Freya was exploring the castle a bit on her own when she came across the sounds of daggers hitting wood. Anyone else probably wouldn't have been able to hear it but Freya picked it up thanks to her enhanced hearing.
She turned a corner and walked outside into the gardens. There she spotted Loki throwing daggers at a piece of wood at least 50 meters away. (164 feet) Every dagger hit a perfect bullseye.
"Not bad" she commented, casually walking towards Loki. He spun around, clearly not having heard her coming.
"You're quite easy to sneak up to for being a god and all" Freya continued. She knew it was probably a bad idea to tease the prince like that but she didn't really care and she definitely wouldn't back up now.
"I heard you coming"
"Sure you did"
"I just didn't think you would actually come to bother me. And I suggest you don't talk to me like that"
"I know who you are but I don't care. I don't respect people based on their status but based on their personality"
Loki apparently didn't know how to respond to that, turning around and focusing back on his daggers.
Freya decided that flexing in front of the prince of Asgard was an excellent idea, so she also summoned daggers of her own and threw them at the target. Loki froze for a second, not having expected her to start training too.
Freya's daggers formed a perfect six-pointed star on the wood, leaving the center empty, since Loki's daggers still needed to hit the wood somewhere.
If Loki was impressed he didn't show it. "Hey, sorry about trying to kill you yesterday" Freya spoke up after they had trained in silence for a bit.
Loki didn't answer and Freya assumed he was still mad at her and didn't accept that as an excuse, not that he simply didn't know what to answer to something like that.
"You probably would have done the same in my situation so don't be mad at me. I didn't kill you. I can't guarantee that won't happen in the future tho-"
"Are you seriously thinking about killing the prince of Asgard?"
"Well not directly-"
"I'm not mad at you for yesterday"
"Oh that's nice"
They both resumed throwing daggers at the wooden target, occasionally filling in all the holes with magic. When Freya hit the back of the target for the tenth time Loki turned around and asked: "Where did you learn that?"
"My parents taught me some basics-"
"At age six?"
"As I was saying, my parents taught me some basics to help me control my powers and Thanos obviously used that to his advantage and left me some books about asgardian magic. Don't ask me how he got those, I don't know and I have a feeling he doesn't know exactly either. So I pretty much taught myself all of it"
This time Loki couldn't hide the fact he was impressed. There were many people who tried to teach themselves magic but usually they either give up or at most manage to summon some sparks, the best ones even a small knife. And now Freya, who had clearly teleported the previous day and had summoned dagger after dagger for the past twenty minutes, even making the daggers turn around in mid-air was telling him she taught everything herself?
"I know you don't believe me but I mean, that's your problem" Freya shrugged.
"The most I have heard from someone who taught themselves was summoning a small knife. You just summoned at least one hundred daggers, changed their direction in mid-air and yesterday you teleported despite still being injured. And you also cast an illusion to hide your scars"
Freya froze. Nobody knew that she always hides her scars with an illusion, not even Thanos had figured that one out. "If you know a way I can prove I taught myself then I will but I don't think there is" she answered, hoping that Loki didn't notice how she reacted at the mention of the illusion.
Loki remained silent at that. "What are you doing here anyways?" he asked.
"Training, what else?"
"No really? I mean, why are you training with me?"
"Sorry if I broke some rule that doesn't allow me to but I really couldn't care less"
"Why would there be a rule for such a thing?"
Freya looked over in surprise. She had thought the prince was mad at her for training with him but it seemed more like curiosity now that she thought about it.
"I don't know. Society is weird. And stupid sometimes"
"Hate to interrupt but Queen Frigga has requested your presence prince Loki. She is waiting in the library" Sif appeared, distracting both Loki and Freya from their conversation.
Loki nodded in thanks and vanished in a green light.
"Huh. Seems like I'm not the only one who can teleport" Freya mumbled. "Oh right, I forgot you're a sorceress too" Sif walked over to Freya.
"Seeing as you were already training anyway, care for a spar?" Sif asked.
"Good luck" Freya smirked, summoning two daggers.
Sif also took out her sword and charged at her.
*timeskip brought to you by the TVA*
Loki and Frigga had searched the library for anything regarding the Phoenix, but all they found were old myths and legends, all completely different in regard to powers, abilities and origins. So they were now searching for Freya to ask her what she knew about herself.
When they arrived at the gardens they saw Freya and Sif sparring and were both impressed by Freya's abilities, even though Loki didn't show it.
Sif jumped forwards, aiming her sword at Freya's hip. She blocked Sif's sword with one of her daggers and hit Sif in the side with the other.
The dagger vanished on impact, leaving Sif unharmed. "Ten out of ten. Don't worry, you're still better than most other people I've trained with" Freya said, healing a small cut on her leg with her magic. It felt weird using her healing magic again. She never used it unless she was being controlled by the mind stone and there she wasn't conscious so it didn't count.
She noticed Sif straightening up beside her and looked up. It was only then that she noticed Frigga and Loki standing not far away from them. Frigga looked amazed and Freya swore she saw some amazement in Loki's eyes too.
"Your majesty", Sif greeted.
Frigga smiled at Sif, unlike Loki, who didn't look all too happy to be there. "What do we owe the honour?" Freya asked.
"I would like to talk to you, Freya. Or should I say, goddess of flames?"
"Wait what? Goddess of flames? I thought only members of the royal family could be gods?"
"Yes. The Phoenix is the only exception there. It has been so long since a Phoenix was alive on Asgard so it has been forgotten. It was only searching through old books that we found out about it"
"Huh. No wonder Thanos triple checked every book about magic he gave me. Probably wouldn't have worked out like it did if I knew I was a goddess back when I thought that the title alone meant you were automatically more powerful than anyone else"
"Well, I'm going to leave you to talk. I'll see you around Freya" Sif nodded respectfully to Frigga and Loki before vanishing behind a corner.
"What did you mean by the title of god isn't enough for you to be a god?" Loki asked after Sif wasn't in earshot anymore.
"Well, I know that I'm a goddess now so that could change my theories slightly, but let's just assume someone tens of thousands of years ago didn't decide the Phoenix is a god or goddess. Then I would still be exactly the same person I am, I just wouldn't have the title of Goddess of Flames. I would still be stronger than many gods, without being a goddess myself", Freya explained.
Loki was about to reply something to that when Frigga held up a hand and said: "You saw how easily she beat Sif before, I think Freya could probably beat even you if she wanted to"
"Of course I could", Freya answered, earning a glare from Loki.
"You can fight later. Now I would like to talk to you, Freya" Frigga said quickly, before Loki could summon a dagger and attack Freya, who was already expecting it, having moved into a defensive stance without it being too noticeable.
When Loki sighed and visibly relaxed, Freya also relaxed again, focusing back on Frigga instead of watching Loki's every movement with caution.
"Yes, of course", Freya said. Suddenly they were in a huge library and Freya looked around in awe. That instant she decided that the library was now her favourite place in the palace.
Frigga chuckled slightly from where she was sitting in a comfortable looking armchair.
"Wow. This place is huge", Freya commented, sitting down as well in an armchair in front of Frigga.
"Indeed it is. Now I wanted to ask you how much you know about the Phoenix. Because the only thing we found were myths and legends, all completely different regarding pretty much everything. They could have been talking about different beings for all we know"
"We?"
"Me and Loki"
"Speaking of, where is he?"
"Right behind you", Loki said from behind Freya, who turned around quickly, only to find an empty space behind her.
"NIce trick but you can't fool me that easily", she said, waving her hand in the air, revealing a stunned Loki.
"How-?"
"You're not the only sorcerer here. Deal with it" Freya explained, turning back around to Frigga. Loki walked over and sat in a third armchair he summoned next to a smiling Frigga.
"Back to your previous question, the only things I know about the Phoenix are that fire can't harm me, I can control it. Just like this", Freya held out her hand and created a small flame in it.
"I can also summon a pair of wings you probably already saw. And I think my magic is stronger than the magic of a normal Asgardia- Stop reading my mind. You won't get very far anyways" Freya snapped, turning to Loki, who was smirking at her.
The next second Loki was clutching his head in agony "Stop it!" he snarled at Freya.
"Now you know how it feels when someone tries to read your mind and you don't let them", she smirked, stopping trying to read his mind.
"Stop it. Both of you. Nobody reads anyones mind" Frigga scolded, shutting both you and Loki up.
"I'm sorry, but this is all I know", Freya apologized, but Frigga completely ignored it. "I know it can be hard to be different from everyone else and I just want to help you"
Loki tensed up at that, thinking at how she had hid from him who he actually was for so long. Thankfully Freya didn't seem to notice.
"I- thank you then I guess but figuring out why I am a legendary best is not that high up on my priorities list right now" Freya thanked.
"Everything will be alright. You're safe now" Frigga reassured her, but it didn't seem to work as much as she hoped it would have.
"It's not me I'm worried about but the people of Asgard. Thanos would not hesitate to kill everyone on this planet if he had to. If I die, well that wouldn't be that bad. But I don't want other people to get hurt or die because of me", Freya explained, standing up before either Loki or Frigga could say something.
"I better get going. If you need me, I'll be outside in the gardens" and with that Freya disappeared in a golden mist, leaving Frigga and Loki alone in the library.
1941 words
Sorry I took so long to post this chapter but in my defense, it's a long one and school is tiring. I nearly fell asleep so many times today because I stayed up for so long reading fanfics.
Anyways, I know this chapter wasn't all that great but I promise it will get more interesting later on. I just want Freya and Loki to get to know each other a bit more.