IDUNA (Loki x Reader)

Chapter 4 - Daggers and Violet Flowers

You woke to blinding light as your curtains were pushed open. One of the handmaidens from the palace had come with breakfast. This wasn't typical of your routine, and the royal family was familiar with your request to not be waited on. It never helped the transition back to Earth. Earth. Where you'd be going back to...tomorrow? Soon.

"Good morning, Iduna. Prince Loki told me to come to wake you for your training."

"What?" you could hardly open your eyes, even the slightest attempt sent shooting pain into your head.

"Your training. He was telling me all about your plan to get back into fighting shape to help Thor," she said in a way so sweet that you almost hurled on the embroidered rug next to your bed. She briskly left your room now, probably knowing that you were the monster who never let the palace servants into your room. Even that word felt skeevy to think.

After you tried to eat some of the breakfast and avoid looking even more ungrateful, you changed and made your way to the extremely over-the-top training wing of the palace. You never came here, as your trips were often too short to warrant a workout. Loki was standing on a large mat that was covered in a layer of foam. His outfit was far different from the green monstrosity he often wore. Instead, it consisted of black pants that didn't hug his entire-nevermind and a black tee-shirt. You didn't think you'd ever even seen the skin on his arms. He could've been all skeleton under there. To top it off, he had on sneakers, which you now knew existed on Asgard. He stood before you with his arms crossed.

"You aren't at all dressed for training."

"That's probably because I never agreed to train."

"Well, that's another mistake you've made." He turned and started walking toward a back room where he shuffled through drawers of clothing that were the same color as his own. "Here." he threw a short stack of clothing at your chest and-thank goddess-you caught it. "Go change."

-

"Look, I know you planned to be a Midgardian forever and never have to wield any of your strength as a goddess, but I find it unwise to forget all you once knew. To be fair, I don't expect you to go fight with Thor and his insufferable friends." He spoke as he pulled a plethora of daggers down from a display on the wall. "I only want you to remember ways to defend yourself. Then, you can start saying no to people. And if they protest," he flipped one of the daggers above his hand, caught it, and extended it to you, "you can kill them."

"Jesus,"

"What?" You forgot that wasn't really a thing over here.

As worried as you were by the concept of being trained by a known assassin, you did understand the logic. Even if Loki hadn't shown up in the market, the best you could've done to that guy was giving him a swift kick between the knees, but you weren't even sure how successful you would've been.

"I am going back to Earth."

"Fine. But at least remind yourself of your life here before you were treated like a charity, as you call it."

-

Your training sessions had consisted of hand-to-hand combat, and a bunch of knife tricks you couldn't believe you remembered. You could hold your own, but you knew he was taking it easy on you, and that was frustrating enough. It was slightly more annoying when he didn't.

"I could get used to this." He said as he had you pinned down with one of his knives at your throat.

"If you were going to kill me, you would've done it long before I went to Earth. Apples stop aging but they're not great with a stabbing." He pulled you up back to your feet. "Are we done?"