Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
EVA HAD SEEN LOKI CRY A TOTAL OF THREE TIMES IN HER LIFE.
The first was when she was a child. Eva had been so young, she wasn't even sure if the memory could be considered valid. It was dark, she remembers. The walls of her room were plagued with shadows, and there was a nasty storm outside.
She couldn't have been older than five. And she was sick. Eva never really got sick, but she was sick that night - she'd spent the good half of it crying in Sigyn's arms.
And she was there, in her mother's arms, the two of them propped against the backboard of her bed when she saw Loki pacing at the foot of the bed.
"It's my fault-"
"Loki, please," Sigyn called softly. "It's no one's fault. Children fall ill-"
"Not this!" Loki exclaimed in a whisper, both their eyes shifting to where Eva was worming around, pulling the blankets around her. "She's freezing. A quarter Jotun is nothing against their native-"
"Yes, yes," Sigyn agreed. She had heard all about the plague that struck the jotun children. Loki had fretted about it every time Eva so much as coughed. "She will be fine, Loki."
Loki looked unconvinced, for just a moment, the cave. This was his child. Eva adored him, and she'd never resent him for something like this. She'd never resent him for anything, ever. Hopefully.
"Eva darling," Sigyn whispered lightly, shifting the child in her arms. "Eva, let papa hold you for a moment."
"No," Eva muttered, pressing into her mother, her grip around her shoulder's tightening. "Too cold."
And then a tear slipped, but Eva was far too cold to recognize the action.
The second time would be her mother's death, but that's a particular memory Eva didn't feel like divulging into.
And then there was now, of course, as Eva, after a lovely visit from her mother dearest, began to wake up.
She felt like she was falling, at first, but her limbs were too sore, too foreign to reach out for stability.
When she could finally pull her eyes open, Eva groaned at the sight of her father at her side. Low and behold, a tear was running down his cheek.
"Damn it," she muttered, her eyes fluttering closed again, just as Loki's eyes opened, then widened at the sight of his conscious daughter.
Eva didn't look at him, instead, her eyes darted up to the ceiling, and creases formed at her forehead.
"You're crying - I'm grounded, aren't I? Guess there's no way out of that one." Eva turned over on the bed, peeking one eye open to peer at her father. "What do you think, father? If I start crying too, will it lessen the punishment?"
