[OP Marvel] Ch: 6 [Peace in the Presence of a Weapon] (Patreon)

Noon light warmed the garden as Sif slowly drifted back to awareness. Her eyelids fluttered. She felt grass under her cheek. Her body was lying sideways on the ground.

Wait… lying?

Her eyes snapped open.

She sat up so fast the world tilted.

She remembered sitting upright to meditate, but she must have fallen asleep without realizing it. It surprised her because Sif rarely slept during the day. 'Was I really that exhausted?' She wondered.

Her hand went to the hilt of her sword out of habit.

She looked around… then froze.

Jason sat only a few steps away from her, resting comfortably with his back against a tree. The scene around him did not seem real at first glance.

A swarm of tiny creatures surrounded him.

There were slender bright-tailed burrowhops, a rodentlike species with long ears and smooth spiral patterns on their fur. Several of them stood on their hind legs, nibbling at seeds from Jason’s hand. The little squirrel-like creatures with curling feathertails skittered around his legs, chittering happily. Birds of every color perched on his shoulders, arms, and even on top of his head. A large golden-winged skycrane rested calmly beside him while small finch-sized glimmers fluttered near his face.

Jason fed them calmly, holding handfuls of nuts and bits of bread. Every creature waited for their turn without fear. Some of the birds fluttered against his hair. A runetail climbed into his lap to seize a berry from his palm. Jason laughed quietly and scratched its chin.

The laughter did not match the man she knew.

It was warm.

Peaceful.

Sif watched him with her breath caught in her chest. For the first time since meeting him, she felt something she had never felt in his presence: complete stillness. The unsettling weight and the quiet danger that usually clung to him were completely absent. She sensed no bloodlust or violent tension beneath the surface.

Jason looked like a man of the Vanir in that moment, someone deeply attuned to nature and life. Yet the magic that flowed from him did not resemble Vanir magic at all. It was ancient and strange, both gentle and immense, as if there was a forest and a battlefield hidden behind a single heartbeat.

Jason looked at her.

He gave her a small smile that reached his eyes. “Good afternoon. You slept longer than I expected.” He tossed a nut toward a bird sitting on a branch. The bird caught it with perfect timing.

Sif replied with a bit of embarrassment because she fell asleep while meditating. “I did not expect to fall asleep at all.”

“You needed it,” Jason replied. “How does it feel?”

"Better actually. Like... It really feels good." She felt really relaxed and somewhat energetic. "Thanks. I really needed that rest."

A runetail tugged on the edge of his sleeve and he handed it a berry without looking. The gentle familiarity of the gesture made Sif’s chest tighten for reasons she did not understand.

She walked closer, slowly.

The animals did not flee. In fact, many of them looked at her with curiosity, as if deciding whether she was allowed inside their little circle. 

“Come sit,” he said. “If you want.”

She hesitated only for a moment before lowering herself to the grass beside him.

The runetails sniffed her boots.

"They are curious about you," Jason said with a smile.

The birds circled her head once before settling back onto the branches. A rabbit hopped close and inspected her hand. Her lips parted slightly in amazement.

“They trust you,” she said softly.

“They trust anyone who means no harm to them,” Jason replied. “They sense emotions better than most people. That is why they come to me. I cannot hide anything from them. They know exactly what I feel.”

She looked at him carefully. “And what are you feeling right now?”

Jason fed a bird perched on his wrist. The feathers brushed his skin like silk.

“I feel at peace,” he said. “This is one of the few moments I can simply exist without expecting something to attack me.”

Sif lowered her gaze. The sincerity in his voice touched something deep within her.

“I have never seen you like this,” she said quietly. “You seem very different.”

Jason smiled again. It was small but genuine.

“I am not always a weapon,” he said. “I just act like one when I must. I'm surrounded by gods and insanely powerful warriors. So, it's like my instinct. You've to understand that for the last thirty years, I was alone. I didn't have anyone to talk to. And my life was in constant danger. I kept killing and surviving for years, and I was on the brink of losing my mind. So, to keep my sanity, I learned to embrace the way of the Druids. It helps me to be one with nature and forget all my pain and nightmares." 

A runetail climbed onto his shoulder and curled up comfortably beneath his jaw. Jason scratched its back and a low purr-like sound came from its throat.

Sif watched him in silence, realizing something very important...

The man who could summon dragonsThe man who fought monsters alone for thirty yearsThe man who terrified Loki with a single touchThe man who radiated an aura that made warriors uneasy

...was also capable of this.

He has a warm smile and connects with every small creature that comes to him. For reasons she cannot explain, seeing this makes her heart race faster than any battle ever has.

Jason dropped a few berries into her hand and nodded toward the small animals waiting patiently in front of her knee.

“Feed them,” he said. “They like you.”

He had no idea how much that simple sentence affected her.

Sif extended her hand. The rabbit approached, sniffed her fingers, and accepted the offering. 'So cute!'

Jason watched her with the same relaxed expression, unaware that the woman beside him was very close to losing her composure.

She hid it with a calm breath. “You promised to spar at noon,” she said. “It is noon.”

Jason looked at the sunless Asgardian sky and shrugged. “Five more minutes. Let them finish eating.”

Sif nodded, even though she did not care about sparring anymore. She only wanted this moment to last a little longer.  

"What? No!" Jason said, looking at a burrowhop. 

The burrowhop tilted its head and let out a little chirp sound.

"Oh, you little critter. Don't push it," Jason said as he flicked the burrowhop's tail.

Chripp! Chripp! Chripp!

"What?! No, we aren't doing it!" Both of them spoke together.

"Wait! You can talk to them?" Sif asked.

Jason nodded. “Yeah, I can talk to anyone regardless of their species.”

Sif did not respond at first. Her eyes were still on the burrowhop, but her expression had shifted into something far more unsettled than simple curiosity. Asgardians communicated with every race through the Allspeak, so understanding animals was not the surprising part.

The surprising part was that Jason answered the burrowhop’s question without hesitation.He understood the creature the same way she did.

She stared at him. “So you heard all of that.”

Jason pressed his thumb and forefinger against his brow. “Unfortunately.”

The burrowhop chirped again, as cheerful as a creature could be after causing chaos.

Sif tried to maintain dignity but failed spectacularly. The burrowhop’s earlier questions echoed in her head, every one worse than the last.

Are you his mate?Are you breeding?How many children will you have?Did you store food for the winter?

Her ears grew hot. Her posture stiffened. She wished for a battlefield to swallow her whole.

Jason pointed at the burrowhop with a flat expression. “Stop trying to drag my personal life into your seasonal nonsense.”

Chripp! The burrowhop fluffed up indignantly and tapped its hind leg on the ground.

Sif cleared her throat, trying to sound composed. “It is normal for burrowhops to pry into breeding cycles, but this one is unusually bold.”

“That is one way to put it,” Jason replied. 

The burrowhop chirped another rapid sequence. Jason groaned.

“No. We are not breeding. Stop asking.”

The burrowhop chittered a complaint at Sif as if she was the unreasonable one. Sif coughed into her fist to hide the sudden spike of heat in her cheeks.

Several nearby animals paused their eating to stare at the two warriors, as if judging the situation.

The burrowhop chirped again.

Jason shook his head. “And no, that is not how this works. We just met a week ago. You can't expect me to show my butt and dance for her and hope she falls for me. Ah! For the sake of god. I got dragged into its pace.” He looked at Sif and cleared his throat.

'I'd love to see that,' Sif chuckled a bit and she was blushing a bit. “You do not need to explain anything to it.”

“I know,” Jason said. “But it does not care. It wants its seasonal traditions acknowledged by everyone else.”

The burrowhop puffed up and gave an offended chirp, then scampered off to steal crumbs from a bird that looked equally annoyed.

Jason put the remaining berries, nuts, and seeds in a big bowl before standing up. He pointed his finger at that burrowhop. "Don't do that ever again, or you won't get any food." He then extended his hand toward Sif. "Shall we go for a little spar?"

She took his hand and stood up.

"Yeah, we should."

...

[30 minutes later]

The training ground was filled with the sharp ring of metal and the heavy crash of boots grinding against stone. Dust hung in the air. A thin ribbon of steam curled from the cracks that Jason’s last impact had left in the floor.

Sif staggered back two steps while her lungs strained for air. Sweat clung to her skin and soaked through the thin cloth beneath her armor. Her arms trembled as she kept her sword raised with sheer force of will. She should have been able to fight for an entire day without feeling strain, yet her legs shook and her vision pulsed at the edges.

Her shield lay in ruins behind her, split cleanly down the center from a single strike Jason had delivered five minutes ago.

Jason rested his giant axe across his shoulder. The weapon looked like it weighed as much as a horse, yet he held it as if it was nothing more than a wooden training stick. There was no sweat on him, and he was actually relaxed.

His smirk told her everything. He had enjoyed every second of their clash.

“What was that about, 'I can fight for twenty-four hours without any fatigue'?” Jason lifted a brow with genuine amusement. “Because from where I am standing, you lasted thirty minutes."

Sif tightened her grip around her sword even though her hand was beginning to go numb. Her chest rose and fell with short, uneven breaths. She wanted to snarl back at him but the exhaustion tangled her words before they reached her mouth.

She settled on forcing her feet to stay planted. She refused to bend. She refused to look weak.

“That was not… my best display,” she managed through clenched teeth.

Jason stepped closer to her. “At first, you were holding back. Then you stopped. Next, you tried to outpace me, and after that, you tried to outsmart me. When that didn't work, you panicked. Then you became stubborn. Finally, you relied on your instincts. You never found a rhythm.”

Sif tried to speak again, but a fresh wave of fatigue rolled through her. Her sword dipped. She jerked it upright on reflex.

Jason looked at him closely but spoke gently. “You have talent, discipline, and heart. But you waste too much energy trying to impress the audience instead of fighting the person in front of you.”

She bristled even though she knew he was right. “I do not try to impress anyone.”

“You do. You try to impress everyone,” Jason said. “You want to be seen as perfect. You want to prove you are not the weak link among the gods and legends around you. That is why you run yourself into the ground even when there is no need to.”

Her jaw locked. His words struck deeper than any blow he had landed during the spar.

She raised her sword again and forced her spine to straighten. “I can still continue.”

“No you cannot,” Jason answered without hesitation.

“I can,” she insisted, even though her vision wavered.

Jason blinked before Sif, startling her. Before her knees could give out, he picked her up in his arms and carried her to the resting room. 

"You are stubborn, I like that. I'll help you get stronger," He said before lowering her on a stone chair. "Take a five-minute break. Then we'll resume."

"I thought you were going to sleep?" She asked with a little smile.

"Yeah, but this is more interesting," Jason replied as he sat beside her.