Havoc and Retribution

Lay Me to Rest

Loki watches as the motes of light emanating from the shrine form into a figure he sees in his memories every night.

Long, curling twists of hair cascade down her back, the same liquid fire as Jaycee's hair. Gold bands wink in the waves, binding strands back into bunches in the style of the Vanir warriors of old. Her eyes shine a pearlescent golden ivory before they settle into the riverstone grey he knows well. She steps from the light into the twilight.

Surprised, Loki notes Sigyn of Vanaheim is dressed in a pair of tattered jeans, a white tank top and is barefoot. He expected something flowy and more... goddess-like. It stuns him to see her so casual. She looks just like her great-granddaughter. Perhaps his memory has been playing tricks on him all this time. He altered his memories of Sigyn to make her more of a goddess, sleek lines and perfection in his mind. But the woman standing in front of him is as real as she ever was, closer to her great-granddaughter than Loki remembers her. Perhaps he lied to himself, made Sigyn's memory less like Jaycee to spare himself the pain of seeing her face, a face he betrayed.

Sigyn's eyes land on Senna first and a smile creases her face. "Senna, darling," she says, her face lighting with joy and love. Senna's eyes gleam with tears and she moves forward to fold the glowing form of her mother in a hug. Sigyn crushes her daughter to her chest, smoothing down Senna's grey curls and pressing a kiss to the side of her temple.

"I've missed you, Mom," Senna says.

"I've missed you too, dearest," Sigyn replies, pulling back and cupping her daughter's face in her hand.

Loki feels like an interloper in this tender moment. Knowing Sigyn had a daughter is so much different from seeing her interact with her daughter. Sigyn truly loves Senna; it's clear from her face that she loves her daughter. Selfishly, Loki had almost wondered if Sigyn had kept some distance from herself and her daughter because she had kept so much distance between herself and everyone else after the fall of Vanaheim. But Sigyn loves her daughter unconditionally and Loki has no doubt that she would have loved Helen and Jaycee just the same.

Then Sigyn's gaze moves over Senna's shoulder to stare at Loki and he is ashamed of how her face closes off. Senna follows her mother's gaze and sees the simmering tension building between Sigyn and Loki. "Be gentle with him, Mom," she says, patting her mother's shoulder. "He did come all the way across the Nine Realms to try and save your great-granddaughter."

Sigyn nods, giving Senna one last fond look before turning her full attention on Loki. He finds he has nothing flippant to say, no way to break the tension stretching tight between them as she stalks towards him, ever the lioness.

Even though she is only as tall as Jaycee, she looms into his space and he finds himself wanting to back up as she comes to stand in front of him. The silence expands and contracts between them, her brilliant grey eyes almost sparking with intensity as she takes him in before meeting his green eyes.

"Well, it's been a while---," Loki finally tries before Sigyn hauls off and slaps him across the face.

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Hel is ranting and raving in their head, the afterimages of Athronei's starlight burning their eyes. Hel is brooding in a corner of their mind, remembering Sigyn, unintentionally showing Jaycee things she has never seen before.

She cries when Hel remembers how she killed Sigyn. Jaycee never knew exactly what happened to Sigyn, only knew she was dead. Watching her death in her own head is visceral and Jaycee cannot seem to stop crying.

Jaycee also sees memories Hel has never shown before about Tyr and Midgard and the long lonely years Hel spent hating her golden sister for leaving. She sees memories from the far past of Sigyn and Hel, newly formed twins on Vanaheim, ending civil war, then growing apart. Without Hel's heavy-handed malice covering up these long lost memories, Jaycee sees Hel's past and can't help but pity her.