Just over 1 month previously, Niflheim. Eirik.
It had been…Gods, it had been well over two months since they'd last run as a pack. Between the…tenseness of that last week, their time in the Asgardian dungeon, their shackled journey home, and just over a month apart from one another, they'd not simply run together in far too long. It felt wrong, not being by each other's sides, not falling asleep piled together or at least near one another. Not hearing or sensing…or feeling each other throughout the day.
It had been wrong to separate them. Every fibre of his being, every strand of fur on his enormous frame, all of him knew that fact with absolute certainty. Bears could be separated, yes, but not bears as bound as they were and certainly not true soulmates like he and Aela were. A lesser man would have gone mad with it, and he still worried he was…
How did one know they were going mad? Surely it was one of those slow things, descending into the soup of one's own mind… It had been early on when the separation was fresh, but he'd heard her screams in his head like the ringing of a bell, on and on as he curled in on himself…unable to shift from his ursine form, unable to talk, merely an empty shell of shock and sadness. He'd been fractured, and weak, and he'd…hallucinated Loki. He'd seen him, from a distance, watching from the tree line. Had seen a slender hand grip one of the thinner trunks; knuckles white and desperate in the glowing torchlight as he strained against his chains; echoing her cries as they filled his head. He'd shifted then, laying naked on the ground, vulnerable and thin… and had reached out towards the Prince, the King , with nought but longing and need in his veins.
He'd blinked again and the visage had gone, and he'd worked to stop his mind fracturing further ever since. Loki was dead, Aela was in trouble, and whilst he knew that it was morally wrong to do what they'd done, they'd gone too far in their punishment. It was too far to split soulbound bears until their bonds fizzled and strained with the effort of mere communication. To make it so madness lurked like a sunset on the horizon.
When was the last time he'd felt those missing pieces of his heart, of his soul , alongside his own? Strengthening him, pushing him ever forward through the rustling dark and towards his target?
He could feel the footfalls of his cadre beside him as the trees blurred; paws pounding down again and again upon the wet earth. There were rocks and pine needles, sharp and digging firmly into their flesh with every mile they managed to traverse…but all of it felt entirely insignificant.
It was unheard of to separate a cadre like that. The decision hadn't been taken lightly, their leaders, Aela's parents and his own had spent hours arguing and mulling over it; but it had been the Asgardian delegation that had sinched the deal. They'd shown up partway through, though no one quite knew how they even found out about the trial. They'd never particularly cared about justice in the other realms before, but this was personal.
This was the group that had aided the takeover of their homeland.
The group of would-be conspirators who'd attempted to seat themselves like guard dogs either side of new, mixed royalty.
And they'd be punished as such.
Jorik had gone back to the Jarl's side, watching over Astrid. Safi had been sent to the witches. Isla had ended up in some coastal pit, running up and down the rigging til her hands cracked and bled from the wet, salt-encrusted rope. And Eirik…well he'd stayed with his pack. Chained. Leashed like a dog in the centre of the camp, his chain long enough to allow him to complete every insignificant task assigned to him. He was lucky that his people were…sympathetic.
Asgard had called for his head.
They'd missed his, missed the chance to have a new stuffed kill adorning their hunting lodge, but they were working damned hard to get Aela's. And wouldn't she be beautiful, a prize kill?
He'd worked, they'd all worked , only Jorik close enough to talk to, but that was their mistake. They'd always thought it odd, to have such a…young pack…with an elder amongst their midsts. Often one of Jorik's ageing temperament would be cast aside, would step aside for the collective strength of the group, but Aela had always recognised two things. 1. That Jorik was nowhere near past his prime, able to fight and hunt alongside them, even if he never joined in some of their more…private activities. He'd known the young Nifl for too long, and closed himself off to their…fun. Which lead to the second thing Aela had recognised - past here mere love for the man. He was by far the most experienced of them all - with the mind link, battle strategies and pure unbound life experience.
And they'd allowed Eirik and Jorik to be close enough to talk.
Not through words, of course. No, neither were allowed anywhere near the other…but they were just close enough to speak mentally.
They'd underestimated the old bear. Had underestimated their bond and his pure, incredible strength.
They'd thought he was more dedicated to the Jarl than he was to Aela, the young woman he'd been an uncle figure to for her whole life. The group he's seen protect her and be protected in return.
They'd thought they wouldn't be close enough to talk. That the Jarl's compound was just far enough away. And it should have been…but Jorik was stronger than anyone gave him credit for.
So no…every day, every night, he'd coached Eirik through mental exercises. At first, they'd drained him and he slept for hours at a time. His people assumed it was a depression, fatigue of the heart at being separated from his soulmate, his pack, and it was - but it was also this. This…training. He'd spent his whole life training his body, fighting and hunting and running endless improvement. Aela had been a hard taskmaster, but he'd been just as dedicated, just as bloodyminded.
This was no different.
So he'd spent over a month focusing, stretching his awareness until Jorik was a shout rather than a whisper. Until he'd been able to feel a whisper of an idea of Isla's location and smell the salt in the air. Until he'd been able to feel the thick sensation of witch magic against his skin.
Until he'd been able to reach their minds with his own, strengthening that connection every day. Going from a gentle raking of claws to a snarling shout of anger. Not at them, never at them…well not for this, anyway… but with them. And just as he'd known they would, they roared alongside him
Their pack wasn't complete, not without Aela, but that would change.
It would all change when they rescued her. When they fought claw and fang for their leader, for the final puzzle piece of their bond, stripped from them in grave, grave error. He was angry, incredibly angry…with all that hot, intense rage focused purely on Asgard. He'd hand every one of those golden, stuck-up cunts their asses. She'd tried to change herself to fit in when those Asgardian Nobles should have been the ones to change for her. They didn't deserve the air she occupied, never mind the thought that they could punish her like this. They'd gone too far with the punishment. Far too far.
And together…they'd make it right. He didn't care if she wanted to leave it all behind, if she wanted to just build a village on the outskirts of Niflheim, if he had to…leave Astrid behind…he'd do it. They'd all do it. And if she wanted to use that fire, that vengeance, and instead take her revenge.
Well, she'd get that too.
They all heard the telltale whistle of an arrow through the air and didn't let it sway them from their journey. Didn't let it separate them, not truly. A few meters to the left, to the right…but never stopping in their intense forward movement. Didn't let it slow their momentum. Not for a moment.
No, they'd make it to the border, even with Isla's cracked hands and Eirik's bone-deep exhaustion.
They were of one mind, one objective. Get to the border. Find a way into Hel. Fight tooth and claw to get back to Aela's side.
"Stop!"
No…he pushed himself harder, even as Astrid's voice called over the others, the beast underneath her foaming at the mouth in its effort to keep up with them.
"Don't shoot them!"
"They're escaped convicts!" a gruff voice fired back, and her answering laughter was nought but sarcastic.
"I am the future Jarl and I take them under my jurisdiction!"
Another arrow, this one landing in the meat of his shoulder and sending liquid fire through his movements.
"I said stop!"
"You're not the Jarl yet-"
"-and my father hasn't ordered this attack!" she panted, her voice a shrill shriek that cut through the darkness.
"Did she follow you, Jorik?" Isla asked, anger lacing her words - practically spitting into each of their minds.
"No. She was firmly occupied when I left. Going over reports in her study. I didn't say goodbye, just slipped out. Someone else alerted her to our departure. I left in human form, cloaked"
"It could have been me" Eirik grunted, aware the others could feel the dulled ache of his wound. "I had to slip my chains, I bandaged my wrists… but they'd bled"
"One or two drops is all it would have taken to track you!" Jorik chastised. "Why didn't you inform us?"
"I wrapped them!" Eirik argued, roaring against the pain of a second arrow - glancing down his flank and cutting the skin in a way that felt anything but clean.
There was no point arguing though, not as they reached the edge of the rockface and turned a sharp left as a unit. As they ran right into a series of Niflheim guards, armed with great metal nets. They'd taken the back route, the shortcut the bears hadn't been able to take - too filled with guards, with sentries. They'd known exactly where they were going. His claws dug great rivulets into the soft, moist earth as he skid to a stop, gaze darting left and right, desperately looking for a way out. Because right there, catching up…was Astrid. And he couldn't just fight his way through her…couldn't…kill her.
"Arrest them all. And Eirik…he comes back with us"
"You should have come to me, Jorik!"
She'd been silent the whole way back. Had…watched them all be loaded into carts, iron bars reinforced to keep them inside.
The only thing she'd done was give them the option to return to their previous assignments or sit in her dungeon; since they'd just find each other regardless. Isla had picked the dungeon, Jorik had chosen his previous assignment by her side, Saf had shocked them all by choosing the witches…and Eirik hadn't had a choice. Hadn't had a say. Had just been shoved in the same cart as Jorik, who mentally tried to insist it was for the best, that it was…good…that she'd chosen to keep him around. Now, as they stood beside the fireplace in her study, as she yelled at the pair, he wondered whether that was fully true.
"I trusted you!" she lowered her voice to a hiss, one delicate finger pointing in Jorik's direction. "You sat here and listened as I ranted to you about Aela, wishing she'd come to me to discuss her worries, discuss what was going on, and you listened to all of that and decided to exclude me from your rescue plan!"
She began to pace, gesturing before herself as she ranted. "I'm sat here trying to find any sort of loophole, any way to get her out of that hellhole, and you all just decide to throw yourselves into Hel itself to go get her?!"
He had no idea. No idea at all that Astrid was trying to save her sister. He'd thought the worst…the elder sibling had always been such a rule follower that he'd assumed the pattern would continue, that Aela was alone in the world if not for them. That their rescue was the only one that would ever be planned.
"We can't leave her there"
Both turned to him. It was the first time Eirik had spoken since they'd been captured and his tone was just as desperate as he felt, entirely betraying him.
She crowded him, the fire in her eyes so reminiscent of Aela that his heart clenched in his chest. Her eyelashes were longer though, freckles less pronounced. Face startlingly, stunningly beautiful. He'd always thought so though…had always been pitifully, pathetically in love with the woman.
"You think I don't know that? She's just lost her husband, and she's been thrown in a great deadly pit to die! I tried to petition our Father, but he just told me to believe in her. That she's stronger than I give her credit" she laughed, "as if I've not had her strength shoved down my throat my entire life. I know Aela's strong, but I also know heartbreak, and can't imagine how she's feeling…how she's holding herself together. I could see how much she loved him"
"She did" he confirmed, and she hiccuped for a moment - a great heaving intake of breath. A small glimpse of any emotion other than anger.
"We're going to get her out. But I need you on side" she insisted. "I need you helping me, not making great spectacles of yourself in our forests, drawing resources and making our people believe you need removing. Do you understand me?"
Eirik nodded, Jorik simply hanging his head a little; though whether it was from the shame of upsetting Astrid or from being caught…he wasn't sure. The older man had raised his barriers, and no amount of training would get Eirik through them.
"You're both relegated to the walls of the keep. You can go outside, but not past the outer wall. Not without me at your side"
There was no question, not this time. Just a command from their Jarl, from their leader. "Meet me back here tomorrow morning and we'll get started"
He followed Jorik out, who sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Right. You can stay in my quarters"
"Oh? I'm not to sleep outside of her door like some great protector?"
"I don't appreciate your sarcasm" Jorik snapped, and Eirik could really see the stress on the older man's face this close. The dark circles under his eyes, the greying at his temples. He'd always treated Aela like a daughter, and Eirik could see how harrowing this experience had been for him. "That was our one chance, you understand that? Isla is incarcerated, and Astrid is smart but idealistic. Her father put Aela there for a reason. He's not going to just…bring her back"
"He might"
Jorik shook his head. "Then you're an idealistic fool too"
He'd expected them to be alone.
He'd been wrong.
It hadn't taken long for them to get started - he'd always known Aela was more likely to lounge whilst Astrid worked but hadn't expected Jorik to wake him at dawn; hadn't expected a rough breakfast of bread, cold sausage and cheese, hadn't expected to be dragged into the library to collect an armful of books - the list having been delivered before he'd even woken up.
He certainly hadn't expected a dark-haired Nifl male to be standing behind Astrid, one hand on her shoulder.
The two sprung away from each other, and the blush that rested high on her face had acid rolling in his gut. He needed to rein it in though, he was here to rescue his soulmate…not seduce her sister. He couldn't help but sulk internally though, reading through the dullest texts he'd ever seen and forcibly trying to ignore the closeness of the two Nifls.
She giggled , and slapped at his arm, and the shit breakfast threatened to reappear. Who the hell was this guy, and why was she giggling when she was supposed to be focusing on saving Aela? He tried to focus, tried not to let the words swim in front of his-
"That would be a decent alternative… if we can argue it would be a harsh enough punishment…"
His chair bounced as he fell to the ground, pushed back by the force in which he'd stood.
"She shouldn't be punished at all!"
She shot him a withering look, somehow looking down her nose at him, regardless of the fact she was seated, he was standing, and there was at least a foot between them when they were both fully upright. "So she didn't take part in overthrowing the Asgardian throne?"
He looked at his feet, all the fury rushing from him in an instant. "She did"
"Then she must be punished. You can't just overthrow a realm, Eirik. Those things have consequences! Ancestors below, think for once in your life, please"
The man had the gall to shoot him a sympathetic glance, and it took all of Eiriks's willpower not to throw the hefty legal tome at the other man's head.
He skimmed down the page instead, reading the long lists of crimes and their punishments.
Murder, Hel
Manslaughter, also Hel
Theft, prison
Arson, first conviction, prison
Arson, fifth conviction, Hel
Who sets fire to a building five times? he asked down the bond, and Isla's response came through impossibly quiet, muted by the mere distance between them -
Someone who's really cold?
He fought back his laugh, returning to the book.
Theft, minor, community service
Accessory to murder, prison
…accessory… the murderer got sent to Hel, but someone who just happened to be there got prison…he perked up, jabbing at the page with a talon as he spoke "She didn't make the plan though…"
Astrid turned back around, eyebrows raised. "What?"
"She kept saying it at the trial, but no one would listen. She…knew…that Loki had plans, but not what they were. He wouldn't tell her. So if anything she's one of those accessories to the crime!
"But she knew Loki was planning something?"
"Yes, but Loki wanted her to be protected if it went wrong, to be safe. He said they'd know she was telling the truth about not having any part of the planning"
He'd expected her to look happy, proud even, but instead she just sighed. The man behind her glanced at him, pitying, and announced he'd get her some tea, wandering out of the room and very obviously giving them time to talk.
Handsome, but entirely unsubtle.
"Eirik, I understand that you and my sister are…bound…in a way I'll likely never understand. But she is capable of doing wrong. You have to understand that. She's crass, and headstrong, and has very little regard for the law or the rules. It's one thing to sneak out after curfew or, or go to another realm or dive into a fight you've been forbidden from. It's another to say, steal from a nunnery or desecrate a grave"
"Oh…you know about-"
"-I know everything" she hissed. "All of those, sure, they're bad but a slap on the wrist, a bit of community time and it's forgotten. Youthful indiscretion. I cannot stress this to you enough but planning or no planning, deaths or no deaths, my sister took part in a coup and took over a realm from the fucking Allfather. You don't walk away from that unscathed and laughing, Eirik, you just don't, okay? So read that book and note down those punishments and find me something that could act as an alternative"
He stepped back as if slapped, swallowing thickly. "Because as much as I know you and Aela have your" she wiggled her fingers in front of her "thing, and you apparently just loved her husband"
His mind shifted towards cold. Not liking those flippant fingers, what she was insinuating. It was Jorik who finally spoke though, tone dipped low in resolute anger "We all did"
She rolled her eyes. "I don't doubt it, though I thought you…abstained from their communal fun, Jorik"
"Loki and I played chess together in the evenings" he replied, and as Eirik looked over he could see the sadness and anger on the older Bjornlings face, those lines feeling deeper than before. The dark circles more stark. "He accepted us all without reservation or question. He was smart, and compelling, and a good match for your sister. I was proud of her. You wouldn't understand the bond we all share, so I'd appreciate you not insulting it so flippantly"
Eirik blinked, before offering Jorik a quiet look of thanks.
"Aela and I haven't slept together in years anyway"
Now that got her attention. Astrid's face whipped round to face him. "I offered, and we joked about it, but she discovered I was in love with someone and said it felt wrong"
He could see the quiet amusement on Jorik's face, more at what he hadn't said than what he had admitted. Aela's words had been full of humour when she'd figured it out, she'd slapped his arm and said "I'm not riding you knowing you're thinking of my sister, you freak! Fuck" she'd laughed, wiping tears from her eyes, "ancestors. Go pine after her" There'd been no malice, no hurt - not even a moment of uncertainty in the group. They'd just continued on, finding their pleasure adjacent to one another rather than with each other.
"Well, I"
They were saved from the awkwardness by the dark-haired man returning with a tray of cups and a pot of steaming tea. "Sorry it took so long, but look who I ran into!"
His blood turned to ice, though looking over to Jorik, he saw the older man wasn't surprised.
…This wasn't new, this had happened before.
"Eilen, lovely to see you"
Astrid's tone was polite, her smile gentle and perfect. Had Aela not told her? Not…oh Gods.
"Well" she giggled, lilting, light…entirely fake. "when I saw my brother holding treats I just knew I had to follow"
The…brother… pressed a kiss to the top of Astrid's head and it was only Jorik's voice in his head that kept his claws out of sight. Telling him to pause, that they'd discuss this turn of events later.
"It was organised by her parents"
"But she-"
"I know, lad. I know"