Song: Punish You (by Shayfer James)

Trigger Warning: death, drugged(kinda?) (not for any malicious or bad intent but I will still mark where the part of it taking effect starts and ends in case you want to skip over it)

A/N - There is some angst in this chapter, so sorry in advance. I literally came up with it halfway through writing this chapter but it honestly works really well with the plot and ties up some of the plot holes I had soooooo...

Anywhos- I know you are all going to hate me and probably be coming for me with torches and pitchforks by the end of this chapter, so I would like to kindly remind you that I am absolutely balling my eyes out while writing this. This is hurting me as well, but what is a good Loki fic without a little angst??????? ahaha rightttttt????????????

Remember, don't trust food or drinks from strangers, and never leave yours unattended! Stay safe lovelies! <3

Sincerely,

an angsty little fellow ;-;

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

Everything hurt. My muscles hurt, my head hurt, my eyes hurt, my brain hurt, and it even hurt to think.

That presence in the back of my mind was even more present than ever. I felt both physically and mentally exhausted, but it wasn't from all the fighting I did today, no that was nothing, it felt like my entire body and mind were constantly at war with themselves. My mind was in a constant screaming match with itself, it was screaming with so much desperation but it was as if it was only pouring its heart out to a brick wall. My body felt as if it was trying to restrict every movement that I made, retaliating against every action. My muscles would physically restrict whenever I tried to fight that wail in the back of my mind. All of these things were getting much harder to ignore.

Fighting against my own muscles and the pain in my head I reluctantly pried my eyes open. My vision slowly cleared, and taking in my surroundings I found myself in some sort of cell. The whole experience felt oddly familiar. It was most certainly not an ideal circumstance, yet for some reason, the presence in the back of my mind stilled and quieted slightly, almost feeling like it was relieved. Unlike other times, I decided to not fully ignore the distant feeling and instead took comfort and relished in the slight feeling of the unlogical calm. If only to stop me from freaking out and allow me to calmly come up with a plan to get out of here, then once I did I could finally figure out how to get rid of the constant chatter bouncing around my head.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

The cell was decently spacious, it was made out of a smooth and cool-to-the-touch white marble, and the four walls were formed by a quietly buzzing forcefield that had a slight gold tint to it. Inside, there was a small cot on which I was lying, a bedside table, and a feeble desk and chair. The cell itself was placed in the center of a large room that was directly open and connected to a long hall lined with smaller cells. I also found a flamboyant and colorful floral patterned crochet blanket draped over me, one that most certainly did not fit the rest of the atmosphere. But I decided to question that later.

I tried to search my memory to recall what had happened and where I was. My brain was mostly just a jumbled-up mess, like a ball of string unraveled and knotted all throughout itself, unable to even locate the start or end. After a slight amount of searching through the eerie emptiness in my head, my mind slowly cleared to some extent and I remembered how in the vault the seiðr Lady must have put me under some form of sleep spell.

To say the least, I was impressed, she truly must be powerful if she was able to get past my blocks. Setting up blocks was always a strong suit of mine. Essentially, in other words, I was good at setting up walls and avoiding emotions.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

I wasn't entirely sure how much time had passed, but I assumed it to be at least a few hours, all of which were filled with me sitting crisscrossed in the center of the cell racking my brain for any way to escape this place and the guards giving me some nasty side glances. However, my attention broke when the light, gentle click of a new set of footsteps, which were very different from the heavy anger-filled ones of the guards, made their way down the hall stopping directly in front of me. I opened my eyes, lifted my gaze to the approacher, and was surprised when my eyes met the same seiðr Lady as before.

Based on her clothes and the way that she held herself I deduced that she must be either royalty or someone very high in the court. Either way, it was not a good sign for me, if someone so important was getting involved with me, that means that I must have caught a lot of attention and would definitely not have any hope for a forgiving fate. However, instead of the cold, disgusted, hard glares that I have been receiving since I awoke, the Lady bore a small, kind but hurt smile, yet there was not a single drop of malice behind it.

I did my best to mask my whole body of any emotion, yet I only felt fondness and love for the woman in front of me. I prayed that the distant part of me feeling such things was not wrong about this woman. She has acted kind to me, but no matter how much my mind was pushing me to, I would not let her get in the way of my mission.

"Ellery dear, are you hungry?" she asked.

I did my best to give her my mightiest glare, but to be honest it was extremely difficult to even manage that. No matter how much I wanted to hate her, the presence in the back of my head started to overpower me instead, leaving me with only admiration for the woman.

However, I was able to keep my thoughts to myself and simply stared at her without giving an answer. I couldn't bring myself to speak, in fear that the distant part of me would take control and blow my calm and collected cover.

The Lady sighed but the warm expression still held its place. "Here, I'll just leave this here, I know it's your favorite." She expressed as she summoned a plate of cheesy pasta, a warmed roll, and a small bowl of chocolate pudding sliding it into the cell through the part of the shield that momentarily opened.

It was my favorite, done to perfection just the way I like it. But how did she know that?

I gave her a dangerous but curious glare, deciding to hide my fear of how she seemed to always know so much about me behind the venomous look I gave her. Mainly since I still did not trust my voice to not betray me.

I then turned my murderous stare to the plate of food instead, greatly considering whether I should eat it or not. On one hand, logically, I shouldn't trust them, who knows what they could have done to the food. Although, once again the distant part of me felt fully convinced that this Lady would not harm me for whatever reason, and no matter how much I told myself not to believe all the unfamiliar distant feelings, they continued to bubble up only stronger than before. Even the times they provided only comfort they were hard to ignore. Plus, I was really hungry, in all honesty, I couldn't remember the last time I ate, let alone a full meal. Like I actually couldn't remember... hmm that's odd. Additionally, there was chocolate pudding... I could never turn down chocolate pudding, no matter how intimidating I was trying to be.

After releasing a deep sigh I pulled the plate closer to me still not moving from my spot on the floor. But what surprised me was when the Lady gracefully sat down on the floor directly in front of me, summoning a plate of food for herself as well. I tilted my head giving her a questioning glance but she only smiled and continued to eat.

Cautiously, I pushed the food around on my plate a bit until I gathered a bite, not so subtly smelling it trying to detect any poisons, then reluctantly ate it. My eyes grew wide, it was perfect. I began to aggressively shovel it into my mouth scarfing the food down, my intimidation act long forgotten.

"I see that goat cheese pasta and chocolate pudding truly still are the way to your heart" she almost giggled.

"How did you guess?" I said through a mouthful of food, grimacing at how at ease I was around her.

"Guess what?"

"That this is my favorite food, and also perfectly the way I like it?"

She sighed, "It's the same way you insisted I make it for you almost every day when you were younger."

I rolled my head back while rolling my eyes. "Can't you just drop the act already? I don't know you, I don't know why you insist that you know me, but you are clearly mistaken." I said as I finished the rest of the food in record time.

She looked down at her lap and sadly smiled. "Tell me then, Ellery, who do you know? What was your life like? Where do you live? What do you like to do? Do you remember anything?"

I scoffed, "of course I know! I know I-" Shit. Why don't I know? "T-that's not important though! The only thing important right now is my mission, which I will finish and no one will get in the way of."

"What is your mission?"

"To restore the universe to its proper balance."

"What does that look like?"

"It's beautiful, everything at peace, united, no one would ever go hungry again."

Her eyes widened and her brows furrowed as if she realized something. "Ellery, why do you need the Tesseract?" Worry laced her voice.

"I need to bring it back to him, he can fix the universe with it." I didn't know why I was telling her all of this, I knew I shouldn't, I knew I should stop, but once I started I couldn't stop. Almost as if the distant part of me took the very little control it grasped onto, surprisingly deciding that this was the one thing that it decided to push all its effort into influencing.

I tried to push the presence back, scared of the influence that it had on me and doused it with the flames spread all throughout my mind. However, it still clung there, shriveled and burnt by the flames, but still clutching on with everything it had left.

"The Titan" she whispered to herself with a look of horror stuck on her face.

TW // drugged (to skip, continue reading after the *Trigger Warning Over*)

She then shook the look and turned away glancing at the small clock on the wall and back to me. "Should be any second now, I am very sorry about this my little Valkyrie, I truly hope you will forgive me."

Almost on cue, I instantly became extremely light-headed and groggy, my whole body and mind felt like a switch was flipped and all the lights went out. "Y-you put something i-in th-the food" I slurred accusingly, targeting a disgusted and hurt look at the Lady. I was still the slightest bit aware, but everything shut down, my body dropped to the floor, my breathing and pulse slowed leaving me in a completely calm state, and my mind felt as if its previously constant spinning suddenly stopped, leaving it completely still, a vulnerable state that should not be natural. I felt all my barriers drop, I couldn't form thoughts like my brain just fully shut off leaving it completely exposed.

*Trigger Warning Over*

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

Frigga's POV: (Woaahhhhhhh first pov change that's crazzyyyy ;o;)

I felt awful. I knew that Ellery would have told me to do whatever was necessary to fix this and help them if they were here, but I could still not shake the worry that they would not forgive me.

They were not in control, this is not the little Valkyrie I knew, that much was obviously clear. It was only proven further back in the vault when I tried to reach into their mind but there was nothing to reach for. It was all scorched and covered in a raging bright blue flame that only left ashes behind it. I tried to reach out to the small part of them that was still hidden away, trapped behind the blaze, but it was as if I was physically burned, unable to get close.

Therefore, as soon as Ellery was under the sleep spell and sent to the dungeons, I got to work. I went through countless spells and potions desperately trying to find something, anything that would help. Finally, I found one potion, it would slow down the mind to an extent where I would hopefully be able to grab hold of it and set them free of the other strong hold. So I quickly set to work brewing it and within a few hours, it was complete. Now I just needed to figure out how to get them to take it, and I had a pretty good idea of how. I placed it in the chocolate pudding because I knew that even if only the slightest amount of Ellery was still in there, they would never be able to turn away chocolate pudding... no matter how intimidating they were trying to be.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

As soon as the potion took effect and Ellery fell to the floor I quickly motioned for the reluctant guards to leave and opened the cell. I lifted them softly onto the cot and placed their mother's blanket, which I brought here earlier before they woke up, on top of them. I then pulled the desk chair to the side of the bed where I sat and then went on to slowly and gently place my hands on their temples as if I were afraid that they would have shattered underneath me at any moment.

Taking in a deep shuddering breath, I dove into their mind relieved when I was able to dive in deeper without it burning me. The flames were reduced to only a small smolder, one that I could maneuver around.

I sat there searching through their mind for hours, slowly picking up and placing the small pieces I found scattered around back together and tearing away the foreign pieces gradually one by one. After several hours of work, I finally found it, the main source. It had such a strong hold on their whole being, like nothing I have seen before. It branched out spreading and covering every inch, no doubt rendering them completely trapped and vulnerable to its will. I would tear away a small piece only for it to grow back tenfold, it covered over any proof of their previous self and buried all of their will and hope. Therefore, needless to say, I was completely shocked when I saw that its defenses were already weakened. It was attacked with such desperation, obviously, the Ellery I knew was still here and they were fighting, hard.

I yanked on the hold with all my strength, burning away all its branches, digging through the ashes trying to locate any trace of my Valkyrie. If Ellery had not weakened it previously I may have not been able to pry it free, but eventually after frantically tugging at it with everything that I had it finally withered away falling away to join the ashes that it left behind.

The instant the hold let go everything came rushing back at such an intense speed. I saw everything as it sped back to its regular places all around me. I saw from the moment they were born, their first training session, when their mother and then their father died, and the true extent of what that did to them. I saw all the many nights we spent tucked away in the library while I taught them magic, the countless pranks, the battles, the dark times and the bright times, the good and the bad. Then I saw the day on the rainbow bridge, and how they thought that was the end. Rushing past me, I saw what happened after the bridge, I saw what happened during the 317 days I thought I would never see my little Valkyrie again, I saw everything that they went through.

Not only were my worst fears confirmed, but my Ellery had to face those fears first hand and I felt sick to my stomach.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

Ellery's Pov:

I launched my eyes open and bolted up to a sitting position. Along with my aggressive movements, Queen Mother Frigga also jumped away with a far away fearful look. My head felt like it was splitting in half. I hunched over laying my head in my hands trying to block out all the light. But suddenly, my breath caught in my throat and my eyes grew wide as everything came back to me, I remembered Everything.

I remembered everything on the rainbow bridge, everything during those 317 days, everything Thanos made me do, and how desperately I tried to constantly fight against my physical body. I remembered screaming at myself until my voice was gone, begging for the rest of myself to snap out of it.

Oh god- Eilif... I killed Eilif...

I killed people, good people. I tried to steal the Tesseract for that purple oaf! Oh gods, I tried to hurt Frigga!

I started hyperventilating, and slowly lifted my head from my hands, tears on the brink of escaping, and looked towards the Queen. "P-please, please say it was all just a bad nightmare?" my voice broke.

She looked towards me with her own tears threatening to escape as well. "I'm so sorry dear, it was not a dream. But you are here now. I am here now."

I sucked in my breath, not daring to breathe. I didn't deserve to breathe, not after the breaths I took away from others.

My face drained of all color and I froze staring off into space as I lost control of the tears which now rapidly flooded out. I felt Queen Mother Frigga wrap her arms around me, enveloping me in a hug, but I didn't move, I couldn't, I just continued to stare at nothing in particular feeling like I was still there hopelessly trapped in my own mind.

She moved to sit beside me and pulled me into her chest where she held me tight and continued to rub circles on my back and pet my hair. "It will all be okay. You are back now my dear, you are here, it's over. It wasn't your fault, it wasn't you, you did everything you could. It's over, I'm here, I'm here." She continued to whisper sweet encouraging nothings into my ear.

I was full-on sobbing at that point, I hadn't cried like that in years. I was always so good at shoving my emotions away, but now everything burst forth like a tidal wave and it was all too much. "B-but it was my fault! It was me that did it! I wasn't strong enough to stop it. It's my fault. I killed them, I killed Eilif." I said choking on my own sobs.

I then quickly pulled away from her scurrying to the other side of the room. "I- I tried to hurt you! I could still hurt you! What if it comes back?! You can't be here!"

The Queen gracefully stood and took a few quick steps towards me placing her hands on the sides of my face as I looked to the ground avoiding any eye contact. "Listen to me carefully dear, It was not your fault. It was extremely powerful magic, magic that I have never even seen before. It took me hours to even slightly weaken it, and I would not have been able to do that if you had not already previously weakened it yourself. I could tell that you were fighting it, and you were fighting it very valiantly. You most likely would have broken through it with more time, but you did good, you did the best you could. You are not weak for not being able to break through it sooner, and it is by no means your fault. You are an amazing, kind-hearted, sympathetic, caring, and thoughtful person, Ellery. You are one of the most strong and most powerful warriors that I know. You would have never done anything like that. You would never become that.I know that was not you, I knew from the very first moment I saw you, that could never be you. You just need to get it through your head and believe that truth as well."

"It was my hands that did it. My hands that I had to watch do those things. I just had to sit back and watch my hands destroy everything I love, not able to stop it! Even if it wasn't my mind, it was still my hands that killed those good people, my hands that committed treason against the kingdom, m-my hands that tried to kill you." I sucked in my breath. "The people will need someone to blame, and that blame will and should obviously fall on my hands."

"Would you hurt me right now?"

"What?! No! Of course not my Queen!"

"Do you not still have the same hands though?" She sighed. "Ellery, your hands only follow the orders of your mind, and it was not you in your mind, it was that Titan. Your hands are nothing without your mind." I looked up at her with the intent to rebuttal but she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and continued on. "If a puppet was controlled to knock over a glass, would it be the puppet's or the puppeteer's fault?" She paused. "The puppeteer was the one with the intent to knock over the glass, the puppet was only a bystander. It was not the puppet's hand that moved to knock it over but instead the strings that pulled the hand which would have not moved otherwise to push it."

I looked back down to the floor while wringing out my hands as a nervous habit. "It doesn't matter either way. No one will believe it. Plus it is the law that I am to be executed tomorrow, and I heard the guards talking confirming it." I said with a bittersweet smile.

Queen Frigga pauses for a moment looking as if she is deep in thought. "No you won't" she then states slowly and quietly, visibly thinking through something.

"Wha-" I look at her curiously before I was cut off.

"I need to go find something! I promise you I will fix this, we will get through this my little Valkyrie." She rushes as she quickly makes her way out of the cell. "Oh, before I go, is there anything that you would like from the library or your room for the time being?" She asked from the other side of the forcefield.

"Uhh, my mother's shawl if that's possible. It just- it just means a lot to me. It should be in the chest under my bed."

"Alright dear, I will be back shortly, I promise. We will fix this!"

I then sat back down on the cot as she walked away. Although, then suddenly I remembered something. "Wait!" I shout after her. She turned around. "There are more chitauri here on Asgard, around 20 more stationed just on the edge of the woods on the East side of the palace by the river bend."

"Thank you, dear, I will send a group to go take care of them. I'll be back soon!" I watched after her as she exited the dungeons and then slowly sunk back into the bed wrapping myself in my mother's handmade blanket. It was the last thing my mother gave me before she died, she finished making it just 3 days before she was sent out to the hopeless battle. The weight provided a calming heaviness on my shoulders, the still lingering smell of my mother on it (thanks to a simple spell) soothed me, and the one frayed corner that I always absentmindedly fiddled with provided a needed comfort as I sat there staring off reflecting and regretting everything that brought me to where I was now as if I was able to change it.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

That constant nagging voice in the back of my head continued to relentlessly tear me down, reminding me of the monster that I had become. My mind continued on its self-destructive cycle as I only continued to stare off into nothingness for what felt like an eternity, but turned out to only be about half an hour. At this time, my thoughts were once again interrupted when another set of footsteps could be heard approaching. At first, I thought it to be Queen Mother Frigga returning again since I recognized them but then realized that they were not her gentle, careful ones but instead the set of secretly weary footsteps which were always disguised with a perfected fake powerful and determined stride. It was Prince Loki.

Even when we were only children I have always been able to easily read Loki like an open book, something that he absolutely despised. He was always extremely good at hiding his true emotions. I think that he thought that if he was able to convince others that he did not feel those unwanted feelings then he would also be able to convince himself they were nonexistent as well. Either way, I quickly learned how to easily see through his charades. So when he stood directly in front of me with so much worry, sadness, and desperation hidden behind a powerful mask of anger and disgust I grew worried. But I wasn't worried for myself, I was worried for him. I knew that he was absolutely terrified and all I wanted to do was comfort him, but I knew that I could not truthfully reassure him of anything, especially since in his eyes I just betrayed and stabbed everyone who ever only showed me kindness in the back.

"Y-you need to go, it's not safe here, I'm not safe-" He cut me off with a scoff and shook his head.

"What happened to you, Ellery?! Why would you- I- I thought you died! But then you come back, very much alive, just to stab everyone in the back and commit treason for the Norn's sake! Where did all those years go? All those years of friendship?! I trusted you, Ellery, I let you in but then you turn around and do this? Did all of it mean nothing to you?!" He screamed, letting his mask drop slightly and his true emotions come spilling out.

I was unable to meet his eyes, not able to stomach the look of pure betrayal and hurt.

"Loki-"

"Oh so now you know my name?!" He scoffed while chuckling humorlessly.

"I-It doesn't matter what you believe about me, but I need you to believe one thing. I would never, never, betray any of you. I would never betray this kingdom, or its people, but I would most especially never betray you, Prince Thor, or Queen Frigga. I could never hurt you. You all... you... mean everything to me. You have all shown me only kindness and provided me with the happiest years of my life, I will be forever grateful for that and I could never throw that away. No matter what happens, I will never throw that away." I closed my eyes tight, but a tear still managed to escape. I hated how much I was showing emotion today, I hated how weak I felt and I hated, even more, how weak I let myself appear.

"You tried to kill mother! How can you do that and then claim you would never hurt us?!" His usually calm and collected face, void of any emotion, now turned red from frustration.

"I- I was not in control. I was just there, having to only watch everything unfold. I tried so hard to break out, but it was too powerful, I was useless. H-he... had control of me, every aspect of me." I looked up to meet his eyes for the first time, barely being able to see past the blurriness of my tears. "I am so, so sorry for hurting you. I should have been able to fight it- I should have- I know this is my fault, and I don't think I will ever be able to live with the hurt that I caused. The hurt that I caused you."

He looked so conflicted and I swore I saw his eyes soften for a split second before I downcast my own, but it disappeared so quickly that I convinced myself I must have imagined it. We sat in silence for a minute as he seemed to be contemplating something.

"I wish I could believe you, Ellery. You disgust me." He huffed before quickly spinning and stomping off.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

I knew that Loki had the full right to feel and look at me the way he did, and that's what absolutely destroyed me. I was always able to not let his words affect me when he said things in the heat of the moment, which he did a lot. He was known for his silver tongue and being particular with his words, but when he really truly got worked up it was like all his filters dropped and he often would say the first thing that came to his mind. However, I knew that at this moment he was right, there was no reason for him to believe me, and there was nothing that I could realistically do besides wallow in self-pity.

However, I refused to accept that, instead, I decided that I would do everything I could to fix this. I had sworn my undying service to the throne and its people when I was sworn in as a valkyrie and I would not give up on that promise so easily. I told myself that I would prove myself, no matter what it took, and I would not lose everything I had worked for all these years. I would fix this mess that I found myself wrapped in, I would hunt down Thanos with nothing but my bare hands if that's what it took.

For the next several hours I made a list of everything that I knew about the Mad Titan, everything that he said, every detail even if it seemed insignificant. I made note of all the parts of his plan of getting the 6 infinity stones to wipe out half the universe that I heard and how to stop them. To my awareness, he currently processed the power stone and mind stone and only knew the whereabouts of the Tesseract, the space stone, being here on Asgard. I thought that possibly if we were able to locate the stones before him we could destroy them. Therefore, I decided that the very moment that I got out of this cell, which I tried to hold onto hope for, I would get to work researching, finding the other stones, and putting a stop to Thanos. It was the least that I could do, the least that I could do for everyone that my hands hurt because of him.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

It was what I assumed to be very late into the night at this point when the door at the end of the hall creaked open again pulling me from my brainstorming. Queen Mother Frigga strolled through once again gesturing the guards away, which they seemed very unpleased about.

I adjusted myself on my cot pulling my mother's blanket even closer and giving her a hopeful glance pleading that she found whatever seemed to give her so much hope previously.

The Queen opened the cell and walked in. That's when I noticed the golden fabric that she was holding and my eyes glowed, smiling for the first time in a long time. She smiled back at my reaction and handed it over to me.

It was my mother's ceremonial shawl and I never left it out of my sight for long. It was a short shawl made out of an elegant sparkling golden laced fabric that looked like a pair of wings draped over the shoulders. I always kept it close, it was one of my mother's prized possessions and it meant even more to me. It provided great comfort to me, and I swore that I felt instantly closer to her when I wrapped it around my shoulders. So I instantly felt incredibly relieved when I was able to hold it again for the first time in almost a year.

"I also brought you your favorite coat. I know it can get rather chilly down here." She softly smiled as she handed over the thick black fabric with gold accents that detailed the edges of the heavy fabric which draped over me like a cloak reaching just below my knees.

It really did get chilly down here, so I was very thankful. It also was my favorite and was just a very cool coat. I would have to thank Svan for it again, he was a close merchant friend of my fathers who gifted it to me when I was younger.

"Thank you" I simply said as I wrapped it around myself. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

She widely grinned causing her eyes to squint. "I did!" The Queen then sat down next to me causing the flimsy cot to creak with the added weight.

Pulling a thick book covered in dusty brown leather with gold accents out from under her coat she easily flipped it to one page and passed it over so it sat on both of our laps. As I glanced at the page the first thing I noticed was a picture of the Web of Wyrd along with several other runes spread across one page and it caused a shiver to travel up my spine. I really did not want to think about that mark and the impending doom that came along with it at the moment, I had other things to worry about.

"What is this about, why are you showing me this?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowing with distaste.

"Well, little Valkyrie, it is because of this," she said tapping the center of my chest where the cursed mark lay, "that will guarantee that you will not be executed no matter what."

"I will talk to Odin and explain everything, I very much hope that he will understand and see reason; but if he decides to be stubborn, I will remind him of the very laws that the Norns themselves put into place, ones that even he can not disobey." She stated lifting up the book and gesturing to it.

"You are a child of fate Ellery, you are still and will always be greatly needed. Your destiny is still yet to be fulfilled, if it had the mark would have faded. It would be a crime against Fate herself to interfere with one of those chosen to make sure that it is carried out."

"Queen mother... no offense, but be realistic. You and I both know that it was a mistake. I can't- the prophet must have gotten it wrong. I have never brought anything good to anyone, I have always only destroyed everything around me, clearly, that is still very much true."

"Valkyrie, look at me, it was not a mistake. Out of everyone I know, you are by far the most obvious choice to fulfill and succeed at something so important. Sure the old prophet Elise may have been a little off her rocker at times, but she would never mess something this trivial up. The Norns picked you, Ellery, they picked you for a reason, have faith in yourself. Ever since the moment you stepped into my life, I knew you were special, you have only brought joy and light into my life, just as everyone else's. Sometimes life does not carry out in the way that we expect, but everything happens for a reason, even this. Don't ever think any less of yourself, you have so much light left to give Ellery, trust me."

I looked into her eyes as tears were brimming in my own. She gently laid her hand on my cheek and brushed away the single tear that fell with her thumb. "I am going to speak with Odin, everything will work out, I know it." She naturally released such a strong sense of comfort, her eyes overfilled with only a loving admiration, the kind of look that a mother sent her child undoubtedly convincing them of how much they deeply adored them. I sent her a similar look back trying to convey how much she truly meant to me. Frigga was everything to me, she was always there for me no matter what, whether it was for something small or something unbearably large. She always had my back, always encouraging me to become nothing but my best self. She was there for me when I lost everything, she helped me rebuild and was with me every step along the way. She was so unbelievably kind to me, always patient, understanding, and everything that I could have ever asked for. When my mother left, she took up the spot, especially because of how desperately I needed one at that time.

"Will you be alright for now my dear?" She tenderly asked.

I gingerly nodded, softly smiling up at my mother figure.

Pulling her hand away from my face, she delicately placed a soft kiss on my forehead as she stood up making her way to exit the cell.

As she stood on the outside of the cell after she closed it behind her she tilted her head, happily sighed, and bore such a pleasant and truly happy expression, one that would be forever ingrained into my mind.

But that moment ended much too quickly. I suddenly heard a commotion coming from the shadows. There should be no one else down here, all the guards were dismissed for the time being on the Queen's orders. I started to say something, hoping that it was just a new guard who was lost or a small animal that somehow managed its way in. "What was that noise- FRIGGA NO!"

It all happened so incredibly fast, one second she stood there with a look of peace and hope on her face, and the next I watched as a chitauri leaped from the shadows and pounced behind her soon with its blade shoved through her stomach.

My whole world felt as if it had stopped spinning. I rushed forward pounding against the barrier, then dropped to my knees screaming at myself to just WAKE UP- it had to just be a bad dream, It had to be. I let out the most gut-wrenching wail, my screech was filled with so many emotions all at once. The sound bleed an unbearable amount of dismal, heartbreak, sorrow, regret, fear, and dread, but most importantly, absolute rage.

Everything passed in a blur, unaware of all my surroundings and everything around me, only being able to focus on the feeling of insufferable despair that boiled through me. That despair, in desperate need of escape, spilled out of me taking the form of my seiðr with so much force it blasted out of me in all directions, instantly blasting away and disabling the shield around my cell and completely shattering the restrictor cuffs on my wrists in a violent display. Everything was spinning and there was only one thing that I was able to focus on, my anger.

Without even glancing and with nothing more than a subtle flick of my wrist dozens of daggers sped through the air directly embedding into the rouge chitauri causing him to instantly drop to the floor dead. I wanted to inflict so much more pain on him, so much more, but I needed to focus on someone else at the moment.

I instantly sprinted over to Queen Mother Frigga dropping to the floor and moving her slightly up so she was leaning against the wall as I frantically applied pressure to the wound. My anger instantly disappeared for a moment and was replaced with unimaginable fear.

"I-it- it's going to be ok Frigga, i-it's all going to be alright, y-you're going to be ok." I practically screamed through my sobs almost like I was trying to convince myself more than her.

I instantly poured every ounce of my seiðr into healing the person I saw as a mother. But, I was not a natural healer, and even if I was, some wounds even then are not able to be healed fast enough. I tried to bind it together trying to at least stop the bleeding, but it was hopeless.

"nononoNONO NO Frigga stay with me! Please stay with me, i-it's going to be ok!" I continued to resignedly pour my magic into the hopeless cause refusing to accept differently.

Frigga tenderly grasped my wrist, her hand trembling underneath it. "Ellery, it's alright." Her voice was so soft and weak, her breathing so shallow you could hear the shakiness in it.

"No please-" I tried to be strong for her, but I was not able to hold back the tears anymore. I desperately clung to her refusing to let go.

She gently lifted my chin so I could see the soft smile on her face. "My little Valkyrie, you are so strong, you are going to do great things, I can see it."

"Queen Mother, pl-"

"Oh please dear, I always told you to stop with the formalities" She breathlessly chuckled. "I have always seen you as a child of my own, Ellery, you mean so much to me. Please never forget how much you are truly loved." With an extreme amount of effort, she lifted her shaking hand to tuck a curl of hair behind my ear then returned her hand to mine where I tightly clutched onto it in return. She brightly smiled as a few rouge tears spilled down her face.

"Promise me, you won't give up on them, Ellery. They both care for you deeply, no matter how much it will seem differently, keep them close. Promise me." I winced remembering the conversation with Loki earlier.

I knew that Frigga often got glimpses of the future, so if she deemed this as important as she made it sound, I would just have to trust her.

"I promise," I said as I tried to reflect the same smile that she had.

She grinned, closing her eyes and sighing deeply. She then relaxed and went limp in my arms.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

A/n - oh my lords that was a lot longer than I originally intended. It's almost the length of 3 of my normal chapters. I was going to try and split it up, but honestly just felt that it was better not to. So sorry for it being so long, I don't think that this will be a regular thing...

ALSO PLEASE DO NOT HATE ME I'M SORRY I ABSOLUTELY ADORE FRIGGA TOO THIS HURTS ME TO DO SO MUCH

Please feel free to use here to scream at me all you like, let all that frustration out.

I was originally not going to kill her off and was really looking forward to having her in the rest of this story... but it just works so well... also I do love myself some good angst at times as well (even though I am absolutely awful at writing it, so sorry about that).

(P.S. If you want lots of wholesome Frigga content, specifically grandma Frigga content :D, check out my Lokidottir book called "Yep, definitely Loki's kid.")

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅