Merciful [A Loki Fanfiction]

Avian Nine

Merciful

Chapter 1: Avian Nine

...

I sighed as I curled one last strand of my black hair. It had taken hours; my hair refused to hold curls. Today, I had some free time, though, before the birthday of one of my colleagues' kid.

When finally I arrived at the park, the first thing I did was check out different vantage points, mainly the thin woods that surrounded half of the park. Suspiciously, there was a pile of upturned earth, as if someone had been digging. I didn't bother it, though; whoever it was didn't need to know the extent of my knowledge.

"Ag - Jaida!" my colleague said with false enthusiasm. I hadn't actually been invited, and by her worried eyes, she knew there was something up. "Wonderful to see you here?"

I smiled at her. "Hey. I brought a present."

I handed her the sparkly blue bag and uncharacteristically wrapped the woman in a hug. She stiffened; we didn't know each other well, being in completely different branches.

"Don't worry about anything," I whispered. "Just treat me as an old friend and I will take care of everything else."

She nodded shakily and I pulled away, greeting her little children.

I looked nervously around the scarily white room. Several other children my age - about five years old - shuffled around quietly, extremely out of character for their ages. The second the door had opened and the warden had gently pushed me in, the other children had looked up at me, studied me closely for a minute, and returned to their silent thinking and occasional conversations.

"Hi," I said shyly. "I'm Jaida!"

One of the girls blinked in confusion. "No, you aren't. You're name is Avian."

I frowned before deciding she was playing a game. "What's your name?"

"Avian!" the girl said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. I shrugged and went along with it; these girls seemed nice, like my old friends.

Though I had that childish innocence that allowed me to believe that I would connect easily with these other girls, I didn't know just how close we would become.

...

Halfway through the party, I heard a loud chirp. My head jerked up immediately at the signal, and I excused myself, walking towards the trees.

When I was enveloped in the woods, I whistled loudly, copying a certain bird call. The next couple seconds were devoted to patterned bird calls until they faded away into their seemingly random chatter. I smirked slightly, though; I now knew all I needed.

"Avian Nine, just whistle."

"Why?" I asked in confusion. I was ten, and beginning to get difficult.

The tester sighed patiently. "Just whistle a small tune, and maybe put some feel into it."

"I don't-"

"Fine. Just listen to this, then, tell me what you hear."

Birdsong filled the room, and I listened silently. Soon, my eyes widened; I could understand it!

"The birds," I breathed. "They're calling to each other, preparing to fly south for the winter. It isn't exactly in ways that we can understand... but I can."

As I strode silently through the woods, comforted by the sound of the birds, I reached into my tall boots, removing two knives. Finally, I came upon a man on the edge of the forest, staring out at the playing children.