Chapter 5

"Wish me luck brother." Thor and Loki were alone as it was minutes until the ceremony would be underway. "As chief adviser to the future king, tell me how I look." Thor beamed at his brother, spinning round so Loki could inspect his appearance from all angles.

"Like a king." Loki smiled, clasping Thor on the shoulder. "Things will never be the same again."

"Of course they will, nothing will change. You will always be my brother in blood and in arms, and you will remain by my side, where you belong."

Loki smiled kindly, creating a facade in his appearance to show happiness for his brother, which went unnoticed by Thor himself, then turned to look out over the golden city. The two brothers stood by an open fire, upon a balcony from which most of the kingdom could be seen.

"Ooh, nice feathers." He said, nodding to the helmet that was passed to Thor by a serving boy. Thor chuckled and glanced up at his golden horns.

"You don't want to start this again, do you cow?"

"You know full well they are modelled on the fangs of Jörmungandr. He is far fiercer than a turkey."

Thor laughed. "Of course I do. Have you seen him of recent?" Although Odin had banished Loki's children for Asgard, and banned him from seeing them, it did not stop Loki from seeing them occasionally, and only he and Thor knew.

"Not for several years." Loki looked away. "I wonder what's taking so long, nobody has called for us yet."

"I should like to come with you sometime. I haven't seen my nephews and niece in decades... Well, except Sleipnir but..." He coughed awkwardly, knowing that Loki hated discussing his children and their situations. "I do not know, it should be starting soon though." Thor said, changing the subject. Though his voice sounded strong, Loki could've sworn there was an underlying tone of nerves.

"Nervous brother?" He asked. Thor smirked and shook his head, loosing any feelings akin to nervousness and replacing them with cocky confidence.

"Nervous? Have you ever known me to be nervous?" He asked in amusement.

"Need I remind you of your first visit to court?"

"That was not nerves brother, that was just excitement!" He didn't sound convincing at all to Loki.

"Whatever you say, my king." Loki bowed deeply and Thor returned his grin. "Do not worry, there is nothing that could possibly go wrong. The ceremony will be seamless." Loki checked himself in the mirror. During the coronation, Loki would be declared crown prince and next in line for the golden throne. Also, as Brother to the King and his future chief advisor, he could be part of the ceremony in that respect. "You have your speech prepared?"

"Aye, that I do." Thor smiled and looked down at his hands then out across the kingdom. "It is probably time. You go on ahead."

They clasped hands in a warrior's grip as a good luck gesture before Loki left with a bow and a smile and a mutter of "your majesty."

Thor smiled at him and watched him go before turning back to the view. He sighed contently then summoned Mjölnir to his side before turning and following in his brothers steps.

-Page Break-

The hall cheered as Thor entered, brandishing Mjölnir with a roar of triumph as he walked towards the throne, basking in the crowd's excitement and enthusiasm. By the throne, standing on the steps, Loki, Sif, Frigga and the warriors three all rolled their eyes, though only Loki's lacked endearment behind it. He kept on a mask of happiness for himself not to appear suspicious as Thor came to a stop on the steps.

He removed his helmet, winking to their mother cockily, only to receive a head shake back to say it wasn't an appropriate move, before he nodded and came to a kneel before the All-Father.

Odin silenced the crowd and stood from his throne. "Thor Odinson, my heir, my first born. So long entrusted with the mighty hammer, Mjölnir, forged in the heart of a dying star. Its power has no equal! It's a weapon to destroy or as a tool to build. It is a fit companion for a king. I have defended Asgard, and the lives of the innocent across my realms in the time of the great beginning." He looked down at Thor's kneeling figure with pride. "Do you swear to guard the nine realms?"

Thor looked around at his smiling family and friends. He caught Loki's eye and his brother nodded encouragement at him. He looked the Allfather in the eye with a new confidence and determination. "I swear."

"And do you swear to preserve the peace?"

Louder, 'I swear."

Odin looked his son more seriously now "Do you swear to cast aside your selfish ambition and to pledge yourself only to the good of the realms?"

"I swear!"

Odin grinned "And on this day, I Odin, All-Father, proclaim you..."

He paused as he sensed a chill washed over the atmosphere in the room, and the sky darkened. His fist tightened around Gungnir and he looked around and said "Frost Giant..."

The door to the great hall burst open and a guard stepped through. "Allfather, there are Frost giants in the vault."

Odin sent a look towards Frigga, telling her silently to calm everyone here before walking out the room. "Thor, Loki, with me."

"The destroyer." Loki said. "Surely it will stop them. They must be few, or Heimdall would have seen them."

Odin nodded as they swiftly walked through the halls to the vault. "But how did they slip his gaze and enter without us knowing until now?"

"Perhaps they found a new artefact to replace the casket. I know very little of Jötunn magic." They entered the vault to find five slaughtered guards and the same of Frost Giants.

Thor looked around at the bodies angrily "The Jötunns must pay for what they've done!"

Odin looked tired "They have paid. With their lives. the destroyer has done it's work, the casket is safe and all is well."

"All is well? They broke into the weapons vault! If the Frost Giants have stolen even one of these relics..."

"They didn't!"

"Well I want to know why?"

"I have a truce with Laufey, King of the Jötunn."

Thor looked at him with disbelief "He just broke your truce! They know you are vulnerable."

Odin spun around to face his son. "What action would you take?"

"March into Jötunheimr as you once did." He looked at Loki for support but got none. He was inspecting the frost bite on a dead guard's arm. "Teach them a lesson. Break their spirits so they'll never dare to cross our borders again."

"You're thinking only as a warrior."

"Well, this was an act of war!"

"It was the act of but a few, doomed to fail."

"Look at how far they got!"

"We will find the breach in our defences and it will be sealed."

"As King of Asgard..."

"But you're not King! Not yet."

Thor looked at his father with anger before turning and walking away. Loki looked up as he left. "Allfather, I think they must have come up through the water, that seems to be where they tried to go to escape the destroyer. If you permit me to use my magic, I could..."

"Completely out of the question. You must attend to Thor and make sure he does not do something truly reckless."

-Page Break-

"It's unwise to be in my company now, brother." Thor said to Loki as he saw him approaching. After leaving Odin, he had stormed off in an angry huff then managed to flip a table. He now sat on some steps next to the upturned table as Loki joined him. "This was to be my day of triumph."

Loki stood beside him for a moment and raised his eyebrows at the upturned table before sitting down next to his brother."It'll come, in time."

The Warriors Three and Sif were inspecting the damage done by the table as Thor and Loki sat a moment in silence. He glance over the others and narrowed his eyes a fraction before turning back to Thor and speaking quietly.

"If it's any constellation, I think you're right. About the frost Giants, about Laufey, about everything." He paused and shifted closer slightly. "If they found a way past the guards once, who to say they won't try again? Next time with an army."

"Exactly!" Thor exclaimed, hitting his hands against his knees and cutting Loki off.

"But there's nothing you can do without defying Father." He added, knowing that if he planted the thought far enough, Thor would take action against it, regardless of their father's words.

There was another pause then Thor stood up. "Yes, there is."

"Oh, no no no, I know that look!" Loki leant forward as Thor stood and turned to point at him.

"It is the only way to ensure the safety of out people." He said firmly.

"Thor, its madness." Loki said, locking his eyes onto Thor's with a concerned emotion present. Unfortunately, the Warriors Three and Sif were now listening in.

"Madness? What sort of madness?" Volstagg asked, attacking a wing of meat as he looked between the two princes.

"We're going to Jötunheimr."

"What?" Fandral looked between his friends. "This isn't like a journey to earth, where you summon a little lightning and thunder; the mortals worship you as a God! This is Jötunheimr." Loki smiled to himself, picturing Tony naked at his feet while Loki wore nothing but his helmet and his staff. He was pulled from this thought at Thor's mention of Odin.

"My father fought his way into Jötunheimr. Defeated their armies and took their casket! We would just be looking for answers."

"It is forbidden!" Loki rolled his eyes at Sif's comment. Pfft, like it had stopped any of them before.

"My friends, have you forgotten all that we have done together? Fandral, Hogun, who led you into the most glorious battles?"

"You did." Hogun was the first to speak. He owed the most to Thor.

"And Volstagg, to delicacies so succulent you though you'd died and gone to Valhalla?"

"You did."

"Yes! And who proved wrong all who scoffed at the idea that a young maiden could be one of the fiercest warriors this realm has ever known?"

"I did!"

Thor smiled and Loki rolled his eyes again. "True, but I supported you, Sif.

Thor turned to look at them all "My friends, we're going to Jötunheimr."

-Page Break-

Pepper had come to collect Tony personally from Stuttgart in the Stark Jet. She was pleased that he had managed to get all his conference work done with without being too over the top and intimidating, managing to get a few possible contract leads. Tony hadn't told her about Loki appearing yet, but he couldn't wait to see the look on her face when he told her that he'd had sex with a real life Nordic God.

They sat across the way from each other at a table both picking at an in-flight meal, and Tony couldn't stop smirking as he remembered what Loki had said, seemingly forgetting about how violent he got when challenged. Tony quite liked that actually, it was kind of hot... If you were, into that sort of thing...

After about half the meal, Pepper noticed the constant smiling and set down her knife and fork to give him a confused look.

"Could it be true, Tony Stark in love?"

"Huh, wait, what?" Tony's head snapped up quickly, and he was glad not to have a mouthful of food otherwise he would've choked.

"You're daydreaming." She pointed out with an amused smile. "What's their name? Will you be seeing them again? Are they German?"

"No he's... I'm not in love Pep, I've only seen him twice." Tony said firmly, picking up a glass of water and taking a gulp.

"Oh." Pepper smirked. "Is this the elusive Loki from the other week? Was he in Stuttgart?"

Tony choked on his water, sending her a small glare as he coughed. "How did you-? Okay, yeah, fine, he was there." He said once he'd recovered.

"You accused him of breaking into your house, he told you his name was Loki, and he agreed to see you a second time. Appears you have found yourself a genuine mystery man." She sipped her glass of tonic water and he could have sworn she winked at him.

"Actually, he is Loki. As in the Loki, Norse god." Tony sat back and smirked at her smugly. "And to be fair, I had actually invited him that first night." He shrugged.

"Ewwww Tony." She set her glass down. "I don't wanna know how 'godly' he is. Just shut up okay."

"I'm not kidding, he actually is a god." He smirked to himself then added quietly in his head, 'Especially downstairs...'

"Okay yeah, sure, fine. He's a god. Now can we please change the subject?"

"You're just jealous because I've been in bed with a Nordic deity." He smirked then shook his head. "I don't expect you to believe me, I didn't until he proved it."

She looked at him weirdly. "You're serious, aren't you? Did he drug you? He sounds shady."

"No drugs. Not from him or anyone else. He's actually the god of mischief. Magic and all." Tony stood up and walked away from the table, over to a sofa that was in the next cabin room ahead. Pepper followed him through.

"I'm going to book you in for a drugs test as soon as we get back."

"Pepper, I haven't been drugged. You know what? Just forget it." He sighed and plopped himself down on the sofa.

"No arguments, you're having it done." She sat down beside him. "You know, there are some pretty good magicians these days, power of suggestion, slight of hand. It's not like you to be taken in by these things."

"Maybe... Ugh, I don't know. Everything points to it, how he acts, how he is, what he talks about, the 'magic'" he air quoted. "The pretty much godly size of his-"

"Tony." Pepper cut him off, raising an eyebrow warningly. Tony smirked then shook his head.

"Okay, well, you get my point. You know I don't believe in things until they're scientifically proven. I mean, he created armour out of thin air!" He saw Pepper giving him a weird look again. "Yeah... Okay, maybe I might be drugged..."

"You can go piss in a pot as soon as we land." She picked up her stark pad and began tapping away. "Maybe a blood test as well."

Tony groaned and rubbed his face tiredly, and then he shrugged and picked up his own Stark pad, finished the designs for the Mark VII.