InsaneJournal

RP: Her new eternity
Who: Astrid & Michael
What: Exchanging one eternity for a new one – based on this prompt
When: Saturday May 31, morning
Where: Michael’s apartment
Warnings: None
Completion Status: Complete


It was the way he held her.

Not like he was afraid she'd disappear. Not like someone trying to keep her from breaking. But like he already knew, like he'd felt the shift before she'd even stepped through the door. Like something had ended and something else had begun.

Astrid didn't say a word when she crossed the threshold. She couldn't. The air still tasted like mead and ash, and the part of her that had belonged to Fólkvangr and Valhalla ached like a phantom limb. She had handed in her swan cloak, not with a grand speech, but with trembling fingers and eyes that didn't dry until the walk home. And even now, she wasn't sure if the heaviness in her chest was grief or relief.

Michael didn't ask. He just opened his arms.

She went to him without hesitation.

There, in that quiet room where the world had narrowed to his breath and her heartbeat, she folded herself into him. Not the warrior, not the chooser of the slain; just a woman, just his. Her cheek pressed to his shoulder, her fingers curled into the fabric of his back like it was the only thing keeping her upright. And maybe it was.

He didn't flinch. Didn't speak. He just gathered her in like he'd been waiting every day of his life to do it. His lips found her temple, soft as a prayer, and she felt the promise in it, wordless and steady. You did it. You came back.

Her body shook once, quietly. Not from fear. From the sheer depth of it. Of being held not as a Valkyrie, not as Freyja's, but as herself. As Astrid.

He didn't let go.

And she knew; even if she never wore that cloak again, even if the gods never called her name again… this was still sacred. What they had made together. What she had chosen.

This moment. This man.

This was her eternity now.