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. (My apologies. I didn't realize FF removed the links. I have corrected the problem in what way I can, so for those who like the visual additions, feel free to check them out.)
DAY THREE
CHAPTER SEVENTY SEVEN
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1306 HOURS
OHIO STATE REFORMATORY
MANSFIELD OHIO, USA
NORA
I didn't want to say it. I was trying so hard not to, because Clint was right there. Clint who was the father of his own children and understood the joy of my discovery, and could fathom the pain as well. Clint who promised to help me find my child. Clint who didn't know who the father was. Clint who would feel... surprised, sad, angry, disappointed, or maybe betrayed. I didn't know what he would feel learning I was the mother of Loki's child, but I bit my tongue in fear of the last one.
I held it right up Loki threatened to spill his blood, only then did I give into the pressure on my heart and let her name roll out. And it just kept pouring out. "Kenna, kenna, I remember, Kenna, our baby. I'm sorry I forgot, I'm sorry I ran, I was coming back. Kenna K-kenna, Kenna, p-please I just... Kenna, Kenna, my baby, our baby. Kenna..." and the only thing that stops my words is him.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1307 HOURS
OHIO STATE REFORMATORY
MANSFIELD OHIO, USA
LOKI
Our baby. Kenna... The weight of the dagger is still in my fingers, but the purpose has been lost with one word. That's what...
Kenna, Arnorasdottir. Her name means 'to have knowledge, to know', and true to her name and the mother she was blessed to be born from, she was such a curious toddler.
I hated that child. She was living proof of how Arnora would never be mine in the way I wanted so much. She would always belong to her Einharjar husband who was lucky enough to meet her first. But she was Arnora's, and I could never truly hate her as much as I wished to because of that.
I encouraged the memories of Kenna in her, because I knew Arnora. Nothing could motivate her more then her daughter, she proved that when she spat on Odin's 'generosity' and chose banishment. She gave up her home, her family, her world in the name of that child. For the memory of that child she would do anything. I expected vengeance to be in her thoughts, not this.
She calls the child ours, the name of her daughter a chant even as I step up to her, the knife shimmering away as my hands cradle her cheeks and are dampened by her tears, as my eyes search out the green behind the gleam for any answer. She thinks that child is mine, but I do not understand why. "Tell me?"
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1308 HOURS
OHIO STATE REFORMATORY
MANSFIELD OHIO, USA
NORA
His hands make me shiver, but not with cold. They make me shiver with relief because they are warm and gentle as they thumb back some of my tears. Most importantly though they are proof of where his focus is fixed. On us, on me, is we both kneel on this floor and he cradles my face and searches it for secrets. "Tell me."
My first answer is touch. I'm propping my weight on my right hand since in my attempt to reach for Clint I ended up partially over the four inch height difference between the platform and the floor, so it's my left hand that finds familiarity as it rests against the softness of his cheek.
The gentle warmth of my fingers seems to spread beyond them. His expression all the way down to his posture seems to relax at my touch, his face even leaning softly into the curve of my hand as his eyes lull closed in a moment of contentment. It isn't until they open again that I give my verbal answer. "She has such beautiful eyes."
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1309 HOURS
OHIO STATE REFORMATORY
MANSFIELD OHIO, USA
LOKI
Her words, and her touch, the way way her thumb traces the skin over my eye socket makes her meaning very clear. She remembers Kenna with eyes the same shade as mine. Oh the Norns must hate her so to give her that memory first.
I remember when her daughter's eyes were that shade too. I remember the only words Arnora had for me then were curses. They are cruel to make me so cruel. I can, and will to use this to my advantage.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1309 HOURS
OHIO STATE REFORMATORY
MANSFIELD OHIO, USA
NORA
For a moment his smile seems so sad, but my attention is drawn away from that by the silent way he confirms what I just said.
The first answer is with my hair. His hand rises up slowly and rests on the crown of my head before it drifts down. In its journey it separates a section of my hair, and rolls a soft curl around his middle finger with the ends of it held down under his thumb. At least until his fingers carefully slide free, leaving the chocolate curl neatly in its wake. A little girl with chocolate curls...
His next answer is delivered by his hand cradling my jaw as his thumb traces across my cheek. ...and plumb tan cheeks.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1310 HOURS
OHIO STATE REFORMATORY
MANSFIELD OHIO, USA
CLINT
The whole Nora being a mother thing threw me, but I got over that pretty easy. This time the subject of parentage is a little harder to swallow. I thought she wanted to get back to him because he knew who the father was, I didn't think he was the father. I still don't want to think he is the father.
When Nora started letting him touch her like that I decided I've had enough. "so you're better than us huh?" and made her eyes widen in a very different way. You honestly think a game like this makes you kind!?
"Clint no!" the combination of frightened concern saturating her voice and her eyes makes my heart hurt, but it's also not going to stop me because I can see what's going on, I can see what game he is playing, and also can see that the best option I have, the one I plan on taking, is also gonna be the one I really really hate.
"Why dont you just hurry up and do what we both know you're going to do." I never thought I'd be volunteering for this shit.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1311 HOURS
OHIO STATE REFORMATORY
MANSFIELD OHIO, USA
LOKI
Hearing him speak so bolding to me made me turn a scowl over my shoulder at him, but it was her soft hands that made me turn my decision around before it even finished forming.
She hand one set of fingers curled around my lapel, as if she could truly stop me that way, while the other was curled with even more care against the curve of my jaw as she urged me to look at her. "Loki, no..." Before whatever word she might have followed the 'no' taper off at the feeling of me claiming that hand.
She doesn't offer me any resistance as I pull the hand away from my cheek, or as I curl my fingertips over the side to press softly into her palm. Even when I press a kiss against her knuckles I receive no signs of opposition to it, except for the slight darkening of her cheeks. "Do not worry, I will give his life again, I know you would not forgive me if I took it now. But I can not give you your freedom, and I will not give you his."
The look of understanding precedes the sorrow, and for a moment her eyes seem to show her desire to beg, before she thinks better of it. Then her eyes find his, over my shoulder, but she can only hold that gaze a second before the tears force them closed and the first sob breaks free of her control.
"I will give a chance to say your goodbyes."