Legacy of Asgard

Ch. 33

Percy looked down into his lap where he found a mess of dark hair strewn haphazardly across his legs. Reyna had fallen asleep after an hour of sitting peacefully by the throne room hearth. Her head rested on his legs using them as a makeshift pillow, forcing him to remain sitting up, but he didn't mind. He doubted he was going to get any sleep after the day he had just had anyway. His mind was too heavily weighed by the events of the past day and what was to come in the next.

It was finally here. Tomorrow he would stand against the goddess Hel in a battle that had apparently been awaiting him since the day of his birth.

As much as he hated himself for it, he couldn't deny that he was scared.

In his defense, how could he not be? Hel had destroyed Kronos with an unsettling amount of ease and now he was supposed to fight her and somehow win?

Oh, and if he lost, the world would end…Yup, no pressure or anything.

He was sixteen for Odin's sake! Why was this his responsibility? He was supposed to be worried about school and girls. Hel, he just lost his virginity for the love of Freya! This was supposed to be the best time of his life, not the almost certain end!

"Can I get you some cheese with that whine?" A female voice spoke from behind him.

He tried to jump up but two strong hands held him down. He turned and nearly yelped when he saw Brynhildr and Sigrún holding him down.

"Did we not teach you any manners boy?" Brynhildr chided. "Let the girl have her rest."

Eir walked up beside them and raised her hand. Reyna's body floated up as Percy slipped out from underneath her. A pillow materialized where his legs had been as Reyna's body descended back to the ground, her head landing softly on the pillow.

Eir whispered something over Reyna and her body glowed slightly before the light vanished and she continued to slumber in peace.

"There, now we will not wake her. She will have a long day tomorrow as well." Eir said simply before turning to Percy and the two other Valkyries.

No one spoke for a second as Percy wasn't exactly sure what to say. He hadn't seen them in weeks and now they appear in the throne room of Olympus the night before he was supposed to do the impossible. After a minute though, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Where the Hel have you three been? I've been to Tartarus and back and not a single word?" He hissed, his anger bubbling up quickly. "You can't stop by and say, hey Percy, glad to see you're not dead?"

Brynhildr narrowed her eyes a bit but held her tongue. Eir gave him a small look of sympathy while Sigrún's face was stoic.

"What were you expecting, a welcome home party for escaping Tartarus?" Sigrún raised an eyebrow as she spoke. "We have spent your entire life preparing you for the past month. I think the fact that both you and the girl are still alive is testament enough to our success."

Percy's mouth opened but he shut it just as quickly after the cold response from one of the women that raised him. He sometimes forgot that they really were not his mothers but instead ordered to train him by the All-Father himself. It was their duty to train him, not love him. Considering they were the closest thing to a family he had, it was a difficult fact to remember at times.

His expression hardened and he bowed his head.

"You're right. I was out of line to say that."

Sigrún tilted her head as she looked down at him. She had always been the hardest to figure out. The three Valkyries were the three people he knew best in the world but they were so different and their relationships with Percy had always been so different from one another that it was hard to tell what he should and shouldn't say and do at times.