Author's Note: I'm baaaaack! And by back, I mean, never really gone. I only recently posted the final chapter to my Doctor Who fanfiction, The Brave One. If you like Doctor Who and have yet to read it, I suggest you check it out! So, this is my first go at Loki fanfiction and I'm rather excited. This is bound to start a little slow, but I swear to Odin, it will pick up soon enough. I'm still working kinks out, so I apologize now for slow updates and such. Anyway, please read and comment and vote and let me know what you think! Can't get any better if I don't have constructive criticism to help me along, now do I?
Also, this is dedicated to Shannon, for pushing me to finally post, for feeling the Loki feels with me, and helping me decide on a title (finally!). You go, Glen Coco. <3
Here we go!
As of 2018, the three book series is finally complete! Check out Emprise and Valediction, the second and third books in the series!
Hi, hello! 2022 Keara here! So happy to see there are still so many new readers, and return readers, I cherish you all! Just wanted to pop this note in here now just to update you all - as some of you know, this series was started nearly ten years ago while I was still in high school, which is absolutely wild to me. That being said, I stand by a lot of this book, but it definitely needs some updating and some finessing! Times have changed, I have changed, and so has my writing. As of right now, I intend to keep this original version intact and available to read, and the plan is to post the revised version of Recompense as a separate book here (and possibly AO3?). We'll see! I hope to have it out by the end of the year, so stay tuned, and in the meantime, please enjoy this version as readers have for the past almost decade (holy shit!). x
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"Can anyone tell me the Anglo Saxon gods who give us the names of our days?"
I sigh as people glance at me expectantly. I raise my hand slowly, as though slipping it through molasses. Professor Raffel's eyes flicker over to me behind his thick black frames.
"Anyone beside Miss Sutton?"
Silence.
Professor Raffel sighs and pushes his glasses up his nose. With a dismissive flick of his wrist, I go ahead.
"Tiw, Woden, Thor, Frigga, etc, etc, you get the idea," I ramble out the list in order like it's normal. Like it's normal to have a calendar in my kitchen proudly boasting the names of Norse gods in place of Monday thru Sunday. Doesn't everyone have one?
He opens his mouth to say something else, sure to enthrall us all, but the bell blares loud and clear. Everyone scurries along, glad to be getting home for Christmas break, but I take my sweet time. I'm sure Professor Raffel has something to say to me, so I wait, books clutched to my chest. I pull on the loose thread of my sweater. Finally, he pipes up as the last student hurries out to their dorm, eager to pack up and get home. Here I am, still talking to my history professor.
"Val," he starts packing his briefcase, his eyes never straying from his task to meet mine. "Val, I've been thinking, how would you feel about an independent study course?"
This surprises me, "I mean, for what? I don't exactly have room in my schedule..."
"I wasn't proposing you make room for it. I'm suggesting you drop this class, or create a study. I'd prefer not to have you in here," he mutters. I pause.
"Excuse me?" I demand. He finally looks up, fixing his glasses once more.
"You are the only student who participates. You correct me. You know more on this subject, let alone the others. This class is obviously a waste of time. A waste of yours if you continue the course, and a waste of mine if you continue to teach for me," he seems a bit on edge.
"You're not really giving me a choice...are you?" I ask quietly and he shakes his head back and forth. I switch my books into one arm and swing my bag over my shoulder. I turn my back to him and open the door. I linger in the doorway for a moment, contemplating saying something awful but I don't.
Instead, I sigh, "Guð halda þér."
God keep you.
And then I close the door behind me. What a sad, sad man to think he has to throw me out so he can seem smarter. What a jerk. Had he asked, I would have gladly given up talking in class. It only makes me seem like a freak anyway.
I fish through my bag for my keys and pull them out, clicking the worn button to unlock the doors. The white painted lock symbols have long since rubbed away. I toss my bag in the passenger seat with the rest of my laundry and belongings to take home over break, and twist the keys into the engine. It sputters a moment before stalling out.
I groan to myself, "Come on, pleeeeease work!" I twist the key again to no avail. The car refuses to start.
"Lady Valkyrie?" A deep voice asks from just outside my car door, which I realize is still open, my leg hanging out on to the ground. I twist harder, frustrated, and I can feel the metal key bending. I let go and let my hands fall to my lap before I look up. My mouth falls open.
"Do you need help?" He asks in his deep voice. I continue to stare.
I stutter, "I...uh, y-yes. Who are you?" I take him in, all of him, as he's a massive figure. He must be at least six feet tall, and the man is built like a house. A very attractive house. His muscles bulge against his tight, simple tee shirt and he flashes me a smile of perfect white teeth. He runs his fingers through his long blonde hair before sticking his hands back into the pockets of his jeans.
"I am...a friend of your parents," he says, still smiling. My eyes are locked onto his crystal blue ones.
"Said every kidnapper ever," I mumble sarcastically.
"Why would I want to kidnap you?" He seems genuinely confused. I can't put my finger on just what, but there is most definitely something off about him. Maybe it's his strange, lilted speech. "Let me try..."
He reaches towards me and I flail, shifting away from him. "Stop! Leave me alone!" I yell, but he laughs and grasps the key, turning it with a flick of the wrist and the engine bursts to life. He turns his head and winks at me, his hair brushing my shoulder as he leans back out of the car.
"Okay, thanks weirdo," I am shaking as I try to close the door.
"You've got fire, just like your mother. Now come, take me to your parents, Valkyrie." He says and he starts to walk around the car. He opens the passenger side door and leans in, throwing my stuff on the floor. He gets in and I am sputtering, not sure what to do.
"What do you think you're doing? Get out of my car before I call the police!" I yell at him, pushing against his arm. He barely budges. Instead he simply laughs at me, which makes a strange anger well up in my blood. In my head I start to formulate an elaborate fight plan, but instead, I pull back and punch him square in the face. He recoils from my punch and he stares at me, surprised, as his hand flies up to cradle his jaw.
"Ow."
"GET OUT YOU CREEP!" I roar. Suddenly my phone rings. My mother.
"Hello?" I ask breathlessly.
"Hi, Val. Would you mind--?"
"Mum, I need you to call the police or get help or something. There is a crazy man in my car and he claims to know you and he won't leave and I punched him in the face and--"
"Skatten min, calm down," she says as though she clearly wasn't listening to what I said. Why is no one finding this to be a big deal?! "Will you please drive him to our house? He is...an old friend. He has come a long way to see us."
I turn my head slowly to the side to glance at the man I presumed was insane. Well, if life isn't just full of surprises.
"Okay...okay. Yeah, bye, mum. See you soon," I shake the weirdness off and put the car into reverse. I wait and the yet unidentified man stares at me expectantly. "Oh, I'm not going anywhere until you buckle your seatbelt, Mister...?"
"You may call me 'your highness', should you wish," he says haughtily. I roll my eyes. Maybe I was too quick to dismiss the insanity thing.
"Well, I'm Valkyrie, which you apparently already know, and you can call me Val," I say, flicking my blinker on. I have to lean further over to see around the broad chest of Lordy McCrazy next to me. I wonder what kind of alleged royalty he is.
We drive on in silence for a while and I can't say I mind. I can appreciate the silence--it lets my mind wander for a bit. No need to focus on the road as the nearly two hour route home is practically muscle memory. I wonder just who this man is and why he knows me, and my parents, and yet I've never seen him before.
"Lady Valkyrie," he says and I groan. "I apologize, my lady, Val. Tell me, if I was to say I am preparing for a battle. A battle beyond your wildest dreams, between my people and a terrible force...what would you say I should do?"
"Well, that depends on numerous factors--size, artillery, terrain, season, location! I couldn't give you the answers you seek without proper information," I state matter-of-factly and I can see his smile widen out of the corner of my eyes. I sigh. Yeah, I wasn't really planning on letting that all slip. My ability for plotting battle plans is evidently uncanny - not my own words either. Things I prefer to hide from my friends.
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I park in the driveway and I just sit there and sigh more. I rub my eyes and shake my hands out, tired from endless finals and the long drive. I haven't had a moment to rest in a solid month. I can feel him staring at me and I glare at him. "What?"
"What are we waiting for, young Valkyrie?"
I just stare at him, "Ugh, go ahead without me. I'm going to wallow in the mysteries of life now."
He gets out of the car and heads to the front door and I let my head drop, resting on the steering wheel. I see something out of the corner of my eye and twist my neck to see him waving his hands about at me. I sigh and pull the key from the ignition, grab my main bag from the backseat and get out of the car.
"There is a malfunction with this portal, Lady Valkyrie!" He laughs thunderously and looks back at the front door, dumbfounded.
"It's just locked...oh." I look down and see the door handle crushed in the palm of his hand. I pinch the bridge of my nose between my thumb and index finger. How is that even possible? I turn and head towards the garage to punch in the key code and I notice the mad man isn't following. I shuffle back to him, wrapping my hand around his wrist. It hardly makes it around, his arms being roughly the size of small trees.
"Ah, yes! Lead the way, young one!" He laughs with delight and I furrow my brow at him. "Do not be so cross with me, Lady Valkyrie. I find you most amusing!"
I huff, blowing my bangs out of my eyes with the puff of breath. "Of course you do."
We have to wait for the garage to open all the way for him to clear his head and the second we get in, the door to the house bursts open and my parents struggle to get through the door simultaneously. My mother rushes towards me, knocking me back a step with the force of her embrace. My father and the Crazy One stare at each other awkwardly. My mother lets go and holds me at arms length and warms me with a smile.
"I know right now this is terribly confusing, but it will be explained to you so soon, I swear," she murmurs, her pink lips barely moving. I nod and she moves to Him. Whose name I still do not know. Why did I drive him anyway?! I'm losing touch with reality, clearly.
"Thor," she states proudly before abruptly curtsying and kissing his hand. He smiles but shakes his head.
"We have no need for such formality. I am no more your king than you my subjects. But that is what I am here about," he (apparently Thor) states. My mother ushers him into the house and my feet don't move an inch. My father looks at me curiously.
"Thor...? Did she say Thor?" I croak out and my father nods. I glance at him, growing suspicious and irritable. "Dad, what the hell is happening?"
He wrings his hands and averts his gaze. I've never known my father to be nervous or submissive. Something is way weird today. "Ahem, uh...I'll let your mother explain this." He avoids my gaze. "And, welcome home, kiddo."