Gone Missing

Ch. 2 - Traveling with Asgardians is Harder Than it Looks.

Ch. 2 - Traveling with Asgardians is Harder Than it Looks.

Let's just say my announcement with the guards at 4 in the morning caused a giant commotion. The guards, caught off guard (Get it? Guards? Eheh) in their drowsiness, rubbed their eyes and scratched their thick skulls as I continued to urge them to wake up.

Eventually Odin came to the scene, ordering us all back to bed and declaring our journey to begin after breakfast. While everyone else resumed their dreams, I stayed awake. I couldn't even close my eyes. I blankly stared at the ceiling as I sat on my bed, waiting for the sun to rise. I've seen some pretty frightening things, but this makes the top of the list. There were puddles and pools of blood. The noise of nails breaking flesh.

I shuddered.

By six I was showered and re-dressed, securing my weapons without hesitation. Following the familiar pathways Frigga had shown me yesterday, I made my way down to Loki's chambers. No one had bothered to clean anything so I scraped up some of his dried blood, sealing it in a leather pouch. I knew it would come in handy later when I began tracking in the depths of the realms.

Breakfast was long and dead silent. The porridge was warm and smooth to the tongue but I only consumed three bites. Honestly, I got queasy. Nervous even. Mainly just stressed and ready to get hunting. Because if we left too late, and I was the one who found the prince dead, I would be equally punished if I brought the news to Odin. I knew it too. He would be so devastated that the mission was failed, that his image was broken, and for that I would suffer as well.

We set out about an hour after that, after the two guards assigned to accompany me collected their tools and weapons. We were about halfway to the village when I sensed something was wrong. The guards were whispering, faces shadowed by their helmets, hunched next to each other. They displayed no vigilance, and hid from me, a good twenty paces away. I patiently waited for the precise moment, and once we were secluded atop the golden bridge headed towards the common folk, I whipped my sword out and held it to their faces.

"Reveal yourselves."

After fifteen silent seconds, the pair took off the giant helmets and I suppressed a groan. Thor and a man a few feet shorter gave sheepish looks. The stranger fiddled with his golden mustache and laughed awkwardly.

"Are you two completely DAFT?!" This was mainly directed to Thor and guilt began to swim in the blue sea of his eyes.

"Please milady, let me and Fandral accompany you. This is my brother you are tracking, I want to aid you in his rescue," the prince pleaded.

"I work alone. The only reason guards were to assist me is because your father forced that fate upon me. But to drag along his firstborn to save his lost young? He can't loose both of you. And I'm definitely not responsible for your friend and-"

"That would be Fandral miss,"

"-if he gets hurt it can't be on my shoulders. Both of you return before someone finds you gone." I turned to leave the imbeciles in the dust when Thor grabbed my arm, twisting me around to face his towering body. He and his not so younger brother weren't much older than me, us all being in our teen to young adult years, yet Thor was much taller, and had the ability to make me feel small and helpless, like a child.

"We're choosing to come. This is my brother and I /will/ be there to help. Our friends' Volstagg and Hogun have informed my father that we have journeyed to Alfheim to visit old friends. You let us come, or I will make sure that I /never/ leave your side."

If I hadn't known that he wouldn't lay a harmful finger on me, I might've been frightened. Trembling even. He held his voice with firmness and strength, and didn't fail to let persistence slip through. I sighed. Dilemma layered upon a bigger dilemma and I was caught at a cross-road. More responsibility was being thrust on my shoulders, most of it unwanted. Missions were supposed to be easy, drifting alongside my carefree personality with no burdens or worries. But now I was in charge of one life, and two others were to be added to this list, one just as important as the first.