A/N: I like angst and drama, and sometimes I feel bad knowing the pain that I'm going to put some characters through, but I like to reward them in the end. Only in fanfiction, usually. In other works I'm like a Joss Whedon, unashamedly killing off characters. But that's not this story. :D Have fun!

The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.


It was until after dinner that Nathan and Steve finally got the summons to see someone about the Trials. Nathan was more than willing to let Steve lead the way, but couldn't get rid of the feeling in his gut, and it wasn't nervousness.

Odin and Thor were still gone, and Balder told them that One of Odin's advisers would be taking over for him concerning the trials. Steve and Nathan walked into the room, the closing softly behind them, and they saw a man in gold robes looking through some papers at a desk. He turned to look at them and nodded.

"You must be the two Midgardians," he grabbed some parchments and moved to a wall that was full of little cubby, filled with other pieces of parchment. He pulled one out, exchanging it for the one in his hand. "Betrothed to the princesses. Never has the line of Odin flourished so much. Well, soon to be Thor. We take our lines of succession very seriously up here." He turned to look at the two men, looking them both up and down, assessing them. Nathan didn't like it. "Do you two have any questions?"

"How many trials will we be going through?" Steve asked, all manners, even standing at attention. "And can we know the severity of each one? Or will be finding out about them as they happen?"

"As of right now, there is only one trial planned." The man opened the parchment on a table, glancing through it. "And the only piece of advice I have is this; survive."

Nathan frowned. "Survive? That's all?" He could tell that Steve was on edge. It just didn't feel right.

"Survive in an inhospitable environment." The adviser looked up at them, his hands starting to glow. "Although I doubt you'll make it back." He threw his hands at the two and they disappeared from the room suddenly. "Good riddance, filthy mortals."


Steve and Nathan felt the ground fall from their feet and suddenly they were stumbling, falling into snow. "Oh, fuck!" Nathan sat up quickly, tucking his hands under his arms. "It's cold as shit!" He looked around, then narrowed his eyes to keep the biting wind from drying out his eyes.

"Come on, we have to find shelter." Steve pushed himself up then grabbed Nathan's arm to help him up. The boys were in jeans and long sleeve shirts. They were no where near prepared for the harsh winter weather that they found themselves in. Nathan could tell that Steve was tensing up his body, trying not to shiver. "Something to block the wind, then we can focus on building a fire." Nathan nodded and looked around.

"Where do we even start?" He started to move his feet, the snow coming up past his ankles.

"Let's head away from the wind," Steve suggested, moving closer to Nathan so they didn't lose each other. "We need to focusing on staying warm before we can worry about what happened."

"It's cold as balls out here," Nathan muttered as they started to trudge through the snow. "Funny, I don't remember pissing off that guy, yet." Steve just hummed in thought. Nathan was really happy that he was with Steve, otherwise he would probably be dead within the hour.

Steve wasn't sure how long they had been walking for but he could feel the shaking that wracked Nathan's body, could feel him start to slow down. He needed to keep the younger man moving, had to keep up awake and aware. "Talk to me Nathan, it'll help pass the time, and keep you focused on other things." He could tell that jaw was shaking from the cold.

"Right," Nathan nodded a little. "Talking. Well, Kaia and I were talking about a fall wedding, maybe even early September." Nathan had to keep his mind focused, he couldn't let the cold slow him down, physically and mentally. "I think one of our colors is red. I don't know, we should start doing more planning."

"Do you two want a big wedding?" Steve took a breath, but ot too deep, he didn't want all the cold air in his lungs.

"Do we have a choice?" Nathan cursed as he felt some snow slip past the hem of his jeans and try to fall into his shoes. "I'm engaged to a Stark."

"Of course you have a choice," Steve glanced over at him, rubbing his arms. "It's still your wedding, just plan what you want, and worry about the cameras later."

"Steve, I'm gonna need you to be honest with me here," Nathan spoke up, teeth chattering. "what are our odds if we don't find somewhere out of the wind?"

Steve swallowed and kept walking. The odds weren't good. The odds weren't that much better if they did find shelter, but they would improve. "We're gonna shelter, don't worry Nathan."

It wasn't too long after that that the wind let up a little and Steve saw a little dark spot up ahead. The entrance to what looked like a cave. He nudged Nathan's arm and the two started to move a little faster. Once inside, the wind was gone from blowing on their backs, but the chill int he cave wasn't that much better.

"Balls! It's still cold as dicks!" Nathan jumped around a little, blowing on his hands, trying to get the circulation moving a little faster in his extremities. "And I don't know about you, but i didn't exactly see any type of wood out there." Steve looked around, hands still under his arms.

"We'll need two rocks to try and create a spark with," Steve mumbled as he glanced up then over to the side. He noticed that despite the temperature there was still a lot of moss growing on the rocks and walls of the cave. "We can try to gather the moss and burn it." Nathan looked at him. "I know it's a crazy idea, but what have we got to lose? We have to try something." Steve started rubbing his hands together rapidly and blowing on them.

Nathan looked around the cave, walking a little deeper into it, hoping that he wouldn't accidentally stumble on some hungry bear, or arctic wolf, cause that's exactly what they needed. Against one of the caves walls he saw a pile of rubble and walked over, grabbing some rocks that had the sharpest edges and held them up. "Will these work?" The rocks were freezing, but he hardly felt that against her own cold skin.

"They should," Steve walked over and looked at them. "But we have to find a way to dry them out, they're soaked wet and the moisture will eat any kind of flame we try to start."

Nathan looked at the rocks then slipped on into the sleeve of shirt, letting it drop a little before twist it, creating a little pouch for the rock. He slipped into his sleeve again so that it wouldn't unroll. He did the same thing in his other sleeve and looked up at Steve's questioning look. "Well, the fabric of my shirt should suck most of the moisture out. Once we get a fire started I can just dry my shirt over that."

Steve smiled and nodded, patting Nathan's shoulder when he stood up. "Fast thinking. Alright, let get some moss and anything else we can find as kindling. I have no idea if it's night time or not because of the weather, and I'd rather be caught in colder weather if it isn't." Nathan nodded and followed Steve.

Nathan could see that Steve was starting to shake from the cold, he could feel that he was too, but he knew that this environment must be putting the soldier on edge a little. A not too friendly reminder of what had stolen him from his own time period, his old life. Nathan frowned a little thinking about it. He and Kaia has spent six years on the run from Hela, trying to find their way back home, but Steve had spent 70 years frozen alive in ice. He didn't have family to return like they had.

"Hey, Steve?" Steve turned his head to look at him as he was peeling some moss from the cave wall. "It might sound weird, or you know, something, but um," Nathan bit his lip a little, not sure how to broach the subject. "We're gonna get out of here, I'm not gonna let you freeze here. I promise I'll get you back to Gabby."

Steve looked at Nathan for a long moment before nodding, something of a soft smile on his face. "Yeah, we are gonna get out of here. Thanks, kid."


Steve looked over and swore he saw Nathan's lips getting paler, but he wasn't sure. After an hour the two were definitely colder, and moving slower Even Steve was starting to feel sluggish, his limbs starting to feel numb. He squeezed his hands closed tightly then opened them, trying to pump a little bit of feeling into them. There was a pile of moss, and something that could of been like sticks, in a pile that he hoped would provide some warmth. Nathan sat close to it, knees pulled up, face between his knees to keep it warm, glancing up every so often.

Steve grabbed the two rocks and put them near the pile, trying to ignore the shaking in his hands. The first hit missed, one rock sliding right off the other at a bad angle. He tried again. They hit and he could see the white mark leftover. No spark, but it was a longshot in the first place. He kept trying, this was the only chance they had. Despite what Nathan had said to him earlier, there was a very high chance that they would freeze in here, and Steve didn't think they'd be unthawing him again after this one.

There was a rhythm he was building up, and if anything he could feel the blood pumping a little more in his arms. That also meant that he could feel the pain of the cold, and the fatigue quickly building. He was looking at the rocks but his eyes were unfocused. He was cold and tired and it was getting to him.

He kept going until he blinked, eyes focusing, when he felt something sharp on his fingers. "Shit!" He pulled his hands back when he saw the first flickers of an orange flame. "Nathan!" The younger man looked up and blinked slowly, trying to process what was happening. Steve cupped one hand around the fire and moved some moss, trying to slowly feed the flame, the flames turning yellow as it got hotter. "It worked, somehow it worked, there's a fire."

Nathan moved a little closer as the fire grew, the moss working to catch the fire and the light sticks helping to keep the flame alive. As if got bigger and brighter, and warmer to both their relief, it start to light up the cave they were in. It was huge, but it was plenty large, and it was clear that they weren't the only ones who had been in there. Turning around to look deeper in the cave where they didn't go there was something lying on the ground, something that looked like a body. It was blue.

Nathan's face paled a little more. "Shit, Steve. I think I know where we are."

Steve frowned. "Those weren't sticks were they?" Nathan shook his head.

"They were the bones of a Frost Giant."