Destined || Peter Parker FanFiction

Chapter Twenty Nine

Nylah stared at her father's back, just as her older brother walked up from behind her. Something didn't feel right, something was wrong, and it wasn't settling her nervous stomach. She looked to her side, hoping for some reassurance from her brother, but even he looked just as concerned. Odin would have said something – stood up, anything. He would have sensed that his children are there, and something would have happened. But nothing did. He just sat there – all alone on a large grey rock, looking out at the sea in front of him.

Loki forced himself to reassure his sister with his eyes, though it hadn't done much really. He held his arm for Nylah to take, in which she did, because she really needed the comfort and something to hold onto. She thought that perhaps their father was upset with them, hence the lack of communication and the body language he had. It would make sense why Odin would be mad with Loki and herself – but what did Thor do wrong, to the point where Odin will give him the cold shoulder, too?

Nylah could feel Loki's hesitance as they reached their father, both siblings standing on the right side of him. Thor sat down on the rock beside Odin, his blue eyes scanning his father's face for a sign of anything, but there was nothing. If anything, Odin was... calm. The calmest Nylah had ever seen the Asgardian king.

"Father, it's us." Thor announced to his father with a hint of concern, while Loki sat down beside his father, and Nylah stayed put.

"My children." Even his tone of voice was calm, and it was almost soothing. "I've been waiting for you."

His calm voice sent her flashbacks to the time when she was young. It was before her brother's fought for dominance, before there were any major fights that would begin to tear their family apart. She was six-years-old, and it was the night of her birthday. She had spent the day opening gifts from those all over the nine realms, as well as her kingdom. There was nothing more that a child would want on their sixth birthday; thousands of toys, painting sets, chocolates. She had her brothers at her side for the entire day, which was a rarity in their time, because the boys were only teenagers and often distracted by far more important things than playing dolls with their baby sister.

But despite the perfect day, the day all children would wish for, six-year-old Nylah spent the day wondering when she would see her father. You see, being an Asgardian King of nine realms, that meant that her father was often rather busy and almost had no time to spend time with his family. But whether he needed to be there for his royal duties or not, Nylah's day felt incomplete without him there. So, being a child and all, she cried, and she complained when the day's end neared, claiming to her nanny that this was the 'worstest' day in the world.

But there was a light at the end of the tunnel by the time she was tucked into her bed that night – as her father had finished his royal duties, and he was finally there to read her a bedtime story. He sat himself down on a comfortable chair and his hands lightly stroked her head, his soothing voice telling the story of how Asgard and the nine realms become the way they are today. The night ended with a kiss pressed to her forehead, and the quiet whisper of, 'I love you to the ninth realm and back, my sweet girl'.

It was a memory that would never leave Nylah. The young Asgardian blocked out many memories of her childhood, having always felt weak and forgotten, but that night had always stuck to her. She never had the opportunity to spend much time with her father as a young girl – but that night seemed to have made up for all their loss time. But as the years went on, and the more distant Nylah and her father had become, it almost seemed as though nothing could ever repair their broken bond.

"I know." Thor nodded his head lightly at his father, his hand wrapping around Odin's wrist gently. "We've come to take you home."

"Home, yes," Odin continued to stare out to the sea, but his eyes began to wander to the clouds that floated above the water. "Your mother calls me – do you hear it?"