Dark Elves

The sun rose over Asgard that morning, the golden city was busy with nobles and commoners all greeting and talking with one another. The castle was alive with flurries of busy maids, of stern guards and talkative servants, and Eris was sitting on the stairs of the throne room, watching Odin as he held Nathaniel on his lap, helping him to sit up as Helem played with Frigga at his feet.

"Eris, they are wonderful." Odin smiled.

"Yes, they are." Frigga agreed. "Anyone can definitely see their father in them." She smiled, holding Helem close to her.

Eris smiled. "You can definitely see Loki in them." She opened her arms as Helem got up off of Frigga's lap and crawled over to her mother. When her daughter was in reach, Eris picked her up into her arms, holding her, kissing her forehead. "My, precious, little girl." Eris told her and it had Frigga and even Odin's hearts welling up.

Nathaniel whimpered, waning attention from his mom as well, so Odin put him onto the floor and watched as he crawled over to her and Eris pulled him onto her lap as well.

Odin smiled as he watched his daughter-in-law, and his smile stayed as Thor and Jane walked in, before his smile was wiped from his face as he noticed Eris' expression.

Eris had stood up, and rested the children on the steps, but she was looking around as if she could hear something that the others couldn't, yet as she went to explain, there was an explosion.

"Loki..." Thor told them, and he sounded worried.

"Thor go, Eris and I will watch Jane." Frigga told him and Eris and Jane watched him shed his cloak and ran to the balcony, jumping off and retrieving Mjolnir just in time to fly towards the prison. Eris called her swords to her, just as Frigga looked at her. "Get Cerebellum, take the children."

Eris nodded and she watched as Cerebellum walked to her and Eris kissed both of her children's heads, promising that she will join them soon.

Odin looked at them. "Frigga, Eris, take Jane to our chambers, I will come and join you when this is over."

"Alright, just be careful." Frigga told him.

"After all the battles that I have survived, my Queen still worries for me." Odin smiled fondly, and as he walked away, Frigga watched him.

"It's only because I worry that you've survived." Frigga reminded him, before she left the throne room with Eris and Jane. As they walked, Frigga looked at Jane. "I need you to do exactly as I say."

Jane nodded to her. "Yes ma'am." Jane nodded, and the group quickened their pace.

Meanwhile, Loki was watching the fight occur in the prison and just watching his 'brother' and the warriors try and push them back amused him, yet he was only watching in order to see if his wife had joined the group and he was happy that she hadn't, though he wished that she was, just so that he knew where she was and whether she was safe. However, Eris was far from it, she had remained in the royal chambers of the King and Queen, but she was now fighting a grotesque looking monster s he tried to get close to Jane, who was cowering behind a pillar, whilst Frigga fought against the leader of the Dark Elves, Malekith. Eris made sure to keep both the Queen and Jane in her view so if she needed, then she could get to them easily, but this proved to put herself in danger. As she mistimed one of her attacks, and it resulted in the creature breaking her left wrist with a simple swipe of its hand, sending her left sword to the other side of the room, and it then kicked Eris in the chest so that she hit the far wall and fell to the floor. She looked up just in time to see the Queen be grabbed by the creature, and Malekith realise that Jane had been a fake, and she watched as the creature plunged Frigga's sword into her and let her fall to the floor. As Frigga's body fell to the floor, she heard a cry and it was a mixture of her own and Thor's, who had ran in as the events occurred and he shot lightning at Malekith before throwing Mjolnir at the quickly disappearing aircraft. Eris pushed herself to her feet, and she looked on as Odin cradled his dead wife's body, and Jane joined them, standing at Eris' side, though she kept her distance from the blood that had appeared on Eris' skin due to the broken wrist she had received.

Time passed in a blur after the Queen's death, Eris and Thor both seemed to be nonexistent to the realm of Asgard as well as to the other realms. Yet they managed to deal with the tasks that were left to them as Odin mourned the loss of his beloved wife. Eris stood beside the Allfather at the release of the boats that carried the bodies of the fallen towards the waterfall; she was emotionless, as usual, only there to support Thor and the Allfather though all she could think about was what mood Loki had been in. In his upset, Odin had forbid her from making any contact with him, but he hadn't exactly been one to talk since he found out about Frigga's death and this worried her. Afterwards, she stuck with Thor, Jane and the Warriors as they all congregated in the Tavern, each with a mug of ale n their hands, besides Eris and Jane, and Volstagg stood up from where everyone had sat at a table.

"Silence, everyone." He shouted to the whole Tavern, everyone going silent.

"Now, I would like everyone to raise their mug of ale." He raised his own as he spoke. "And propose a toast. To Queen Frigga, long may she live in the paradise which is Valhalla."

"To Queen Frigga." Sif cheered as she got up to stand alongside her friend, and she noticed as the room cheered, Eris walked out of the Tavern.

Jane also noticed this, and she looked at the Lady Sif, before she followed the lonely goddess. "Eris?" She asked as she caught up with her, pulling the cloak that she had been given around her body more.

"Yes Jane?" Eris asked, as she stood at a form of balcony, looking up at the sky, it was obvious that something was on her mind, and Jane was determined to find out what.

"What's on your mind?" Jane asked her. "Apart from, Queen Frigga's death?"

"Her death was my fault." Eris sighed.

"Oh Eris, no it isn't." Jane told her, gently putting a hand over hers.

"It is Jane, I'm Eris of Tartarus, it is my duty to protect the royal family, I failed." She sighed, moving her hand away. "Give my apologies to everyone, but I don't feel like celebrating tonight." She bowed her head, turned on her eel and walked away from Jane and the Tavern, just as Lady Sif joined Jane.

"What's the matter with her?" Sif asked.

"She feels guilty; she blames herself for the Queen's death...Should I tell Thor?" Jane asked her.

"Yes, but ask him to tell Odin, maybe if she heard it straight from Odin, she won't feel so guilty." Sif nodded, and she went back inside the Tavern with Jane, and she watched her tell Thor what Jane had told her, and Thor gave her a simple nod.

Later that night, Eris got a shock when she was shaken awake, and her eyes opened to find Odin sitting on the edge of her bed beside her.

"Wake up Eris, we need to talk." Odin told her in a whisper.

"What is it, my Lord?" She asked her voice just loud enough for him to hear her.

"I have been told by my son, the Lady Sif and his lover that you feel guilty. Would you like to talk about it?" He asked, moving so that Eris could sit up properly.

Eris looked at him and nodded with a sigh. "Though I doubt that there is anything to talk about, Frigga's death is on my hands, nothing more to be said."

"There is Eris, there is much, much more to be said." He told her. "Frigga's death wasn't your fault, you yourself were injured, and she would have understood why you didn't come to her aid." He reminded her.

"I feel as though I could have done more though, I should have got up and done all I could, injured or not."

Odin looked at her. "Eris, you need to stop thinking like this, Frigga wouldn't have wanted you to be sad, she would have wanted you to throw yourself into being a mother to your children."

Eris looked at him; she knew that he was right; her children had to be her top priority now, not wallowing in self pity and loathing over whether this had been her fault or not. "Yes Odin, I believe that you're right." She looked over at the cradles, as there was the sound of one of the children waking up, but they soon settled, obviously having fallen back to sleep.

"Do they sleep through the night now?" Odin asked, nodding over at the cradles.

"Occasionally, Nathaniel usually awakens during the night, to check on his sister and me, but he then falls asleep." Eris told him.

"Check? But Eris, he can't stand, can he?" Odin asked, walking over to the children and looking at his grandson who was tucked up snuggle in bed.

"No, he can't stand, but his ability to ghost his mind, so that he can see what is happening with the pair of us, is growing more powerful by the day." She told him.

Odin nodded. "He is certainly very protective over his family."

Eris nodded. "Yes he is, he cares or all of us, yet he asks frequently where his father is..." She sighed. "Odin, can you at least consider letting Loki out to be with us now?"

Odin sighed, looking back at her. "Alright Eris, I will consider it but for now, I would like you to accompany me with my duties whenever possible."

"Yes my Lord." She nodded. "However, if we are in the Hall, would it be safe to bring the children, to get them accustomed to royal life and duties?"

"Yes, I think that would be fine, and it would help to prepare them for their possible futures as the royal children." He then stood up straight. "I must let you sleep once more, good night Eris."

Eris nodded, and she watched Odin leave. "Good night, my Lord." She then settled down to sleep, letting herself feel more and more relaxed now that she and Odin had had this small but meaningful talk.