Among the Asgardians: The Goddess of Love

Brutus and Antigone

Loki's POV

I screamed in agony, watching the life drain from her eyes as her hand went limp leaving a path of blood on my face. I looked up at Sif and mother. Mother looked horror struck and Sif was sobbing and holding the bloody bundle that was one of my children to her chest. I lowered my head to Kathryn's chest and listened, searching frantically for a heartbeat. For the longest time there was none. Then I heard a small flutter of movement in her chest. It was her heart. It had to be.

"Mother!" I shouted. "She's alive!"

"What?" Frigga whispered, running to her side.

"I heard a heartbeat," I said.

"Impossible," Sif said softly.

But her heartbeat was still there. I heard the fluttering noise again, ever so softly vibrating in her chest. My eyes traveled to her neck, where I saw a faint, golden line that as smeared in blood. I breathed a sigh of relief, fingering the small, golden chain of the locket between my thumb and index finger. I had given that locket to her to keep her alive while she carried the children, but it was still protecting her, even after they were gone from her body.

"She needs blood," Frigga said, closing the gaping hole in her body up with small, quick stitches. "She's lost too much. Even your magic won't be able to protect her in a few moments. It's a miracle she's still alive. The only question is how we're going to smuggle the equipment I need out of the healing room."

At that precise moment, Tahimik walked into the room, carrying an armful of medical supplies. Among them were several feet of tubing, needles, and an odd looking device in a square container.

"Clever girl," Frigga said, taking the supplies from her arms. "When this is over, I'll write your freedom papers." She flew into action, hooking up the tube and needle to Kathryn's arm, and hooking more tubing up to the box. To that, she attached another needle. "Loki, I need your blood. It's the only thing that will save her. If I put someone else's blood in her body, there's a chance she could die. But we had you tested when you were a baby. You're a universal donor and I don't have time to test anyone else."

I nodded. "Do what you have to do."

Frigga pushed the needle into my arm and whispered a small spell. Instantly, my blood began to fill the tube, flowing though the black box and into Kathryn's body. Meanwhile, Frigga was placing her hands on Kathryn's stomach an whispering spells to heal whatever internal damage had been done. I watched my blood as it flowed through the black box and into the tube that was heading to Kathryn's body. Then, it paused an inch from her arm.

I tapped it, enticing it to flow into her body. The second my blood entered her veins, she let out a huge gasp and her eyes were opened. It was extremely scary. It was impossible for her to be conscious, but her body was animated by some unforeseen force. There was something odd about her. At first glance, it looked like nothing, but as I watched, I realized it was her eyes. Where once they were purple and lovely, now her pupils had expanded to cover the entire eye, making them black. There was no sight showing anywhere. Then I heard a noise.

It was like a long whistle. "What is that?" I whispered.

Sif looked outside. "It's the wind," she said. "It's a gale force wind! It looks... Oh, it looks like a hurricane out there!"

"It's her," Frigga whispered, stroking Kathryn's stomach lovingly. "She was a mortal. Now she isn't because of your blood."

"She can control wind?" I asked.

Frigga nodded as she undid the tube from my arm. "If I'm not very much mistaken, she can control all the elements. And she'll be able to read minds like you can, as well as see the future like you." Once the tubes were unhooked, she turned to Tahimik, who was putting new linens and a new bedspread on the now-naked bed. "When you finish that, will you take one of the twins and hand the other to Loki? I'm going to need help putting her on that bed to recover. We can't take her to the healing room. The healers love to gossip and if word got out that she'd had children..."

"I can help you put her up there, you know. I'm perfectly capable." The pain in my body was almost gone now. Gods healed quickly.

"I know that, my son, but don't you want to hold your children?" she asked.

I looked at Sif, who was oblivious to all the other people in the room as she cooed over the baby in her arms. It laughed and played with her hair.

"I would like that," I said, walking forward. "Which one is the girl?" I asked Sif.

"The one Misneach has," she replied.

I turned to Misneach. "Can I hold her?"

The redhead nodded, handing me the bundle in her arms. I took the baby and looked into her face for the first time. She was quite beautiful, but then again, doesn't every father think that of his daughter? She had a soft covering of black hair on her head. Her face looked rather pointed underneath the layers of baby fat. I could already tell she was going to look like me. The only bits of Kathryn I could see on her face were her bright, purple eyes that stared at me, regarding me with silent curiosity. And it took my breath away.

"Antigone Portia Lokison," I whispered. "So beautiful. So perfect. Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight, for I never saw true beauty till this night."

Frigga looked up. "That was Romeo and Juliet, yes?"

I nodded, consumed in the infant's face. Of all the times I'd held my children, whether Sleipnir, Fenrir, Jormungand, Nari, or even Hela, this was by far the most earth-shattering and awe-inspiring. This child was mine. She was mine, born by the only woman I'd ever truly loved. "Can I see my son?"

Sif nodded, coming forward to claim Antigone from me and handing me the boy. He had strong features like his mother. I could already tell this boy was born to fight. I would have to keep him away from Thor. His uncle would be a bad influence. He had Kathryn's blond hair, as was evidenced by the soft, peachy down on his head. As for his eyes, he had my bright green ones. "Brutus Harley Lokison," I announced. The middle name was an odd one, but it had been Heimdall who had urged me to name my son thus. I didn't know what Heimdall had seen in the boy's future, but he was destined for great things.

"Are you sure you don't want to give him a different middle name, my son?" Frigga asked, striding over to me now that Kathryn was stable on the bed. She leaned her head on my shoulder and I handed her Brutus, taking Antigone back from Sif.

"Yes, mother. I am sure. Heimdall told me that was to be his middle name."

"Well then if Heimdall has decreed it, that is how it shall be," Sif said. She had a smear of blood on her cheek, but she looked happy for us. All of us. Now all that was left was one thing.

"Mother, are you aware of why Thor was angry?" I asked. "Father knows I've been helping the resistance in the villages," I said.

"What?" cried Sif and Frigga in unison. Damn. I had forgotten they did not know.

"I am their only hope, mother. Have you ever met them? They are starved and beaten all in the name of the Asgardian Monarchy. I am only trying to establish a representative government. But Thor has blown it out of proportion and turned Father against me. I need you to wipe the Allfather's memory of my betrayal, but not of the war. I will wipe Thor's. They cannot know about me or I will be killed."

Frigga was silent as she stroked Brutus, who was now asleep. "I will do what you have asked, son. But I do not like the idea of my two sons fighting on opposite sides in a civil war. It will tear us apart."

"I will refuse to let it," I vowed. And I meant what I said.