22 Before Training

Slowly my consciousness came back to me along with a piercing headache. It felt like Mjolnir had been repeatedly hitting my head or something.

Suddenly, memories flooded my head and I let my head hit the comfortable floor underneath me in part-happy remembrance and part-embarrassment over what I remembered.

After I downed that Jug of alcohol, I kept drinking and eating while also talking with the Valkyries around me. Mainly about fighting techniques and workout routines but also about me and my life so far.

When they learned that I barely had any memories to my name and only remember anything past the time I woke up in S.H.I.E.L.D HQ, they all gasped for some reason. Thrud even went as far as to try and...console me? Ah, no, she went as far as to offer to, and I quote, "Make some new, more interesting memories together," ended with a wink.

I just can't believe she's the daughter of Thor, someone who seemed so incredibly dense to anything sexual.

Luckily, the other Valkyries sincerely said they would help make my time on Asgard a memorable time for me, and help me possibly revive some of my lost memories.

Despite knowing their actions would account for nothing - I'd tried to jog my memory with an assortment of things, but alas, nothing worked - it was the thought that counted anyway, right? Knowing I had people who would try to help me as much as the Valkyries were saying they would, truly warmed my heart.

After this chat and getting a hell of a lot more drunk, a few brawls started breaking out.I didn't join in on these brawls as I knew there wouldn't be any fun in them, but this didn't stop me from having fun watching two people beat the ever-living sh*t out of one another.

Man Vs Man, Woman Vs Woman, Man Vs Woman, everyone had a brawl. But as soon as it started getting a bit messy, I had a brilliant idea.

I got everyone's attention and proposed said brilliant idea. Do you want to know that the idea was?

An arm-wrestling match. Yep, doesn't seem like much but boy did it get the Asgardians incredibly excited.

Everyone who wanted to join and have a go got in a circle surrounding my table. I decided to start it off by challenging whoever thought they could beat me to come and have a go.

The first person was a big man, just over 2m tall and packed full of bulky muscles. He smelt of metal and burning, so I guessed he was a Blacksmith of some kind. Opposed to what I thought he'd be like, he was extremely respectful while still sounding intimidating with his gruff voice.

He sat down opposite me and we grasped each other hands. Hildr who sat beside me now counted us in and on the count of 3, we both pushed against each other.

I obviously didn't use my full strength otherwise I'd have broken the poor man's arm, but I still put on a show to get the crowd riled up.

After 'straining' I finally put the man's hand to the table, before drinking some more strong alcohol and daring someone else to come and give it a shot.

This led to the arm-wrestling competition to stray away from being a competition between everyone and becoming a competition of everyone solely against me.

Asgardians of all sizes and genders came up against me and gave it a shot. But after I won so many bouts, they all gave up and named me the Champion. Even the Valkyries wouldn't give it a shot as they somehow seemed to know I wasn't giving it my all.

Well, all the Valkyries didn't try but one.

Thrud. That magnificent woman...

A-ahem, anyway, she challenged me before sitting in front of me and clasping my hand in hers. The sudden contact with her hand and surprisingly soft skin, plus how drunk I was at the time caused my heart to skip a few beats before I got myself back in motion and concentrated on Thrud who seemed just as drunk as me.

We started off pushing against each other as soon as our eyes met and we saw the competitive spirit in the other's eyes.

At first, we didn't really try and only put on a show to the spectators who were fervently watching us.

But it soon started to get serious when I felt Thrud try to catch me off guard with a sudden increase in strength. At that point, I remember getting a bit serious.

I pushed back against her hand and ignored her foot which was slowly moving up and down one of my legs. She playfully smiled at this and pushed back even harder.

This back and forth continued until I finally really started straining against her. Luckily, the wooden tables seemed to be made of something incredibly hard otherwise our match would've shattered the tables.

Thrud soon started trying when she realized my hand was pushing her's ever closer to the table. She slowly, agonizingly slow in fact, brought our hands back to the stalemate and even further than that.

But as I went to finish the competition with a burst of my own strength, I was taken off guard by a sudden peck on my lips which momentarily stunned me and my hand was instantly slammed into the table cracking it.

The crowd let out a thunderous roar along with some 'ooooo's and some 'ahhhh's in response to how she won. It was mainly the women who did this.

Me? I was still in a daze, feeling the phantom sensation of Thrud's soft, juicy lips on my own. Unconsciously, I let my tongue dart out and taste what her lips tasted like.

Fruity, like the alcohol I was drinking but also sweet. The taste made my heart skip a beat.

Anyway, I soon shook myself free of my stupor, a wave of slight anger at losing and how I lost taking its place, I looked over at Thrud.

She was doing the same thing I was just doing - licking her lips, getting a taste of our 'kiss' if you could call it that, it was more like a winning tactic.

Thrud seemed to see my annoyance and I remembered how she giggled as she replied to that annoyance, "All's fair in War, Michael~" still, despite how beautiful she looked, it didn't lessen my annoyance with her and how she won in such a way.

Looking back now, I was surprised to remember I wasn't annoyed at her kissing me, but rather why she did it.

I...I hope it's not for the reason I'm thinking of right now. Please, Lord, don't let it be like that.

Whatever. Anything past that point is pretty much a blur to me. I guess it had something to do with more drinking because the splitting pain in my head is telling me that is so.

Slowly opening my eyes, I controlled my Sage Force before using it to clear my mind and force my body to burn the remnants of alcohol in my system.

The headache disappeared and despite some faint feelings of sickness, I was as good as new.

Looking around I saw that I was still in the Hall, and I could see multiple people passed out around me. I smirked thinking that the night truly must have been good.

When I tried to stand up, I heard a few groans next to me and realized I was on the floor, surrounded by a group of women. Confusion instantly hit me as I looked around and counted about 6 blonde and redheaded beauties lying around me.

None of them were the Valkyries as they were all gone but each of these women was incredible beauties and it begged the question; What did I do last night?

All of them were clothed and I still had my pants on, so I knew I didn't lose my virginity while I was drunk - thank the lord.

But something must have happened to start this, right?

Maneuvering arms and bodies off of me, I slowly sneaked over to the table and picked up my black t-shirt.

I quickly put it on. While doing so I realized someone must have worn it before now because it smelled of both perfume and a nice scent. My nose was incredibly sensitive, so I wouldn't be mistaken about these things. It was so sensitive I wouldn't be surprised if my bloodline wasn't an Angels but instead a bloodhound's. What use is a sensitive nose to an Angel?

With useless thoughts such as these, I walked to the exit of the Hall and when I got out of it, I saw that there was someone waiting for me.

Bored green eyes looked up at me, and a smirk which said 'Thank God you've finally arrived~'. Hildr looked over at me and waved me over.

"I can only thank Odin that you're awake. Do you know how long I've been waiting for you, my lazy Shield-Brother?" she seemed to be channeling Thrud as she playfully teased me with a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Sorry, sorry, but I'm awake now...what do we need to do?" my voice sounded a tad hoarse but it soon smoothed itself out.

Hildr walked, motioning me to follow before she spoke again, "We're going to Valkyrie Camp, where you'll have a wash to freshen yourself up, and I'll get ready for our training session!" her excitement seemed almost palpable as she sped up.

Well, I couldn't say anything as my excitement was just as intense and I sped up to follow her and so we could arrive at the place quicker.

It took next to no time for us to arrive and after Hildr showed me to the bathing room and giving me a few towels and a new change of clothes, she went off to get the lesson ready.

I got undressed and practically jumped into the boiling hot bath next to me. I wonder why it's still so hot despite them not knowing when I would get here...probably some kind of rune, right?

As I thought many different lines of thought, even having discussions among myself(s?) through the Sage Forces mind-splitting ability, I absentmindedly scrubbed and washed away at my body.

Before I knew it, I was done and I leaped out of the bath with as much enthusiasm as I did when I jumped in, and without the need for a towel, I simply evaporated the water off of my body.

I looked in a side mirror next to me and saw my unblemished bronze skin, contrasting heavily with my crimson eyes and hair. Seeing I was fully clean and looking as handsome as ever, I quickly put on my change of clothes.

It was a simple white tank top, some simple black combat pants and what looked to be some combat boots.

Walking out of the room I walked my way to the courtyard where I first met the Valkyries. When I entered said courtyard, I was two people; Thrud and Hildr.

Both of them were in similar get-ups to me, tank top, combat pants, and boots, but they had an extra accessory if you could call it that.

The big metal wings I'd seen once before on Hildr were now on both of them. Hildr's looked the same as they did before, and Thrud looks the same as Hildr's just bigger in both wingspan and overall size.

Noticing me, both girls turn to me with Hildr smiling and Thrud having a weirdly annoyed face.

Thrud said something to Hildr before taking off with a massive flap of her wings sending the air into a turbulent storm around both Hildr and me.

Surprised she didn't stay to say 'Hello' or anything, especially after what she did last night...I pushed this thought to the back of my head but when I made my way over to Hildr I couldn't help but ask her.

"Why's she in such a mood? She did even say hello or anything?" I felt weirdly at a loss and it must have shown on my face as Hildr started to laugh near uncontrollably.

In between her laughter, she managed to get out her answer, "Hahaha...so, you don't remember what happened toward the end of the Feast? Pfffft..." me shaking my head made her laugh even more and it finally got on my nerve making me have a short outburst.

"Hildr! Stop laughing and just tell me what happened!" my frustration was so unlike me and I don't know why I exploded like that. Hildr seemed a bit shocked at my reaction but not too shocked, she must have been expecting me to get annoyed with her laughing but she must not have expected it to be so soon.

"Well, after Thrud winning against you in the arm-wrestling, by, ya know, kissing you..." she went a bit quiet at this before suddenly coughing and carrying on, "A-ahem, yeah, after that, you and her were like two peas in a pod. She even started sitting on your lap at some point but..." she paused for a minute before continuing, "At some point, she asked you back to her room, and in your drunken idiocy you mentioned a girl called Anna and this pissed Thrud off so much she stormed off. You went to go after her but kept you in the room,"

Hearing what she said I instantly froze.

Thrud asked me back to her room, most likely for some sexual act to follow and I...cockblocked myself?

For some reason, I felt some part of me begging for us to shrivel up and die, so I did the next best thing.

I bent my knees so I was squatting, covered my face and released my wings to hide my body and face even further.

Is this pure embarrassment? Because it feels like that but times 100...

But Hildr had to make me feel even more...ashamed? I don't know what it made me feel but it wasn't great, "She even came back, after calming down and realizing this girl was only a friend of yours, but by that time you were asleep and the beauties who were there at the feast had decided to sleep next to you due to the warmth you seem to unconsciously release. This didn't go down well with Thrud..."

I let out a long, drawn-out sigh before slowly standing up and folding my wings behind my back.

"Can we just get on with the training, Hildr? From your wings I'm guessing it's some to do with flying..." hoping some training would cheer me up and make me forget about my embarrassment, I eagerly looked at Hildr who seemed to understand this.

"Yep! We're gonna be teaching you how to fly and some techniques on flying during combat!" Hildr spread out her own wings for dramatic effect.

It seems Hildr's opening up to me, she's not as shy and nervous as before...that's good.

Seeing her enthusiasm, I let it infect me, spreading my own wings outward, "Let's get going then!"

(A/N - Some development between Thrud and Michael. Nothing romantic, just lust, I guess....or is it? Who knows~ Mwahahahaha!

Oh and I bet you guys are pretty annoyed he didn't have sex, right? Well tough. I don't want Michael going round dicking every girl he meets without the emotions being there. There's definitely something between Thrud and Michael, so all you guys need is some patience.)