The coronation was a beautifully set up display. The grandiose use of gold being shined on by fire gives me the impression that this is the height of wealth. The room looked the way most imagine Heaven.
Bigger than that was the crowd. If anyone has ever gone shopping on Black Friday, you know how long it took to get a crowd this big together. Asgard handling a crowd this larger astounded me. Then again, Thor cheered them on like they were a Super Bowl stadium.
The prince himself was yet to arrive, along with Loki. The Warriors Three and Sif were here, milling about while conversing with the occasional passerby.
Freyja stood guard- sorry- stood beside me. Both of us were done up in the finery worthy of the top tier where we stood. Her, in bright golds and purples. Her hair let down to show off the multitude of curls she was infamous for. In respect to Alex Kingston, she was beautiful. As someone who knows where River Song has been, she was alright.
She and Loki worked together, conspiring to get me in queenly clothes. Dressing up to the standards of others was something I was familiar with, that I understood. Here people were talking about me like I was royalty, my kingdom a tight lipped secret to anyone not in the know. Nobody would respect a Midgardian total, obviously, as we were lowly apes. In this case, it was expected to feel like a Barbie doll. They put me in a dark blue dress, like the dark waters of Midgard. Gold jewelry was added in as a golden studded belt on my waist, golden arm guards, and golden sandals. Loki could tell by that point any more gold would get stuffed down Freyja's throat, so instead he gave me a simple silver necklace and circlet. My hair was done curly, though they would never be as wild as Freyja's.
Now we both stood near the dais. Waiting for the Royal Procession. Bored as all hell.
Well I was bored. Freyja was shifting on her feet, eyes constantly darting to the door.
"People will get suspicious if you keep acting like that." I whispered, smiling for the sake of the crowd.
"This is going to implode in our faces." Freyja told me. "This can't work."
"It will work, if you got the ice cubes and sprayed them with that spray bottle I gave you." I replied. Freyja exhaled through her nose. "And the ants."
"The guards won't be fooled by ants." Freyja reminded me.
I hummed. "No they will not. Thor will though."
"I never thought you of all people wield magic." Freyja pouted.
I rolled my eyes. "You can die and change your face. The love of your life does the exact same thing. We both came here cause of magic. Me casting spells is a limit to you?"
Freyja sighed, huffing while squaring back her shoulders. She had the look on her face- the face of being annoyed with me. It was a familiar expression on her. The expression actually comforted me while the Plan began. "Were it not for the laws of this land, I would throw you off the Bifrost."
"I feel the same, my friend." My smile widened, as real as the shade of pink painted on.
Except no I don't.
I may be mad at you, and forced to play nice with you for Loki's sake,
But I wouldn't subject anyone to Thanos.
As usual whenever the Titan came up, rage filled up in my chest. Rage burnt up like a toxin in me. If I opened my mouth, smoke was likely to come out. (It's how it works- I raised a dragon.)
To my disgust, I wasn't allowed to silently plan a murder in peace. Thor's friends spotted me. They approached us. Freyja let my words sink in, hiding her suspicious air. She was an assassin- she should know better!
"Hello there." The actor had Prince Charming's face- but he behaved like Prince James. It was easy to dislike him. "Lady Freyja, you didn't tell us you brought a friend." He added a sultry wink. "Are all Vanir this alluring?"
I will never understand people like you
Sif was rolling her eyes. Volstagg was smiling proudly. Hogan looked like he was pretending not to know any of them.
"You couldn't stay quiet for a full minute." Sif noted.
Hogan hummed. Volstagg laughed, clutching his stomach. Fandral ignored all of them.
Freyja eyed Fandral like he was fan-dull. Haha, when I can't plan murder I tell bad jokes. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Fandral dismissed the warning. He peered at me, leaning forward with what he thought was a seductive expression.
I leaned back towards Freyja. "Who is he and why is he greeting me?"
"You kn-" Freyja began. I cleared my throat, giving a small shake to my head. "-you know of Thor, the Warriors Three are his closest friends."
"Ah, friends of Thor." I stood straight again, giving Fandral a polite smile.
"Hello there, milady. I'm Fandral, of the Warriors Three."
"Well met, Sir Fandral."
"Indeed. But I have yet to learn the name of the beauty before me." Fandral pointed out.
"I haven't given it." I replied.
"This is Lady Morgan." Freyja introduced. "She has come far to see the coronation."
"It's the event of a lifetime." I added, my smile tight.
Fandral laughed, sounding more like a dog barking. "Indeed! Thor is to be a great king of the realms. I can attest to his skills in battle-"
"And I can attest that the new King knows how to feast!" Volstagg threw his arm over Fandral's shoulders. He shook his friend with the power of his laughs. "We will show you how Asgardians party!"
"Great." I replied, not at all excited. The only good part was that the party would be cancelled. "I was actually hoping-"
"Don't worry, I will save a dance for you." Fandral winked at me.
"...Freyja could we get to our places?" Any more time around Fandral, I couldn't promise I wouldn't throw him across the room.
"But mildly, we have only just gotten to know one another." Fandral pointed out. His 'flirting' face was still going strong.
Freyja took my arm in her's. "You'll have time at the party, Fandral." She walked me from the four. I was seething. "What complete idiots."
"I hate that face, the guy's a dick." I huffed, running my hand along a golden bracelet. "I'm glad I threw another version into a torture river."
Freyja hummed. "Did you? Tell me all about it."
"Of course."
As we walked to our assigned locations, we pointedly ignored the Warriors Three and Sif. They were all placed on the left side of the throne. Freyja and I were on the right to stand below the Queen and Loki. Due to my existence in hierarchy, I was above Freyja on the steps.
Until the royal family arrived I could tell Freyja the story. Throwing Prince James into the River Styx was a fond memory. Pity there was no river to give Fandral. Well he wasn't that bad, I just don't like people flirting with me when I'm working. There was a time and place for flirting.
Also Fandral was just...such a dude bro. That was fine for other girls, let them have their fun with him. Him flirting with me was a nuisance more than a compliment. It was annoying, and my disinterest went completely over his head. It only frustrated me further.
Freyja understood that. It was weird that she still knew me so well. Weirder still that my sister wasn't around to help. Usually she was the one getting men to flirt with her, I would get ignored. My sister relished in the attention, in the flirting back and forth. She shined in moments like that. All the better for me.
Without her, all that stood between me and the masses of guys was River Song.
I wanted my sister back.
When my story ended, the doors to the room opened. King Odin All-Father walked in, Queen Frigga All-Mother at his side. They walked to the sounds of a cheering crowd. I applauded, glancing at Freyja to cue her. She applauded, looking very put upon.
Spoiled brat.
What a great friend.
The youngest prince came in. Loki's applause was not as strong, and clearly not for him. The applause was anticipation for Thor- the star attraction. They applauded for the sake of appearances, and everyone knew it. A quick glance across the dais showed me the Warriors and Sif weren't even pretending to care.
Disgusting.
He was approaching us on the dais. My head tilted, a question in my eyes.
Loki gave a small nod of his head. His job had been convincing many of the guards that some other unlucky bastards had to watch the Vaults during the Coronation. If nobody else could make it, then it would be easier for me to slip in two fakes- ants changed to look like Asgardian soldiers. The Frost Giants has to get inside the Vault without being suspicious. Loki's nod told me he had done his part. The fakes were in place.
It made me want to grin, happy everything so far was going to Plan.
He took his place on the dais. The two of us were exchanging silent knowing smiles. Behind me, Freyja was rolling her eyes.
The roar of the crowd doubled. Tripled? Numbers were hard when the entire kingdom was shouting. It went deafening.
Double disgusting.
Thor made a show of himself. He tossed Mjolnir, he waved at the crowd, encouraging the roar of them. The crowd was actually annoying me, to the point that his showboating ass finally reaching us was a relief. That meant the cheering would stop soon. I could start working for a living.
Loki, Freyja, and I rolled our eyes. Completely uncoordinated, it was bonding. Everyone else up here was smiling proudly towards Thor. All of them saw this as his shining moment, his crowning glory, the part of a lifetime.
"Is he serious?" Freyja asked me.
"Unfortunately."
Thor gave the crowd a large wave, telling them to start cheering again. That thought of killing him came back, in a teasing voice too much like my sister's. That thought was quickly stomped out. That was an idea for another day...
He approached dais. Odin silenced the crowd with a single loud thud of Gungnir. The hush of them was finally letting me think. Thor knelt down, grinning at us like a proud puppy.
"Thor Odinson, my heir, my...first-born." Odin began. "So long entrusted with the mighty hammer, Mjolnir. Forged in the heart of a dying star. It's power has no equal! As a weapon to destroy, or as a tool to build. It is a fit companion for a King. I have defended Asgard, and the lives of the innocent across the Nine Realms, in the time of the Great Beginning. And though the day has come for a new King-"
Loki glanced subtly at me. I gave a small nod, sliding my eyes shut. None would notice. All the focus was on Thor and Odin. Nobody would even notice me working. I started mumbling a spell.
"Do you swear to guard the Nine Realms?" Odin asked his son.
"I swear." Thor promised.
"And do you swear to preserve the peace?"
"I swear."
The spell fought back. Something was...blocking it? I tried feeling the magic, seeing if it could go throw/under/over/around. The answer was around. The spell continued its working.
Oh the ants were dead. Well they weren't meant to live, so that was good.
The Frost Giants were nearly upon the Casket.
"Do you swear, to cast aside all selfish ambition, and to pledge yourself only to the good of the realms?"
"I swear!"
Pfft, what a liar
The crowd cheered with him.
I finished off the spell. It's effectiveness would depend on how believable a staged crime scene could be.
"Then on this day, I, Odin Allfather, will proclaim you-" Odin stopped, his eye staring off in the distance. "The Frost Giants."
Odin left the dais. His two sons followed after him. Frigga took a position by the throne, giving a message to the concerned public.
Freyja stepped up to my side. "So it worked?"
"Not yet." I whispered. "We'll find out soon enough."
Freyja huffed. "Killing him is still an option."
"Well yeah but it's a bad one."
==L==
Even though he watched her perform magic, Loki doubted the abilities of Queen Morgan. She was only a Midgardian. How could her magic be better than his? Freyja held doubts too Still, Morgan insisted on it.
With what Loki was seeing, he could no longer doubt her. The entire Vault room was covered in a layer of frost, with some spots burnt to a crisp. He doubted for a moment that the blue limbs were their fakes, unable to detect magic. A closer look with his seidr showed Morgan's spellwork. Not just a skin deep illusion, this fakery went deep into the marrow of these Frost Giant limbs. The fake guards had been killed too- cut down by Frost Giants before Morgan's spell.
She insisted the magic would teleport them wherever she wanted. Loki didn't know what a 'magic fax machine' was, but Freyja seemed to understand enough.
Every part of the plan had been complicated, intricate, set up so if one step failed all of it failed. The odds of it going perfectly were slim. It was insane...which was of course one of the many reasons Loki said yes.
Seeing the results? Loki couldn't deny that he was impressed.
Two ants and three ice cubes, that's all it would take to show everyone the true colors of Thor Odinson.
Thor and Odin hadn't noticed the deception. Odin perhaps was too familiar with the attacks of the Frost Giants to suspect anything, and Thor was blinded by rage.
The Destroyer backed into it's domain. The sight of the All-Father enough to make it docile.
"The Jotuns must pay for what they've done!" Thor raged.
"They have paid." Odin countered. "With their lives."
Loki wondered if they indeed made it to wherever Morgan sent them. If they had, would they not just kill themselves in shame? He suspected Morgan already thought of that. There was nothing to be done if those Frost Giants had chosen a coward's death.
"The Destroyer did it's work, the Casket is safe, and all is well." Odin assured his sons.
"All is well?" Thor repeated. The very idea of not being in battle right now was setting him off. Loki couldn't believe how well everything was going for him. "They broke into the Weapons Vault! If the Frost Giants had stolen even one of these relics-"
"But they didn't." Odin interrupted him.
"Well, I want to know why!" Thor yelled, waving Mjolnir.
"I have a truce with Laufey, King of the Jotun." Odin reminded Thor.
"He just broke your truce! They know you're vulnerable." Thor argued.
Odin considered his son's words. Not in the way Thor wished he would, rather it was exactly what Loki wished. He turned to better face his son, acknowledging him as an equal to hear his council. "What action would you take?"
"March into Jotunheim as you once did, teach them a lesson, break their spirits so they'll never dare-try to cross our borders again!" Thor explained, boisterous and bold.
"You're thinking only as a warrior!" Odin scolded.
Loki was loving this. He fought to show it on his face, show this vindicated glee.
"This was an act of war!"
"It was the act of but a few, doomed to fail."
"Look how far they got!"
"We will find the breach in our defenses, and it will be sealed."
"As King of Asgard-"
"But you're not King!" Odin shouted, speaking over his son with a commanding tone. The tone of a well worn king who knew the power he wielded, the command he could take. It was the tone of a man who knew he'd chosen wrong. "Not yet."
Loki wasn't sure how he would do it yet. He would find a way to repay Morgan, or reward her for this. Perhaps teaching her some Asgardian spellcasting, all the better to prank her librarian friend. She had more than earned any reward. Freyja could get a new dagger, or perhaps an alien blaster- she liked those.
==L==
I could hear the noise from down the hall. The sounds of a table being turned over on it's side, nobody could miss something that big. Freyja turned to me, looking concerned. Not that there was any reason to be concerned. Everything was going perfectly.
Together, we walked into the banquet hall. The Warriors Three and Sif were coming in too.
"What's this?" Volstagg exclaimed, motioning with his big arms to the upturned table.
Instead of focusing on the table or the food covered floor, I looked over towards Loki. He was sitting beside Thor. They were more interesting to watch. Yeah I wasn't interested watching Volstagg gather up the fallen food, or watch the other three try to find some logic, or watch Freyja try to get my attention.
"If its any consolation, I think you're right." Look told his brother. In the silence of the room, his voice carried. "About the Frost Giants, about Laufey, about everything. If they found a way to penetrate the Asgard defenses once, who's to say they won't try again. Next time with an army."
"Exactly!" Thor shook his head. His only thought was probably something about how his father was too lenient on the 'monsters parents earn their children about at night'.
"There's nothing you can do, without defying Father." Loki explained. Thor started to stand, a set look on his face and his eyebrows scrunched up in thought. "No. No, no, no, no, no. I know that look!"
"Its the only way to ensure the safety of our borders." Thor argued.
"Thor, Its madness." Loki insisted. The quote made me want to wince. If my sister were around, we could snicker at the dark foreshadowing there.
"Madness? What sort of madness?" Volstagg asked, holding up a plate full of snacks.
"We're going to Jotunheim." Thor declared. He said it with the seriousness of someone not proposing a death sentence for his friends.
Loki gave a solemn nod. Yep. This was the logical progression for this path. It had come up when discussing this plan. Freyja said that nobody could be that stupid. Thor just proved me right. On principle, Freyja would be annoyed with that. Loki expressed disappointment in his brother then, and he was doing it now.
"What?" Volstagg gawked.
Freyja pinched the side of her head, rubbing it. "You...actual idiot."
"This isn't like a journey to Earth, where you summon a little lightning and thunder, and the mortals worship you as a god." Fandral cautioned, showing the first bit of sense. "This is Jotunheim."
"My father fought his way into Jotunheim." Thor reminded his friends. As if they needed reminding that his father was someone important, someone to be revered, to be followed. "Defeated their armies, and took their Casket. We would just be looking for answers."
I sat beside Loki, eager to have a barrier between myself and the stupidity. Loki was surrounded by it his entire life, and he had something like sense. He could keep it back. Loki was running his hand down his face. My expression was probably looking like I was watching a car accident. It's what it felt like.
"It is forbidden!" Sif reminded.
Thor laughed. 'I'm rich, and the new king, regular rules don't apply to me. Don't call the police, I own them.' "My friends, have you forgotten all that we've done together? Fandral, Hogun? Who led you into the most glorious of battles?"
"You did." Hogun conceded with a fond grin.
"And Volstagg, to delicacies so succulent, you thought you'd died and gone to Valhalla?" Thor asked.
"You did." Volstagg took a bite from the collection of foods he'd saved.
"Yes." Turning to the fifth in their group, Thor boasted to a clearly unconvinced Sif. "And who proved wrong all who scoffed at the idea that- a young maiden could be one of the fiercest warriors, this Realm has ever known?"
"I did." Sif answered.
"True. But I supported you, Sif." That was it. That was it took- she was on his side now. Thor turned to Freyja. "And Lady Freyja, who was it that convinced a room of generals to allow a Vanir Noble among us?"
"Loki." Freyja answered. "And Queen Frigga."
"Yes, but I asked for you to join us in the first place." Thor explained.
Wow. Does anybody else smell the bullshit?
Loki did. That was assuring.
"And Lady Morgan." He emphasized the title, as his friends weren't in the know about my crown. It didn't sit right with me. The lying was fine, just Thor giving me attention felt wrong.
Ah, no. Don't let him try something dumb and stupid. Not to get me on his side.
"Would you not enjoy the spectacle of battle?" Thor offered. "To see the way Asgard fights?"
"This dainty girl couldn't swat a fly." Fandral began. "Even if she is a friend of Freyja, she is a Lady. Ladies without battle experience have no place on the battlefield."
This bitch.
I immediately dashed for him. Even among all my finery, my suit was expertly hidden. The bo staff shot out from one of the studs on my belt. It grew out to normal length. In an instant the staff was out, hitting Fandral in the back before sending him stumbling forward. He tripped on a toppled over dish.
The staff moved back too. It hit his legs, knocking him down. I made a point to kick a ruined dish forward. The dish was in the right place for his face to splat on.
"I would appreciate it if next time you would insult me to my face. Then there would be a challenge before knocking you down." I explained. Fandral spat out the remains of a pie. His friends all chortled. "Sorry, what? This lady has dainty lady ears. I can't catch that."
Fandral pushed himself upright, holding up his hands. "Alright, alright! I apologize."
Sif came to my side. Freyja too. "Go slower next time. I was hoping to hit him with a throwing dagger." Freyja explained.
"Or I with my sword." Sif added. Both of them giving Fandral annoyed expressions.
"I promise, I'll never doubt a female warrior again." Fandral bargained.
Volstagg laughed. Wow, the confidence these friends have in each other. It's really great that they are so willing to stand together, especially as we're headed into battle.
"So, Lady Morgan." Thor tries to bring it back to his original point. "What do you say?"
"Don't get me wrong. This whole plan is stupid and will get one of you killed." I stated.
"Likely by the touch of a Frost Giant. Instant death in that." Freyja reminded them. "Freezing to death from a single touch."
"But if nobody goes with you folks, then you'll definitely die." I stated, being purposefully foreboding. "So fine."
Thor beamed. He showed his friends, and the three people capable of complex thought, his mad wad hungry grin. "My friends, We're going to Jotunheim."
I did the 'Jim from the Office' face. It made Loki smile so wide he looked away. Freyja liked it too, that was nice.
The Plan was working...hopefully Loki wouldn't get too upset that I was planning for his brother to get banished to Earth. Thor needed some downtime.
==L==
AN: Why did this take so long? Because I got Sims4 for $10 and became obsessed. I have so many tots...so many families...I haven't seen my own family in days...not that I'm complaining, I love these killable idiots, but still...so much time lost...
Hey if the Vault is below Asgard then where the hell is the undead army? Is it under-under Asgard?
Also in a rewatch of Thor for this chapter, Anthony Hopkins paused before saying "firstborn". It cut to Frigga giving him a look that said "jfc did you really just do that". Thought that was funny.
Thanks to denise3 for following
