Guardian

Chapter 31

2010.

Olivia walked down the busy streets of New York taking in the strange smells of the city. It had changed greatly since the last time she was here, but she knew that it was still a great place to hide out. She had already applied and been accepted into a veterinary position with the falsified degree and references that she created. While she did have the education backing up the degree, she did not receive it in 2008 as the paper claimed.

After accidentally passing the apartment building, Olivia finally realized her mistake and found the apartment that she was planning on renting while residing in the city. Any decent apartment was absurdly expensive, especially since she could not risk having a roommate in case something caused her powers to act up. She had discovered that suppressing them for too long would cause them to be harder to keep them hidden, especially if she was going through something emotional.

Once up on the third floor, she unlocked the door to the apartment with the keys given to her by the landlord. It was surprisingly decent sized with a small kitchen connected to a living area and a bedroom with bathroom off to the right, connected through a door.

A smile spread across her lips as she sat down on the couch and closed her eyes, letting herself rest for a moment after fleeing from her previous home.

-

(Liv's POV):
I accepted the sword back from Loki, but barely noticed my own actions as I stared at him in confusion.

"You know about this sword?"

Loki nodded, "and I do not believe you are an angel, Liv. The Dragonfang are famous on Asgard for they were wielded by the Valkyrie."

"The Valkyrie?"

"They were elite women soldiers that fought for Asgard-"

"I know what the Valkyrie are, Loki. My father may have raised me Christian, but that does not mean I was completely oblivious to the beliefs of others in my country. But how could I be a Valkyrie, it doesn't make any sense."

"Your mother must have been one. I wasn't aware any of the Valkyrie ever had children, I believe that they were meant to remain virgins. But growing up on Midgard, there can be no other explanation for your powers. That must have been why your father hid you, tried to claim you were an angel, to protect you. Not all Valkyrie had magic, in fact it was incredibly rare, but there were stories of one who wielded magic in the field. She must have been the one to bear you and then had to hide you so that no one knew she had had a child."

"So Asgard would not be a safe haven for me?" I asked, my heart feeling weighted. When Loki claimed that I had come from Asgard, I was hoping that I would be welcomed back. Perhaps even celebrated as a Valkyrie, they were known to ride into battle alongside the King.

Loki took my hand and spoke, "I honestly do not know how they would react. The Valkyrie have been gone for some time now, you are the only one I have ever actually met. I was told little of what happened to them, but what I do know is that they all died gruesome deaths. I'd always assumed they waged battle against some incredibly powerful monster, but that was just pure guessing. It is odd that how they fell is not recorded in Asgardian history and it makes me wary to say that you would be safe."

"You think their deaths may not have been mere casualties of war?"

"I do not know what to think and until I can gather more information, I do not know if you would fare in Asgard any better than you do here."

Silence fell over us after that, the two of us lost in our own thoughts. I ran my fingers down my blade absentmindedly as I thought about everything that Loki was telling me. Was it true that I could be a Valkyrie? The timeline fit, at least according to the legends. People claimed that Asgardians had descended from the sky to help wage a war against the attacking Frost Giants around the time that I was born. Perhaps my mother was part of this fight and decided that Earth, disconnected from all other worlds, would be the safest place to hide her child.

"It is strange," I muttered, causing Loki to perk up. "That you should know more about my ancestry from one object than I have known my entire life."

"Well I do believe that your father tried to hide you from the truth by creating the idea that you were an angel. You had no reason to dig further than that and I doubt any mortal has ever seen a Dragonfang, so no one questioned your story."

I willed my wings to go away and had my armor fade back into my pajamas, feeling quite overwhelmed by everything. Loki's eyes watched me carefully as I walked into my bedroom, lying down on the bed and staring up at the ceiling.

"Why would she leave me here? There had to have been plenty of other worlds that I could have remained hidden in, one where magic was more prevalent perhaps?"

Loki sat beside me on the bed and grabbed my hand, "I am sure she was just doing what she thought would give you the best chance. She probably assumed that those from other worlds posed a greater threat from those on this world."

I snorted, "clearly she did not understand humans."

"I still don't understand how your entire life fell apart because of the death of one King. You are truly ethereal, Liv, why do people fear you upon seeing true form?"

"I like to blame Christianity for that. Of course, that's not the only religion that preaches magic as being evil, but still I blended in more in European countries and that was the religion that was most prevalent. So instead of seeing my wings, they saw my power and it scared them. I'm an abnormality, Lokes. Well, I'm either that or a weapon."

I began to tell Loki had had happened, all of it. From the time I first discovered my abilities to when I had escaped HYDRA. Every name that I had taken in an attempt to hide my past. Those that I had trusted but ended up turning me in and causing me to return to life on the run. The moments that I finally felt safe, but soon realized that security was an illusion. From Liv to Isabelle to Alviva to Eve to Elizabeth to Lydia to Livia to Levina to Eva to Livy to Sylvia and all of the less eventful years in between, I told him everything.

-

(A/N): Ok so I know the Valkyrie would probably be dead at this point, but we're editing the timeline a bit because I really wanted to do this. Also, in Marvel, the Valkyrie don't have wings (and it's actually due to a romanticization of them that happened later in the Viking period from what I gathered in my research so like similar to angels), but these are what we call artistic liberties that allow me to do what I want. Just don't call me out on these things because I am fully aware, I just don't care (jk, I do care I just had an idea for a story which required me to edit some things slightly). Anywho, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!