Who thought to remember?

by The Lady Nightingale

Everyone loved Frigga. Everyone grieved her loss, and blamed themselves for her death. Only one person - in those first hours of knowing - thought to look beyond their own grief.

Usual disclaimer. Blah. Obviously I don't own or profit from any of this. Its just playtime.

This is the result of reading Min Daae's 'If the World Ends'. Her line 'who had remembered to think that he should be told?' chimed very loudly. So I borrowed and switched it. Unashamedly. But it was hers first.

At the time, the world was caving in on itself, the impossible made real, the unthinkable spelled out in the measured words of the guard and he hadn't thought to wonder. Later, he had had other things on his mind vengeance? redemption? freedom? and he hadn't thought to ask. It was only now when he couldn't find out that he realised he needed to know. Who had thought to remember that he should be told? He found he would have given anything - possibly including the throne he had acquired by fair means and foul - to know who else in Asgard had bothered to remember him.

oo0oo

Odin

Dead. How dead? It seemed not so very long ago he had affirmed - though he could not quite recall why - 'We are not Gods: we live, we die just as humans do', and they did. Of course they did. But not her. What kind of a universe could possibly exist without her?
'After all I have survived, my Queen still worries over me' - those were his last words to her, love and jest and pride mingled thoroughly. The teasing response, 'It is because I worry over you that you have survived', at least as mingled. Or so he hoped. He had not always been a good husband. He knew that. Kings never are, never could be. She had forgiven him, she told him so, she knew what she was getting. She had forgiven him, hadn't she?
It was his fault. He'd underestimated the threat, misjudged his enemies. He would never do that again. She was a Shield Maiden of Asgard, and if they thought her life would be cheap, they had seriously misjudged. All the Worlds would tremble to think on the fate of the Dark Elves. But that wouldn't bring her back. He stroked her cheek, already so cold.
He had sold one eye to buy wisdom and would gladly give that and the other for the chance to ask her forgiveness. She was dead because of him.

oo0oo

Thor

He was too late. He was too late even to take vengeance, and failing that he was at a loss. He caught the hammer absently, heart and mind too full to process... anything. The grief on his father's face; the father who so often claimed he could not be All-Father and Thor's father, King and husband both. She looked calm, as if she had simply fallen asleep. Had she been calm? Had she suffered? Had she been able to face her death as a warrior? He scrabbled through his mind for the old reassurances; tales of Valhalla and many joyful meetings beyond the cares of the Worlds.
It was his fault. He had left her with Jane, rushing in headlong to what should have been clearly the distraction. 'The prisons.' He could have stayed, protected them both. Or called on Heimdahl to know more of that which threatened the city. Not been in a raging hurry to show off, to be the great warrior. 'Go, I will look after her.' If only he had thought about the Aether, about who might come looking for it. He had worried only for Jane's safety, that someone might try to hurt her because of him - who would hurt anyone because of him? His own mother's safety hadn't even been an afterthought. She was dead because of him.

oo0oo

Jane

It was her fault. Oh God, oh God, oh God. It was her fault. The only person, the only person who had spoken to her willingly, made her feel not unwelcome. If she hadn't gone looking… 'Do everything that I ask, and no questions.' And she had she had, hadn't she?
And what about Thor? And Odin? Oh, God. They'd never forgive her. She had to work. Thor would never forgive her. She had to... His mother was dead because of her.

oo0oo

Sif

She loved her Queen, the greatest of Asgard's Shield Maidens for many thousand years; and not just because she loved her son. Queen Frigga, dead. It was beyond comprehension. She wanted to hit something - anything. None of the Dark Elves had even made it to the Weapons' Vault. What was the point of sending her squadron there?
She knew, of course. It was an honourable station, and all of the most dangerous artefacts in Asgard's possession were secured there. It had to be held at all costs. Yet she had not been able to face a single elf, let alone kill one. Not one; nothing to salve her pride that she had not been able to defend her Queen. She had followed her King's command. That was her only consolation - her duty. She had followed her King's command, and her Queen had paid the price with her life. Her life to defend Thor's ridiculous mortal.
It wasn't the mortal's fault, of course. Queen Frigga was a very talented swords-woman, and only a creature such as Algrim the Kursed could have defeated her. And if others had stood with the Queen… Who could say what would have happened? Should she have disobeyed? They had a code, an oath of honour to the King. Well and good, but because she had obeyed, the Queen was dead.

oo0oo

Hogun

He was in Vanaheim, there was nothing he could have done for Asgard's Queen. It was his home. His people needed him. 'The peace is nearly won.' Not nearly enough, it seemed. Her death was his fault then, at least in part. If he had been there, would it have been different? Was she dead because of him?

oo0oo

Heimdahl

Such an enemy had not been heard of since before his Watch began. Had he grown complacent after so many years of vigilance? No. They were invisible in ways too ancient to expect to see again. The Dark Elves were supposed to be extinct.
It was his fault. He should have seen them coming. She might have lived. He stopped one ship when he could have raised the Shields. Would it have mattered? The Shields were brought down anyway. His duty was clear: Gatekeeper. He had sensed only the one - not seen - and stopped it, at risk to himself. The queen was dead, perhaps not wholly because of him. He should have seen them.

oo0oo

Volstagg

The Queen, dead. Could it be possible? He pulled his wife to him, held her close. Something Odin would never do again. He offered a silent prayer of thanksgiving; she was safe. His children ran in, wanting undoubtedly to hear the tale of Volstagg the Valiant singlehandedly defeating the Dark Elves. He held them close, too. He had no words this time, nothing to tell of the fabulous deeds he and his companions might or might not have done. What they had not done was defend Frigga, and now the Queen of Asgard lay dead. He kissed his little daughter's hair, and gave thanks they had been far away from the worst of the fighting.
Of course, so had he. Not by choice, mind, but seeking to protect the people of Asgard, like his family. Odin All-Father hadn't ordered him to be elsewhere, and he had thought he could be most useful defending those who couldn't defend themselves. Who would have believed that Frigga, Queen of Asgard, could not defend herself? She who had taken on Asgardian warriors, Frost Giants and Dark Elves and emerged victorious. The creature she had finally faced was beyond her talents. She should not have been alone.

oo0oo

Fandral

The Queen is dead. Long live the queen. A bitter jest. What else was there to do? There were no words for the loss, no fault to be assigned - all of Asgard's warriors had done all they could, and done it valiantly. Many had lain down their lives for Asgard, the Queen not least. She would not go to Valhalla alone. And the Dark Elves, invisible though their ships had been to Heimdahl, were found and overcome; their quest to recover the Aether unfulfilled. His mind was not used to such musings, not made for melancholy. What more could those of Asgard have done?
What else was there to do? All-Father and Thor would need their Warriors' support and…Oh.
The prohibition would still be in place: No visitors. Best summon a guard, then.

oo0oo

'My Lord, the Queen is dead.'