Villagers of men and women cheered as they watched the spars between soldiers before them, betting on who the victor may be. It was all from the energy of the celebration and victory from the previous battle, soldiers determined to go into battle again or to have a friendly spar against friends. The king and prince Five watched with amusement while also keeping an eye on who their leading warrior will be for the upcoming combat.

"I see you are fascinated by that strange girl you saved from the battlefield." The king speaks up and Five bristles.

"And if I am father? I can chase whichever girl I fancy."

"I know but do you not think it is strange."

"She had told me she was trying to travel but was unfortunately involved in our battle."

"And you believe her?"

"Of course not. She could have easily gone a different direction. I only extended an invitation to her to see if she is an enemy."

"Good." The king walks away and Five continues to watch the sparring matches, the crowd around him cheering.

(Y/n) watched from the crowd, staying silent as she hid beneath her hood. Her steel mask covered her face, her hands gripping the hilt of her dual swords tightly as she burned with anger. The match between the two soldiers ended, the victor yelling out for another challenger.

"Come forward whoever dares to challenge me!" Five watched as a single cloaked figure stepped forward and the man grins. "Another opponent!" the prince was wary, seeing the difference between the taller warrior and the smaller challenger as they took their cloak off.

People immediately placed bets on the more muscular man to beat the more lean and slender figure, spinning their swords in their hands before lowering in a fighting stance. The soldier just laughed, mocking the smaller warrior as they held one of their swords across their chest and the other above their head. The fight begins as the soldier bangs his axe on his shield in a repeated beat, the other warriors doing the same as he and the small challenger circle each other.

"Come on! Show me what you got runt!" the warrior yells out, annoyed that his opponent was not making a move. He grunts and decides to charge, raising his axe to swing down but the lithe figure easily sidesteps him. The soldier stumbles back, making sure to not hurt the villagers and Five was immediately interested at how the smaller opponent was riling up this warrior.

Five watched as the two battled against each other, mainly the opponent as they glided around the soldier like water. He was bewitched at how easily they beat the larger warrior, disarming his axe and slicing his shield in two. The crowd became quiet from shock as the warrior fumed in anger, staring down the stranger that beat him in minutes.

"I am not done." the stranger says, voice distorted by their mask as they throw one of their swords to the warrior. He catches it, gripping the hilt in anger at being looked down on as a soldier. "One more time." the stranger says, lowering once more and the warrior yells out before charging again. He swings down but there was a clash of steel as the smaller challenger easily blocked the attack. People gasped that the challenger was able to push back the warrior with ease, clearly stronger as they kick him in the stomach and he stumbles back.

The swords swing against each other, the warrior struggling to hold up as they got sliced and nicks over his body as the challenger flitted around him almost like fey. The battle ends as a punch was aimed at the face of the warrior, him falling to the floor as the challenger stepped down on his wrist to prevent him to grab the sword.

"You are you!? How dare you belittle me you fucking piece of shit!" The challenger says nothing as they pick up their sword and Five silences the angry warrior.

"I believe we have found our leading warrior for our next battle." Five announces as the stranger turns to face him, sheathing their swords into their holders on their back. "Reveal yourself so we may award your victory." Five froze as the warrior takes their steel mask off, shocked to see that it was (y/n). Her freed hair flowed over her armour, a cold look on her face.

"She is a shieldmaiden!" the warrior bows when he stands up, the same with the other soldiers knowing shieldmaidens were more superior than they were. (y/n) just ignores the warriors and walks off, brushing past Five who breaks from his shock and runs after the woman.

"I did not know you are a shieldmaiden." Five was in awe of the woman before him, of the strength that rolled from her and her armour.

"I was a shieldmaiden." (y/n) hissed, not wanting to talk about her past and Five was immediately interested in the small shred of information about (y/n).

"Was?"

"I will not talk about this to you-" (y/n) quickly moves away from Five as he tries to grab her, flashing before his eyes before landing behind him and holding his own dagger against his neck just like the night before. Five smirked at the move, feeling the slight cold pierce of his dagger.

"You dare hold a knife to the throat of a prince?"

"I would if he tried to attack me." (y/n) hissed. "That was your intention was it not? To test my skill?"

"Of course, you could see through me, my beautiful shieldmaiden." (y/n) bristles from the name, lowering her stance and giving Five the advantage to pin her against the wall as he held his dagger against her throat again. Five grinned from the flustered woman before him, raising his dagger and slowly dragging the edge against (y/n)'s skin. He was amused by the glare she aimed at him, his body pressing closer to her just enough to hear her beating heart.

"Do not call me that." (y/n) seethes, revolted from how her heart jumped at Five's name for her.

"What? Beautiful shieldmaiden?" Five leans down, his hand moving down to grip (y/n)'s hand that held another dagger in her hand.

"That I am yours. I will never be yours." (y/n) glared at Five, surprising him with her strength as she pushed him away and walked off. Five couldn't help but be drawn to his shieldmaiden despite his logical mind telling him to be wary. (y/n) shook her head as she walked to her room, trying to calm her heart as she grew angry at herself.

I am not falling for him.

I will not fall for the son of my target.

For the rest of the day, (y/n) made sure to keep her distance from the prince who followed her from afar, watching her interact with the children of the village or help the women with their chores. He would be lying if he didn't find her admirable and enchanting despite knowing that she may be an enemy.

"As I live and breathe! Has the gods finally answered my prayers for my little brother to find a woman for his own?" Five growls lowly as one of his older brothers, Klaus, drapes an arm around his shoulder, ruffling his hair.

"It would be wise for you to take your hands off me if you do not want me to reveal your secret." Five snaps and Klaus raises his arms.

"Ok ok!" Klaus looked over to see who his brother's attention was focused on, seeing a girl dressed in loose pants and a tunic helping the farmers with cultivating their land. "She is more helpful than you are dear brother."

"Please, as if you are equally helpful to the villagers Midgard Loki."

"I take pride in my name to be Midgards version of the mischievous god himself!" Klaus exclaims. He huffs and looks down at his brother as he leaned against a hut with his arms crossed. Five watched (y/n) as she helped the farmers with wheat sacks on her shoulders, easily carrying them across the field. Klaus could see the desire in Five's eyes, a smirk growing on his face with an idea to help him come to terms with his heart.

"Where do you think you are going?" Five asks as he sees his brother skip over to the woman he was watching.

"Going to say hello to my future sister-in-law!" As Klaus skipped over, (y/n) smiled and thanked the farmer's wife as she handed her a glass of water. She downed the drink, leaning up to make sure her ears were still hidden behind her hair that was tied loosely. The day was slowly coming to an end and (y/n) decided to go take a bath before heading to bed but was stopped by a tall lanky man blocking her path. He grinned down at her, eyes darkened with black painted rings to match a familiar god of lies.

(y/n) could easily sense the god Loki through this man, a Midgardian embodiment as she saw the mischief in his eyes. "Hello there beautiful maiden!" (y/n) was on guard, worried that if the man before her was anything like the god Loki, she had to be careful to not anger him.

"Uh hello. How can I help you?"

"Oh, no need for the formalities! Just call me Klaus! And what is your name?"

"I am (y/n)."

"Such a lovely name! I see why my brother has taken a liking to you."

"Your brother?" (y/n) looks over and freezes when she sees Five staring at her, a smirk on his face. A shudder runs down her spine, pain bubbling from the wounds on her back and she knew she needed to go.

"He fancies you. He has never fancied anyone before. You must be special." (y/n) stands her ground as Klaus leans down very close, eyes wide as he peered down at her. His eye flickers past her hair when the wind suddenly picks up and (y/n) quickly covers her ears in a panic. "You are not human." Klaus' grin widened, knowing exactly what the woman was before him. (y/n) immediately felt fear, taking a step back from the man that smiled at her eerily.

"I must go." (y/n) quickly runs off, clutching her shoulder as she felt the blood seep into her clothes.

"What did you do!?" Five sneered at his brother, watching the woman he desired run away in fear.

"Nothing brother. You chose a special one." Klaus giggled, skipping away.