According to her Stark-Pad's calendar she turned nineteen while on Asgard, she had been waiting for nothing to happen that day until Thor and Loki barged into her room with an assortment of Asgardians sweets.
"Stark told Heimdall about your birthday" Loki explained as Alexandra sat dumbstruck on her bed.
"Right, uh, thanks" she said scratching the back of her head; the brothers grinned at her.
"We shall leave you to get ready for the day, I'm sure mother has something planned, nineteen after all is an important age" Loki said before he pushed Thor out of the room, Alexandra kept staring at the door as it closed and grabbed a bag of cookies, shrugging she stood from her bed and walked into her bathroom, weirder things had happened.
After a warm bath and getting into one of her blue and golden dresses she stepped out of her room and walked in direction to where she usually ate her breakfast with the princes, when she arrived a table had already been set, and several bags of Starbucks and IHOP were already set, she even saw several brownies and chocolate chip cookies, Frigga was already sitting at the table observing the bags.
"Good morrow Alexandra, as you can see your father had a hand in your birthday breakfast" she said gesturing to the bags, Alexandra was grinning as she walked to the table and started checking the bags, she pulled a Venti with her name on it out of one of the Starbucks' bags and hummed pleased as she tasted her caramel cappuccino with extra caramel and enough sugar to cause some type of diabetes.
"I missed you coffee," she murmured to the cup and Frigga smiled at the girl's antics.
Thor and Loki joined her for breakfast, Thor finding a plastic bag with a box of pop-tarts in it while Loki tried a stack of chocolate chips pancakes drowned in maple syrup. Alexandra tried a little bit of everything and once she was done she was sure that she had gained at least five pounds, but she was extremely happy about it. After her hearty breakfast she returned to her room for a nap as she could barely walk straight. Loki went and got her around lunchtime and they had a picnic in a small clearing near the palace, along with Thor, Lady Sif and the Warriors Three.
After lunch she opened and read the letters she had received from her family and wrote back thanking everyone for the breakfast as it had been a combined effort. Near the night feast, Frigga walked into her room and helped her get ready for the night, deciding of one of the red/golden dresses, that closely resembled Iron Man's colors, Frigga brushed her hair and placed a brooch on the back, doing a half-lift, Alexandra smiled at her reflection and guessed that nothing could really ruin her birthday, it had been one of the best birthdays she ever had.
Frigga escorted her to the feast, and she vaguely wondered if Asgardians ever got tired of the feasts every night; she sat between Loki and Thor who were both wearing the black snuggie like things over their clothes, if she had been paying attention closely to everything around her, she would have noticed the malicious glint in Odin's eye, she also would have noticed the lack of conversation from the councilmen of Asgard, but she had been too busy being happy on her birthday to care about Asgardians. If she had know what was going to happen, she wouldn't have bothered to go out of her room after breakfast that day.
"Today our midgardian envoy Lady Alexandra finds herself celebrating her nineteen years of life" started Odin, a smile on his face, Alexandra tensed immediately, Odin hated her for the simple reason that she was a midgardian, she hated Odin because he was a dick. "From what I know, in Midgard nineteen years of age is a very important time for ladies as they enter an age in where they can be wed" he continued, now looking at her, she had paled considerably up to this point, Loki and Thor were throwing their father confused looks and Frigga was doing her best to mask her confusion, "Since Lady Alexandra's father is a midgardian and unable to be here tonight with us in celebration, as King of Asgard and acting guardian of Lady Alexandra's welfare, I have procured a man for her to wed, since her arrival Lady Alexandra has shared her visions with us and now Ragnarok is a thingamajig of the past that should not worry us, she has done her best and has saved Asgard out of the goodness of her heart"
Alexandra was gripping the skirt of her dress, knuckles white and murmuring the word "no" under her breath repeatedly. Thor and Loki were tense, staring at their father with guarded caution while Frigga was doing her best to not openly glare at her husband as she had already seen through his ploy. The Asgardians that were present at the feast were staring at their king with wonder and curiosity.
"She has saved the life of both my wife and my sons and that cannot be repaid in any way that we can, so on the morrow Lady Alexandra, daughter of Stark will marry my own son, crown prince of Asgard, Thor"
Tension in the room could be cut with a knife, in that moment the dark elves could have invaded Asgard and no one would have noticed, Alexandra was resembling a marble statue, Thor looked like he was going to be sick, Frigga was now openly glaring at her husband and Loki's wrist was probably going to bruise from the hold Alexandra had on it.
"Congratulations my son, since you went to Midgard in your banishment you promised that you'd protect them and on the morrow as a gesture of goodwill you will wed the daughter of Midgard's most influential man, hoping that this pact will bring our realms together in peace" he finished, Gungnir in his hands, Alexandra stood hastily from her chair and left the dining hall behind, running into her bedroom and locking and barricading the door behind her.
She ripped off her dress and grabbed a pair of jeans from one of her bags and a t-shirt, she then started putting things into a bag, looking around her room for thing she would miss if she left them behind, she pulled her hair in a ponytail and cursed under her breath when she heard a knock on her door, she looked at her balcony and swore again, she walked out and saw the drop, if she jumped she would not likely make it alive, she slung her bag on her back and moved over the railing carefully, there was a balcony to her right, if she could reach it she could probably make a run for it, she heard the door again and decided to ignore it in favor of reaching the other balcony, the railing was slippery, but she managed to hold on to it.
"Fuck" she hissed as she saw the jump between both balconies, it was a one-time chance, either she jumped and reached the other railing or she plummeted to her death, "Here goes nothing" she murmured before taking the leap.
Her fingers touched the other railing, but there was nothing to hold on to, her eyes widened in the fraction of a second when she realized that she was going to end up as midgardian puree. And she would have ended up as Midgardian puree, if Loki hadn't grabbed her wrist on time, leaving her dangling from a balcony.
"What do you think you're doing?" came his voice and Alexandra forced herself to open her eyes and look up, Loki was scowling down at her.
"Escaping, what the hell does it looks like?" she asked voice high-pitched and panic lacing her pitiful use of sarcasm, Loki sighed and pulled her up into the balcony, but kept holding onto her wrist.
"Do you want to end up dead? Because that is what you're doing, what were your plans? Jump off the bifrost into the void? Or try to hide in Asgard, everyone here would sell you out and you don't seem like the fighter type" Loki hissed at her, she was trying to break free of his hold.
"I don't know, I want to leave now, I want to go home not marry your brother, I'm nineteen, I don't want to get married, not now, probably not ever, so let the fuck go of me" she said squirming.
"Don't you understand you foolish girl, this is what the All Father wants, he wants you to hurl yourself out of the highest tower so he can be free of you" Loki explained exasperatedly, Alexandra looked at him like if he had grown another head.
"Then he can send me home, not marry me to Thor, what the fuck dude!" she said, Loki looked done.
"He cannot do that, mother has told you, you broke destiny, if you go back to Midgard you keep changing things, Ragnarok does not happens, destiny as it was foretold by the Norns doesn't happen, you kill yourself here and in a few days he resets the entire thing and we all die when Ragnarok or Thanos come for us, do you get it now? This is a ploy to get you to kill yourself and blame it on a freak accident" Loki rationalized, Alexandra stopped squirming as she considered his words and came to the conclusion that Odin was a bigger dick than she thought.
"So what do you want me to do then? Marry your brother and then fuck off into the sunset while we drink margaritas? And what do you think my dad would do when he finds out that Odin forced me to marry Thor? He nuked the Chitauri mother-ship, forget about Ragnarok, dad will burn this place to the ground" she argued, Loki's eyes hardened.
"It is for your protection, whatever the All Father was thinking when he spoke to the people of Asgard will be foiled by you when you marry my brother tomorrow, you'll become a princess of Asgard and will be out of his reach and under Thor's protection, you heard him, he proclaimed himself your guardian, do you know what that means?" Loki asked and Alexandra began seeing the bigger picture at hand.
"I just want to go home," she said sounding very much like a child in that moment, Loki sighed.
"Once you are married to Thor he can take you there but not before because it would be treason to the crown to do so" Loki said, softly this time, Alexandra looked at him with wide brown eyes looking a little lost and scared.
"What should I do then?" she asked; Loki smirked.
On another side of the palace Frigga was glaring daggers at her husband who looked positively happy as he was sure that the midgardian girl was on her way to do something stupid like jumping off the bifrost or such. A little bit lower of palace, near the training grounds Thor was sulking and that was how Loki found him after he secured Alexandra, meaning Loki was projecting to Thor while being on Alexandra's room as the girl slept.
"Fancy meeting you here brother" said Loki's projection; Thor looked up at his brother and sighed.
"You've come to gloat?" Thor asked; Loki frowned.
"Not at the moment, besides, why would I? I just stopped the Starkling from falling to her death" Loki said; Thor grimaced.
"She tried to kill herself?" he asked warily but Loki shook his head.
"She tried to escape and slipped, quite a fragile thing, unlike her father but she is young mayhap in time she can grow to be a warrior, but at the moment she is as defenseless as a kitten" Loki explained, Thor sighed.
"What is father doing?" Thor asked burying his face in his hands, Loki looked at his brother sadly.
"I believe that he wanted the Starkling to do something reckless that resulted in her death, he almost did it, I shall watch over her until she is wed to you, then you need to take her to Stark where she'll be safe from the All Father."
"But why? She has done nothing to him"
"She has shown that she is wild spirited and troublesome, she speaks her mouth and walks as if the world belongs to her, granted that's all Stark, but father dislikes her confidence and the fact that with her words she managed to overrun my sentence and show Asgard that the All Father was overseeing things and she knows more than us, I fear that there are things that she has yet to say, she's careful with her words"
"So I should marry a child?" Thor asked; Loki nodded grimly.
"For her sake and continued living you will"
Loki observed the sleeping girl, Stark was going to kill them all of that there was no doubt, although maybe there was a chance to explain to Stark what had gone down in Asgard. Odin was crazy, of that Loki had no doubt; maybe old age was finally catching onto the All Father, or maybe it was something else, all of the things he had learned from Alexandra Stark pointed out to Odin actually knowing more than he let on, Alexandra had mentioned the name Hela several times now, Goddess of Death, the girl had called her but Loki had tried to research the mysterious woman and had come empty, almost as if the name Hela had been wiped from existence.
Alexandra started stirring and green eyes were suddenly focused on her, she opened her eyes slowly, taking in the fact that she was awake little by little, Loki immediately placed a tray on her lap, with sliced fruit, she took one slice and popped into her mouth, then looked at Loki.
"Loki?" she asked, voice sleepy as she grabbed another slice of fruit.
"Yes Lady Alexandra?"
"Why are you here?"
"It is dangerous for you to be alone before you marry my brother, there is no telling how far father will go to exterminate you" he explained, Alexandra rubbed her eyes and groaned.
"This sucks"
"I was wondering if you could tell me more about Hela" Loki said, Alexandra gave him a wary look.
"She's Odin's first born and during the time of the conquest served as his executioner, she was his Commander, a ruthless monster that helped unifying the nine realms under Odin's rule, she along with her wolf Fenris and her army of Berserkers, it was until Odin saw that she had become even more ruthless that he decided that he couldn't allow her to go on and imprisoned her in Hel, she of course tried to escape once, which resulted in the death of the Valkyries, and Odin's life-force is the only thing keeping her in place, were he to die and we would all be screwed" she explained, Loki's eyes were wide with the revelation, he had an older sister and Odin had imprisoned her.
"One would surely be able to reason with her" said Loki, Alexandra raised an eyebrow.
"Could you reason with Thanos?" she asked and Loki scowled, "There must be a spell here in Asgard that could allow us to use someone else's life-force to hold Hela in Hel forever, I know basically nothing about spells and life-forces, but I like to think that there is a way, because if Odin can go as far as to force me to marry his eldest son, then what are the chances that he wouldn't kill himself to unleash Ragnarok?" she asked softly and Loki paled as he understood her reasoning.
"I will ask mother about it, if there's someone who might know something its her, finish your breakfast, can't have you fainting at your wedding" Loki said; Alexandra nodded and finished her fruit slices, Loki then handed her a goblet filled with water.
Loki and Alexandra were interrupted with a knock on her door, Frigga walked in a moment later, looking solemn.
"Good morrow, Lady Alexandra, Loki" she greeted taking a seat on Alexandra's bed.
"Is it time, mother?" Loki asked, Frigga nodded, Loki gave her a look and stood from his chair "I shall go get Thor ready, do not leave her alone mother"
"I wont, my son" Frigga promised, Loki nodded and then looked at Alexandra who somehow looked impossibly younger sitting on her bed under the red velvety sheets.
Alexandra allowed the maids to get her into the bath and scrub her clean, Frigga's eyes on them all the time, then a maid brought forward an intricate white dress with golden sequins sewn on, to Alexandra it looked similar to a wedding Sari, Frigga helped her into the dress and did the laces on the back, once she looked at her reflection on the mirror, Alexandra felt like crying, and not happy tears, but the bitterness of something that should have been the happiest day for a woman, turned into something forced and vile, like if the purity of marriage had been stained forever in her eyes.
"I am so very sorry, Lady Alexandra" said Frigga as she brushed Alexandra's hair, the young woman shrugged.
"I am too, Queen Frigga," she said, voice empty, Frigga looked at her sadly, where once a bright girl shone, there was nothing but darkness and resentment.
"I wish I could stop this, that I could help you, but I don't have that power" Frigga explained softly, feeling mad at herself, what was the point of being Queen if she couldn't help a single girl?
"I don't hold it against you" Alexandra said softly, Frigga nodded at her.
"My husband is complicated, I am a Vanir, our marriage was to bring peace to our realms, along our marriage I learned to love him, he gave me my two sons and there were many times that I turned a blind eye into the things he was doing" Alexandra looked at Frigga through the mirror and nodded "I was young too when I married and our marriage marked the start of a peaceful era for the nine realms"
"What would this marriage be then?" Alexandra asked, Frigga sighed.
"I know not, but I hope for your and my son's sake that it is the beginning of something wonderful" she said as she placed a small tiara on Alexandra's head, Alexandra looked at Frigga warily, "Let us go now, its time" the Queen said offering a hand to Alexandra who took it gingerly.
They walked through the halls of the palace in silence, not a soul in sight; Alexandra wondered for a moment if Loki had lied to her about escaping but then resolved that she needed to give him the benefit of the doubt, he after all had saved her life and had watched over her all night when he could have left her die or something. They met Fandral and Loki near the Throne Hall, Fandral offered to escort Frigga and Loki stayed with Alexandra.
"It will be over before you know it" Loki promised, Alexandra raised an eyebrow at him.
"And the marriage too? I don't suppose you know where to find a good divorce lawyer here in Asgard" she said dryly, Loki sighed.
"What you midgardians call divorce is not a figure here in Asgard, here, marriages, such as our lives go, forever or as long as the couple lives, would Thor die before you, you could re-marry, but only upon the event of your partner's death" Loki explained, Alexandra's gaze hardened.
"Well then Thor only needs to wait for a couple of decades then, and I'll be out of the picture, how convenient" she said, Loki smirked at her.
"One would think so, yes, but between you and I, Lady Alexandra, father would hopefully wish for you to die sooner, unfortunately for him, you won't" he said smugly, Alexandra stopped walking.
"What did you do?" she asked, Loki kept on smirking.
"Just a small dent in the All Father's plan, Lady Alexandra, you enjoyed your apples this morning, did you not?" he asked and it dawned on her what Loki had done.
"You're crazy" she hissed at him, he kept on smiling.
"Perhaps, but then again it will be amusing to see Odin baffled when you stop aging like midgardians do, besides now its convenient that you live long enough, while mother got you ready I went to the library, life-force spells can be inter-changeable, I'd just need another life-force to attach it, your life is strong and full of possibilities and Asgard would have to protect you whether they wanted or not, or this place gets destroyed, it's brilliant" Loki explained, Alexandra felt dread pooling in her stomach, Loki might have found a way to partly thwart Odin's scheme but it tied her to Asgard in ways that she wasn't sure she wanted to be tied to a place.