In Little Ways

Chapter 14

Lia groaned as she rolled over in bed, hearing a swift knock on her door. Her eyes landed on the alarm clock and she blinked sleepily at the blurred numbers.

6:02 am.

"What?" She mumbled, pulling her pillow over her head as the knocking continued.

"Fine! Alright, I'm up." She pushed herself out of bed, rubbing her eyes as she trudged to the door. She yanked it open so quickly that the person on the other side stumbled back, their eyes wide.

"Tony, what do you want this early in the morning?" Lia asked as she stood before him. He was still dressed in a pair of flannel pajamas and the bags under his eyes were a little darker, as if he had pulled an all-nighter, again.

"Sorry, sweetie. Someone is here to see you." He said and Lia immediately felt her heart beat quicken. Could it be...had he come back for her?

Tony led her to the living room and she took a deep breath at the sight of who sat on the couch in front of them. They looked up and smiled, standing and walking towards her, their arms wide. Lia scowled and stepped away, making them drop their arms.

"What are you doing here?" Lia hissed, crossing her arms over her chest as the person chuckled, sending jolts of anger through her.

"What? Am I not allowed to visit my daughter?" Lia glared at her mother as the woman smiled wider, her bleach white teeth glittering obnoxiously in the early morning light.

***

"What have you done?" Loki asked, turning down the hall with the other hunter, thoughts of finally escaping running through his head. She scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"I don't answer to you, Lucky." She said, nonchalantly. Loki felt like his heart was tearing in half. Gods, he missed that dumb cat. His hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, not catching the look in her eye.

"It's Loki, and you will answer to the Grand Master when-" She smacked his hand away then, to which he shot out his other hand to grab her wrist once again. And just as a smirk began to form on his face, her fist connected with his jaw, forcing his head back. He lost his grip on her and stumbled back, scowling as he whipped out a small dagger, pointing it at her as she smirked.

"Why would you help my brother escape with that green fool?" Loki asked, anger dripping through his words. He watched as she pulled a knife of her own out, pointing the tip right back at him. Part of hin admired the fact that her knife was longer than his while the other was more annoyed. 'Knives are my thing.'

"I don't help anyone." She said back and Loki didn't know why, but he lunged at her, jabbing his knife at her stomach. She smacked his arm out of the way and sliced her knife down towards his neck. He dodged it, feeling his blood chill as he pulled her arm taunt against his chest. Sitting on her wrist was the mark of a soldier.

"You're a Valkyrie." He couldn't help the curiosity that came forward. As a boy, he and his brother had always snuck out of the castle to see the area where the Valkyrie had trained. Lia would have called him a fan-boy.

She growled and threw him against the wall, making him smirk.

"I thought the Valkyrie had all died gruesome deaths." He said and was in awe at how quickly she had pressed her knee into his chest, her dagger raised.

"Choose your next words wisely." She warned and he almost chuckled.

"I'm terribly sorry. Must be a very painful memory." He quickly shot his hand up, pressing his palm to her forehead. The memory came quickly, showing him what exactly had wiped out all the legendary warriors. It was almost sad to watch as she lost who he could only assume was someone she loved dearly. She fell back as the memory ended, panting at the intensity of it. Loki stared at the back of her head in shock as he willed his own memories to stay locked away. The feeling of losing Lia was terrible, but seeing her die? He couldn't even imagine with pain. Valkyrie flipped up then, swiping his feet out from under him so that he was on his back, facing the ceiling before she straddled his chest. The last thing he saw was her fist, sailing towards his face.