The buzz of the night's parties had died down by the time Heimdall hoisted Fandral's drunken frame onto a vacant bench. They sat opposite each other, silent at first. There was no way that Fandral would be the first to admit anything. But as far as Heimdall was concerned, he didn't need to. It was written all over his face. As fond as Fandral was of mead and merriment, it seemed joy was not the aim of his intoxication.
"This needs to stop, Fandral. You are not yourself."
Fandral winced. "Well I'm glad someone noticed. " He clasped his hands together and bowed his head. "You are a true friend, Heimdall. Truer than true."
Heimdall pretended not to hear. Instead he set his mouth in a thin line and waited for him to speak again.
Fandral let out an exhausted sigh and met his friend's eyes again. "I can't... I can't do it, Heimdall-"
He frowned, "Do what?"
Tears flowed along Fandral's cheeks. "Bear it all. The pain. The anger. It's... it's so unlike anything I've ever felt, I-"
Heimdall nodded, "Love makes us do strange things,"
Something ticked in Fandral's mind. There was a duality about what Heimdall had said. As if it had been said from experience, from observation.
"Seeing her... kissing the man she thought was me... I didn't think it could do to me what it's doing now..."
A small smile was all Heimdall could offer him. "Guards have confirmed that Loki has been in his cell all this time; there is no way he could have-"
"But he did! I don't know how, but he did. I saw it, Heimdall. I felt it, damn it! I felt the way she shifted around him."
Silence drove a divide between them again.
"There is a way," Heimdall piped up, "to ease your pain. I would only advise it if it is unbearable for you to-"
"Out with it, Heimdall. Please."
The Bifrost guardian looked to his friend and grinned slightly. "The All-Father could see to your...ailment."
The colour seeped back into Fandral's cheeks and he smiled. "You mean I could forget? I could forget it ever happened at all?"
Heimdall's smile dissolved and morphed into a twisted face of pity again. "Yes. Yes, you could."
But how could a man who loved so much be so willing to forget such a beautiful face?
YOU ARE READING
The Benevolent Warrior (Fandral Fanfiction #1)
Fanfiction-In which two lovers lose and find each other across time and space- Set during Thor: Ragnarok in an AU where Fandral was given a second chance to save Asgard after meeting with Odin in Valhalla. What will he discover? #JusticeForFandral This is a...
