Hi guys, this is the last chapter before the first Thor movie, and then one more person for her to see- then the shitstorm starts :)

Thank you to the guests who commented. For those of you who gave me feedback- I would like to point out that I did say it was going to be a bit of a Mary Sue in my first chapter's A/N. Iron Man does hate her guts currently and I have some rough patches coming up as well, but there are other stories that have more turbulent story lines if you don't like it.

And before I forget- I am going to rewrite the chapter with Tony's parent's death, because it conflicts with Civil War. I'll let you know when it's done. Also, there will be a fluffy chapter out on my supporting story about Wednesday.

-Stax

Chapter 17

Thor was not the sharpest tool in the shed, Dani concluded very quickly.

He wasn't a total moron, granted, but every stinking joke she made went over his head. He was far to quick to jump into battle as well. His idea of a good time was to practice one on one combat, which was frankly hellish. Dani, being the puny mortal she was, couldn't even come close to inflicting bruises the way her new blond friend could. Additionally, it was terrifying how proficient he was with heavy blunt objects.

This was why she was on the outskirts of Asgard currently, with a certain villain-to-be.

"We should have thought of this before now" Loki idly commented as the water dragged over his pale feet. A secluded location, their current perch overlooked a surprisingly sparkly field/forest combo and was alongside a small brook. Dani had taken the less conservative approach and was up to her knees in sweet smelling Asgardian water.

"I feel a bit bad about ditching your brother, but he will have more fun with Sif than he would beating me into a lump of crying mush" Dani commented, kicking a lavender streaked rock from the creek bed.

"He was quite pleasurable to play with as a child, but I too fail to see the amusement in gratuitous combat" her companion replied, leaning down to trail his long fingers in the water. "I much prefer to entertain myself in a more educated fashion." Ice crystals spread around his fingers, making a pattern reminiscent of a snowflake. Lifting his finger off the geometric piece of ice, he watched it float away down stream with an amused expression.

"Your magic is pretty damn awesome" Dani praised, poking the ice with her toe as it floated past. "But you know what would be cooler? If you used slang like I taught you so you don't sound so..."

"Intellectual?"

"Stupid is what I was gonna say." Loki wrinkled his face and flipped Dani off.

"You gotta stop doing that, man" Dani sighed.

"I will when you tell me what it means" He smugly shot back. Dani dragged her hand over her face. A crashing in the bushes prevented her from making a snarky reply.

"Brother! At last I have found you! Look, Father has given me my own armor! Come, I must test it in combat and Sif is busy-"

"Yo, Thor, waddup dawg! You be lookin' hella fine in yo swaggy kicks, home slice! Yo, we gonna cruise on back to yo pad or wat?" Loki responded. Dani tried and failed to contain her explosive laughter. Loki smirked at her. He never used the words she taught him around her, but he would jam them all in a sentence together when someone else came.

"Loki, have you taken ill?" Thor questioned his brother with a worried tone and expression. Dani couldn't stop laughing if her life depended on it.

"Fo shizzle mah nizzle" Loki nodded.

"Loki, let's just help the poor kid out" Dani gasped as she held her stomach. Still snorting, she sloshed out of the water. Loki sighed.

"This party was so lit, though." He too left the water. He hung back with Dani, however, as Thor gallopped ahead. "Thor will be king, you know" he commented casually, but covertly glancing at her out the corner of his eyes to gauge her reaction. The action did not go unnoticed.

"Maybe."

"He has the warrior's spirit, I prefer my books and my magic. He possesses the skills necessary to protect the kingdom... and he is older" Loki elaborated.

"Yeah, but, he's a bit of an idiot now. Just because you CAN use violence to protect Asgard doesn't mean you SHOULD use violence. Ya know?" Loki's face wrinkled up in disgust and he exploded.

"PRECISELY! And just because the ability to fight is more valued than intelligence here, I don't stand a chance as king!" Dani recalled that Odin would choose Thor to take the throne because Loki was actually a frost giant. I gotta have words with that man...

"Loki" she stopped him after a moment of silence. "Listen. Here, look at me." They stopped and faced each other. "You gotta remember something for me, okay?" She urged. He nodded, looking confused. "No matter what anyone says, it's alright to be different. Got it?" That sounds about as cheesy as advice comes... "And also, YOU determine who you are."

"Alright..."

"Good, let's go kick Thor's butt" she concluded. A very perplexed Loki was left wondering what the hell she was talking about.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Knock knock."

Odin looked up from the letter he was reading. It was that infernal girl Loki had summoned with the sacred spell. Sighing deeply, he set the parchment down and stood.

"You may enter." She complied without even a bow. Nevertheless, the stories portrayed her as very necessary to the nine realms. He could allow some measure of impudence.

"Listen, I gotta talk to you about Loki."

"I have important matters to attend to, is this urgent...?"

"No but I'm going to hound you until you hear me out. So, now or later?" With another deep sigh, Odin settled his godly posterior into his seat and gestured for Dani to do the same.

"Ok, so you know how he's a frost giant and all that shit?" She questioned, unceremoniously flopping into the guilded chair across from Odin's massive wooden table.

"Wh- what-" Odin stumbled for a moment, aghast and at a loss for words. That rarely happened. He didn't like the sensation. "You- how do you know of Loki's heritage?" He hissed urgently, leaning forward.

"Huh? Oh, I know lots o' crap" She calmly nodded.

"Keep your voice down, mortal, he needn't know yet" the king whisper-yelled. Dani noted his bulging forehead vein and wisely did what he asked.

"Listen, I just think that-" she whispered

"Your opinion is of no consequence!" Dani stood up.

"Ok, you need to shut up and lemme finish and THEN give me your feedback, because your shitty facade is gonna backfire on you, kapish?" She told him, no longer whispering. Her last comment got Odin's attention.

"He will find out?"

"Of course he will! He's not an idiot, it's inevitable! And he isn't going to react well..."

"He is my son, I know what is best for him-"

"Okay, first of all, he doesn't feel like your son. Thor is getting showered with your praise and Loki knows that he won't ever be king. Thing is, he thinks that it's because he isn't as confrontational and aggressive as Thor."

"That is false! He would make a better leader, he would not resort to violence immediately in every situation-" Odin was no longer lowering his voice, and he was angrily thumping on the table with one hand.

"Wait- so is he going to be next in line to rule or is Thor?" Dani questioned.

"...Thor. Loki cannot rule."

"Why the hell not?" Odin's face darkened.

"He is a frost giant."

"So you DO think he is a monster."

"Of course not!"

"Then what's the problem?" Odin opened his mouth to answer but Dani cut him off again. "And before you say something along the lines of 'oh, having a frost giant on the throne of Asgard would be unTHINKable' " she said, lowering her voice to imitate Odins during her mocking of what he would say, "That's just stupid. You know him, if you really think he would be a better king than Thor, what he is should be INCONSEQUENTIAL."

"How dare you-"

"Dude, at least stop having him taught that frost giants are monsters! What do you think he's gonna remember first when he finds out who he really is? I mean, I know that one of 'em put your eye out" she gestured at his eyepatch, "but Loki is obviously not one of them. That could change unless you start acting like you really believe that you're his father-"

"GET OUT!" Odin thundered, standing.

"You-"

"GUARDS, TAKE HER TO HER QUARTERS!" His face was beet red and he was breathing heavily. Dani decided not to test her luck.

"Okay, okay, I got it, I can walk" she insisted to the guards who rushed in. "Jeez..."

XXX

It worked, though, and that was all that mattered.

Odin started taking more of an interest in Loki, encouraging his magic and reading. He did convince him to start training in combat, which Loki excelled at.

He changed his tone about frost giants as well. When his sons begged for his stories, he portrayed Loki's people less as mindless beasts and more as people who just were raised in the wrong situation. Dani couldn't have been more proud. Sadly, when she winked at him because he was following her advice he would start getting unnecessarily angry. That didn't stop her from winking, though, being the person she was.

Time passed quickly. She started skipping through time in largish chunks, and shortly her friends were adults. She hadn't aged a day. In fact, Dani could tell that she looked the same as she had when she fell in the ice in spite of the fact that she was thirty-four and had been in this dimension for sixteen years. She chalked that up to the fact that her body was dead in the ice somewhere. Ghosts tend to not age.

Thor's coronation was coming up very soon. Disappointingly, Odin had not taken her advice about choosing Loki to be king, and Thor the reckless party animal was on track to rule. Odin hadn't told Loki who he was either. And, he was desperately avoiding any alone time with Dani, making it impossible for her to convince him to change his mind. She had considered telling Loki herself but the visions told her that would only make things worse, that Thor would never be banished to earth and never find Jane and Thor would never join the Avengers- Hell, the avengers wouldn't even be formed because Loki would have taken over Asgard and wouldn't come after the tesseract.

And Odin would die. That tiny detail seemed more and more inconsequential every day but she figured it would be best to just let time run it's course.

She was far from prepared, however, when Loki asked for her assistance in pranking Thor on his special day.