The group of warriors raced down the rainbow bridge to the BiFrost, both them and their horses dressed for the winter ahead. With little time to prepare, despite her protests that she wasn't combat trained, Aswren chose the only weapon that was rightfully hers, an ancestral bow with ivory arrows. It bounced against her back as her horse galloped among the rest, a burden of what seemed to be almost certain doom.

They dismounted right as they arrived at the BiFrost and Loki pushed his way to the front, whispering to Thor.

"Let me handle this." He smirked and approached Heimdall.

"Good Heimdall—"

"—You're not dressed warmly enough."

His face went slack in disbelief. "…I'm sorry?"

"You think you can deceive me."

"Y-You must be mistaken—"

"—Enough!" Loki was quickly silenced into shame, cut off by Thor's bellow.

"Heimdall, may we pass?"

"Never has an enemy slipped my watch until this day. I wish to know how that happened."

"Then tell no one where we've gone until we've returned, understand?" The blonde took charge, ignoring the way Loki cast his eyes at the ground. Heimdall did not answer, and the group walked past him as Loki continued to stand still.

Volstagg stayed behind a few steps to lean down at him. "Pity that was your chance to impress your girlfriend."

Loki sneered at him, leaving to catch up to the others.

They all filed silently inside the dome with Aswren standing beside Loki, her hand looking for his to calm her shakes. He looked between their hands and her furrowed brow, moving to clasp her palm tight. The glow of Heimdall's sword suddenly filled the room, whipping them away from each other when thrown into the BiFrost's transport.


They landed on the frozen wasteland with a large boom that rung out and shook the ice. The moment passed, and then aside from their own breathing, the entire world seemed silent, as if waiting for the company to move first.

"We shouldn't be here." Jogunn wondered as he stared out at the landscape.

Aswren held her fur-lined cloak around her hair to block out the wind. "Would it be inappropriate of me to say that it is strangely beautiful?"

They all turned to her slowly. "...I said strange."

"Let's move." Thor called out, stepping forward as the rest fell in a line.

They walked on for what seemed like hours, constantly surrounded by the same crumbling ruins. The landscape seemed empty, lifeless, or at least left to die.

"Where are they?" Sif said.

"Hiding." Thor proclaimed. "These cowards always do."

"You seem quick to make judgments against an entire race." Aswren said, looking at him hard when he turned around.

"You are really going to start this argument?"

"I've have never been wronged by a Frost Giant—mother is Jotun, I shouldn't even be here!"

"And if we were on the underside of this planet? The Fire Giants would stir your heart in other ways."

Aswren scrunched her mouth at him, feeling an unfamiliar itch in her fingers.

Loki put a hand on the small of her back. "Leave his ignorance alone, Aswren, come on."

They kept on walking, trudging over the same stretches of snow until they came upon an unnatural collection of black stone and ice, shaped to form what might pass for a throne room.

Laufey's voice rang low and dangerous in the thin air. "You've come an awfully long way to die, Asgardians."

Thor felt his stature to be more threatening than it was, and challenged the other God. "I am Thor Odinson."

"We know who you are." He leaned forward as he materialized on the grassy throne, red eyes narrowed and fierce.

"How did your people get into Asgard?" Thor demanded.

Laufey slowly turned his head to growl at the company of warriors, his voice vibrating under their feet. "The House of Odin... is filled with traitors."

Thor raised his hammer and stepped forward. "Do not dishonor my Father's name with your lies!"

"Your father is a murderer and a thief! Why did you come here? To make peace?!"

His voice dropped at the mention of peace, sounding remarkably human. "You long for battle, you crave it. You're nothing but a boy trying to prove himself a man."

Other giants stepped from the shadows, surrounding the company and encroaching on their space whilst Thor attempted to sound mighty. "This boy has grown tired of your mockery."

Loki ran to his brother's side, whispering while keeping his eyes trained on the icy God. "Thor, stop. And think. Look around you, we're outnumbered."

Thor took his personal space back with a snarl. "Know your place, brother."

Laufey watched his soldiers approach. "You know not what your actions would unleash."

His eyes clouded with the thought of war, looking away in sad remembrance. "I do. Go now, while I still allow it." From under him a rather large Jotun, perhaps a prince, approached them to block their path.

"We will accept..." Loki purred with his silver tongue. "Your most gracious offer. Come on, brother."

"Run back home, little Princes." The large Jotun growled, making it sound oddly like 'Princess' in his drawl.

"Damn."

Thor chuckled at his brother's exhaustion. His next move was to unchoke Mjolnir and smash his hammer into the giants face, sending him flying back to crash into the ice.

"Next?" The thunder God seemed to throw back the giants with ease, taking hits to the face with little thought or worry. His hammer at one point shattered a Jotun's skull, making it crash to the ground in icy bits.

"Whoa!" Aswren cried as she managed to dodge a giant's blow with his frozen arm, watching it crash into the ground instead of against her head.

She scanned the perimeter, opting flight for fight. Lithe legs dashed to a column of ice, scrambling up it with the dexterity of an animal. Once perched up top she drew her bow, picking off any Jotun that dared come near her makeshift nest. Blue eyes trained down the pointed tips, and it surprised the warriors below to be saved by death from above.

They fought hard and for only a short time before they began to become overwhelmed. Larger offspring appeared, throwing Loki onto his back and managing to burn Volstagg, who fought too close.

He groaned in pain as his flesh sizzled and turned black. "Don't let 'em touch you!"

Aswren started to panic when the Jotun's trained their sights on her, climbing up the ice column and draining her supply of arrows. Desperate, she managed to throw one off by smashing his face with her empty bow. The dagger in her belt did little to help deter them. Her panic reach a peak as she heard Fandral's scream when he was impaled on a tree of ice. She found no other option besides death, closed her eyes before leaping off the tower.

Thor watched her fly, watched her fall before she managed to twist around and stab her previously useless dagger into the ice, slower herself down. A Jotun scaling the wall believed otherwise as he lashed his much larger arm out at her, seizing her cloak and slamming her small body against the jagged ice tower. The dagger fell from her hands, as she tried to make purchase on her way down, the hard ice shredded her gloves and the palms of her hands. She hit bottom with a sickening crunch and a gust of air leaving her lungs.

"No!" Loki cried as he watched her tumble all the way down, hitting the ground with the distinct wet slap of flesh breaking open. He sprinted up and over the dead giants, falling to his knees at her side.

"Thor!" Sif cried for him to stop as she wondered if their journey would end in the funerals for Fandral and Aswren. He seemed to not hear her, still smashing away at the onslaught of blue guards.

"Wren?" Loki asked quietly, cradling the back of her head in his palm.

Her wide eyes looked up at him with fright, frozen for a moment before a bright red splatter of blood erupted from her mouth, splashing against both of their faces. He winced, letting one tear fall from his clenched eyes and onto her face. He only took a moment to breath before he dropped his throwing knife and collected her body in his arms.

"We MUST GO!" He demanded at his brother.

"Then go!" Thor replied, continuing to hammer away at the giants one by one. A particularly hard pitch sent his hammer through one, two, three, four, five Frost Giants before it had no more bone to break, and obediently flew back. Laufey growled in frustration, waving a hand to defrost the enormous creature that lurked at their gates. It's large, overlapping canines looked long enough to dwarf a man, and it shook the snow from its face with a growl that rattled the ground beneath their feet.

Loki gasped, holding Aswren tighter when she looked over and clutched his cloak in fear. "Thor!" He called while most of the company retreated for the BiFrost.

"Run, Loki…" Aswren mumbled against his coat, seeing the monster that trailed them.

The monster took off after the group of scattering warriors, oblivious to the singular Thor who was succeeding at warding off the Jotuns. With a powerful thrust of Mjolnir into the frozen ground, a giant ripple sprung out over the horizon, swallowing stray Jotuns and catching up to the royal family.

Aswren could see over his shoulder as he sprinted along, eyes widening at the vanishing terrain that crept up on them. "F-Faster, Loki, faster... The ground is disappearing." She stated matter-of-factly, looking up with frightened eyes at his completely bewildered expression.

His mouth opened to question her mental state, but a quick glance in the opposite direction put him in silence. Instead, the prince could only run faster and attempt to keep his footing.

"Heimdall! Open the bridge!" Volstagg bellowed out, still heaving Fandral on his back who found the situation positively laughable, despite his puncture wounds.

"He won't." Loki thought out loud, recalling the gatekeeper's instructions that should their return endanger Asgard, the portal would remain closed. Sif surveyed the group and their surroundings, frustrated that their archer could not walk as she tried to stay conscious.

The group trembled when they saw the beast rise up on two legs, ready to wipe them out with mere stomps of its clawed feet. Suddenly, a gust of wind flew above them, and Thor thrust himself through the mighty throat of the creature. The large body fell back and over the edge with a sad rumble. With the animal dead, Thor overlooked the much greater threat of the Jotuns that stalked them with their backs to the canyon.

Loki panted as his mind struggled to comprehend their imminent death, feeling Aswren mutter something into his coat. She spoke too softly for him to hear, but he had a firm idea of what it was.

Grroowwwllll. The earth began to glow and shake beneath them, sprouting beams of rainbow light to carry the Allfather down the bridge. His eight-legged horse reared up, coming down with a deafening clunk of hooves.

The King of the Jotuns pushed and approached from the front of the crowd, eager to confront the other man on insidious terms. "Allfather. You look weary."

The Aesir panted as he stood his ground, trying to hide his fatigue and weakness. "Laufey. End this now."

"Your boys sought this out."

"You're right. And these are the actions of a boy—treat them as such. You and I can end this here, now, before this further bloodshed."

"We are beyond diplomacy now, Allfather. He'll get what he came for: war, and death."

"So be it."

The Jotun growled back at him, raising his dagger in futile anger. A second burst of bright, colorful light exploded from where the Allfather stood, knocking back the stray Frost Giants and sucking up the Asgardians into the BiFrost's portal.

The metal sphere whirred to a halt, mingling with the yelling voices of the King and his eldest son. "Why did you bring us back here?!"

"Do you realize what you've done, what you've started?"

"I was protecting my home."

"You couldn't manage to protect your friends, how did you expect to protect the kingdom? Get them to a healing room, now!" Loki quickly followed orders, passing Aswren's body over to Volstagg for him to carry as Jogunn and Sif helped Fandral to limp his way after them. The younger prince stayed behind, watching the warriors leave until they were out of sight.

The injured woman winced when she was cradled against Volstagg's shoulder, hands gripping his armor as she realized he intended to hoist her onto the animal. "No, not the horse! No..." She gasped in pain, letting out an empty, wheeze of cry when the warrior hauled himself over the horse's back.

"I'm sorry, Aswren, but by the looks of you, we don't have time to walk." She could see over her friend's shoulder as they rode, and her eyes widened at the thunder of the Bifrost in the distance.

Farewell, Thor.