Valkyrie

by Raythe Reign

  Liam grinned. “I’m sure it will be quite the conversation. It’s been ages since they’ve talked, but Thor seems so happy to be here that I doubt even Loki can dim his good mood.”

  “Maybe you’re right. Besides, Loki seems like a brooder. He wasn’t expecting Thor to actually come here. Now he’s got to plan all he wants to say,” Cameron answered.

  “I think … well, I wondered if Thor was what Loki wanted from Odin,” Liam said.

  “You mean like Thor’s hand in marriage or something?”

  “I mean Odin’s blessing or, if not that - and probably that would never happen - then maybe a lack of interference between them.”

  Cameron considered this. It seemed to him that what Loki truly wanted was Thor. What else could Odin have that he wouldn’t give the Trickster God for a chance to leave Asgard? Thor was a pretty damned good reason to resist.

  But now Thor is here and everything has changed.

  “But even though watching the two of them interact might be quite the thing, I’d rather take a shower with you instead. Have our own private time. Let the gods sort themselves out,” Liam suddenly said.

  Cameron’s cheeks heated and his gaze snapped to Nafari who rode beside them. If the other Valkyrie heard Liam’s comment and understood the sexual undertone to it, he didn’t show it. Nafari’s eyes were on the road ahead. He looked surprisingly placid considering all they had seen in the hospital and meeting Thor and Loki for the first time, but perhaps he was feeling grateful that this battle with the Gash was over, too.

  Over for now, anyways.

  “I think Loki wants to be alone with Thor anyways. After all, he teleported himself and Thor back to the club, but is making us ride there,” Cameron said. “Not that I’m complaining. I’m digging riding on your wings.”

  The fact that Loki had been able to teleport and had been in the hospital just the floor above where Liam and Cameron had been dying hadn’t set well with Cameron after they had jumped through the hole that Thor had made in the hospital floor.

  “You could have teleported us out of there? What were waiting for? An invitation?” Cameron had felt his face purpling with anger under the soot and grease of the fire. Fear and adrenaline had his emotions ratcheting up dangerously.

  “Cam,” Liam warned.

  It was only then that Cameron realized that frost was crawling across the floor from where he stood and everyone’s breath was freezing in the air. Thor was calming the little kids as their eyes got huge again at yet another show of magic. Except, if Cameron was honest, it wasn’t the magic he was performing that was scaring them. He was scaring him. His anger was scaring them. He’d swallowed and lowered his voice.

  “Please tell me that you were up here just waiting for the maximum amount of drama before you rescued us! Tell me that you weren’t going to stand up here and do nothing while we burned!” Cameron demanded. He was just a foot from Loki and he was shaking.

  The Aesir cocked his head to the side, observing him as if he were an interesting animal in a zoo. “You have Thor’s temper –”

  “Damnit, Loki!” Cameron raged.

  “The Gash can block me in some ways. It blocked me from getting to you unless I agreed to its terms,” Loki finally explained, holding up his hands as if to physically ward off Cameron’s anger.

  “So why not bring Odin here and then double cross the damned thing?” Cameron asked. “Tell me that you couldn’t have figured out a plan. You always have a plan!”

  Loki carefully answered, “You know what I believe about bringing the Aesir here –”

  “Bullshit!”

  Loki’s eyebrows lifted. “Pardon me?”

  “It’s bullshit,” Cameron hissed. “Bringing Odin here would have stopped whatever hold you have over him and you would lose out on whatever it was you asked him for. That’s why you didn’t do it.”

  Loki froze. “Perhaps that might be a tad true, but –”

  “No buts. Here’s the thing. You need to be either with us or not. You don’t get to play from the sidelines any longer. You don’t get to pretend we’re family and then leave us to burn. You have to be in or out,” Cameron told him. “You can’t play the outsider any longer. You could do that with the Aesir, but you can’t with Liam and me.”

  There was silence. Loki blinked and his expression was unreadable. Cameron worried in his emotional state that he’d overstepped. Loki was a god after all, but the words were out there. His true feelings were expressed. There was no taking them back. And it was the truth, at least as Cameron saw it. Now he just needed to see if Loki would smite him for it. Cameron blocked Loki’s direct view of Liam just in case the Aesir decided to go after his beloved brother first.

  But into the silence that had fallen so thick that it felt like a blanket, Thor spoke, “You’ve only known Loki for a few years and you already understand him so well, Cameron. I’m sure he fears what more you’ll learn by tomorrow.”

  Loki scowled at Thor. “You have no right to speak! You came down here and told those children who you are and hold up Mjolnir like Exhibit A of proof that you’re a god. You’re doing exactly what I feared the Aesir would, which is try to reassert the worship of the gods!”

  Thor shook his head and laughed sadly. “Loki, I did not ask these little ones to worship me. I merely told them my name and the name of the hammer. I do not want their devotion, only their friendship if they will give it to me.”

  “How can you be so good?” Loki rolled his eyes, but Cameron saw a spark of appreciation there, too. “No one can be so good! Or so naive! Only you, Thor, could be such a ridiculous mixture!”

  A longing. He longs for Thor’s goodness as much as he mocks it.

  “We like him!” the little girl piped up. She had wound her arms around one of Thor’s powerful legs.

  “He’s awesome!” the little boy said again. He was holding onto the other leg. Both of the kids looked happy as clams.

  “He’s a hero, Loki,” Liam said quietly. “Whether they think of him as a true ‘god’ or not, Thor will always inspire devotion because of his actions.”

  There was something so miserable in Loki’s gaze as he murmured, “I know.” He shook his head. “But you still prove my point, Thor. The others will come down here and be themselves, but they will expect worship as they are not as naive as you. You must know this!”

  “Loki, did you truly not bring me down here because you feared that I would demand to be worshipped? Forget the others,” Thor chided. “Why did you not come get me before and none of the others if you feared this? Only my hammer can send the Gash back where it belongs anyways. Between the two of us and the Valkyries, we could have stopped the Gash long ago. We could have saved countless lives!”

  Loki let out a small sigh and mumbled something. When asked to speak up he said sharply, “Because I couldn’t bring just you! Liam appears to have a version of my ability that allows him to pick and choose who comes to Midgard. If I opened the Bifrost even just to get you, everyone would have been freed.”

  “I have more power than you?” Liam blinked.

  “No, you have less, but it more control,” Loki muttered, but then he brightened. “It should not really be all that surprising that you have this gift. You are related to me, after all.”

  Thor’s eyebrows crawled into his rich, blond hair. “Are you taking credit for Liam’s acts today?”

  “No, but I am saying that his abilities did not come out of a vacuum,” Loki replied rather archly.

  The sirens that had been approaching the hospital were now blaring. Cameron realized that they must be right outside.

  “Guys, we really need to get out of here. What happened to taking this conversation to Fenrir?” Cameron asked.

  “Do not be afraid. I will remove us all from this place unseen,” Loki promised.

  Thor bent down in front of the children. “Now, I must go, but you two must remain here until the nice deputies come.”

  “But we want to be with
you,” both children sniffed.

  Thor embraced them and said, “I am not leaving forever. Just for now. I promise to come see you again.”

  “We won’t tell anyone about you,” the girl said, wiping her tearing eyes.

  “We know it’s a secret,” the boy agreed.

  “Besides our parents wouldn’t believe us anyways,” the girl added.

  “Tell the authorities that you ran and hid. You saw nothing. You heard nothing. You are very afraid,” Loki instructed them.

  The two nodded. Their secrets were safe with these kids. Thor stood up and the four of them moved near one another as Loki gestured for them to come close. Between one blink and the next they left the interior of the hospital and Loki transported them to the edge of the hospital’s back parking lot just where Nafari was waiting. The Valkyrie jumped nearly out of his skin when they appeared before him.

  “Liam! Cameron!” Nafari cried and raced towards them. “Thank the gods! I could not sense you at all and feared the worse!” Then he caught sight of Thor and Loki and froze in his tracks. “Who …”

  “We are the gods you were just thanking,” Loki said with a smirk. “I’m Loki and I’m sure you recognize Thor.”

  “Loki. Thor,” Nafari breathed. “You’re both … here.”

  Thor went over and clasped his shoulder. “Yes, and we are going to help our brave Valkyrie who have held the line against the Gash for so long alone.”

  “I cannot believe …” Nafari let out a wild laugh and embraced Thor, nearly lifting the much bigger god off of his feet. Thor let out a matching laugh as they slapped each other’s backs. Finally, Nafari pulled back and grinned at Thor. “I should have known that when things were blackest that you would come. After all, Liam is —”

  “As close to me as a son,” Thor filled in, beaming with pride at Liam.

  His older brother actually ducked his head and blushed. While no one would replace their father, it was clear to Cameron that Liam admired Thor greatly and already loved him.

  “When I saw him use the lightning to free those children …” Nafari did not end that sentence, but simply shook his head in awe.

  “Cameron,” Loki said and wagged a finger at him when Cameron turned his attention to the Trickster God. “You are falling behind your brother in skills. You must try harder.”

  “Liam’s always been the far bigger badass,” Cameron objected. “And I’m okay with that. He’s my older brother after all.”

  He leaned into Liam who put a comforting arm around him and kissed his temple. No one flinched or looked uncomfortable by that so Cameron’s own tension drained away.

  “Still, we need you to reach your potential for though things seem darkest now, it could get darker still,” Loki warned. He then straightened and said, “Now, go get Thor appropriate clothing. We will meet you at Fenrir.”

  “I am appropriately clothed,” Thor said with a frown as he looked down at his gold and silver filigreed armor and flowing crimson cape. “I am dressed for battle.”

  “You look like a crazy person dressed that way on Earth. Trust me,” Loki said. “I know all about crazy.”

  Thor and Loki then disappeared. There wasn’t even a puff of smoke. It seemed to Cameron for a moment that he saw a flash of a rainbow and then they were gone. Nafari whispered something in a foreign language, which though Cameron did not understand the words, he understood the sentiment.

  “Damned cool.” He nodded.

  The three of them had gone to Target to pick up clothes for Thor. Liam guessed Thor was two sizes larger than himself. They grabbed jeans, t-shirts, a hoodie, boxer briefs, and socks. They also picked up some work boots as Thor’s boots were armored.

  Now they were on the highway, heading to Fenrir as the sun dropped below the horizon, painting the sky gold, pink, purple, red and orange. Cameron called their mother and told her the short version of what had happened. She let out a relieved sigh, but could not say much. Cameron heard the squawk of radios in the background and jingle of cuffs and intuited that she was surrounded by her deputies, firefighters and ambulance crews. He let her know that they would be at Fenrir if she needed to find them.

  “I’m not sure how long I’ll be. There’s a lot to …investigate,” she said cautiously.

  Cameron immediately thought of the little boy that the Gash had possessed and had forced to eat the doctor and nurse. What would become of him? Would it be like the Gash said that the boy would have no life after this? But then he thought of how determined his mother could be and he believed that she would do her best – which was better than almost anyone else – to make sure that didn’t happen.

  “I understand, Mom,” he said. “I’m glad …” He didn’t know exactly how to end that sentence, but then it came to him, “I’m glad you were there.”

  “We make a good team, Cameron,” she said.

  “We do,” he agreed then cleared his throat and said, “Talk to you later, Mom.”

  They hung up. Liam didn’t say anything, but Cameron knew that his older brother was pleased by the conversation. Cameron merely snuggled tighter against him and fantasized about their first shower together.

  Fenrir loomed up ahead of them more quickly than Cameron thought it woul. The red neon sign made it seem like the bar’s name was on fire. Liam pulled into the parking lot. Nafari followed after him. They didn’t bother “parking” their wings. Instead, as soon as Cameron got off the bike, the motorcycle disappeared, melding into Liam. The same thing happened with Nafari’s motorcycle.

  As soon as they opened Fenrir’s front door, Elda’s voice rose up, “If we can get the Gash to you, Thor, you can open a hole into the Gash’s dimension?”

  “And Mjolnir’s lightning can chase it inside,” Thor finished.

  “I am not sensing the Gash in one place,” Lihua said, sounding almost dreamy. “It is … diffuse somehow. This is different than before. I fear it will not be easy to get it all in one place.”

  “You realize that now that Thor is here the Gash won’t actually show itself, don’t you?” Loki sighed as if he were speaking to very slow children.

  “Oh, yeah it will,” Cameron said as they came into the bar’s interior. “It’s pissed and arrogant. It will want to take me and Liam out for sure. It won’t be able to stay away.”

  “That is a good point,” Elda said with a thoughtful nod.

  “Thanks. The Gash has had it out for us for over a decade and we just made it madder so … it’ll come.” Cameron then turned to Loki with raised eyebrows. “I thought you and Thor intended to have a private talk?”

  “We did but my bar is infested with Valkyries,” the Trickster God said.

  Loki was behind the bar, polishing glasses. A pitcher of mead was on the table and Cameron’s mouth immediately watered. But Loki wagged a finger at him and Cameron groaned. He wanted to complain like a little kid that Thor was drinking the mead so why couldn’t he? But he knew better. As much as the mead had helped him earlier that day it was also poisonous to the human part of him.

  “Loki, these are our comrades in arms,” Thor said, gesturing towards Elda and Lihua before swinging his arm wider to include them all.

  “And already you are the favorite,” Loki replied tartly. “Even though it is my booze they are drinking.”

  Cameron noted that Lihua was drinking a glass of chardonnay while Elda was sipping a Belgian wheat beer from the color of it. Nafari quickly joined the other two Valkyrie, but Liam remained by his side.

  “I wouldn’t mind some more of that mead,” Nafari said, smacking his lips.

  Loki poured him a glass with a put upon sigh.

  “Do you want to stay down here and plan with everyone?” Cameron asked Liam. He thought his brother would feel duty bound to do so despite the fact that they smelled like fire.

  Before Liam could respond, Loki started making shooing motions at them. “You stink! Go wash and rest. We won’t be doing anything tonight in any event other than drink and speculate. We
can do that well enough without you.”

  Liam gave him a relieved smile and Cameron grinned brightly. Loki was giving them an out of duty to be with one another.

  “Here are some clothes, Thor.” Liam handed the shopping bags to the Aesir who immediately poked his head inside of them to see. “I know the clothing must seem strange –”

  “Not at all! I have watched this world for some time, Liam! I am very familiar with the fashions. I look forward to trying on jeans.” Thor pulled out a pair. They were faded and a little frayed as if he had been wearing them for years. Thor beamed at them. “Thank you so much. I will repay you for your kindness.”

  “No need,” Cameron said. “We are family.”

  Thor’s face lit up like the sun and Cameron was amazed at how much he looked like Liam at that moment. A flare of warmth towards the Aesir flamed in his chest. Then the real Liam was putting an arm around his shoulders and guiding him towards the stairs up to his apartment. He felt the other Valkyries’ gazes upon their backs. He kept his spine straight and did not look at anyone. He knew that, if they didn’t already guess, that Nafari would tell them that he and Liam were lovers.

  I don’t care what anyone thinks, but Liam.

  As soon as the door to the bar was closed the two of them turned to each other and grinned like they were naughty little kids then raced each other up the stairs. Cameron squeezed ahead as he squirmed out of Liam’s hands as his brother tried to catch him around the waist at the very top. Cameron let out a wild laugh.

  “I’m going to beat you!” Cameron cried.

  A feeling of elation flowed through him and a memory came, unbidden, of Liam chasing him through the house. He’d stolen something from Liam’s room just to get Liam’s attention and taunted him with it. Liam had been spending a lot of time – too much time, in Cameron’s opinion – with a new boyfriend and he wanted Liam’s attention for himself. It had worked. Liam had run after him, making him breathless and giddy. His older brother had caught him by the waist and hoisted Cameron over his shoulder like he weighed no more than a sack of flour.