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Chapter Text

           The sky was dark, not even a star visible. Every one of them had been covered by a blanket of swirling grey and purple clouds. A sense of dread came over the blond haired woman who was standing atop the frozen cliffs, her cold, metal wings exuding a brilliant blue light from the digital feathers that slightly protruded from underneath. Even though her hair was neatly wrapped in a crisscrossing ribbon and slung over her shoulder, the violence of the wind whipping around her continued to make everything shift and billow. The staff she wielded was humming and glowing. She must be getting close, she thought.

          It wasn’t just the bad weather patterns that brought Angela Zeigler to the cliffs; there had also been lots of chatter in town about an anomaly. The townsfolk could feel something wasn’t right in the mountains, something was stirring. This sounded like the perfect thing to help her on her quest to redemption. Save a whole town from some evil force? That had to get her in good with the gods. Having fallen to Earth many (…many) moons ago, Angela had been on a path of redemption since. She had helped many people in her days, most worthy… some not. It was a struggle to decide who was really in need and who was just using her for her powers. Either way, she had garnered a reputation as “The Angel of Mercy” and not long had she been nicknamed “Mercy” by gossip. She didn’t mind it, she adopted it even, but she was curious as to where it had originated from. However, this was farthest from her mind now.

          Turning around, Mercy continued her path up the mountain where it seemed the most activity was brewing. The higher she went the more snowfall and the colder the winds. Every inhale felt like someone punching her in the lungs and every step felt like daggers in her thighs. This did not deter her, however. It had been so long since she came across a real chance to prove herself, but she was determined. She had been climbing this mountain for days, flying up most of the way. When the weather got too much for her wings, she was forced to walk. It wasn’t a problem except that it took much longer than she wished.

         Mercy was closer now, the peak being less than a few hours away. Luckily for her the villagers used this mountain as a sort of “rite of passage” sending young boys up the path to prove their manhood by spending three nights atop the mountain as far as they could climb. It was lucky because they had made many paths over the years, one particular proving excellent for travel. Whomever it was that made it was very clever, picking a route along the quiet caves. Wildlife wasn’t much to be feared up this high, so the caves were surely empty. She found old fire pits, practically ancient, along with supplies that had been left behind deeming not necessary for the journey ahead. The boy, if it even was a boy, who made this trail was not only smart, but he had to of been huge. There were broken trees that not even weather could tear down. However, these trees had been hacked at and broken to make this path. She was thoroughly impressed by whoever it was that had made it this far and had done this much.

          The snow began to whip so harshly that she took out her shield to cover more of herself. Good thing she decided to bring her staff, at this point it was more for stability of balance than health. Though keeping balance at this point was pertinent to her health. One quick sway left and she would be falling to her death. She leaned her shoulder against the cliff edge and continued to press on. Not far now, she thought to herself as she moved upward the mountain. All paths had ended long back except the one that she was on. It was odd to her that any human could make it up this far, but at this point she was more grateful than skeptical.

          Finally she made her way to the peak. The air was thin, but she was used to that from flying. However, the wind was more violent than ever. Covering her face with her shield and her arm she looked around to see if anything was particularly peculiar. There it was; a block of glowing ice. She made her way closer, but as she did so the wind made a sort of force field blocking her from pushing forward. She held her shield up high and pushed against the pressure of the invisible wall. The wall pushed back against her forcing her feet to slide back as she struggled to move forward. It was no use. Good thing she brought her staff.

          Mercy slung her shield over her shoulder and took her staff by two hands. She whirled it like a giant baton over her head with such ease despite the violent atmosphere. The staff made giant circles that lit up blue with stars and symbols only she could understand. Suddenly she slammed the staff into the service of the mountain, activating her wings that stretched out behind her, glowing fully their bright cyan blue hue. The force of her staff shook the mountain and abruptly the winds in front of her stopped to open up. She gathered herself, walking forward to finally get a better look at the thing in the ice. She wiped the face of it to get a peek inside. Everything was still blurry from the thickness of the ice, but what she did make out, terrified her.

          She stared intently at what she realized were a set of icy blue eyes staring back at her. Without warning, the ice began to crack and crumble sending Mercy flying back, landing on her backside, shattering her shield to pieces. As a figure moved forward she grasped desperately for her sword sheathed at her side, but to no avail. The figure was standing tall, looming over her helpless body. In all the commotion, she realized her staff had been flung away and all she could do was stare; praying to Odin that this thing wouldn’t torture her first.

          When a hand reached down she instinctively squeezed her eyes shut. She didn’t want to see her death come to her, however she was curious as to whom would be doing the killing. Mustering her courage she opened her eyes to finally make out the being. It was a suit of frosted blue armor covered in ice crystals. The hand that she thought would be her demise was out stretched in a gesture of assisting her rather than killing her. She looked up over the misting suit to see the face of a woman, lips as violet as a fresh crocus and eyes so icy they were bluer than the rivers in Valhalla. Nothing about this woman was natural. Even her skin was an interesting purple hue. Mercy was in awe, but she couldn’t deny the hand that offered her help. Taking hold of the freezing metal, she pushed herself off the ground as the woman pulled her to her feet. In all the commotion she hadn’t noticed until now that the storm that threatened her moments ago had now ceased. What in Helheim is going on? She couldn’t help but scream to herself. She had seen some pretty strange things in her years in the human realm but never anything like this.

Chapter Text

          The frozen woman smiled at Mercy, “Thank you for heeding my call, young Valkyrie. Are you alright?”

          Mercy looked at the woman in confusion. How did she know she was a Valkyrie? Centuries in this realm and she had never once been made out for what she truly was. The only way to have known was to have once been to that realm. Mercy brushed the snow from her body and walked over to where her staff had flown out of her hands. She approached the woman again with her hand to her own forehead as if it were going to help her think. The frosty helm that adorned her crown was warming up now that the snow had stopped falling. “Uh, apologies. To answer your questions, yes. I’m alright. Who are you? How do you know what I am?”

          “My name is Fareeha. Many know me as Pharah.”

          “Pharah?” That name struck a chord in Mercy’s memory. She had once heard tales of a great soldier Pharah that accompanied Odin and was not only his personal bodyguard but considered extremely dangerous. She was the “secret weapon of Valhalla”. Though, she had disappeared long ago, Mercy wondered if this was the same Pharah spoken of in ancient lore. Pharah could see Mercy trying to work out where she knew the name and came to her rescue.

          “Yes. I was once a great guardian of Valhalla. Always by Odin’s side, until he trapped me here.”

          “Wait… wait. Odin? Odin trapped you here? But why?”

          “I found out something I should not have. I tried to stop him from going through with something. He tricked me into accompanying him during one of his “human experiments” as he called them and brought me to this mountain. After we climbed the whole thing… can we go somewhere else? I will tell you the whole story, I promise. I just am very weak at this moment.”

          Without hesitation Mercy offered her shoulder to lean and smiled. She was so warm and welcoming, not a quality Pharah had remembered being very prominent in Valkyries. They were always so stern and cold, much like the soldiers of Valhalla. “There’s a small town nearby, you may remember it. We can get some mead and get you warmed.”

          Pharah reciprocated the Valkyrie’s smile, “Sounds lovely. Hang on.”

          Mercy’s smile dropped as Pharah gripped her waist and ignited her jets that, after so long, still worked perfectly. Mercy flung her arms around the soldier’s neck and held on tight as she propelled them into the air and down the mountain side. The warmth from the jets was very refreshing after her frozen hike and calmed her. The air felt cool on her face as they soared lower and lower, her ears popping from the sudden pressure change. They cleared trees and narrowly missed startled birds until they planted their feet at the foot of the mountain side. “I’m afraid that’s all the fuel we have for now. I’ll have to find a suitable substitute in town. Back home I would just use what the alchemists and wizards made. Though I have a feeling this world doesn’t have many of those,” Pharah said as she released Mercy and brushed off her armor that was now starting to defrost.

          Mercy nodded and smiled in response. Her heart was racing quite rapidly; she chocked it up to the sudden flight and brushed herself off as well. “This way. The pub stays open late. If we start walking now we may get there before they close.” Pharah followed her guide’s lead and they made their way to the town.

          The path to civilization was a bit rough. Mercy used her sword and staff the best she could to clear but when they came upon a large entanglement of briar patches it was Pharah who stepped in. “Let me,” she smirked at the blond woman who was a bit sweaty and dirty from all the clearing she had done so far. Under that sheer film she could feel her cheeks flush as she bowed her head to the soldier woman. Pharah stepped ahead and looked back to warn Mercy to cover her face. Then, with a quick flash, a booming blast sounded and Mercy looked up, startled. “What was that?” She looked around to see bramble pieces lying all over the place and a path cleared ahead.

          “You have your powers, I have mine,” the dark haired woman said with a wink. 

          Mercy looked at the woman’s arm that was still smoking and put two-and-two together. She smirked and nodded in response. Pharah let out a small laugh and Mercy did as well. The soldier gestured for Mercy to continue in front of her, the Valkyrie bowed her head in “thanks” and continued to lead. Pharah continued to clear their path best she could, but the blasts weren't exactly subtle and it made Mercy uneasy to make so much noise this far away from civilization.

          After an hour or so they finally came upon the cleared road to the town. It wasn’t long now until they were in a warm building with a fire burning and drinks. Oh how they looked forward to drinks and food. Though, as they met the road something felt off to Mercy. She put her hand back to stop Pharah. She turned her head with her finger to her lips to warn her to be quiet. Pharah obeyed immediately darting her head around to look for a sign of danger. Mercy pulled out her sword and got into battle stance. She looked to her right and took a small step forward letting out a sounding crunch that echoed through the chilly air. Before she could react, an arrow shot right at her and planted itself in Mercy’s left shoulder. Pharah scrambled to grab the Valkyrie and pull her out of harm’s way. Mercy began to drop to the ground as another arrow shot at her again, this time piercing her side. The Valkyrie howled out in pain as she fell to the ground, but before hitting was scooped up by Pharah. Using what little fuel she had left she flew them both high, swerving as a stream of arrows narrowly missed the soldier. “Hang on, Mercy,” she whispered to the woman as she soared as far and as long as she could before falling out of the sky and into the trees. With the fuel depleted, Pharah lost control and crashed through branches clinging to Mercy as tight as she could. Her vision blurred and her grip loosened as she took a blow to the back dropping the Valkyrie who slammed below on the ground, Pharah not far behind her slammed next to her with a crunch. Her armor broke most of the fall but the shock reverberated through her bones causing her to black out, Mercy passed out beside her.

Chapter Text

The hall was empty and vast. High, buttressed ceilings loomed over the shiny, tiled floors made out of polished crystal. At the end of the hall was a wooden throne so large only one being could possibly sit in it. And there Odin sat tapping his giant fingers in rhythmic motion. Having heard the news, he needed time to think, isolating himself in his throne room. He was both angry and impressed with his targets but it was no use dwelling on either. He had to make a decision before they slipped by again. With long consideration he finally had a thought. The massive god  jumped to his feet and stormed down the long hall where his steps echoed like thunder. Bursting through the hall doors he announced to the much smaller man waiting outside, “Send jötnar.”

            “But sir-“

            The massive man shot an icy stare at his servant. “Do as I say.”

            “Yes sir.”

            Mercy cracked her eyes open slowly, her body burning with pain where she had been shot. Blinking as if in slow motion she finally got her eyes to focus.  There was a fire pit directly in front of her burning flat and low to the ground. Holding her side she pulled herself up to lean against the tree next to her, making her also feel the wound in her shoulder. Her head was still foggy and everything felt like a dream, but it was true, she had been shot. Mercy looked down at her side where she was bandaged up. She peaked underneath, to her surprise, she was still wounded. Even for being in the mortal realm, she was still immortal and wounds usually healed quickly. It had been over a day since the incident, but she had no idea how much time had passed or where she even was. As she started to come to she heard a rustling and became well alert. Before she could even react, Pharah stepped out from behind the berry bushes to her right.

            “Eitur,” she said as if answering a question that wasn’t asked.

            “Excuse me?” Mercy questioned, almost offensively. She knew what eitur was, but she was in disbelief that she had been poisoned.

            “It’s eitur. A pois-“

            Mercy cut her off. “I know what it is! Are you absolutely certain?!”

            “Aye,” Pharah replied sympathetically. “I did the best I could to extract it all but there are still traces in your blood stream. There’s only one way to get the rest out…”

            Mercy knew what she was talking about, but it was impossible. She hadn’t been able to go back home in centuries and that wasn’t about to change. If it was indeed eitur, then she had a feeling she wasn’t exactly welcomed back. She held her side and pulled herself up to her feet making her shoulder seer in pain. She cried out and winced holding herself across her stomach. Pharah rushed to her side to help the fallen Valkyrie, but Mercy immediately brushed her away. Everything was too overwhelming and she couldn’t stand the idea of Pharah doting on her. Raising her hands in defeat Pharah stepped back and turned around to work on the fire. She hadn’t noticed, but while she was away the flame had nearly burnt out. She was afraid to flame it too high in case they were still being followed, but she couldn’t leave Mercy unarmed so to speak.

            Mercy clutched her side harder. An almost blinding pain sent a jolt through her entire body. She winced again at the sudden shock and fell to the ground groaning. Immediately Pharah raced to her. “You have to take it easy, myn wounded culver.”

            Mercy stared up at her, surprised at the term of endearment. She smiled and almost blushed at being called someone’s “dove” not paying much attention to the “wounded” part. Pharah smirked and pulled Mercy’s arm over her shoulder. “I’ve made us shelter separate from the fire pit. I’ll take you there to rest now. You must lie down.”

            Mercy hesitantly nodded in agreement. She hated being this weak and worse, someone seeing her this weak, but she felt safe with Pharah so she gave in. Pharah helped Mercy to her feet and then suddenly flung her up into her arms to carry her to the second campsite. The blond Valkyrie rested her head against the cool chest plate. The chilled metal felt refreshing against her sweaty skin. She had just realized that she was stripped of most of her gear, realizing just now that her helm had been removed along with her chest gear and belts. Her white undershirt was covered in dirt and blood. Not really caring anymore, she laid her head back and closed her eyes.

            Pharah looked down to find that Mercy had fallen asleep in her arms. Reaching the tent she made, she placed her down gently onto the bed of leaves she gathered. It was going to be a long night making sure Mercy stayed alive. She had slathered her in an old remedy recipe, but not quite having all the ingredients, she wasn’t sure how well it would work. She had to get her back to Valhalla somehow. She covered the tent with the covering she fashioned out of twigs and leaves to disguise their location and walked back to the fire pit. It had been so long since she had been home, but she had to find a way back. She once heard rumors of a gateway, but she couldn’t be sure.

            The warrior woman sat by the fire all night scheming up ideas to save Mercy and return them both to their home world. Before long it was daybreak and Mercy was stirring in the tent offsite. Pharah rose to check on her when she heard a sudden crash through the trees. She stopped mid stance, kneeling on one knee and steadying herself with her hand on the ground. She looked around diligently. Her body began shaking suddenly. But it wasn’t her body at all, it was the ground! Then she saw it. Trees in the distance were crashing down in rows, falling on top of each other. Mercy joined her by her side. “What is that?” she whispered.

            “Giants.”

            “GIANTS?”

            Pharah shot her a “please be quiet or they’ll eat us” look.

            “You can’t be serious… giants have been gone for years.”

            “Well they’re back. We need to move and quickly.”

            Mercy nodded in agreement. She stood up and before she could catch her footing she stumbled. “I don’t think I can run. Just go.”

            “I’m not leaving you here.” Without hesitation, Pharah scooped up the wounded dove and fired up her thrusters. She had managed to refuel with a natural recipe of oils and alcohol she was taught in case of emergencies. It wouldn’t last long but it was enough to push them out of trouble… or so she had hoped. Flying high above the trees she aimed for the mountain side again. It may not be the easiest path, but it definitely was safer than anything they faced on the ground so far. However, the wind picked up and pushed her back making her drift in the opposite direction toward to the wreckage of fallen oaks.

            “NO!” Pharah cried out desperately trying to push herself against the cold winds.

            Just then she looked down to see a face staring back up at her and a hand reach up toward her. She tried to sway left and right but it was no use. The giant snatched the shiny bird suit out of the sky and tucked it away in its fist. Pharah could smell sweat and dirt on the giant and there was no light. Mercy looked around in a slight panic; she too was sweaty from all the stress and had barely noticed her wounds had come uncovered. “Pharah…” Mercy whispered after a few minutes of heavy breathing that was now coming down.

            “Yes?”

            “I think they found us.”

            Pharah chuckled. Both women were scared, but they had to keep it from taking control of them. They had to come together now and devise a plan - quickly. “Did you manage to grab my staff before you flung us into the sky?”

            Pharah shook her head, but then remembering it was too dark for Mercy to see her gesture, she whispered a sheepish “No.” Mercy sighed heavily. She was basically powerless without her staff. Thinking quickly she finally came up with something. Something sort of crazy, but something nonetheless!

            “Do you have fuel left?” Mercy asked.

            “Very little,” Pharah said slowly, wondering where this question was going.

            “Enough to make heat?”

            Finally getting on board with her thinking, “Yes, but if he drops us, we’ll plummet…”

            “So we don’t let him drop us, we drop ourselves.”

            “Now you’ve lost me.”

            Mercy began explaining her escape plan to Pharah and she couldn’t see it, but the dark haired warrior was making a face that was both impacted and nervous, but mostly inspired. She could tell Mercy had to find her way out of a lot of sticky situations. It was starting to get really hot and moist inside the giant’s hand so they had to act quickly before they roasted by sheer body heat alone. Mercy whispered “Ready?”

            “Ready.”

            “Go!”

            On that signal Pharah fired off her thrusters making the inside of the hand even hotter than before and both of them began to pant as it heated up. Not before long the giant howled out in pain and opened his palm to look at what was causing it.

            Before he had time to react he heard the shiny bird shout out “NOW!”

            On Pharah’s signal, Mercy took her sword from its sheath and stabbed the giant in its palm making him let go of them. Mercy hung on to the hilt tightly with Pharah now floating slightly. Suddenly her thrusters gave out and she went crashing down, but thanks to their plan she didn’t hit the ground. Instead she aimed and held on to the giant’s clothes. She managed to grab a loose thread and Mercy followed behind, dropping down onto the same dangling shred. They both looked down to assess the rest of the drop. “We could make it,” Mercy said almost too confidently.

            “Sure. I could. But you’re wounded.”

            “Got a better idea?”

            With a few seconds of contemplation, Pharah just looked at Mercy and replied with a simple “Nope,” before letting go and dropping to the ground with a thud.

            Mercy smirked and dropped after her, conveniently landing in a bush beside her.

            The giant, however, still howled out in pain at his newly acquired burn and stab wound. He, too, decided to drop down to the ground and to the women’s surprise, he was… crying?

            Mercy looked over at Pharah who was looking back at her quizzically. In all their years and all their stories, neither had ever heard of a jötnar crying. Feeling sort of sorry for the guy, Mercy rose to her feet and hobbled her way over to the wet sack. He had burst into a stream of tears and there seemed to be no end in sight. Wailing and howling, he was beginning to waken creatures in the nearby area. Getting even more concerned with their safety, Mercy approached the crying giant, but when he saw her he scurried backwards and coward in fear.

            “Hey, it’s… it’s ok. We’re not going to hurt you… again,” she added with a bit of a shrug.

            He peeked his eye over his shoulder to look at the tiny woman who had, just a few moments ago, stabbed him in his palm. She had her hand reached out to show she meant no harm. “Why did you do that?” he asked, his voice booming even for it being hushed.

            “Well why did you snatch us out of the sky?” Mercy asked back defensively, her hands now on her hips.

            “O-*sniffle*-Or…ders.”

            Confused, she relaxed her arms and stared at the giant. “Orders? But from whom?”

            “O-*sniffle*-Odin.”

            Mercy’s eyes widened. Her blood ran cold. If Odin was after them, they were surely dead. Pharah, listening to everything, came up behind Mercy and put her hand on her shoulder, making the Valkyrie wince in pain as she remembered her wounds had taken another beating.

            She turned to look at the warrior woman and before she could say anything she began sobbing into her chest. “What are we going to do?” Rubbing her back gently, Pharah tried to console her. The giant took notice of the crying Valkyrie and stopped crying himself.

            “I help.” He said, now leaning over his knees to speak to the tiny women.

            “You help us?” Pharah asked.

            “Yes.” The giant nodded and reach out his other hand to help the women up. “I take you somewhere safe for now. She’s hurt.”

            Pharah had now lifted Mercy into her arms again. The poison was taking a toll on her strength and she could barely place one foot in front of the other. Pharah looked down with concern written all over her face. “I help,” the giant reassured, now smiling and wiping his tears with his sore hand.

            Pharah nodded with a smile and stepped into the opened hand. The giant closed them up loosely and stood up. With that, they were off and Pharah had no idea where they were headed or if they were truly safe. All she knew was if Odin was truly after them, they were far safer with a giant than without. She lay down next to Mercy who was now falling into a weakened state of sleep. She pulled her in close to protect her and eventually fell asleep next to her. The rhythmic stomping of the giant making his way through the land was enough to keep them both in a trance.

Chapter Text

            The entire land could hear the crashing and stomping booming from inside the giant longhouse at the top of the hill. When the Gods were angry, no one was safe. In a room that had been torn apart by giant fists, Odin slammed them both down onto the table nearby, smashing it to pieces. His face was visibly red, the staff nearby could almost feel him radiating with heat from the rage he unleashed. Fuming, he took a deep breath and screamed. They had lost his prey yet again. His chest heaving with heavy breath, he looked up when he heard the door creak open. In came a much smaller figure to Odin’s large one but her stomps were much more threatening to him. He plopped down on a chair waiting for his scolding as Frigg approached him. “What is it now my dear?” the woman spoke softly, almost as if speaking to a child.

            Odin knew his wife and knew this was a ploy, but he’d play along. “They escaped,” he said rather sheepishly for a fearsome god figure.

            Frigg clutched her fists tightly. She tensed up momentarily. When her muscles finally relaxed she spoke again. “Well… any idea where they have gone?”

            Odin hesitated, “It’s very likely they are headed south of the village, but I have no proof. The eyes I had on them said they lost sight of them after they were grabbed from the sky. They and the jötnar have vanished.”

            This made Frigg almost as irrationally angry as her partner was prior, however, she had much more control over herself and how she handled bad news.

            “Find my daughter, Odin,” she said after a long, tense pause. “I want her dead. And don’t make me do it myself.”

            Odin nodded firmly “Yes, dear.”

             After traveling for what seemed like an eternity, Pharah finally caught sight of a large village on the horizon, tucked away in a field surrounded by woods: Giant Country. She stared in awe. It had been so long since she had seen such massive structures. How it went unnoticed was beyond her. The trees surrounding were just barely tall enough to cover the buildings. Pharah snapped out of her mesmerized gaze, “So this is Giant Country?”

            The jötnar chuckled as softly as a jötnar could “Is that what it’s called? We call it Jǫtunheimr, but call it what you want.”

            As they reached the edge of the village, the giant held them close. “You cannot be seen by the others. I’ll take you to my spot to heal. If they know that Odin is looking for you, they’ll kill you quick.” Pharah nodded in swift agreement. As they reached their giant’s lair, he snuck in quietly and placed them both gently on his table. Mercy was still in a poisoned-sedated state and hadn’t awoken in over a day. Pharah was uncertain about how much time she had to extract the poison, but she knew she didn’t have long. The giant left them there and moved about, stomping around, looking for something. Then suddenly he spoke. “Long time ago a human king made a potion to get rid of all poisons. I like to collect potions,” he said as he rummaged through tiny bottles he had in a large cabinet.

            Pharah tried to peer around the giant as it moved about, but to no luck. She sat next to Mercy and stroked her hair as she listened to the jötnar’s story.

            “It took me many years to gather all the ingredients. I liked doing it. I’m glad I did. AH!” He snatched up the tiny bottle and found a cup he had once stolen from outside a human drink house. He poured a bit of the liquid into the mug to hand it to Pharah. She stood up holding her hands out to take the mug from the jötnar. She looked into the drink to see swirling silver sparkles. Not sure if it was her imagination or not, but she could have sworn it was glowing. “I’m not sure how much, so sip at a time.”

            “What is it?” Pharah asked while giving it a sniff.

            “The king called it theriac. It will heal her.”

            Pharah put the cup down by her side as she knelt down to lift up Mercy’s head. Her face was snow white and beading with sweat. She opened her mouth to slide her tongue out so she wouldn’t choke as she poured some liquid down her throat. Mercy gulped, but still laid unconscious. Pharah gently placed her back on the wooden table then placed the cup in a safe place. “Now we wait?”

            “Now we wait,” the giant agreed as he brought back a few tiny blankets for the two. Pharah rolled one up placing it under Mercy’s head then took the other to cover her, tucking her in. When she was satisfied, and having nothing else to do, she turned to the jötnar “We need to talk.”

            Hours passed and it was now night time. The jötnar told Pharah everything she wanted to know about his mission. She found out his name was Griss, which made a lot of sense. Upon further inspection, she saw lots of hog-like things around his place; a stuffed hog head over his fire place, a hog mask, hog stitched quilt, and apparently he had a hog farm out back. He said he liked hogs since he was a babe and was found rolling around with them quite frequently. Pharah laughed at the sight of a giant baby rolling around with a bunch of piglets. He had another name once, but his mother renamed him Griss, Piglet, when she saw how much he loved pigs.

            After becoming acquainted, Griss explained Odin’s orders in full. “He’ll be looking for you now.”

            Pharah took a sip of ale as he said this.

            “He will not stop until he gets you. It’s only you he is after.”

            “I see.”

            “I can keep you both safe, but not for long. Not if he is still looking.”

            “I know.”

            “What will you do?”

            After some pause, Pharah gave it much thought. She knew it was only her Odin wanted as soon as she found out it was him who was doing this. Mercy was a casualty in a war she wasn’t even part of. There was only one thing to do to keep her Valkyrie safe.

            “I’ll go to Odin myself.”

            Griss stared at Pharah for a moment in disbelief. Such bravery for such a tiny thing. “I’ll go too!”

            “No. I need you here for when she wakes up. You need to take care of her. Look out for her. For me, Griss. Please?”

            Griss nodded solemnly. He didn’t like the idea of the little blue bird flying off to fight the God on her own, but what choice did he have? Then it dawned on him.

            “Wait here! I have something that will help!”

            Pharah looked confused, but not surprised that her jötnar friend had more in store. His home was brimming with trinkets and odds-and-ends from all over different lands. He had many human artifacts, but some from Valhalla as well. He came back after a few minutes and handed her another two mugs; one of shiny blue liquid and the other with a dark purple sludge. He then handed her two tiny viles. “Hands too big.”

            She understood immediately and began to pour the liquids into the viles. She corked them close when they hit below brim. “Purple is for travelling and blue is for killing.”

            Pharah stared at both of the liquids. That simple? She thought to herself. She tucked them both away in a pocket under her armor and nodded in thanks. “I must leave now, before she wakes.”

            Griss nodded, “She will be safe.”

            For some reason, it was hard for Pharah to leave her new friend behind. She had grown fond of her company, and not to mention, she’s the one who rescued her. The same reason she couldn’t bare it if anything else happened to her, is the reason she found it hard to take off. However, in the end, she is a warrior, built to do what others can’t. With that in mind, she flew up and kissed her giant friend on the forehead before flying out the open window.

Chapter Text

            Pharah laid Mercy down gently. The Valkyrie could hear conversation and movement, but couldn't open her eyes. Her body was frozen - stuck. She slipped in and out until she was gently shaken by softly firm hands. "Mercy, please, I need you." She heard the person say. Slowly, she opened her eyes to see Pharah above her. A halo of light hugged edges like a vibrant aura. "Phar-Pharah? Where am I?"

            "You're with me, silly. You were poisoned, but I found the cure just in time. How are you feeling?"

            "Poisoned you say? How? What?" Confused, Mercy sat up rubbing her head, the aura around Pharah not fading even as she stepped back a bit. Was she an angel?

            "It doesn't matter now. What matters is you're safe." Pharah hugged the woman and gently kissed her on her cheek.

            Just as Mercy pulled back to look in the face of her own angel, the lights behind her dimmed and everything around them began to decay away. Suddenly Pharah was receding from her view. Crying out for her soldier, Mercy reached and grabbed at thin air, watching as Pharah got sucked away from her grasp. "PHARAH! PHAAARRRAAAAHHH!!" Mercy screamed, but to no avail. Everything enclosed in on her going black, except for the tiniest speck of light in the distance.