Oy!

It's not much, but it'll have to do :) I hope you ENJOY it!

Chapter 34

Jane paced around the room. Every now and then she threw an anxious look at her daughter's bedroom door. Frigga could wake up every second now and Jane still hadn't figured out the best way to tell her that Thor had left for a potentially dangerous and deadly quest. Thor had chosen not to tell Frigga because of the same reason he didn't want to say goodbye to his wife. A reason to come back… And if he didn't make it back to Asgard alive, at least she would only have happy memories of him and not of a heart breaking goodbye…

The worried mother glared at the clock which was slowly ticking the seconds away. It was almost ten o'clock… Jane closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath. Everything will be fine… she thought. Thor will come back!

"Morning mummy…" a sudden tired voice sounded. Jane turned around a little to quickly, her daughter had startled her. With a dry mouth she watched Frigga, but the girl was still too sleepy to notice her mother's strange behaviour.

"What did Loki say?" she asked while jawing and stretching her arms above her head.

Jane forced herself to smile. She'd almost forgotten about Loki.

Great! she thought. Another thing I'll have to explain!

"Not much, really…" Jane lied. Frigga frowned but nodded.

"Where's dad…" she started, but her mother quickly interrupted.

"Why don't you dress, Frigga? Then we can have some breakfast. I'm starving!"

Frigga was surprised by her mother's reaction. Suddenly she felt right awake. Something was wrong and even though Frigga couldn't think of anything, she was sure it had to be bad.

The young girl swallowed, but nodded. Jane smiled back and quickly disappeared to her own room. She'd just realised she wasn't dressed herself. Telling her daughter she was starving while still wearing her pyjamas suddenly seemed even more unbelievable…

Frigga closed the door of her room and breathed out. Fear spread across her whole body. Within a second a hundred ideas of what could have gone wrong had sprang to her mind as always happened when she was scared. Was something wrong with Loki? Or were he parents still fighting? Where they scared of what she had done? Because Frigga remembered her mother being terrified when Loki had used his magic for the first times… Or maybe the situation in Vanaheim or Asgard was getting worse! Maybe they had to leave! And why did her mother interrupt when she wanted to ask about her father's whereabouts?

Ten minutes later, mother and daughter were ready to leave. Jane shut the door behind her and quickly led Frigga through the halls of Asgard. As usual guards and maidens that past by, bowed, greeting them with a smile, but neither Frigga nor Jane was aware of the attention.

Finally they reached the common room where breakfast was served for the highest ranks of the palace, but since Loki had ordered to ration the food they'd left, even their banquet wasn't any more filled then that of a lower rank Asgardian. The first thing Frigga noticed was the absence of Volstagg who always stayed until everybody else had had enough, to eat whatever was left. Fandral always accompanied his friend, but more to wink at every girl who entered. Frigga had grown used to shouting and fighting girls as entertainment in the morning. Yet, now even Asgard's biggest Casanova was missing from the table.

Frigga anxiously scanned the other seats, searching for Loki, even though she knew the young king was never here at this time of day. His busy schedule simply didn't allow that…

Jane saw her little girl searching for familiar faces. She swallowed and pretended not to notice. Without saying anything, Jane raced towards the big table displaying the little food Asgard had left. Frigga followed her lead and grabbed a plate of her own.

Jane picked two thin slices of bread, some cheese and an apple. Frigga quickly snatched the last pancake from the big plate in the middle of the table and followed her mother to two seats at the open window, looking over the rest of Asgard.

When both of them had sat down, Jane realised she really had to tell her daughter something. Frigga was sitting on the edge of her seat while the worst scenarios were racing through her mind, but what she was most scared of was the idea that her parents feared her powers…

"Frigga…" Jane started, still not entirely certain of how she was going to continue. The little girl looked up. She tried hard not show her fear for what would come.

"You probably already noticed that Lady Sif and the Warriors Three are not here today…"

Frigga gulped. So Sif and the others weren't on Asgard either? She nodded.

Jane continued while cutting the edges of her cheese, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"Well… Lady Sif, the Warriors Three, Arya and daddy left this morning, really early, to go to Vanaheim…"

Jane went quiet and waited for her daughters reaction, but Frigga almost seemed relieved. The worried mother immediately felt guilty. She should have known Frigga would notice! Who knew what she had been expecting to hear!

Jane cleared her throat. "Loki send them on a quest to find out what happened to the missing army, to see if they can be rescued, to try to stop the bandit attacks and hopefully put an end to the hunger…"

Frigga turned a little pale. Even though she was too young to fully understand the real danger of the mission, she didn't feel that comfortable hearing all this.

"They'll be fine!" Jane immediately added, although she knew she was lying. How could she know that…

Frigga nodded uneasily. She suddenly wasn't so hungry any more. The idea that none of her newly made friends were close just didn't feel right.

Jane bid her lip. She wanted to say something that would make Frigga smile again.

"You know what…" the Jane started, forcing herself not to seem terrified, "After breakfast we'll visit Loki!"

As expected Frigga's eyes lit up and a new smile appeared. She suddenly seemed very interested in finding a way to eat her pancake as fast as possible…

-xxx-

Jane cautiously walked in the throne room. Now that Thor and the others were gone, she didn't expect any meeting, but you never knew with those four royal whiners…

Loki was standing at the enormous table which was filled with maps, books, dots … He was accompanied by the four royal advisers: Lord Argus and his younger brother Lord Atlas, Lord Gunnar and Lord Steldor with his golden hand.

When Loki heard footsteps getting closer, he turned around to face Jane with Frigga in her wake. Strangely enough his expression didn't change. Loki turned back to the table, blinked as if he had to think about what he was going to say and nodded.

"My Lords, if you would excuse me for a moment…"

The four advisers looked up and nodded.

Loki turned around, but again it seemed as if he had to think about every move…

Jane walked in with a smile. Frigga followed.

"I hope we're not disturbing anything…" the mother started, waiting for Loki to smile now that Frigga was here, but the smile never came. The young king just kept the same casual expression on his face. Frigga noticed it too and looked up at her mother, a questioning look covering her beautiful face. Maybe Loki was worried too… The little girl decided not to hug her uncle right away, he didn't really seemed in the mood.

"Not at all…" Loki said shortly in a monotone voice. "In fact, I wanted to talk to you!"

Jane smiled uneasily. Had something happened already? The worried mother felt as if a heavy stone had dropped in her stomach. If something had gone wrong, Loki wouldn't tell her while Frigga was around… right? Jane glared at the four men standing at the table. They didn't seem too worried… Yet, maybe they'd grown used to carrying bad news!

Damn you, Jane! she thought. Don't be so pessimistic!

Jane swallowed and waited for Loki to start walking around the throne room again. Normally the young king couldn't sit still, but now he just stood on the same spot, barely moving.

"What I am going to say, might be a little uncomfortable…" Loki started.

Jane frowned. What was going on? She took a better look at Loki. A weird feeling took hold of her. There was something not right, but she couldn't quiet put her finger on it.

"But you have to understand that I simply can't hold this any longer…" Loki continued. Jane wasn't following. Her eyes searched Loki's body and his surroundings. Was she imagining it, or was Loki barely breathing? And was he blinking in the right way?

"You probably will call me a brat… you will hate me and think me irresponsible…"

Was she just imagining it, or was Loki really surrounded with a weird kind of greenish force field?

"Which I am, to be honest!" the young king concluded.

Now the four advisers started frowning as well. They didn't understand what was going on either.

"But I am simply so bored!" Loki continued in the same monotone voice.

Pieces were starting to find their place in Jane's head. A mixture of panic and fear filled her body. Frigga, who was standing next to her was starting to notice something was wrong as well. Better than anybody else, she could feel the strong aura of magic in the room, but she didn't fully understand where it came from.

"L…Loki!" Jane stuttered, but the young king ignored her.

"Don't worry, Jane. With my help they'll be back in no time!"

"Loki!" Jane shouted. "You simply cannot do this!"

Loki went on, completely ignoring Jane. The young king's image started to flicker.

"I command you not to send any patrols to Vanaheim. You need all forces on Asgard!"

"Loki! You can't do this!" Jane repeated, sounding almost desperately. The dour advisers started to see the picture and joined Jane.

"My king, please return! We need you here! It is too dangerous" Lord Gunnar tried.

Loki didn't pay attention to the four men and fixed his attention back on Jane.

"I leave Asgard in your hands, Jane Foster!" Loki continued while his images started fading. "The Royal Advisers have to follow your every order and they will assist you in every decision!"

Jane looked at the young king in awe. A weird mixture of fear, anger, confusion, loneliness and disbelief made her shut up.

"Good luck! And remember that you are lucky! The weather is dreadful down here!"

With that said Loki managed to smile after all. He locked his eyes with Frigga's for one second, winked and without warning the illusion finally dissolved, leaving behind a perplexed Jane, her awe-struck daughter and four men who couldn't believe their eyes.

It stayed silent for a while.

"Mummy…" a sudden shaking voice broke the silence. Jane looked down on her daughter with a dry mouth. Her heart was racing at a hundred miles an hour.

Frigga swallowed. "Mummy…" she repeated with a sudden mixture of disbelief and excitement colouring her sparkling blue eyes.

"You're the Queen of Asgard!"

I hope you liked it!

Unfortunately, I'll have to disappoint you (and myself) :( Christmas exams are coming up, so I'll have to put my writing on hold :(

If anyone of you is suffering the same hell as I am, GOOD LUCK! WE'LL GET THROUGH!

And for those who do not... (Lucky bastards! :) ) You'll have lots of time to read (and review? hint! hint!) ;D

I won't forget you guys!

Let me know what you think!

Rumple x