The Many Adventures of the Avengers and Friends

💜✨ She Doesn't Speak, But She Remembers

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Inspired by my shock of the twist ending of "A Storm of Swords," of which today I finally finished after like, a year.

If you have only seen the Game of Thrones show, Lady Stoneheart should be a foreign concept to you, and tragically so, because it's one of the best plot twists I've ever read, even more so than the Red Wedding itself.

Basically I encourage you to read the books. So... Kinda spoilers? I'm taking creative liberties, but y'know.

***

~Asgard, Hundreds of Years Prior (physically 10-11)~

"...And then once the gods die, the universe resets to start anew." Loki said, shutting the book on his lap. He, Thor, and Olivia were in Olivia's room late at night telling stories. They probably should have been asleep by now, but the idea of telling thrilling stories was too good to pass up.

"Ragnarok sounds really dreary." Olivia said.

"This is supposedly a dramatized version. Ragnarok shouldn't happen for thousands of years, and it's only the destruction of Asgard." Loki clarified.

"So that takes all the scare out of it." Thor said, sighing.

"And who knows how true it is?" Olivia said.

"I think some parts are true. The destruction, sure. But I think the idea of starting over means that the people adapt and rebuild somewhere else." Loki pointed out.

"Maybe. But I know a really scary legend that's a hundred percent true." Olivia said.

"How do you know a scary story like that? You're scared of spiders of all things." Thor scoffed.

"Hey!"

"Where did you learn the legend?" Loki asked.

"Frigga gave me one of my mother's old journals a while back. She wrote her own legends in it based on her journeys throughout the Realms. This was one of them." Olivia said. "I read it so many times because it fascinated me so much."

"What is it called?" Loki asked.

"If your mother made it up, how do you know it's true?" Thor asked at the same time.

"My mother supposedly had a keen eye for details. This particular one was based on the forests of Vanaheim and certain events." Olivia said.

"What's the legend called?" Loki repeated.

"The Legend of Lady Stoneheart." Olivia said.

"Tell us!"

Olivia carefully crept over to her desk and rummaged around, finding her mother's notebook and flipping a few pages through it.

"Okay, my mother wrote it like this." Olivia started.

"Thousands of years ago, the realm of Vanaheim was experiencing a great civil war. Great houses of families chose sides during the span of the conflict. One such family had been thououghly devastated by the war. The great House of Sidra. An honorable husband and a peaceful wife had five children together. When the eldest boy turned 800, the war had started and his father died unjustly, killed for a treason he did not commit. The family was split apart due to circumstances beyond their control. The ancestral home of the House of Sidra was sacked, the two youngest children, two boys, being killed then.

"The two daughters were split further apart. One daughter, the eldest, was held captive by the enemy House of Malyn. The other had forsaken her name in order to escape the war, disappearing into the woods to never again be found. Eventually, the first daughter disappeared as well, believed to have escaped captivity and forsaken her name as well. The eldest son, now head of the House of Sidra, and his charitable Mother were the only ones of their once proud family left.

"The son was to be wed to the eldest daughter of the House of Maewyn as part of an alliance, a long time friend of the good Mother. This union would turn the tides of the war in favor of the House of Sidra. On the night of the wedding, the House of Maewyn attacked, killing the son by way of a sword to the heart, and the poor Mother by way of a sword to the throat. In one night, the House of Sidra had instantly ceased to exist.

"But not long after the wedding, sporadic and specific members of both Houses Maewyn and Malyn started disappearing. When someone vanished, their corpse was found days later hung from a tree. The people grew worried that they could be the next victim.

"One day a particular search party came upon a small group of soldiers surrounding a hooded figure. They stood in front of a man on his knees begging for mercy. The figure removed their hood to reveal the vengeful Mother. Her corpse had once been thrown in the river, so her skin was loose and bloated, awfully pale. Her auburn hair had started to fall out in chunks, leaving hideous bald patches. Her cheeks had red tears permanently etched upon them. Her neck still bore the cut of her death, the dried blood streaks from the wound disappearing down the front of her dirty and torn gown. She was dead, yet alive all the same.

"The search party got close enough to hear what was being said, though few words were spoken.

"'Lady Stoneheart, your command?' One soldier asked.

"Lady Stoneheart, as the Mother was now known, simply nodded. She didn't speak, but she remembered. Remembered how her family had been deavastated by the Maewyns and Malyns. Remembered her husband unjustly killed. Remembered her young sons burned in the sack and strung up for the bugs to eat away at. Remembered her daughters forced to abandon their names and hide. Remembered her son killed by those she had once trusted. Remembered being killed by those she had once trusted.

"And Lady Stoneheart would have her vengeance for her dead family. The man before her was strung up like the others who came before him. The search party never returned from their watch.

"To this day, Lady Stoneheart hides in the woods of Vanaheim looking for more decendants of Maewyn and Malyn. More victims to string up to atone for the sins of their ancestors. And the last thing they feel is a scratchy rope around their throat, the last thing they hear is their own struggled breathing, and the last thing they see is the phantom of a Mother who lost everything."

Olivia shut the book after that, smirking smugly at the fear stricken faces of Thor and Loki in front of her.

"Your mother came up with that?" Thor asked.

"With some help from Vanir locals, but yes. Many people went missing thousands of years ago for an unknown reason amidst a civil war. People disappear everyday, so that's my mother's reason for why." Olivia replied.

"How do we know Lady Stoneheart isn't somewhere here? Could she come for us?" Loki asked, terror coloring his features.

"It's just a story. Besides, she never leaves the woods of Vanaheim. And we're well protected in the palace. You need not fear." Olivia said before yawning. "Now I need some sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

Shaking, the brothers left her room wrapped in blankets from head to toe. Olivia smiled before laying in her own bed. It wasn't everyday she could scare Thor and Loki, and she really enjoyed it when she did.

That next morning when they complained of nightmares of a bloody phantom-woman, she merely smiled into her breakfast as Frigga comforted her sons like the loving Mother she was.

***

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Spoops around >:3