THE ROOT PRISON
"First let me take you to your wife."
Sirius nodded and Loki led him through the suffocating darkness.
Eventually he noticed that the air felt damp and overhead roots were entertwining to form a ceiling, as if they were underground. Then they arrived at a place that was wrapped in roots, a dungeon in the darkness.
Sirius was unable to remember anything, so he asked a question that he hoped wasn't obvious. "Why is she in a dungeon?"
He rubbed his temples, the fog in his mind refusing to lift as if his memories were slipping through his fingers like sand. A dull ache pulsed in his head, and he grimaced, frustration simmering beneath the surface.
Loki leaned against the air as if it were a wall, his usually mischievous demeanor subdued, his eyes tinged with something close to regret. "You're struggling to remember, aren't you?" he said quietly, a tone that was unusual for this happy, scheming man. "I'm sorry. Most of your memories are still out of reach. I've only managed to restore fragments."
Sirius looked up, confusion and weariness etched into his face. "Why? Why can't I remember?"
Loki hesitated, uncharacteristically serious, his voice carrying a weight that made the room seem smaller. "It's been 18 years since you lost everything."
"Eighteen years?" His voice cracked as the words hit him like a physical blow. "What happened to me?"
"I don't have all the answers," Loki admitted, a rare note of vulnerability in his tone. "I've been searching for you all this time, but it wasn't easy. And your wife, she waited for you, don't worry about that."
Loki straightened, his expression unreadable. "She's waiting for you, even now. When you find her, perhaps she will restore your memories a lot better than I can. I can only restore what I already know about you. You are my daughter's child, so I will do my best." Loki said kindly.
With that, they arrived at a cage made of roots that imprisoned a cluster of particles. He noticed the particles were unable to escape the prison despite the appearance that they could float through the bars. When they came near, the roots responded to repulse them away and they began heading in the opposite direction.
"Your wife is in there," Loki said pointing at the particles inside the cage.
"Can you get her out?" Sirius asked him.
"I am sorry, I cannot for whoever opens this cage has to blood bond with her and my wife will not like that, so I will tell you how to open it instead."
Then the God of chaos instructed him to prick his finger with his sharp nail and blood drew from it, forming a bubble. The blood nearly floated away. As it did, pieces of the glob broke away, floating like a lava lamp.
"Touch the blood to the roots and Yggdrasil the tree will free her," Loki instructed.
Sirius coaxed the blood bubbles to touch the roots and the tree absorbed them and began to recoil. The particles floated out slightly like they would float away, dispersing slightly as if glad to have more space.
Loki smiled, "you see, only her fated mate can open it."
———————
THE BLOOD BOND
Sirius attempted to gather the particles together, forming a girl as Loki instructed.
And then she opened her eyes.
Her emerald green eyes, that matched her sea moss green hair. She breathed slightly. Sirius could see that she was beautiful, but more than attraction to her features, he felt a pull to her neck. Confused he touched his fingers to his teeth.
Loki noticed this and smiled, "Don't worry, you are a vampire it's normal for you to want to bite her.
Sirius hesitated, "I don't want to harm her."
Loki smiled again, "That's fine then, your drop of blood is enough for you to be lured to her, when you're ready, you can bite her and your beast will do the rest.
Sirius frowned. "The rest?" his breath caught in his throat.
He didn't know why, but something deep within him recoiled at the thought.
Not because he didn't want her.
But something was missing.
Something was wrong.
"I'll do it when I feel ready," he decided.
Loki chuckled and tilted his head, studying him with amusement. "Patience. That is good."
Sirius glanced at the woman—his wife—and he felt like he should know her. Should remember her.
But it was as if he had never met her before. Maybe it will take time.
"Follow me, let me introduce you to my wife and kids," Loki said, the atmosphere changing as if this world's tangibility itself obeyed him.
Suddenly they were at Loki's house.
"These are my sons, Valí and Narfi," Loki said proudly. Introducing his boys, each around 18 years old.
One had black hair like his father, and the other had light blond hair. They introduced themselves and Sirius had a confused feeling for a bit, thinking that he might have seen the blond one before.
He once again cursed his memory that failed him. In the end, he merely shook his hand.
Loki's wife came outside wearing a casual dress and sweetly offered him a plate of cookies. They were gooey and warm and Sirius and his wife each thanked her before taking one. "My name is Sigyn." She said. "Loki has told me many great things about you two. You are great warriors indeed. I'm so sorry about your deaths, but I'm glad to see that Loki has finally found you. The void is so vast."
"I found her easily," Loki said biting into a cookie, "But I couldn't free her until I found Sirius or it wouldn't have taken so long. You, my grandson, were so very hard to find."
"Thank you for looking for so long," Sirius said with a slightly apologetic look.
"Of course!" Sigyn consoled him. "My husband loves you more than you can ever know! He has watched you grow in life and ever since your death, he has obsessed with finding you, so you can finish your purpose in life."
"Speaking of roles," Loki said seriously, if anyone asks you what your wife's name is, I want you to say Maeve."
"Maeve?" The two of them asked him.
"Yes," Loki responded. "You see, the Gods do not like her, so they will kill her again if they find out who she is. That is how you ended up dead in the first place."
Sirius nodded firmly. "Then she shall be Maeve." He took her by the hand and held it tightly. She blushed and this made him blush too. He let go awkwardly. Why could he now feel her feelings?
Maeve turned to Sigyn and whispered, " I can't remember so what is my real name?"
"As my husband said, you must never reveal it, Sirius can know, but no one else."
Maeve nodded, promising.
"Your name is Mistletoe."
———————
As Nicholas finished speaking to Odin and his wife Frigg, a fourth person came into the room. Baldur. Odin's eldest son and the rightful heir to the throne.
He was sweating. The remnants of interrupted sleep on his face.
"Mother, father, I've had that dream again. I've had that dream about my death."
Frigg gasped, "No! We locked her away! There's no way that Mistletoe has escaped her prison!"
But there was a way. Loki. Always the mischief maker must have found her. Frigg cried out in dispair about the inevitable turn of events. She blamed herself for how she handled the last conversation with Loki, her wayward adopted son. Her tea cup crashed to the floor. The memory of 18 years ago ran through her mind:
—————————
THE MEMORY OF FRIGGS MISTAKE
18 years earlier*******
Nanna, goddess of the moon and wife to Baldur, stepped into the grand hall of Asgard, cradling Lachlan, a stolen baby, in her arms.
Her steps were measured, her gaze sharp, as she made her way to the kitchen where she knew Frigg, her husband's mother, would be. Without so much as knocking, she pushed the door open—a silent assertion of her status as the wife of Odin's favored son.
Frigg looked up from her dinner preparations, her face softening with surprise and relief. "Nanna! You've returned! We thought we had lost you for good."
"I wasn't exactly welcomed back with open arms," Nanna replied, her tone cool. "When I died, nobody came looking for me."
This, Frigg thought, was typical of her—always so entitled, so quick to find fault.
"I'm sorry," Frigg apologized. "You returned so suddenly, even Heimdall didn't foresee it. Did you come through some other path, rather than the Bifröst?"
"—Never mind how I came back." Nanna snapped, shifting Lachlan in her arms, her grip on him almost protective, drawing Frigg's attention to the baby. "I have a question for you."
Frigg's expression softened further as she focused on the child. "That poor baby. He's been passed around so much—I fear he will grow to resent his life. Are you planning to reject him, too?"
Frigg had dumped him on her earlier today as if left on the doorstep.
"It seems every parent he's ever had dies," Nanna said flatly, detached, almost devoid of emotion.
Frigg reached out to take the child, a gentle smile on her lips. "Oh, but he's sweet. He just needs care and a good meal." She rummaged through the cupboard, retrieving jars of baby food. "Besides," she added, "he's a child of a wolf like your son."
"I gave away my wolf," Nanna snapped. Her reaction was immediate, almost defensive, as if the subject struck a deeper nerve than expected. "Forseti doesn't have one."
Frigg sighed as she worked. "Mani and Odin have been determined to sever the bond between humans and familiars. I always thought werewolves were beautiful creatures. It's Alastor who poisons their minds with rebellion. Without him, werewolves would be as enchanting as the Greek nymphs."
"Wolves eat people—and nymphs. Perhaps I would be convinced if you ignored the teeth and claws." Nanna said, her words clipped.
"Besides, I want to be a goddess now, and my son will be a god. He doesn't need to be tied to… beasts." She hesitated, just for a moment, before adding, "He's named the god of justice, remember? Justice has no room for sentiment."
Frigg knew these to be the words of her daughter-in-law though she detected a sort of regret in her demeanor that betrayed her words almost as if she missed her wolf or didn't really hate the familiar beasts in truth.
A bit of unease went down her spine. This wasn't Nanna. She got a slight idea of who she was talking to, a shifter.
"You seek power I understand," Frigg said. "That is why I cannot answer the question you've come to me for."
Lachlan, the baby shifted into a small wolf cub and began scarfing down the food as Frigg set the plate on the floor.
"That's not how I would expect you to feed him," Nanna said bothered, losing her train of thought for a moment as Frigg had nonchalantly treated the young alpha like a simple dog.
"I mean no disrespect, he's a cub; he likes to eat his own way."
Nanna picked him up and grabbed a spoon for the baby. "If he is raised by me he will lose his wolf, so he should learn to be human, you should have thought of that when you gave him to me," Nanna said in a cruel demeanor.
Frigg sighed, "Why have you come Loki? You know you shouldn't be here."
"Who is the person prophesied to kill my husband?" Loki asked, pretending still to be Nanna. "He has dreamt of his death has he not?"
Frigg frowned. "She is locked up. Nobody needs to speak of her."
"Locks can be undone. I want my husband safe, he's the rightful successor when Odin steps down."
Frigg was a bit unsure now if she had been mistaken, perhaps this was Nanna after all. Loki was cast out after all, he shouldn't have infiltrated so casually.
Finally convinced, she whispered her name.
Loki smiled.
"I'm serious." Frigg said, "Do not tell a soul."
"Tell a soul what?" Hodr asked, coming suddenly into the room. He was Nanna's brother-in-law.
"Of who mistletoe is," Nanna said, breaking her promise immediately.