![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
memories; @angela
[ cw: perceived violence against infant, terrible burn scars ]
You stand atop a giant furnace. It burns weaker than it used to, but the fires inside would still kill anyone who dared jump in. All around you are the sounds of battle, a siege against the warship of Heven. You know the Asgardian troops are there for you. They're there to stop you from throwing your infant sister into the furnace.
They're too late.
As you watch the babe's tiny form plummet down into the fires, your friends and family stand by, their mouths agape. Your brother, the Odinson, cries in righteous anger, "What have you done?!" Before you can answer, he strikes you with all his might, sending you crashing across the top of the furnace. "What have you done?!" he repeats.
As he bellows, the furnace below you explodes in hot, white light, reignited by the infernal fires which burn within your infant sister.
"What have I done?" you repeat, pushing yourself up from where you have fallen. "I have repaid my debts." For after all, you were raised by the Angels, and the Angels have instilled in you a strict code. Nothing is for nothing. Everything has its price. You push yourself to your feet and gaze down into the reignited furnace. "The debt of my existence. I have reignited Heven's engine with Surtur's fire. Heven will now continue. The scales are balanced. I am only myself because of Heven. Heven now only exists because of me. I now owe them nothing."
Peter Quill, Star-Lord, your friend, steps forward, arm held out to beseech you to hear reason. "Angela..." he starts. "I don't know about anyone else, but I'm thinking we should kill you and your sarcastic friend. You tricked us into letting you murder a baby."
"A small death is too good for them," the Odinson interrupts. "They will be bound together and pulled by frenzied wyrm-blooded steeds for all eternity. They will be nothing but a sinew of screams. And any who would turn false will think of Angela and Sera, and think twice of walking the traitor's path."
He continues to dole out threats, but you have stopped paying him any heed. Your work is not done here. "Do with us what you wish, Odinson... After I have repaid all my debts."
And with that, the golden wings of your magical armor unfurl, and you dive into the furnace after the child. Above you, you can hear your silver-tongued beloved, Sera, speak out to plead with the Odinson. "Okay. I can explain..." You know she will explain to your friends the reasons why the babe had to be thrown into the furnace. As you fly down into the center of the flames, you see those reasons in full view. Clouds of black dust and smoke stream forth from your infant sister's mouth and eyes, to be burned away and purified by the fire. Surtur's influence over the child, who was conceived in the liminal space between realms, being drained from her, leaving her a mere babe once more.
As you approach her, as the last of the black smoke drifts away, the golden metal of your wings reaches out to encase the babe, and protect her from the heat of the flames. "Nothing for nothing," you say like a mantra to give yourself strength as you feel the flesh of your fingers begin to burn away. "Everything has its price." Much of your body is covered in armor, but your armor is metal, and metal conducts heat. You will not come away from this unscarred.
"Nothing for nothing. Everything has its price." The child is now wrapped and protected in the metal of your wings. No flames or heat will reach her. "Nothing for nothing. Everything has its price." You look around, but in all directions you see only more fire. You dive in what you hope is the direction of the exit.
At the bottom of the furnace, you come to a large door. Cradling your precious bundle in your arms, you pound against the door with your free hand. You hear Sera on the other side. "There's knocking! Open the door. Stand clear!" As the doors are open, you tumble out in a burst of flame, charred and broken but carrying the child safe within your arms.
Wearily, you rise up and hold her out to your brother, the Odinson. "Return her to her parents. Do with me what you will."
The setting changes. You must have passed out from the pain of your injuries. You awaken in a stone room-- a dungeon. You are lying on a stone cot, covered in a plain white sheet. Every inch of your skin is charred black. One voice asks you, "Why?"
At the foot of your bed, there stand two figures. No. Three, but the third is being swaddled in the second's arms. Odin All-Father, King of Asgard. Your father. Freyja, his queen, your mother, holding your infant sister. All your family by birth. Beyond them, hanging from the ceiling by chains around her wrists, is Sera. The family of your heart.
You sigh.
"No one would have trusted us. They perhaps should not have. Our plan was to throw a child into a furnace and then retrieve her. It risked everything It risked Heven itself. Make no mistake. I could have killed the child. I could have killed myself." You knew how dangerous your plan was. That was why you conducted it in secret. "But," you continue, voice strained in your throat, "it was the only way to settle my debts...
"I repaid my debts to Heven. They made me. The realm will continue to exist. I repaid my debts to Asgard. You made me. I was stolen from you. And now you have a daughter to replace the little girl who was taken from you forever."
Even through the pain, you close your eyes, and a soft yet determined smile comes to your lips. "I am without price. I am priceless. I can go on."
Freyja interrupts, "Only if we let you free."
Your eyes crack open. You look past your parents, to Sera hanging, imprisoned for your crimes. "You don't understand... Walls do not make a prison." You don't regret your actions whatsoever. You did what needed to be done, and saved two realms in the process.
As Odin and Freyja turn to leave, Freyja lingers behind, and casts one last look at you. "Angela..." she says. "Her name is Laussa. And thank you."
You stand atop a giant furnace. It burns weaker than it used to, but the fires inside would still kill anyone who dared jump in. All around you are the sounds of battle, a siege against the warship of Heven. You know the Asgardian troops are there for you. They're there to stop you from throwing your infant sister into the furnace.
They're too late.
As you watch the babe's tiny form plummet down into the fires, your friends and family stand by, their mouths agape. Your brother, the Odinson, cries in righteous anger, "What have you done?!" Before you can answer, he strikes you with all his might, sending you crashing across the top of the furnace. "What have you done?!" he repeats.
As he bellows, the furnace below you explodes in hot, white light, reignited by the infernal fires which burn within your infant sister.
"What have I done?" you repeat, pushing yourself up from where you have fallen. "I have repaid my debts." For after all, you were raised by the Angels, and the Angels have instilled in you a strict code. Nothing is for nothing. Everything has its price. You push yourself to your feet and gaze down into the reignited furnace. "The debt of my existence. I have reignited Heven's engine with Surtur's fire. Heven will now continue. The scales are balanced. I am only myself because of Heven. Heven now only exists because of me. I now owe them nothing."
Peter Quill, Star-Lord, your friend, steps forward, arm held out to beseech you to hear reason. "Angela..." he starts. "I don't know about anyone else, but I'm thinking we should kill you and your sarcastic friend. You tricked us into letting you murder a baby."
"A small death is too good for them," the Odinson interrupts. "They will be bound together and pulled by frenzied wyrm-blooded steeds for all eternity. They will be nothing but a sinew of screams. And any who would turn false will think of Angela and Sera, and think twice of walking the traitor's path."
He continues to dole out threats, but you have stopped paying him any heed. Your work is not done here. "Do with us what you wish, Odinson... After I have repaid all my debts."
And with that, the golden wings of your magical armor unfurl, and you dive into the furnace after the child. Above you, you can hear your silver-tongued beloved, Sera, speak out to plead with the Odinson. "Okay. I can explain..." You know she will explain to your friends the reasons why the babe had to be thrown into the furnace. As you fly down into the center of the flames, you see those reasons in full view. Clouds of black dust and smoke stream forth from your infant sister's mouth and eyes, to be burned away and purified by the fire. Surtur's influence over the child, who was conceived in the liminal space between realms, being drained from her, leaving her a mere babe once more.
As you approach her, as the last of the black smoke drifts away, the golden metal of your wings reaches out to encase the babe, and protect her from the heat of the flames. "Nothing for nothing," you say like a mantra to give yourself strength as you feel the flesh of your fingers begin to burn away. "Everything has its price." Much of your body is covered in armor, but your armor is metal, and metal conducts heat. You will not come away from this unscarred.
"Nothing for nothing. Everything has its price." The child is now wrapped and protected in the metal of your wings. No flames or heat will reach her. "Nothing for nothing. Everything has its price." You look around, but in all directions you see only more fire. You dive in what you hope is the direction of the exit.
At the bottom of the furnace, you come to a large door. Cradling your precious bundle in your arms, you pound against the door with your free hand. You hear Sera on the other side. "There's knocking! Open the door. Stand clear!" As the doors are open, you tumble out in a burst of flame, charred and broken but carrying the child safe within your arms.
Wearily, you rise up and hold her out to your brother, the Odinson. "Return her to her parents. Do with me what you will."
The setting changes. You must have passed out from the pain of your injuries. You awaken in a stone room-- a dungeon. You are lying on a stone cot, covered in a plain white sheet. Every inch of your skin is charred black. One voice asks you, "Why?"
At the foot of your bed, there stand two figures. No. Three, but the third is being swaddled in the second's arms. Odin All-Father, King of Asgard. Your father. Freyja, his queen, your mother, holding your infant sister. All your family by birth. Beyond them, hanging from the ceiling by chains around her wrists, is Sera. The family of your heart.
You sigh.
"No one would have trusted us. They perhaps should not have. Our plan was to throw a child into a furnace and then retrieve her. It risked everything It risked Heven itself. Make no mistake. I could have killed the child. I could have killed myself." You knew how dangerous your plan was. That was why you conducted it in secret. "But," you continue, voice strained in your throat, "it was the only way to settle my debts...
"I repaid my debts to Heven. They made me. The realm will continue to exist. I repaid my debts to Asgard. You made me. I was stolen from you. And now you have a daughter to replace the little girl who was taken from you forever."
Even through the pain, you close your eyes, and a soft yet determined smile comes to your lips. "I am without price. I am priceless. I can go on."
Freyja interrupts, "Only if we let you free."
Your eyes crack open. You look past your parents, to Sera hanging, imprisoned for your crimes. "You don't understand... Walls do not make a prison." You don't regret your actions whatsoever. You did what needed to be done, and saved two realms in the process.
As Odin and Freyja turn to leave, Freyja lingers behind, and casts one last look at you. "Angela..." she says. "Her name is Laussa. And thank you."
voice; @LOKIOFASGARD
no subject
no subject
no subject