The Remnant Prince

A/N: Sorry for the wait! And sorry that there is only a Hermion reference. She'll be in the next one, I promise. The nickname Tilly, which I have been asked about, is in reference to Matilda and theri experience with that, and his light, fond, teasing. She calls him Chessie sometimes because of the Cheshire Cat. Rose will also be in the next chapter, as will more of the past/present. This is mostly a future/present chapter. This basically covers...well, you'll see. Details and reasons behind things, as well as some other...things... for lack of better words, come up. Hope this is plausible, and if not, or if there are any other quesions/comments/concerns/ objects of confusion, please feel free to PM me or review. Or both. Stressed and tired now and will fix any and all typos/mistakes later. Forgive me. I'm alseep on my feet and my beta is in bed. Otherwise, this should be fine. :3

Enjoy!

Ch. 9: Risk

**The Future, Approximately, or The Present**

Odin stared out over the balcony at his kingdom, embracing the cool dawn in the peculiar light as if every spire, every hill, every wayward, stray creature, were a part of him. Huginn and Muninn glided toward him on glossy wings, landing in a dignified manner and ruffling their dark feathers. Huginn cawed at him, tilting his head to the side. Muninn dipped his graceful neck. Both bent their slender legs in a slight bow. Odin acknowledged them briefly.

Frigga watched them by way of their reflections in her mirror as she attempted to choose which pair of earrings to wear to her son's coronation. She saw Odin's lips part, watching as he asked, "Do you think he's ready?"

Of course, she knew who he meant. It was strange, talking about someone without really talking about them, or never mentioning them by name. She paused, her hand hovering by her earlobe.

"He thinks he is. He has his father's confidence," she replied. Odin sighed.

"He'll need his father's wisdom."

"And his humility?" she queried softly.

Odin started. Frigga continued as if she had not noticed. The jade ones looked nice as well...

"Thor won't be alone. Loki and Naryu will be at his side to give him counsel. Have faith in your children."

She frowned. Now that she thought about it, the jade didn't match at all. In fact, it looked terrible to her as she turned it in the light. She dropped it back among her other jewels, rummaging for another pair.

"Yes, but Thor's still a boy. He could be a great King..." he trailed off, noticing a tremor in his hand. Frigga opened her mouth to say something, had half-turned to him, when a flurry of wings flapping temporarily stole her attention.

A White-throated Needle-tail Swift appeared, soaring over the heads of Huginn and Muninn, who squawked in protest, to land on the floor between Frigga and Odin. Its form shivered, and in the next instant, Fárbauti stood before them clad in an ensemble similar to that of Frigga. She and Frigga watched as his hand left a trail through the air when he moved it. He grunted, staring hard at it and trying to master himself. Finally, he got it to stop. The two women moved towards to him until they were all close together.

"...if only we had more time."

Wordlessly, Fárbauti clasped his hand. A surge of magic pulsed from Fárbauti and into Odin through the contact. Their eyes met, and she nodded, dropping his hand. Frigga snatched it up worriedly before it could fall to his side.

"I've given you that, now, but it won't last," Fárbauti said wearily. Frigga smiled gratefully at her.

"Thank you, this is kind."

She turned her face toward Odin, worry shadowing her brow.

"Yet, still it is not enough. This magic, this holding spell, steals both of your strength. This magic comes with a price. There is still no time. For once, our son needs something we cannot provide."

Odin grimaced. "I can fight it a little longer..."

"But can she?" Frigga inserted sharply. Fárbauti said nothing. Frigga continued, "No. You've put it off too long! You weary her unnecessarily. I worry for you."

He touched her cheek while Fárbauti fumbled with the clasp of a pouch at her waist, pulling out a bottle full of a light blue liquid. She took a long swig, and after a moment she was able to stand straight. She had been slumped against the nearby table. Seeing that the king and queen were about to have a touching moment, she morphed back into the swift and hopped to the balcony. After nodding at Huginn and Muninn, she spread her wings and took flight. The two followed her like a black clad guard. Or a double shadow.

"Another!"

The cup smashed into a shower of fragments, the alcohol fueling the fire in the hearth. Naryu watched as Thor stalked proudly toward her and Loki. She was in her best dress, looking as wildly exotic as she ever did, and slightly more visually appealing as well. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Loki. He was smiling and calm, but she knew what roiled underneath the cool, cordial mask. Her heart panged. She was not royalty, would never rule, no matter what title was bestowed upon her by the royal family-but she did not care. And she knew how very much her adoptive brother did, as well as the fact that he never had a chance at getting the same throne as Thor. He was not the prince he thought. It killed her to keep silent all of those long years, laughing and crying together, playing and fighting together, casting spells together, but it wasn't her secret to tell.

"Nervous, brother?" he asked Thor as Naryu nibbled on her bottom lip broodingly.

"Have you ever known me to be nervous?" Thor retorted.

"There was the time in Nornheim...," Loki trailed off smoothly. Naryu's ears perked, ready to prevent a brawl but amused all the same.

"Play nice, boys," she chided playfully, a smile tugging good-naturedly at her full pink lips. Thor couldn't help being riled, though, and Loki couldn't help riling him.

"That wasn't nerves, brother. It was the rage of battle. How else could I have fought my way through a hundred warriors and pulled us out alive?"

Naryu heard the attendant approaching with more wine for Thor.

"As I recall, Naryu and I were the ones who veiled us in smoke to ease our escape."

The sister in question opened her mouth to protest being drug into the matter, but simply closed it instead.

"Some do battle, others just do tricks," Thor said hotly. The Attendant stifled a laugh. Naryu shot him a warning glare, but it was already too late for him. Loki gestured toward the goblet the attendant still held in the next second, his wrist undulating like a snapping whip. Eels spilt and overflowed over the rim, squirming. The attendant yelped as they slithered across his hands. Loki chuckled.

"Loki..." Thor began.

"I've got you covered," Naryu assured him, transforming the wriggling eels into limp strings of yarn.

"Now that was just a waste of good wine," Thor grumbled.

"Not exactly," Naryu muttered, waving her fingers over the strands in a semicircle. They rose and landed in her palm, dry. She pocketed them.

"Just a bit of fun," Loki shrugged nonchalantly, "Right, my friend?" he questioned the attendant.

"Don't-answer that," Naryu instructed, dismissing him and watching as he scurried away.

She turned back around just in time to see Thor don a winged helmet and hear Loki say "Nice feathers."

Naryu stood at the front of the hall with the Warriors Three, Sif, Frigga, Loki, and Fárbauti. The horn blew once more and some advanced guardsmen arrived with Odin. He sat with his great spear in full armor, Frigga joining him, and looked for Thor. His gaze swept over the area she shared with the others.

"Where is he?" she heard Volstagg whisper sotto voce to Loki. She herself didn't know. She tuned out the rest of the conversation, fretting. And then her showoff brother burst in, glaring and impossible to miss, and she wanted to strangle him.

Naryu groaned internally at Thor's showy display and outrageous entrance. She could see how strained and tired both Odin and Fárbauti were, even if to others it would appear that no trace of weakness existed; he, weary from fighting the inevitable Odinsleep and Fárbauti from lending him the energy and life-force to do so. If things kept going the same way they were in the enormous room, she thought, she just might receive her never-should-be throne, taking Thor's place with Loki as advisor. Or vice versa. Either way, it all had to end. There was a boom and a shaky shifting coming from down below. She spoke too soon.

Naryu expected screams and startled yells, but then she realized she was the only one affected. She was having a vision. She trembled, watching the havoc in slow motion. Intruders. The Allfather's Vault. Frost Giants. Unnecessary blood being spilled...

"Naryu?"

She opened her eyes with a gasp. She was on the floor, propped up by a kneeling Loki while Odin, Frigga, Fárbauti's worried gazes fixed on her, Odin's words dying on his lips. All of it had taken only a second. She would have said something, but at that moment, the alarms went off.

"Vault," she coughed, sitting up, "Frost Giants."

"What could it mean?" Loki mused, pacing. Naryu watched, nibbling on her bottom lip. She was torn. Half of her wanted to spill everything, the secret that wasn't hers, and face his wrath at last like a righteous flood for all the years of lies. The other half screamed at that half, saying, "Fool! Fool!" as it grasped onto the last sliver, the only remaining semblance, of what was left of her childhood confidant. The one that was fading away. The one she was losing.

"You saw what happened to my hand. What-what-"

~"You will know the truth, and the truth will make you furious," Naryu said softly. Loki's head snapped up.

"What?"

Naryu stood abruptly. "You have a lot on your mind. Try to relax."

She left as quickly as she dared. Turning a corner, she ran into Sif. She was surprised to see a wary suspicion like that of a wildcat, a lithe leeriness, peering at her from the other woman's eyes.

"I-"

Before she knew what was going on, she was pinned to the wall, arms at her sides and Sif's face threateningly close.

"What have you silver-tongued ones been up to?" she hissed. Pressure was released off of Naryu's throat to allow an answer. She gulped in air gratefully at the opportunity.

"I know not what you speak-" Sif reapplied the pressure, shoving her further into the cold stone digging mercilessly into her back.

Having had enough, Naryu shifted into mist and escaped her grasp, reappearing down the corridor and massaging her throat and collarbone.

"I'm sorry that what happened happened. But strangling me for what he wrought with his own foolishness is not the answer."

Tears threatened Naryu as she schreeched at Sif, "How could you not think that I would not know what it felt like to lose Thor? Every time, again and again, I lose more of my brother. Go get him yourself! He's fine with the humans. What can they do? Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to see my father-our father, his and mine."

She darted away before Sif could finish processing her outburst, and she didn't stop until she reached the room she knew Frigga shared with Odin. Her adoptive mother sat regally across from him at a small table, lines of worry creasing her ever youthful face. Odin, for the most part, seemed to be holding it together. But Naryu knew that, even then, the old king was slowly losing control. And running out of time. They both looked up as she entered. Their hands were clasped, arms stretched across the table between them and fingers twined as if they were no older than Naryu.

"Father-Mother," she gasped, choking as she attempted to compose herself enough to form a coherent string of words. A single tear escaped the corner of her eye.

"It's Loki. I fear he may be...something happened on Jotunheim...I think that..." she drew a deep breath. "If he hasn't figured it out in the short time it took me to reach you, he will know."

"Know what?" Odin asked sharply. Frigga paled.

"The truth," she whispered. She looked away, hand going to her chest.

"You knew this day would come," Naryu said, "Do something. You have to do something."

Odin rose from his seat grunting. "I will go to him."

Frigga grabbed his hand.

"And tell him what, exactly?" Naryu fumed. Odin met her angry gaze.

"Enough. Every old man needs to be able to make up for his sins-or rather, his oversights."

Naryu, dazed, sagged against the wall behind her as he passed by her. She didn't even realize she had begun crying. When she did, she wasn't sure for whom she cried. There were so many lost to cry for.

**The Future, Approximately, or The Present**

Fárbauti sighed as she held the Time compass between her hands. She sat in a chair by the window in her room, looking out across Asgard. At the sound of someone's approach, she snapped the lid shut over the face, slipping it into the pocket of her robes. She looked up as Naryu entered the room.

"Should you not be in the Throne Room with the King, Duchess Naryu?"

"It's time, Dashta. The truth is long overdue. It's time you told it and went by your proper name."

Fárbauti sighed, straightening. "You are right, of course. After Jotunheim, I know he had questions. I know not what Odin may have told him...but I know it was not the whole truth. I spoke with him just before he succumbed to the Odinsleep. He warned me I would have explaining to do...and that he lied to protect me because he thought I should be the one to tell Loki, because he finally realized it was my secret to tell and he should have let me long ago."

"Now comes the difficult part-telling Loki."

"Telling me what?" Loki asked smoothly as he came through the doorway. Fárbauti sucked in her breath and squeezed her eyes shut as Naryu turned to face Loki. He stood regally, in full helm with Gungnir gripped tightly in hand.

"It is not my secret to tell, though I have the knowledge and was directly involved," Naryu responded, looking down and away. "Yet you have a right to know."

"Know what?" he asked. His sister remained silent. "TELL ME!" he yelled. "What must I know? What other truths were held from me?"

He grabbed her, shaking her like a rag doll. She let him, tears spilling as she kept her peace.

"~I don't know who I am- or who I was, before I was stolen," he snarled. Finally, she met his frantic gaze.

"~I know this is hard, but you are forgetting about the three people who did want you. They chose you, they loved you, they raised you-"

"With lies," he spat, his nails digging into her upper arms through her sleeves. "~You don't keep secrets from people you love. How could they let me find out like that?"

"~Ask," she told him calmly.

"I have asked, but you have denied me the answers."

"Because you have asked the wrong person. I tell you, it is not my right to say, but it is your right to know."

"What was it you were sure I needed to know?" he asked, almost pitifully, the anguish clear on his face. Fárbauti stood soundlessly behind Naryu.

"To begin with things," she said, surprising them both, "do you remember the story of the lost Queen?"

Loki looked up, puzzled, but replied, "Yes. It was obviously a lie Father told you when you came to the palace. I apologize, Dashta."

Fárbauti winced. "Do you remember her name?"

"Fárbauti," he supplied with ease.

"The story was not a lie," she said, her voice strengthening as she continued. He released Naryu at her next words and stepped towards her. "I knew your mother. We both did, I intimately so."

"Tell me, then, Dashta," he whispered, and she squeezed her eyes tight again for the strength she knew she needed to break her son's heart. "Who was she?"

"Are you sure you want to know the answer, truly?" she pressed.

"Yes!" he exclaimed, "Please tell me and end this...if you love me."

Fárbauti reached for his hand. "You are not a monster, and you were loved, Loki, always loved. She never forgot you; she hid you in plain sight. You must understand, both of you would have been killed."

His eyes hardened. "She abandoned me."

"She did not. She has always kept her watchful eye on you, making sure you were never in any real danger, and she was and is so proud of you."

"How can you know all of this? It must mean that she lives and you have kept contact with her."

"No, Loki," Fárbauti whispered, pained as his face twisted with confusion.

"But-" he started to protest.

"Loki," she interrupted, "I am your mother. I am Fárbauti...Queen of Jotunheim...I am your mother."

A few things happened at once. One of them was the maelstrom of confusion etched clearly up and down Loki as he stared, taught like a bowstring.

"Mother?" he whispered.

"Yes," Fárbauti whispered in return.

Fárbauti let her tears flow openly as she reached out ever so gingerly and caressed his cheek. Her son. After all of those years, she could offer such a gentle touch with nothing concealed between them. He was of her, Fárbauti, and at last, he knew it. There was a moment when it seemed like she could crush him to her chest and all would be well, but it died as soon as his eyes hardened again.

"You-you abandoned me," he said, all fiery emotion.

"You left me for the All-father to discover, like some discarded piece of clothing, or-"

"No," Fárbauti said forcefully, Loki going silent both from habit and the urging in her voice.

"You were loved, always loved. All of it, I swear, all of it was for you."

She gently pried his cold hand from his side and pressed it to her heart. She was neither as cold as the Frost Giants nor as warm as the Aesir. Neither was he. They were not the same temperature, but she knew that no one else came as close to his. Despite his rage, his body automatically found comfort in the touch. She kept him quiet with her eyes the way she used to when he was a child, and she told him. Told him the story of the Swindled Queen, her story, told him of what she sacrificed, minced no details of her imprisonment, wept with bitter passion over how Laufey had wanted him drowned and how she had fled and hid him in the temple, protected with enchantments, to seek out the All-father. She let her sorrow coil around them as she spoke of the long years watching him grow up and not being able to tell anyone of their secret-even him, and how she would transition from wanting him to know and not wanting him to know. He seemed to listen, face clearing. When she finally stopped speaking, her gouge fading, still he let her hold his hand. Fárbauti indulged herself, wiping away the single tear that lay on his cheek, softly stroking the bridge o his nose, straightening his robes. Loki's eyes had focused somewhere faraway. Fárbauti got to the point when she could no longer bear the silence.

"Loki," she whispered, and receiving no response, "Son."

He looked down at her at that word. Son. He stood a head taller than her.

"I-never-knew," he whispered heatedly. His eyes glistened as more tears threatened. He had never shed so many at one time, perhaps ever.

"But now you do," Fárbauti soothed. She drew closer and hugged him tightly.

"This is why you were able to tutor us...why you knew so much about me that others didn't, why-"

"Yes, yes, all of that later...son," she murmured dismissively into his chest. His head rose, tears gone and eyes a stormy grey-black-navy blue.

"You knew as well," he said slowly, almost glaring at Naryu, who had listened silently the entire time.

"Was everything a lie and nothing the truth?"

Naryu straightened defensively. "Not all of it. Not the important things. We loved you. We love you. We only held your best interest at heart."

"Our. Entire. Lives. Our entire lives, Naryu. You knew the entire time," he sibilated. Naryu blanched.

"Don't let your anger rip you apart," Fárbauti whispered, drawing back slightly.

"She knew what you were-what we were-and she didn't care. She judged you by the content of your character, and they me, as well as with you. You didn't need to know as long as you were never alone. Were you ever alone? Can you ever think of a time when you were truly in need, truly beaten down, dispirited, frustrated, or defeated, that I was not there, that she was not, that Frigga was not, that Thor was not, that Odin was not? You are so much more than Laufey's legacy. You are and always were Loki Fárbautison-even if you didn't always know it. You are a part of me, and I, your mother, am a part of you."

A beat passed, two, and for that short time he seemed to calm, seemed to be remembering how he had always seemed to matter most to her, how she would whisper new hexes to him when Frigga was in the other room or show him a new trick when Odin wasn't looking, or perhaps create spells with him.

"You knew I would never be king."

Naryu's eyes flashed. ~"The cup you choose to fill is bottomless. This is madness."

"~ What if I told you that power means more to me than you ever will?"

"Then I'd say you were a liar. And so would Hermione. Haven't forgotten about her, have you?"

His face contorted. "Have care what you speak of."

They stared long and hard at each other. With a rough jerk, he disentangled his mother from him.

"Guards," he called. Three appeared at the door.

"Take them."

Naryu and Fárbauti were shackled together being led down to the dungeons when Naryu stumbled down the steps, and would have fallen down the entire flight, dragging Fárbauti with her, if not for the guard nearest her catching her by the arm. She shrugged him off and advanced a few steps so that a few feet separated her and the former Jotunn Queen from them.

"Laufey...he's going to let Laufey into Asgard so he can slay him," she whispered urgently from the corner of her mouth.

"We have to stop him."

"You're sure?"

"Yes," she whispered.

"Then we better stop complying."

"What? Don't these cuffs neutralize-didn't Loki charm them against us?"

"He didn't think to charm them against himself," Fárbauti murmured. "We are more alike than he thinks. He made them more towards the Sylph...he neglected the Faerie magic. He neglected the touch Frost left on me."

Not soon after, they stood over unconscious guards, discarding the cuffs. They ran back towards the surface, rushed through the halls.

"Could you tell by your vision when exactly?"

"Soon," Naryu huffed. They burst into Odin and Frigga's chamber to be met with the sight of the Queen hugging Loki tightly, dead Frost Giants strewn about and Laufey's corpse at his feet; he murmured a promise to her.

~"Blood will spill blood and the stones will run red," Naryu whispered, horrified. Loki looked up then, startled, and at the same time she and Fárbauti were roughly pushed aside as Thor entered. Frigga rushed to her other son, hugging him just as tightly. Thor released her quickly, confronting Loki.

"Why don't you tell them how you sent the Destroyer to kill our friends, to kill me," Thor said as he began circling Loki.

"No, no, no!" Naryu cried, both as the vision began to come true and as another familiar, old, buried vision was ripped from her subconscious to her conscious thought. The rift. The fall. Loki. Pain seared behind her eyes. She shut them tightly, rocking, not realizing she was whispering his name over and over.

"What?" gasped Frigga. She was not as all knowing as she seemed.

"Well, I must have been enforcing Father's last command," Loki lied easily. Naryu screamed.

"What's wrong with her? Have you tried to kill her as well, brother?"

"No, she's seeing something," Fárbauti whispered, kneeling, and Naryu heard nothing else in her torment as the only mother she had known besides Frigga held her, cooled her with her touch until it passed. When she looked up a few moments later, at last free, the room was devoid of her brothers and Frigga...

Fárbauti grabbed her by her shoulders.

"What did you see? You must tell me!"

Naryu pushed her away. Fárbauti, unsuspecting, landed on her backside. Naryu stumbled up and ran, shifting between light and mist and the form of a swift to get to the Bifrost before it was too late. She almost faltered except that she finally noticed Odin, quite awake and holding onto something from the edge. She hadn't noticed his absence in her rush. She knew he had Thor and Thor grasped the great spear-and holding it loosely was Loki. She knew what was coming. She threw herself over the edge just as he let go, saw him plummet downwards. She heard their father and brother saying something as she launched herself over the edge, free falling after him and wondering what the hell she had been thinking.

This time the scream and fear were her own as the things chattered.