The Soulmate Initiative: Book 1

7. Sister to sister

LOCATION: ASGARD

Heimdall calls for King Odin to be summoned to the dome, he walks in "You called me here on an urgent matter. What is it?" Heimdall speaks from up on his podium, right by his sword, stuck into the control panel "Treason, my lord." "Whose?" "Mine." He pulls the sword from the control panel, but before anyone can do anything, a lead guard marches in "My lord, the mortal has been taken." Odin looks to Heimdall, who keeps his head held high "Stop Tasia, by any means necessary." The lead guard hurries back out of the dome, other guards in tow.

Asgardian soldiers find the group "There they are! Take them. On my command." Sif volunteers "I'll hold them off. Take her." Tasia nods "Thank you." The soldiers draw their swords and Sif does too, but aims it at Lavina's neck, just after Tasia and Ashley turn and start walking away. Sif threatens "Betray her and I'll kill you." Lavina chuckles "It's good to see you, too, Sif." Sif pulls back her sword and gets ready to fight the soldiers. Lavina catches up to Tasia and Ashley, they hurry into the throne room, where the Dark Elf ship is still parked, Volstagg and Hogun standing in front of it "We will give you as much time as we can." "Thank you, my friends." Tasia grabs her friends arms for a moment, then Tasia walks on, Ashley gives them a quick nod and smile as she passes and then there's Lavina... as she goes to walk past Volstagg, he puts a hand on Lavina, just above her chest "If you even think about betraying her..." Lavina grins and looks between the two men "You'll kill me?" Hogun nods and Lavina continues "Evidently, there will be a line." They let her walk on.

The trio step into the Dark Elf ship and up to the controls, Tasia starts randomly pushing buttons, Lavina notices "I thought you said you know how to fly this thing." Tasia corrects "I said, how hard could it be?" "Well, whatever you're doing, sister, I suggest you do it faster." "Shut up, Vina." "You must have missed something." "No, I didn't. I'm pressing every button on this thing." "No, don't hit it. Just press it gently." Tasia thumps on the buttons "I am pressing it gently! It's not working!" She finally, in her rage, slams down on the power button. She starts laughing as the ship comes to life, a screen lighting up in front of them. Tasia starts the ship's engines and turns the ship around, hitting more of the pillars in the throne room, Lavina chuckles "I think you missed a column." "Shut up!" Tasia flies them out, but a different way to where the ship came in, breaking through a wall.

"Look, why don't you let me take over? I'm clearly the better pilot." "Is that right? Well, out of the two of us, which one can actually fly?" Guns start shooting at the ship as it flies through Asgard, but Tasia manages to avoid them, a big smile on her face. Ashley, who had been uncharacteristically quiet this whole time, collapses and Lavina notices "Oh, dear." She tries to not care, even though she does and instead makes it sound sarcastic "Is she dead?" Tasia looks over with worry "Ashley?" Ashley groans a little and raises a hand "I'm okay. I just think I'll stay on the floor." They suddenly take a hit and Tasia loses control, spinning wildly and severing a tower with a gun on it. Lavina opens her mouth to comment, but Tasia beats her to it "Not a word." They now have smaller Asgardian ships chasing after them and Lavina complains in Tasia's ear "Now they're following us." They take on fire "Now they're firing at us!" "Yeah, thank you for the commentary, Lavina, it's not at all distracting!" Tasia flies lower, turning the ship on its side to avoid hitting people, but doesn't turn it back upright in time to get under a bridge, so accidentally slices the head off a statue right next to the bridge "Well done. You just decapitated your grandfather."

They take on more fire as they twist and turn all over the place "You know, this is wonderful. This is a tremendous idea. Let's steal the biggest, most obvious ship in the universe and escape in that. Flying around the city, smashing into everything in sight, so that everyone can see us." Without Lavina noticing, Tasia presses a button that opens the door right behind where Lavina is standing, as she continues to protest "It's brilliant, Tas! It's truly brilliant!" Tasia quickly reaches over and pushes Lavina out the door, she screams and Tasia grins. She makes sure the ship is flying straight and picks Ashley up, she protests a bit, but doesn't have the energy to fight back. Tasia then jumps out of the ship, landing down in a little ship on the water below.

When Lavina hears laughter, she looks up from where she's laying, with her eyes pinched closed, her arms up in front of her chest and her knees pulled in. Standing above her is Fandral, steering the ship "I see your time in the dungeons has made you no less graceful, Lavina." Tasia lays Ashley down, while Lavina growls and gets to her feet. Above them, the Asgardians are still shooting at the ship, that's flying along by itself. Lavina looks over at her sister "You lied to me. I'm impressed." "I'm glad you're pleased. Now, do as you promised and take us to your secret pathway." Fandral moves aside so Lavina can steer the ship herself, Lavina grins as she speeds them up dramatically. But once they're out on open water, a ship chases and shoots at them. Lavina wouldn't admit it out loud, but she's very much enjoying herself. She brings them up in the air and Tasia nods to her friend "Fandral." "Right." Fandral grabs a rope and drops it over the edge "For Asgard." He drops down and swings into the other ship "Nothing personal, boys." He knocks the three soldiers unconscious, very dramatically, and then salutes Tasia.

Lavina slows them down a bit as she makes a turn, then heading for a mountain, Tasia's eyes widen "Lavina..." Lavina smirks "If it were easy, everyone would do it." "Are you mad?" "Possibly." Lavina smiles big and speeds them up even more. Tasia checks on Ashley, who's asleep, and shields her for possible impact. They keep flying at the mountain, there is a small opening, which Lavina flies them through, scraping the sides of the ship against the walls in the process. Rainbow colours then flood around them...

LOCATION: SVARTALFHEIM

They are teleported to Svartalfheim. With a flourish, Lavina says "Ta-da." As soon as they pop through, they then skid along the dirt.

The Kursed approaches a newly awoken Malekith "We must strike now." "No. Asgard is meaningless. The aether has found its way home."

Lavina flies them, much slower now, around the planet, she looks over at Ashley "What I could do with the power that flows through those veins." Tasia shakes her head "It would consume you." "She's holding up alright. For now." "She's strong in ways you'd never even know." "Say goodbye." "Not this day." "This day, the next, a hundred years, it's nothing. It's a heartbeat. You'll never be ready." "And what about you? You're not even giving her, or the others a chance. They are your soulmates as much as mine." "They don't want me, why would they want me? They're so much better off with just you." "Don't say that, they don't know you." "I tried to kill them! I tried to take over their world, their freedom!" She looks down a little, her eyes starting to tear up, making her growl a little "I took over one of their minds! I had complete control over her! She would do whatever I told her to! I MADE HER KILL PEOPLE! Why would anyone ever want that as a soulmate!?" Tasia grabs the front of Lavina's jacket "You were under someone else's control!" "His control over me was based off myself, he only enhanced my opinions and decreased my self control!" "He manipulated you!"

Lavina scoffs "No one deserves to be stuck with someone who doesn't even have a strong enough mind to resist magic and influence!" "You speak of soulmates like a curse, a problem in life that needs to be fixed or can be avoided. That's not what they are... soulmates give you strength to continue on, hope that there are good things coming and trust that they will always be there for you. Soulmates make you a better person, they save you." Lavina scoffs "Save. Save? You think they can save me, after all that I've done!? Odin doesn't think I can be saved!" "He cares and you know it! And I have been trying to save you for years, but you just don't listen! If you had just listened to me, if you had just trusted me to talk to father and clear this up, you might not have been put in that cell!" "The only reason I wasn't executed was because of mother AND I COULDN'T SAVE HER!" They both go quiet. Tasia has never seen her little sister look so broken, trying not to cry, Tasia blinks through tears of her own and takes a breath to try and calm herself down "She wouldn't want us to fight." "Well, she wouldn't exactly be shocked." They both chuckle a little, then Tasia states "I wish I could trust you." "Trust my rage."