Winter's Hearts

Chapter 27

 "I refuse to celebrate Thanksgiving," you growled at Clint the day before the stupid holiday. "I've never celebrated it and I don't plan on starting now," you grumbled, folding your arms and glaring at the group around the table.

"Why not?" Clint replied too jovially. He was excited for the stupid holiday centered around eating too much. "We're making a whole dinner it's going to be a huge event in the ballroom downstairs,"

"It's a stupid Puritan holiday," you growled the reply, grumpy that they were pushing on this. You grumbled and your wings fluttered. Loki ran his hand down your feathers, soothingly.

"Care too much about the Indians?" Tony suggested, teasing, but not maliciously, just teasing, just curious what the issue was with this particular holiday.

You surged to your feet and yanked up your pant leg so the whole team could see the old scar there. "The fucking puritans burned me at the stake for saving a village of sick children," you snarled at Tony, but glaring at all of them. "I don't celebrate the stupid holiday celebrating those sick assholes," you growled with tears in your eyes at the old memories.

You shoved your pant leg back down and stormed from the room to go beat up something downstairs. You'd never had any close enough friends on Midgard to try to make you celebrate the stupid holiday celebrating the people who tried to kill you.

"Kyrie! I didn't mean-"

You ignored them and went to the stairs, taking them down to the training rooms. Loki was in one waiting for you, in workout pants cut so low you could see his hipbones. Especially as he wasn't wearing a shirt. He was leaning against the doorway to the training room, and must have teleported down here to beat you here. "Come, Lady Valkyrie. There is only one aid for that kind of soul wound, ok, there's more than one, but you, my darling, are a Valkyrie, so in your case, only one" Loki bid you kindly, teasing a little, which just grated on your temper.

"What did you need, Brother?" Thor asked, coming down the hallway behind you.

"Our Lady Valkyrie needs our help," Loki told him as he grabbed your wrist to haul you into the training room, formality today, this was duty not pleasure. Thor nodded and shoved you inside, placing his hands on your shoulders. You vanished your wings before he could hurt them. Thor wasn't the most careful when it came to your wings.

"What are you to up to?" you grumbled at your boys, still in an awful mood from all this talk of the stupid holiday. Thor slammed the door closed behind him and locked it.

"Dance with us Lady Valkyrie. You'll feel better after you've worked off some of the pain of old memories," Thor bid you kindly. They were offering to be sparring partners. One of them alone would have a hard time fighting you, and you already knew you could take Loki. Both of them could take your temper and full strength. It would be safe to spar with them, especially since they had been fighting together for centuries.

"You don't have to do this," you told them, even as your workout clothes shimmered into place instead of the clothes you'd been wearing.

"It is our duty. Besides, I don't think I've fought you at full strength and temper since Loki pissed you off by sicking Lord Bodil on you," Thor teased, which just sparked your temper higher. You offered them a bow, each, reminding them and you that this was a sparring match and nothing more. You rushed Thor and the dangerous game began. Thor taunted and teased, riling up old memories, fueling your temper and anger at the people who had hurt you so many years ago.

You don't know how long you fought them. They were both gods, and while they weren't Valkyrie, they had the strength and stamina to endure your attacks, especially without weapons, as this drill was. They also played off each other, taking turns so you were constantly moving, but they could conserve as much energy as possible. The fight was vicious and brutal and none of you came out of it unscathed. You knew Loki had to go all out and had a feeling Thor was going to close to full out if he wasn't going full-out too. You were close, but not quite, not to the levels of desperation of the trials.