Chapter Text

So I stole the sword from a primordial chaos being, so what? It’s not like I didn’t also cut off his nose. That was a nice touch, a good parallel to that time Magnus did the same thing, minus the whole stealing the sword part.

We had somehow managed to get back to the hotel without opening a new portal, instead going back the way we came. I have no idea how we did that, so don’t ask.

Lunch had passed hours ago, which sucked because attacking fire giants really works up an appetite. That left a few options: chat with other dead, hungry people; engage in some sort of to-the-death challenge; or go to my room. I chose my room, and so did everyone else. I knew Magnus was still gone visiting his cousin, maybe having fun, but I missed him at times like these. It had only been a day, and I knew he’d be back in a little over a week, but I’m still allowed to miss him even after such a short time away. I love that stupid, pessimistic dork. I hope he’s having fun, or at least not being threatened by various gods and monsters. He probably is though.

Even with the spell, I was covered in soot and ash. It’s everywhere, just like glitter, but not as attractive and not made of plastic. Even after shaking off my vest, there was still a thick layer left on my shirt where the vest had covered it. I decided to shuck all my clothes off directly in front of the hamper, not wanting to dirty up my room with more dusty particles. I already have clay everywhere.

I could shower in 2 minutes, easy. Hurried showers in the bathrooms of truck stops, YMCAs, and youth shelters were never for anything other than the sole purpose of attempting to become clean. But since dying, ironically, I've learned to live a little. Besides, I didn’t have to worry about paying the water bill for taking a 30-minute steaming hot shower twice a day.

I wanted to dress nicely, but didn’t want to wear an outfit that was too nice in case I got killed tonight, which I probably would. I wanted to have time to enjoy whatever I wore, considering it a lot like how sommeliers savored their wine. Laundry here was magic, with torn or bloodstained clothes becoming clean and mended without ever asking for them to be. I settled on a short-sleeve green floral button-up, and rose-colored jeans, finishing off with my signature pink and green boots.

The lounge near our hall was always fully stocked with snacks, and had plenty of tables to eat breakfast or not-to-the-death lunch at. Mallory had already grabbed our usual table, and Halfborn sat across from her so I joined Mallory’s bench. TJ, despite his arguments, would be left with plenty of options, but I knew he would sit next to Halfborn.

They both seemed to be in a good mood. So I guess Halfborn’s idea worked out well. Call me a romantic, but I get happy seeing people in love just existing together. “So… how’d it go?” I ventured.

They both smiled at each other. “Pretty well.” Mallory said.

TJ came running over, smiling anxiously. He looked a bit pale. 

“Everything ok?”

He took a deep breath, the warning sign we all learned came before he started talking about something for 5 minutes straight. “I went to Helheim, and I didn’t die!”

Halfborn raised an eyebrow. “Congratulations?”

“Yeah, Hela basically threatened my mom if I didn’t find Garm, who’d run off, then I met Baldur, and he was helpful, and then… and then I got to talk to my mom for a while, and I saw some people.”

“Like?”

“I got to meet her son.”

“Hela’s?”

“Yeah, he stayed with me when we walked around so nobody tried to kill me.”

“I didn’t know she… could have children?” Mallory asked.

“Krampus.”

Halfborn froze mid-bite. “Krampus?” He stared right at TJ.

TJ nodded. “Yeah, I know, ok? And he was actually really polite, and aside from the fact that my mother’s soul was in danger, it was actually pretty enjoyable.”

I was stunned. “Was Hela… nice?”

He shrugged. “I guess. Like I mentioned, after the threat it was fine. She said I can talk to my mom anytime, but to like… ask Hela 2 weeks in advance? Something about burning letters to expedite the mail, cell reception being shoddy.”

“So… are you just going to skip the part about Baldur?”

“Oh, well he was nice too. Didn’t seem to really understand what was going on. Pretty, but like… babyface pretty. Gave me his arrow so I could stop Garm from killing me.”

“We’ll talk more about this later, ok?” I hoped my tone showed I was completely serious. “Mallory? What did you do today?”

“Well.. I accidentally sent myself to Niflheim, and taught Nidhogg how to insult that stupid bird.”

Halfborn chuckled. “Sounds like something you’d do. The teaching him to insult part, not accidentally getting stuck in Niflheim.”

She grinned. “Yes, I suppose it is.”

Halfborn answered the coming question before anyone could ask it. “I killed some dragons today in Vanaheim. Met this weird kid there. He gave me a letter for you.”

I froze. “Who?”

“He said his name was Nils, that you were his sister. Knew you and one of your brothers are both einherjar.” He took a breath. “Also said that that brother murdered him, so I doubt Nils is his real name.”

We all looked at him, impatience clear on our faces. Mallory bit back what likely would’ve been a scathing insult. “Tell us!”

He sighed. “I think I met Narvi, and I think Vali is here.”

I dropped my drink, mead spilling over the edge of the table, narrowly missing my pants. I threw my napkin over it, wanting to focus on the pressing matter of my two dead brothers. “Tell me everything!”

“Ok, so, long story short, he kept avoiding questions, sometimes just lying, but he didn’t seem… evil, or anything? He knew you were here. He told me that his brother here is the same one that murdered him. He wrote your name on the envelope, but when I was about to actually look at it, he ran off.”

All of those things on their own were sketchy, but together they were frightening. I vaguely recalled a story I’d heard about “the brother here” being a spy and breaking Gunilla’s heart. So that means… “Vali was the spy.” The realization hit me like a freight train, everyone else looking both confused and startled.

Mallory nudged me out of the oncoming downward spiral. “Hey. What spy? Who’s Vali?”

Halfborn scratched his beard. “Vali is Alex’s half-brother, evidently. Scholars disagree as to whether there was a Vali that was Odin’s son. Supposedly, he grew up in one day, killed Hod, Odin turned him into a wolf, that wolf killed Narvi, then the gods killed the wolf and gutted the two of them.”

She cringed. “And the spy?”

I tried to put my thoughts in order. “Magnus told me what he knew, but it’s not a lot. Gunilla had told him that a son of Loki turned out to be a spy for Loki, and it sounded like Gunilla and him had been dating at the time.”

Then Hunding of all people walked into the lounge, seemingly looking for us. When he finally spotted me, he breathed a sigh of relief that didn’t match the expression on his face. “You and your hallmates have a meeting with some of the thanes before dinner. Um…” His left eye twitching, as it often did when he was told to run errands while under the threat of imminent death.

“Do you need anything else?”

He started sweating bullets. “Nothing!” He added in a hushed tone “I shouldn’t say anything else, but you should ask Snorri.” As he left, I caught a blob of brown and green wrapped in chainmail out of the corner of my eye. Sam. Speed walking towards me, and she did not look happy. If anything, she looked scared. 

She sat down next to me, leaning to whisper into my ear. “I found him. ” She spoke through gritted teeth, her distaste for the situation obvious. She must’ve caught the last bit of our chat.

I must’ve gone pale, or Sam must’ve been loud, because the rest of the table looked at me with concern. 

“Should we know what’s going on?” TJ ventured.

Sam put on an obviously fake smile. “No, it’s all good. Just some drama, you know how that is. Valhalla can never leave a child of Loki alone.”

I nodded, not knowing why I was playing along.

“If you’ll excuse us.” She pulled me up, letting go of my arm as we made it through the door into the lobby.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on? Our brother? We were just talking about him!”

She blanched. “What about him?”

I realized I’d talked myself into a corner. “Halfborn… may have met Narvi… when he went to Folkvangr?”

“ Narvi? Are you serious?”

“He gave a fake name, but he said I was his sister. He knew he had a brother and sister in Valhalla, and let it slip that it was the brother that killed him. Considering all that, I’d say it’s pretty obvious.”

“That means…”

“Vali is the spy.” We said in unison, her in shock and me just tired.

She stood staring into my eyes, completely still. “ I met Vali. ”

“You did?”

“Did you know Valhalla has a prison? Floor 540.”

“Just to clarify, you mean Vali, murderous wolf extraordinaire, possible ex-boyfriend of Gunilla, got put in an afterlife prison?”

She nodded. “From what I gather so far, he’s not happy.”

“Why would he be?”

“He got let out of prison!”

“Sam, he probably has a score to settle, he’s a child of Loki, for Frigg’s sake! Does he know about Gunilla?”

“ I don’t know! When I tried talking to him he just stared at me.”

“Odd. I thought all children of Loki had a hard time keeping their mouths shut.”

“Haha. We both know that’s you. ”

“Wow, ok. Where’s…” I stopped myself. Saying brother just felt weird. I gestured aimlessly. 

“I left him outside Helgi’s office. Helgi won’t come out.”

“So, that answers that question. I think Helgi played a part in putting him away.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. Helgi might be the manager, but he definitely isn’t… y’know …” She looked at me forcefully, afraid of badmouthing one of her bosses.

“I know.”

Chapter Text

After Sam left, It was hard to go back and sit there calmly. So I didn’t, instead making my discomfort obvious. They cringed. “What is it? Is it about him? ” Mallory ventured, skipping his name as if he could be summoned with a single word. 

“Yeah. I think the meeting has something to do with him.”

“Do they think he’ll try to like… get you or Sam to join his father or whatever?”

TJ bit into a bagel. “He’s our new hallmate.”

We all froze, TJ munching away. “There was a new door there when I left my room just a little while ago. His name was on it.” he shrugged, as if getting my long-lost brother as a hallmate was entirely normal.

Halfborn gritted his teeth. He always hated it when TJ picked up on something he didn’t, as he prided himself on his intelligence. No amount of Mallory’s peace-keeping would ever change that. “Where is he going?”

“His room is to mine’s left, so the hall layout is a bit awkward. We have 4 on one side and 2 on the other.”

“You’re worried about the layout? He’s a murderer, TJ!”

“Aren’t we all?” He muttered. Oh no.

“You think war is the same as murder? ”

“I’m just saying, we’ve all killed people. Whether or not it was in a war doesn’t change the fact that we killed them.”

Halfborn grumbled. “Well, thanks for the clarification.”

“You really shouldn’t be so quick to judge people. Remember when Magnus got here, and the rest of you were too busy bickering with X to say hi? Remember that? And then everyone else thought Magnus was a spy for Loki? And now Magnus is our friend. Isn’t it weird how that seems incredibly similar to what’s going on right now?” He wasn’t smiling for once. TJ was always optimistic and friendly, but being assertive was a quality he usually didn’t have.

Halfborn and Mallory both looked stunned.

TJ busied himself with his bagel again. “Does anyone else want to go see Snorri?”

Nobody responded. He stood, obviously displeased. “Well, I’m going to see Snorri.”

It wasn’t that I disliked Snorri. It was just that he took forever to get a point across. Who does that sound like? TJ. So, it was no wonder that TJ had taken the initiative to follow Hunding’s clue. Hopefully it didn’t prove to be a red herring.

In 10 minutes, me and TJ had successfully navigated to Snorri Sturluson’s office. The door reminded me of the kind you see in period dramas. A large, frosted window with a name painted on. I knocked, and the response was quick.

“Come in.”

We entered, looking awkwardly at each other, trying to decide who should speak first. TJ beat me to the punch. “Tell us about Vali.” Smartly avoiding mentioning who’d told him to ask.

Snorri grinned widely, excitedly pulled out a very large, very old looking book. Bound in worn leather, at least 2 inches thick, closer to 3. “Sit down, please.” He gestured to two surprisingly comfy armchairs stationed in corners opposite from his desk. If I’d know he’d actually talk with energy, not like his usual muttering, and that there’d be good chairs, I would’ve been less reluctant to come.

His smile dropped. “Has anyone seen his door yet?”

TJ nodded.

“What exactly did it say?”

 “Vali Odinson.”

“There you go. Scholars disagree as to whether there are two Valis, but the truth of the matter is that the son of Odin and son of Loki are the same person. There’s several strange coincidences. Firstly, the only child of Odin to make it to Valhalla other than him, came on the same day Magnus died. No one’s seen him since, but his Valkyrie still has her job. Then, until Alex got here, Vali was also the only child of Loki. Do you see how strange that is? “

TJ appeared confused, and I along with him. This was still weird. “So… Loki and Odin…” I honestly felt strange saying it. My mother screwed the god that was basically my boss. 

Snorri nodded. “Yes. they…” he raised his eyebrows. “I’m not allowed to say anymore on the matter, but this book contains the details of his life, death, and afterlife. If you’d like me to summarize anything, I’d be more than happy to! I think it’s very nice of you two to come learn about your new hallmate before you meet him. He’s a sweet kid.” He flipped open the book as he spoke. “Shall I read anything to you?”

TJ worked up his courage. “Can you… tell us about his death? Not everything, but like… who was there?”

He turned a few pages, skimming for the relevant information. “Ah, that would be quite the list. The attendance was slightly different than it was at Lokasenna. It says here, that as Vali and Narvi were killed, a remarkable few gods were there, but it was a mixed company. Odin was there, obviously, as well as Thor, Sif, Bragi, Idunn, Njord, Skadi, Frey, and Heimdall. Should I go on?”

He seemed somewhat relieved, surely he’d been hoping he wouldn’t hear his father’s name. After hesitating, he responded in the affirmative.

“Alex, pardon me, but do you recall any instances in which your mother tried to control you? Either your mind or body? You need not answer, I only ask so you may understand what I speak of.”

My jaw tightened, mouth turning dry. “Yes.”

He nodded, a look of sympathy, not pity, in his eyes. “Odin, being one of the most talented gods, held sway over Vali’s mind, driving him insane, and forcing him to kill Hod, his brother. When Vali tried to run away, Odin made him turn into a wolf. He made him attack Narvi, who the gods had found hiding with Loki and Sigyn, having brought all of them along. After Narvi had been killed, Vali was just barely able to recognize what he’d done, and that bit of regret and pain enabled him to return to his original form, and he tried to run again. One detail worth mentioning, is that when it comes to gods, only magical weapons can do any true damage. After many attempts, some successful, to hurt him, Odin threw his spear through Vali’s heart, finally killing him.”

The room was silent, except for the thrumming of my pulse. I wanted so badly to ask him to stop, to include less detail, but in my heart I felt I truly needed to know what happened, to hear what had been done. 

“At this point in time, Frey had given away his sword, Sumarbrandr, who you know as Jack. It is good to know, as well, that with certain things, there is a god from each tribe for that particular thing. Frey was once the god of hunting, just as Skadi and Ullr still are. I have heard Frey was terrible at it, and even worse at field dressing. Do you know what that is?”

TJ looked like he knew. He also looked like he was having a worse time than I was. “Gutting.”

“Yes. Frey gutted Vali, as well as Narvi. Vali is very self-conscious about his scars, as I remember.” He shut the book. Steepling his hands on the desktop. “Do you have any questions for me?”

I’m not entirely sure how to describe how I felt at that moment, having finished processing the startling amount of gory information. Angry. Sad. Upset. Enraged. I wanted to hurt someone. I wanted to break something. Just when I was starting to trust that maybe some gods, like Odin, weren’t total monsters, I was disproven. Was this why my mother hated him? Was this why he went insane? Was all this a justifiable punishment for the murder of a single man? To drive your child insane, kill 2 of your sons, and the son of someone else? 3 deaths because of 1. 

Snorri looked between both of us. “I can’t understand how you feel, but I can only imagine that you’re very upset.”

I wanted to scream at him, tears forming in my eyes. I’ve had a long day. I shouldn’t have come with TJ, but maybe TJ was the only reason either of us was in as good a state as we were. Snorri hadn’t even said that much, or gone into a lot of detail, but here I was.

TJ cleared his throat, with that look he always got when someone had delivered a scathing insult. “We should probably get to the meeting soon.” He decided, trying to change the topic to bring his mind off of our current situation.

Snorri rose slowly, shuffling to open the door for us. “I’m truly sorry. I only wanted to help you understand. I apologize if I’ve caused you any pain.” 

We all left together, the old man following us for whatever reason, as we headed to the meeting room we’d been told to meet at. 

The room had a long, fiber-board table that easily seated 12, but the chair at the foot of the table was empty. The chairs looked like they had cushions, but they were beaten down from what was probably decades of use. The walls were beige, absent of any decoration. In short, it sucks.

Helgi had already taken his place at the head, Hunding hovering behind him, with Sam sitting to his left, and a bunch of white guys to his right, with the seat in the middle and far end of that side being curiously absent. There were two empty seats between Mallory and Sam, so I took the one closest to my sister, leaving Halfborn at the end and TJ next to me. Our hallmates gave us a weird look as we sat, confused by our expressions. Snorri came in last, assuming his position towards the end of the table, leaving the door open. 

Almost as soon as he sat down, he started to doze, mercifully not snoring. As his namesake might imply he did.

A tall, slightly muscular 16-year-old stood at the door, long dirty blonde hair and reddish-brown eyes that were a perfect match to Sam’s. Ominously, he dressed in all black. He just stood there awkwardly, until one of the men gestured for him to come in, giving a reassuring smile as he sat down next to them. The men then decided to introduce themselves, starting with the man closest to Helgi. 

“I’m Erik Bloodax, but just call me Bloodax. There’s a lot of Eriks here, so it’ll be less confusing that way.” He chuckled slightly, as if Bloodax was a completely normal name. Maybe for vikings, sure. 

An older man spoke next, sitting to the right of the first Erik. “Erik the Red. Leif,” he pointed to the slightly younger man on Vali’s other side. “Is my son.”

Halfborn opened his mouth to speak, but got shut down quickly. “Yes, he was the first European to discover Vinland. Yes, I committed murder. But it was justified, regardless of what the council said.”

Snorri remained asleep.

Helgi launched into a talk on something that was somehow relevant to the current situation. I failed to see how “hotel policy” was relevant to our new hallmate. This went on for what felt like 30 minutes, but turned out to be closer to 10. Time runs so slowly when you’re bored.

Suddenly, Helgi’s tone changed, from his I’m-so-smart-and-interesting prideful voice to one of you’re-not-smart-and-interesting

“Gods, Vali. You don’t even understand what’s going on, do you? I know you can't pay attention, but that’s not an excuse for being an idiot.” His face was contorted in a disgusting snarl that made me want to hit him. I know Vali is my older brother, but he looks so young and scared like this. I felt the urge to protect him, even though I knew he could easily defend himself. Maybe he didn’t want to. The Eriks looked about reading to commit murder, and I’m pretty sure one of them was actually a convicted murderer in his lifetime. I don't want to find out which one.

Snorri got woken up by the situation, eyes widening as he began to realize what was going on. Vali looks like he’s about to start crying, but Helgi continues. “You don’t get another chance. You ruined the only second chance you’re ever going to get, understand? You’re not to leave the hotel under any circumstances, even in Ragnarok. You’re going to stay here. I’m surprised the Allfather even let you leave floor 540-”

One of the men tried to interrupt him, but the manager stayed his course. “You’re a threat to everyone here, even yourself! But you’re too stupid to see that everyone hates you, because for whatever gods-forsaken reason, you inherited your mother’s arrogance! The Norns just couldn’t let you inherit any of the good traits of your father, could they?” 

That was the last thing Helgi said before a white wolf pounced on him, tackling him to the ground. Hunding, while surprised, didn’t seem to mind that much, just crossing the room to hide behind Leif Erikson. Speaking of which, none of the other thanes looked like they cared. If anything, they cared the wrong way, looking on as if they wished they were in the place of the wolf.

Sam took the same route as Hunding had, moving to stand behind Halfborn. (Sam is no coward, but blood is haram . It seems complicated because her job is literally death.) We all sat in stunned silence as we listened to Helgi curse in old norse as he tried to fend off the wolf, sticking his forearm against its open jaws, which the wolf easily snaps off, tossing the limb aside. 

Erik Bloodax took a risk, leaning towards the fight. “You had it coming.”

Helgi turns his head to look at the thane, and it costs him, the wolf lunging for his throat, shaking it violently until we could hear vertebrae pop. It isn’t until the wolf starts gnawing at his stomach that anyone thinks to disrupt him, Helgi now obviously, painfully dead. 

The two Eriks rose, grabbing onto the back of the wolf’s neck, dragging him away from the dead body with difficulty. Older Erik spoke, “Leif, watch the door.”

Leif obeyed, shoving the extra chair under the door handle. “Watched.”

Were the thanes… becoming accessories to murder? I know basically everyone hated Helgi, even and especially the other thanes. This seemed extreme, but then again, death is normal here, and they’d been around him for more than 1,000 years. I’d probably kill him too after that long. 

Snorri sighed. “Would we like to discuss the purpose of this meeting?”

We nodded, still in shock. He nodded back. “As I’m sure you’ve already guessed, Vali here is your new hallmate. He’s actually very well behaved, but he’s still mad at Helgi, as you can see.”

“You can’t blame him for that! ” Erik the Red laughs. “Bastard knew exactly what he was doing, riling him up like that! He’s hated Vali since he got here!”

Sam refused to return to her seat. “Is that the only reason he hates him?”

Mallory agreed. “I’m sensing some unresolved conflict.”

Erik the Red just glared. Now I was beginning to remember how he earned his epithet. 

The wolf started hacking, blood splattering on the floor, Erik Bloodax still holding onto him, gently rubbing a hand over his back. The rest was obscured by the table, but I could see his hand drop, until he pulled a very bloody teenager against the wall.

This day is incredibly weird, bloody, and confusing. So, I can see he kept the whole turn-into-a-wolf-when-angered thing, which wasn’t actually surprising, just scary. 

Vali sat against the wall, dazed and silent. Bloodax knelt in front of him, rubbing some blood off of his face, making sure he was sitting stably upright before standing again.

Vali nodded, clearly exhausted, his eyes only half open. Erik spun around, teeth gritted. “Everyone listening?” He growled, looking at everyone to make sure they were indeed listening. “Back in 1066, during Yule, some of the thanes got raging drunk, and that’s what started it. Helgi had seen him shapeshift earlier, and accused him of being a spy for his mother.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, then Gunilla called him an argr. Everyone was looking at him, like… disgusted… and then some of the thanes started reaching for their weapons, and it all went to Helheim. He killed pretty much everyone at the thanes’ table, ironically, the only one that didn’t get killed by him was Ivar.” He crossed his arms. “Now that that’s straightened out, any questions?”

No one said anything. Halfborn started to raise his hand, but Mallory pushed it down.

“By the way, if I catch any of you talking shit about him I will eviscerate you myself. The wolves won’t be able to find you for a week. Understand? ”

Leif Erikson stood near the door still, acting like this was all perfectly normal, like he saw his undead convicted murderer father threaten undead children every day.

Snorri was the first to leave, Leif kindly moving the chair aside to open the door for the old man. Erik the Red turned to the other Erik. “Can I borrow your ax? A sword won’t be very good for this.”

Halfborn seemed to pick up on whatever they were planning, looking at the dead body of the hotel manager on the floor. “ Are you… ” His almost-question was answered as Erik swung the borrowed ax down on it, and we all made a beeline for the door, barely stopping ourselves from actually running. As we made our exit, two wolves came from the direction we were trying to go, suddenly barking as they got to the room’s door.

Chapter Text

We had no idea what to do now. Since this morning, we’d all left Midgard on missions, came back, missed lunch, had an emotionally-charged history lesson from Snorri, then gone to a meeting that started boring, but then became a crime scene, with 2 Eriks and an Erikson working to dismember a dead body.

And then, who should leave the room? Vali. Wolf boy himself. I want to punch something, but he certainly doesn’t deserve it, at least not right now. He’s probably had a long day.

I don’t know how he found the energy to stand upright, much less walk. He looked dead not 2 minutes ago. TJ put on an anxious, forced smile, trying to make smalltalk after that trainwreck. “Hey, are you doing ok?” 

Vali stared at us, avoiding eye contact, and I saw him start to list to the side as Halfborn acted on his role as the support beam of our hallway, holding up the now unconscious demigod. 

Getting to our table in the dinner rush with a sizable dead weight was a challenge, but not really for the rest of us, just walking a bit slower as Halfborn lugged my brother along. 

Halfborn gently slid him onto the bench, resting his head on the table, before he took his seat

Mallory sat across from him, TJ on Vali’s other side, and I across from him. As a valkyrie swung by to fill our drinks, she nearly jumped out of her skin after seeing Vali, sloshing some mead out of Mallory’s cup. She cleaned it up, excusing herself.

Another came by, giving the exiting valkyrie a confused look, before she too repeated the process, going to fill Halfborn’s cup and getting so distracted, the cup started overflowing. She too cleaned it up, excusing herself.

Finally, a third valkyrie approached, stretching her arms to place a pitcher of mead on the table while staying as far away as possible. “Sorry.” She mouths, backing away quickly.

Dinner was perfect, as usual. Nothing remarkable, as usual. I was beginning to understand why so many people here got into cooking. The whole time, Vali remained in the position he’d been left in. When the time for battle practice was drawing closer, Halfborn nudged his shoulder, and when nothing had happened, he shook it.

My brother slowly raised his head, blinking slowly. That little break from reality doesn’t seem to have refreshed him. 

As the horn blew, we all rose, some making a beeline for the door, others taking their sweet time. We normally fell in the middle. Aside from Halfborn, who was basically born for this kind of stuff, my hallmates saw it more as let’s get this over with.

Battle practice was interesting. Tuesdays were free-for-all, but hallways and floors tended to team up, knowing that even though no one lasted long, you’d last longer with someone fighting alongside you.

After getting swept into the crowd of einherjar filing through the doors, I stayed connected with my hallmates to avoid getting pulled away. The exception was Vali, who decided to follow us from a few paces back, easily splitting the rush like a cliff against the sea. 

Almost as soon as we got through the door, I lost sight of him. Like, he literally disappeared. More likely, he’d transformed into something I couldn't see. I’d really been hoping he would help us out in battle practice, rather than turning tail.

And after seeing what he’d done to Helgi in under a minute, I really didn’t want to be fighting him.

While TJ led the charge, Halfborn protecting our backs, I tried out my new sword. Brilliant white light curved into the form of a scimitar, as if someone had stuck the moon inside of a glass sword. 

After much practice, I discovered it did best with slashing, preferably on the outer side, although both sides were razor-sharp. Occasionally, a shout or weird death would distract me, and the weapon would dissipate like a cloud of mist, only returning when I could focus on it again.

Mallory was taken out by a medieval looking soldier with a very large, pointy spear. The man stood nearly 6 feet away, well out of reach for us to fend off his attack. As soon as he’d struck, he was gone, pulling the spear after him. But he got his due, getting hit by another berserker barreling a path across the field.

A man sat on the ground next to me. The only features I could discern in the bloodbath was long braided hair and a short beard. A shield harnessed to his back and a bow in hand, he cleared a steady ring around himself. “It’s good to be back.” He smiled at me oddly, continuing firing into the surrounding crowd. After a few more shots, everyone seemed to steer clear of him. I wondered why they made up their minds so quickly, treating him like he was untouchable. He turned his head aside, ducking as a spear flew over his head. “Bee, do you see him?”

Nearby, a burly, gray-haired and hairy older man tore apart anyone in his path. Literally tore them apart. “No luck here! Maybe he’s upstairs?” At his back was a brunette man, dual wielding two small bearded axes, joining the collective musings on the matter of their missing friend. “He’s got a plan, I know it.”

Hotel Valhalla was a strange, wonderful, frightening place. You could go a hundred years and never meet someone you died next to. This appeared to be Halfborn’s day, though. 

“Ivar, behind you!” A young woman shouted, whirling and slashing and thrusting with her greatsword as if the battlefield was one big dancefloor. The sitting man, Ivar, stayed put, waiting until an einherji raised their mace above his head, shoving an arrow into their groin, collapsing as their thigh became drenched in blood. Ouch. 

Halfborn whipped around. “ IVAR?! ” With his attention elsewhere, it left him open to attacks. A thrown dagger made itself at home in the side of his head, and he crumpled to the ground. 

While everyone kept fighting, a few people kept glancing up. It’s not Thursday, so they don’t need to worry about dragons. Then I see it. A black figure plummeting towards the center of the battlefield.

The black-haired woman runs to the sitting man, the other men following her, lining up behind her, so she stands between them and the oncoming projectile that’s now on fire. It’s coming in fast, and I barely have time to raise my new sword before I feel a tooth-rattling rumble, a wave of fire crashing over the field. I see no part untouched by it. 

I’m not dead, nor is TJ, who stood behind me. Mallory, who stood in front of me, was not so fortunate, burnt to a crisp. I look around, and no one else is standing except for the group I’d seen a moment ago.

The woman still has her sword raised, the silvery metal shining proudly. She lowered it, wide-eyed. “Wow. He’s strong.”

The burly old man spoke next. “Guess prison didn’t work out like they’d hoped, did it?”

They collectively agreed, still shocked by the near-total desolation they’d witnessed.

I looked around, trying to get a look at how much damage it’d really done. Somehow, Vali remained standing in the center of the field. At least, I thought it was him. He started to walk towards us, taking unsure, wobbly steps. 

A few of the men next to me rushed forward, the older one scooping him up like he was a baby. I suppose he technically is, plus that guy is built, so I’m not surprised. 

The woman and the other man worked their arms under those of the man on the ground, not just helping him up, but nearly carrying him. His arms wrapped over the shoulders of the warriors on either side of him. 

The man in the center spoke as the group began walking, his legs brushing against the ground. “So, what do you think?”

“What?”

“Vali. What do you think of him?”

TJ stood at my side, looking a little dazed, the only sign of life being his blinking. 

“He’s ok, I guess.”

“That’s a good start. Bee will take Vali back to his room, can you show him the way?” 

I nodded, the large man moving away from the line.

He looked at the woman next to him. “Ready to go?” She nodded, and they began walking away. Maybe his leg had been injured? I couldn’t tell if there was any bleeding, because he was covered in it, but his legs both seemed to be unbroken. 

The man cleared his throat, looking down at us. He has got to be well over 6 feet tall, and at least 70, though he looks closer to 50, with more muscle than most einherji had. 

“So. Where is your hall?”

TJ started off, leading the way back to the door and off the blood-slicked ground. “Floor 19. We’re right in front of the elevator.”

“Ah, so you’re in the Perthro hall?”

“The what?” I asked, confused.

“Perthro hall. There’s 24 halls per wing, 4 wings per floor. Works out to about 8 einherjar per hall. Some halls are longer, so they get more people, but that’s just the average.” He shrugged as best as he could while holding my brother.

“Sorry, but who are you?” 

“Beowulf. I’m from Geatland, so I’m actually an ancestor of Helgi. Did you see the woman I was with?”

I nodded, and TJ didn’t seem very interested in the conversation.

“That’s Magnhild. She was raised by Saxons, so she’s the foster sister of Hunding’s ancestors. Weird, right?”

I didn’t really know what to say, so I kept my mouth shut. Beowulf seemed pretty comfortable carrying the conversation on his own.

“Oh, the other guys are brothers. Ivar and Ubbi. Ivar’s the youngest, but he’s a natural leader. I’m excited to see what he’ll do now that we’re free.”

“What?”

“My friends and I were imprisoned at the same time as Vali, but the rest of us got put together. I guess the other thanes figured, since we hadn’t actually done anything wrong, but sided with Vali, we should be punished, just not as harshly.”

TJ tapped the elevator button, moving in almost mechanically and choosing our floor number. TJ had a peculiar habit of withdrawing as soon as he’d done whatever he’d come to do, and the silence was eerie considering how he was normally very talkative.  

He seemed relieved when the elevator pinged at our floor, but didn’t appear to be annoyed with the severely extroverted stranger, just tired.

Beowulf said his goodbyes, carrying Vali over to his door, right next to TJ’s, just as he’d said. The man balanced my brother in one arm, pulling out the keyfob with the other, and carried him in, closing the door behind him. TJ heads into his room, and I into mine. It’s only 8pm, but I’m already exhausted. Killing people that are already dead will do that to you.

Chapter Text

A half-hour and one scalding shower later, I’d managed to get most of the blood off, along with all the soot and ash from my little adventure in Muspellheim. Every day was an “everything shower” for me. If I didn’t do everything, I would still have blood in my hair, clay dust caked on my hands, and would carry the smell of undead BO until I died again. I didn’t really like any of those, so.

I liked winding down with trashy legal tv after a long day of killing and not being killed. Law & Order. (Not the SVU.) Therehadn’t been any new episodes since 2010, but I’d always found the show interesting. More optimistic than most legal shows, the rec rooms of shelters didn’t seem to like it as much as I did, probably for that reason. It was nice, but sadly unrealistic.

DUN DUN

At this point, I’d made it a third of the way through season 6, arriving on the episode Angel for tonight. Law & Order was a show that always seemed to be running on at least 5 channels at any given time, similar to how the movie Shrek was always on if you were staying in a hotel.

I tried keeping my eyes open as the murder’s details were revealed, but the world slipped into darkness. 

I had no idea where I was. I could see where I was, obviously, but I didn’t know where in the 9 worlds that was. It could’ve been Midgard just as easily as Jotunheim.

A dirt road stretched out, thin lines worn into each side, like a single lane road for horse-drawn wagons. Trees, something that appeared to be native to arid regions, formed a half-canopy over the edges of the road. As far as I looked, there was no one else. And as far as I looked, there was no sight of any civilization, either.

A noise like a popping balloon startled me, turning suddenly towards where I thought it had come from. A young man stood there, brown haired and olive skinned. He was dressed simply in a khaki uniform, that seemed only vaguely like it actually belonged to a military branch. I don’t know, I’m not an expert.

“Hello, Alex Fierro. I have much to discuss with you.”

I’d never had a dream where someone other than me or my mother could do whatever they wanted. Never had I come face to face with a person who wanted to have a conversation that wasn’t already pre-programmed by my subconscious. 

“Are you alright? I understand I can be frightening at first, but I can assure you I mean no harm.”

I nodded slowly, trying to force words out. I don’t know why it was so hard. The guy honestly seemed pretty nice, so I have no idea why it shook me up so badly. It just seemed off.

“May I call you Alex?”

I nodded again. I looked overhead, storm clouds gathering into a thick gray blanket as far as the eye could see.

“Well, Alex, you’ve made some people very upset. I’m on patrol duty most of the time now, and I witnessed you stealing… laevateinn, is that what they call it these days?”

“Yeah, Surt's sword. What do you mean, these days? ”

“Oh, my apologies. I simply meant to say, it used to be nameless. I’m not familiar with the customs and traditions of pagans, so please excuse me, but I understand it was a sort of… late wedding gift given to Surt.”

The first drops started falling, but what alarmed me was their color. Rather than the usual crystal clear, they fell as crimson droplets, alarmingly similar to another red fluid I saw on a daily basis. The coppery smell in the air confirmed it.

I tried not to let it scare me, but to be fair, it was now raining blood. The man didn’t seem alarmed by this at all. “By who?”

“My brother.”

“Who’s your brother?”

He looked concerned, stepping under the protection of the trees, while I found I couldn’t move to follow him, quickly getting drenched in the bloody downpour. “I’m sorry, there’s no more time.”  Thunder rumbled in the distance, but it felt more akin to an earthquake. “You’ll have to put it together on your own.” With that, I had the feeling of falling, like someone had thrown me onto the floor in my sleep. 

I sat bolt upright, finding myself right where I’d fallen asleep, in my bed and not on the floor as I’d expected myself to be. 

“Oh no.”

I felt hot, and wet, and sticky. I thought maybe I was sweating, but nope. I threw the covers to cool off, not noticing until I turned my lamp on. Splotches of red were scattered over me, some staining my clothes, some drying on my skin. My stomach lurched, and I rushed to the bathroom, emptying my stomach into the toilet.

It wasn’t the blood that made me feel sick, I’m not exactly sure what it was. Something about your dreams bleeding (haha) into your waking hours is especially unnerving, even more so since I have no idea what’s going on.

After sitting on the cold tile for several minutes, I trusted myself enough to stand up without getting sick again or passing out. Time for another shower. 

I knew I’d have to remake my bed if I wanted to sleep in it tonight, but I really didn’t feel like doing that, so I elected to sleep on the couch. I know what you’re thinking. That’s a terrible idea. Well, I am shorter than the couch is long, and it’s actually really comfy. I’ve fallen asleep on it before by accident, and there’s been no bad consequences from it. Sleep came quickly, which came as a surprise.

I stood in a comfortably-small room, the walls lined with heavy bookshelves, lit only by a fireplace. Two chairs sat in front of it, each facing the other.

I groaned, the Drama King himself sitting in a rather throne-like armchair. The irony of it all is he made this dream-scape, so he knew exactly what he was doing. He gestured to the other chair, and I reluctantly took a seat. 

Last time I saw my mother, he lost a free-style pseudo-rap-battle with my boyfriend and had been imprisoned in a magical walnut. Here he was. At least, I think he. I don’t know right now, my mind is still swimming from my previous dream. I may not like my mother, but you can bet your ass I won’t misgender someone on purpose, even if I hate them. Those are the rules.

He smiled, his scars hardly visible in the shifting light.

“Heyyyyy, how’s it hangin’?”

“You know damn well how it’s hangin’!”

He winced. “Ouch. Just thought I’d ask.”

“What the fuck do you want?”

“Just checking in on you.”

“Bullshit. Whenever you check on me, there’s always a reason.”

He grinned. “You’re so smart, Alex! I know I can’t play games with you, but hey, indulge me a little.” He held a mug in his hand, swirling the contents gently before taking a sip. Now he’s just showing off. 

The room was quiet for a moment, the only sound being the crackling of the fire next to us. He smiled hopefully. “So, what do you think of Vali?” he said finally, setting his drink down on a small table to his left that had appeared when I wasn’t looking.

“I think he’s an insane jackass.”

His smile dropped. I’d never seen him so angry, not ever. It wasn’t the explosive kind, but the quiet, harrowing, I’m going to kill you while you sleep tonigh t kind. 

I was glad when I woke up suddenly, eyes snapping open, staring at the ceiling as the first light of the morning came filtering in through my curtains.

Chapter Text

I don’t sleep well after thinking about my parents for too long. It doesn’t matter if it’s a dream sent by my mother, or some imaginary situation my mind has conjured up. 

After another scalding shower and 10 minutes of being indecisive about what to wear, I stepped out into the hall. Magnus is gone, Halfborn sleeps like a log, and TJ is way too much of a morning person, which left Mallory as my first choice. 

I went over, knocking on her door. Nothing. No noise. Sometimes she spent the night with Halfborn, so I tried his door next, hoping that if Mallory was there, she’d answer the door. Same thing again. 

TJ’s turn. It’s nothing against him, but he’s extremely chipper in the morning. I chalked it up to military training and his love of routines. I am not a morning person, so I tried to avoid talking to him too early for fear of accidentally biting his head off. Metaphorically. Occasionally literally.

TJ let me in, leading me to the living area of his room, a paused video game with a white-haired man hacking and slashing at what appeared to be a troll or giant. Vali was next to him, knees up against his chest, arms folded between his legs and torso, like an upright fetal position. He didn’t even look at me when I came in, still looking at the frozen screen with vague boredom. Once I entered his field of vision, he turned his head to look at me better.

“So… how long have you been in here?”

He just stared at me. I hate it when he does that. 

TJ responded in his place. “Since… I think maybe 3AM? He was screaming, so I invited him to hang out.”

“Why didn’t you just go back to sleep?”

He laughs. “I’m an insomniac, Alex. Besides, he looked like he needed help.” 

I sighed. “What have you been doing since then?” 

“Well, after he woke up, I calmed him down, invited him in, got him some tea, tried to convince him to eat, failed, then I ate, then he sat there for an hour looking at nothing,” he pointed to where the demigod in question was, “so I put on a movie, and the first one that Netflix suggested was Tangled, and he cried, but we finished watching it. Then, about an hour ago, I started playing The Witcher , and he seemed interested in it, so… yeah, that’s about it.” 

“Is he ok now?”

He shrugged. “Probably not.”

“Okay… Where… are Mallory and Halfborn?”

“Oh, they’re eating breakfast in the lounge. Vali didn’t want to leave yet.” He said matter-of-factly. 

Alrighty then. This did seem like something TJ would do. He was really generous with how he spent his time with others, but we could all tell when his social energy had run out. So far, it didn’t appear to have done so.

Halfborn and Mallory were currently debating the right way to eat cereal. I could tell from their arguing that they both put cereal first, but there was some miscommunication, as Halfborn kept repeating himself, and Mallory kept trying to convince him that he was wrong.

The berserker turned suddenly, looking at Vali. “He lives!” Halfborn roared. I could tell he was making a joke, but a death glare from TJ shut him up.

Mallory smiled, trying to ease the conversation. “So, Sleeping Beauty, are you doing ok?”

Vali, again, did not do anything to give an answer. He waited until both me and TJ were seated before he picked a spot, which, predictably, was right next to TJ. 

Breakfast passed slowly. Almost an hour later, Sam found us, dropping into the open space next to me. Despite no longer being a student, she still carried a backpack pretty much everywhere she went. She flipped said backpack into her lap and unzipped it, pulling out a small box. 

She was beaming as she slid it across the table towards our brother. Then she started signing. I got this for you.

He froze. Me?

She nodded. I was still wondering why she was signing. I assumed it was because Vali needed or wanted her to, but what I was also wondering was how I hadn't noticed that my brother was Deaf . Mallory paused, her eyebrows nearly touching, while Halfborn stroked his beard in contemplation. Had neither of them noticed, either? It made me feel less stupid , but I still felt bad .

Sam looked at all of us, eyes blazing, a forced smile on her face. "Did none of you notice that he was Deaf?"

Halfborn looked away. Mallory opened her mouth to speak, but thought better of it and shut up. TJ, on the other hand, looked like he was having some sort of existential crisis. So, he was the only one that actually looked sorry.

Vali hesitantly accepted it, opening the box, picking up a phone in a simple black case, and his expression lightened. Not a smile, not anywhere close, but he didn't look as sad as he'd been since we'd met.

Sam looked so, so happy. She really only got this way around me or Amir. I set it up for you. Do you need help?

He tilted his head, looking at it. He seemed to take to it easily, sliding past the lockscreen, opening contacts, and finding a dismally short list. I nearly had a heart attack after seeing Halfborn’s. 967 contacts and half of them were named Erik, Thor, Bjorn, Astrid, and Hilda. 

Samirah al-Abbas

Magnus Chase

Alex Fiero

Halfborn Gunderson

Mallory Keen

TJ

He clicked on the first name, tapping the message option, and began typing weirdly fast. The keyboard noises seemed to still be on, clacking annoyingly.

Thank you :)

Sam smiled. A little background: her primary love language is gifts and quality time. So this made perfect sense. After she turned off her phone, she began signing, carrying out a conversation just asking how he was.

His movements were uncertain and slow, sometimes choppy and unable to interpret. He usually took a while to formulate his answer, and it was a little… upsetting? To watch. This shouldn’t have been a problem . He shouldn’t be struggling to figure out how to say that he can’t sleep. It shouldn’t take him 2 minutes just to remember how to fingerspell a word. It should be easy. 

I suddenly feel the urge to kill someone. A very specific someone. But that guy is my boss, so I won’t be doing that. (At least for now.)

Everyone else at the table, Sam and Vali excluded, seemed to know exactly how I felt. Their faces didn’t have pity, but rather, some very sad confusion.

A tall, burly man entered the lounge, looking around. “Fiero?”

I waved at him, just a little concerned with why he was here.

“The Allfather has a mission for you and your friends.” His very strong Norwegian accent was startling.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Except, the weird thing is, no one can find him. We just got instructions to tell you.”

That was weird. 

“We have our suspicions on where he is, but I shouldn’t say.” His expression said “I want to tell you, but if I do I’m going to get murdered.”

Halfborn had an odd look on his face, as if considering something. “What’s your full name?”

“Einar Eindrideson Thambarskelfir.”

Halfborn’s jaw dropped. I assumed he was geeking out. 

The man smiled. “Most of my family is here, too. Unfortunately .”

Halfborn quickly returned to a neutral expression.

“If you are all ready, there is much to discuss.”

We all looked at each other, some nodding, a few yeah s, and we stood, following him out.

A young, muscular man stood just around the corner, visibly startling everyone but Einar and Vali. Red leather armor with silver curlicues on it, an eyepatch affixed over his right eye. 

“Ah! Eindride! I was just telling them about you. Would you like to come with?” I was a bit confused. Wasn’t his father Eindride? Or was one of his children also named Eindride? I always wondered what it would be like if you met your parent in Valhalla, but they’d died at a younger age than you had. I imagine it would be a bit weird.

Eindride inclined his chin slightly, a haughty yes , then fell in with the group, right next to his father.

Chapter Text

Einar and his son muttered back and forth in Old Norse, and Halfborn was very obviously trying to act like he was not listening. I had just realized I’d put on Jack’s pendant. I didn’t know that I could. I had completely forgotten until he started chiming in over other sentence about whatever the latest gossip among magical weapons was.

We arrived in a much larger, much friendlier looking meeting room than the one we’d been in yesterday. I immediately recognized the other people there. The three men and a woman that I had seen on the battlefield yesterday. Beowulf, Ivar, Ubbi, and Magnhild.

Einar bid us farewell, his son looking glad to leave us.

Jack began fanboying over something. The woman smiled, resting her hand on a torque around her bicep. As she pulled her hand away, a massive claymore went with it, the torque disappearing. It was at least 4 feet long, tip to pommel. I saw lines etched into it that had a design similar to rippling water, except the lines moved, the source of it all was the hilt of the sword. They glowed in a soft, pale bluish-green light.

Jack’s squealing grew louder. I wondered if anyone else could hear it, because they turned to look at me. And then Jack, being stubborn and a playboy among mythical swords, assumed his usual form. His obnoxious, glowing, floating form.

“EXCALIBUR!”

She raised her sword, slowly removing her hand from the hilt, and it stayed in midair. “She prefers Cal.” She gave a calm, easy smile. “Perhaps it would be best for them to speak alone? We have much to discuss, and you’ll want to pay very close attention to this.”

Despite the slightly ominous ending to her words, I couldn’t help but understand. She had a smooth way of putting things. She gave a look to her sword, and it drifted towards the corner, Jack following. Their conversation fell into metallic humming.

“I am Magnhild, but I am best known as Mordred. I will add, however, the medieval era soiled my reputation. I am no traitor or villain, and I will have that known.”

Mallory tilted her head. “Like… King Arthur? Pendragon?” 

She nodded. “I prefer the patronymic Taurusdottir. Arthur was never worthy of the title of father, much less the title of king.”

The brown-haired guy tilted his head back, Ubbi, I think, acting like he was going to shout. “Stop saying preference. It’s your name , it’s not a choice. So what if you died in the land of your biological family? They were never your kin, not like the Saxons were.”

Beowulf, the older man nodded. I felt like I was unwittingly part of a very personal conversation. Magnhild nodded, taking a seat at the very large, rounded table. Oh wait. That’s funny . A knight of the round table. At a round table.

Jack wasn’t the only one fanboying. Halfborn was next, albeit much, much , more controlled. He stared at the men, mostly the one I’d seen sitting down during yesterday's battle. He had a fresh braid in, two dutch braids that fused together in the back. Nice. I was always shit at braiding hair. Anyways.

The man smiled. “Halfborn! It’s good to see you again.” He crossed his arms on the table. 

His jaw dropped. 

Mallory nudged him, squinting at her boyfriend. 

He closed his mouth. “Ivar?”

“Yep.” He responded simply. “You ok?”

“I thought… when did you die?” He looked sad.

Ivar took a deep breath. “Right after you did.”

His expression fell. 

“I was choking on my own blood, Halfborn. Not everyone can survive a punctured lung like you can.” He tried to smile, attempting to lighten the situation.

The berserker looked crushed. 

Ubbi interjected into the catching-up that was careening downhill, pointing his ax at me. “So. We are here to discuss you .”

“ Me? ”

“You stole Surt’s sword, did you not?”

I froze. Everyone else, in unison, responded. “ Yes .” (Except for Vali, who I noticed wasn't in the room. I just now processed that I'd never seen him come in. That didn't bode well.)

Ivar sighed, and I could see the gears turning in his head. “There’s many ways to go about fixing this, but the easiest is also the most dangerous.”

Floor 19 waited.

“Take the sword back yourself. If you survive, it will make a better impression than if you just have a messenger take it. If someone else took it back, you’d look like a coward, which would only prove their suspicions.”

Ubbi twirled an ax in his hand, visibly resisting the urge to throw it into the tabletop. “That you’re a dirty-fighting coward.” He helpfully clarified.

That is a serious accusation. I won’t lie, I do fight dirty, but I am not a coward.

Beowulf cringed. “That is what you looked like.”

“ How?! ”

“You sneak in. Not even through a main entrance, but very discreetly, through a way very few know exists. That’s already one point against you. Then, you interrupt a meeting. That’s another. You cut off his nose. One more. You steal his sword. Again, that’s a bad move. Then, to top it all off, you tie him up. But that’s not all. You did it in front of others. So there’s two more. Altogether, 6 things you could’ve done better, to make it look less like an enemy agent there for political espionage and sabotage.”

Ubbi chimed in. “You basically declared war.”

Call me crazy, but I don’t like it when people list off things I’ve done wrong. Even if I know I did it wrong, doing that doesn’t help.

Magnhild was absentmindedly rubbing her arms. The other men turned to notice. 

“What’s on your mind?” Ivar spoke.

“Alex, what dreams did you have last night?”

I felt called out. I really didn’t like either of the ones I had, but I’d rather talk about the first rather than the second. Then I might have to mention what I called Vali. I didn’t believe it anymore, and I still hated myself for making the assumption he was rude, when I didn’t know why he wouldn’t talk.

“Anything?” She gave a knowing look. Considering the fate of the 9 worlds might rest on my answer, I decided to come clean. At least mostly. 

“My mother.”

“Oh. What happened?”

Shit. 

“Alex, you can tell us. What you say doesn’t leave this room.”

Ubbi scoffed. “ Stupid ravens .”

Beowulf chuckled. “ Stupid Helgi .”

“Tried asking me questions. We were in an office, I think I know where it was.”

“Like what?” It seemed my vagueness had backfired, resulting in more specific questions.

“What I thought of Vali.” I cringed inwardly, mentally preparing myself for forced honesty.

“And what did you say?”

“That he was an insane jackass.”

Sam looked like she was going to murder me. TJ’s hand tightened around the strap of his rifle. Shit. Shit shit shit .

“I don’t think that anymore! I’m sorry! He’s actually kind of nice, I just didn’t know he couldn’t understand us! I thought he was ignoring us!” 

Magnhild nodded sagely. “See to it that you don’t do that again.”

I nodded quickly. 

“You said you thought you knew where this dream was. Where?”

“The Chase Space, back before it was the Chase Space. It was his uncle’s study or something.”

“Do you know if Loki has a particular connection to that room?”

“When Magnus had dreams with Loki in them, he said a lot were there.”

She paused, considering something. We were interrupted by a knock. The adults in the room looked quietly concerned, looking between each other. 

Ubbi got up to open the door, a man waiting patiently on the other side.

Tanned skin and short dark brown curls framed haunted eyes. Aside from the look in his eyes that said he’d seen horrible things, he looked pretty ok. Dressed simply in a stylish charcoal suit with a burgundy shirt and silver tie. Most obviously, a ring of darkness floated just above his head, like a black halo. Jotuns have a variety of weird appearances, and this honestly wasn’t that weird. Maybe his father was the god of darkness or something?

The adults all got up from their seats, except for Ivar, who just rolled along. I hadn’t noticed he was in a wheelchair. Excalibur drifted over towards her wielder, turning back into the arm-band. I quickly called Jack to me, feeling like I had done everything too late. The mystery man eyed the sword as I did so, watching with far too much interest for my taste, considering how he never even glanced at the other floating sword.

“Where are you going?” I felt like I was about to panic. What had I gotten myself into? Maybe I should’ve pressed harder for more information last night. The khaki guy hadn’t been very helpful, but maybe if I hadn’t insulted my brother, then my mother would’ve told me something.

“Who do you think set up the meeting?” Ivar sighed. “We’re not supposed to be present for this.”

Ubbi gave a thumbs up, while Beowulf mouthed good luck . Magnhild gave a curt nod. The door swung shut as the man stepped in.

I was now without any guidance. Aside from my friends. But they really didn’t know what was going on, so I hated that I had to count them out.

The man was blank-faced, taking an empty seat. He produced a leather folder from nowhere, embossed with the initials J I , and I could see a signet ring on his middle finger as he opened in. The writing was too small to make out, but it didn’t help that the letters looked like they were moving. 

He looked up suddenly, staring directly at me. He smiled. “Now, if I’m correct, you met someone last night.”

I didn’t want to answer.

“Did he tell you his name?” 

I shook my head. While guessing the gender of the person I saw would’ve been 50/50 for anyone, he got it right.

“Was he, by any chance, wearing a khaki uniform?”

I nodded. Everyone turned to look at me. I’d been interrupted before I could tell them about that one. I was starting to wish I had put that one first.

“It appears your colleagues don’t know about this. Would I be correct?”

I nodded again. I didn’t like how much he knew. My “colleagues” didn’t seem very happy, but their anxiety outweighed their anger.

“Why don’t you tell them? I’d hate to get the details wrong.” I got the feeling he wouldn’t get the details wrong. He flipped through the pages he’d brought, as if he were just now brushing up on those details.

“So…” I addressed my friends, but it was hard with the stranger staring at me. “I was on a road, and I couldn’t see anyone or anything else. There were trees lining the road, and I turned and there was this guy. And he basically told me that Surt’s sword was given to him as a morgen-gifu, and that it belonged to this guy’s brother originally. Then it started raining blood.”

Everyone was looking a little confused. I was too. I didn’t know Surt was married.

He smiled. “You’ll have ten days to deliver the sword to Muspelheim, and personally hand it over to my boss. If you don’t, you, then your friends, and then, the whole hotel, will be subject to several catastrophes. Blood, bugs, disease, raining fire, death, the whole shebang.”

“Who’s your boss? Surt?”

“His husband.”

Everyone looked more confused. I also hadn’t known Surt wasn’t straight. While I didn’t assume he was, I just didn’t know. Also, did he say raining fire?

“And who’s his husband?”

His smile grew. “You’ll know him when you see him. He’s very hard to miss.”

He disappeared, leaving behind only a scrap of paper where his folder had been. 

It was covered in the same shifting lines that had been written on his papers.

Chapter Text

As soon as he’d left, they were all staring daggers at me. I knew why. I had been reluctant to share information, and so had gotten caught in a meeting with an unnamed being while my friends knew nothing.

The lobby was mostly empty, a few people sitting in one of the alcoves, housing 2 sofas that faced each other. The stupid idiots that had abandoned me before my meeting with some mysterious businessman sent here by Surt’s husband, whoever that was.

Ivar, Ubbi, Beowulf, and Magnhild.

Halfborn didn’t look to be in a good mood, and walked right up to his old thane. He looked (respectfully) pissed off. “I thought you had survived the battle!”

He snorted. “The people that took records made so many mistakes! They were monks , after all. It said I died in 873, and that I was Irish. Wrong . It was 865, and I’m Norwegian. They were way off. And don’t get me started on the whole Blood Eagle thing.”

TJ’s head swiveled suddenly towards them. “Excuse me- the what? ”

Beowulf launched into an explanation. “It has debated historicity, but honestly, it was a very rare thing. Nobody knows who invented it, but it was only used for high-ranking people that had done something terrible. So, it’s not as if it was completely undeserved.”

Ivar looked up at Beowulf. “Do you think it would be a bad idea to Blood Eagle Helgi? It’s only a matter of time before the wolves find all of him.”

“All of him?” Mallory squinted.

“Yeah. The Eriks dismembered his body and scattered it across the Hotel, so it’ll be a while, maybe… 4 more days?” Ivar’s estimate was unsettling. Did they seriously dismember a body and hide pieces across the hotel? It could’ve been worse, but hey.

Magnhild froze, staring off at something. Her friends slowly picked up on it, and I noticed it was a someone . A young middle eastern woman was walking by, in a chainmail tunic over baggy trousers, tucked into elaborately decorated boots. The woman turned her head, spotting her looking at her, and smiled.

Magnhild left without another word, making a beeline for her. The men all shrugged, as if this was totally normal. Ubbi offered a helpful explanation. “Lesbian.” I’d noticed that his English was less than prime, but it got the point across. There was something kind of funny about a buff Viking saying lesbian so simply, like he was just clarifying the matter.

I almost didn’t recognize Hunding when he came up, Vali following close behind. Hunding, with his boss dead, had abandoned his post. He was no longer in his uniform, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. It was weird seeing him wearing normal clothes, and he’d trimmed his beard. Nothing major, but it no longer looked like a roadkill bird. I knew he was basically a viking, but I hadn’t realized how absolutely jacked this guy was. I guess a thousand years of constant work will do that to you.

He handed a cup of coffee off to Ivar, while keeping one in his other hand. He thanked Hunding in Old Norse, then proceeded to nearly chug it. I didn’t know how easy that would be, considering there was still steam coming from the mouthpiece, but he just smiled through it.

Beowulf glanced at his phone and scampered off, with Ubbi, confused, running after him. 

That left Ivar and Hunding, along with my brother, who was staunchly avoiding looking at any of us. 

I had way too many questions, but he wouldn’t be able to answer most of them, since they were about weird dreams and spooky businessmen. I waved at him until he looked my way. Why did you leave us?

His brows knit together. No one asked me to come.

Ivar sighed. “You have to tell him, very clearly, that you want him to come. If you say he can , he won’t, because he thinks you say it out of obligation.”

Mallory snorted. “What, did you psychoanalyze him while we were in the meeting?”

Ivar pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’ve all known him almost as long as we’ve been here, so it would be pretty shitty if we didn’t know at least that much about him. He’s got some internalized prejudice, hates himself because he thinks he's lesser than.”

Hunding frowned. “I wonder who made him think that?”

The man grabbed Hunding’s free hand, still carrying on. “So, in the end, Vali has terrible self esteem and doesn’t understand social interactions. He’s been imprisoned for the last, like, thousand years, so that didn’t help. Oh, and I’m trying to get an appointment set up for him to see a psychiatrist, becau-”

Sam’s phone started ringing, and as she took it out of her pocket, I could see the title and profile image. Amir . She hadn’t gone cringe and added emojis or an overly-affectionate nickname. They still weren’t married yet. Sam was 21 by now, and I would’ve thought they’d get hitched asap, but that’s none of my business.

There was a frantic voice on the other end, very obviously trying to play it cool, speaking much louder than he needed to. 

Heyyyyyy… Sammmmm… about, um… if you come visit me at work today, maybe don’t take the train? 

“Why?”

There’s a… well… um. There’s been a murder, so the entire station is closed.

“ A murder?! ”

This was Boston. I don’t know why she was surprised. Honestly, murder is always surprising, but in some places it’s just a lot more common. Places like Boston.

Just… get off at a different stop, yeah?

“Ok. Are you alright?”

I hope so. 

I could hear the anxious laugh on the other end. The same one that came after he saw the Bifrost.

“Amir, we’ll talk about this later, ok?”

Ok, love you.

“I love you too, goodbye.” She smiled anxiously as she hung up, face going slack once the tone sounded. 

“Murder?” I asked.

She nodded grimly.

Chapter Text

My morning had been so packed, going from blood-rain nightmares, to breakfast and the sudden realization my brother was deaf, to a meeting with some sort of emissary, to finding out Hunding was not straight, and so now, when Sam was informed of a murder really close to her fiance’s workplace, it might’ve rattled me. Just a little. 

And I’d forgotten my gender. Some days, it was obvious to me as soon as I woke up. Other days, I had to think about it for a little while. Today was the latter. I had a lot going on mentally, so my pronouns had taken a backseat for now.

Sam pulled me aside, dropping her not-anxious-at-all facade. “Alex, what’s going on?”

“Do you seriously think I know?”

“Alex, there’s been a murder a few minutes from where Amir works, and the hotel’s hierarchy has been falling apart since Vali was freed.”

She yelped suddenly, and I turned to follow her eyes. Vali was standing right behind me , and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

What are you talking about?

I tried to smile. “Nothing important.” I could lie really well when I applied myself. But this caught me off guard.

He frowned, and kept staring at us. He still wouldn’t look us in the eyes. By the time I realized my mistake, and was about to correct it by signing, he was already walking away. He can’t read lips. 

Why was I always screwing up? Did he hate me? Why was Sam better? I know she’d gotten him a phone and actually taken the time to be kind to him, but still .

As we went to return to our group, we could see him running away, heading towards the nearest elevator bay. TJ looked worried, turning to follow, but Halfborn grabbed his shoulder, stopping him. Halfborn was better at hiding his concern, but I could still see it.

Mallory shot me a look. “What was that about?”

My other two hallmates gave the same look, asking the same question.

Sam sighed. “There’s… there was a murder, at the train station closest to where Amir usually works. And then the Hotel has been weird since Vali was freed. I wanted to know what Alex thought, but I didn’t work to worry any of you.”

Mallory gave a sarcastic smile. “And how did that work out?”

Sam was always better at being put on the spot. “Not well. He asked what we were talking about, Alex said it was nothing, but then we both realized he had no idea what we were saying, and he left.”

“I’m a guy today.” I blurted out. 

They all looked at me oddly. Sam just stared at me blankly.

TJ handled it, just blinking slowly, caught off guard. “Ok.”

Time to say something else out-of-pocket. “We need to go on a mission.”

Again, TJ handled it. “Ok.”

Halfborn pinched the bridge of his nose. 

We all agreed to skip battle practice. As much as we all wanted to sneak out to go to dinner somewhere else, none of us trusted that we wouldn’t get killed or something, due to the collective sense of impending doom.

We all went to our rooms to pack for the self-imposed mission. The one I’d dragged my friends into. 

Speaking of which, I knew I was leaving a few people out. Before yesterday, I’d never fought Surt. I knew two people that had fought him alongside Magnus and survived, with no einherjar powers or magic to help them. They’d arrived with my hallmates after I’d already defeated him, but unless one of those hallmates snitched, they didn’t know what I was doing.

Facetime seemed like the best bet. Sometimes, Hearth liked to give input, and texting either of them ran too slowly, and the conversation got jumbled whenever they actually responded.

Hearth answered Blitz’s phone, gray eyes hovering in front of the camera. I waved, and I could see the corners crinkle, the closest I saw to a smile.

He pulled the phone away, and I could see his whole face. The background swirled as he was walking somewhere. The phone was propped against something, cuing that our conversation would be signing from here on out. Unless I wanted to watch him squint at me for the next half-hour.

You good?

Yeah. You?

He nodded back. 

Apparently, he saw something was off, because he tilted his head to the side. An unasked question. A very gentle accusation of me lying.

What’s wrong?

I tried finding the right word for what I was thinking of. Somehow, signing what I had to say was easier than actually saying it. I eventually settled on the closest sign I knew. Goal. I cringed, hoping I’d be understood.

Q-U-E-S-T?

I nodded. 

What?

Sword I stole from S-U-R-T? Bad. 

Why? Something happen?

Weird business-man came here. Meeting. Need to return it.

Need or want?

Need. I have 10 days. If not… disaster.

He raised his eyebrows, a signless expression for wow, that sucks .

I rolled my eyes.

I could hear Blitzen call out in the background. “Hey, Hearth-” there was a sudden pause. “Oh yeah.” After a few moments of listening to footsteps, the door behind him opened, and I saw Blitz step into the frame. “Hey, kid! How’s it going?”

Hearth immediately turned, but I could still see what he said, pointing at me first.

Mistake.

It was like if your parent brought up something that went wrong, but before you could answer, your sibling ratted you out. Except in this instance, it was my fault.

Hearth moved aside, going somewhere in the background.

“What did you do this time?”

“ This time? ”

“Alex, please just tell us. We can’t help if we don’t know what’s going on.”

“I already told Hearth, but basically, I have to go on a quest to return Surt’s sword, otherwise there’s going to be a lot of disasters, and-”

“Disasters? Plural?”

“Yes, now let me finish. Some guy came by the Hotel, and had this meeting with me and my hallmates, said I have 10 days before shit goes down.”

“Ok, ok. First question-”

“I’m listening.”

“Do you know who the guy was? What did he say?”

“He didn't give a name, but he said he works for Surt's husband. Even if he hadn’t introduced himself, he still has the same vibes as Surt.”

“How?”

“Dressed in a very nice suit, had an air of otherworldly violence about him, black halo, the whole 9 yards.”

“Ok. Did he give examples of what disasters would happen? Any other threats?”

“Disease, raining fire, death. And! Last night, I had a dream where it rained blood! And another one with my mother! My mother! ”

He looked concerned. “Alex, slow down. Tell me about the first one, then we can talk about the second one if you want, ok?”

I took a deep breath. “So, there’s this guy, ok? Probably middle eastern, wearing some kind of khaki uniform. And we’re on a dirt road with trees on the side, I can’t see anything else outside of that. He said some things that stood out. So, he mentioned the name of Surt’s sword, and asked if that’s what they were calling it these days. And called it a pagan tradition , said Surt’s husband gave it to him as a wedding gift. When I asked who his husband was, the guy said it was his brother. Then, it started raining blood. I asked who his brother was, but he dodged the question.”

His eyes widened. “Listen, kid, this is bad. Like, really bad. Really, really, really bad. You could not have possibly made a worse decision.”

“I get it, I messed up. What can you tell me?”

“To start, Surt’s husband is a mystery. He went missing almost 1,000 years ago. Nobody knows his real name, but apparently, he’s some sort of evil Midgardian deity, everybody in Muspellheim loved him. Kicked out by his father for being different . Whatever that’s supposed to mean. No one knows much more than that.”

That was comforting. I think he understood that, moving on.

“Ok. You said you had a dream with your mother in it. Do you want to talk about that?”

I felt like panicking. “I don’t know!”

“I can tell you do know. Just tell me, Alex.”

“Well… there’s… I have a new hallmate.”

“Oh?”

“It’s my brother.”

He froze. 

“Vali.”

“ Good gods. ” he gasped.

I tried smiling, but I could see it came out awkwardly. “He’s Deaf. I only found that out this morning!” I laughed anxiously, internally kicking myself.

Blitz approached it cautiously. “And when did you meet him?”

“Yesterday.”

“Does this have to do with the dream?’

“Yeah.”

“What happened?”

“He- Loki, asked me what I thought of him.”

“And?”

“I- I feel bad, ok? I didn’t know he was Deaf.”

He shifted, pointing back at Hearth, who was busy cooking something. “It took me 5 minutes to realize he was Deaf.” 

“Seriously?” This wasn’t making me feel any better. Did he think it was supposed to?

“I’m going to guess whatever you said to Loki wasn’t good.”

I felt so guilty. “No, it wasn’t.”

“Alex, I’m just saying, you need to slow down sometimes. You don’t have to have an opinion on everything, it’s ok to not know.”

I hung up, even though I could tell he was going to say more. I felt horrible. I’d just wanted to talk, get advice, maybe have them come with me, but that was a lost cause. 

Chapter Text

Knowing today would be heavy on travel, I dressed sensibly, opting out of anything sparkly or super bright. Since most of my wardrobe consisted of things that fell into either one or both of those categories, packing had been a bit of a challenge.

Forest green and rose pink were easy to find, so that’s what I chose. Today was dark camo pants and a flannel in varying dark shades of pink, with the plainest pair of mission-worthy shoes I could find. A trusty pair of black Doc Martens.

I only packed a couple outfits, rolling them up to be as small as possible. Snacks, extra water bottles, and a few things I thought might come in handy. 

Jack had been suspiciously silent for the last few days, normally a pendant sitting on my bedside table. Around Magnus, he’d be talking nonstop. I don’t know if Magnus knew we could normally hear him, too. 

Unfortunately, I can’t telepathically talk to Jack, so I have to do it out loud, like a normal person, and possibly look a bit insane in the process.

“Jack, you’ve been reeeaaallly quiet since Magnus left.”

“No I haven’t.” He responded quickly, and I almost missed what he said.

“Yesterday morning, you gave me an hour-long rant on why Taylor Swift is the best musician of the modern age.”

“I just don’t have anything to talk about today?”

“How about why you’re so quiet?”

There was a long pause before he gave a curt response. “Touché.”

I waited patiently for him to continue. He didn’t. “Jack. I know something’s wrong. Tell me.”

“I don’t want to.”

I resorted to baiting him. “Is this about Excalibur?”

“No…”

I had an interesting thought. “Is this about another sword?”

“ Yes .” he said stubbornly.

I silently congratulated myself. Maybe whatever he was going to fanboy over this time would actually be useful. “Is this about Laevateinn?”

“Yes.” 

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s like… I don’t know? They’re following you, I can hear them.”

“Who’s them? ”

“Laevateinn.”

Okie dokie then. So, Surt’s sword uses they/them pronouns. Not exactly surprising. “Well? What are they saying?”

“I’m not entirely sure , but sometimes they talk about Surt, or Surt’s husband.”

“Who’s his husband?” After having some guy in my dream, and then an ominous businessman, and now a magic sword vaguely referencing him, I was getting tired of being left out. 

“Oh, I don’t know that.”

“Thanks.” I sighed. “Should I leave you here?”

“As much as I hate to say it, you probably should. What if you bring me with you, and Surt steals me? What if this was all a plot just to get me? Magnus will be back in a little while. He has one of the keys to your room, so he knows where to find me.”

He didn’t say anything else, and I decided to leave him here, but not without taking a few precautions.

I opened the drawer of my bedside table, putting him into a little box, piling some papers and stuff on top, and closing it back. Better than nothing.

Mallory and Halfborn were both waiting in the lounge. TJ was curiously absent. Out of all my hallmates, he’d seemed the least opposed to this, so I was wondering why he wasn’t already packed. Normally, he’s the first one up, ready to go before anyone else gets out of bed.

Halfborn noticed me first, Mallory looking over.

“TJ has a migraine.” Mallory explained.

“Should we go without him?

He’d had pretty bad headaches since the whole Naglfar incident, probably related to the shrapnel stuck in his forehead, but he’d been able to have a mostly-normal afterlife since then.

Sometimes he’d miss eating a meal with us, or skip battle practice. On one occasion, he missed out on a (small) mission we’d been sent on.

“Should we check on him?” I questioned.

Halfborn shut down that idea. “Already did. I put a note under his door. Lights are all off, no noise. Basically, he could be dead for all I know.”

Mallory elbowed him sharply in the ribs. “That’s not helping.”

He frowned slightly. “Sorry.”

“He’ll be ok, Alex. He has other friends here, I’m sure.”

I didn’t believe her. I know TJ is really friendly, but he never made friends easily. The only other hallmate he could hang out with was Magnus, who, for obvious reasons, can’t hang out with him. 

That leaves Vali. “Is he going to be fine with Vali here?”

Halfborn shrugged. “He seems ok. I mean, he never tried to kill any of us, did he?”

I nodded. That was a valid point. I agreed before anyone could bring up how I acted when I first got here. Not my finest moment. I was scared and uncomfortable, but I recognize I wasn’t the nicest.

With that, we set off. All of us having eaten, packed, and dressed properly to avert an inter-world war. 

Halfborn has led us to a hallway, unlabeled doors lining the wall on either side. “I’m not entirely sure which one to go through. I normally only take ones to other places in Midgard.”

“Ever go anywhere else?” Mallory urged.

“Sometimes I go to Jotunheim. Haven’t taken a door there in almost a decade, but it’ll probably be fine.”

“Probably?” I had multiple questions, but only time for one. I could hear howling just down the hall, one skidding by before turning back to spot us.

I thought our mission was approved? No?

Ok. I guess we’re escaping from wolves then.

“Jotunheim it is!” Mallory announced.

“What about-” 

She cut me off, both of us following Halfborn to a door on the other end, wolves only a few yards back.

“We can talk about it when we get there!” She screamed back, already assuming her role as the mom friend.

Halfborn flung a door open, grabbing his girlfriend’s hand. Mallory, in turn, grabbed mine. Making an impromptu daisy-chain to avoid losing each other in the portal, Halfborn charged through, and I could hear teeth snapping just inches from my leg, the air getting pushed aside. I fell in after my friends, feeling weightless for a brief moment.

Chapter Text

The ground greeted us with proverbial open arms.

Luckily, the team’s designated punching-bag, Halfborn, took the brunt of it, Mallory softening my landing with her legs. 

We all lay in a tangle for a while, startled and breathless.

Halfborn, as expected, sat up first, wide-eyed. “Jotunheim.”

Mallory groaned, pushing me off her legs. 

“You said we’d talk about it when we got here!” I tried not to shout or whisper, so instead my voice came out in a shattered, accusatory way. 

Halfborn’s berserker constitution still amazed me. He stood, brushing himself off. He pulled his girlfriend up next, waiting for her to be steady before helping me up.

I could swear it was snowing. Light, almost unnoticeable flurries drifted down.

Mallory gave a deep sigh. “Alright, Alex. It’s your mission. What’s the plan?”

I really didn’t know. I liked being a leader, but could never do it when put on the spot. They both gave me a moment to think. “Just thinking out loud here. We need to get to a wedding in Muspelheim for some prince. Shouldn’t be hard finding out where it is, the problem isn’t even getting there. The problem is not dying”

Halfborn nodded sagely. “Always is, good call.”

Mallory agreed. “So, what’re you thinking? Stealth, frontal assault? Maybe a diversion?”

I shrugged. “Let’s try for stealth first. If we blow it, go for a diversion. Then, if we blow that , we just go in guns blazing.”

Halfborn grinned. “Good idea!"

"Now, how are we getting there?” Mallory sighed. 

I sighed. Now would’ve been a great time for Jack, but I didn’t think I’d be able to get him to do it in the first place. I turned the question over in my head. 

Halfborn shoved his hands in his pockets, some snowflakes settling on top of his head. “How about we pick a direction and walk? Until we figure out exactly what to do?”

They both looked at me for some sort of decision. “Sure. Sounds reasonable. I literally have no idea what we need to do.”

Mallory blinked slowly. “I hope this all works out.”

“I do too.”

We picked east, figuring north would only be colder. Going east from Boston resulted in entering Jotunheim waters, meaning going west would lead back to Midgard. That left us with south and east, and we picked the latter.

I had noticed with uneasiness as I walked, that I cast two shadows, not one. If I were inside, this wouldn’t stir any discomfort. But out in the sun, there’s only one source of light, not the two required to cast two shadows. 

I tried to calm myself, even though this didn’t seem logical. I recalled an episode of Doctor Who that Magnus had shown me once, with a situation much like this. To summarize, dust-sized airborne piranhas latched onto someone and ate them, while giving the appearance of extra shadows. At least that’s what I remembered about it. Weirder stuff has happened.

I looked behind us too many times, trying to reassure myself that an extra shadow, while uncanny, was not as much of an immediate danger as being hunted down by agents of Surt. One of those threats seemed more close-up, though. 

It’s a small thing, I know. But I couldn’t shake an odd, anxious feeling.

The sun was directly overhead now, providing barely enough heat to warm us, a light dusting of snow on the ground. It had begun to crunch whenever we walked, removing the idea of being stealthy for this portion of the journey.

Apparently, our stealth wasn’t always needed. I heard the bleating of a goat or sheep, looking at my friends to see if they heard it too. Based on the look of confusion on their faces, they did. 

It was coming from the direction we were heading, so there wasn’t much concern for getting lost. After all, you can’t get lost if you didn’t know where you were in the first place.

A ram had gotten stuck in the underbrush, vines and thorns wrapping around its head. I silently hoped it wouldn’t turn out to be a jotun. I reasoned that if it was, this shouldn’t stop it. But, if we passed it by, and it was indeed a jotun, they’d probably be out for blood. I already had enough nameless beings trying to kill or trick me, so I thought it might be a good idea to try and keep that list shot.

“Mallory, can I borrow one of your knives?”

She eyed me strangely, looking over at the trapped animal. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

If it wasn’t, talking it out wouldn’t help us. I shot her a look, both pleading and demanding. She sighed, handing one over, pointing the handle towards me. 

I took it firmly in my hand, and started approaching carefully. As soon as the creature saw me, it started pulling on the mess of foliage it was tangled in, the thorn closing dangerously around its skull, nearly breaking the skin at the base of its horns, hovering less than an inch from beady brown eyes. 

It thought I was going to kill it, obviously. I didn’t know exactly how to communicate that I wasn’t going to slaughter it, but I could try. I lowered the knife, showing the palm of my other hand, both pointing down. It relaxed slightly, not pulling as harshly anymore. 

I started with the horns, reasoning that if I accidentally injured the ram, scraping the horns would probably be the better thing, rather than cutting its skin. I wedged it in, spinning it by the hilt to slice the first little bundle of vines. The thorns were more difficult, and while they were harder, they were also dryer, making them snap instead of a clean cut. After a few more well-placed strokes, the animal was free. 

It stood there for a few moments, frozen as I brushed the softer foliage from its head. It almost looked like it was in shock, backing up slowly.

The ram met my eyes, the slit pupils staring at me blankly. It huffed loudly, raising its head, and for a moment I was worried it would try to attack me. Before I could move, it charged, but gave me such a wide berth it was obvious the creature didn’t have any intention of violence.

No sooner had it run off, disappearing into a large bush, than the plant quaked again.

The shrubs and ground cover in front of us shook slightly, the pattern too measured, the movement too severe, to be a woodland creature. 

I unwound my garotte from its usual place around my waist, stretching it between my hands. Halfborn raised his ax silently, Mallory drawing her knives. The rustling grew louder, in a cliched moment that reached a climax in a single nerve-wracking moment.

And out of the underbrush stepped…

Sam .

Chapter Text

We all stared at her, and she stared at us.

As soon as the shock wore off, I had to question my sister’s decision. “ What are you doing here?! ”

“I’m here to help! ”

“And you couldn’t have done that in a less creepy way?”

She glared at me. “Do you want my help?”

I deflated. “Yes, please.”

She smiled. “That’s what I thought.”

So close to night, we decided to set up camp, which involved a few cold-weather sleeping bags arranged together. It was less to carry and quicker to take out or pack up. 

We’d started a small fire, hoping it wouldn’t draw any unwanted attention. Considering our history here, it would, but also considering the rest of our history here, we’d turn out ok. We sat huddled around it as the night’s chill crept in, eating the rations we’d packed for tonight.

We still weren’t entirely sure where we were going, and apparently Sam had caught on to that. 

“What are you planning on, Alex?”

“I’m not really sure.”

“Well, what’s the plan so far?”

“Keep heading east until we find something, go to Muspellheim, give the sword back.”

“Do you think that will work?”

“Which part?”

She paused. “All of it, I guess.”

“Well, the first part is what I’m most unsure about.”

She took a deep breath, which did nothing to reassure me. “We could try to find Utgard-Loki.”

Both Mallory and Halfborn protested, groaning and urging her to reconsider. 

She sighed. “Listen, we’re in the middle of nowhere. Unless any of you have a better idea, I think we should head for him.”

“How will we find him?” Mallory jabbed.

“We can’t be sure. With our luck, it’ll be easy. Every time we’ve needed him, we’ve found him, or he’s found us.”

“How do we know he won’t kill us?”

“He won’t. Again, every time we meet him, we turn out fine.”

Mallory grumbled, crossing her arms as she thought.

Halfborn shrugged. “I’m up for it.”

Of course Halfborn is up for it. No offense to him, but he doesn’t really think things through, jumping into something headfirst.

A howling woke me. Another one came from a different direction, and I could see Sam’s eyes snap open.

She reached over, shaking Mallory just enough to wake her, but not enough to scare her into making any noise.

I heard a howl from closer, and I tried anxiously to get Halfborn to wake up, but it was a bit harder. He finally snapped upright, hands flying to the battleax he kept at his side when he slept. 

What? He mouthed.

It was at times like this I wish Mallory and Halfborn took the time to learn any ASL. Not only was it just a decent thing to do, and the only way Hearthstone could communicate, it would be incredibly useful in this situation.

Mallory slowly sat up, clutching her knives. Sam had her hand on her ax, looking around silently.

We all started to slowly get out of our sleeping bags, shimmying out of them as quietly as possible. Sam was the first to stand, Halfborn helping Mallory stay steady when she almost tripped. I could hear a crunch just behind me, turning around just in time to see a wolf leap towards me.

A shadowy blur passed in front of my face, sweeping the wolf aside. The beast hit the ground with a crunch, its body going still. Someone dressed in camo grabbed another wolf by its neck, chucking it against the nearest tree. I’m not going to forget that sound anytime soon. That’s two.

Halfborn swung his ax, catching one in the ribs. It was almost comical, in a dark way, how the body stuck to the blade until he slung his ax upwards, the corpse sliding off with a wet thump as he turned it towards another, repeating the process.

Mallory’s knife found a home in the eye of one of them, twisting her arm to push the other one into another wolf’s neck.

Sam was holding her own, anxiously gritting her teeth as she kept herself clear of snapping jaws. 

I was too distracted to notice one as it crept up, instinct saving me as my failing arms managed to get my garotte around its neck, pulling. 

The fight was over before we could understand what was happening.

There had to be at least a dozen of them, their bodies strewn across the area. Various gruesome forms of death and mortal wounds. One was still whimpering somewhere. The stranger stalked over, stomping on the unfortunate creature’s head. I diverted my eyes at the last moment, feeling sick.

Having avoided being mauled to death, we could all pause for a moment to think about what the fuck had just happened.

The person stood in front of us, dressed in camouflage fatigues with a gaiter pulled up to cover the lower half of their face. Big black eyes stared at us. Literally, their eyes were entirely black. They looked vaguely familiar. The only weapon they carried was a solid black sword with a matching sheath and belt, all richly decorated. I could recognize the curly black hair pulled back tightly, but couldn’t figure out where I’d seen this person before. 

They stared at us. I think . I can’t tell, they don’t have any pupils.

They moved their hands, and my brain was still lagging, until I finally recognized what they were saying.

Hurt.

They gestured slightly towards Mallory, and I saw it. A huge bite in her right arm. She was barely holding onto her knife. She looked down at her arm, her pale face growing paler as she finally processed the wound, now outside of the fighting.

She staggered, Halfborn quickly sweeping her up into his arms. I understood what she was going through. In battle, you don’t recognize the impact of all the wounds dealt to you, only feeling it once the fighting has stopped. The pain and faintness hits you like a freight train, quickly sinking into your bones like needles. 

She was losing a lot of blood, and fast. It was coating her arm, even dripping off of Halfborn’s. 

He looked at the stranger helplessly. Halfborn rarely ever came across as so vulnerable. Without Magnus, any life-threatening injury was indeed life-threatening . We couldn’t just have my magic boyfriend do his thing and walk it off.

Without anything to define their eyes, it was hard to read their expression, but they looked… like they couldn’t care less. Looking at Mallory and her wound with a vaguely detached interest, like this was a low-stakes form of entertainment.

They moved slowly, like time was irrelevant at the moment. Need help?

Yes, yes we need help. Preferably now. Right now.

We all nodded, Mallory horribly still as her chest rose and fell weakly.

They grabbed Mallory from her boyfriend, using their other hand to yank him along. They were hauling ass , and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep up. 

A large, almost picturesque cottage stood in front of us, coming up fast. Not cutesy, no, definitely not. More like the kind of place you’d expect to find a witch that’s just as likely to curse you as bless you, and speaks entirely in riddles that go unanswered. A strange mix of ominous and welcoming that felt more like the former than the latter.

Before the stranger could even knock on the door, it slung open. Whoever had been on the other side was obviously very eager to see us, but stepping out of the way to let us through, the group filing in quickly.

Chapter Text

The other person was moving in the background, grabbing something and moving in the same direction as us. Being anywhere new was already a bit disorienting, so this was overwhelming. 

Not to mention my friend’s life was on the line.

The stranger set her down in a chair next to what seemed to be a dining table, propping her arm up on the tabletop. They shooed us away, grabbing a metal box from a cabinet nearby, setting it on the table as they started to get things out. 

They saw us watching, aggressively repeating the gesture. While I didn’t trust them alone with my dying friend, I didn’t want them to get annoyed and change their mind about helping us.

“Hey!” 

I’d nearly forgotten there was someone else here. And I wish he wasn’t here. Just our luck. Utgard-Loki. He only looked shorter than he normally was, but still tall at 12 feet. “Other than your friend almost dying , how’s it going?”

“Uh… okay?”

He snorted. “That’s a lie.”

I was trying not to show how I felt on my face, but he saw right through it.

“For a child of Loki, you’re a terrible liar. At least make it believable.”

“I’m not lying.”

“And I’m not a king.” He responded sarcastically. 

“What do you want?”

“To help, obviously! ”

Sam gave me the side eye, like do you seriously believe this guy?

I approached the question carefully. "And what do you want to help us with?” 

“You made so many people mad, like, so many people . And I, for one, would not like your bad decisions to ruin the party.”

“What party?”

“The wedding .” He squinted, like we should’ve known this.

“What wedding?”

“Surt’s eldest son is getting married!” 

Shit . 

He smiled awkwardly. “You did know that, right? ”

We all shook our heads. 

He looked surprised. “Wow. I thought you guys were supposed to be sticking your noses into everybody’s business.”

“We don’t.” Maybe Utgard-Loki being annoying is the price we’ll have to pay.

“You do, though.” His nose scrunched. “If you wanna act like you know everything, you gotta have the deets to back it up.”

“What do you want?” He started to open his mouth to speak, but I cut him off. “Don’t say you want to help us. What do you want to get out of this?”

“Well, you see, I’ve got a friend, and he has never been to a wedding like this. And he’s got a kid too, so I want to make sure that the wedding they’re going to doesn’t turn into a bloodbath.”

“Why would it? And who is your friend?” 

He chuckled. “One question at a time, Alex!”

“Fine . Who are your friends?”

“I’m not telling you that.” He laughed. “ Next question! ” 

I gritted my teeth. “Why would it turn into a bloodbath?”

“ Becauuuuussssseeeee … Surt’s kids aren’t exactly known for forgiving . They quit that when their other father was imprisoned. So, as you can imagine, they don’t want any other family to meet a fate like that.”

“Who’s the other father?”

He gasped excitedly. “Like I’d ever tell you that! It’s so much more fun watching you and your buddies run around like this! I know you were looking for me ,” He put a hand against his chest, smiling. “So I’m in a generous mood. What do you want me to do to help you? No promises, but I'll see what I can do.”

“We need to get to the wedding.”

He whistled. “Wow . Go big or go home, I guess. Tall order, but I can swing that, definitely. Technically, it’s an open event, and since half of you are royalty, you should be able to get in no problem.”

“Royalty?”

“Loki is the king of the jotnar. That makes you royalty.”

We all looked at each other, confused.

He started backing away. “I think I’ll leave you to it, then.”

As he disappeared around a corner, he stuck his head back in. “Wedding’s on the 13th, by the way.” and then he was gone again.

After a few minutes of me and my sister dodging questions, we managed to escape to the dining room, seeing Mallory’s head start drooping, the stranger clapping in front of her face to get her to wake up again. 

The dining room, kitchen, and living room had no wall separating them. There seemed to be a new source of noise in every area. In the kitchen, a radio was turned to ear-cracking static. In another room down the hall, I could hear smooth jazz. In front of a couch sat a tv showing some sort of news broadcast.

All the text on the screen was in runes, a small block in a lower corner showing someone signing along.

The other man started to take a seat across from Mallory, opening a laptop, but Utgard-Loki waved at him, and he sighed, getting up and walking away. The jotun took the seat his unnamed friend had been sitting in, keeping tabs on our lightheaded friend instead. It was honestly touching. Normally he’d be vaguely threatening us by now.

Utgard-Loki turned towards us. “Hey, I’ve got a question,”

He diverted his attention, looking at Sam. “Blood is a no-go for your religion, right?” That came out of nowhere. I didn’t expect a king of giants in a world of heathens to ask my sister about what’s haram, even if he didn’t know the word.

And Sam? She just nods , but I can see there’s some surprise. On one memorable occasion, a jotun dropped her in a glass of beer, which, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, alcohol is haram. So finally having someone unfamiliar with human religions actually ask a question is a bit surprising. For the king of the “outlands” he’s being surprisingly hospitable for whatever reason. Maybe it has something to do with the ominous and as-of-yet unnamed person he seems to be close with.

“Yeah, so, he literally cries blood, but… we have a guest house. That’s pretty much the only place that’s not unclean. Or you can stand here the whole time and do nothing. Just thought I’d give you options.”

The big question I could tell we all had was simple. Who was that stranger, somehow a good enough influence that he could get Utgard-Loki to actually be friendly, and not just tolerate us?

The “guest house” was a lot better than we thought it would be. For one, it’s an actual building, not an XXXXXXXL article of clothing. It’s built in the same style as the main house, the interior being bare-bones but somehow incredibly comforting and homey. 

A square room, the other 3 walls each holding 3 doors on each wall, aside from the far one, which had an extra door. A large fur rug sat in the center of the main room, 3 sofas arranged in a U, the empty side facing the entrance. I headed towards one of the doors, opening it to find a bed on the large side of small, likely just enough to fit a tall man. The room itself was just large enough to avoid being claustrophobic, containing only a bed, nightstand, and a chair and small table against another wall. Obviously, they don’t have guests that stay very long. Also apparently, those guests tend to travel in large groups. 

Poking around, we discovered one of the doors on the long wall contained a bathroom. With a shower. We’d only gone one night without one, but considering we didn’t know the next time we’d take one, we all had the same idea.

Eventually, we all begrudgingly formed an order. Mallory, then Sam, then I’d go, and Halfborn willingly sacrificed himself to go last.

Chapter Text

We stayed until the following morning, Utgard-Loki providing actual food, and then gossiping non-stop with us while we ate, and pretty much any time we were near him. 

His friend/whoever was weirding me out. His eyes made it impossible to tell where he was looking, and bloody tear-track stains on his face didn’t make him any less imposing, normally followed by a couple dogs. There’s definitely at least 5, but I don’t know where they go when they’re not with him. The guy just sits next to Utgard-Loki all the time, normally working on something on his computer, files sprawled out on the table in front of him. I was a bit concerned about what he was working on, but because of that, I didn’t ask. I did, however , catch glimpses of gruesome deaths and autopsied bodies. So, nothing out of the ordinary for me. Except for the autopsied part, since most of the dead bodies I’ve seen in the past few years have been einherjar.

I’d decided breakfast would be the best time to ask. A table sat outside on their back porch, easily accommodating all of us. 

Before I could speak, I heard a strange creaking noise, looking around for the source. I felt like I should’ve known what it was, but I couldn’t see the source. I looked down, seeing a frog at my feet. So the creaking had been croaking . I tried to ignore it, mustering up the courage to ask a jotun for directions.

“So. You said you could offer us a way to Muspellheim. Spill it.”

At first I thought he didn’t hear me. He finished his bite, took a sip of mead, and took a deep breath. He made eye contact. “I said I could .” He grinned.

Okay, I’m not Utgard-Loki’s biggest fan, I know we all agree on that. But if we want to not die, we kind of need him to cooperate. And to do that, the rest of us have to cooperate. 

“What do you want?”

He tilted his head. “What makes you think I want something?” I heard another croak, a weirdly ironic sort of ending to the jotun’s question.

I was beginning to understand the commonality between the two Loki's I know. Utgard-Loki and Loki-Loki are pretty similar, but Utgard-Loki seems much more easygoing when compared to my mother. Both coyly approaching a subject and refusing any offer that isn’t created by them.

I raised my eyebrows, and he folded rather easily. Clearly, whatever it was, he had something in mind already, and he was excited about it.

“How about a game?”

Of fucking course. This happens every time. 

Sam covered for me. “What kind of game?”

He brushes a crumb from his chin, straightening his shirt. It’s clear to me that he’s not stalling, he’s trying to hide a specific idea he has. “How about poker? You do still play that in Midgard, right? ”

“Poker?” This seemed too easy. I guess it made sense, in a way. He owned a bowling alley, which was, I suppose, a Midgardian game, but I don’t know why I never thought he’d be interested in other games from my world.

He continued talking. “I think it’s an interesting game, but whenever I play with him ,” he jerks his head towards the offender with a sarcastic smile, “he always cheats.”

The man in question gave an innocent look, as if to say who, me? Batting his eyes. A frog interrupted the moment, the jotun nudging the other man from his seat, starting to sign. Get ready for work.

The man sticks his tongue out like a stubborn child before walking inside.

We finished eating, and the jotun very kindly cleaned up, leaving the four of us outside as he did so.

We all looked a bit shocked, to be honest. Mallory piped up in the stillness of the morning, frogs forming a chorus in the distance. “Does anyone have any idea what’s going on here?”

Sam opened her mouth to speak, closed it, then opened it again. “I think… Utgard-Loki has a boyfriend… and he made him nicer?”

“And he has a house now.” Halfborn added his own insight.

He had a point, even if he didn’t mean to have one. Whenever we’d come across him, I think we’d all been under the impression that his bowling alley was it. I guess it would be naive to think that a king, even a king of the middle of nowhere, would live in a bowling alley. Having an actual house means he has some sort of intention to have a semblance of a long-term relationship. 

“Does anybody know who the other guy is?” Sam sighed.

Nope . I didn’t think any of us would get a straight answer.

Utgard-Loki walked back out, carrying a pack of playing cards with him. “You should probably count all of them.” He hands them over with a smug grin. 

His companion or whoever this guy is follows shortly behind him, now dressed in slacks and a business shirt, paired oddly with combat boots. Even stranger than his odd choice in footwear compared to his outfit, he wore a harness over his shoulders with a gun holstered under each arm, and a sheathed dagger strapped against each thigh. Why someone would need four weapons to go to their day job here was beyond me. Maybe Utgard had really bad crime rates? It wouldn’t surprise me, these are the outlands , after all.

Sam asked first. “Why does he have a gun?”

“ Two guns.” Halfborn added helpfully, pointing to the man in question. 

“In case he needs to kill someone.” Utgard-Loki shrugged.

“Why would he need to kill someone?” Mallory butted in. “And how would that work anyways? I thought guns didn’t do shit against immortals.”

He barks out a laugh, tossing his head back. I see the other man refuse to smile. “Well, it’s all bone steel, so it definitely does shit , as you so eloquently put it.”

“Okay, enough about the metal, why would he need to kill someone?”

“It’s kinda his job.”

It is my job to figure out who killed people.

And then kill them. Utgard-Loki adds.

He glares. Again, this is just a guess. I’m not sure. He pulls on a simple black jacket, four runes emblazoned on the back in a reflective silver.

ᚢ.ᚨ.ᛊ.ᚠ.

The dots indicate some sort of acronym, leaving me to wonder what it could possibly mean.

Halfborn paused, likely thinking the same thing I was. “What does U-A-S-F stand for?”

“Utgard åstedsetterforsker .” Utgard-Loki replied without missing a beat, as if the second word (I think that last bit was just one word) didn’t sound like complete nonsense.

He squinted. “ Crime scene investigator? ”

The jotun nodded. “Yeah, he really puts a lot into all of his work, but he does best out in the field.”

The others give various forms of what I think is a sort of agreement, nodding or just keeping their thoughts from showing on their faces. 

Oh, so now we’re going to pretend that the king of a seemingly lawless nowhere having a detective for a boyfriend is normal, is that it?

He kissed him, and immediately after, he took a large step back. The air yawned open behind him, opening as he moved into a door-shape portal. At first glance, it was a blur of muted colors, but as I turned my head, what was inside changed. A rather normal but tastefully decorated office stood on the other side, and I could even see people moving about over there. 

After a few moments, he popped back out, nearly tackling the jotun as he stole another kiss.

Someone yelled in the background. “Somebody tell him to stop opening portals at work!” 

Utgard-Loki swatted him away, pushing him back into the portal.

Another voice is heard, seemingly trying very hard to hold back laughter. “Stop kissing your man at work, V-” 

Chapter Text

The portal closed behind him, leaving us with a rather flustered looking giant king. He cleared his throat. “Now, how about that game of poker, hm?”

“Four of a kind.” Utgard-Loki smiled as he laid the cards down. Four nines, one from each suit. I had no nines, so I could believe he wasn’t cheating. The instructions said four of a kind was the third most valuable hand. Looking down at them again, I realized what I had.

A straight flush. 

I couldn’t stop myself from smiling back as I put my hand of cards down. The jotun didn’t even bat an eye, just kept grinning as he looked at the cards. 

The others had gone back to the guest house to pack our few belongings, the jotun even kind enough to replenish our rations. That left me alone with a jotun that was bizarrely more friendly than he’d been every time I’d seen or heard of him. 

“Do you remember what the highest hand is?” He asked suddenly, breaking the froggy quiet.

I had to think for a moment. There were plenty of combinations, and way too many names for them. “Royal flush?”

He nodded. “Forgive the metaphor, but you and your… comrades are a lot like players in this game.”

“How so?”

“Well, it’s simple, really. You like to pretend it’s a matter of skill, but really, it comes down to luck. It’s all up to the Norns, really, whether anything you do actually matters in the end.”

“Wow. Thanks”

He chuckled. “Just don’t forget this, Lokison. You might come out on top occasionally, but you never draw the highest hand. You might think you have, but someday your luck will run out.”

“Was this supposed to be philosophical? It feels like a threat.”

“A threat?” He tossed his head back, laughing. “Seriously? A threat? ”

The others looked at the two of us, more than a bit concerned.

“It’s almost the farthest thing from a threat . I’m trying to help you. Helping people is what I do . That’s why I’m a king.”

“People don’t become kings because they want to help people .”

His expression became blank suddenly. “Your mother did.”

I’m going to punch him, although it might be a bit difficult hitting his face, since he’s so tall. Maybe I’ll punch elsewhere instead.

“How about this, fireball…” He sighed, smiling again. “I give you directions, a few helpful hints, and send you on your way. How’s that?”

My jaw tightened. “Sounds great .”

A mountain range sloped gently from the ground, a few rocky outcroppings dotting the beginnings of the massive formation, a sparse forest forming a weak border between it and the surrounding land. 

I could see someone sitting under a tree there, dark haired and tanned, even as this world grew colder and darker with each passing day. His complexion reminded me of the stranger I’d seen in my dream, but whoever this was was much smaller, visibly weak. 

A shawl was fastened over his right shoulder, some sort of crown sitting on his head. It didn’t look like a stereotypical one, more like a wide circlet that got wider above his forehead. Aside from that, he was dressed normally.

He looked up as we drew closer, stifling a cough. A bow sat on the ground at his side, a full quiver next to it. He beat me to the inevitable question just as I opened my mouth. “Who are you?” His voice was hoarse and quiet. If I hadn’t been looking at him, I wouldn’t have known he was even trying to talk to me.

I didn’t feel like divulging my identity to a complete stranger in an unwelcome world just yet. “Just passing through, can-”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

I sighed. “Alex.”

He made a face, nose scrunching. We all paused, and after a moment of collective anxiety over what could’ve caused that reaction, he sneezed. “Alex is a good name. What about your companions?”

Companions. That’s an interesting word choice. While my name was one of the more common ones, and Sam was incredibly generic, anyone that had heard about a Mallory or Halfborn would know who we were. 

Sam offered hers next, trying not to wait too long so as to avoid being conspicuous. “I’m Sam.”

He nodded in response.”Sam’s good too, I guess.” His eyes then settled on the others, flicking between them. “Not even so much as an alias from the two of you? I can’t possibly trust someone who won’t tell me their name. Sounds suspicious to me, don’t you think?” He coughed as if to punctuate his question. He didn’t seem to be doing too well, obviously he was sick.

“Mallory.”

“Halfborn.”

I was running out of patience. “Alright, we told you our names, now you tell us yours. Who are you? ”

“You really don’t recognize me?” He laughed, the noise turning into a pained hacking. The specific phrasing didn’t comfort me

I’m tired of people dodging questions, but he didn’t seem like much of a threat, at least not now. “No, we don’t.”

“What’s your name?” 

He laughed, a sickly crackling noise accompanying it. He seemed to be in no condition to be out here on his own, and especially not dodging questions from a band of armed einherjar. My patience was running thin, but I was getting the impression he was having a hard time grasping the current situation.

“What’s your name?” I repeated. I knew I could be intimidating when I tried. Apparently, I wasn’t trying. 

“You really don’t recognize me?” He glanced away after he’d finished speaking, toying with an arrow in his quiver and he strapped it against his belt.

The others shared a look, steeling themselves. No one friendly ever said those words, not like that. Not with that glint in their eyes. I could see them shift as they prepared themselves. 

“Eldr.” He stated simply, as if my friends weren’t ready to start a fight due to his stubbornness. 

After a short cough, his expression changed. He was smiling, just the right kind to match the look in his eyes. Something I could immediately identify as holding the possibility of homicide. He stood slowly, leaning back against the tree, scraping against it as he stood. He dragged up his bow with him, the wood clacking against the tree’s bark.

“You’d do well to remember it, mortal.” 

Shit . Why did he have to add that last word? It makes it sound so much worse, even though we are, in fact, mortals. 

It’s still incredibly likely he’ll try to kill us, even in his weakened state.

Chapter Text

Mallory’s hands gripped her knives, Halfborn’s knuckles turning white from his grip on his ax. Sam gave me a pleading look, still preparing for what we all knew would happen.

And then he did. He leaned backwards, feinting to the side as I pulled my sword. He began to knock an arrow, bringing his arms up, pulling back the string. I hit his bow, flinging it aside. I was honestly surprised it didn’t break.

That shock gave him an opening, lunging towards me, hands curling into claws, swiping at me. I could feel sharp nails rake across my arm, skin sliced open in a series of lines. So, this guy definitely isn’t human, if there had been any doubt to the contrary.

“I look forward to hearing you beg for your life. Don’t think you will be granted the same pleasure from me.”

I didn’t exactly want either of those things. I just want him to stop trying to kill us. 

Halfborn swung as soon as I was out of the way, Eldr leaping back to avoid it, but Sam was waiting behind him. He side-stepped barely a moment before Sam’s movement echoed the berserker’s, a miss.

Mallory was next, a fierce flurry of motion, metal blades glinting as she slashed at him. He arched backwards, his stomach now out of the way, but managing to keep his hands close enough to punch her in the head. It wasn’t exactly a punch, more like bashing . 

She staggers back, the ax-wielders having now recovered, and those remaining turn towards him, lashing out, even my sword failing to get near him. He dodges each time, a wicked grin spread over his face, nothing but the joy of bloodlust satisfied by battle in his eyes.

I threw my elbow at him, missing widely and spinning around. It was almost comical. 

I stepped back, recovering my footing, seeing my friends staring, not at me, no, but at the being behind me. I turned and saw it. 

A thin red line had appeared horizontally across his neck. His hands went up slowly, a barely-there look of shock settling on his face. 

Then he had the audacity to smile , bright white teeth forming into a sorry excuse for an expression of happiness, a smug grin that he wore even as he died. He gasped, his attempt at breathing only choking him, blood spilling from his lips, finally sputtering from the gash in his neck. 

His body slowly crumpled to the ground, hand still against his neck, as if it would do anything to help him now, that stupid look still on his face. Big blue eyes staring at me, as if accusing me of his murder.

He was trying to kill us , so we had to kill him .

What we were left with, aside from a dead body, was a lot of walking. We patched up our wounds to the best of our ability, and carried on. 

As if to remind us of our most recent crime, we saw a surprising number of wild animals dead and rotting every few minutes, well out of our way but impossible to not notice. Flies buzzed in the air around us, and I began to understand why horses are so twitchy. This is very annoying and I hate it and I want to kill all of these flies right now and-

A large field laid out before us. Unless we wanted to go around, which would take who knows how long, we’d have to cross it. It wasn’t completely exposed, tall grass going up to my eyes. Halfborn, the tall bastard, didn’t even have the decency to look phased by this, while I stood on my tiptoes to try and see how far ahead this plot extended.

“Do you think we should go through? ” Halfborn squinted at the other end, with a less than comfortable expression. It left me wondering what he saw.

I shrugged. “Unless we want to walk around.”

He sighed. “ Through it, then.”

None of us looked comfortable with this choice, but it was just as likely we’d get attacked or ambushed if we went around. At least with this option, we could shave some time off.

None of us could tell how far along we’d gotten, but Halfborn estimated about halfway. This is only halfway? We’ve been walking for a while now. Just how big is this field?

Mallory shrieked, falling as if pulled, my suspicions confirmed as she was quickly dragged away from us, and deeper into the field.

We never should’ve gone through. If we don’t find her very soon, I don’t think we ever will. This field is huge, it could take hours.

Halfborn had a one-track mind, quickly rerouting all his attention into tracking whatever had caught her, power-walking through the grass, trying to limit how much noise he makes as he moves, Sam and I falling into a short line behind him.

For all his faults, that guy is dedicated . My brother passing out? He’s got him. Magnus passing out? He’s got him, too. Mallory being stolen by something we can’t find? He’s on it.

The longer we went on, the more rushed he seemed, plowing a path through the tall foliage. 

After a panic-stricken few minutes, we came across her, sprawled out on the ground, visibly dazed.

Halfborn called out, and she stirred. He went over and helped her up, looking her over briefly for any injuries, however minor.

Sam looked at her warily. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” She growled, dusting herself off, trying to hide how shaken she looked.

Trying to give her some space, I decided to try and see if I could see anything, rising to my tiptoes to peer over the grass.

“Do you want someone to pick you up?” Mallory huffed. I hate it when she’s in this mood. If given the opportunity to jab at someone, she’ll take it, apparently even if she just got dragged through the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere in Jotunheim.

As we started back on our path, I had the uncanny feeling something out in the grass was watching us, whatever it was that had tried to take Mallory.

There was that self-preservation instinct in the back of my head. Keep moving. Keep moving. Don’t look anywhere. Just keep going. Don’t speak.

“You’ve got a bunch of…” Mallory gestured to his beard.

Halfborn's eyes widened a little, embarrassed for some reason. He ran his fingers through it, to no avail.

She shrugged. “Well, it doesn’t look much worse than normal.” 

He huffed, and the pseudo-conversation reached a lull.

An anxious habit of mine was scratching (not severely) at my arms, neck, or the sides of my face. Recently, I’d had a bit of a breakout, but I noticed it seemed worse than it had been the other day. I chalked it up to an increase in anxiety and stress, as well as a combination of lack of sleep, proper food, and less-than-optimal hygiene.

The pained small talk tapered to a close, all of us content to finish our dwindling rations in silence. It was plenty, but still. We’d replenished our supplies at Utgard-Loki’s place, so there was no way we were running out so soon. Looking back, we probably hadn’t taken nearly enough. There was no way we’d be able to make it until the wedding without doing something about this. If today’s the 8th, and the wedding is on the 13th, we still have three full days between now and then.

I couldn’t shake the feeling I was being watched. Judging by the higher-than-normal anxiety in my friends’ eyes, I could tell they felt it too.

Chapter Text

We knew what would be waiting for us once we woke up. Practically every few paces, there was some sort of “new” decaying thing, clearly not fresh, 

The woods we had to trek through were thick, no visible path to follow, only a vague, winding line where the ground was more bare than around it. The autumn sunlight filtered dimly through the trees’ canopies.

We made some good progress, even though none of us knew exactly how far we’d gone, only that it felt like we’d traveled far. Utgard-Loki had told us that past this direction was a portal that could lead to Muspellheim, simply telling us that “you’ll know it when you see it.”

So far, we’d yet to see it or know it, so we just kept going. We took a break, trying to make ourselves comfortable among a cluster of conveniently-sized rocks. 

There was a rustling a few feet away, reminding me an awful lot of how Sam showed up. Who’s next? Magnus? Hearthstone and Blitzen, maybe?

Nope. 

A perfect copy of Mallory stepped out, a few scratches here and there. She looked confused at first, then angry. Angrier than I’d ever seen her before, and that’s saying something.

Everyone looks at her, including Mallory. The Mallory next to me doesn’t even bat an eye, just grinning at the copycat.

She starts walking towards us, hands curling around the handles of her knives, white-knuckled white-hot rage bubbling to the surface as we all stood, readying ourselves for whatever sort of conflict this led to.

The Mallory closest to me kept that same expression. And then it finally dawned on me. This one wasn’t really her. The angry one with the knives that looked like she’d fallen down a hill was the real one.

Mallory tackled them, the two tumbling to the ground in a heap, the Fake-Mallory ending up with Real-Mallory kneeling over their stomach, holding a dagger to each side of their neck.

Seemingly accepting their death, they still took the opportunity to land one last blow, not even lifting a finger to do so, just turning their head to glance over at Sam, smiling calmly. Arrogantly . “You’re weaker than you let everyone think you are.”

Before they could say anything else, Mallory decided not to give them the luxury of a few last words, knives coming down repeatedly, with much more force than necessary, many more times than necessary. 

It seemed that both the people we’ve killed so far have gone down smiling. It gave me a bad feeling, wondering what it was they knew that we didn’t, or if they were just insane, or maybe they just hated us. All of those could certainly be true at the same time.

“I…” Halfborn paused. “I think they’re dead now…” His voice was unsure, trailing off. When it came to literal overkill, that was Halfborn’s department, not his girlfriend’s.

Mallory looked dazed, breathing unevenly, but focusing on something that could wait instead of trying to calm herself. She stumbled to her feet, Halfborn’s hands going out, not only to steady her, but to hold her back if necessary. She didn’t look okay in more ways than one. “Sam, what were they talking about? ” 

Sam stared at me, blank faced, but I could see the shock and anxiety behind her facade, quickly crumbling as the meaning set in. So she did know what they were talking about. Her expression was one of concern. Not just for Mallory, but for herself. Alex, help me.

Mallory took a deep breath, scowling as she started yelling. “ How did none of you know?! ”

Halfborn seemed to know how to survive this, just going quiet and holding eye contact. 

“ NONE OF YOU GUESSED? ”

Nobody responded.

“ NOBODY KNEW I’D BEEN REPLACED? ”

Sam opened her mouth to speak, but she was quickly cut off.

Mallory laughed, an frustrated attempt at settling herself. “No! You know what, all of you can just shut up. I don’t want to hear it.” She turned around, ending the discussion as she walked off.

I think we all silently agreed to do what she said, following after her.

As if the gods themselves were upset by our actions, it had started hailing. Small bits at first, barely noticeable until they began to melt in my hair, hardly the size of a raindrop. We all came to the same realization quickly. They were getting bigger, and standing out in the open would provide no protection. 

At the very least, we should go for the woods. If we’re lucky, maybe we’ll find a cave to camp in.

The same slope that we’d killed Eldr by extended far, running through the forest, making a steep dropoff above us. It seems we finally ran into some luck, actually managing to find a cave. The hard rock offered more protection than the trees we had to run through, all of us scrambling into the mouth of the cavern, still remaining by the opening as the rest of us made an entrance. 

It looked as if the sky was crumbling down, like standing inside a room as the ceiling slowly breaking down into fragments that fell burning to the ground below.

Mallory’s anger had faded slightly, still evident in her eyes but not in how she spoke or acted. As long as she didn’t look at you, she looked perfectly fine.

We probably only had one day’s worth of provisions left. I could see the anxiety written on everyone's faces, and not just from the weird experience we’d had just a little while ago.

I could hear the near-deafening noise of crickets outside. How they managed to survive the strange weather was beyond me.

As the sun set, the darkness that came with it seemed more total, more dark than I’d ever seen the night sky. Stars blotted out more fully they’d be if seen from a city, fading before they could appear to begin with.

Chapter Text

My internal clock rang, attempting and failing to wake me at the time I normally got up. This didn’t look like that, the world still blanketed in darkness.

Halfborn grumbled, sitting up, rubbing his eyes. He just sat there. “Can’t sleep?”

I shrugged, but he probably couldn’t see that right now. “I just woke up.”

“What’s today for you?” The words were hardly a whisper.

“Girl.” I appreciated how soon he asked, almost like it was automatic, considering how exhausted he still looked. I’m also surprised I even responded in the first place. These last few days have been a complete mess, I’m lucky I even got gender today.

We both sat in silence for what felt like hours, until Sam sat bolt upright, blinking herself awake quickly. 

She lifted her wrist, squinting at a watch on her wrist. She normally wore it when traveling, it made timing everything run smoother, instead of having to try and keep a phone alive for 10 days.

She squinted more, the electric face lighting up as she shook her wrist to wake it. She looked to the mouth of the cave, then back to her watch. Then back to the entrance, then back to her watch.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s time…” She mumbled, lingering for a moment before getting up, pulling a small roll of cloth out of her backpack and exiting the cave. I followed after her, just to stay at the entry to make sure nothing came out of the woodwork to try and kill her. These last few days have been interesting. 

I tried not to focus on her as she prayed, just scanning our surroundings. She hadn’t gone far, giving me less to worry about.

Mallory and Halfborn waited with us in the cave as the hours passed, considering the recent darkness that hasn’t let up. 

When I return with Sam after zuhr , the two of them have a look on their face that says they have some questions. 

Mallory got straight to the point. “We only have a few rations left. There’s not enough for everyone.”

I took a deep breath, running over solutions in my head. “We could try foraging or hunting, but I don’t trust myself to identify plants, and I don’t know how to hunt halal, so I’m not… Sam can have the rations, we can feed ourselves.”

They all nodded, considering my response to be adequate, which was good, because I am constantly doubting myself.

We stumbled into a clearing, noticing right away that we weren’t alone.

He was rail-thin, hunched over a carcass on the ground, knife in one hand, the other holding one of the creature’s front legs in the air. It looked like it had been skinned, nothing but a bloody, pulpy mess, but the animal’s hide was nowhere to be found. He lifted his head as we adjusted to the environment, making eye contact with me. A tiny smile spread over his face.

The knife in his hand stabbed the creature’s throat, pulling out a gurgled scream. He repeated the motion again, with more force than before. The scream that followed was weaker, more distorted than before.

Please, dear gods, don’t let this guy try to kill us again. We’ve already had to kill two insane people before, don’t make it three.

He released the body, and it crumpled like a ragdoll on the ground.

He huffed, smiling wider. “Eimgeitir.”

“Excuse me?”

“ Eim-geit-ir. ” he repeated, stressing each syllable as he spoke. “It’s my name.”

Nobody said anything else, just frozen, expecting him to lash out at any moment. 

His eyes flicked between each of us, meeting our gaze each time. “Are you going to just stand there?” There was something about his tone, a silent threat worming its way into his words.

He looked down at his knife, scrubbing something off the handle. Likely blood, which seemed like a futile task at this point, considering he was practically covered in it.

The soft smile on his face betrayed the alarming words that came from behind it. “May your every step be heavy with the fear of what is to come. When you rest, dream only of the suffering you are guaranteed to receive.” We must not have acted the way he wanted, an obviously bloodthirsty glare pairing up with his attempt at looking as non-menacing as possible. In other circumstances, such as not threatening us and not being covered in blood, one might actually consider him cute. In a sick-puppy-shaking-in-the-rain kind of way.

I saw Mallory’s hands slowly creeping to her belt, ready to pull her daggers out at a moment’s notice. 

“May no food you consume satisfy your hunger, and may your weapons be heavy in your hands.” 

As soon as he’d finished speaking, he swept my feet aside, my body slamming backwards into the ground as he pinned my shoulders, blade pressing against my throat. I could hear ringing for a few moments, my vision covered in spots briefly. He seemed to know when it had subsided, waiting until then to continue his threatening and cursing. “I swear to you, should you continue, my brothers and I will make a feast of your bodies and wine from your blood.”

That was evidently the breaking point, literally for him, metaphorically for my sister. Sam kicked his ribs, and he staggered aside, wincing. I moved the opposite direction he had, eager to put distance between the two of us. 

He glanced at my friends, each of them brandishing their respective weapons, but he simply recovered his unhinged grin. “I will see you again, and when I do, your suffering will be such that even your mothers and fathers will fear to reach out to help you.”

Sam gritted her teeth, swinging her ax in an arc, light rippling around it as it broke his skin.

He lurched back, a hand lightly touching the newly-made cut in his stomach. Blood covered his palm, the color slowly spreading to the area surrounding the fresh wound.

I saw something strange pass through his eyes, something I couldn’t put my finger on. I wasn’t sure I wanted to. “Rest assured, einherjar, your faces are committed to memory. I will not soon forget you. This is a victory worth celebrating, since it will be the last in your existence. Carry on, go forward and meet death with a heart full of foolish confidence.”

Just like the last one, and the one before them, he went down smiling, hatred blazing in his eyes just like the others.

We barely had any time to process the new death. I felt like I was being watched, my friends turning as I did to see a man standing a few yards away, staring at the scene with disgusted horror. As soon as I opened my mouth to say something, he bolted.

Impulsively, we all took off after him, nearly catching up several times. Halfborn drags Mallory up after she trips on an exposed root, and Sam recovers quickly after being smacked in the face by a low-hanging branch.

Just as I reach out, barely grabbing his arm, he screams as I run face-first into something.

A very, very, very tall woman is standing in our path. At least 20 feet tall, and that’s a stingy estimate, she gives off a warm glow, eliminating her own shadow, but strong enough to cause nearby objects to cast just one, as if overpowering the light of the sun itself.

Dark skin, buzzed hair, with a disc of blinding light hovering over the crown of her head.

She grinned, pearly white teeth showing off, her tone and expression a friendly facade. “Hello, dears. And who might you all be?” The unspoken threat of if you don’t- hung in the air, the mystery woman waiting for our response.

We all froze, clearly prey before such an intimidating figure. After nothing but silence from us, her smile twitched. “Answer me. Now. ”

That seemed to cue a quiet mess of anxious stuttering from me and my friends.

She reached forward, grabbing me by my collar, hoisting me until my eyes were on the same level as hers. Two blazing mixes of neon red and orange, like twin suns burning in her eye sockets.

“I said- answer me. ” the lights of her eyes flared, flames licking at the skin around them.

The air around me turned stiflingly hot at her words, like my own apprehension had turned into a physical sensation.

“Alex Fierro!” I squeaked out, and honestly, I’ve been in more frightening situations, so I’m not really sure why this rattled me so much.

She squinted as if trying to discern whether or not I was lying.

Sam was trying to mouth something at me, probably trying to give some sort of instruction. Tell her about mom.

Sam’s intuition had never been wrong before, so I decided to trust her on this. While I really did trust Sam, I normally never “had to” trust her unless I was in a possibly life-threatening situation.

I gathered my courage in the face of the giantess. “I’m a child of Loki.”

Her face literally lit up, beaming in both the literal and figurative sense. “Why didn’t you say so?!” She set me down gently, surprising considering her size.

“Loki is such a dear, any child of his will be welcome in my presence.” The woman smiled brightly at us, again in two senses of the word, having abandoned her animosity rather quickly.

I blinked, incredulous. I had spoken almost without thinking, just doing what Sam had told me to do. I thought Loki promised her in marriage to the builder? The one that built a wall around Asgard? The builder whose horse my mom had sex with while also a horse?

The man was still clinging to the side of her leg, barely holding out from panicking, if his earlier expression was anything to go by. As the giantess set me down, I got a better look at him, now that he wasn’t running from us, and I wasn’t 20 feet in the air.

He looked fairly normal , however abnormally handsome. His skin was a few shades lighter than the woman’s, dark brown waves ending along his jawline. I caught a glimpse of something reflecting the light the giantess casted, looking down to notice his left hand fidgeting with a dagger sheathed at his belt. If he had a weapon, why didn’t he try to fight us earlier?

He still looked scared of all of us, not even looking in our direction.

“Can I-” my voice cracked, so I cleared my throat, trying to cover it up. “Can I ask what your names are?”

“Sól Mundilfarisdottir.”

On Mallory’s face, I could see her stop herself from making a comment on Sol’s last name, very long and with way too many consonants. Halfborn looked decidedly less amused, just looking at the woman with wide eyes, mouth open slightly. 

“Glenr.” He responded curtly, his tone implying he didn’t want any more questions.

Sol began striding off towards the direction we’d been chasing her husband, the man standing at her side, and just slightly in front of her as if hoping she’d see him if we tried to hurt him, casting anxious glances back at us every few paces.

Chapter Text

The goddess apparently trusted us enough to bring us to her home, even after chasing her husband through the woods. It looked like a relatively normal cottage, a thatched, mossy roof with a gentle slope, the facade in what I think is tudor style, making for an altogether very humble yet attractive dwelling. 

A border of short and wide shrubs with small, pink flowers lined the worn-in path to the front door, a heavy, bare wooden rectangle braced with iron. 

The first thing to greet us was a mirror covering the wall, a turn right being the only way into the house from here. The goddess’ light reflected off of it, painting the wall in brilliant stripes, lighting up the entryway. 

The woman shouted, her voice oddly gentle considering her volume. “Solveig!”

Someone stuck their head out from the hallway’s opening before fully stepping out. A teenage girl, about our age, a very clear cross between Sol and Glenr, but taking more after her father. At least, I assumed Glenr is the father. Maybe he’s the mother, I don’t know. That’s not important.

“Yeah?”

“These are our guests.” She turned her face towards us, the light shifting. “Please, introduce yourselves.”

Sam, quick to make a good impression. “My name is Sam.”

“I’m Alex.”

“Mallory.” She grumbled. 

He noticed the others staring at him when he waited too long, looking sheepishly as he gave his name. “Halfborn.”

“Well, my mum already said my name, I’m Solveig. My brother, Svalinn, is out running errands for a few days, but he’ll be back just in time for the wedding.”

We stayed with them for a few days, Sol leaving for just one of them, leaving and coming back quietly in the night.

The day of the wedding finally came, and the Solveig was nearly bouncing off the walls, not literally, but for some reason I wouldn’t be surprised if she could.

That morning, eating the breakfast the goddess’ husband had prepared, everyone gathered around a long wooden table. 

Solveig was chattering on and on about something in what I could only assume was her native tongue, her family nodding along and asking questions as she went. 

That gave me time to make my daily announcement, simply clarifying today was a boy day , which my friends had begun to recognize as a rarity.

Suddenly, Solveig finished speaking with a deep, steadying breath, announcing, I’m done now .

Sol cleared her throat. “I recognize you are not going to the wedding for any sort of enjoyment, but the whole affair may run smoother if you are dressed for it.”

“Why?” Mallory asked, looking offended, barely swallowing down a mouthful of just-barely-too-hot tea in time to ask. 

“Jotnar, while we may seem uncivilized, have a set of social rules. Imagine you are having a party, everyone is dressed nicely, you all took a lot of time to prepare and dress yourselves. And then someone arrives uninvited, dressed,” she glanced at all of us, softening her look as if to apologize for whatever she said next, “terribly, they are not familiar with your customs, and then they ask for peace. You would not be inclined to give it, would you?”

I could see we’d all agreed with what she’d said.

Glenr doesn’t even look up from his plate, face just as blank as it has been for the last few days. “They were invited.” 

It caught us off guard, having hardly heard him speak since we’d gotten here. I suppose it was fair, he probably thought we were going to kill him.

No one’s told him about the mysterious businessman and his ominous message. My friends realized this too, casting discrete looks to each other, asking silently if any of us should comment on this. No response, we seemed to decide, would be more suspicious than asking a very direct question.

“How were we invited? None of us got a card or anything.”

He finally looked up, staring straight at me, suddenly refusing to break eye contact. “You were invited.” He responds simply, like that clarifies the matter at all. 

Solveig broke the awkward moments, practically dragging us from the table and down a hallway, grinning widely. “So!” she began, clapping her hands together. “You all need something to wear!”

Mallory chuckled. “I think that’s going to be a challenge.”

It wasn’t as challenging as we’d thought. 10 hours of waiting and one inter-world portal later, we were ready. The goddess had already gone to part of the wedding, very firmly telling us we were not allowed to interrupt the ceremony, taking us in on a large chariot pulled by two shining horses made of gold and fire. 

Sam was trying to get her hijab to fold properly, Mallory was getting angry at her hair, and Halfborn was just quietly following along. Altogether, we looked pretty good.

As we arrived, Muspellheim looked much different than I’d expected. Blue skies, a normal sun, and a pen of horses right next to us as we pulled to a stop.

A small pen held just a single horse. It was an odd, pale shade of green. It came up to the fence, lifting its head curiously to look at us. 

Sol anxiously gave the repeated order to not touch the horse, just keep walking . 

The door to the palace swung open just as Sol raised her hand to knock, and what we saw honestly surprised me. I’m surprised that I can still be surprised at this point.

A brown-skinned person in a knee-length black dress with a thick white belt, a silver wolf-head buckle making it look like it was being eaten. I was so focused on the dress, which to be honest, was very nice, that I completely missed the black head of a wolf staring at me. 

I did a double take, staring. I hoped they wouldn’t consider it rude. Being in Hotel Valhalla, you learn exactly what a wolf looks like. I quickly figured out that this wasn’t it, looking like someone had crossed a coyote with a wolf instead, oddly human eyes staring at me.

A steady clicking pulled me out of my thoughts, looking down for the source, to see light gray go-go boots tapping on the floor, counting out seconds slowly and impatiently.

Once they saw that they’d gotten my attention, they stepped aside, gesturing widely inside, as if to say are you just going to stand there?

I didn’t really want to upset a possible deity when I was already not on Muspellheim’s good side. 

Everyone had split into groups, smiling and chatting. It took a few moments of circling the room, but I finally picked out Surt. 

Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see a blur of black and greens leave the room, a small figure pulling along a larger one. A child and their parent, most likely. A blonde person in a suit followed after, disappearing into the hallway with them.

I started to swerve through the crowd, my friends following behind me, until I had a clear line of sight to the giant, who unfortunately now had a clear line of sight to me. He didn’t even have the decency to look shocked, simply making eye contact as he started walking towards me. 

A servant came up to him, interrupting the tense almost-confrontation, looking terrified. Another accompanied the first, even more afraid, a few items in their arms. A folded cloth item, a sheathed sword, and a dagger.

I noticed a black-haired young man standing just off to the side. I could barely process the slight familiarity of his face as his jaw set tightly, red eyes literally burning, and as the meaning of these things sank in, my own mind lagging too far behind, catching it a split-second too late. 

This is Surt’s son. The one that’s getting married.

His brothers. We’d killed his brothers. We’d killed 3 of Surt’s sons, and are possibly on track to kill a fourth. 

We all stand in silence for an eternity of awkwardness on my part, and no small amount of grief on theirs, visible only in their eyes.

The son finally snaps, roaring an (accurate) accusation at us. “YOU KILLED THEM!” He pulls a scythe out of nowhere , swinging it and barely missing me as my body lurches backwards, sword suddenly appearing in my hand, stopping the curved blade in its arc.

Luckily, the crowd didn’t react terribly. They screamed, but that’s to be expected, as they made an orderly exit.

He just grins, putting my force into the handle of his weapon, until it finally pushes me aside. I let myself move with it, Sam taking a swing at him from the other side, giving me time to back away without risking a hit.

He twists his weapon the other way and swings his scythe, catching the haft of Halfborn’s ax and sending it clattering several yards away, too far to reach fast enough.

Halfborn, axless, resorted to brute force, slamming his shoulder into the man’s side. As he was shoved, he stumbled, and Mallory was ready, knives stabbing into one of his legs, effectively immobilizing him. 

The lower right section of his ribcage was caved in, breath crackling as he inhaled and exhaled with difficulty, the noise growing louder with each one until it suddenly stopped, his shattered chest no longer rising and falling.

A woman, the bride, stared at the body from the sidelines, not even glancing at us as she rushed forward to the dead man’s side, regardless of the danger. Horror and grief painted her face, her entire body slouching with the weight of it, wailing in anguish as she reached him.

That noise was one I didn’t want to hear ever again, a noise of such concentrated misery, absent of any physical pain, piercing my heart.

Surt apparently didn’t want to hear it again either, and thought the best way to prevent that would be to remove the cause. 

Me.

“ You’ve hurt us enough. ” The voice reverberated around the room, deep and shaking. As soon as the last word had faded, I felt a hot wind hit me like a truck, only after a few moments processing that it was much more, a giant’s hand narrowly missing me.

It wasn’t going for me. I looked up to figure out who it was, a mistake that distracted me from helping. Surt, now 100 feet tall, head brushing against the ceiling, casting a long shadow across the room. He already held Mallory in one hand, the other sweeping around while I was frozen, snatching Halfborn. 

Sam dodged the first attempt, looking at me, silently signaling a need for help, for anything. My legs stubbornly refused to comply, unable to move as the giant grabbed her too.

Chapter Text

It shocked me into fight or flight, choosing the latter. I couldn’t run fast enough, nearly tripping over my legs, heart hammering away in my chest like a jackhammer. At the moment I thought I couldn’t breathe anymore, he finally caught me, blinding heat making my head spin. I could feel my entire body get put under immense pressure, making it nearly impossible to breathe.

I heard a noise like rolling thunder, and I could feel Surt pause, suddenly distracted, turning his attention elsewhere.

As if I wasn’t already disoriented enough, the world went rushing past me as I fell, the giant king deigning to catch us before our bodies shattered on the black marble floor, snatching us mere feet before we crashed, placing us on the ground.

A man in a khaki uniform stands uneasily, a blood-covered and nearly naked body slumped against his side, arms looped under his, holding him up. This guy looks dead. If he isn’t, he probably will be soon.

Surt moves quickly yet gently, pulling the body away, cradling it with more tenderness than I think I’ve ever seen, then he books it, leaving the room before someone can say anything, a white scimitar hanging from his hip. Mission accomplished?

The man that had carried him in is left standing there, and after staring at him for a few minutes, I finally recognize him, but not quite. He’s the guy from that one dream where it rained blood and he avoided my questions. 

The bride was currently trying, rather well I might add, to drag the dead body of her recently-wed husband away, arms hooked under his shoulders. Surprisingly for her size, she manages to pull him all the way out of the room, someone on the other side helping her lift him off the floor and take him elsewhere.

We followed vaguely, dazed and exhausted, into the hall. The other person, the not-wolf-headed person that had let us in earlier, easily takes the weight, before the woman slowly lets go of the body, leaving it to them to carry away.

The door to the outside swung open, a very brightly smiling person stepping in, mood clashing with everyone else’s, ram’s horns curling at the sides of their head. “They’re baaaaaaaaack!” They announced in a sing-song voice, and the room’s mood changed immediately, going from gloomy to ecstatic as the subjects of the announcement entered.

Eldr, Elldrid, Eimgeitir all stepped in. They all looked exhausted, but had dressed reasonably for the event, and all dressed somewhat remarkably. Everyone here was wearing something much more interesting than we were. Some were in ancient Greek armor, others dressed in what looked like Viking formal wear, and the bride’s family in what appears to be some kind of folk costume. They all look nice, but it still makes me feel underdressed.

Which I shouldn’t really be worrying about, considering me and my friends killed 4 members of the groom’s family, including the groom himself.

The person who’d announced this wonderful news started herding everyone towards a room, two doors wide open.

As I began to move, a tall, pale-skinned woman blocked my path, dressed in a black tux, short black hair swept back. She was blank-faced, but her eyes clearly said I want to kill you . “You be careful, halfblood. My husband asked me to have mercy on you, and so I will respect his wishes.” She smiled, a barely-there, twitchy expression. “For now.” Before it widened into a psychotic grin, and now I see her and her husband are perfect for each other.

She disappeared into the crowd, letting herself get swept away as I tried to return to my friends.

A long table had been laid, little name cards on each place setting. I sat just to the left of the head, Mallory next to me, then Sam, then Halfborn.

Eldr sat across from me, Elldrid across from Mallory, and Eimgeitir across from Sam. Not even Halfborn was spared, Glenr sitting directly across from him.

He just stared at the berserker. His feelings regarding this particular situation weren’t incredibly obvious on his face, but as soon as he glanced at me I saw it.

I recognize the businessman that visited us, seated down a bit farther. Everyone seems to be arranged in couples, whenever possible. I notice that, aside from the bride’s family, there’s 7 couples, one of the groom’s sisters happily on her own between Glenr and another sister.

“I’m glad ima is back, he’s been away for too long.” Glenr says calmly, taking a sip of his wine.

One of his sisters echoed this sentiment with a different term. “I’ve missed aba so much.” She nudges the man sitting next to her, who is absolutely massive by the way, eyes staring straight ahead, face completely blank.

“Oh, but your mor is happier than anyone has seen him in centuries .” The man replies. His eyes don’t move, even as he goes to lift his drink.

I could see Sam’s confusion, and Halfborn quickly picked up on it, the two of them making eye contact, sharing a confused look, like are you thinking what I'm thinking?

They don’t stop there, continuing with whatever subject they were on. 

Eldr sighs softly. “I know it’s going to be hard for him to adjust, but I’m so, so happy he’s with us again.” 

“You’re so right, farmor is nearly a different person now.” Solveig replies, trying and failing to hide a smile.

Halfborn and Sam seem to reach some sort of conclusion, but they both still look confused, and me and Mallory are just staring at each other to try and figure out what they’re going on about.

The psycho lady barely holds back her laughter, grinning, pointing at the two of them with each hand.

That’s when Glenr’s facade cracks, and he and his siblings all burst out laughing, the not-wolf headed person howling along.

The bride’s family even finds this funny, their laughs quieter and softer than those of their in-laws. It takes minutes for the noise to die down, and the two friends who apparently solved this little mystery look so, so lost.

“What’s going on?” Halfborn almost begs to know.

Eimgeitr smirks, cocking his head to the side. “Just a little fun.”

The single sister ventures first. “Who wants to explain it to them? We haven’t even introduced ourselves.”

The man with an unsettling stare responds. “You’re up, Judas.”

It reduces my group to stuttering, Halfborn looking a bit less shocked than everyone else. Judas? Judas Iscariot? Judas the traitor? The Judas?

The businessman takes a deep breath, the black void above his head shrinking then expanding slightly. “Well, I’m Judas Iscariot, and that man is Samson.” He points with his whole hand to the giant man in question, who smiles as if he’s been complimented.

Sam gasps.

Halfborn pinches the bridge of his nose. “Wait, hold on…”  

“You’re- you- ” Mallory stammers out.

Eimgeitr clears his throat, looking down at the far end with an innocent look on his face. “Could you please pass the water?”

The table cooperates, passing a glass pitcher down. 

He spreads his hands over it, just staring intently down at the water as it turns darker and redder, finally settling into the color of wine. He looks up, gently grabbing the handle and picking it up. “Is anyone thirsty?” 

The crazy woman practically roars, shaking her section of the table, the people around her not even batting an eye. 

“Eris, please stop laughing.” Eimgeitir asks sweetly. 

“ Eris?! ” Mallory exclaims.

The bride takes a deep breath, trying not to laugh along with her new in-laws. “I’m Oline. My parents are Amani and Fredrik. This is my sister, Erika, and that’s Satomi, and their kids Akira, Hatsue, and Tove. Can’t forget Heidi, and my brother Thomas. Thomas also brought his daughter, Dagny, and his husband, Erik.” I notice, every blood relative she points at has actual blood on their face. Her siblings, parents, and her niece, all with splotches of blood on their faces, as if someone had flung it at them. 

Thomas gave a wave, a teenage girl sitting at his side. Violet eyes settled uneasily on my group, as if sizing us up, but her body language didn’t speak to any malice, likely just curiosity.

The woman continued on, introducing everyone with an obvious gesture towards each individual as she went. “Eimgeitir is the second oldest, and his wife Despoina.” A veiled woman held up her hand, lowering it once the speaker moved on. “Elldrid and Eris, I think you’ve met her before. Eldr, his husband Wepwawet.”

Halfborn quietly sounded out the last name she’d said. “Egyptian?”

The not-wolf headed being tilted their head, giving what I could only assume was a smile. “Yes! 

“You’ve met Glenr, his wife Sol, and their kids Svalinn and Solveig. Now for my sisters in law, Brandingi, then Eimnira and her husband Ảakhu-ra, also Egyptian. Eisurfala and Electryone, she’s Greek. And last but certainly not least, we have Alsvarta and her husband Samson.”

The massive list of names, with a few recognizable ones casually thrown in, do nothing but confuse us.

Eldr finishes a bite of bread, suddenly pausing. “I hope there’s no transubstantiation this time.”

“Eimgeitir wouldn’t mind.” Elldrid nudges his side.

Eimgeitir shrugs, continuing eating. “My stomach got completely emptied a few days ago, so I’m really hungry, I’ve got no room to complain about food.” It struck me what he was referring to. “Pass the salt?” He glanced across the table at Sam, who hesitantly passed it over.

Eldr frowns as his glass is refilled by his brother. “I’m trying to cut back on wine, it irritates my throat.” 

Eimgeitir gives a look. “Why is that?”

“There’s this mysterious hole in my throat that healed very recently, it gets irritated rather easily.”

Elldrid gasps. “I had holes in my stomach that just healed too, how curious! We both have mysterious bodily injuries!”

Eimgeitir pretends to be shocked. “What a coincidence!”

They all smiled at each other, before slowly turning to face us. I think we all got the point. 

I realize now that guy in uniform has been quietly sitting next to Judas the entire time, carefully avoiding conversation through silence and stillness. He hasn’t eaten or drunk anything, just sitting there looking absolutely exhausted.

“Who are you, then?” Mallory questions.

He doesn’t respond, blinking slowly. He looks like he might pass out, he's so tired.

Judas carefully nudges his arm, snapping him out of it.

“Hm?”

“Who are you?”

He rubs his eyes, dark rings under them. “Gabriel.”

Not a weird name at all. Unless one considers the next piece of information.

“Tell them who you brought back.” Judas instructs patiently.

He blanks, words drawn out in his fatigue. “My brother.” 

“And who’s your brother?”

“Lucifer.”

That’s when everything comes together, hitting us like a freight train. 

Before we can process it all, we’re interrupted by the entrance of yet another mysterious person.

He looked vaguely familiar, but I can’t remember ever having seen him before. 

“I’m here to take you back.”

“To…?”

He stared back, eyebrows drawn together, clearly not amused. “ Hotel Valhalla. ” He responds flatly, gold eyes staring at us in annoyance. 

“Who are you?” 

“Hermod. Odinson.” 

Mallory sighs, and Hermod just sighs back. Is there something I’m missing?

The god leads us outside, back through the door we entered, and we quickly notice the addition of multiple horses, but notice one in particular, but it seems he’s noticed us first.

He’s absolutely massive. Where his reins have been tied to a hitching post, he tugs on it, quickly snapping the wooden beam, charging towards us. I can tell we’re all worried the last thing we see before Helheim being a huge stallion barrelling towards us at unimaginable speed, but just a hair’s-breadth away, he digs in his feet, kicking up clouds of dirt.

A large, dappled gray stallion, legs fading to white, both muddy and bloodstained. His tail swings side to side, almost like a dog wagging its tail, 

Sam laughs anxiously as he noses at her hand, keeping her fingers straight and together, reaching up calmly to pat him.

It’s weird to think that this is our brother. I remember when Stanley flew some of us to Jotunheim, and I really hope this ride is smoother than that one.

Hermod takes a step forward, starting to speak when he’s interrupted by 

He brays loudly, ears suddenly pinned back against the side of his neck. Hermod goes pale, slowly backing up.

Sam looks like she finds this funny for some reason, focusing more attention on the horse, 

This is very, very weird, but my sister appears to be taking it in stride, while our other two friends are just standing back awkwardly. 

He swings his head, nearly smacking me and giving me a concussion as he presses his nose against my face. I was never a big fan of animals. I know they’re cute and all, but there’s just something off. In this case, it’s due to the full-blooded jotun in horse form that is our brother. 

“Stop that, I’m covered in blood.”

A voice pops into my brain with all the sudden force of a child poking holes in a box. 

Can I have some?

I don’t know what to do, especially not when he starts licking blood off my face.

Hermod shrugs, not risking another step in case my brother decides to turn his aggression on him. I’ve heard about Sleipnir’s reputation as the blood-drinking inspiration for a popular holiday creature. Halfborn brings it up every yuletide.

After much persuasion from the god, Sleipnir finally decided to let us on, stooping until he was literally laying on the ground, and it was still difficult to actually get on.

We were all arranged in an awkward line. Hermod, Halfborn, Mallory, Sam, and me. Why I got put at the end, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’m short.

“Just a heads up…” He begins, smiling, “time works differently with Sleipnir. It might feel like a few minutes, but time just slows as he runs, the journey is too fast to be measured.”

“It can’t be that fast.”

Are you two ready?

I don’t know exactly how I’m supposed to respond, just giving a quiet “ Yeah? ”

I heard a quiet chuckle from the front, and that should’ve warned me before my brother started moving faster than the speed of light, and discovering that Hermod had been right. Everything seemed to drag on forever, what few things I could perceive as something other than a blur moving absurdly slow.

I never thought I’d feel so relieved to see those wolf-head door knockers, doors opening before we can even knock. Hunding’s intuition on einherjar returning is uncanny. He tries to smile, wincing as he does, a bruise on his left cheek.

And then I see my favorite dead white guy.

Magnus’ face broke into a smile as soon as he saw me, which quickly morphed into confusion, probably wondering why his hallmates were dressed in formalwear and looked like we’d gotten in a fight with a small army of chimney sweeps and then been subjected to an involuntary Prom Queen Carrie experience.

“What did I miss?”

Chapter Text

Halfborn exhaled heavily. “A lot.”

“No shit.” Magnus deadpans.

“Um… Alex stole Surt’s sword, we went on this really long quest, killed some people, and crashed a wedding.”

“Did you give the sword back?”

“Yeah.” I grumbled. The dinner our almost-killers had been gracious enough to invite us to had actually been very good, aside from the fact that our hosts were the people that we’d murdered. Can’t have everything, I guess.

“So… whose wedding was it?”

“One of Surt’s kids.”

“I didn’t know he had kids.”

“Surt’s also married.”

“Wow.” Magnus replied.

“He’s gay.”

He squinted, like that’s not actually that shocking.

“His husband is Satan.”

“ WHAT? ” 

“Lucifer.” Mallory corrected.

Magnus stared at her. “I heard that the first time. ”

We started to catch Magnus up as we began walking towards the elevator bay. I could see a man on the other side of the lobby, dressed in a chainmail shirt so pale that it was almost white. He paused, eyes flicking towards us before returning to Helgi. Behind his beard, I could see a smile growing. As we walked closer, I had plenty of time to notice a few details. 

The man bore a striking resemblance to the manager, but blue-eyed and black-haired rather than the manager’s boring brown-hair and brown-eyed combo. In addition, this guy looked like he actually knew what a mirror was, his beard trimmed short, to a reasonable length that it wouldn’t pose any sort of hazard in this combat-ridden afterlife. Basically, he looked like a much, much, much much more attractive version of the bastard at the front desk. 

“Good job.” He smiled crookedly as we passed him, the elevator doors closing before we could strike up a conversation, separating us from a man we might never meet again, and after saying something so ominously.

TJ’s room was not what I expected. 

What I expected was neat, organized, just a few colors, not a lot of decorations.

I wasn’t expecting to walk into a room like this.

It was interesting, that’s for sure. It was chaotic in an odd yet put-together sort of way that made it look well lived-in.

Straight ahead, a 4-poster bed sat in the far wing, a canopy covering the top, looking like someone had tried to make a bunk bed without the top bunk, just filling it in with a sheet over the top. A curtain of fairy lights are strung from the wall behind it. A little stuffed plane rested on his bed, which, to be fair, was kind of cute. A face was stitched onto the windshield, just a little c:  I didn’t know they made stuffed versions of heavy machinery.

The wings all had doors to them, leaving me staring at the atrium, a target set up in the center. Everything seemed to be going on in the third wing, the door ajar.

They were all gathered in the seating area. I’m not going to take all the time to describe TJ’s organized setup, he has so much stuff going on. 

Blitz and TJ were chatting about something very animatedly, while Hearthstone was signing back and forth with someone, having their own conversation in ASL.

He looked familiar, and it took me way too long to figure out why. It’s Vali.

Long white hair tumbled over his shoulders, hiding the sides of his face, really leaving only the center visible. His eyes were a golden yellow, giving him a slightly intimidating appearance even without considering his hair color or strangely pale skin. 

The scarring on his left cheek reminded me of pictures I’ve seen of lightning injuries, which makes me wonder what he could’ve possibly done to piss Thor off that badly. 

Hold on-

“ Don’t.” TJ commands through gritted teeth, having caught on just as I finished my train of thought. He smiles like nothing is wrong, and his facade keeps Vali in the dark, still not smiling though.

Blitz makes a simple, obvious sign. Spin.

Vali obeys, showing off his new outfit. A fitted black shirt, half-tucked into a pleated black knee-length skirt, which I’m surprised Blitzen could convince him to wear. To top it all off, he’s decided black combat boots match best, much to the half-dwarf’s annoyance.

He doesn’t smile in a way I can notice, but I can tell he’s happier than he was the last time I saw him.

TJ glances over at me, eyes wide. Help me. That’s a look I’ve come to recognize. That’s not just any kind of panic. That’s gay panic.

He looks like he could handle this well enough on his own, so I let him be, Blitzen still signing back and forth with my brother.

Sam waves to him, getting his attention. His whole body turns to “listen,” posing the first question. Are you ok?

Sam nods back. Are you?

He nods his head side to side. So-so.

She just smiles. No trouble?

He repeats the action, earning a smile from his sister. I’m glad to see the two of them getting along. He’s hardly even looked at me since we got back, Mallory and Halfborn having disappeared into their respective rooms to clean up and decompress from our high-stress mission.

Magnus comes in unexpectedly, fidgeting as he often did after travel. He pauses when he sees his “mom” and “dad” sitting in the room, pleasantly surprised. He seems to be completely oblivious to the new demigod standing a few feet away from him.

“Hey, what are you guys doing here? I thought you’d be at the shop today?”

Unlike Magnus, Vali isn’t unaware, just staring, face frighteningly blank. The dead-inside look of someone who can’t afford to care anymore, but really, really does. 

Blitzen explained, occasionally glancing over at my brother as he spoke. “When you all left on your quest, TJ and Vali got left here, so TJ invited us over.”

Hearthstone, always one for sarcasm, points to my brother. Funny.

He is? I had no idea my undead berserker brother had such a good sense of humor

The elf nods wisely, like this was the most obvious fact in the world.

Why is Vali looking at Magnus like that? He looks like he wants to either run away or pass out. Possibly also fight kill him, considering how his hands are twitching.

TJ realizes what’s wrong, mouthing very clearly and carefully to Magnus to get out, keeping a smile on his face so as not to tip Vali off. Unfortunately, my normally situationally unobservant boyfriend remains so. He’s also terrible at lip reading, so he might not have even recognized TJ was trying to tell him something.

Apparently, that wasn’t a good idea. The left side of Vali’s face starts twitching, just staring at Magnus with growing anxiety.

That quickly escalated when my brother turned into a white bear, rearing up and snarling, teeth that are frighteningly sharp finally snapping an inch from Magnus’ face as Vali drops down.

TJ jumps off the couch, remaining in Vali’s peripheral vision. Blitzen freezes for a very brief moment before he moves, the elf already ahead of him, hand grabbing his pouch of runes.

Blitz takes the lead, obviously not wanting to resort to violence just yet. “Magnus, back up slowly. Don’t do anything else. Just back up and leave now.”

He could follow those instructions, apparently. (Magnus is shit at doing that, usually. Even when his life is on the line.)

Vali’s eyes follow him out, and I can see the panic in them even after he’s disappeared. The bear just stands there, and begins pacing, grumbling in a way that he best described as anxious.

With nothing threatening to focus on, it seems his mind doesn’t stop there, eyes frantically darting between each of the people around him as if asking for help. 

“Alex, would you mind giving us some time with him?” Blitzen asks politely, sending the clear message that whatever’s happened, it’s not just Magnus that upset him.

I personally never enjoyed that period after a trip, regardless of how unpleasant it had been, when I had to unpack everything. 

The few changes of clothes went straight into the hamper, a few small items being returned to their usual places. Hair ties, a couple bandaids, water bottle, backpack, everything getting put away. If I didn’t do it now, it wouldn’t get down for a long time. And considering the fact that I’m now immortal, I didn’t want to test how long I could go leaving that stuff sitting out.

I pull open the drawer of my bedside table, dropping in a few hair ties. The letter from “Nils” was still sitting in there, among all the tiny things and notes. I didn’t have the guts to open it.

Someone knocked on my door, probably Magnus. I went and let him in, my boyfriend looked a bit stressed, as always, but a lot more relaxed than he was when my brother almost mauled him.

Magnus started rambling, as he often did when a lot had happened since we’d last seen each other. Finally, he slows down enough that I can follow along.

Something I have no idea why he’s talking about.

“Yeah, Frederick said Caroline would never wear a dress, but I was like, hey, it was in her closet, it’s yours now, except nobody there wanted it, so I brought it back.”

I remembered seeing something a dark cherry red color when he’d been packing. Magnus wasn’t a big fan of colors in the first place, so I knew this had to be what he’d been talking about.

“Do you want it?” He pulled something out from behind his back, the same color I’d seen before.

I glared at him, with no real heat in it, more like making a joke. “Why don’t you go get it, and I can decide?”

Magnus grinned like the idiot he was, speed walking out. There was probably a 20% chance that I’d accept it, and an even slimmer chance that I’d actually try it on.

An A-line dress with an high waistline and butterfly sleeves. Altogether, very attractive. Just not on me.

“And you said nobody wanted it?” I asked inquisitively as it unrolled in my hands, silky thin fabric draping downwards in the air. 

I had a million questions. 
If Caroline would “never wear a dress” then why was it in her closet?

Why would Randolph keep his wife’s clothes around for so long, in a place he’d probably see every day? From my incredibly limited knowledge, the death of his family was devastating.

Why would he want a daily reminder of that, and from an item that, apparently, is something his wife wouldn’t logically own.

I fell asleep that night with familiar laughter ringing in my ears.

Chapter Text

Will be updated as I reread the work

Figures

• Wepwawet: Egyptian god, brother of Anubis. Son of Set and Nepthys. God of funerary rites, war, and royalty. Often depicted as a guardian of royalty, but occasionally as a scout, or clearer of ways.
• Sol: The daughter of Mundilfari. Assigned to lead the sun through the sky each day. Accompanied by a shield-bearing to protect the earth from the heat of the sun.
• Judas Iscariot: one of the 12 disciples of Jesus. Sometimes represented with a black halo to indicate his betrayal.
• The 4 horsemen: War, Disease, Famine, and Death. Each corresponding with one of the 4 sons killed over the course of the work.

And THAT GUY that gets dragged in at the very very end is none other than Lucifer. A perfect match <3