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Chapter 29

Loki opened his eyes. Something had woken him up. The question was what…

Still a little drowsy, Loki looked around the room he was in. Who's room was this? His eyes slowly scanned the walls, the ground, the window and the bed. Since when did he sleep in a small bed and – more importantly – since when was it covered in pink sheets! Loki smacked his mouth. He was thirsty and for some reason rather cold. The young king shivered. The hairs on the back of his neck stood straight up as if he'd just been struck by a cold, icy wind. Did he have a nightmare? No, he would remember!

Slowly the events of the day started to find their place in his mind. Thor… Thor had dragged him to … Frigga's room…. He was in his niece's room! At least that explained the pink blankets… And the princess dolls he just noticed next to the (also pink) pillow. But what had woken him up! There was nothing in the room!

Muted voices sounded from the other side of the door. The walls were pretty thick, so that meant that whoever was in the other room, they were shouting. Loki put aside the blanket and cautiously made his way to the door. Carefully he opened it on a slight crack, just enough to see what and who were in the other room and to be able to follow the conversation properly. Immediately the muted voices turned into shouts and screams. Loki groaned and shut his eyes. He was still too tired! He almost felt as if he had a hangover!

The young king adjusted to the light and sound, streaming into his room. He recognised Frigga's angry voice, overflown with an uncontrollable pain and sadness. With every word she said, Loki felt shivers run down his spine. He knew this kind of feeling, but it had been quite some time since he'd last felt it. At least in this way…

"…little brother or sister I wouldn't just curse and hate him, or turn him into a murderer! You are a really, really bad big brother!" Loki heard, but he didn't really pay attention to Frigga's words. Something was going on, but he couldn't believe it… Cautiously he pushed the door further open. Now he could see Frigga standing at the door of her parent's room. Lady Sif, Fandral, Thor and Jane were also in the room, but they didn't matter. Loki couldn't believe his eyes.

Around Frigga he could see an almost invisible pattern of flowing energy. It moved through the air like the soft waves of a steady pond, but they increased with Frigga's every angry breath. Frigga was preforming magic!

Immediately, the young king was right awake. Loki searched his memory for a moment were he'd already taught Frigga some magic, but he was sure he hadn't. Besides, what Frigga was doing was something that took a lot of practise. Years and years of practise! Without any instruction she was already controlling the natural energy in the air and transforming it to magic. Loki knew he was the only who could see it surging around her, but if Frigga didn't calm down, it wouldn't take long before it would take form. Loki doubted Frigga would be able to contain it for very much longer…

A thousand question raced through the young king's mind. How was this possible? He never heard of anything like this! Magic had to be taught! But Frigga seemed to be a… natural.

Loki watched as his brother was trying to calm Frigga down and keep her out of the conversation, but there was no way of stopping it now. The young king saw and heard the silver energy crackle through the air. The next thing he knew was a wave of harmless, but magical energy hitting his body. Loki stumbled backwards. Just before the silver energy disappeared into the air, he stuck out his hand and forced a small amount of the silver light to form a ball in his hand. With a deep frown above his eyes, Loki brought the ball closer to his face. This was actual magic, as real as his own, but sliver.

"Interesting…" he muttered while waving his hand through the air to make the energy dissolve too. The young king walked back to the door and witnessed Jane and Thor's fight. The words found their way through, but they didn't matter at the moment. He would think about it later. For now, Loki focused on his little niece standing at the door. Her parents were fighting over her head, but she didn't seem to care. Frigga blinked her eyes confusedly when she noticed how exhausted she was. She knew something weird had happened, but what she thought was so impossible that she just couldn't believe it. She looked at her hands in a scared, but also very inquisitive way.

Frigga was awoken from her trance of obsession by a small, salty drop of water on her face. She looked up and found her mother crying above her. Why was she crying? Mothers were not supposed to cry! The whole room seemed to think the same, because everyone was staring at Jane. Before Frigga could do something, her mother suddenly turned around and disappeared in her room.

Loki saw how the girl looked around the room, scared, helpless, alone. Was someone going to help her? Give her a hug and tell her it was going to be fine? Apparently not! Thor was staring at the door as if he'd seen a ghost.
Jane had completely overthrown her husband. To be honest, the thought of losing his wife and child had also crossed his mind and brought him a lot of pain. But Thor had accepted that fact when Jane had told him she was pregnant. He'd decided he'd rather spend one lifetime with Jane and Frigga then to wait, alone, until she died. It would break his heart, but Thor knew he had to live and enjoy every day he had with them. It never really occurred to him that Jane was as desperate as he was. Now he came to think of it, that was a rather selfish thought!

Sif and Fandral shared a look. They'd completely forgotten why they were there. They had the feeling they weren't supposed to witness this… Both friends were sending each other angry glares to make the other say something first. Of course Sif was the one to win. Fandral sighed and turned to Thor. An uneasy smile appeared on his handsome face while he walked towards the God of Thunder.

"Oh well… " he said while stretching his arm as far as he could so he could put it around Thor's shoulders. "Women, my friend… They can be so difficult!"

In other circumstances Sif would have thrown something at Fanrdal's head, but now she just waited for Thor's reaction.

The God of Thunder blinked and seemed to wake up from a trance. He looked at Fandral, who threw a new, even bigger smile his way, but quickly realised that Thor didn't appreciate his 'help'.

"Just leave!" Thor said in a low voice. Fandral's smile disappeared and he quickly lowered his arm and took a step back. He glanced at Sif for help. The female warrior bit her lip and cautiously took a step closer to Thor, waiting for him to turn around and face her, but he didn't.

"Thor…" she started in a silent voice. For the first time since she'd been freed, she somewhat sounded like her old self. "I… I don't know what to say…"

Thor stepped towards the door leading to the balcony. "Then don't say anything! You've said enough already!"

A short silence filled the air.

"I'm sorry…" Lady Sif eventually said, but Thor didn't seem to appreciate it. He turned around. His eyes were dark and full of pure sadness.

"No, you're not! You're jealous and full of hatred! Just go and leave us alone! Both of you!"

Fandral bowed his head and made his way to the door. Thor turned around again and walked on the balcony, completely ignoring his friends. Sif seemed to hesitate, but followed Fandral out of the room. She closed the door behind her.

Frigga looked around the room. Her heart was beating in her throat, tears were forcing their way out of her eyes and still no one seemed to notice her! The little girl desperately tried to control the unexplainable fear that was building up inside her, until her eye fell on the door of her room which was no longer closed. Without thinking she sprinted towards it and pushed it further open. On her bed, she saw Loki sitting with his hands put together under his chin. He seemed to be lost in thoughts, but when he saw the scared, watery blue eyes of his niece peeping through the door, he snapped out of it. Frigga stood at the door, which was slowly closing behind her again because of the wind coming from the open balcony door. She was shivering and was no longer able to keep her tears from flowing. With a heartbreaking cry, she ran towards Loki and jumped on his lap, throwing her arms around him in search for a comforting hand. She started crying unstoppably against his chest, draining his clothes while she did. Loki was surprised by her sudden action of affection, but softly put his arms around the little girl and waited until she was ready to speak.

It took Frigga exactly ten minutes before she was able to stop herself from hyperventilating and crying.

Loki waited, but his niece didn't seem to be very eager to speak. She just silently sobbed against his shirt and made herself comfortable on his lap. Her eyes grew more heavy every minute. After a while Loki took a light blue blanket which showed a blond, winged fairy with a short green dress and fitting green shoes with a white ball on the tips. The young king put the blanket around his niece and watched her crawl even closer to him. Frigga closed her eyes and her breathing slowed down in between the silent sobs. Loki looked down at the girl and smiled. It occurred to him that this was something he would never have done only a couple of weeks ago. But right now, he didn't really care. Softly and carefully he touched Frigga's slightly messed up golden hair. His niece's breathing slowed down until it reached its minimum. Her sobbing came to an end and she peacefully slept in Loki's arms.

The young king waited until he was a hundred percent sure Frigga was fast asleep before lying down again. He was still so freakishly tired himself. Even Frigga's magical outburst seemed less important now. He just wanted to sleep. Loki closed his eyes and felt how Frigga crawled closer to his chest while muttering something in her sleep. Her fingers curled up in the fabric of his shirt while a slight shiver ran down her thin body. The young king recognised it as sign of a nightmare and opened his eyes again. He cautiously turned on his side and put his left arm over Frigga's body. Bit by bit she stopped shivering. He grip on his clothes softened and her breathing slowed down again. A blissful smile formed on her lips while she drifted away in a deep sleep.

Loki yawned and smiled while his eyes slowly closed. Before he could even worry about what Thor would think if he would enter, Loki fell asleep.

-xxx-

When Thor woke up on the couch the next morning, the sun was already high up in the sky. He'd overslept. While moaning and groaning from spending the night on the couch with nothing more than a scruffy, way too short blanket, he didn't really sleep that good. He'd figured that Jane didn't want to talk to him, let alone see him, so he'd decided to leave her alone for the night.

The God of Thunder stretched his arms above his head and yawned. He looked at the door of his bed room. It was open. One quick, yet cautious look inside the room told him that Jane had already left.

The next room he checked was Frigga's. The night before, Thor had decided to check on his daughter before going to sleep. After all he'd completely ignored her after Jane had slammed the door in his face, about which he felt really guilty, especially after what had happened to and with her that same day. She must have been terrified or maybe not, if Loki had told her how to use magic in that way.

But when Thor had opened the door, leading to his daughters room, he'd realised that his brother was still there too. When he'd spotted Frigga, sleeping in Loki's arms, more peacefully than ever, he'd felt a weird combination of emotions rushing through his body. In a way he was very cross with Loki for teaching his daughter magic, but when he came to think of it, Thor couldn't think of one moment that he not had been alongside Loki. And if he wasn't with his brother, he had been with Frigga or he'd known where she was. There was no way Loki could have been able to teach her anything. So all Thor could do was smile and close the door again. Those were problem for later.

Thor opened the door of Frigga's room once more, but both his daughter and his brother were gone. Thor frowned and scratched his messy blond hair. Where was everybody?

Fifteen minutes later, Thor left his chambers. Fully dressed and right awake. He walked down the hall, smiling vaguely at the people bowing while passing by. First he checked the throne room, but there was no one there. Wondering where he should look next, Thor let his feet lead him towards the gardens. The bright sun blinded him for a moment, but when he'd adjusted to the light he slowly he strolled down the path which was waving through the gardens like a swift brushstroke on a painting. He suddenly spotted Jane and Frigga at a shining pond a little but further. They were throwing small pieces of bread into the water, feeding the tiny, fluffy duck-alike birds. They were standing with their backs towards him, but Thor could still hear Frigga's excited laughter. A small smile appeared in the God of Thunder's face. At least she was fine…

Thor was distracted when his eye suddenly fell on a third person standing in the shadow of an enormous tree. Because of the constant moving of the leaves and their shadows in the breeze, it was almost impossible to spot him, but Thor was trained to notice spies.

Thor slowly made his way towards the tree until he recognized his brother. Loki was leaning against the trunk of the tree, his eyes fixed on Jane and Frigga.

"Had a good night sleep?" Thor asked. Loki looked up in surprise. He had been lost in thought and hadn't heard Thor getting near. A short smile appeared on his face.

"Sure…"

Thor watched his brother for a couple of seconds, waiting for him to start talking about Frigga, but Loki easily ignored his stares and focused back on the two standing at the pond.

Thor crossed his arms and sighed while also fixing his gaze on his wife and daughter. He waited a couple more seconds before continuing.

"You heard us, didn't you?"

Loki looked up. A questioning frown appeared on his face. Thor laughed.

"Don't pretend! I saw you last night… You and Frigga… I take it that you woke up and followed our conversation."

Loki looked away and scowled. Thor had seen him… great…

The young king didn't immediately respond.
"I wouldn't call it a conversation, but I suppose that depends on your point of view of course…" he eventually said with a grin. Thor rolled his eyes, trying to hide his guilt.

"And to be completely honest," Loki continued a lot more serious, "It wasn't your pathetic relationship problem that woke me up…"

Thor swallowed. He knew what Loki was talking about.

In a flash he saw the silver, magical light burst through the room again. In fact, Thor had been as scared as Frigga was. Magic that powerful was dangerous. Frigga's words echoed through his mind. She'd pleaded for him to forgive Loki… Well, he still didn't feel like doing that, but he could start with not blaming him… He could only ask...

"Did you teach her that?" the God of Thunder finally asked. "Because I remember asking you not to teach her any magic…"

"No…" the young king answered. Thor was surprised to hear the concern behind his brother's words. "No, I didn't…"

"Then how do you explain what happened?" Thor asked.

Loki looked at his brother, thinking over what he was going to say.

"I don't know…" he eventually declared. "I honestly have no idea…"

Thor frowned. Loki looked away again and fixed his attention on the little girl once more.

"What Frigga did was almost… natural… elementary… I've never seen or heard about anything like this before…" the young king continued.

Both brothers watched Frigga in silence.

"Did she ask you about it?" Thor asked after a couple of minutes.

Loki nodded.

"What did you tell her?"

The young king smiled, but his smile almost seemed sad. "I told her I did it…"

Thor nodded. He could live with that…
"And do you think she believed you?"

Loki laughed and turned back to his brother with his eyebrows halfway his forehead.

"Of course not…"

-xxx-

Jane watched her daughter laugh and throw bread crumbs into the water. She seemed so happy and fine… But Jane knew it was only an act. Even though Frigga was trying to hide her fear/excitement, the worried mother knew her daughter was in fact constantly thinking about what had happened the night before. Actually, Jane hated mornings like these. Mornings after a fight. Days where everyone pretended nothing had happened. Very soon, she knew she would have to talk to Frigga and Thor, but for the first time in her life, Jane was afraid of what would happen then. More than ever she wanted to return to Earth and leave Asgard, its problem and its magic behind, but she knew she couldn't. Not because Thor wouldn't let her or because of the fear to run into SHIELD once they were back, but the fact that Frigga was happy here. Even though Jane didn't want to admit it, Frigga belonged more on Asgard than she did anywhere else. And if all the dangers and the magic were the price to live out the rest of her life here, Jane was sure Frigga would do it without question.

-xxx-

Thor and Loki had left their spot at the tree and were walking side by side down the path, back to the palace. Both men hadn't said a word, even though the questions were burning on their tongues. Loki was the first one to give in.

"So… Jane wants to be immortal then…"

Thor looked up, surprised that Loki had actually followed the discussion they'd had. Automatically, a feeling of panic filled his mind.

"Those are our problems! Jane's and mine! It's none of your business!" he shouted before he could stop himself. Loki pulled up his eyebrows and took a step to the side as if he was offended by Thor's quick and rude response.

The God of Thunder sighed and stopped in his tracks. Loki did the same. The two brother's looked at each other for a moment, both knowing what was really going through Thor's mind.

"Is it possible?" he finally asked.

Loki softly smiled and started walking down the path again. Thor followed and waited patiently for Loki to answer.

"I don't know…" the young king eventually said without looking at his brother. The hope, shimmering in Thor's eyes vanished, but it seemed Loki wasn't finished yet.

"But I do know that there's a lot I still don't know…"

Thor looked up and his pace increased until he was walking in front of his brother. He turned around and stopped Loki in the middle of the path. A deep frown appeared on his forehead.

"You mean… it could be possible…"

Loki sighed. He was pulled in so many direction at the same time that he didn't know where to turn. A part of him was curious about the idea of designed immortality, but another part told him it was just not possible.

"I'm only telling you what I know!" he answered. "Maybe there is a reason that people are not immortal like us! Maybe they just wouldn't be able to take it! And there is a big possibility that – even if this would be possible – there will be a lot of dark energy involved. Even I know little about that. You remember how mother always warned us about it! Odin was the only one who could wield it!"

Thor slowly nodded. He could see his brother wasn't speaking from his heart, but from what his mind told him to say. He recognised that inquisitive spark in Loki's light grey eyes. He was quite sure Loki would look it up sooner or later… maybe it would have been better to keep this quiet… What if Loki would temper with dark magic…

A fake, but comforting smile appeared on Thor's face. He hit his brother shoulder and laughed.

"Of course…" he said while shaking his head and taking a step back. "You're right… I don't think Jane would want to be immortal anyway. She's to much human for that… It was stupid of me to ask… Forget about it…"

Thor turned around and started walking. Loki was completely overthrown by his sudden change of mind, but sighed. Did Thor really think him that stupid! He wasn't a child anymore…

Loki quickly followed. There was still something else he had to say, but Thor seemed to think it was better to change the subject to something he wanted to talk about.

"So… did you already finish the meeting from yesterday?" he asked when his brother had caught up with him. Loki obviously seemed irritated by the question, since it appeared to be totally unimportant next to what he had to say, but he decided to answer anyway.

"Yes… Well, kind off… I met with the Lords this morning. I think I might have a plan…"

Thor nodded. "And what might that be?" he asked.

"I'm still thinking things over… the Lords didn't fully agree…"

Thor watched Loki with a frown. This couldn't be good….

The young king smiled and continued. "Lord Argus was right. If we don't act know, we won't have a realm to save anymore. Vanaheim is starving, Asgard will follow. I propose to leave now!"

Thor raised his eyebrows. He didn't really want to question Loki's decisions, but this was just.. well…stupid!

"Not to be blunt, but have you seen the new recruits. They – and don't tell Sif I said this – they fight like girls! Maybe one or two show any kind of talent, let alone respect. If we put them against the rebels, we send them to their deaths!"

Loki smirked. "Who said something about the recruits?" he asked nonchalantly. Thor couldn't follow anymore, until it struck him. The God if Thunder hesitated to give in to his own thinking. It just seemed impossible! He shared a look with his brother, but Loki only smiled back, obviously full of enthusiasm.

"You're not planning to send us in, are you? We don't even know how big this army is! Heimdall told us he can't see them!"

Loki sighed. "Yes yes… I've heard all that!"

Thor couldn't believe his brother's ignorance.

"Loki, our whole army has disappeared there! All of our warriors! Doesn't that mean anything to you!"

Loki stopped and turned to Thor, a serious expression covering his face. "I realise that! You are right! It could be an enormous army! But it also could be nothing. Maybe our warriors walked into a trap! Maybe they're still there! Or maybe there was a big army, but has it been thinned by our forces! Heimdall can't see them, so how big could they be or have been! I believe there is a bigger chance our army was imprisoned!"

"You don't know that, Loki!" Thor hissed back. "You managed to keep yourself hidden for Heimdall once. Who says they don't have sorcerers too!"

Loki rolled his eyes. "To hide a whole army? Really? To do that you would need or an impossibly strong sorcerer or a hundred. I think I would sense that amount of magic from every corner of the universe and if I didn't, Heimdall certainly would!"

"That still doesn't mean you can send five warriors to their doom! I'm not saying that we're not up for it, but this is just madness! We don't know what we're up against!"

"Six…" Loki interrupted. Thor frowned.

"Six…" the young king repeated with a meaningful look. "Arya is coming too. You, Lady Sif and the Warriors Three and Arya. Somebody has to fill my place…"

Thor watched his brother in disbelief. "Arya?" he asked. "Sif's going to love that…"

Loki smiled. "I realised…" he said with a grin. "That's why you get to tell Sif the good news…."

Loki tapped his brother on the shoulder and grinned. Thor sighed and closed his eyes for a second.

"No…" he said after a while. "No! I'm not doing this, neither of us is! It's simply too dangerous!"

Loki smirked. "Oh, come on, brother! Where is that sense of adventure! You never gave a second thought about excursions like this…The Thor I knew was an arrogant fool who would have jumped into a beasts mouth just to see what his last meal looked like!"

Thor laughed shortly, but there was nothing funny about his smile. "The Thor you kne has changed!" he hissed back, but Loki didn't seem taken aback.

A small grin covered his lips. "It appears so…" he said. "Yet, unfortunately, I am the king now and you have to listen to me! You leave tomorrow morning, at first light!"

Thor tried to say something back, but he knew Loki had made up his mind. Besides, he was right. Loki was king and he had to obey him. Of course that didn't mean that he couldn't lead his friends into battle his own way…

Thor bowed his head. Loki nodded and turned to leave, until he remembered something else.

"Thor, one more thing, I would like you and Jane to see me tonight after Frigga has gone to sleep! And that was an order too!"

Thor sighed and smirked. "Yes… my king…" he said sarcastically. Loki smiled shortly and raised his eyebrows as in saying: "Sucks… doesn't it?"

He turned around and left Thor on his own on the path. The God of Thunder had to try hard not to run after Loki and give him a good beating.

Thor turned around too, to walk back to the palace. He wasn't looking forward to tell Sif about Loki's latest plans…

Thor sighed. He'd most forgotten how annoying his little brother could be…

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