AN: That awesome moment when you look at your fic and the number of your reviews has doubled... Thank you so much!
Here's your chap for you, welcome to Jotunheim!
XxX
Two hours later the two princes had all of their things packed – it was unlikely they would return to Asgard before travelling to the next world. With them was a selected group of warriors. Thor had wanted to bring his friends but Loki had sharply reminded them that it was better not to give any further reminders of the last time they had turned up in Jotunheim and besides, he could not stand to be around them. Instead now with them were eight Einherjar, one of which turned out to be a female healer.
"Maybe you should leave the talking to me this time", Thor offered when they were on their way to the Bifrost.
"On your last visit you tried to kill the king of the Jotun", Loki reminded him. "Do you think they'll hate me this much more just because I succeeded?"
"Well, no killing of foreign dignitaries this time, okay?"
"You're one to talk. Who's the bloodthirsty warrior of the two of us?"
"You also tried to destroy their entire realm", Thor pointed out helpfully.
"Well, these monsters deserved no better! Jotunheim has been a thorn in Asgards side for centuries, I merely meant to cut out the sickness at its root."
For a moment Thor was very silent. His next words were only a whisper that Loki almost missed.
"Please don't do that, brother. Please stop calling them monsters."
"Yeah?", he bit back angrily. "Why should I? You heard the stories just as many times as I did."
"You know why! Those stories could be exaggerated. And... And even if they're not, a race that could bring forth someone like you can't... Can't be inherently evil."
Loki gave a snort, hiding the fact that the words actually stung a chord with him. "Most people on Midgard would argue with you on that one."
"They don't know you. Not like I do", Thor replied sadly.
"You don't know me either, Thor. You're only seeing me through that pink curtain of yours."
They had reached the rainbow bridge that had only been repaired recently. Heimdall regarded them (or more specifically Loki) with a suspicious glare. Loki just barely suppressed a comment about the 'cool welcome'.
"We're travelling to Jotunheim on our fathers orders", Thor said steadily.
"I am aware", the watcher replied. He turned and went to the middle of the round, thrusting his sword down on it.
"Safe travels, my prince."
Loki felt another tug of hatred at his heart as only Thor was addressed. But he knew that in this at least it was probably deserved. He had attacked the watcher with a beam of ice cold energy after all.
The Bifrost began to spin and the princes and their guard were soon enveloped in multicoloured light. For a second there they felt like falling, then the interdimensional gate spat them out in the icy lands of Jotunheim.
A deadly silence welcomed them and the princes were reminded of the first time they ended up here. Thor motioned for the Einherjar to follow him. They had barely travelled for two minutes when the ice began to rumble under their feet.
Loki held out an arm to stop Thor. The blonde send him a questioning look but Lokis eyes were fixed on the snow covered mountains in front of them. It was not long that the first frost giant appeared. Just like last time they came in slowly and from all sides, completely surrounding them. However, now around half of them were riding on giant monsters that looked similar to fanged hogs – just ten times as bloodthirsty. Even the smallest of the giants was at least four heads taller then Thor and each and every one of them had their arms transformed to sharp swords made of ice.
"And there I was thinking we had a rude welcome the first time", Thor muttered. Loud he said: "I am Thor Odinson from Asgard and I promise you that I am not here to fight today! My brother Loki and I are here as official ambassadors of Asgard. We wish to talk to king Helblindi."
"The last time you came here not to fight", a particularly nasty looking giant growled and stepped forward, "seven of my men died as well as one of our best mongrel beasts. You are either very brave... or very stupid to come here again, after what Asgard did to us, little princeling."
Thor growled angrily, but Loki laid a calming hand on his shoulder.
"I'm glad that you mention that", he said coldly. "If I were you I'd think twice before dismissing a peace offer from the realm that almost destroyed mine."
The giant gave an angry hiss and swung his ice swords. Thor already had his hand on his hammer, but Loki was holding him back.
"Take us to your king!", he demanded.
Eventually, the frost giants did comply. They still appeared very much threatening, surrounding the group on all sides and Thor was on constant alert. However they made into the palace, a dark towering thing of ice and black stone, without a fight.
King Helblindi turned out to be no older then the princes. It was hard to tell with the blue skinned giants but if the leader of their welcoming committee counted as middle aged, this Jotun was probably even younger then Loki. He was still far from being a child and the other giants treated him with respect, bowing for him and announcing the foreign ambassadors. However a good portion of the warriors stayed in the hall, positioning themselves so they would have a hard time getting to their king.
Helblindi wore little clothing, just like the rest of the Jotun, as if to mock the freezing cold that bothered the princes. His loincloth may have been made from finer leather and the dark blue swirls on his torso were decorated with golden rings here and there but other then that he did not appear too different from his men. He was however not shaved as bald like the rest of them, instead there were a couple of stripes of black hair left on his head that had been braided tightly. The hair ended at the nape of his neck and had small golden rings woven into it as well. His blood red eyes were regarding the princes with distaste but a surprising lack of hatred.
"Thor and Loki Odinson", Helblindi said with a deep frown. "What brings you to my realm this time?"
Thor stepped forward first. He usually left these things to Loki but it was very likely the Jotun would react badly to him. For once Loki let him have his will, even though he found his protecting behaviour annoying. He was too busy to wrap his head around the fact that Helblindi was his brother and that they actually looked similar, or would have, had Loki been blue.
"The Allfather wished to negotiate about a new peace treaty", Thor said with his powerful voice that somehow made up for his smaller statue. "We are here to discuss the conditions in his stead."
"Asgard wants peace?", Helblindi repeated with a derisive laugh. "That would be a first time. You are known as a horde of war loving biglesnipes to my people. Why should I believe one word of Odins hypocrisy? Do you have any idea what your precious rainbow bridge has done to my realm!?"
"It was not Odin who attacked Jotunheim", Loki said quietly but his words drew the attention of the entire room to him immediately. "It was not Asgard either. It was me."
Thor warned him the a glance to shut up, but Loki ignored him. "I was holding the throne for all but three days when Odin was incapacitated. Three days – and look what I did in this short time. As it stands now, I will become king of Asgard and with Odin growing weaker every day, it is only a matter of years. Today this is your only chance to make a contract, to draw out a treaty with prince Thor and me. A treaty after our wishes, not Odins, one that we would honour when one of us takes the throne. If you do not take this chance now, there is no telling what will happen once Odin dies."
Thor couldn't hold it any longer, he hissed to Loki: "Do you want to provoke a fight? They'll try to kill the both of us now!"
Loki threw him a glare and Thor hurried to say: "Not that I'd have anything against it – a fight, I mean – but you could've warned me before we got into a giant ice cave that looks like it would collapse if I swing Mjölnir even once."
Helblindi rose from his ice throne, barely concealed fury darkening his eyes, making them appear almost purple.
"Loki, the trickster", he said darkly, drawing nearer to them and roughly shoving two Einherjar out of the way. Loki didn't even flinch. "My father told me about you, you know. When he went to follow your lead into the Asgardian palace I warned him. Do you know what he said?" Helblindi leaned down to him, ignoring Thor who bravely stepped forward to stand in front of his brother. "He said we could trust you because you were one of us. Now look where it got him."
Loki didn't move one inch, didn't even blink. None of the Aesir reacted to the comment either and from the look of it, that was not what the king had expected.
Eventually a small smile spread on Lokis lips.
"Are you talking about this?" He released his magic, allowing his pale skin to slid back into the now almost familiar cold blue. "You will not be able to use that heritage against me, king. Not anymore."
Helblindi looked at the Einherjar, who shifted uneasily, but still hold their weapons strongly, to Thor, who didn't look surprised at all, merely determined, still standing between him and Loki.
The Jotun leaned back again, examining the trickster as if he had to place him anew.
"I wish to speak with prince Loki alone", he said without leaving him out of his eyes but clearly addressing both his men and the rest of the group.
The warriors shuffled a bit uneasily but eventually prepared to leave. One of them came over to the group and roughly shoved one of their guards. The Einherjar raised his weapon but Loki snapped a command and the Aesir grudgingly followed the giant out.
Thor however didn't move an inch.
"Is the meaning of the word 'alone' unknown to you?", Helblindi asked scratchily.
Loki was surprised and even somewhat amused to hear the sarcasm in his voice, a weapon he liked to use himself so often.
"I will not leave my brother alone", Thor said stubbornly. "I am a prince as well and I well partake in any negotiations."
"This does not concern the negotiations", Helblindi growled. "It's a family matter, if you know what I mean."
"Loki is my family!"
For a moment the giant actually looked taken aback. "How can you say that?", he finally asked. He motioned to Lokis blue form, "how can you look at him and say that?"
"I'm still here, you know", Loki mentioned, slowly becoming pissed. He didn't like to be ignored. "Thor, leave. I want this over with sooner rather then later."
"But-!"
"What, don't you trust me to handle this alone?", he asked sweetly. "I want you to leave. Don't you want to fulfil my wishes?"
Thor straightened his back. "Any other time, yes, I would. But Loki, your safety comes first. I cannot leave you alone."
Helblindi actually rolled his eyes at him. Loki found it somewhat amusing. He had never seen a king act this way. But then again, this Jotun was not only very young but had been king for only a few years. He still had to get used to acting like a proper king.
"Are you done yet? I can make this an official condition too, Odinson. You can go home and tell your father that Jotunheim is still keeping its army at the ready right now if you'd like. That is of course, if you can manage to fight your way back to open skies to be rescued by your little watcher."
At this Loki actually had to physically restrain Thor to keep him from smashing his hammer into the kings face.
"By the Norns, Thor, get out before you start another war!" Loki all but shoved Thor out of the hall, glad to be finally rid of him.
"Now", he said then, leaning against the door just in case Thor decided to smash it, "what did you want to discuss?"
XxX
On the other side of the door, Thor soon began pacing. Hammer still ready in his hand he was making the entire guard nervous, though the twelve giants packed into the corridor weren't helping either.
On the plus side, it remained silent in the hall, no fighting could be heard. Still Thor felt uneasy and worried. He had to suppress the urge to gnaw on his nails, he was that nervous. If something happened to Loki... If that foul king did anything to him he would never forgive himself. He wouldn't be able to forgive Odin either for that matter, for sending them here.
Half an hour went by and still nothing happened.
Thor began to mutter to himself, barely keeping himself from pulling his hair out of frustration.
"Why does he even need to talk to Loki? What is there he couldn't say in front of me? He's never ever seen him, why is he so interested in him!?"
The giant next to him, the same who first welcomed them Thor noticed, gave a snort.
"What!?", Thor called out angrily, pointing his hammer at him. "You have something to say, Jotun!?"
"Your nativity is disgusting", the Jotun stated with a feral grin.
"I'll show you naive you demon!"
Instead of growing angry the giant just laughed. "You are calling me a demon? That's rich."
Thor tried hard to keep his temper in check, to remind himself he was on a diplomatic mission, but it was hard, oh so hard when Loki had been in there for thirty minutes already!
"Look, I have nothing against your race. You just look like a pretty bloodthirsty warrior with all those scars and whatnot."
"Of course, wouldn't want to insult the people your precious brother comes from, would you?"
Thor looked him over with suspicion. "Who are you, anyway?"
"General Gymir. I'm the guy who get's the pleasure of cutting off your head once your negotiations fail."
Thor noted that he said 'once', not 'if'.
"Why does the king want to speak to Loki alone?", he demanded to know.
General Gymir gave him a smile that showed far too many teeth.
"Loki is a son of the late king, just as Helbindi is. He's second born but since prince Byleistr died on a mission he is, technically, the one with the older rights to the throne of Jotunheim. He may be the one who almost destroyed this realm but because of his title, the Jotun cannot blame him the way we'd like to."
"Wait a second, does that mean Loki has the right to destroy Jotunheim because he's the older prince?", Thor asked disbelievingly.
"It means he cannot be judged for it by us", General Gymir replied stiffly. "I assure you that there are a lot of people out there who'd want nothing more then to see him dead but the king cannot justify his death to the Allfather."
"But then why..."
"If however king Helblindi can make Loki reject his rights to the throne of Jotunheim, even if it's just so he can continue to pretend to be Aesir or escape a proper marriage with a Jotun, then he is free to officially accuse Loki of his crimes and to keep him hostage, or even make his death a condition to the treaty."
Thor paled as the full plan of this trap was being revealed to him. Loki hated the Jotun, all of them and he hated the fact that he was one so much he had chosen the void over the reality of it. Helblindi would have no trouble demanding he give up his rights to the throne as part of the negotiations to make his own rule legal and Loki, who would abhor the thought of having any responsibility towards the giants, would agree immediately. Even if Thor managed to get Loki and himself out of here, it was entirely possible that Odin had just been waiting on this chance to get rid of Loki, to use the treaty to justify his fate in front of Frigga. If he sent Loki back to be imprisoned or Norns forbid, executed, there was nothing Thor would be able to do about it.
"It's too late", the general said gleefully, even as Thor whirled around and, not bothering with the handle, smashed through the door with his hammer. He had to get to Loki – had to warn him, to safe him!
"Loki!"