She's a Lady
Chapter 3: Thor
This was too much.
Okay maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but seriously for almost five hours straight? My body just couldn’t take much more of it and I was beyond exhausted. I’ve never pushed myself this hard before but because of the fact that Thor had insisted that the two of us should do it (it was always so hard for me to say “no” to the guy), I was now thinking it over. That okay, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. The idea being, to take on a god… demi god… whatever.
I was on my hands and knees, my whole body was screaming and trembling from the tension and I began to breathe through my nose, I held it and then I released it through my mouth.
“Don’t tell me you’re tired already Lady __________,” I hear Thor chuckle to which I look up at him watching how he towered above me, “We’ve only just gotten started.”
“W-what?!” I croaked, my eyes shooting up to stare up at him from my position, “We’ve been going at this for five hours straight Thor! I need a break.”
“Pah!” he scoffs though that amazing grin of his never faded from his gorgeous golden face, “In Asgard we can last up to five days! It has also been recorded that the longest scuffle lasted for almost an entire month!”
“Yeah well, we’re not in Asgard today Toto, I’m a human being and I say I need a break.” I huff breathlessly and finally gave in by rolling onto my back while I stared up at the brightly lilted celling of the training room.
Yes that’s right; Thor and I were sparing trying to out match each other. That was what we’ve been doing since two in the afternoon, what did you think we were doing[1]?
The training room itself was part of the new design Tony made while reconstructing Stark Tower. And speaking of Tony, since my encounter with him a few days ago, I had made sure that was I wasn’t alone in the same room with him although after he finally fixed the AC I avoided him like the plague.
But anyway back to Thor and me, Thor took a seat next to me relaxing in peaceful silence until he looked over at me and spoke, “What is it like manipulating the elements as you do?”
Looking at him I began to quickly think of how to begin describing the way my power worked until I finally decided that it was best to describe the feelings I would get once I summoned forth each element. Sitting up I turn toward him and begin to open my mouth when I paused thought over it again and decided to start with earth.
“Rock or earth is heavy and strong, usually I think of mountains when I call upon it because regardless of how much you try to push it, rock will always maintain its stubborn form. Here let me show you,” getting up I take on a wide hard stance[2] and close my eyes. I then picture and feel for the heavy stoutness of the rocks around us, when I began to throw punching gestures up into the air as several boulders began to lift up from the ground and fly with momentum across the room then land roughly against the walls causing the room to shake and rock to crumble or either wise split into pieces, “Metal however, is a purified version of earth, it is just as hard and as stubborn but it can be persuaded to bend a lot better than its original form.”
“Watching you is an incredible sight to behold Lady _________, it is as though you are performing some form of magic. On Asgard you would be considered as a nature sorceress.”
I blushed, both from Thor’s words and the manner of how politely he could speak, “Uh thanks, I guess,” I say a little awkwardly and bite my lip.
“Tell me about the others like water, what does water feel like?”
“Water is cool and refreshing. You can feel out the gentle flowing of a creek or the powerful crash of the ocean’s waves,” to demonstrate I walk over to the pool of water that was also set up in the training room. The pool was big enough for someone to wade into it and the water level would only reach up to your waist, well at least my waist anyway.
Standing over the edge of the pool, I summoned an orb of water about the size of a bowling ball by flexing and moving both my arms and my hands in fluid like motions. I manipulated the water into various squamous shapes as well as created a way to use the water as a whip while I slashed at a nearby rock.
The rock fell into three perfect slices before crumbling to the ground, “Usually I like to enjoy a day of surfing; I don’t even need a board I normally just skid across the water like a skipping stone!”
“Ah! I’ve heard of surfing from Darcy! We must go to the shore and try it before I return to Asgard.” He decided with a grin, oh gosh he had the most amazing smile…
My smile faded a little as a memory came to my mind, Thor noticed and tips up my chin with his fingertips, “What is it Lady __________? What troubles you?”
With a small sigh I hug my arms slightly before speaking again, “There is another form of water manipulation that I have done only once and it was from that experience that I had decided never to do it to another living soul ever again.”
“What form is that?”
“The ability to control a living creature by controlling the water within them,” I mutter and I turn away from him slightly so he wouldn’t see my face.
I could hear the astonishment in his voice as he spoke again, “I was unaware that you were able to perform such an ability!”
“Yeah me too, it happened when I was younger. I was just learning how to control my powers. I was actually practicing on how to redirect the flow of water when some of the neighborhood kids came by and saw me. The leader of the group of kids, the guy was a real terror, he started distracting me to the point that he was annoying and I kept telling him be quiet and then I raised my hands at him only to scare him when he suddenly stood stiff. When I moved my hands again his arms had bent in such a way that they broke simultaneously. I was so scared because I didn’t mean it.” I said with closed eyes as memories of that day flooded before my eyes. The screams and the name calling resounded in my ears as well as the sights and sounds of the ambulance siren along with their flashing emergency lights.
“What happened to the boy?”
I shrug and shake my head, I didn’t want to talk about it anymore, “I don’t want to talk about it anymore Thor, I’m sorry.” I said voicing my thoughts and I felt a tear slide down the side of my face.
“I apologize for upsetting you Lady __________ that was not my intention.” He spoke softly and brushes away the tear with a fingertip.
“Yeah well, it’s in the past now and I’ve long since moved from that neighborhood.” I say trying to sound tough but it seemed that Thor could see right through me for he kept on smiling.
“Then continue please, I wish to learn more about you.”
He was so very sweet and it was very hard not to be annoyed with him, so with a gentle and nod I speak again, “Very well my friend, I shall continue. As for air,” at this I smile and close my eyes as I felt for the gentle flow of the air around us which causes me to suddenly lift and float up, my arms outstretched away from my body, “Air is freedom and light as a feather, it is the most spiritual of the four elements. You feel detached and carefree like a run-away balloon, or a bird.” I said with my eyes closed, “personally, it’s one of my favorite elements to handle and mostly because I can do this.” With a couple waves of my hand I created a puffy cloud under my feet then took a seat on it.
“That is amazing!” Thor called from below and I floated down to meet him then sat at eye level with him, “And yet it looks so… weak. Flimsy even. I would probably obliterate it if I were to stand on such a thing.”
Biting my lower lip I summon up more of the mist and lifted him up easily so that together we both sat on one giant cloud, “Who needs a magic carpet when I can show you the world like this[3]?”
Thor was looking both startled and uncomfortable so I had decided that it was better to put him back on solid ground before something else happened, “Sorry about that,” I say awkwardly and I felt my face heat up with the embarrassment I was now feeling, “I should have warned you, maybe we’ll fly some other time too.”
“Perhaps after we go surfing.” He suggested and I laughed.
“Yes perhaps we will,” I agreed and then I finally came to the last element, “So lastly, fire, in my opinion is passion and power. It burns in the heart and in the soul giving one the commanding drive they desire while accomplishing any task they set out. However that age old saying is true, ‘Play with fire and you’ll get burned’,” I nod thinking back about another time I was a kid and how scary it was the first time I made fire, “Lightening is actually a more concentrated form of fire and it can be redirected if done in the right way, otherwise I try not to handle the electricity all that much and just jump out of the way when I can!” I smile a little nervously thinking about my last experience with redirecting the both brilliant but terrifying crackling energy. I was lucky my eyebrows grew back!
“Ah! But you do know how to redirect it,” there was a sly smile on that perfectly chiseled face, “Come we shall practice!”
“W-what?” I squawked and stare at him with wide eyes. My anxiety of being shot at with thunder made the infamous (or famous depending on how you look at it) god of Thunder was too much for my small tiny human mind to comprehend with the moment, “You can’t be serious!”
“Come now Lady _________, we spar!”
“You’re joking about the lightening thing, right?”
Thor only grinned and began to swing that heavy hammer of his. Ominous dark gray clouds began to hover above our heads, followed by a flash of bright white light followed closely by the rumble of thunder.
Oh crap…
~*~
I was running for my life. Literally. There was no fucking way I was going to live to see tomorrow. Oh shit! Why in the free world did I mention that part about the lightening? Idiot!
Jumping and hiding behind pillars of rocks I had earlier created as conductors from the lightening Thor earlier summoned, I was then pushed back roughly by the shock wave that was caused by Thor directing his bolt of electricity behind the pillar I was hiding behind. Little did I know, I was standing just a few feet away from the pond of water.
Now wet and partially submerged I sneezed a few times as to get the water out of my nose, when I opened my eyes I see Thor wearing a triumphant grin on his face. He once more summoned another bolt of energy with a strike of his hammer. The loud cracking force coursed for me when instinctively I summoned another pillar of rock which completely obliterated the pond as well as the water. The lightening struck at the bottom of the pillar where it was the sturdiest.
“It seems as though you’ve run out of water Lady __________, now what do you plan to do?” Thor grins, thinking that he had the upper hand on me now, he was wrong. I smiled at him and wave a hand above my head feeling for the water in the air until I gathered enough to form a floating sphere in my palm.
“Who says I’ve run out of water?” I asked while allowing the sphere to coat my hand completely, I then willed the water to freeze up my fingertips to create five sharp finger shaped icicles to which I then shoot toward the god of Thunder.
With a comical look of horror, Thor blocks my attacks and advances forward just as I had. Moments before he made contact with me, I began to throw punch after punch of air to push him back.
Striking up his arm toward the ceiling again, Thor summoned more surging bursts of energy with Mjolnir and then he finally shoots it toward my incoming form. This time there was no blocking it, this time I was going to get hit head on with it. Oh God… Oh GOD!
Shutting my eyes and stretching out my hand I awaited the pulsating blow but it never came. Instead I opened my eyes and I felt the electricity flowing from the tips of my fingers as it continues to surge down into my forearm. From the moment I felt it starting to creep over to my shoulder, something instinctive made the concentrated pulse redirect into my stomach. Before shooting out the powerful roar of light from my other hand, the fingers of my second hand pointed and then shot for Thor’s mid-section. It caused him to fly back then he crashes chaotically onto the ground; dust and debris flew everywhere.
The dust in the air made me slightly cough until I disperse the earth particles against the walls of the room with a small push of my hands, I then see Thor lying on his side against the ground.
“Thor?” I call out, expecting him to rise from his place.
He did not.
“Thor are you okay?”
There was still no response.
“Oh God…”
Panic struck me hard in the chest and I ran over to his crumpled form, “Oh my God! Thor!” I shouted then fell to my knees next to him and turned him so that he was now on his back. I pat at his face trying to get him to respond and then I checked for a pulse.
This damn Asgardian armor was complete HELL! So without wasting another moment, I tore it apart with your bare hands before placing my ear over the expanse of his amazing chest.
No... Oh shit!
As soon as I finished the compressions, I then began giving him mouth to mouth. No, no this can’t be happening! I-- oh God, okay calm down it was going to be okay. It was going to be okay! And just as soon as my lips had touched his, did I feel his lips responding to mine. My eyes opened wide and I found those clear blue eyes of his staring into mine; they were smiling.
I was in such a state of shock at that moment that I didn’t feel when Thor’s arms wrap around my body and he pulled me against him, his eyes now fluttered shut while his kiss intensified making me feel lightheaded and blissful.
Oh… he had amazing kisses too. Oh God and his skin… his muscles… Thank goodness he was alive!
Wait a minute he was alive? He was ALIVE? Son of a--!
“No!” I had shouted after pushing myself back from him. Landing hard on my butt I glared at the demi god. How could he do that to me!
“What is it Lady __________? Have I done something wrong? Did my kiss not satisfy you?”
I was so angry with him at this point that I felt a new-found power surging deep inside myself that it had formed a hand into a fist and before I realized what I had done, I clocked him hard on the jaw.
“How could you do that to me!” I shouted, my fist still raised and it trembled as I felt tears forming in my eyes, “I thought you were hurt or worst! And then you exploit my concern for your well-being by playing possum!”
The tears began to flow freely now. As much as I had enjoyed the kiss and the fact that he wasn’t hurt, he still scared the piss out of me! I honestly thought I had done him in! Thor then pulls me into his body murmuring soft apologies for scaring me.
“I’m glad you’re alive… I really am,” I muffle against his chest and I felt him running his fingers through my hair kindly.
Looking up at him now, I could see a bruise forming from where I punched him, “Oh shit!” I winced then gathered some more water out of the air again, “Let me get that,”
“No Lady __________, I shall wear this mark with pride. It will serve to remind me not to try and trick you anew. It was wrong of me to do so, forgive me?” he meant it most sincerely, making me smile and nod. I then release the water I gathered onto the ground beside us.
“Yes, I forgive you.”
Hugging each other again, I could now hear the strong thrum of his heart, it made me grin. The two of us stayed this way until Thor broke the silence.
“Perhaps some other time Lady __________ we can have a true outing together, just the two of us? No tricks this time, I will leave that to Loki.” I could feel him smiling as he continued to hold me warmly and affectionately in his arms.
“Yes Thor,” I smiled and nuzzled his chest; “I would really like that.”
…
Notes
So I've got some 'splaining to do. I was starting to write in the second person just as I did for the other first three chapters but something happened between my brain and my fingers not communicating properly that I went from second person POV to first person POV and as I went back to re-read the flow of my work... I found multiple indiscretions... ugh. This was already half typed up in the first person so I said, "F[censored] it! Let's just go with the first person shooter!"
I don't own you, or Thor, or Avatar for that matter. Just the plot, spelling/grammar errors.
Number Bullets
[1] Breaking the fourth wall... only a bit. A crack really.
[2] I used Toph's fighting stance/skills as a reference as well as the other benders from Avatar to describe each element that Reader manipulates.
[3] Aladdin reference! So squishy!