"Well...I knew that I was no match for Thanos, I've faced him before and found myself worse for wear. So, I created a projection of myself so good that even the mad titan wasn't able to recognize it," I began to explain, "But I apparently made it so good that even my wife nor my brother could see through it. Which of course wasn't the plan."
Sigyn nodded. So far so good. By the looks of the crowd, everyone was buying it. Even Thor who was now awake enough to listen.
"Whilst the mad Titan was distracted by my illusion, I searched for escape vessels or weapons to perhaps aid my family in escape. But I found nothing," I continued on, "In fact, I was almost caught by Thanos's children as I did this and was forced to shapeshift...into just specks of dust. An object so small, no sorcerer no matter how talented could possibly sniff me out."
Sigyn raised a brow and mouthed dust? For the sake of my lie's continuity, I chose to ignore her as I went on, "I hid from there presence as such but I suppose I was in hiding too long. For by the time I began to try and reunite with my daughter and with my wife, the vessel was set to explode. Thus, I found myself hurdling through time and space, becoming trapped within inter dimensional time loops and so on. Time passed differently when I was trying desperately to survive the grips of space, what I thought was just one week of terror was truly five years. It was only just recently I was able to get away from it all and find a way here by hijacking a ship from a lone spatial traveler."
"But how did you know to come here? To this place?" Hertha questioned me.
"I thought of the universe and my place in it. I could only think of being here, no matter how improper it seemed. I just knew this is where I was meant to go," I said, smiling softly as I pulled Sigyn to my side.
The crowd hummed and began to chatter amongst themselves as they stewed over my story. The two girls turned to me and whispered, "Dust? Really?"
"I was winging it, alright?" I defended myself, "It was the best I could come up with."
"Can you actually do that?" Hela questioned, "Turn into dust?"
"I haven't tried," I admitted, "We should experiment on that."
Sigyn pressed her face into my shoulder, obviously a little fed up with all the spectacles. From amongst the crowd, only two people seemed truly suspicious. Hertha was obviosuly not happy to see me again. But Thor was looking at me through narrowed eyes, not out of anger but because of the fact that even he knew I could never lie to him.
I eyed him, smiling a bit as our eyes met. Don't you dare say a damn thing, brother, I thought to myself. As if he could hear me, he nodded and softened up a bit. Thankfully that crisis was mostly averted.
However, Hertha was still sour. Yet again, he took Sigyn away from me, pulling her away rather aggressively.
"Please, stop doing that," Sigyn pleaded, ripping her hand away from her sister, "What's wrong?"
"You need to be more careful," Hertha scolded her, "Do you really think it's appropriate to let him back into your life like this?"
"He's my husband," Sigyn said coldly, "I think it's more than appropriate."
"But for Hela's sake," Hertha continued, "He won't be a good influence on her and you know it. They're already too similar."
"Loki is her father," Sigyn argued, clearly becoming annoyed, "She deserves to grow up with a father in her life. Why are you doing this?"
"Because I'm worried about you two," Hertha hissed, "Every single time he's shown back up, you somehow always end up nearly dead. When he returned from Jotunheim and you were pregnant? You nearly died. When he returned from Sakaar? You nearly died. Statistics show-"
"Stop it," Sigyn interrupted swiftly, her voice sharp and true, "If you speak ill of my husband anymore, Hertha, there will be issues."
"But-"
"No," Sigyn snapped, "You only say all of this because you're jealous that you don't have a family. And worst of all? You sound like mother."
Hertha's mouth hung open in shock.
"I've never seen mother stand up to her like that," Hela commented quietly.
"You did not just compare me to-" Hertha began.
"I'm sorry," Sigyn said firmly, "But you need to calm down. And you need to leave my family alone."
Hertha glared slightly but finally shut up. I couldn't help but smile. Seeing Sigyn stand up for herself just made her even more attractive. That's my girl, I thought to myself with pride.
"I can't believe mother said that to Hertha," Hela commented.
"That she's jealous?" I asked.
"No," Hela said with her eyes wide, "No, I mean comparing her to their mother."
"Why? Is she an old hag?"
"She's dead, actually," Hela explained, "It's just..a low blow so to speak."
"Understood," I said as I looked out into the crowd, "Now, Hela, are any of your little friends here?"
Hela shook her head, "Nope."
"Well, I'd love to meet them someday," I said with a small smile, "To see who you-"
Hela sighed before she interrupted me, "I'm the only child here."
"The...only child?" I stammered, "How?"
Hela shrugged, "Nearly all the children died or were blipped. And...according to mama, no one has been able to...have kids since the blip."
"But that's impossible, surely-"
"Listen, I don't know," Hela said, putting her hands up in defense, "I'm not seeeking to solve New Asgard's baby issue. I honestly don't care. If you want to know about it, ask mama."
I nodded and pondered what I had been told. This fallen world was truly more strange than I had ever imagined.
But I suppose none of that really mattered. All that mattered was that I was here with Hela and with Sigyn. I didn't care if half the population was gone or about this new infertility issue. All that meant was there was just a little more room for the three of us in this brave new world.