FicWad

Sat out in the sun, staring as other children played. That is always the way it would be. Half hidden in shadow, great mother Frigga would protest if she could see the unpleasant side of my face, which made her take argument with father. And this wasn't any figure of speech. I literally had an unpleasant side to my face. One side was fair and beautiful, the image of my father in everything, even glass blue eyes as his were. Yet the other side harboured a "deformity" as they called it. The skin blackened, the bone and muscle visible as the flesh had been worn away. Never rotting, but exposed none the less. Great mother Frigga and Great father Odin hardly looked upon me if my face was uncovered, forcing father to conjure all manner of magic to veil my corpse-like side from a young age. They cared little for me as I grew into a more able child, around the age of five, and they grew tired of their embarrassment, and I was locked away for many public events as so if the magic became undone unknowing parties would not have to witness my deathly form.

And so I sat here, watching Magni, Modi and Thrud battle each other with wooden weapons in the courtyard. Thrud had beaten her brother Modi senseless with her wooden hammer the previous afternoon, so he was a little cautious of her.

"You're just like father!" he teased. "You can wield a hammer such as his Mjolnir yet you have half the brains of Great brother!" And at this she peered at him from beneath her long scruffy hair for a moment, and then hit the hammer on the ground, sending a small wave in his direction. It was nothing compared to that of Mjolnir, but just enough to knock him to the ground. I could see why she enjoyed beating him senseless. Magni laughed loudly as his brother scrambled to his feet, glaring at Thrud.

"Well, at least I have a face, unlike Hel!" she laughed, as she peered behind her brother and spotted me lurking in the shadows. "At least I'm not rotten like a fly bitten apple!" She taunted. Being the youngest, I was outnumbered here. I just sat, staring, still half in shadow as to not give her more fuel for her insult. She walked closer, hammer at the ready in the event that Sleipnir or Fenrir were hiding any where near by. Thrud had taunted me cruelly as soon as she had learned how to do so, but was terrified of my older brothers. Well, who wouldn't be terrified of a boy who liked roaming around as a large grey wolf and our half brother, a horse bestowed with eight legs? A horse that was Great father Odin's favourite steed would not be taken down lightly by a twelve year old bully.

"Oh, Thrud! She won't fight with you, leave her. Great brother will have your head if she tells him, Loki is not to be messed with. Remember the time that I called Fenrir flea infested? He turned me into a rat!" Magni pleaded, beating his wood sword on the ground.

"Great brother Loki will have to hear from father, then. He's defeated him before! Father and Mjolnir can defeat any one!" she spat at him, turning back to me with a new cruelty in her eyes.

"Will you not fight me because you are really just a bag of bones? Scared that dust will fall from your eye sockets should I strike you?" she laughed, nearing me. I curled up, holding my knees to my chest, ready for her to beat me as she did her brother. And then the sound of safety arrived.

"Thrud, I suggest you keep your malice to yourself, or you shall be punished severely. What would Thor say if his only daughter threatened one of her kind? I hate to think of it." my father said calmly, quietly. Thrud glared at him, but retreated some way and became less defensive.

"She is not my kind, I am not a dead thing." she said quickly, looking up at him with a childish air about her. I felt the cold feeling of steel rise in father's voice as he spoke to her.

"I can assure you that my daughter is very much alive, what ever her appearance may suggest. Now, unless you desire to be turned into some form of rodent as your brother was a number of days ago, I suggest that you remove yourselves from my sight."

Thrud gave him one last look of hatred before swinging her hammer so that it rested over her shoulder and dragged Magni away in order to battle else where. Modi stared at us for a moment, the sun shining off of his dark hair. He was the only child who took after Sif, with his raven black hair, he was odd amongst his siblings still. But this just instilled his mother's love. His eyes lingered on me for a moment, glancing timidly at my father before running off to join his brother and sister.

"Oh, my angel." father muttered, picking me up in his arms. "Don't listen to Thrud. She's a cruel little child, you're as lively as I am." he smiled, in the reassuring way a father does.

"Am I rotten?" I asked, curling my little fingers in his long dark hair. His grip tightened on me slightly, holding me close, sighing in a manner which seemed defeated, almost.

"No, no. You're the most beautiful little girl in all of Asgard." he muttered, kissing the top of my head gently. This was what made me think that some times, my father was my only friend in the world. Neither side of me was better, I was just his little girl, and he kissed the side of my face that others found cursed, on an exposed part of my skull as he felt no fear in the presence of his immortal child.