Raina: The Dark Princess (LokiFanFic)

Raina: Chapter 32

Asgard waited for Allise to bring her Vanaheim army.  Women, children and the elderly were escorted to safe places.  Men were brought to Odin and given orders as to where their positions would be.  Raina mentally prepared herself.  After fighting in her mother’s wars and using her dark magic, she knew she needed to be mentally prepared for the danger it could cause.  When she had used dark magic before, it drained her and Allise would have her rest for days after victory.  The only act of unselfishness that Allise gave Raina was allowing her to rest after using dark magic.  Lately, Raina was using a lot of white magic and was becoming less and less weak from it.  She hoped the same would go for dark magic now.

Loki would visit her and they would steal kisses from each other.  It was still hard to believe that they were finally together.  Raina hoped to the All-Mother that her good fortune would continue.  She did not know what she would do if she lost Loki again.

Dark magic is fueled by rage.  If Loki died, I would be enveloped in my own darkness.  She tried to meditate her emotions away.  If emotions plagued the mind before battle, there would for sure be a blood bath at Raina’s feet.

Raina put on her armor which was a simple metal chest piece added to her white linen dress.  Her dress had slits down the sides to reveal her thin but toned legs.  She wore metal guards on her front thighs and straps another smaller piece to the front of her calves.  She wore no headdress and kept her face clean of make-up except for dark kohl around her eyes.  Mae gave her a smile at her presence.  Mae had spent years of putting Raina’s armor and war make-up on her and now she had to sit and watch as Raina worked.  Mae had tried to help, but Raina refused. 

“Do you remember when we first got here, Raina?” Mae asked.

Raina, of course, thought that she meant when Raina was refusing to marry.  That seemed so long ago.  Had it really only been a few months ago that it seemed that her fate was sealed, her destiny was to be married to a prince and forgo love in any matter.

“I can’t believe we are where we are right now,” Raina commented.

“Look at you, you are standing up for yourself.  You chose your own destiny.  You made your own path.  Sometimes I think you even changed everyone here.  Look at Loki.  He was known for being cold and callous and I almost had a heart attack when I found you two sleeping in bed together!”

Raina laughed, but thinking about that night made her sad.  It was the last time they had actually been able to just be together.

It was almost as if Mae could read her mind sometimes, “After this, you and Loki can spend the rest of your days together.”

Raina smiled, “Sometimes I think you are much wiser than I even though I am the older one.”

Mae laughed, “I am truly glad that you are my sister.”

Raina looked at Mae, “You have grown so much in my short absence, Mae.  I noticed it when I returned.  You held your head a little higher.  Even your attitude has changed.”

“I guess I have been waiting for you to the take the reins of your own life that I lost sight of the life in me.  I was okay with being just Mae, the princess’s maid.  I know that being queen will be quite a bit different to my old life.  I will have to hold my head higher and stand my ground, but I also have learned from a dear friend that standing my ground does not mean that I have to be cruel and stern to the people,” Mae’s eyes sparkled.

Raina saw the change shine in Mae, “Vanaheim will have a wonderful queen.”

The sound of a horn cut through Asgard and Raina knew what that meant, “They are coming.”

She grabbed her Sai, ancient knives that had a blade as long as Raina’s forearm in the middle.  The handle had two extended blades right where someone could get a good grip and stick the Sais as far as they could into their enemy.  Raina had done it a couple times…maybe more.

“Raina,” Mae was quiet.

Raina looked at her, “I want you to stay in the weapons room.  If anyone is to come and harm you, I want you to use all the weapons you can.”

Mae, who had been trained to use weapons in case anyone attacked the princess, nodded, but spoke, “Raina, do not let the darkness consume you.  No matter what, you have to control it…”

Mae knew Raina’s darkness after a battle, she had tried to soothe her afterwards.  Raina put on a smile and lied, “I will not use the darkness.”

They had made their way out of Raina’s bedroom and Mae started to walk to the armory when she turned around and said, “You are the darkness.  If you do not use it, it will find a way to use you.  You have to control it and become its master before it consumes all of you.”  She did not wait for Raina to respond and jogged to her destination.

Raina took a deep breath, darkness flowed through her veins.  A result of my mother using dark magic on my father?  Do I have to pay for what she has done for the rest of my life? 

She had caught up to Loki and he held her in an embrace, whispering in her ear, “I love you, Raina.  If anything happens to you, I will be lost forever.”

Raina held back her tears and whispered, “I love you, Loki.”  She couldn’t tell him that she wouldn’t be reckless.  She was going into battle and could not let herself get caught up in emotions.  He let her go and she saw that Thor was giving Jane comfort.

“Mae will be in the armory.  You should go in there, Jane.  She can protect you if anything should get past…”

Jane nodded, trying to hold back her own tears, and Thor asked a guard to take Jane to the armory and ordered him to stay there to help the girls if there should be trouble.

“Are we ready?” Loki asked.

Thor sighed, “We are as ready as we can be.  Father, will take the first battalion.  You and I will take the second.  Raina, you will be with Odin in the first.  If you can get to your friend, it will benefit us.”

“If I can get to Argo, I can stop this war before it becomes a massacre,” Argo was the commander of Vanaheim’s army and a close friend of the late king’s.

She felt Loki’s stare on her.  It will be alright, my love.  Soon fate will be gracious to us.  She finally gathered enough strength to look into his precious green eyes.

Even though his eyes were fearful, as if they could see the future, his lips formed a thin smile.  Let us take our victory.