Hate Me

“Alright hand her on up,” Cora says from her place on top of Archer. Xaven sequels and giggles when Luther, the stable boy picks her up and hands her to you. You place Xaven between your legs and her little hands grip onto Archer’s mane. “Hold on tightly,” Cora tells Xaven and smiles at Luther as he backs away from Archer. “We will be back for lunch,” Cora informs Luther and he nods his head. Nudging Archer on, Cora wraps one arm around Xaven and the other she keeps the reins held tightly in her fist. Archer gallops through the town and people bow when they see Princess Xaven. Xaven waves at everyone and shouts about being on Archer which makes everyone smile and laugh.

Archer picks up a little speed as he heads to the fields that Cora spent so many days in with and without Loki. Archer stops by a tree and Cora holds onto Xaven before she slides off of Archer. Cora sets Xaven down on her feet and Xaven looks around with wide eyes. “We play?” Xaven questions and Cora nods her head. Twirling her hands out in front of her, Cora creates butterfly and Xaven claps her hands happily. The butterfly takes off and Xaven runs after it laughing the whole time. Cora turns slightly away from Xaven and starts to take Archer’s saddle off, making sure to keep her hearing focused on Xaven. Once the saddle is off, Cora strokes Archer’s shoulder and kisses his nose.

“Cora!” Xaven shouts and Cora turns her attention to the little girl who is now running towards her. Bending down, Cora scoops Xaven up in her arm and swings her around in the air. Xaven giggles and wraps her arms around Cora’s neck kissing her cheek, “Luve you,” Xaven says and Cora beams.

“Love you too dove,” Cora says and sets Xaven down. Talking hold of Xaven’s hand, Cora starts to walk to the center of the field and soon after Cora sits down in the clearing while Xaven searches for who knows what. Cora waves her hand and congers a kitten for Xaven to play with while they are out as well as makes the bags attached to Archer’s saddle appear next to her.

“Kitty!” Xaven giggles and chases after it. Cora laughs with a shake of her head, Xaven is like Thor in many ways. She does not know the limits of her own strength and tends to be too rough with her toys. That is why Cora has not gotten a pet for Xaven yet, she will wait until she is older and more careful with living thing that are smaller than her. Thankfully with magic Xaven cannot hurt the kitten because it is not real and the kitchen cannot hurt Xaven either. With a sigh, Cora stretches her arms out behind her and leans back enjoying the sun’s warmth on her skin. They hours seemed to fly by between playing in the lake, picking flower and dancing around. By lunch time Xaven was hungry, but she refused to leave the fields. Cora did not want to leave either so she sent a hawk with a note attached to its foot back to her home.

A short while later Elli came on horseback with lunch packed and Xaven hugged the woman’s legs happily. Elli laughed and handed the basket of food over to Cora before she bowed and left. Cora and Xaven fed a few apple that were in the basket to Archer and Cora watched as Xaven skipped back to the clearing, ready for lunch. Walking to the clearing, Cora pulls the blanket out of the basket and lays in on the ground. Xaven crawls onto it and Cora sits down laying out their lunch, making sure to keep the sweets in the basket. Xaven’s little hands go right for the fruit and Cora lets her do so, while she takes a bite of her sandwich.

Cora is thankful that Elli already cut Xaven’s food into smaller pieces so that Xaven would not make much of a mess for Cora to clean up. After eating the main meal, Cora gave Xaven three cookies and Xaven grins, showing all of her little teeth. While Xaven munched away on her treats, Cora gathered the flowers that Xaven picked and started to make a crown. Xaven watched in amazement as Cora’s fingers weaved in and out, intertwining the flowers with very little trouble. Finishing the crown, Cora smiles at Xaven and sets it on her head. “My beautiful little dove,” Cora coos and Xaven touches the crown on her head lightly. A large grin spreads on Xaven’s face and she jumps up to her feet.

“Kitty!” she shouts and Cora laughs seeing the white and orange kitten look over at Xaven with wide eyes. Xaven runs towards it and the kitten takes off with Xaven running after it. Cora starts to pack up the uneaten food and the sound of Xaven crying makes her heart stop. Cora jumps to her feet and she runs.

“Xaven?” Cora calls out not seeing Xaven. Cora hear whimpering and she follows it, finding Xaven sitting on the ground with tears rolling down her face. Cora bends down and looks Xaven over, figuring that she must have tripped over something since the front of her dress is now dirty. “Did you fall?” Cora asks and Xaven nods her head. Cora pulls Xaven into her arms and checks her over making sure she is not bleeding or bruised. “You’re okay,” Cora says and wipes away Xaven’s tears. Standing up with Xaven in her arms, Cora rocks from side to side and sings softly. Xaven rests her head on Cora’s shoulder and wraps her arms around Cora’s next. She cuddles into Cora’s body and Cora moves her arms so that Xaven is sitting on both arms.

Feeling no more tears, Cora pulls away from Xaven and looks down at her little tear stained face, “All better?”

“All better,” Xaven repeats and she picks her head up resting her forehead on Cora’s nose. “Luve you Cora,” Xaven says and pecks Cora on her lips. Cora smiles and pecks Xaven’s forehead closing her eyes as she holds her. The moment is ruined when the sound of the Bifrost opening fills the air along with the sudden change in the color of the sky. Xaven pulls her face away from Cora’s and grins, “Daddy!”

“Thor,” Xaven and Cora say at the same time and as if Thor heard them, he comes flying through the air and lands a few feet in front of them.

“Daddy!” Xaven screams and Cora is quick to set her down. Xaven runs pushing her little legs as fast as they will go and Thor is there already on his knees with his arms wide open. Xaven throws her body into Thor’s and he wraps his arms around her, falling backwards on his butt, making Xaven giggle. “Miss you Daddy,” Xaven says and Thor brushes her hair out of her face. He stars up at his daughter and kisses her forehead.

“You’re back?” Cora speaks up once she deems in acceptable to interrupt the father and daughter moment. Thor stands up with Xaven in his large arms and Cora frowns seeing the look in his eyes.

“No…I come with news,” Thor says and he moves Xaven onto his right hip holding her with one arm. Archer gallops over and Thor pats the horse, “Hello Archer,” Thor greets and Archer rests his large head on Cora’s shoulder. Cora pats the side of his neck and stares at Thor waiting for him to say whatever it is he has to say. “Come, Father is waiting for me at the palace,” Thor says and Cora nods her head. With a flick of her wrist, Archer is once again saddled and she jumps up. Thor hands Xaven over to Cora and he takes off into the sky. With a sigh, Cora tightens her hold on Xaven and urges Archer to hightail it to the palace.

Once at the palace, Cora leaves Archer in the hands of the stable boy and she walks as quickly as she can with Xaven’s hand in hers. The guards see Cora and they open the Throne room doors without a word. Cora walks in with Xaven and Xaven lets go of her hand before she takes off running, “Gran!” she shouts and runs right for Odin who smiles at his one and only granddaughter. Odin hands Xaven off to Frigga who happily takes her and smiles at Cora.

“Did you make this?” Frigga asks motioning to the crown on Xaven’s head once Cora is in hearing distance.

“Yes, my Queen,” Cora says and Frigga nods her head.

“It is lovely,” she says and Cora smiles.

“We are all here, now what news do you have? Why did you return to Midguard?” Odin questions looking right at Thor and Thor glances over at Cora.

“Father…” Thor looks away from Cora and looks to Odin. “Loki is not dead.” Thor’s voice echoes throughout the room and no one speaks. Cora stares at Thor, her face emotionless, but her eyes are screaming at him to say more. “He planes to rule Midguard and destroy everything else. He has the tesseract,” Thor goes on to explain and Odin sighs deeply at the news.

“Find him and bring him back to Asguard. He needs to face punishment for his attack on Jotunheim and for his other gravies deeds,” Odin orders, his voice strong and powerful. “Is he working alone?”

“He has an army that I do not know of. Heimdall said they call themselves the Chitauri.” At the mention of the Chitauri, Frigga’s eyes shine in disappointment while Odin’s face reddens in anger.

Odin stands and bangs his staff on the floor, “Enough. You bring Loki back here and I will deal with him,” Odin growls and Cora bits her lip. Xaven starts to wine feeling the tension in the air and Cora takes her from Frigga. She excuses herself and leaves the Throne room unable to hear any more about Loki and his ill doings. Once out of the Throne room and out of sight of the guards, Cora lets out a deep sigh and sits down on one of the balconies with Xaven’s on her lap. Cora’s eyes burn, but she forces back her tears.

“Cora, no sad,” Xaven mummers and she places her hands on Cora’s face. Cora smiles softly at the little girl and kisses her hands.

“I’m fine,” Cora lies and Xaven frowns. Reaching up she takes her crown off and places it on top of Cora’s head. Cora laughs and hugs Xaven. “Thank you, my dove,” Cora says and Xaven smiles.

“Cora?” Cora turns her head and she sighs seeing Thor. He takes Xaven from her and sits in front of her. “I will not let Loki be harmed,” Thor promises. “You have my word…I will do everything within my power to-”

“How could he do this?” Cora questions, cutting Thor off. She looks at Thor, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “Three years…three years he was-” Cora laughs bitterly and shakes her head. “Does he hate me?” Cora voice quivers and Thor frowns.

“Cora-”

“Does he even know how many nights I cried over his death? How many nights I wished I was…” Cora bites her bottom lip to stop it from trembling. “I-I have to go,” Cora says and she flicks her wrist vanishing right before Thor and Xaven’s very eyes. In the woods by her home, Cora hurries to her front door. Opening it, she ignores all the looks from the servants and heads right to her room. She shuts the door behind her and her heart shatters in her chest. She should be happy that Loki is alive, but to hear this news three years later…she couldn’t be happy. Cora was hurt, deeply hurt. She couldn’t understand why Loki had not come to her over those years, even if to just to say he was alive, that would have been better than thinking he was dead. Cora couldn’t understand it and then to be told that Loki would be faced with a punishment when he returns…she shook her head. Odin would not be kind to Loki for what he did on Asguard and who knows what he has done on Midguard.

Taking a shaky breath, Cora forces herself to her bedchambers and strips her dress and shoes from her body. She crawls into her bed and buries herself in the blankets, her tears falling as soon as her head hits the pillow. She’d rather Loki be dead and gone over him being alive and living a life without her in it. Does he have someone by his side? Has he found love? Has be bedded the women of Midguard or any of the other Nine Realms for that matter? The thoughts were endless in Cora’s mind and she cursed herself for letting Loki get to her so easily, hell he wasn’t even on Asguard and he held power over her. One thought crossed Cora’s mind, but she quickly shook it away. Power…magic, she could easily make herself forget all about Loki, but she did not want to forget him. He may have hurt her, but the good outweighs the bad between them…maybe if she can talk to Loki. No, no, she cannot get involved, this is something Thor must do. Cora will wait for their return and then, well who knows what will happen.