Slowly Dying

Nick

I woke up startled and started looking frantically around my room. Where was Fenrir?

I was about to get out of bed when a wave of dizziness came over me and I fell to the floor. Then Loki came running in a couple seconds later and when he saw me lying on the ground rolled up in a little ball he came over and picked me up.

"You shouldn't have gotten up. You're still recovering from the last effect." He said.

I didn't reply, because I was shaking like crazy and I just couldn't find my voice to speak at the moment. He carefully set me down on the bed and covered me up with the blankets.

Then he said "I hate to do this Natalia, but it will help take the pain away and help you fall asleep."

I heard him mumble some words and then I felt a rush of pain spread through my body. I couldn't help but scream. The pain continued for another five long seconds until it finally stopped. Then I heard Loki mumble another set of words and I slowly started to fall asleep. The last thing I saw was Loki setting Fenrir down beside me on the bed.

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(3 days later)

"Nadia, it's time to wake up."

"Ugh... five more minutes." I said as I rolled onto my other side.

"I've given you three days to sleep, so I believe it's time to wake up."

"Haha. Very funny mom."

"I'm not your mom."

Wait. What? I woke up and saw Loki standing at the side of my bed. Then I felt Fenrir licking my face and couldn't help but giggle.

I sat up and picked up Fenrir. I held him out as far as my arms could go and took a good look at him. He was mostly gray right now, but I could tell as he grows his coat is going to turn black since the tips of his ears, muzzle, paws, and tail were already black.

"Good morning Fenrir." I said smiling then brought him back to my chest and started petting him.

"It's actually afternoon." Loki said "Anyway, he stayed by your side the whole time you were asleep. Even Sielpnir was getting worried since he hasn't seen you since when he was born."

"Well then I guess it's time to pay him a visit." I said as I plopped down into the wheelchair. Fenrir followed right behind me as I rolled to the dresser to get my outfit, then to the bathroom to change(but I left him outside the bathroom while I changed).

Once I was done changing(I was wearing the same armor except with purple fabric, and with my long black hair in a side braid) we went down to the dining hall and ate some lunch then headed to the stables to visit Sielpnir.

When we got there everyone was running around getting their horses ready and getting on. I wonder what all the hassles about.

I had one idea of where Sielpnir might be and when I got there I saw that I was right about his location.

But I also found a surprise in his stall. There was a boy about my age in there with Sieplnir.

I just sat there and watched what he was trying to do. Sielpnir was lying down and refusing to eat while the boy was trying to be gentle and was trying to get him to drink the milk.

"Oh come on buddy. I know your mom the princess isn't here right now but I promise that she'll be here to feed you next time. But she would still want you to drink your milk. So come on." The boy said.

Still Sieplnir continued to ignore the food and looked away. But when he looked away from the boy he looked straight at me. Immediately Sielpnir got up and ran(more like stumbled) towards me.

"Hey pretty boy!" I said happy to see him after so long. "I'm happy to see you too, but why aren't you drinking your milk?"

Then, like a child, Sielpnir looked down at the ground like he was in shame.

"Oh, don't look down like that, you're not in trouble. But if you don't start drinking your milk when you're supposed to, then you will be in trouble." I said laughing as he tried to put his front hooves on my lap where Fenrir was.

I set Fenrir down and he immediately started running around Sielpnir making Sielpnir dizzy, which caused him to fall down. Fenrir went over and started licking Sielpnirs face while Sielpnir whinnied with happiness.

I looked up and saw the boy who was trying to feed Sielpnir still staring at me(he had a dirty blond mop of hair, dreamy blue eyes, and little freckles right under his eyes). When he finally got out of his shock of me being there and also noticed that I was staring at him he stood up, bowed his head and said, "My princess."

He didn't lift his head up and then I realized "Oh! Do I need to say something for you to stop bowing? I am so sorry! I'm just new to this whole princess thing, and no one has exactly taught me the rules." I told him quickly.

He looked up at me and said "That's alright my princess. I understand." He started to leave but then stopped. I then realized that I was still blocking the door.

"Oops. Sorry. Again." I rolled out of the way for him to get through. "Also, you can stop calling me princess. My names Nadia, what's yours?"

He turned around and said, "Nicholas, and I thought your name was Natalia."

"It is, but Nadia's my nickname." I explained to him.

"What is a nickname?" Nicholas asked.

I burst out laughing and said, "You don't know what a nickname is?"

He shook his head and I stopped laughing then said, "A nickname is still your name, except it's shortened so you don't have to say the whole thing. Like for you, your nickname would be Nick since your name is Nicholas. A nickname could also be something you call another person, because it describes their personality or what they look like. But it has to be a nice nickname, nothing like fatty or idiot. Such as, back on Midgard some people call me Eagle, after the assassin Hawkeye, because I almost never miss my mark. Then again I was trained by the best."

He nodded his head and said, "Well, good day Nadia."

I watched him start to walk away then hesitated before saying "Do you want to go on a trail ride with me?"

He turned around and said, "I would love to, but I have to get back to my chores."

"Oh come on. There are so many other people around here that could do them for you, can't you just get someone else to do your chores? And even if you can't, I'm pretty sure I can make up and excuse for you. I am the princess after all. Anyone would listen to me." I said smiling at the last part.

Nick laughed at that one. "Well if you insist." Then he did a fake bow "Your highness."

We both started laughing and then went to go get our horses ready.

I could already tell that today was going to be a good day.