Frigga's sister allowed her to search her thoughts, touching her shoulder from the front while Mantis did the same from behind. Frigga raised an eyebrow as she finished looking.
"Did you find any clues?" Odin asked.
"No, I saw Gullveig speaking with Queen Featherwine, and after that, she was looking for clues to help solve Thor's murder, but you didn't find anything either, did you Sister?"
"No."
"She's hiding something… trust me." Frigga telepathically relayed to Odin before she continued to question her sister. "And you don't have any ideas on who could have killed Thor or how they snuck poison to him?"
"Like I said, it might have been the Light Elves or the Skrulls, but I don't know for certain." Gullveig continued. "They could have transformed into Prince Loki and given it to him. I am truly sorry for your loss, Frigga."
"Thank you."
"Did you hear that my son was nearly killed after Thor?" Laufey questioned.
She turned to her fellow Vanir, who didn't seem to know. "No, I hadn't heard yet. He looks alright."
"She is lying." Mantis said.
"What?" Gullveig blinked, noticing the empath behind her.
"Her emotions betray her: when she said she does not know who killed Thor, her emotions gave off false signals, and when she said she felt sorry, I felt no real sadness, but shame and disgust… in Thor." She pointed to Loki. "And towards him: she is not happy to see him!"
"I suspected as much." Frigga spoke aloud. "I know your skill with magic, including your mental manipulation abilities; when I looked into your mind, I could tell from the way your thoughts were stitched together that there were missing pieces you were actively hiding from me. Could you tell me what they were?"
Gullveig sighed and walked away from Mantis. "A talent matched only by your own, it seems. You leave me no choice."
"Did you kill my son?" Odin threateningly interrogated as the other Vanir cautiously backed away from Gullveig. "Confess, lest you face the wrath of grieving parents!"
"…I did. It was all me."
"Why? Why would you do this, Gullveig?" Frigga gently asked her sister. "Why murder your own nephew?"
"Why?! You know as well as I do that Thor's coronation was fast approaching, yet he was no more fit to rule Asgard today than he was as a child, despite 1500 years of training and royal tutelage. I hate to say it, but under a king who would spend all his days partying while nine realms look to him for wisdom and strength, we will be better off this way."
"And Heimdall? Did you murder him so you wouldn't be caught in your other murders?"
"Partly yes, partly no. You titled him as the supposed all-seeing eye, yet your son always seemed to slip past his watch, and if a dim-witted oaf such as he could, who knows how many enemies could under his rule as well!? As for his friend, the would-be king of Jotunheim, the same could easily be said, but I didn't count on such a lazy, devil-may-care prince being able to defend himself so well, so you at least get my respect for surviving until your doppelgänger could heal you. Or you would have, had you not hid underwater like a coward instead of warning the others or fighting to the death!"
Jotun Loki coldly glared at her, icy daggers forming in his hands. "You're insane! You murder my brother, try to murder me, and you treat it as if it's a stroll through the park! I don't give a damn what you think of me; the only one we'll all be better off without is you!"
The Jotun prince tried to stab Gullveig, but she filled the valley with multiple illusions of herself, leading Loki right through one. He tried to freeze them all, but the real sorceress froze his arms with telekinesis and pushed him aside. Then she summoned her Jörmungandr to the battlefield, commanding the snake to kill Loki. Laufey and Odin blasted at the Midgard Serpent with the Casket of Ancient Winters and Gungnir, but it was empowered with Gullveig's enchantment enough to handily dodge them, and it spewed poison at them.
"Don't breathe it in!" Odin warned before he and the Jotun duo held their breath. While they fought for their lives, Frigga attempted to help them, only to be pulled backward by her sister's telekinesis. Frigga fired a green blast at her, and she met her sister back with an equal blast. Gullveig then cast a shroud of mist around them.
"Mother, where are you?" Detective Loki's voice called from the TemPad.
Frigga teleported out of the way of another blast and answered, "Valley of the Moon Elves, between the Hills of Vin! The Midgard Serp- UGH!" Frigga grunted as she was struck by Jörmungandr's tail from behind and knocked into a daze, her communicator skidding away.
"I won't let Jörmungandr kill you and Odin unless you force me to." Gullveig told her. "Asgard needs at least one competent ruler to protect the nine realms, though Jotunheim doesn't seem to require as much." She spread the mist around Odin, Laufey, and Loki Laufeyson and spoke to her serpent. "Now kill the good-for-nothing son of Laufey!"
Her Jörmungandr moved in on Jotun Loki, who tried to dispel the mist with frost, but it didn't help him as the giant snake snuck up behind him, ready to deliver a big venomous bite, but Detective Loki's Jörmungandr wrapped his teeth around the attacking snake's neck and held it down while Sif and the Warriors Three held its tail together! Detective Loki then cleared the mist with his magic and put his hand on the other Midgard Serpent once more, attempting to enchant it.
"I can't enchant her while she's already enchanted by another. Sylvie!"
"On it!" Sylvie placed her hand on the beast, clasping her fiancé's free hand in the other.
"May I cut in?" Frigga politely joined them, and the three masters of magic enchanted Gullveig's Jörmungandr together, overcoming her mistress's spell. Frustrated, Gullveig cast a spell of fire at Jotun Loki, but it didn't touch him; instead, it formed a protective ring around him. Confused, he noticed Fiamma, her restraints temporarily removed, and her siblings protecting him with their flame powers. Loki smiled appreciatively at them as Mobius helped them out too.
"Now could you be a dear and help us apprehend your possessor?" Detective Loki requested. The turned serpent slithered toward Gullveig, who teleported away from the creature and tried to enchant Loki's Jörmungandr, but Frigg Wodendottir teleported behind her in return and cuffed her with power-dampening restraints.
"Gullveig Freyrdottir, you are under arrest for the murders of the gatekeeper Heimdall and Thor Odinson and the attempted murder of Loki Laufeyson." Frigg then read her rights to her as Odin rushed to his wife's side and Loki's Ice Bros rushed to his. "Allfather, seeing as she's Vanir and this is an Asgardian matter, it's up to you and Great Grandmother Frigga to decide her punishment."
Odin nodded. "First she must be brought before everyone, so all her wicked misdeeds may be brought to light." Soon, everyone who attended the party was called together as her sentencing began.
"It was Thor's aunt? She killed her own nephew?" Jane asked. "How could she?"
Mobius motioned to Detective Loki. "You want to recap? You're the closest to this case; what did you see in her Jörmungandr's mind?"
"She used magic to conceal herself from Heimdall as much as possible and blinded him to ensure his demise: with the gatekeeper out of the way, she joined the party with the others and relaxed until Heimdall's death was announced. She likely knew of Loki Laufeyson's mythical, adversarial reputation with Heimdall and used that to shift the blame to him, or me as it turned out, because her murdering our brother was clearly inspired from his death in the myths! Isn't that right, Selvig?"
"Yeah, it is!"
"Then she enchanted the young Light Elf maiden, Dawn, and had her lead the other Loki to the sweets she poisoned."
"That's why she didn't remember leading the Jotun Loki to them: victims of enchantment never remember what their enchantresses force them to do." Sylvie explained.
"Correct. Then when I alerted everyone to Thor's death, it gave Gullveig the perfect distraction to get to the Jotun Prince alone while everyone was mourning his brother, yet she probably didn't expect him to defend himself so fiercely, and he outmaneuvered and outsmarted her by hiding underwater in an icy shelter! So once again, she bided her time, keeping the Midgard Serpent underground until Mother and her team found her out and took her down. Of course, I gathered all this merely from evidence, deduction, and her serpent's memories, but I haven't seen her perspective, and so the question remains: what was her motivation in murdering both her only nephew and the other Loki?"
"She claimed it was due to Thor's and Loki's lackadaisical attitudes towards ruling, making them unworthy to lead." Frigga answered.
Gullveig smirked. "It won't be long until Asgard thanks me: nephew or not, his rule would have doomed us all to extinction!"
Detective Loki gulped, reminded a bit of his own sabotage of Thor's coronation in his timeline, thinking silently. "…Could that have been me? No, Mobius was right… Aunt Gullveig wasn't anything like this in my universe, and neither was I."
Frigg shook her head. "None are born with the wisdom of ruling: it comes with time, experience, and many mistakes. In time, he would have made a wise and benevolent king, just as he was in my time, if only he was given the chance."
"And her sentence?" Jane asked.
"I vote for death!" Jotun Loki spoke. "And I volunteer; I'll avenge my brother!" He lunged at her and grabbed the bound Gullveig by the throat, burning her neck with his frost and fury! As she choked and began to bleed out, Odin called out.
"ENOUGH! I feel the same anger as you, Laufeyson, but you are not judge, jury, and executioner! Thor was my son, I am Allfather, and this is my matter to decide! Now cease this!"
"Do as he says." Laufey ordered his hesitant son. "Odin isn't one to hold back on punishment." Loki Laufeyson reluctantly released Gullveig as Odin made his decision.
"You seem to be very well-versed in the myths mortals tell about us… then your punishment should be fitting: she is to be bound in the dungeons while her Jörmungandr's venom drips onto her face for the rest of her days."
"One moment please… this Jörmungandr was a victim here, under her enchantment!" Detective Loki interjected. "Is she to be confined with her manipulator for so long?"
"Not necessarily: we will collect the venom from the serpent as needed, and she will be free to encircle the Earth, or anything legal she pleases."
"Thank you."
"Huh, so that's a girl Jörmungandr?" Mobius asked.
"Indeed she is."
The Einherjar then took Gullveig off realm for sentencing, and then they brought Thor's body to Odin. "Now, we'll hold his ceremony back on Asgard. You are welcome to join us, Asgardian Loki." Odin invited him. Loki wiped a tear from his eye and nodded.
"Great Grandfather, wait!" Frigg then approached them. "May I have a moment with Grandfather Thor's body? I want to see him one last time."
"…Very well."
As the goddesses of thunder went to pay their respects, Frigg placed her hands on her Great Grandfather, looking down in his closed eyes. "Grandfather, I don't know if you can hear me somewhere, but since the Thor from my universe left us, I have been doing my utmost to carry on your bloodline, make you proud, and help others as you have. In my time, you lived your life to the fullest to a good long age, but here, you were taken from your loved ones far too soon. As the Odinforce flows through my body, allow me to follow in your footsteps one final time."
Her sisters gaped in surprise as she began to flow magic into Thor's body.
"Frigg, what are you doing!?" Atli exclaimed. "Don't tell me…"
Frigg faced Ellisiv. "Ellisiv, I pass the Odinforce to you when I'm finished here; use it well."
"Frigg, don't, please…" Ellisiv begged as she began to weep. "Allow me instead, you're-"
"No, only I currently have the power to bring him back. You and Atli take good care of each other." Both younger sisters were in tears as she continued to revive their grandfather.
"Then lend your power to me, and I will bring Thor back: I'm his mother!" Frigga pleaded.
"No, he needs you!" Detective Loki argued. "Allow me to do it: I'm the fool who let him die!"
"You did not!" Healer corrected his host. "You're the hero who helped solve his case and catch his murderer, so you need to be here for his returnnn!"
Frigg shook her head. "No, it was not even remotely your fault, and your child will need you, Great Uncle Loki, just as Grandfather will need his mother. It has to be me: you must accept this!"
"Frigg… thank you." Detective Loki teared up again. "Your grandfather is very proud of you, I assure you, and so am I." Jotun Loki, Jane, Frigga, and Odin all thanked her next.
As the spell finished, Frigg's body glowed golden, and she dissipated into the atmosphere before Odin placed her remains among the stars. "'Tis none worthier to possess the Odinforce than those willing to sacrifice their very life for their family."
Thor's eyes opened as he slowly sat up. "Whoaaa, those Light Elves don't fool around with their drinks; how long was I out?"
"THOR!" His family cried as they all hugged him at once.
Thor chuckled. "He-hey! Were you guys worried about me?"
"Should we tell him?" Jotun Loki asked through his own joyful laughter.
"I will." Frigga volunteered. "Thor, my son, you were dead; your aunt Gullveig poisoned your food, but she has been apprehended, and you are safe."
"Poisoned? So… how am I alive now?"
"Your granddaughter Frigg from the future gave her life so you could come back to us!"
"What? But… but I never even got to meet her! I wish I could have gotten the chance to thank her!"
Odin looked to the stars. "You will, someday." He smiled. "But thanks to my great granddaughter Frigg's noble sacrifice, today is not that day."
"Well then…" Jotun Loki raised a glass of wine. "I propose a toast: to Frigg, the noblest woman I've ever met, and to having my brother from another mother alive and well!"
"To Frigg and Thor!" The guests drank and enjoyed the rest of the party.