A/N: Thanks to Sentiment for the Lost Creatures and JaquelineLittle for pointing out to me the cuffs mistake. I will edit that part of the story ASAP.
Big thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. You guys are awesome. Now, let's get to the story. Also, sorry for the grammar mistakes. Story's unbeta'd and I'm not a native English so, yeah.
Disclaimer: Yes, Marvel, I know that I don't own them. Even if I'd like to owe Tony and Loki.
Light. It was the first thing that appeared in front of the billionaire's eyes. A bright, white light that forced his eyes to a close. He could hear the voices of his companions somewhere, far away. What was going on? Oh, yes, that was when he remembered. He was space traveling with the team to Asgard and probably the light was coming from the Tesseract but shouldn't the Tesseract light be blue?
The feel of something solid under his feet snapped him out of his thoughts. Solid, that meant that they finally got to Asgard. Or that the teleportation didn't work and they fell back to Earth and in the Central Park. Maybe that would be a more reasonable explanation because anyway he never believed in space traveling with the help of a cube. A powerful one, that was true but still a cube.
He drew in a short breath as if he was testing the air and he suddenly found the air heavier than he remembered. At least I'm not in Central Park, he thought as a strange, unknown smell filled his nostrils. What is that smell, he silently wondered and wrinkled his nose. It seemed that the air smelled as a strange vanilla perfume mixed with grapes and...Baking smell. That meant he was smelling food.
He forced his eyes open and apparently he was the first one to do that. Well, not the first because Thor and Loki both had their eyes open and he silently wondered if the two Gods ever closed them. Maybe not, given the fact that they probably weren't disturbed by the bright light that came with the space traveling.
He slowly rose his eyes from a red fabric that was apparently Thor's cape. Since when had he been staring at that weirdo's cape? He mentally shook his head as he let his eyes wander and take in the surroundings.
The first thing he saw was a castle if you could call it that way. It was way bigger than the Stark Tower and he silently admired how they could've created such a building without the help of technology. They're Gods, Stark, a tiny voice echoed in his mind and a small grin formed on his lips.
"I'll be damned..." He mumbled and moinstened his lips a little. He was never attracted by such buildings before, because even if it was bigger than the Stark Tower, it was an old fashioned building. It was the fairytale kind of castle in which you expect a princess and a prince to live happily. Only that he knew better than that.
Soon enough, the rest of the team members eyes opened and Tony could see the surprise on their usually stern features. Natasha mumbled something that he couldn't understand, probably it was something in Russian. Steve's eyes were wider than usual and that was the first time Tony noticed how blue they were. Probably they had the same shade as his Captain America suit. That only added to Tony's amusement.
"This is..." Bruce began but he couldn't find enough words to describe what was in front of him. It was then when he noticed that he had a strange feeling on ease inside him. For the first time in years he couldn't feel the Hulk inside him anymore and he couldn't tell if he should cry or laugh about that. It felt so good to be suddenly at ease and to don't worry about killing the people around you any longer.
Tony moved his eyes away from Bruce only to rest them on Clint's face. The archer had his lips parted almost as if he was ready to say something but he couldn't as his eyes remained fixed in awe on the castle in front of him. That only made Tony feel a sudden urge to make a sarcastic comment. And he did.
"Close your mouth, Legolas, before you catch flies." Tony said dryly and was greeted by a mean glare from the archer.
"Thor," a warm, calm voice came out from no where. Seven pair of eyes wandered in the direction of the voice source only to be greeted by the face of a woman.
Greyish strands of hair were pecking out from the waves of gold hair that was pinned up in an elegant and old fashioned bun with only two thick, curly strands hanging at either side of the woman face. Her features were just as welcoming and calm as her voice and it seemed that the age never got to touch her face. The ankle length gold dress was falling at perfection over the woman body.
"Mother," Thor beamed and bowed his head in front of her in a respectful manner but it seemed that the woman wasn't happy with only that. She took a graceful step closer to her eldest son and moved her arms around his frame, pulling him in a heartly hug.
It was a matter of second before she pulled back and touched his cheek with a hand while the other ran down his skull and down the waves of gold hair. Now it was rather obivious from where Thor got that hair color from. "Welcome home," she whispered with a gentle smile.
The rest of the team watched as the woman's blue eyes watered visibly and only then they noticed where she was staring. She was staring at the cuffed man, the one that she grew as her own son. The one that she loved and protected when he was just a baby. The one that she treated with the same attention as she did with Thor. She was staring at Loki.
"Loki," her voice was broken and a single tear made its way down her cheek. She didn't hesitate in pulling her younger son into a bone breaking embrance. Her hands were gripping his esmerald cape and she whispered something in old Norse, something that none of the Avengers aside from Thor understood. "Welcome home, son." her smile was sincere once again as she released Loki from her embrance and turned to face the rest of the Avengers.
"Welcome to Asgard," it was the first time when she adressed to the rest of the team. And it was the first time when the Avengers noticed that her voice was just as warm as it was when she spoke with her children, because no matter how old they were, they were still her children.
"I'm Lady Frigga, wife of Odin," she paused enough to give the Avengers a warm smile. "I hope that you all had a wonderful journey here."
The team nodded dumbly, none of them finding something to say. It was then when Tony felt Clint move closer behind him and he rolled his eyes silently. He took a moment before he moved his head to side enough to can give the archer a 'what-do-you-want' glance with the corner of his eyes.
"Is she really a queen?" the hushed whisper of the archer registred into the genius brain and he had to raise one of his eyebrows at the dumb question.
"It seems that way, Legolas," the billionaire shrugged and held his amusement to self even if the glimmer in his eyes gave away his thoughts.
"I shall show you your chambers," the elder woman paused then turned her head to Thor. "Allfather was looking forward seeing you and your brother as soon you returned. I believe that you shouldn't let him wait."
Thor nodded shortly. He knew what his mother meant and he had the slight idea why the Allfather wanted to see him and Loki in private. That couldn't be anything good. The blonde God grabbed his brother's cuffs chain in one of his hands as he began to walk down the pond and toward the castle.
And there it was again. Tony didn't even notice how the team moved away from him and next to Frigga as he found Loki's eyes for the second time since they met again. The look of fear dissapeared from them and that made Tony feel at ease a little but something strange was still going on inside the God's mind. He could have sworn that he saw the apology in Loki's eyes before he finally turned his head to face the castle that was in front of him.
Frigga noticed the disturbed look on the billionaire's face and a soft frown formed on her forehead. Holding up her dress sides into her fists, she took a few steps closer to the now alone man. One of her hands moved itself from her dress, letting the soft material fall to the ground, as she used it to cover the obivously younger man shoulder.
"I've seen the look on your face, something is bothering you. Perhaps I could help you?" her voice made Tony snap out from his line of thoughts and his warm chocolate eyes met the woman's concerned blue ones. Now that look remainded him of Pepper
"No, I'm fine." he waved a hand in front of his eyes absently as he forced a smile on his lips.
"You don't know what made him do that. That haunts you and you won't stop that thoughts from haunting your mind until you won't find the answers to your questions. Perhaps you should speak to him. Perhaps you could help him until it's not too late. There are still three days left until the trial begins." her voice was a warm whisper as she said that. It seemed that she was careful enough to don't let the others hear a single word from what she said.
"Now, shall I show you the chambers?" she turned around to face the others with one of her warm smiles. Only that this time Tony knew that the glad look on her face was only a mask that she wore in the public. He could hear the pain in her previous words. And he could also hear the silent scream of help that was behind them.
He tried to move from his initial position and found that his feet were still functionable. Thank God about it, becaus he thought that he'd never be capable to move from that spot again. He let his legs carry him long behind the crowd as the woman's words played in his mind over and over again. Perhaps you could help him.
I don't know if I wrote Frigga in character. I hope I did becuse she's one of my favorites characters from Thor.
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