AN: Here's my first foray into my latest and favorite OTP. I hope I don't do the Marvel universe any disservice. Beware, I do suffer from multi-lingual grammar problems. This is a quest fic with emphasis on the FrostIron pairing. And a very so build. If it is not your thing, sorry about that. So thank you for reading and hope you've enjoyed the story so far.

Prologue: The Trial

"What say you, Loki of Asgard?"

Despite the golden halls of the eternal realm being filled to the walls with its citizens, the silence that follows the All-father's sentencing was deafening. And yet, Loki standing alone upon the accused pulpit remains unmoved by the proceedings.

His infamous silver-tongue lifted not once in defense. His gifted lips opened not once to cajole his audience. And his soulful eyes reached out not once to plead for sympathy. For once, Loki the God of Lies and Mischief chose not to play the game.

The empty silence stretched on into awkwardness.

Then unease settled into healthy suspicion amongst the crowd. Murmurs of dissent increased in volume as the tension rises. Yet Loki remains still as a statue carved in marble.

Unfazed, the royal family also remains rooted at their designated seating. Only their eyes shifted towards each other, to share their concerns for their estranged brother for the heir apparent and adopted son to the king and queen.

Unused to Loki missing his cue, Odin hesitates for another moment until he taps Gungnir against the floor to end the susurrus. The All-father opens his mouth to ask the question once more but the breathy echo Loki heard in his head was not Odin's own.

Even then, that only caught a flicker of interest from Loki before it darted toward the still figure of the All-father. As amusing as it was, green orbs narrowed in annoyance before they scan the halls for confirmation and immediately turn their focus on the three wispy apparitions that appear so suddenly.

"What say you, Loki of Asgard?"

If the silence left by his non response was deafening before, the vacuum caused by their suspension of time, drowned his senses with its absence.

At last, Loki attempted to speak but no sound emitted.

"You need not speak,
For us to hear.
Tell us then, Loki
What say you?"

Their voices, airy as the wind, volley between them like water droplets from leaf to leaf. The apparitions spoke in unison and yet not. But that was not the cause of the disconcerted crease between Loki's brows. He's met them before despite their cowl visage and yet can swear he's never lays eyes upon them in his long, long life.

Relenting the mystery for now, Loki cautioned his mind and ventured a thought.

"To borrow a leaf from my non-brother's book, 'I'm not in a gaming mood'. What do you want from me?"

His simple words brought forth the trio to shiver and a vibrant blue halo outlined their form.

"Ah, I remember,
The gaming prince,
Who likes to cheat,
Births a prancing stead did he."

Never would Loki have thought that old slander would be chanted once again in his adult life. "What nonsense is this?"

Their color shifts to white.

"By your hand,
Frozen treats,
Lined city streets,
Is that not what nonsense stands?"

Loki couldn't help but deadpan. "Now that is new."

Then white shifts to burning red.

"Ah, tis true,
In all we knew,
The battles won,
And the foes that'd lost,
Garnered dues,
And rendered sum,
Left all but years,
Whose life you've spared,
The cost but none,
And end with one."

Ah, divination. Loki should have known. "By the Norns, you are they."

"Clever, Godling
Sapling,
Tears you've won,
But not clever enough."

The Norns were to the citizen of the eternal realms as the Aesir themselves were to the Midgardians. They were powerful beings, titans, giants and what not who tends the tree of life. Mere tales told to Aesir children to gloat of their heroic destiny, of their importance to the Nine Realms. So as much as the novelty of seeing the All-father, Thor, and the whole Aesir population muted by such powerful beings, Loki couldn't suppress the cold chill of foreboding with their ramblings.

"What do you want with me?"

"Ah yes, a task to seek,
To collect from what is lost,
What say you?"

Deaden emerald eyes brighten for the briefest of moment with banked fire. A mockery of the brilliant gem it once was at the height of the God's free fall. Bitterness lines the corner of his lips and disdain taints his words barely above a rasp.

"Have I a choice?"

The red faded to a warmer hue before they continue.

"The branches of Yggdrasil have many paths,
From which you take,
Is yours to make."

Their rhetoric was giving even the God of Lies and Mischief a headache.

"What farce is this? Your presence may have postponed the All-father's verdict, but I already know of my fate. Death's lover waits at my final destination. There is no choice to be made."

"Remain at the crossroads and the decision will be taken from you."

Enough was enough. Loki allowed his temper to flare for the briefest of moments.

"Do not speak riddles to the Trickster God himself. Is not your issue of a task another mask road to redemption? Do not suppose I seek it or will value the lessons learn. I have nothing left worth to value or defend. Go spend your meddling elsewhere."

Then blinding white suffused the entire hall at a burst.

"Silence, Loki of No-realm."

It was most unfortunate his wrath was nothing like the Norns. The forceful pressure of their raised voice in his head could have squashed him like a boot to an ant, an apt metaphor he was so fond of using back in Midgard.

"Before the dawn of winter,
Gather your mortal elements,
And the quest for chaos shall begin."

With much unease and sudden urgency, Loki's thoughts awash with frantic questions strive to form a coherent sentence but none made it to the Norns. In another spectacular flash of white they disappeared.

Time resumes accordingly and the cacophony of alarm drew an uproar. For Loki, the Trickster God no more, fell crumbled onto the golden floor as if the strings of his life were cut.