I've been writing this for over a year now, and it still isn't finished. I'm at chapter 18 now, so there's more than enough time to finish the story before we reach that. I'm excited either way, because this is my first big story that looks like I'll actually finish it. I'll publish a new chapter once a week and answer questions or respond to comments regularly.
I've tried to make the story fit in with the movie, but I just had to change things that wouldn't make sense if I didn't.
Only the first and the last chapter will have titles and songs (at the start of the chapter).
Description: To an outsider, And Ash Rained Down On Asgard seems to be just like the movie. But an insider will glance into Loki's world and see that all is not what it seems... An icy curse lies upon the second prince of Asgard, and his only hope for a cure is the Frost Giant king, Laufey...
Do let me know what you think!
A-A-R-D-O-A
I can't feel my senses
I just feel the cold
All colours seem to fade away
I can't reach my soul
I would stop running, if knew there was a chance
It tears me apart to sacrifice it all but I'm forced to let go
Tell me I'm frozen but what can I do?
Can't tell the reasons I did it for you
When lies turn into truth I sacrificed for you
You say that I'm frozen but what can I do?
I can feel your sorrow
You won't forgive me,
but I know you'll be all right
It tears me apart that you will never know but I have to let go
Tell me I'm frozen but what can I do?
Can't tell the reasons I did it for you
When lies turn into truth I sacrificed for you
You say that I'm frozen but what can I do?
Everything will slip way
Shattered pieces will remain
When memories fade into emptiness
Only time will tell its tale
If it all has been in vain
I can't feel my senses
I just feel the cold
Frozen...
But what can I do?
Frozen...
Tell me I'm frozen but what can I do?
Can't tell the reasons I did it for you
When lies turn into truth I sacrificed for you
You say that I'm frozen, frozen...
- "Frozen" Within Temptation
- - - And Ash Rained Down On Asgard Chapter 1: FROZEN
"How much longer must I be your slave, your spy? I have given you information since the day that Thor was made the crown prince, and yet you still make use of me!"
It hadn't really been his intention to yell at Laufey, the Frost Giant king of Jotunheim. And mere seconds after the heated words left his lips, Loki knew that it had been a big, big mistake. There was nothing that he could do about it now though, for it was not possible to take the words back, not now that they had already done their effect.
The Frost Giant's blue face twisted into an expression of anger and his red eyes burned with fire in Loki's way. The second prince of Asgard remained where he stood, even though he wanted to cringe underneath the Frost Giant's seething look, and all he did rock back and forth on his heels. The God of Mischief couldn't really help this movement, for from the minute that he'd set foot on the Realm of Jotunheim, where the Frost Giants lived, alertness and the instinct to flee had followed in his wake, ever present, ready to make him whirl around and hightail out of there.
"You have no right to address me in such ways!" the Frost Giant spat, and Loki couldn't hide his trembling hands, the tremor that the Frost Giant's growling voice brought forth inside him. He wished that he was anywhere but here, in Asgard's library, or saving his brother's stupid behind, even if that meant that he would have to take blame and receive the Allfather's punishment. Anywhere but here, on the cold Realm of Jotunheim, where the biting frostbite did not cause his skin to go black in death, but blue in the curse that had been put upon him instead.
"I am son of Odin, brother of Thor, the God of Thunder! You, Laufey, have no right to use me for your own bidding!" Loki roared back, even though he knew that it was a mistake, that he would surely regret it later. Sure enough, the Frost Giant king roared and jumped out of his icy throne, seething with anger. Loki expected a waterfall of ice and snow to befall upon him, but to his surprise Laufey slowly walked towards him, pacing his step in such way that Loki's imagination had more than enough time to go out of its way to think of the various punishments that the Frost Giant could sentence him to.
"I- I apologize!" Loki stammered, when Laufey reached out to grasp his arm. The God of Mischief hated apologizing, especially for his own deeds, especially when his actions hadn't been wrong at all, but now the situation was different, the punishment that he would receive was much too high for such a seemingly small action of insubordination.
"No, please! No!" Loki begged, but Laufey had already grasped his arm in his tight, icy grip. He tried to resist, he squirmed against the harsh icy grip, but he could do nothing of the frostbite that slowly seeped through his thick clothes. It seeped through his skin, where it further wormed its way through his veins and arteries, towards his heart, where it nestled itself to rest, waiting for the time when the sun would finally melt it.
Loki knew what he must look like now. His skin icy blue, his eyes scorching red. He looked like a Frost Giant, and he would look like that until the ice that encased his heart would melt, or until Laufey felt it fit to end the punishment. It would take maybe two, three days before his skin would regain its healthy albeit pale complexion, before his eyes would be the emerald green they naturally were once more. Up until that time he would have to constantly focus his energy to cast and uphold an illusion, that would make him look like he was still the second prince of Asgard, brother of Thor and son of Odin Allfather, instead of a small Frost Giant.
"Heed this warning, Loki Odinson." Laufey said, his eyes still burning but his face emotionless. He never seemed to smile, his lips never seemed to break out of their usual thin line, and the only time that Loki had seem him delighted was when he had found out about the curse that had been placed upon him and told him that they could make a deal that would benefit them both.
"You may go. You have told me enough." the Frost Giant said. Loki turned around at once, and ran towards the place where he knew the passage to Asgard to be. He slipped various times, and each time he had to grip sharp shards of ice and cold rocks to regain his balance, and each time that he was not affected by the frostbite that lingered on the Realm, the God of Mischief cringed and wished that he had never shown the Frost Giants a way into Asgard.
It had only been meant as a joke, as a bit of mischief. The Frost Giants were supposed to come in, interrupt Thor's ceremony in which he assumed his title as Asgard's first and crown prince, and then they would be slayed by the Destroyer. That had happened, yes, but during the battle one of the Frost Giants had touched Loki, causing his skin to become blue and his eyes to become red.
'You are cursed.' the Frost Giant had said, before Loki had roared and impaled him with his sword. The moment the beast had released him and collapsed on the floor lifelessly, the blue hue on his skin had retreated and he'd been himself once more. Somehow the king of Jotunheim had received word of the second prince of Asgard, and he had send word to him, knowing that Loki would want nothing more than to forget about the battle, about this curse that he knew nothing more about than that it turned his skin blue and his eyes red when a Frost Giant touched him.
Upon entering the cold Realm of Jotunheim, Loki had discovered, to his absolute horror, that staying in the frozen land long enough for the frostbite to creep into his skin would activate this curse. He'd stumbled upon Laufey, exhausted and halfway into shock, and begged the Frost Giant king to remove the curse. Laufey then had offered him a deal that he could not refuse: he would act as an informant to the Jotun, a spy in Asgard, and when the Casket of ancient Winters rested safely in Jotunheim once again, the king would remove Loki's curse.
Loki almost stepped through the passage, one foot raised and ready to be put down, when he remembered his current appearance and nearly collapsed. Weaving the illusion in such way that it would last without having to pay much attention to it was hard for Loki, and knowing that it would crumble around him when he slept was even harder. He would have to lock his door by physical and magical means when he got the chance, so that no-one would find out about this curse.
A tear found its way out of the corner of Loki's eye, and he quickly brushed it away, before another and another would fall until he was really crying. He refused to weep over something that he could not control: in this twisted game that Laufey played, this game with the Casket as prize, Loki was but a pawn. A pawn that could be picked up whenever the players wished, and that could be put down at whatever position that pleased them.
The Jotun could not find this passage without the help of a powerful sorcerer, and thankfully Loki was the only sorcerer that the Jotun had access to. Loki wiped the remaining tears away, pulled his cloak tighter around him and stepped through the secret passage that only he knew about.
A-A-R-D-O-A
"Father, we must attack the Jotun!" Thor boomed, just a few weeks after the incident. It was not the first time that Thor had tried to convince his father to wage war on Jotunheim, and Loki forced himself to remain calm, to not cringe, for his expression to remain unreadable. The Allfather, an old but strong man with thick, silvery locks that poured down from his head and rested on his shoulders in loose waves, watched his firstborn son with a calm and somewhat bored expression.
The King's ever alert blue eyes followed his son, while the young man with golden locks paced through the room, weighting his magical hammer in his hands. The hammer was constantly switched between his hands, and Loki felt nausea rise in his stomach. He knew that look on his brother's face, and he knew that it could not mean any good.
"And what is the reason for this sudden eagerness for war?" the Allfather asked calmly, his eyes trained on his firstborn son. Loki sighed in relief: their father would talk sense into Thor and there would be no war between Jotunheim and Asgard.
Thor stopped in his tracks and stared unbelievably at his father, his face flushed red with sudden anger and his unyielding eyes burning.
"How can you be so calm, while they disgraced me! Disgraced you! They intruded Asgard, they interrupted my long awaited ceremony!" Thor seethed.
"Long awaited for a reason." Loki muttered underneath his breath, and his brother threw him a look that would surely have caused him to drop down dead, had looks been lethal. Thankfully for Loki, looks did not kill, not until his brother finally gained interest in sorcery and mastered the art of killing with eyes. Loki had refrained from learning that art, for it stemmed out of anger and hatred, and Loki was angry often. He did not want to accidentally kill the subject of his rage, however.
"The Frost Giants that invaded Asgard are dead. All of them! They have already paid for what they've done." the Allfather resumed, as if Loki hadn't interrupted them.
"Paid how, father?!" Thor challenged. The old and wise King sighed and shook his head, his expression one of disappointment and worry. Loki entertained himself with the thought that, perhaps, the king finally doubted his decision to name his firstborn son as the heir to the throne. He remembered the words from years ago, many hundreds years before his encounter with the Frost Giants and the curse, when his father had shown them the Casket of ancient Winters and told them of its story.
You were both born to become king.
When Loki was little, he had indeed dreamt of inheriting the crown. But when he had started studyingsorcery, Loki had abandoned that dream and thrust himself on magic studies with his entire being, determined to master every art there was of it, with the exception of only a few that Loki either feared he would not be able to control or that which he deemed no use to learn.
Of course his brother had tauntingly accused him of being unmanly. He'd been only jesting, of course, and Loki had let it slide without paying much attention to it.
"They paid with their lives!" the king roared, for once losing his calm composure. He stood up from his throne and towered over Thor and Loki. Thor didn't cringe, he didn't back away or apologize. Instead of doing what would have been sensible and smart, Odin's firstborn son looked up at his father with anger and disappointment in his eyes.
Thor opened his mouth to protest, and Loki cringed. Could his brother not stop? Did he not see that arguing with their father was fruitless? By no doubt, Thor was about to say something insulting, something that would be unforgivable, but Odin cut him off before he even began.
"They have paid with their lives. The Destroyer did its work, the Casket is safe, and all is well. And that is the end of it." the king said calmly on a tone that had the power to end any conversation, looking even taller and mightier than before. Loki feared that their father was about to run out of patience, and that they would both be punished for a misstep that only one brother had made.
"All is well? They broke into the weapons vault! If the Frost Giants have stolen even one of these relics..." Thor replied, but his sentence was cut short once more by the king.
"THEY DIDN'T!" Odin Allfather's voice thundered through the throne room. Loki swore that he heard thunder rolling outside and when he spared a glance through the nearest window, he indeed saw dark clouds gathering.
"Well I want to know why!" Thor roared back, the fool, the idiot. Did he not see that he had awakened the Allfather's rage, his thorn? Did he not know that now they would both be punished? Loki glanced around as inconspicuously as he could, looking for a way out. Odin and Thor ignored him, or perhaps they had simply forgotten that Loki was there.
Loki's eyes slid past his hands, and when they did, his heart nearly stopped. He abruptly wove another illusion around himself, this one ten times stronger than the first, and felt his heat begin to beat faster, stronger, in an attempt to keep up with the enormous amount of magic that coursed through his veins. He sighed in relief when his hands, and his face and eyes by no doubt, regained their normal colour. He was so relieved that he nearly missed what the Allfather said next.
"I have a truce with Laufey, king of the Jotun." the king said, less loud this time, because he must've realized the effect that his strong emotions had on the weather.
"He just broke your truce! They know you are vulnerable!" his brother said, obviously still seething. He started pacing again, weighting his hammer in his right hand, his favourite throwing hand. Completely irrelevant and not related to the matter at hand in the slightest, Loki suddenly realized that he used his left hand for nearly everything – writing, the few times that he wielded a weapon, picking things up, holding things. He had never put much thought in it before, but now it suddenly seemed important enough for his mind to not let go of the thought.
For once Loki had to agree with his brother. He was right, the Jotun had broken their truce, but not in the way that Thor thought. The king sighed and sank back into his throne, obviously tired of this argument.
"What action would you take?" the king asked, sounding very old and tired, defeated almost. Loki narrowed his eyes, knowing that this must be some kind of a test for Thor, to test him if he was ready to become the crown prince. He feared for his brother, feared for him to not recognize the test and fail it.
Indeed, Thor did not recognize the importance of his words, of perhaps he did and he just wanted to make his point, for the God of Thunder's face twisted with anger and eagerness as he said:
"March into Jotunheim as you once did! Teach them a lesson! Break their spirits, so they would never dare try to cross our borders again!"
The king's reaction was instant and frightening beyond reason. Odin jumped out of his throne and slammed his spear to the ground, which unleashed thunder, rain and lightning in unison. The ground shook with the king's boundless rage and Loki cringed against the wall, his hands trying and failing to find something to hold on to.
His hands slipped off the smooth stones of the palace and before he knew it, the world was upside down. He pushed himself up just as his father began to speak again, putting emphasis on his words by slamming his spear to the ground again. Every time he did that, the ground shook, and Loki and Thor were thrust on the ground once more.
"Enough! You think only as a warrior!"
BANG!
"I was a fool, to believe that you were ready!"
BANG!
"Would you truly end the lives of many, just because a few of them took none of ours?"
BANG!
"You are a fool! But a boy, seeking every chance to fight!"
BANG!
Loki and Thor were thrust to the floor again and Loki started trembling so badly that he thought that he would cause his own earthquake in the palace. This was not going well. Not well at all. He knew that he had to do something, or else either Thor or their father would do something that they would regret later. He pushed away the fear that he felt and jumped up, leaning against the wall for support, for the palace still shook with the aftershock of Odin's rage.
"Father!" Loki yelled, struggling to get over the sound of the palace's earthquake. Odin's head snapped his way, and Loki trembled under his angry glare. Then Loki saw how frost crept up to the throne behind the king and he nearly fainted.