AN: Ohh, damn, did I miss an update? Ooops. Well, here's last weeks. Sorry for the delay. It just slipped my mind I guess. *Awkward face*
Chapter twenty-four
I had to run to keep up with Tritan as he hurried through the stone tunnel after stone tunnel. I could barely see but somehow I managed not to lose him. I wanted to stop and look at the stone, but Tritan didn't seem like he was ever going to stop. He didn't pause as he leapt over fallen stalagmites. I had to scramble behind him, not nearly as agile. Not to mention I kept slipping and sliding, the stone was slick with melted ice, moss and algae. The temperature was still uncomfortably humid.
Tritan jumped up a small ledge of stone that was about nine foot high. I had to stop and reach on my toes to get my fingers onto the top of the ledge. I hauled myself up, one leg after the other. I put my head up, only seeing that I had to crawl through a tiny crack in the rock. It was obvious that Tritan had gone through it, and he was much bigger than me, so I could fit in there easily. But I hesitated. I didn't like crawling through small places.
Crawling in my belly I squeezed myself through the rock. I kept my eyes closed until I was completely free of the crack. When I opened them, I was blinded by light.
I had to blink and squint for an awful long time before the glow finally faded and I could see just what I was faced with next. I stood up on to me feet slowly and turned my gaze to my surroundings around me. What I saw made my jaw drop to the floor.
It wasn't the greenery that grew everywhere. There was moss under my feet, creepers and vines sneaking along the stone wall and fern that towered over my head. There was never greenery on Jotunheim. It had always been too cold. However, it wasn't the greenery that had my jaw dropping, or the great, towering ice dome that spread across the sky, light filtering through the clear ice, or the fact that more Ice Beasts were here, flying around, comfortable in their home. It wasn't that.
In the middle of the giant, open space before me, sitting right in the middle of it, was the biggest Ice Beast I'd ever seen. It was the largest, Ice Beast two big mammoth-like tusks that stretched nearly seventy feet in front of its face. The front side of its body was covered with burr-like spikes, along with two lines of spikes along the eyelids, giving an impression of eyebrows. Huge long, leathery spines that started from the back of their head form a frill, carried on down the length of its back and along its tail. Overall it was an ice white and the spines were tipped with black. The wings, however, were little more than fins, which looked more like they were to aid in swimming then flying.
The Ice Beast simply sat in the pool of water that filled the bottom of the cavern. The Ice Beast had no qualm about the other Ice Beasts gliding over it. I could tell, even now, that he was a gentle soul.
"Amazing..." I murmured, unable to take my eyes off it, the sheer size...
"He is, isn't he?" Tritan agreed. "We call his species Ice Spitters." Tritan gestured around the nest, up to the great ice ceiling. "He was the one who built this."
I blinked. "Ice Spitter... Stone tunnels... What?" I asked stupidly. It was a bit too much to take in at once.
Tritan laughed at me. "There was a mountain here long ago. It was once that spite fire, but it's been quiet for centuries. The Ice Beasts moved here for the warmth and shelter. They all live under his command." He explained. "Ice Spitters, as their name suggests, the breath ice instead of ice." He added.
I stood, staring at the great Ice Spitter. He was the king of all Ice Beasts. The one true alpha. Realisation hit me like a brick in the face.
I sagged. "What am I doing Tritan?" I asked him.
He chuckled. "I assume you aren't talking about all this." He asked.
I shook my head. "No, it's not just that... I'm an Earth girl, and yes, I'm the future heir of Jotunheim. I have no idea how anything works here. I have no idea about the rules, and yet I'm expected to rule." I said. "I don't live as long as you, but I have a feeling like I live longer than Midgardians. Where do I fit in?"
Tritan smiled kindly at me. He took a breath before he answered me. "I believe, we are the keepers of our own fate. Maybe you'll find your true path later in life."
I huffed, "Well isn't that poetic." I muttered.
"Think about it, Ink. You don't have to do anything you don't want to." He said.
"Thank you," I said, sincerely.
At this point the Ice Spitter shifted. He opened his eyes. Instead of them being a burning red, like all of the Ice Beasts and Jotuns on this frozen planet. They were just a calm blue.
He lifted his head, moving all of his body, to turn to look at us. His eyes came to rest on me, even when the Ice Beasts that surrounded us on the cliff dropped into a bow, even when Tritan joined them. I couldn't do anything except look into those ageless eyes and feel the universe move around me.
I was jolted out of the memory. Like an electric shock, it surged through me. Oh no, something was horribly, terribly, horrifically wrong. I couldn't process it all at once. Magic, ageless, depthless, swirling. But it was being drained away. Drained away to fuel, to power something I had no control over.
Pain, agony, it writhed my body in tendrils. Cuts, stitches, samples. All of it taken, leaving me weak and in the most terrible pain I could imagine. It wanted it to stop it had to stop. Monsters, monsters.
Make it stop. Make it stop.
And yet still my magic was being funnelled away, wanting to build, to create. To create an army of Ice Beasts.
Then nothing.
The screen beeped, sending a red flash surging across the map it showed. A faint shimmer of magic pulsed through the air before it disappeared. Each and every person that was currently sitting in the little log cabin at the end of the woods stopped, and waited.
"What the hell was that?" Deadpool asked. As always he was the first one to say something.
"Magic." Thor said, instantly. "It was magic."
"I have a location, the energy signature..." Tony started, then swore. "It's Ink's but I've never seen her create such a big surge before."
"Ink? Is it her?" Natasha asked. "Do you have the location?"
"Yes, but Ink's never done-" Tony started again, but Deadpool cut him off.
"If you have a location then let's get out there and find her. I've had enough of waiting and this is the first sign we've had of her in days, so give us the location and we can finally get her back." He said, leaving no room for argument. Could this be it? After days, was he finally going to take Ink back?
"Look, this surge was bigger than anything I've seen before and now it's suddenly gone? Doesn't this feel wrong somehow?" Tony argued. Before Deadpool could reply, Steve jumped in.
"Tony, we have all of the possible plans we could make, I agree with Wade. We at least should find the place, this is the only chance we might ever get." He said.
"We have to check it out." Natasha said.
"I agree." Deadpool said.
"So do I." Wolverine joined in.
"Natasha," Clint started, but Natasha cut him off.
"This is my daughter, Clint. I can't let myself believe for once second that Ink is dead. I just can't. So, please, are we going to check this out or not?" Natasha asked.
Tony still didn't look convinced, but he had the eye of every Avenger on him, plus the unrelenting stares of Wolverine and Deadpool.
"Fine." He gave the coordinates.
"Is this really happening?" Italics asked. Deadpool grinned under his mask.
"Are we rescuing Ink?" Bold asked.
"Yes." Deadpool said aloud, ignoring the looks and the stares. "Yes we are."
"That nest, it was amazing." I said in awe. We had just landed in the courtyard of the Jotun palace. It paled in comparison to what I had just seen in the past few hours. The sun was just starting to peak over the horizon, signalling that it was almost morning and people would miss us if we weren't back inside soon. Days started early in Jotunheim.
"I'm glad you liked it." Tritan smiled. "I think that you would agree that you would want to be in high spirits today."
"What's happening today?" I asked absentmindedly, I was still in the Ice Beast's nest.
Tritan gave me a disapproving smirk from atop his Sky Chaser.
"Oh!" I slapped my forehead in remembrance. "The Asgardians are coming today!"
"Yes, usually their visits raise tension between our two races. We're very lucky Farbuati agreed to a truce before another war broke out." Tritan told me. I nodded. I had heard the story before. Thor had come to Jotunheim a couple years ago smarting for a fight. He got one, but he almost caused a war because of it. When Laufey had been killed by Loki's hand and Farbuati had arisen to the throne, she had announced peace between us.
The Asgardians decided that they needed regular meetings in order to keep the treaty up to date and keep peace. Really all they wanted was to know what the Jotuns were planning and how it would affect Asgard.
Apparently Odin sent some stuffed shirt, self righteous noble or general, plus about a dozen or so guards. I wondered who it would be this time. Of course I would have to meet with them, being the future heir and all that.
"Who do you think they're going to send this year?" I asked. I had dismounted Bonecrusher, with Tritan doing the same with Windcutter, and started to head inside.
"I have no care for politics." Tritan said. I had assumed as much. Tritan kept pace beside me. "But I have heard some rumours that Lady Sif and the Warriors Three might come."
I chocked. "What?" I coughed. It was always awkward around Thor's friends. Of course they hated Loki, and so greatly distrusted me, but they knew Thor liked me so tried to be nice to me. It was the most tortuous thing I had to endure.
Tritan laughed at me. I nudged him. "You much prefer gallivanting off in a cave of Ice Beasts?" I asked jokingly.
"It's nothing to what I've heard of your antics on Midgard." Tritan replied and shoved me. I staggered. I mock glared at him, and adjusted my armour and got ready to fight back.
We rounded a corner just as I was about to give him a punch to the solider, but I only just managed to stop myself as we almost collided with those coming around the corner.
They were Asgardians alright.
I stopped myself from toppling into them, an apology already on my lips. I met the gaze of the Asgardian I was about to apologise to, but it was already lost.
I was Lady Sif and the Warriors Three.
Their gazes were cold, and unrelenting. I stood back, nearer to Tritan, who had already frozen at the sight of them. They were being guided by Farbuati herself, who didn't look at all happy, but she met my eyes. There was already a mischievous light already playing in her red eyes.
"Ahh, Ink. I was looking for you." She said her voice even and monotone, but I knew that she was already up to something. Playing with the Asgardians was always fun, this time it was the fact that we were all actually quite close, seeing as the Asgardians viewed us as cold, distant and brutal to everyone.
"You were?" I asked, pleasantly surprised, also playing along with the joke. I knew it was working as the Warriors Three and Sif were already sharing looks and raising eye brows. "I'm afraid I've just woken up, I was heading to breakfast with Tritan."
Tritan bowed his head to his queen, also in on the joke. "I'm sorry for taking up her time."
"Oh, please, it's my fault, I overslept." I said.
"Next time, get up earlier or I'll have to drag you out of bed myself." Farbuati said. "I can't allow Ink to miss greeting our guests." She had already begun to smile. The four Asgardians were not welcome here, and everyone would hate it, but why not have a little fun during? "This is the Lady Sif and the Warriors Three, Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg.
"We've met." Lady Sif said tersely. The Asgardians eyed their surroundings distrustfully. They never rested their eyes on one spot for more than a moment. They were always watching for possible attacks.
I rolled my eyes.
"We have, and, as I recall, you told me that it was only a matter of time before I ended up in one of your cells." I said, humorously. It was true, although they said it in that "ye olde" way of the Asgardians and with much more threat and much more quiet. I winked at them at flashed them a smile, which I had been told resembled my father's.
The Asgardians shifted uncomfortably. All four of them subtlety reached for their weapons. The two Frost Giants around me froze and the temperature dropped a few degrees. No one dared to breathe too heavily.
Farbuati burst out laughing.
The Asgardians jumped about a foot in the air. Tritan and I joined in.
"Ah, good," Farbuati chuckled, already returning to her queen like stature already. "I needed that." She gave me a wink. "Be in the Great Hall tonight, but apart from that, do whatever you want to." She said and she walked off, beckoning the Asgardians to come with her. They didn't take their hands off their weapons, but followed the giantess.
I chuckled a bit more as Tritan and I walked away together. "It got a bit cold back there, huh?" I asked Tritan.
"Indeed it did. I though an outright war would break out there and then." He said. I noticed that the Jotuns had that "ye olde" way of speaking too.
"Have you noticed how Farbuati is a bit..." I trailed off, trying to find a good word to describe my grand-mother without seeming traitorous.
"Crazy?" Tritan offered.
"Ok, for the record you said it, not me." I said quickly. Tritan laughed. "And yes, she is. Somehow I think it runs in the family."
"So you're saying you're crazy also?" Tritan asked.
"Of course." I said sending us both into fits of laughter.