The court was silent as the judge folded his papers, and then unfolded them. Picked them up and then put them down; he obviously didn't want to be there anymore than anyone else did. He eventually cleared his throat and addressed the court
"you may be seated" he croaked glancing around the room and tactfully avoiding the piercing gaze of the convicted Asgardian and the few people left to support him, but despite their diminutive numbers the court was not empty, far from it. Creatures from all over were present to witness this trial, to see how the future would pan out for them, to see if there was any hope of rebuilding the worlds that had been shaken and shattered by the heartless crusade of a delusional prince, some had only to step out of their front doors to observe the trial, others however had travelled for days, some even weeks to be a spectator in the crowd, but all those who had made the journey to Asgard were all of the same mind, the convicted one was to get what he deserved, a punishment fit for the murderous madman that he was. Among them was the current king of Asgard; Odin, his son and heir sat beside him, both clad in the most royal of attire but with faces set as hard as rock, whatever the outcome, however the sentence was carried out, these two would suffer greatly.
"as you are aware, citizens" The judge began "there is no need for evidence to be delivered here today, for we have all seen for ourselves the results of this Mans twisted mind"
A cruel voice erupted from the Judges left.
"A king, I am a king"
"Silence creature, we know all to well what you are, and be rest assured, you are far from a king" the Judge snarled back, jabbing a finger at the defiant Asgardian.
"Your Honour, to refer to my brother as a 'man' is a great insult to a race I have sworn to protect" Interjected the well built son of the King.
"A mere slip of the tongue your highness" The judge corrected himself, kicking himself slightly over this miniscule mistake. The judge, despite the power and responsibility he had been given still had to please the royal family, to be on Odin's eldest sons good side was a something most would deem wise.
"I beg of you, proceed" Mumbled the king, gesturing with his hand for the judge to continue swiftly. At this royal request the judge shuffled his papers once more and settled himself into his chair, he was certain he would be sitting there for a long time.
"As we all recall, this…Asgardian seated before you, threatened us all with a great disaster, we where faced with war"
"We know what we faced, just behead the traitor" Screamed a voice somewhere within the crowd. The judge was somewhat taken aback and was not graced with an opportunity to formulate a reply to hush this outburst before another call emerged.
"beheading him would be too quick, I say we should have him hanged" A low hum was carried through the court as others began to offer their opinion as to how death should be dealt to the convicted self proclaimed king, some displaying a rather morbid creativity that I feel best not to pen.
Quickly, any hope of gaining control over the rapidly increasing volume slowly began to slip from the judges grasp so he cast his mind back to what the kings son had told him shortly before the trial began, a human practice used in courts to bring order back where order had been lost. It was a simple matter of banging a small hammer like object onto the wooden surface of his podium in order to create a noise greater than the combined voices of many angry creatures so as to gain their attention. Alas, as this was not a human court, he was not in possession of a small hammer like object. He cast his eyes over to the kings son, he possessed a hammer, however he greatly doubted it would serve any purpose other than destroying half of his court room, which would defeat the whole object of gathering there, to discuss punishment for a great deal of destruction.
His pondering was interrupted.
"Silence!" ordered the kind employing a great deal of force into his vocal chords. "I will hear no more outbursts." His voice carried effortlessly across the squabbling room and hushed its occupants almost immediately, something the Judge was going to have to master. The king listened to the quietened room for a long moment before turning to the judge "Your honour, you may proceed" he stated finally, satisfied with the silence.
"Yes your Majesty, without further delay, will the first minister please read his proposal"
A sturdy middle aged male stood up from amongst the officials, making an extra effort to protrude his ample chest, something which seemed pretty pointless when you consider how well built the royal family where. His sleazy eyes flickered across the room, to assure himself that all eyes where on him before he began reading from a sheet handed to him by the elderly man seated beside him.
"I propose execution on this planet" he began. A low murmur of agreement rippled through the court, followed by the king turning his head sharply to scowl at the mutterers.
"Continue Minister Kregan" urged the judge, waving his hand dismissively at the noise.
"I feel that as the accused is of this planet he should face punishment on it."
"And you feel his crimes are worthy of death?"
"I feel they are worthy of no less"
The judge nodded and wrote a few things down before turning back to Minister Kregan, who was still puffed up with importance,
"Minister, I must ask you to Exhale before you turn purple"
Kregan deflated himself at the sound of giggles somewhere behind him, cleared his throat and began again
"His crimes against the universe and its inhabitants cannot be overlooked, we need to send a message to those surrounding our fine planet that crimes such as these will not be tolerated, punishment will be swift…" He was cut off by a familiar voice
"No not swift, hang him"
"May I request that someone remove that creature, before I hang him!" Said the judge, beginning to sound exasperated. "Thank you Kregan, you may sit down now"
Minister Kregan did as he was told and lowered himself back into his seat and quickly offered a smug glance to the officials around him.
"May I Speak?" inquired the defendant, who had been surprisingly patient the whole time. The judge seemed to ponder this slightly, and eventually gave an answer he didn't seem sure about
"I suppose it is within your rights." A few members of the audience didn't seem to agree with his statement but he didn't bother reacting to them.
"Surely as a member of the royal family this process should be decided within my household and with selected members of parliament, those my father can trust the opinion of. Pardon my bluntness but you don't seem the type my father would usually employ to conduct such a process."
"Watch your tongue brother. You are rambling pointlessly, have you gone brainless" Called out the man next to the King.
"No brother, you are the one who is brainless, you have all gone brainless!" snarled the convicted one gesturing his hands wildly so the entire court was included in his insult.
"And let me guess" Added Kregan, obviously wanting to be involved, "That is why you need to rule us"
"Enough!" ordered the Judge, remembering he was devoid of a small hammer like object "From now on your right to speak has been withdrawn" He folded his papers and looked up at the audience before him. This was a case he had been dreading, and for obvious reasons. The crowd gathered today was gathered under unusual circumstances. Allow me to explain.
Six months ago a threat like no other raged across the universe, a power sick prince took to destroying the world as we know it, stripping people of their freedom, believing within his twisted mind that he knew how to rule and that ruler ship was what was needed to save them from themselves. He made his way to earth and his killing crusade began as he manipulated people into aiding his mission. He was stopped, by people he could never have anticipated, by people who have surpassed being human, and those people where aided by his own brother Thor, who was seated beside his father taking what could possibly be his last stand against his brother. His name is Loki, and his punishment for his deeds would be decided today.
By order of the Heir to the throne, Loki faced trial in a way he would have on earth, feeling that as his crimes where against those people, he would be tried as those people would try him. They could not look in on the events that where unfolding, but the inhabitants of Earth could be rest assured that Asgard would not let his punishment be light.
For Asgard to hold a trial like this was out of the ordinary, they had a strong king and a powerful royal court, it was standard for the king to issue trial then punishment, however this case was far from standard and with Thor's wish to hold a human court aided by Odin's refusal to sentence his adopted son, it was agreed upon to be carried out in this manner.
The court room was constructed in a few weeks, after all, what was the point in carefully planning something that would most likely only be used once, Odin felt he would have little use for it after this trial, but had quickly grown quite fond of the red and gold room thus had agreed to give it to his Ministers should they want a place of their own, as gathering in the palace was becoming a hassle for all those involved. The interior was very similar to the standard layout of earthly courts, Judges podium at the head of the room, elevated so he could preside over its occupants. Ministers box to his left, with room for all fourteen of them to be seated in two rows of seven, one behind the other. The rest of the room was divided by a long isle with seats at either side
It was unknown to the people of Asgard as to how the judge was selected; the king had been secretive about events leading up to this trial to prevent his people from rebelling, even if it was quite within their rights to be uneasy, however he had assured Thor that the judge chosen was a wise one whom he trusted greatly, despite Loki's previous statement.
The judge turned back to the ministers on his left.
"I believe minister Virk had a proposal" he stated, listening as Murmurs of confusion where carried across the room. Minister Virk was young and inexperienced in most things, as he had only just been accepted as a minister; there was no doubting he was intelligent, the king was selective about those he employed to aid in his running the empire. But most where unsure if Virk knew the seriousness of this trial as he was still being assessed for his suitability when Loki's rebellion occurred. He got to his feet, lacking the confidence that Kregan possessed.
Virk was short in comparison to most Asgardian men, and he lacked the power they all carried, Thor was quick to point this out when Virk was accepted as a minister, but the king was adamant that he was an acceptable choice. The young minister looked slowly around the room at the expectant faces of the crowd, realising it was a mistake to do so. He was experienced in speaking in front of people, his job required it, but that didn't stop him from being slightly taken aback by the vast number of spectators gathered in front of him today.
"Some proposal" Sniggered Kregan as Virk's silence dragged on.
"Kregan, I am quite within my rights to withdraw your right to speak also" snapped the judge, silencing the audience also. Kregan fell into a sulk and closed his eyes, obviously weighing up the pros and cons of continuing to speak and deciding it was best to be quiet.
"Virk I must ask you to deliver your proposal quickly or I shall have to ask you to sit down" sighed the Judge, wishing he was at home in bed. Virk collected himself quickly and began to fumble through his proposal looking for an appropriate place to start, even though his pages where in perfect order.
The king looked over at the newest addition to his parliament, he could hear the giggles of the audience behind him as they enjoyed the embarrassment of his youngest Minister, who was getting more and more nervous as the seconds ticked on. When he was asked what made him take Virk on, he could never answer properly, which was strange and improper for a king, who was supposed to have an answer for everything. There was just something about the boy, something about the way he was so unassuming to look at, so fragile in stature, but so strong in his views and morals. Unlike Kregan who did everything for show, Virk believed in what he said and didn't rely on his strength to get through. He knew what was right and what was wrong, and always tried to employ those morals.
The king had full confidence in him, and when Virk's eyes fell on his, he gave a small nod of encouragement to the shaky boy, despite having no clue of his proposal and how it would affect his child.
Virk knew he could delay no more, so he stood up straight, returned the kings nod and turned to the Judge.
"Your honour, I wish to address Loki before I begin my proposal"
This was not how he had been expected to start, however the Judge quickly put aside his confusion and gave an answer.
"Loki's right to speak has been withdrawn Minister"
"Then I must ask you to return it to him" Stated Virk firmly, taking many by surprise, even Kregan opened up his eyes slightly to stare at him. The judge was unsure as to how to proceed having little knowledge of how courts operated but wishing to get home some time today he turned to Loki.
"Your right to speak has been restored in part; you speak only when spoken to and do so in a manner that shows respect for the Minister addressing you." Then turning to Virk "You may proceed Minster."
Virk nodded and tuned to Loki, there was something dark and frightening about him but he put it aside and began the speech he had run through his head a thousand times before breakfast this morning.
"Your highness, I must ask you, how did you cause harm and damage to the people of Earth?" began the young minister. Loki frowned slightly, an obvious question with an obvious answer.
"The sceptre" He answered bluntly. The audience had since fallen into silence, not sure whether to mock or listen quietly, after all, very few had seen this minister before.
"I see" Virk answered quietly.
"If that is the conclusion of your proposal Virk I would have much preferred it if you had remained silent" Snapped the judge.
"Please you honour, I am not yet done, I apologise, for the delay but I am unacquainted with Loki so these questions are crucial"
"Perhaps you should have done your research before you came in" hissed Kregan from his seat, once again trying to get his voice heard. The judge looked at him sharply before turning back to Virk.
"Is there anything else you wish to know before we proceed?"
"Yes your honour, I have one more thing to ask Loki before I deliver my proposal"
"Well, do so before we all die of old age" The judge sighed, running his hand over his face and sinking even lower into his chair. Virk looked back at Loki, who was clearly loosing interest in the whole thing, anyone who looked at him would think he was waiting for his name to be called out in a doctors waiting room, not waiting for his death sentence to be delivered.
"I must ask you Loki, are you afraid of death?" Virk asked slowly and deliberately, a small hint of menace in his voice.
Loki seemed to ponder this question with as much ease as someone who was asked what they thought of the weather, and he gave his answer just as quickly.
"No"
A small smile crept onto Virks face. "Then Death is not the punishment for you"
As soon as these words where uttered the audience fell into commotion, all desperately trying to get their cry of dissatisfaction heard, but they where all simply adding to the drone of unhappy voices. The judge was powerless to hush them and the king, seemed far more interested in what Virks words would mean.
Thor could take it no more and jumped to his feet.
"Silence creatures, you all know that death is the only punishment for Loki, what we are here to discuss is how it will be delivered, ignore what this foolish minister has said"
The audience slowly settled back down into a discontented quiet, but they where prepared to break out into commotion at the fist sign of something they did not like.
"well then" Began the Judge, sitting upright, feeling this trial would soon be over. "Kregan, would you like to elaborate on your proposal?" Kregan grinned at the audience and offered a smug smirk in Virks direction who was slowly taking his seat but by the time he had finished flashing his teeth to the audience, the king had decided he was no longer interested in what he had to say.
"Your honour, Kregan's proposal has been given, but Virk had not yet finished." He said slowly, raising a hand to prevent the audience from rebelling. As the king he knew full well that he would not be opposed by his ministers, but he still needed to respect them and show them the curtsey that they deserved, thus he would not allow the trial to proceed until his youngest, and clearly most favoured minister had been given the attention he was worthy of. The judge was in no position to reject his kings request and gave Virk a small nod to indicate that he was to continue the proposal he started, much to the disgust of the audience, some of which had got up and left (and you can hardly blame them).
Kregan looked appalled but began the long and painful process of lowering himself into his seat, refused the opportunity to show off a little more in front of the now dwindling audience. Virk was just as stunned, and was not sure as to whether he should proceed with his proposal at all, or crawl into the abyss in which most wanted to throw Loki into, but after much persuasion and eager nods from the King, Virk stood up and once more got ready to speak.
"Instead of all the questions, lets just get to your proposal Virk, so we can get this over with" The judge grumbled, once again lowing himself in his chair, the chances of getting away in time for tea where slowly fading. I'm sure most of you are wondering how poor Loki was feeling throughout all of this, and perhaps it would be only fair to spare him a paragraph or two, after all, he is the reason all this was going about.
Loki had been detained and heavily guarded ever since he was brought back to Asgard, he was chained and bound so all chances of his escaping where non existent, which was a good thing as he was powerful beyond measure given the right circumstances and his cell was an isolated one, which suited him just fine as he had never been one for idle chatting and pointless company, so he spent his time quietly waiting for this day. I'm sorry that this is not a great deal of a paragraph, but there isn't much that can be said about the daily coming and goings of an imprisoned criminal. Things really became interesting for him when he was removed from his cell this morning and transported to a court room, the kind of room he had seen and heard very little of, let alone been inside of. As you can expect, at this point he knew nothing of why he was here or what the result would be, as far as he knew he was going to be beheaded in a short while followed by his decapitated body being put on display for all to see, a triumph for Asgard and for the rest of the world. He was blissfully unaware that in a matter of hours he would be strapped down inside a box in front of a mass of spectators while a handful of his fathers ministers flounced around extravagantly discussing his punishment in the most unbecoming manner in a hope of being the one to come up with the punishment for the universes most hated creature.
However, now that all this was going on, and Loki was in fact strapped to a box, and Kregan was in fact been flouncing around extravagantly discussing his punishment in the most unbecoming manner in a hope of being the one to come up with the punishment for the universes most hated creature, Loki could not help but listen intently. Virk had spiked his interest, something that very few things did, Power and dominance being two of the most interesting things to Loki.
Virk, Looked towards Loki and smiled slightly.
"I'm not going to ask these people to kill you Loki" He said sweetly, "I'm going to let you kill yourself"
And that is all I am going to say on the trial, I shall however give you a brief description of what happened after Virk had said these words. Obviously the crowd (what was left of them) flew into an uproar and the court fell into an uncontrollable riot. It took all of the kings manpower to disperse the angry mob only to have Virk pass out after an angry spectator had tried to throttle him. The judge snuck out the back during the ruckus and I feel best to let you know, he was never seen again, however most assume he went off to a more calm area of the universe where he is currently living as a botanist with a Liticaphobic palm tree called Gregory as his only company. I'm not entirely sure what Kregan did, I think he might have tried to press his proposal onto the king while he was trying to remove the mob and was washed away in the floods of people heading for the exit. Loki was carted back off to that rather quite prison cell whilst Virk was carted off to a doctor, however I can assure you, this was far from the last time these two saw each other, in fact, they where very soon to become closer than either one of them would want to be.