~Tyrs POV~
"About two hours?"
"That's gross." Cleopatra mumbled through the phone, "but I hope you're all okay."
"We're all fine." I glanced at Dad and Freya as they sat on the seats across the aisle on the train. Freya was animatedly tapping at her phone, eyes fixed on the screen as Dad read a book.
"Okay, well I got the gingerbread you bought for your Mum from the Christmas market that you forgot to take back." I heard her rustling around the room she was in, "I'll drop them off now, as it's quiet at yours."
"Or you could wait till I'm back?" I suggested, "then you could see me."
"You just want sexy times," she laughed, "and it's not my time for sexy time."
"I don't just want that, I want to see you."
"Yeah yeah," I could hear her mocking tone as the line dipped into silence. "I promised my Dad and Jamie I would have dinner with them tonight."
"You're coming round tomorrow?" I questioned, "It's our one week."
"You're the only guy I know who wants to celebrate a one week anniversary." She mumbled, "but yes, I'm going to yours."
"Good." I could see the train approaching a tunnel, and I sighed, "I'll ring you when I'm off the train."
"I love you." She sang down the phone, and instantly my frown was replaced by an embarrassingly wide smile.
"I love you too."
Dad glanced at me across the aisle, his eyes questioning my declaration but he didn't say anything, just nodded and turned back to his book.
***
Freya sat on the bench outside of the train station, her phone fixed to her ear as she chatted to someone. Her eyes sparkled as she smiled, and I had the feeling she was keeping something secret.
Or someone.
Dad left the station, and came to stand by me. "We're early." He muttered. "For once the train wasn't delayed."
"That's alright." I yawned, "we can just wait."
We sat down a short distance from Freya as she shuffled away from us. I made sure she wasn't listening in, before turning to my side. "Did you mean what you said?"
Dad frowned, looking confused by my vague question. But I had the confidence now, and needed an answer. "What?"
"You said, the day after the party when Nathan dressed up as you and Cleo looked after me, you said... you asked me if she was worth a sacrifice."
Dad looked at me, eyebrows raised but he stayed silent, his eyes studying me with careful observation.
"You said I could follow her and not the prophecy." I clarified. "I don't know if you meant it."
"I asked you if she was worthy of your sacrifice. I also told you to tell her you love her."
"I have told her." I grumbled. "I just took my time."
"There's good in that." Dad mused, as he slid one of his legs over the other. "So is she?"
"Worthy of my sacrifice?"
"Yes."
I chewed my lip, my heart pounding way too hard than should be natural or healthy. "I don't want to follow the prophecy any more."
Dad blinked, but nodded. "Okay."
"Are you mad?" I asked quietly, worried about the answer. Now was not the time to ask if I could rule Jotunheim, but I needed him to know that Asgard wasn't an option for me anymore.
"What would you do?"
I turned to stare at him, "what would I do?"
"With your life." He flicked his fingers as he glanced at them, picking at the varnish brushed over his nails. "If you didn't go to Asgard. I'm not letting you do nothing."
I shrugged, "I don't know. I hadn't thought that far."
"In that case I want you to still do the training." He announced, "spend the year there, it's good practice and will give you goals and help develop actual skills. You can come home to visit us and Cleopatra, but I want you to complete the year."
A slight sadness settled in my chest.
"Okay."
"If you can come up with something else then let me know. But you still need to have goals and be able to find a job, something, so you're not just sat doing nothing."
"I get that," I mumbled, "but Asgard..."
"Don't waste this time Tyr. You're young, and I'm sure Thor will let Cleopatra stay in Asgard for a short period."
"She's working." I grumbled, "she's getting training at the tattoo parlour-"
"Can we go now?" Freya hovered over us, her phone call forgotten as she dragged her fingers through her hair. The strands changed colour as she twisted them away from her face.
"Come on then." Dad stood up, "your Grandad will want to see you both."
***
~Cleopatra's POV~
I wrapped my coat tighter around my body as I climbed off the bike, making sure the books and gingerbread were still locked in the seat compartment. I pulled them out, replaced them with my helmet, then locked it up.
The shadow of Tyrs house was cast over the drive, although the wind whipped around my face, causing my ponytail to slap my cheek.
I trudged through the swirling mass of leaves that flew off the trees, before climbing the step and knocking on the large door. Loki had taken Tyr and Freya to visit their Grandad up North, and Charlie was apparently on Asgard for the weekend to spend time with Frigga.
I wanted to talk to Dahlia about Tyr, and hoped Maya and Brooke weren't around so I could ask her some questions in private.
She opened the door, a large knitted cardigan wrapped around her bump as she held it protectively. "Cleo! Are you alright sweetheart?"
"I'm good." I nodded, "I bring gifts!"
She grinned, and let me step inside before shutting the door behind me. I slid my shoes off, and settled on the sofa near her in the comfy living room.
"What have you brought?" She peered at me, "this is the most interesting thing to happen all week."
I laughed, and passed her the gingerbread. "Tyr bought them for you last week, but kept leaving them at mine. He said you were craving ginger."
"Ooh I am." She almost drooled over the box as she opened it in front of me. "Do you want one?"
"I'm alright." I grinned, "I've also got some books for Charlie that Dad and Jamie recommended. The boss I'll have when I move to the tattoo parlour is trans, and he suggested this one too." I passed them over, the autobiographies and detailed accounts of peoples lives, hoping Charlie would appreciate them. "I'm not sure how useful they'll be, but..."
"It's perfect!" Dahlia held a hand over her mouth as she sobbed quietly, "I'm sorry, it's my hormones, but I'm trying to help with Charlie but I... me and Loki are trying to learn as much as we can but this will really... thank you so much."
"It's okay." I suddenly felt awful at making her cry. I slid along the sofa, and reached a hand out to rub her arm. "I'll get some tissues."
I stood up, but Dahlia shushed me, and gestured me to sit down as she pushed herself to her feet. "No, no, you stay sitting. I'm still able to-"
She froze, and glanced down.
A wet patch was spreading over the sofa from where she'd been sat.
"Dahlia?" I stared at the dark fabric. "Is that-?"
"They're early!" Her eyes went wide as she stared at me. "They're not meant to come for another two weeks."
"It's okay!" I stood up, "go and get changed! I can ring an ambulance?"
"I was in labour for days with the others, don't waste the ambulances time-"
"Then let me ring Tyr and Loki." I insisted, "get changed."
She didn't argue with me, and shuffled towards the stairs. I dialled Tyr, and began pacing as the phone rang out. I called again, and again... by the fourth time I lost hope and rang Loki instead.
But he didn't pick up either.
"What?" I mumbled. I hit Freya's number after we exchanged them at Cams party, but I was sent straight to voicemail. I left a message saying Dahlias waters had broken and hung up, before shoving my phone back in my pocket.
A blood curdling scream ripped through the house, causing me to jump back and fall over the shoes I left by the door.
The scream was then joined by baby Brooke crying, and I suddenly realised what had happened.
I ran up the stairs, skidding around the turn in the hall and saw Dahlia crouched in agony by a door at the end. She shook as she sobbed, her fingers clutched at the floor.
"Dahlia!" I rushed forward. "Okay, I know you said that you're normally in labour for days but please let me call an ambulance."
"I need Loki." She cried, her hand squeezing my fingers so hard I felt the bruise forming on the bone.
"He's not answering his phone-"
"Freya?"
"She's not-"
"Tyr?"
"They aren't picking up." I explained, "I've left messages for all of them. Do you have any other way? Telepathy or something?" I struggled to think of a magic way they could connect - Tyr had told me that Loki had used telepathy in the past.
"Only when he's in front of me, he does it all." She panted loudly, and Brooke's whimpering broke the noise of the hallway.
"Dahlia I think the baby is coming, you need to find a place to sit down."
"It's not coming." She gritted her teeth. "Not when Loki isn't here."
"Dahlia-"
"Please." She stared at me.
I blinked, unsure of how I was meant to help. "I'm going to try and calm Brooke down." I said, "okay?"
"Okay." She squeezed her eyes shut and crouched onto all fours in the hallway, as I slipped through the door where Brooke lay screaming.
"Come on," I lifted her up gently, and bounced her softly in my arms. "Your Mums having another baby." I whispered, "so we're going downstairs."
I held her to my chest, her small, one year old body wriggling against mine as she began to settle, and walked back to see Dahlia moving into a kneeling position.
I wrapped an arm under hers and helped her stand up, before the three of us shuffled to the end of the hall. "Can you get downstairs?" I asked.
Dahlia nodded. "I've only had one contraction." She mumbled, and clung to the railing as she stepped, stair by stair, to the ground floor. I helped her, and once she reached the bottom step I went to the kitchen to pour her a glass of water.
My phone rang, and I whipped it out of the pocket quickly to see if it was Tyr or Loki. Instead, it was my Dad.
"Hey sweetheart, I'm just checking when you'll be back? I thought you wanted to watch some films with us?"
"Dahlias gone into labour." I panicked, "she won't let me ring an ambulance and no one is picking their phone up."
"How close are her contractions?" Dad was quietly serious as I heard him shuffling around. "How many minutes apart?"
"She's only had one." A wail interrupted my reply, and I winced, "Two... and about," I glanced at my phone, "ten minutes apart?"
"Shit." I heard him shouting to Jamie as I rocked Brooke slowly, as she had begun whimpering again. "We'll be there soon."
"How soon?"
"I love you!" He cut me off, before the line went dead. I stared at the blank screen, before Dahlias cries dragged me back to reality.
I grabbed the glass of water and, still balancing Brooke on my hip, ran back to the sofas. Dahlia was sweating through the thin top and jogging bottoms she'd pulled on, her face shiny with the sheen of sweat that filled her face.
"Dahlia, I've seen enough TV to know that you should go to the hospital when your contractions are every 5-7 minutes. You're already at 10... I'm going to ring an ambulance."
"I just want Loki." She barely got the words out, "he missed Tyr and Freya, he vowed to never miss another."
I lay Brooke on her back in front of the other sofa, then knelt beside Dahlia. "I get that, I really do, but they're on the other side of the country right now. You've been on those trains, you know how long they can take." I rested a hand on her knee, "I can't deliver a baby, and neither can my Dads. They're on their way, but you need someone who knows what they're doing."
Rain was lashing on the windows as the room fell silent. Brooke babbled quietly to herself as Dahlia breathed slowly, before a flicker of lightning flashed over the window.
"Okay." She whispered, "okay, ring them."
I smiled, and dialled 999. I paced the floor as I waited to speak to someone, but my worries didn't settle as I finally heard the mans voice. "We can't do that."
"What do you mean? Of course you can! You can... right?"
"All of the ambulances are out, in use, right now. And with this weather it won't be safe for them to travel much further - I'll put your request in but there will be delays in reaching you. We've just had reports of bridges and roads being closed due to flooding."
"What?" I peered out of the window. "I... I'm only 18, I don't know how to deliver a baby."
"I..."
"And-"
"Ring us back if-"
Dead.
I stared at the screen of my phone, tapping it madly as it just flashed no signal.
Great.
"Are they coming?" Dahlia had thrown her jogging bottoms off, and now had a waterproof jacket resting over her legs to hide her modesty.
"We're on the list." I mumbled, "but I can't guarantee they'll be here soon. Where's Maya?"
Dahlias face scrunched into a look of severe pain, and she growled a long, rumbling moan before sighing. "She's at-" her eyes scrunched shut, her jaw grounding together as her fists clenched around the back of the sofa. "She's at a friends for the night."
The door opened then, and Dad and Jamie hurried through, the rain and wind howling behind them before they could shut it. "We're here!" Dad yelled.
And then Brooke screamed.
"Shut up." Jamie hissed, "there's a baby here." He walked around the sofas and scooped Brooke into his arms, "aren't you a cutie! Aren't you, little baby! Are you hungry? Shall we find some food?" And with that, he marched out of the room to the kitchen.
"Cleo, can you grab us towels please, we'll cover the sofa and floors with them. The water is good, Dahlia, honey, I'm going to wipe your face with a damp cloth and that will help cool you down okay?"
He glanced back at me, "go." He urged.
I jumped into action, and ran upstairs without really knowing where I was going. I kept trying to ring Tyr, Loki and Freya, but the signal had dropped completely, so even if they were now able to answer their phones, I didn't have a way to contact them.
I was halfway along the landing when the lights went out.
***
~Tyrs POV~
"Can we get back now?" I stretched in the cramped chair of the small office in the prison. "Mums in her last month-"
"You just want to see Cleo." Freya mumbled, "it's your one week." Sarcasm dripped from her tone as she mocked me, but I couldn't see it as anything close to an insult.
"Yeah it is! And I promised to cook us dinner."
Dad walked back into the room, a tense but pleased look on his face. "They've agreed to take your Grandfather back to court and with Starks help we should be able to get a full pardon."
"Wait," Freya twisted in her chair, "so he can come home? He can actually leave?"
"I suppose so." Dads smile flickered into a grin, and he swept us both into his arms, squeezing us tightly to his chest. "I love you both."
"Yeah yeah, you too Dad."
We left the small office and stopped off in the security room to collect our valuables that they insisted we surrendered.
Dad automatically tucked his phone straight into his pocket, as he said nobody ever contacted his Earth-Communication device.
I laughed, but Freya's gasp made me stop. "What is it?"
"You both need to check your phones." She mumbled, as she began tapping at her screen.
"Why?" Dad slowly withdrew his phone from his pocket, but I'd beaten him to the answer.
26 missed calls from Cleopatra. 32 texts, and 10 voicemails.
Dad and Freya had similar reactions, so I assumed they had the same on their own phone.
Dad listened to a voicemail as we ran out onto the street. "Shit." He muttered, "fucking shitting shit. Fuck!"
I was trying to read the texts as we ran to the station, but didn't get a chance to until Dad began screaming at the ticket machine to let him through the gate. Freya shushed him and managed to open it, but Cleopatra's panicking voice caught me off guard.
"Hey, sorry, it's me again. You're Mums contractions are pretty close together. Jamie's looking after Brooke, Dads made a birth area in your living room... just please, ring me."
There had been no contact from her for over three hours. Three hours.
Dad tapped his foot on the floor. "Let's just teleport."
"It's too far," Freya stared at him. "The conditions are terrible, this train will probably get delayed by the weather before we're halfway home, and not all three of us can disappear at once."
He shuffled into a corner by the door, where it was luckily empty of passengers. "You need to focus." He gritted out, as he clamped his hands on our shoulders. "Now."
I had never transported that far before. Sure, I'd hopped from Asgard to Jotunheim, but I had been channeling Dads energy as an afterthought. The adrenaline had carried me then.
But now, now I had both Dad and Freya's magic seeping through my skin as we hurtled off a moving train and into the dark, pixelated void. Bile rose in my throat, but I managed to swallow it down as my stomach churned itself into tight fists of anxiety and worry.
And then he let go, and the three of us parted ways.
Dad was the only one left standing upright. Freya was coughing on her back, and I was sprawled across my face, the mud from the hailstorms mixing with the earth now covering my cheek and hair.
Dad marched with a purpose to the front door, and they slammed open before he could reach them.
I stood up warily. All of the streetlights were out, the storm was raging harder here than it was on the train, and the street itself had become a river from the amount of water that had flooded from the actual streams in the hills above.
I could see a solitary light flickering through the open door, cast by a single candle on the shelf by the door.
I followed Freya inside, closed the door, and heard silence.
Considering the house was full, no one made a noise.
Clusters of candles were on the table by the kitchen, on top of the bookshelf, and over the fire.
Jamie was stood with Brooke, cooing silently over my sleeping sister.
Freya stood by my side, dripping water onto the clean floor.
Cleopatra was sitting on the floor, wiping her face with her elbow, as her hand was wet with what looked like blood. William stood protectively by her, his own arms covered in blood and sweat.
And on the sofa was Mum, with Dad crouched by her head. A blue baby was wrapped in a bundle made from a clean towel, the blonde streaks of hair sticking to the skin.
The baby had been born.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hello! I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Sorry for such the long wait between updates, but I'm trying to get back into writing after my block.
There also might be a slight time jump between this chapter and the next, but I don't think I'll make it too big.
Hope you're all safe and well!
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