Chapter XVIII: Let the Skyfall
A/N: Again, this chapter was finished before the previous one. I thank theicemenace for her beta work. This is an important chapter, a lot happens in it, and we find out which side Hanna comes down on... Enjoy the chapter! SSD
Let the Skyfall when it crumbles, we will stand tall and face it all- "Skyfall" by Adele
Hanna had to find Sif and the Warriors Three and do it quickly. King of Asgard or not, letting the Frost Giants into Asgard for the purpose of murdering the previous king was unacceptable.
She had made the choice that had been far from easy for her. In the end, her loyalty to Asgard outstripped any kind of loyalty to Loki or gratitude towards him for giving her control over and expanding her magic abilities beyond anything she could have ever dreamt of.
There was also that other matter that Hanna refused to dwell on at the moment, as it would only serve to distract her.
"Where the devil *are* they?" Hanna thought until she heard, Fandral chiding Volstaag, "Our dearest friend banished, Loki on the throne, Asgard on the brink of war, yet you've managed to consume four wild boars, six pheasants, a side of beef, and two caskets of ale! Shame on you! Don't you care?"
"Do not mistake my appetite for apathy!" Volstaag yelled back.
Knowing that she needed to get in before things got out of hand, and that the opening of the doors would get their attention quickly.
Upon all four warriors seeing her enter, they immediately quieted down. She knew that they did not trust her at all. Hanna took a deep breath before saying,
"You all need to get to Midgard, find Thor, and bring him back. And quickly."
###
"You are certain of this?" Sif asked.
"I am." Hanna was not looking any of them in the eyes, for fear they could see the truth behind the conflict in her heart.
The others were silent for a few moments, before Hogun said quietly,
"We must go. We must find Thor."
"It's treason." Fandral hissed.
"Forget treason, its suicide." Volstaag muttered.
Hanna found herself agreeing with Volstaag more than anything else.
"Thor would do the same for us," Sif persisted.
"Hush now. Heimdall may be watching!" Volstaag hissed.
They had been quiet for a moment before the door opened behind them and they all jumped. A guard walked in and said, "Heimdall demands your presence!" and left.
"We're doomed," Volstaag muttered.
"Doomed does not begin to describe it." Hanna growled. "IF we're lucky, he hasn't told the king yet." After thinking for a moment, Hanna turned to them saying, "You all need to go see Heimdall. I will try to buy you some time."
Volstaag stopped and asked, "How are you going to do that?"
Over her shoulder, Hanna growled, "I am going to deal with Loki. Good luck with finding Thor." She then started to make her way to the Throne Room.
As they were making their way to the Bifrost, Sif wondered, "How do you think she is going to do?"
"Her chances are not enviable. She will be able to buy time, but not much more than that," Hogun reasoned.
###
Hanna got to the Throne Room relatively quickly. Loki was not there, though she had not expected him to be. He was likely someplace where he could keep an eye on whether Heimdall activated the Bifrost or not.
As she walked down she caught a glimpse of the bridge station through a window. Sure enough, against Loki's express command, it was being used.
It was likely Sif and the Warriors 3 making their way to Midgard. Apparently Heimdall was in a mood to help them after all.
Now all she had to do was wait. Loki was likely on his way to deal with Heimdall.
Taking a seat at the foot of the throne, Hanna waited. It was only a matter of time before she would have the magic duel of her life. And the odds were not in her favor.
Hanna wondered if Loki realized that she had turned on him yet.
###
Hanna was getting more and more nervous. What was taking him so long? Perhaps Heimdall was giving Loki more grief than he had anticipated? The thought made Hanna smirk.
She had taken her sword out, and laid it across her legs where she could get at it easily. Her fingers were tapping on the hilt, she was so nervous.
Hanna was sitting on the steps that led up to the seat of the throne. Now all she had to do was wait for Loki to show up.
A short time later, Hanna heard an all too familiar cadence entering the room.
Standing up as tall as she could make herself, Hanna called out,
"You took longer than I expected, your Grace. Heimdall must have put up more of a fight," with a fair amount of sarcasm in her voice as she said your grace.
###
Loki was surprised to see his apprentice sitting at the foot of the throne, with her sword out. That was something he had not counted on having to deal with.
"So even you have betrayed me and committed treason."
"Treason is a tricky charge, your Grace. Very hard to prove. And if treason prospers, it be not treason." Hanna was starting to stand up, looking him directly in the eyes, doing her best to not get distracted by the blue-green orbs.
"Forget the sword. Fight like the sorceress you are," Loki commanded. He meant business.
Hanna nodded. She had not expected anything less. Hanna untied the scabbard from her hip, put the sword back in it then vanished it to her room. But she could summon it back if she felt it was necessary.
Loki was never known to fight fair. So she would need to fight with everything she had, if she were to stand a chance. If he brought out his blades, then so would she.
###
Loki had not expected to have to deal with Hanna. It would seem that counting on her loyalty to him being stronger than her loyalty to Asgard had been incorrect. There was one question he needed to ask before attacking.
"How did you find out what I was up to, sorceress?"
"I fell through a passageway that came out in Jotunheim. While I was waiting for it to recharge, I took a look around. Imagine my surprise when I saw you talking to Jotuns. Even though I could not hear what you were saying, I figured that it was not good." After taking a breath, Hanna continued, "I made my way back to Asgard a short time later." She had a smirk on her face.
Hanna could tell that her disrespectful smirk angered him enough to snarl, "I'm going to wipe that smirk off your face, sorceress."
"I'd like to see you give your best," Hanna replied with a toothy grin. Even though she knew that she wasn't fooling anyone. The main point of this duel was to keep Loki distracted.
Hanna saw fire start to rain down towards her. Making duplicates of herself, she teleported to behind him to get him with an attack of her own, which grazed him enough to attract his attention.
###
Hanna could not tell how long the fight had been going on. She was too busy trying to keep up and continue buying Sif and the others valuable time to get to Thor.
Loki could notice a few things that were signs of Hanna starting to slow down. Chief among them was the fact that her illusions weren't quite making the grade.
"Tired yet apprentice? We can stop this now." Loki said with a grin on his face.
Hanna just glared at him. She then removed the concealment on the fireballs that hid the green cores. Conjuring several sets of fireballs, Hanna threw them at him.
"Is that enough of an answer, your Grace?" Hanna hissed as they hit him.
Loki didn't bother with a reply. Hanna then had to dive to avoid a wave of fire.
###
A while later, Hanna was drained. She had never been more exhausted after a duel than this one, she could barely stay on her feet. Loki in contrast was barely breathing hard.
"Just a little while longer, that's all I need to do." Hanna then nearly missed what Loki said next.
"You've done well sorceress. I've taught you everything you know." Then his face turned crueler as he sneered, "But I didn't teach everything I know." Suddenly a blast of ice came her way, Hanna was barely able to dodge it.
Breathing heavily, Hanna tried to make a move to where she would be better able to attack. Unfortunately, she was just that little bit too slow. The blast of ice hit her legs and moved up until she was entirely encased in the hoarfrost.
She was covered in ice and couldn't move at all, save her eyes. A feeling of complete and utter betrayal permeated her blood and bone. Hanna saw a glowing blue box with runes that was emanating ice with blue hands holding it.
Loki's hands were blue, along with the rest of him as Hanna looked him up and down. Save for his eyes, which were blood red. Loki was a frost giant.
Hanna's eyes went as wide as they could under the ice. That was about the last thing she had expected to see.
After vanishing the Casket, and had gone back to his regular color, Loki grinned. He seemed almost too calm for the situation. As he walked past where Hanna stuck, he whispered,
"I still have a use for you, even though you turned on me sorceress. Now, I have other work to do."
After hoping that he was out of the room, Hanna began trying to heat the ice to the point where it would either melt off or shatter off her, preferably with both happening. She could only hope that the others had gotten to Thor in time.
###
As the Norns would have it, Sif and the Warriors 3 had gotten to Thor in time. And after dealing with the Destroyer, there had been a minor delay with the Bifrost, apparently Heimdall had been frozen by the Casket, courtesy of Loki.
"Who knows what he may have done to Hanna when he found out that she turned on him?" Volstaag thought.
After making sure that Hogun and Fandral could handle Heimdall on their own, he'd gone after Hanna. He hoped that he wasn't going to find a corpse.
Figuring that the place that she would have gone to head Loki off would have been the throne room, Volstaag made his way over there.
When he was a few yards outside the Throne Room, Volstaag heard what sounded like the shattering of glass.
Rushing in, he saw Hanna standing, albeit unsteadily on her feet, with shards of ice at her feet. Her face was completely pale.
"She probably won't be able to stand for much longer,"
Noticing that she had company, Hanna asked, "Did you make it…" she was catching her breath, visibly trying to stay conscious, "to Thor?"
"We did. He's back."
With a small smile, Hanna breathed, "Good." She then crumpled to the floor, finally giving in to unconsciousness.
Volstaag had not been too far from her, so he was able to catch her before she hit her head.
Sweeping up his load into his arms, Volstaag moved as fast as he could without jostling Hanna too much towards the healing room.
###
When his companions saw him enter with Hanna in his arms, some tension lessened upon seeing that she was at least alive for the moment.
After laying her down on a bed, Sif noticed something that had escaped Volstaag's notice.
"She has no frostbite."
After looking at her more closely, the others found Sif to be right. But how was that possible?
There was no one, living or dead among the Aesir or Vanir that was or had been immune to the hoarfrost of Jotunheim.
A/N 2: What a wild ride. While I was writing the battle scene, I listened to the songs Battle of the Heroes from Revenge of the Sith and Track 11: Final Battle from the Van Helsing sound track. Tell me what you all think.