Valediction [Fólkvangr End, Book 3][Loki Fanfiction]

Chapter Three - I Shall Come Back

Author's Note: Hello all my dear, lovely people. I had something to say in this note earlier but I don't remember it....OH WAIT. YES. So, to clarify, as I know some people have been up in arms that I asserted that SHIELD no longer exists...this story is taking place post Captain America: The Winter Soldier, in which SHIELD is effectively destroyed from the inside by Hydra, as Agents of SHIELD also has been following this plot line. SHIELD exists...just only sort of. We'll get more into that later, but I did not single handedly destroy SHIELD, I promise. That is an actual plot. Also, for further clarification, this takes place pre-Guardians of the Galaxy which is why Ronan as we last saw him in the end of Emprise is not the Ronan of Guardians of the Galaxy. Again, more on that later. But for now, we are living in a post-Winter Solider, pre-Guardians world. Thanks. :)

................................

................................

I shall come back without fanfaronade
Of wailing wind and graveyard panoply;
But, trembling, slip from cool Eternity-
A mild and most bewildered little shade.
I shall not make sepulchral midnight raid,
But softly come where I had longed to be
In April twilight's unsung melody,
And I, not you, shall be the one afraid.

Strange, that from lovely dreamings of the dead
I shall come back to you, who hurt me most.
You may not feel my hand upon your head,
I'll be so new and inexpert a ghost.
Perhaps you will not know that I am near-
And that will break my ghostly heart, my dear. 

                                                - Dorothy Parker

…………………..

…………………..

I twirl the stone given to me by Ra in my fingers, flipping it over and over again. Agent Phil Coulson sighs impatiently behind me and I roll my eyes. I put the stone back in my jacket pocket and turn to look at him.

"Okay, okay," I wave my hands. "One more and then we can go!" I grin as I knock back another shot of the foreign alcohol. Coulson stares at me, displeased. My temples are throbbing.

"Are you sure you don't want one?" I ask. "You look like you could use it."

"You already said that. And I'm afraid I must insist we go," Coulson sighs, checking his watch. 

"What are you going to do? Arrest me, Coulson?" I tease, sneaking another shot. They've at least stopped burning on the way down. 

He sighs, "I am technically here to take you into SHIELD custody, by any means necessary."

"I'm flattered that I'm so important to you," I laugh. "Okay, okay. Honestly this is the last one!"

I chug a final shot and slide my money across the counter before I hop off my stool. "See ya around, Hussan." I look at Coulson. "Or maybe not."

Coulson walks with me out the door and a familiar looking agent is standing there with her arms crossed over her chest, looking annoyed.

“Agent May, right? What a pleasure it is,” I slur with a stupid grin plastered across my face. I give her a sloppy salute and she sighs. She gives Coulson a pointed look and he merely shrugs. I feel the sudden urge to also shrug and so I mimic Coulson. The pair of them stare at me. 

“Come on. Let’s get her onto the plane with the other one,” May says quickly, opening the car door for me and grabbing my arm to force me inside. She closes the door and I wait, shifting around on the squelching black leather until they get into the front seats and May starts the car. We drive for a while in silence and I watch out the window as the lights go by like a blur until there are no longer any city lights. Alexandria fades into the distance as we drive out to a remote part of the docks and I can see the sea looming out at the end of the dock. The car stops and Coulson comes to get me from the back seat. As he opens the door, he stares at me a moment, puzzled. I stare back at him, equally puzzled by the way my body still feels clearly like it’s moving.