already out, and I don't care. If he punishes for me it I will accept that, its the only thing I can do after all. But the amused frustration crested too quickly to stop and the words are true.

"Why Loki, is it going to bother me any less later?"

THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012

0818 HOURS

SUBTERRANEAN BUNKER

LOCATION UNKNOWN

LOKI

Her half hearted sarcastic laugh surprised me a little, but not as much as the courage following it pleased me. It is a very brave thing to choose to the unknown instead of the familiar path. I would not have been surprised if she chose to retreat back to a different topic until that truth had time to settle, I expected it in fact, but she surprises me so much.

She surprises me again when her hands secure mine and pull my arms tighter around her stomach, drawing a smile out of me that goes unseen by her as I shift closer and rest my cheek against the side of her face.

"I have never had to question the longevity of my life, so I cannot truly relate to what you must be feeling, but you are right, avoiding this will not make it any easier." Her grip hold me even tighter as she stands silently except for the shivering breath leaving her lungs as she lets her head droop. I want to offer her some comfort, to place myself like a shield between herself and the intensity of her emotions but I know she needs to feel them if she is ever going to move past them. So I simply press a light kiss to her shoulder instead to remind her of my support.

"Six hundred years..." The shuddering breath leaves her again, this time the end of it tinted with a chuckle as she leans her head back in what I imagine is an attempt to keep the tears from rolling out of her eyes. "...I...thats a lot to not remember, why don't I remember?"

THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012

0819 HOURS

SUBTERRANEAN BUNKER

LOCATION UNKNOWN

NORA

"No one on Asgard has seen the sight of you in more than five and a half centuries. Not even the eyes of Heimdall could find you." Even though I don't actually hear it, I can 'hear' the silent anger and guilt in his tone. I can guess why. If we were in love, and no one saw any sign of me for half a millennium, they probably stopped looking after a while, and he probably did too. You can only hang onto hope for so long when there's nothing to say there is any. "We thought you were dead. If I knew you lived I would have never stopped searching."

"I know." Its a simple reply, but there's nothing more honest or profound than those two words. If he knew, if he had any thread of hope, I think he would have crossed the universe and torn down every wall of that nightmarish building I felt behind me in that bloody dream, and carried me back home to his world. He would have killed them all and saved me, if he knew.

"What took your memory from you is a mystery." His voice continues speaking in the same tone, not aware of the darker path that my thoughts are taking. "But...given your..."

This isn't the first time they've taken it. My wrist is decorated with a large unsightly scar, but it's not my only one. I have marks on my calf, the same one as the one from the dream. They never seemed like scars to me before though. I always thought they were just very strange freckles because they were just darker imperfect circles on my skin.

I may have misidentified them, but the other one I was never confused about. I saw it every time I looked over my shoulder into a mirror. A pale line climbing my spine. Clint said it was from back surgery, an injury from the explosion, and I didn't doubt him particularly at the time, I just always thought it was strange that it started so low and climbed so high, and that I could only bear the sight of it for so long.

"You think I was tortured don't you." The way I say it clearly catches him off guard because his response after a tick of silence is to unwrap his embracing arms and take my shoulder in one of his hands to turn me around so his other can hook my chin and lift my face so he can see the tears that aren't there. The micro expression of surprise tells me he really did think I was going to cry about that, and the next expression says he is very worried that I'm not.

"You seem so very calm about that."

"I'm not." I admit, prompting his brow to furrow a bit tighter as he lookers deeper for my deception, but I'm not trying to hide anything from him so the search is pointless. "This just...It's not the first time I've crossed paths with this. I always knew something horrible happened to me, I just never knew what."

I think I upset him again, because he draws me closer again, wrapping one arm almost protectively around my back as he presses another kiss against my forehead. "I will never let anything take you from me again." That promise pretty much confirms it. I've made him feel guilty again, I've made him blame himself. That wasn't what I wanted to do.

"I know." My voice is soft as I let my head rest against his shoulder again while my matching arm slips behind my back too so I can weave my fingers through his. "You'll keep me safe this time, I know you will." I think that made him happy because his hand gives mine a squeeze and I can feel his lips draw tight in a smile against my forehead before he tucks my head under his chin.

"Loki..." He seemed utterly content to just hold me, which given the number 500 I understand much more now than I did before, but while I'm getting used to the idea quicker then I thought I would, I'm still used to cherishing every second because life moves so quickly when you're human. I ask what's on my mind, drawing a 'hmm' out of him when I speak his name into his chest piece. "How did I get here, on earth?" The silence stretches and I can almost feel his frown before he answers

"You were banished."

NOTES FOR THE READERS:

minor creative liberties taken here. In reality the viking age ended in 1066 AD but the Marvel movies have Odin bringing the Tesseract to earth and leaving it with mortal caretakers who build a temple decorated with viking art and even a viking grave in 1410 AD, and since the MCU is only a world based on ours but not actually ours I am going to go with the story that the viking age started some time before the Jotun invasion in 965 AD and continued after 1410 AD.