The Winter's Sun Chapter 2, an avengers fanfic

Chapter 2: Creation of Chaos

Loki sat on the stone floor outside the healer's entrance while Thor paced back and forth in front of the large double doors. They weren't allowed inside, a fact that had not sat well with either one of them. It was worth mentioning that Loki had handled the exclusion from the room better than Thor had.

He was sure that the whole of Asgard had heard the various threats that had escaped Thor's mouth when they were refused entry to see Elysia.

The thundering sounds of footsteps alerted both boys to the arrival of their parents. Frigga had spared both her sons a glance, determining that they were quite alright, before she swept into the healer's quarters without a word.

Normally neither Thor nor Loki would want to look Odin in the eyes after disobeying him and have to explain what had happened. But they were too concerned over their sister to worry about their inevitable punishment. Yet when they looked into their father's eyes all they saw was fright, something that they had never seen in him before.

Odin reached out for his sons and only when they were both in his arms did he feel the smallest hint of solace. "What happened?" Although Odin's hold on the boys was gentle, his voice was firm. He doubted that anyone had spared the time to hear what had occurred to cause Elysia's current state, and he would not sit idly by while his daughter was injured.

Thor pulled back from Odin, understanding that he needed to put aside his fear and give his father the answers he was searching for. "We do not know, but we found her floating in front of a blue cube in your vault."

Odin's eyes widened and a new sense of dread engulfed him. He knew exactly what it was that Thor was talking about. Before either one of his sons could tell him anything else, a scream was ripped through the wooden doors that encased Elysia and all three of them winced against the sound. Odin let go of them and ran into the same room his wife had disappeared in.

Thor and Loki were left completely baffled. From the looks of things their father had known just what it was that Elysia had been found with, and based off of his reaction it didn't mean anything good.

Both boys had once again been left outside the room and before Thor could resume his pacing, Loki reached out and grasped ahold of his hand. "Elysia's going to be okay right?" Thor's eyes softened when he looked over at Loki, taking note of the way he was trembling as he kept their hands locked together.

Thor tried to be brave for his little brother, so he plastered on a small smile and poured reassurance into his tone, "She has to be. We swore it would be the three of us to the very end, remember?"

They would not let Elysia break that oath so easily.

In all her centuries Frigga had never felt such powerful magic as she had when entering healer Eir's rooms. It was so present and suffocating that she felt the urge to take a step back out of the vicinity. But her heart broke as she took in the scene before her, a real life image of what stories were made of.

Elysia laid face up on one of the tables, her small body illuminated by a soft golden glow. Her fingers twitched and ever so often a small moan would work its way past her lips. On her wrist resided a strange bracelet, one that Frigga had never seen before. It looked as though it had been molded to fit perfectly, not even the smallest of spaces remained between it and her skin.

Frigga tried to rush towards her daughter but Eir quickly reached out and halted her movement. "Lady Frigga you mustn't touch the child, it is not safe" Eir tried to speak calmly but trepidation still lingered in the air around them.

"What do you mean she is unsafe? She is a small child, she couldn't cause harm even if she wanted to." Under any other circumstance Frigga would have stopped and thought rationally about what Eir had said, but these were not normal circumstances.

Eir nodded towards one of her assistants, silently telling them to demonstrate what exactly it was that they were protecting their queen from. One of the healers in training stepped towards Elysia and reached a hand out to make contact with her arm. It was going well until the golden glow that surrounded Elysia burned bright and tendrils of light shot out and forced the healer away from the girl.

The strange energy around her daughter would not let a single soul near. It was almost as if this magic was protecting her. Frigga couldn't help but find the thought ridiculous, surely whatever it was would be able to recognize that no one in this room wanted to harm Elysia.

"The more we try, the harder it pushes us away." Eir went on to explain, at a loss for what to do.

Frigga's hands sparked a soft green and she removed herself from Eir's hold. To her the solution was simple, "Then we push back." The women moved out of Frigga's way, knowing better than to stand between a mother and her daughter. The closer that Frigga got, the brighter the gold color grew, until she was standing right beside Elysia.

She reached out, and as expected was met with resistance. In response she threw more of her own magic out in an effort to keep the foreign energy contained. Frigga's smile grew as she was able to reach closer and closer, until finally she pressed forward and laid a hand on her daughter's face.

That's when the screaming started.

Frigga did not know what to do. Should she try to sooth her daughter, or risk letting go? What if she let go and was unable to make contact again? She could clearly see that it was her touch that had set Elysia off, but every instinct in her would not allow her to unhand her child.

Green and gold clashed violently, a physical representation of the struggle in the room. One hanging on for dear life and the other trying hard to escape. The colors would have been beautiful had they not been born from such dire circumstances.

"Do not touch her!" All were startled by the yell that had come from Odin as he barged into the room. He didn't take the time to look at what was going on around him, focused solely on the placement of Frigga's hand. Without breaking stride he walked through the pulsating storm of magic and removed her hand.

Immediately Elysia's screams faded into small groans as sweat began to gather on her forehead. Clearly the skin to skin contact had taken a toll on her. Odin wasn't surprised, especially considering what it was that now resided in her veins.

"She absorbed part of the Tesseract."

The room went dead silent at Odin's admission and every head turned to stare at the prone girl in either horror or pity. The mood in the room dropped, every healer was now convinced that the princess would not survive through the night.

The Tesseract was the keeper of the Space stone and every creature in the galaxy knew that no one could contain, let alone touch, a stone and survive. In fact they believed it was a miracle on its own that the princess was still alive in this very moment.

Frigga felt as though she had been dropped in freezing ice water. No. No this could not be. Not her daughter. Her thoughts ran rampant in her panic, not wanting to believe that her child's life would soon be snuffed out. She desperately grappled for any inkling of hope, "If that is the case then how is she still alive? She must not have had direct contact with the stone, or she must have some natural kind of immunity." Maybe her already existing magic was helping to counter the effects of the stone.

"I do not know. But we mustn't touch her, we do not know the consequences just yet."

"You cannot expect me to stand here and let her go through this alone." Frigga could not believe what she had just heard. She knew all too well that a cruel streak existed within in her husband, time of war had revealed that, but she never would have thought that it would extend towards their children. She refused to stand for it.

Odin's eyes softened as he gazed upon his wife. She misunderstood him, what he said was for Elysia's benefit. If he could change this than he would have, but there was nothing more that he, nor anyone else could do. He just needed Frigga to come to the same realization. "There is nothing you can do my love. This is a battle she must fight on her own, just pray she is strong enough."

It was part of their way of life to pray to the Allfathers, something that Frigga had never once questioned, but in this moment it seemed like doing so would be pointless.

A few agonizing hours later the soft golden glow that surrounded Elysia's body slowly began to sink into her skin, almost as if it was becoming one with her. Her moaning ceased and her body grew still, not even her fingers twitched.

Everyone held their breath, fearing that this would be the moment when the princess of Asgard would be no more. The small princess who had stolen all of their hearts, with her dimpled smile and gentle nature.

Odin and Frigga prepared to mourn their daughter while Thor and Loki were unaware that their trio would soon become a duo.

One of the healers reached out to lay her hand on Elysia's forehead, intending to wipe away the sweat that had gathered there, assuming that the danger had passed now that she was no longer glowing. But as soon as she made contact a tingling sensation bloomed in her arm. She looked down to see her hand rapidly aging before it began crumbling to dust. The feeling spread and the woman let out a scream as she quickly withered away into nothing.

The others watched in a horrified silence, not daring to breathe.

Elysia's eyes shot open taking in her surroundings, growing more panicked as she realized where she was. She turned her head to the side and noticed Odin and Frigga standing off not too far from the table. Relief hit her swiftly and she reached a hand out towards her mother, wanting nothing more than to be held. It was the look of terror plastered across their faces that stopped her mid reach. She was completely unaware of the fact that she had just sucked the life force out of someone.

"Mother…"

Odin's arms tightened around Frigga when he felt her try to move towards their daughter, not wanting to take the risk of Frigga forgetting what had just happened and try to embrace the little girl. It near broke his heart to see the confused despair in Elysia's eyes as she watched him hold her mother away from her.

"Mother please…" Elysia continued to beg her mother to come to her, wanting the comfort that she knew she'd receive from her. But before Frigga could react, Eir reached out towards the console and slammed her hand down causing a barrier rise up around the table, trapping Elysia inside a dome.

The effects were instantaneous. Elysia begun crying and pounding her fists against the barrier, trying so desperately to escape the small space, all the while she began screaming out for Frigga.

Frigga couldn't remove herself from the steel grip that Odin held her in. All she could do was slump in his arms and cry along with her daughter, feeling like the worst mother in the universe for being unable to even hold her child when she was so clearly afraid.

The more distressed that Elysia got, the brighter her eyes became until they were completely overtaken by the golden color that once engulfed her body. Faces stopped being faces and people became colors instead. Odin turned into a vicious dark blue blob, while Frigga turned into an array of soft sage. The two opposite colors reaching out towards one another and intertwining in some semblance of a dance.

It didn't make any sense to Elysia. How could there be colors where people once stood? And why couldn't she turn it off? She tried blinking and she tried rubbing her eyes, but it was to no avail. The colors remained and her fear grew to new heights.

The voice from earlier echoed in her head as she continued to cry out.