Very Much Alive

Epilogue

A small spider sat, watching in the darkness as the room was cleaned of blood. The janitor knew something had gone down in the room, but hadn't questioned Frigg's directives, thanks to a judicious use of apple juice.

Cold bitch. The others were feeling the full force of her wrath as she took out Baldur's desertion on them.

Inside, Grimm chuckled. He knew they'd think he'd flown out the window when he'd opened it. It meant he'd had time to curl up in a little crack in the cinderblock, giving his body time to heal, completely undetected.

He had a number of things he needed to take care of. Starting with Vali, and ending with Baldur and Loki. And Tyr.

Tyr, perhaps, would be the first to die. Without him, Gungnir would revert back to Grimm. The thought that Tyr might have passed it on briefly crossed his mind, only to be dismissed. Tyr wouldn't give it away lightly, not after he'd just taken it back from Grimm.

Yes. Once Tyr is gone, time will be on my side. After all, I have all of it.

The spider sat in the crack in the wall and spun his plans...

Travis stared down at the bloodied face of the woman he'd pined over for years. He hadn't dared to touch her, not wanting to bring her grandfather's wrath down on her head.

But Grimm had hurt her anyway.

For that alone, the other god would die.

"Travis?” Her voice was broken, barely a pained whisper, but he heard it.

He heard everything she said, whether she knew it or not.

She could barely open her eyes. She looked so small and fragile in the bed, it broke his heart. She licked her lips. “Travis, is that you?"

"I'm here, Jamie.” He took her hand in his and held his rage back by sheer force of will. He wanted so desperately to brush back her hair, but Fenris had seen to it long ago that he couldn't.

He could no longer blame the Wolf for what he'd done. Grimm had been manipulating all of them, even back then. He hoped Logan had succeeded in freeing his child from Grimm's chains.

His attention returned to her as she moaned. “I'm here."

And you'll never be alone again.