Vow of the Valkyrie

“What do you mean, you couldn’t remove it?” Tony asked after Astrid had made herself comfortable in the large, glass enclosed meeting room and had gratefully accepted the Nutri-grain bar that Thor handed her.

“I mean,” Astrid said after swallowing her mouthful. “That the block is too powerful to remove all at once, I don’t have unlimited amounts of magic to work with, so I removed what I could and left the rest for a later time, after I’ve eaten and slept and replenished.” She took another bite, savoring it as she chewed slowly. Every member of the Avengers was in this room, along with agent Coulson and Fury; they were all standing around and staring at her as she ate, a little unnerving to say the least.

“You said you could remove it.” Steven said from her left and Astrid groaned around her food as she stood up and walked over to one of the monitors near Dr. Banner, a few crumbs may have escaped in an unladylike fashion, but Astrid would deny them until pigs began to fly.

“I can.” She said and waved her hand over the monitor, showing a picture of the block in Loki’s mind, only the previously black mass was white to better illustrate how large and dynamic it was.

“Now, this is Loki’s mind block,” she pointed to the white mass around the colored strands. “It has entangled all of these memories, emotions, and thoughts,” She motioned to the strands. “Someone with a great deal of magic placed it there, someone with a much greater affinity for the mind arts than I do. But thankfully, it doesn’t take nearly as much power to remove a block as it does to place one, so I can eventually remove this without too many issues. However, that doesn’t mean I can go in just yanking things all willy nilly, not only would that harm Loki, but it would leave me without an ounce of magic in my body. Not good for a Valkyrie, I promise.

“So, in order to make sure that both Loki and myself fare this whole ordeal with nothing but the psychological scars to remember it, I’ll take it out piece by piece when I’m at my best magically, no need to go in there reckless and have to repair my own damage to his mind. Everyone understand?”

Everyone seemed to have a pretty good understanding of what she was saying, so Astrid waved her hand over the screen again and the image disappeared. She then took another bite of her bar and went to sit back down, only to have her arm grabbed roughly by Fury as she passed.

Part of Astrid wanted to remind Fury why Valkyries were sometimes referred to as the goddesses of war, but managed to control the impulse enough to rip her arm away without causing too much damage to the human.

“We still haven’t discussed why you are here in the first place. How do I know I can trust you.”

“Because I’m helping you.” Astrid said simply but that didn’t seem good enough if the glare Fury gave her in response was anything to go by. “Fine.” She said calmly and turned once again to go back to her seat, this time she was uninterrupted, though the eyes did continue to watch her until she was once again sitting and enjoying the last bite of the only food she had eaten that day.

“How much do you guys know about Valkyries?” Astrid asked with a pointed glare in Thor’s direction. “And no help from the god over here.”

Thor smiled, a wide genuine smile that could melt the iciest of hearts in moments, and leaned against the wall of the room, his arms folded against his chest.

“They’re a part of Nordic Mythology.” Dr.Banner began and everyone seemed willing to let him continue without interruption. “They were said to be women that chose who lived and died. Warriors would pray to them in hopes of being spared in battle or to be allowed access to Valhalla, if they should die. There’s not a lot written about them really, but I always found the concept fascinating.”

Tony Stark didn’t have very much to add to that and neither did anyone else, so Astrid assumed that they generally agreed with the doctor.

“That’s correct.” Astrid said slowly, “In part.”

“A Valkyrie is a woman, always a woman, that died in her human life, usually violently and before her time. If Hel, the goddess of the underworld thought her worthy, she would be granted the status of Valkyrie. But, a Valkyrie does not reach out and touch someone and seal their fate, we only decide who dies in battle, as in a war of some type. Old age, suicide, and murder, are out of our hands.

“And of the preset number of souls that should parish in a battle, half are decided by Hel herself and the other half is assigned to the Valkyrie or Valkyries that must watch over each particular side of the battle. Her numbers are given to her and she must choose out of the men and women before her, which ones will die on the battlefield. We see the futures and pasts of those before us and the decisions must be made in a matter of moments.

“But, in rare circumstances, that changes, a Valkyrie can save one that was marked for death or mark one that never was. It’s very confusing.” Astrid paused to toss her wrapper in the trash bin across the room before refocusing her thoughts and continuing.

“Odin All-Father called me into the throne room this morn.” Astrid saw Thor straighten up at the mention of his father and she knew that what he was about to hear would wound him deeply. “He asked that I mark Loki for death in the coming war between humans and the gods. Loki has a very versatile future, you must understand that, the oracles see death and destruction in his path and Odin hoped to avoid it. But the oracles see only one future; they see only one outcome based on his current path. But Valkyries see thousands of futures, we see all that can and will be, and that is why we can make the hard decisions. For Loki, I see death, I see evil, but I also see love and greatness. I see someone that can unite worlds and someone that can end wars, but that future must be nutured. I told Odin as such he is allowing me to try to save his son, for he doesn’t want Loki’s death any more than I do.

“That it why I’m here, to save a friend and to hopefully end this war before it starts.”

The room was deathly silent and Astrid merely stared at the occupants, daring someone to speak, to challenge her, it was Tony that took her up on it.

“Loki said you had been reborn. ” Tony said, he was perched on the end of the desk Dr.Banner had been working at when Astrid walked in. “What did he mean by that?”

What did that have to do with anything? And how in the world did they…. The cameras, the guards said there were cameras all over that room; they must have seen and heard her and Loki’s conversation.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“You are on our ship, we know next to nothing about you, all we know is that you want to stop a war before it starts, a war we know nothing about. At this point, everything matters.”

“I thought you trusted me.” Astrid said, staring in Tony’s eyes. “Trust me when I say it doesn’t matter. It has no relevance to this; Loki was just trying to hurt me.”

“And from the look of it, he succeeded. Now what was he referring?” Furry asked before Tony could reply.

“It is private and personal.” Thor told them, coming to stand next to Astrid. “It was a way for Loki to wound her, nothing more. Now cease.” Thor’s eyes shone with anger and he rested a large hand on Astrid’s shoulder for comfort. A comfort she desperately needed to have and that Thor needed to give.

“Come, let me show you to your chambers.” Thor said to Astrid and the hand on her shoulder reached down to grab hers and pull her from the chair.

No one tried to stop them from leaving and no one asked any more questions about the conversation in the sphere, which Astrid was extremely grateful for.

-

Thor and Astrid walked side by side down the hallways of the airship in a comfortable silence that only appeared between friends that had been through the worst together and survived.

“I’m sorry that happened in there.” Thor said softly, “They seem like good people, all of them, but they don’t know you like I do, they don’t understand why you would want to help. I’ve been to Earth and they’ve seen I want to save it, but you are a mystery to them. I assure you, they mean no harm.”

“ I know,” Astrid replied. “They want to make sure I’m not helping Loki, I can see it in their eyes that they fear that. And I don’t blame them for being cautious, it’s only natural, but some things are better left buried and they don’t need to be digging it up.”

“I agree.”

Astrid once again revisited the thought that she and Thor would make a good pair, they knew each other so well, they were like two sides of the same coin and they fit together perfectly. They made great friends, but everyone said they could be so much more, and Astrid could see it, of course, she wasn’t blind; she had given thought of what it would be like to be more than friends. Part of her wanted to try; maybe it would work out in the end.

But as much as she would like something with the blonde god, there wasn’t a spark between them, just the comradely love that one would find between siblings. Thor was like her brother and for someone that had little in common with most of her sisters; an understanding sibling was too good to give up for a midnight tumble.

And the fact he had a human, was a factor too....

“How did father seem when you talked to him, when he asked this of you?” Thor asked suddenly, breaking Astrid free of her thoughts.

“Fine.” She said quickly, “Sad, perhaps even regretful for what he was asking. But that’s to be expected I assume since he was asking for his son’s death.” It took only one glance upward to Thor’s face for Astrid to realize how much the man was hurting and how betrayed he must have felt. His father wanted his brother dead, yes, it was for the greater good and Odin only meant to save innocent lives, but the pain was still there, etched over Thor’s face for the world to see.

“He always treated me better.” The words were whispered so softly that Astrid could just barely hear them. “Everyone denied it, but Loki and I saw it every day. He was closer to me and gave me opportunities he never handed to Loki. For the longest time I never knew why, but when I learned the truth-“

“Don’t think like that,” Astrid said before Thor could finish. “He loves you both, Loki might not be his in blood but do not be so quick to assume that his death would mean less to your father. He may have shown favoritism and all parents do, but that doesn’t mean he loves Loki any less no matter who his biological parents are.”

“He still calls him Odinson.” Thor said as though the realization had just struck. “After everything Loki has done, after discovering his true heritage, my father refuses to call him anything but Odinson.”

“And that just goes to show how deeply Odin cares for him. How deeply he cares for you both.”

-

Astrid kneeled on the hard marble floors of the hall of the Valkyries, her golden hair fell down around her face as she bowed her head in the presence of her mother and sisters. As afraid as she was, Astrid did not shake or cower; she was strong and intimidating, even with her head bowed in submission.

“Do you understand why you were brought here?” Hel asked, her dark, silky voice traveling through the hall. Astrid nodded and raised her head to look her mother in the eye.

“I do.” She said simply, her voice neither wavering or breaking.

“You understand the law you have broken? The chaos you caused and the future you changed?”

“I do.”

“Do you have anything to say for your actions?” Hel asked, her dark eyes warm and comforting as they gazed into Astrid’s, asking her to speak, asking her to explain herself.

“Only that every solider should have her own mind, to decide which orders are good orders and which commands should be followed through or aborted. Following a leader blindly shrouds us all in darkness.” Astrid looked around at her sisters, silently asking them to understand, but knowing deep down, that they never would.

“Beautifully said.” Hel told her and grabbed Astrid’s hand in her own. “I hope that the belief that you did the right thing comforts you.” The dark haired woman dropped Astrid’s hand and turned to walk away, stopping next to Freyja to tell her, loud enough for the room to hear.

“Make it painless.”

As Hel left the room, Astrid’s eyes slid closed as her head bowed once again, waiting for this to be over as quickly as possible. No one moved in the hall, it was completely silent save for the sound of a sword being drawn from its scabbard, the soft woosh making Astrid flinch noticeably. Oh how she hated swords.

She could feel the air around her change as Freyja walked toward her and it was only years of discipline that had Astrid remain on her knees instead of running from the hall. As terrified as she was, Astrid thought nothing of it when Freya stopped behind her, instead of to her side. It wasn’t until Astrid felt the sharp agony of the sword as it stabbed through her abdomen; that she realized Freyja had no intention of following Hel’s orders.

Astrid couldn’t remain on her knees for more than a few seconds, before she slid to the ground, the sword protruding from her upper abdomen, just a few inches below her ribcage. The pain was unimaginable and Astrid felt tears prickling in the corners of her eyes as blood began to fill her mouth and lungs, causing her choke and gasp for air.

“Orders are meant to be followed.” Freyja hissed and removed the sword from Astrid’s body, the slide of the metal slicing through her again, was enough for her vision to blur around the edges and the sight of the thick crimson blood dripping down the silver blade has Astrid descending into darkness.

The insistent knocking on the metal door of Astrid’s small room awoke her from the vivid dream and she jumped out of bed before she could fully realize where she was, nearly causing her to slam herself against the wall in her haste. Understandable since the room was barely big enough for the twin sized bed they had crammed inside of it.

“What?” Astrid asked coldly as she pulled the door open to see Steven standing there in just a pair of royal blue sleep pants….

“Loki escaped,” He said quickly, tugging on Astrid’s arm, “The guards went to check on him, and he’s just gone.”