As they ride into the village, Cora looks up from her hands, her eyes go wide and she gasps as she see's the damage the village sustained. Looking between Derek and Sadie, and then behind her, Cora covers her mouth from shock as she see's a lot of the buildings have pieces missing and some are completely destroyed.
"Did any of the ancient statues of kings past get destroyed?" Cora unthinkingly asks, Loki turns his head to look at her and lightly shakes his head.
"No, the attack stayed contained within the village." Thor answers, as the carriage comes to a halt.
"Any missing villagers or casualties?" Peter asks as Thor and Loki dismount their horses.
"Thankfully, no. Everyone has been accounted for." Loki says as he waves his hand at the recruits signaling for them to exit the carriage.
"Everyone except Peter and Cora hold out your right arm." Thor says, all but Peter and Cora hold out their right arms. Loki goes up to each recruit and places a bracelet on their right wrist.
"What the hell are these?" Xander asks examining the bracelet that had been placed on his wrist.
"Limitation cuffs. All of you will now truly know what it is like to work without powers. If you try and remove it, it will send an electric shock through your body. So, my advice don't try anything stupid." Loki says as the recruits begin to whine.
"You two are no exception to this rule, this is the one thing I will have you all be equal with." Loki says as he stands in front of Peter and Cora. Peter holds out his arm and Loki snaps the bracelet onto his wrist. Cora holds up her arm and shows that she is already wearing her own bracelet. Loki nods as he places the bracelet that was meant for Cora back into his pocket.
"Brother, I just said that Peter and Cora do not have to—." Thor begins to say, as he watches Loki place the limitations cuff on Peter's wrist. Loki gives him a look that makes Thor stop talking mid sentence.
"That's not fair, why can Cora wear her own and we have to have special ones?" Sadie scoffs and asks.
"The bracelet's that you all wear are the exact same as Cora's. All of you are being treated the same when it comes to making sure you do not use your powers for this." Thor says, and looks back and forth between all the recruits.
"Peter, Cora, you two may go and explore the village. But do not wander to far away, we need to be able to find you at a moments notice." Loki says, Cora and Peter nod and walk away from the group.
"It's been a crazy few days, huh?" Peter asks as he and Cora walk away from the group and survey the damage that yesterday's battle caused.
"You can say that again." Cora agrees as she slowly walks beside Peter.
"Ow, what the hell?" Sadie screams off in the distance. Peter and Cora turn to see what happened, and find Sadie laying on the ground.
"I told you not to try anything stupid, and the first thing you do is try and take off your limitation cuff. Miss Morelan, are you trying to test my patience?" Loki asks as he stands over Sadie, who slowly stands up. Peter and Cora turn back around and continue to walk.
"Things haven't gone as anyone had planned for them to go." Cora says as she stops and looks out over the village and toward the Observatory.
"I'm not sure if any of them had a plan to how things would go in the first place." Peter says, Cora laughs lightly and smiles as she moves a stray strand of hair out of her face.
"I think that's the first time I've seen you genuinely laugh and smile while we've been here." Peter says as he looks at Cora.
"It was bound to happen eventually. Although only having been here for three days and knocked out for one of them, no surprise it happened this soon." Cora says and laughs again, Peter laughs with her but then turns his head as he senses they are being watched.
"Looks like we have a little shadow." Peter says keeping his eyes on what he see's. Cora slowly turns to see what Peter is looking at, and is surprised to see a little girl peering out from behind the edge of a building. Once spotted, the little girl fully hides herself in the casted shadows of the building.
"Hey, it's okay. We're not going to hurt you. You can come out, we don't bite." Peter says and the little girl pokes her head out and looks between Peter and Cora. Slowly the little girl walks out of her hiding place.
"What's your name, sweetie?" Cora asks and winces as she kneels down to the little girls level.
"I'm Davina." The girl says looking down at the ground as she speaks.
"Hi Davina, I'm Cora and this is Peter." Cora introduces, Davina's eyes go wide and she looks between Cora and Peter.
"Are you the ones from Midgard?" Davina looks up and asks excitedly, Cora nods and Peter smiles, then crosses his arms.
"Cool, usually visitors from other realms are kept within the safety of the castle. It's strange seeing you guys outside." Davina says with a wide smile on her face.
"Well, since the battle that nearly destroyed the whole village, took place yesterday and the others, plus us were involved with trying to help, we've been tasked to help rebuild the village." Cora says and Davina just stares at her in amazement.
"Were you the one that got hurt really bad?" Davina asks without thinking, then covers her mouth and a horrified expression lights up her eyes.
"Yeah, she was. But, had it not been for Cora and all the help she gave us. The battles end could have been much worse." Peter says and kneels down to Davina's level. Davina just continues to stare at Cora in wonder.
"What is it?" Cora asks, Davina blinks and shakes her head before she answers.
"I'm sorry if I stare too much. It's just, you look exactly like the maiden in an Asgardian legend that I know." Davina says, Cora looks from Davina and to Peter with curious eyes and then turns her attention back to Davina.
"A legend, really? What kind of legend?" Cora asks curiosity peeking her interest.
"A legend about one of the sons of Asgard, who was betrayed by the other in one of the worst ways possible." Davina says, Cora raises an eyebrow of curiosity.
"Can you tell us this legend?" Peter asks curiosity now peeking his own interest. Davina nods.
"It happened years ago, before I was even born. The legend goes, one son of Asgard had fallen for a village maiden and spent almost all of his time with her. Mighty Odin had forbade the son to see the maiden when he found out about the two of them." Davina begins telling the story, Cora and Peter look at each other and then back to Davina.
"Go on." Cora says, Davina nods as she looks between Cora and Peter before continuing.
"Sneaking around was the only way for them to spend time together, and one night the other son of Asgard had followed his brother, and was shocked to find out his brother had gone back on the word he had given to Odin. Quickly going to Odin after witnessing this, the other son of Asgard didn't realize he had just sealed the fates of not only his brother, but the maiden as well." Davina says and looks between Cora and Peter, Cora nods to let Davina know to continue.
"All mighty Odin had ordered the son of Asgard to be locked away in the dungeon and the maiden to be banished to a realm no one would think to look for her." Davina says, Cora's eyes go wide as she hears this.
"Do you know what realm Odin had sent the maiden off too?" Cora asks, Davina nods.
"Jotunheim." Davina simply answers, Cora gasps and covers her mouth, Peter looks at Cora with worried filled eyes.
"What? What's Jotunheim?" Peter asks looking between Cora and Davina.
"Jotunheim is the farthest realm in the cosmos, known as the ice realm, because it's extremely cold and made of ice. It is also where the Frost-Giants reside." Cora says as she looks to Peter and then back to Davina.
"It was months, before the son of Asgard was released from the dungeon. He had lied to Odin to get out. He told Odin that he would give up everything that had to do with the maiden in order to be released. Against his better judgment, Odin believed him. Once out, the son of Asgard searched every realm in the cosmos, except for Jotunheim. He did not think to look on Jotunheim, because he did not think Odin would be so cruel as to send anyone to the realm of the Frost-Giants." Davina says, Cora looks at Peter with wide frantic eyes and then back to Davina.
"The son of Asgard had listened in on a conversation his brother had been having with some comrades of his. The brother had disclosed to his comrades the maidens true location. The son of Asgard was furious that he had not looked on Jotunheim to begin with." Davina says, then looks back and forth between Cora and Peter watching their facial expressions. Peter nods at Davina to have her continue.
"When the son of Asgard traveled to Jotunheim, he was not alone in his travel there. His brother had followed him, to try and convince him to stop the foolish nonsense he was doing. Not wanting to listen to his brother, the son of Asgard attacked his brother and nearly did away with him, if it hadn't been for the maiden. She showed up just as what many thought would be a final blow, was about to be handed down to the brother." Davina says, Cora's mouth falls open as she continues to listen.
"The maiden pleaded with the son of Asgard, to not do away with his own brother, that he was better than what he was starting to become. In that moment, the son of Asgard's tough exterior melted away as he finally laid eyes on the maiden he had longed for after many months apart." Davina says, and looks between Peter and Cora again.
"Just after the son of Asgard had his maiden back, she fell terribly ill. He ended up bringing her back to Asgard, but once back, the son of Asgard was informed that every guard was on high alert and waiting for him. So, in order to get his maiden help, he had to sneak into the castle. Once in the castle, his brother taunted him, about taking more time than he himself since he was able to walk through the front door." Davina says, then Cora and Peter exchange a worried glance.
"How could someone survive, that long on a realm fully made of ice?" Peter mindlessly asks.
"When your determined enough to stay alive in order to somehow get off that realm, you'll do anything you can to survive." Cora says and nods to Davina.
"Shortly after being brought to the castle, it was discovered that the maiden was with child. And also about to bring the child into the world." Davina says, Cora gasps, covers her mouth, then looks at Peter who displays the same shocked expression as her.
"She was sent off to Jotunheim while pregnant and no one knew? That's awful." Cora says and feels tears fill her eyes.
"What happened next, Davina?" Peter asks and takes hold of Cora's hand as they listen to what Davina says next.
"The child-a girl-was brought into the world. But, as we all know when the world presents one good thing upon itself, it always finds a way to take away something that should not be taken away." Davina says and watches as Cora quickly wipes a tear from her cheek.
"Not too long after the child was brought into this world, the maiden passed on. The son of Asgard went from joyous to horrified and sorrowful. When it was revealed that the maiden had passed on, the son of Asgard tried to take his daughter from his brother whom he had handed her off to just after he had seen the maiden lose all life within herself. But, the brother would not give him the child back, instead he called in the guards to arrest him." Davina continues, then looks between Cora and Peter.
"Just after the son of Asgard was taken away, the brother took the child to Odin, who cast the child out of Asgard indefinitely. Stating that the child had no one to look after it, there for it was to be banished from Asgard. The brother, feeling guilty for this the ultimate betrayal, tried to make it right by trying to convince Odin to raise the child as his own. But, Odin had already made up his mind and forced the brother to get rid of the child. Before the child was sent away though, the brother had a slight change of heart." Davina says, Cora looks at her with wide eyes.
"What did the brother do?" Peter asks, then rubs the back of Cora's hand with his thumb.
"The brother took the baby to the son of Asgard, so that he could say goodbye to her. He was only allowed a few minutes to say goodbye, before the brother took the baby to the Bifrost and sent her away." Davina says, Cora looks at Davina curiously.
"Davina, do you happen to know what realm Odin had sent the child away too?" Cora asks and keeps her eyes on Davina.
"If I remember correctly, the brother was not sure where to send the child off too. So, Queen Frigga stepped in and offered a suggested realm. To which the brother went ahead and sent the child to. And that realm was Midgard." Davina says, Cora gasps at hearing Midgard be the realm the child was sent to.
"Cora, Peter?" They hear Loki call out their names. As they stand up, they see Loki coming toward them. Cora winces from the pain in her side from being kneeled over for too long. As Loki gets closer to them, Davina becomes excited and runs up to Loki.
"Prince Loki!" Davina says as she stops in front of Loki and hugs him around the legs. Loki stops just in front of Cora and Peter, looks down at Davina, and smiles.
"Davina, what are you doing out here?" Loki asks detaching Davina from his legs and leans down to Davina's level. Davina hugs Loki around the neck and he hugs her back.
"You know I like exploring all the different parts of the village. And plus, I heard you were going to be out and about within the village today." Davina says excitedly as she pulls away from Loki.
Peter and Cora exchange questioning yet contempt looks, as Loki interacts with Davina. As they watch Loki and Davina interact, Cora begins to put pressure on her wounded side as pain begins to shoot through her. Seeing this with his peripheral vision, Loki straightens up and looks over at Cora.
"Everything alright?" Loki asks Cora, Peter looks at Cora and see's her gripping her side, his eyes go wide, but he doesn't panic.
"The pain is starting to act up." Cora says through slightly gritted teeth. Loki nods, then turns back to Davina.
"I am going to have to take your new friends back to the castle, now." Loki says and looks at Peter and Cora as he speaks.
"Can they come back tomorrow?" Davina asks as she looks at Peter and Cora.
"We will see about that. But, for now it looks like Cora needs to go rest." Loki says and looks at Davina.
"I'm fi—." Cora tries to say, but is cut off by the pain as it intensifies. Just as Cora is about to collapse from the pain, Peter places his arm around her waist and supports her weight as she tries to regain control of her balance.
"Davina, tell your mother that I will be by later as she requested. Get her back to the carriage." Loki says quickly, as he keeps his eyes on Cora. Peter nods and begins to help Cora walk back to the carriage.
"Andre, give me a hand." Peter says as they make it back to the carriage. Andre runs over and takes Cora from Peter, Peter hops into the carriage and holds his hand out. Cora takes Peter's hand and Andre slowly helps lift Cora into the carriage.
"Everyone back in the carriage, now." Thor demands, Loki rushes to the carriage to check on Cora and sees her laying against Peter's arm clutching her side. Sweat begins to run down Cora's face and she whimpers.
"She may not make the ride back to the castle." Loki says, Thor gives a look of pure concern. Loki uses his powers to unhook Ragnar from the carriage, and Ragnar quickly trots to the back of the carriage. Loki mounts Ragnar, looks at Peter, then darts his eyes to Cora, and back to Peter. Peter nods, and carefully takes hold of Cora and stands in the carriage.
"Andre." Peter says, within a second Andre is back at the carriage. Carefully he takes Cora from Peter, and hands her up to Loki.
"Loki, that may not be wise." Thor says just as Loki positions Cora sideways on the saddle in front of him. He gives Thor a menacing look.
"We are not about to lose her again." Loki says and slaps Ragnar's reigns to get him to run. Ragnar takes off for the castle as Loki holds on to Cora.
"It hurts." Cora whimpers.
"Just hold on, I've got you. We're almost to the castle." Loki says and strokes Cora's cheek, his eyes go wide as he feels that Cora is burning up.
With Cora in his arms, Loki jumps off of Ragnar just as they get to the castles entrance. Not bothering to go to the infirmary, Loki screams as he makes his way to Cora's room.
"Dagny, Runa! To Cora's room, now!" Loki says as he runs down the hall. As Loki approaches Cora's room, the force of his powers he uses to open the door, makes the door hit the wall of the room hard enough to make an ear splitting crack sound.
Cora jumps slightly when she hears the door hit the wall. Just as Loki sets Cora in her bed, Dagny and Runa rush into the room with other nurses in tow.
"Runa, get that bracelet off her wrist. Try and get her temperature down, and put fluids in her. Loki, hallway now!" Dagny says and then demands. Loki hangs his head as he exits the room. As he and Dagny try to exit the room, the door suddenly closes.
Both Dagny and Loki look back to see Cora's hand slightly raised, and her fingers spread out slightly pointing to the door. Loki rushes to Cora's side.
"Cora, listen to me. Don't fight the nurses, they are trying to help you." Loki frantically says, Cora shakes her head and looks at Loki with tears streaming down her face.
"Don't leave." Cora says fearfully, Loki looks at her with anguish in his eyes. Taking Cora's hand in his, and stroking her hair with his other hand, Loki looks down at her.
"I'll only be gone a moment. I'll be right outside the door. Please, relax and let the nurses help you." Loki says as he watches the tears roll down Cora's face. In between winces and cries, Cora nods her head.
Loki let's go of Cora's hand, walks to the rooms door, opens it, and proceeds to walk out into the hallway. Dagny looks at Loki questionable fear in her eyes.
"What happened?" Dagny asks as she crosses her arms and stares Loki up and down.
"I'm not even sure. She was fine this morning, then her side started acting up about ten minutes ago. I was initially bringing her back so she could rest. But, then I felt she had a fever, and knew it was worse than what it seemed." Loki says, Dagny just stares at Loki as he speaks.
"You do understand how a limitation cuff works, yes?" Dagny asks, Loki looks at her puzzled but shakes his head.
"Obviously you do not. A limitation cuff not only mutes powers that need to be contained, but also mutes any type of healing ability that is done with powers. The cuff she wears completely muted the healing process we had obtained yesterday. Which more than likely has caused either some type of infection or stopped the healing process all together." Dagny says, Loki looks at her with wide shocked eyes as he hears this.
"It does not help the case either, that she has been out in the sun all morning, with no form of hydration. I specifically explained yesterday after we got her situated in her room, that in order to make sure the healing process continues as planned, she will need to take it easy, no excessive time in the sun, and lots of hydration." Dagny says as she crosses her arms and scolds Loki.
"This time it's my fault." Loki states hanging his head. Feeling so overcome with anger, Loki screams and punches the wall. Backing up to the wall closest to Cora's room, Loki slides down the wall and buries his head in his hands.
Runa opens the door and comes out with a shocked expression on her face.
"Runa what is it?" Dagny asks taking in Runa's frightened appearance.
"It seems she's remembering something from when she was small." Runa says and looks at Loki.
"What has she said?" Dagny asks, and watches as all the color leaves Runa's face.
"She kept repeating, 'he said he'd try and protect me, he said he'd try and protect me.' I asked her who she was referring to, just to see if she could hear me, and she said..." Runa begins to say, but then trails off and looks at the floor. Loki looks at her with wide eyes and he gets to his feet.
"Yes, go on." Dagny says as she tries to get Runa to finish what she was saying. Already figuring out what Cora meant by that, Loki just stares at the door.
"She said her father told her that." Runa finally says, Dagny gasps and covers her mouth. Loki keeps his gaze on the door as Dagny rushes back in to the room.
"The pain from her injury must be causing her brain to release memories from when she was first born. Once we get the fever and pain under control, that all could stop and she may not remember saying anything." Runa says just before she rushes back into the room and closes the door behind her.
"Where is he? Where is he?" Loki hears Cora cry out. Just as Loki is about to try and go back in the room, Thor rounds the corner.
"Loki, what's happened to her?" Thor asks, Loki just stares at the door bewildered.
"The limitation cuff either stunned or fully stopped the healing process. She may also have some type of infection if that is the case." Loki numbly says.
"Is that all?" Thor asks, Loki looks at him with disgust in his eyes.
"Is that all? Is that all? What else do you want there to be? Never mind the fact that the pain she is in has caused her to remember things from when she was a baby." Loki says as he rambles on about what had just been discovered moments before Thor showed up.
"What do you mean the pain has caused her to remember things from her infancy?" Thor asks stunned by this news.
"It seems the pain has caused her brain to bring forth things from her past. Things she shouldn't be able to remember." Loki says says keeping his eyes on the door.
"What kind of things?" Thor asks as he tries to understand what Loki is saying.
"The main fact being that I am her father." Loki says, Thor gasps at this news. Just as Loki is about to open the door to walk back in the room, the door opens. Loki looks in and see's all the nurses staring at the door.
Loki walks into the room, Thor proceeds to follow behind him, but is stopped by the door shutting in his face.
"Loki that is not funny." Thor says as he tries to open the door but it will not budge.
"Believe me or not, brother but I did not do it." Loki says as he holds back laughter. Taking in the serious faces of the nurses, Loki quickly straightens up.
Loki takes in Cora's appearance, and nearly gasps. An IV line is connected to her left arm, and she is covered head to toe with blankets.
"What is all this?" Loki asks as he walks up next to Cora's bedside.
"Fluids to help keep her hydrated and chill blankets to help keep her fever down. We also have her on some medication that will make her drowsy for the next few hours. She keeps fighting the medication, so we have to keep slowly increasing the dosage. She's still remembering things." Runa says as she watches Loki sit in a chair close to the head of Cora's bed.
"You left me." Cora weakly says as she tries to turn her head to look at Loki. Loki gives a faint smile, and begins to stroke Cora's hair.
"I know. I'm sorry, Cora." Loki says just as he finishes apologizing, Cora begins to shake her head.
"Not, Cora." She weakly says as her eyes begin to close. Loki's eyes go wide as he hears this. A question comes to his mind and he quickly asks it.
"If your not Cora, then who are you?" Loki asks and looks between Dagny and Runa. Runa looks at Loki with wide eyes, and Dagny shakes her head.
"Adamaris." Cora weakly says before she fully passes out from the medication.