Chapter 1 – The New King

D90/1 ABY

On an unknown world, inside a rather comfortable house, on a rocking chair, sat a human male – short in height, with a partial grey beard and black hair. Infront of him was a small fire coming from the fireplace, with its smoke flowing through the chimney of the house. Behind him was the front door, and to his left was a study. The walls around him were riddled with pictures of the man smiling. In some he held a great game, in others he was surrounded by other people of different races and species.

As the man was cleaning his pocket chronometer with a white cloth, he rocked and rocked his chair. "Who are you,", he breathed on the pocket chronometer, "and what do you want?", he asked to the two uninvited guests that had appeared behind him just a moment ago.

"The name is Crowley.", one of the uninvited guests spoke. Hearing this the man sitting on the rocking chair, turned around to look at the two. Crowley was flanked by a woman who seemed very afraid at the sight of the sitting man, even though she was atleast a foot taller than both of them. In her hand was some kind of a stick, which was radiating a lot of power, with its upper end covered in cloth. As the sitting man looked uninterested at this, Crowley continued, "King of the Crossroads."

The man showed no reaction at this, so Crowley spoke again, "I have been sent by Hel."

Hearing this, the man turned back towards the fire, and started cleaning the pocket chronometer again. "And what? Don't they teach you how teach how to knock in Hel?", the man asked.

"For that I apologize but I do come bearing gifts.", Crowley spoke, gesturing towards the stick.

This piqued the man's interest and he got up and walked towards the two. As he walked, Crowley spoke, "The first is from all demon kind,", the man was now standing right in front of them, "we heard that you collected weapons – the more ancient and arcane, the better."

The man then looked at the stick, more specifically the end covered by the cloth. "May I present,", Crowley started and the woman removed the cloth from the stick's end, revealing a very sharp tip, "The Lance of Metatron – the Archangel." The woman then handed the lance to the man, while bowing slightly.

The man let out a deep breath, "Impressive.", he said with eyes that revealed his hunger. "This beauty – she kills the bad ones fast, and the good ones slow and painful. Too bad it can't kill an Archangel anymore."

"Ironic,", Crowley spoke, "Seeing that it was created by an Archangel."

"There is only one Archangel that Metatron wanted to kill, and he wanted that son of a bitch to suffer.", the man said. "The magic, the craftsmanship – so powerful."

"Oh! The second gift,", Crowley spoke producing a little box, "is from myself, personally." He then gestured for the man's permission to enter his study. The man then walked inside his study, followed by Crowley and the woman, and sat behind his desk, "Something I thought, you might like", Crowley spoke placing the box on the desk.

The man placed the lance behind him and tentatively opened the box. "Where did you get this?", the man asked as the contents of the box came into view.

"It's amazing, what some people just leave lying about.", Crowley smiled answering his question. A while later he said, "Consider it your coronation present."

"Pardon?", the man with slightly raised eyebrows.

"Brings me to your third and final gift.", Crowley said, "The Throne of Hel."

The man gave a small laugh at this, closed the box and asked in a mocking tone, "You want me to be King?"

"Well, with Azazel now dead, and Lucifer back in his box… We need a ruler.", Crowley said. As the man continued to look at Crowley with a poker face, Crowley spoke, "You are next in line, Ramiel – Prince of Hel."

"It's just a name.", Ramiel shrugged, "Doesn't mean anything.", while looking at the box.

"Still… the crown is yours if you want it.", Crowley said unsure.

"I don't.", Ramiel simply said, while Crowley looked at him in confusion. Then he pointed at Crowley and said, "You take it."

"I…", Crowley started uncertainly while Ramiel stood up. "Pardon?", Crowley asked utterly confused, while the woman looked at Crowley.

"You seem ambitious enough," Ramiel spoke gesturing at Crowley as he walked away from his desk and faced the door, "Conniving enough.", he continued, "Slimy enough." Crowley had his back towards Ramiel, mentally agreed with the description and turned to look at Ramiel. As the two looked at each other, Ramiel spoke, "So take it!", with his hands raised in a welcoming gesture. Raising his right hand towards Crowley, Ramiel said, "Go for the glory… kid."

The woman now looked fearfully at Crowley, who had a confused yet hungry expression on his face. "Anyone dares to dream…", he started with his eyes unfocused. "But, what about the others? You are not the only Prince", Crowley asked.

"Azazel was a fanatic – a true believer in Lucifer's master plan", Ramiel spoke with the word master in a sarcastic tone. "The rest of us… well the truth is – we stopped caring a long time ago." Ramiel then took a pause and continued, "Asmodeus has his hobbies, Dagon has her toys. We're happy where we are."

"I graciously accept.", Crowley spoke with a slight smile, while the woman subtly rolled her eyes, something Crowley saw and decided to teach her a lesson when they got back.

"Swell.", Ramiel said smiling, "But there is one thing."

"Nothing comes without a price.", Crowley spoke.

"Well, this should be easy enough.", Ramiel said, closing the distance between him and Crowley, "Leave us alone and make sure everyone does the same.", Crowley and the woman shrunk slightly at the aura Ramiel surrounding Ramiel, "If anyone or anything bothers a Prince of Hel… it will be on your head 'King Crowley'.", Ramiel spoke, "You don't want to know what happens… when you piss us off."

"I humbly accept your terms.", King Crowley spoke.

D92/1 ABY

Two days had passed since their arrival on Asgard, capital of the realm of Asgardia. Hera and Kanan were spending time together in their room within the palace. Allfather Thor on the insistence of Hera and Kanan had married the two of in secret, with a very small ceremony. Lying on the bed Kanan said, "I thinking about joining the Aesir."

Hera looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Why is that? You want another reason to stick by me?"

"Yeah. Being married to you isn't reason enough.", Kanan answered sarcastically.

"Careful, love.", Hera said, "But seriously, you know that the Aesir are more militaristic than the Jedi, as dad had told us before.", Hera thought about how Kanan had felt about being part of an army, back when they had joined the Rebellion.

Placing a kiss on her forehead he said, "It just feels like the right thing to do… atleast for me. Before Scarif, I learnt a lot from watching Thor. He behaved more like a Jedi than any Jedi I knew. During the training sessions he gave us, I realized what the Jedi were lacking."

"What do the Jedi lack?", Hera asked curiously.

"Acceptance. The Jedi were not very forthcoming about accepting the wide multitude of emotions. The Jedi code said that 'There is no emotion', yet we were always expected to show compassion.", Kanan said. "When I was talking to Tarre about the Jedi of his time, he only told me one thing – 'The Jedi Council of my time always confused love with attachment.' Looking back, it was the same with the Jedi before the Empire."

"But it is different?", Hera asked.

"Oh very. That is why I want to join the Aesir. They are a lot more accepting of emotions than the Jedi, they stand with the light and are yet not chained by it.", Kanan said.

Hera smiled at this. Snuggling close to him she said, "Not to mention they have a lot of cool abilities." Kanan laughed at this. "Well, you can tell dad tomorrow, at the feast he has held in our honour."

"Actually, the feast is held in your honour Hera.", Kanan said.

"Are you jealous?", Hera asked looking at him

"Nope.", Kanan answered closing his eyes, "I am happier and more content than I could ever imagine."

Hera then closed her eyes and laid her head back on his chest. "It's not just in my honour though. The feast is also in Tarre's honour."

"Really?", Kanan asked.

"Well yeah. He is the new champion of Asgard.", Hera said.

Roaming the halls of the palace was Loki, whistling a tune he had learnt during his time away from Asgard and the realms. All the time the Prince of Mischief was remembering the conversation he had with Fenrir and Bruce, after his son had calmed down and stopped taking a swing at him (none of which hit him though). He had met both Ava and Jesse, and he was very impressed with their latent abilities. Loki was also very happy with the progress Fenrir and Bruce had made. Loki had also met with Hera and Kanan. Looking at Hera, he did feel a pang of grief, for she bore such a resemblance to Angelica. Overall, he was happy to meet them both, and knew that Thor's praise about the two of them was accurate. 'I wouldn't be surprised if she was to lift Mjolnir, one of these days.', Loki thought.

What had shocked him though was the bandage on Tarre's neck and the mask covering his eyes. Fenrir had warned him though. His thoughts were then interrupted by a sound of someone quietly sobbing, coming from Jesse's room, which was coming from Jesse's room. Opening the door to his room, Loki stepped inside and saw the boy curled up on his bed, the sheets thrown off, crying in his sleep.

Sitting down on the bed, Loki pulled the sheets back on Jesse, using the force he closed the door and placed a hand on Jesse's head. He then began to hum the tune his mother would always hum for him. The effect was instantaneous, Jesse stopped crying, his face relaxed and he began to have a comfortable sleep. Loki stayed with the kid, until morning.

D93/1 ABY

Ezra, Sabine, Zeb and Rex were enjoying the market place of Asgard. Rex compared the place with Coruscant, stating that like Asgard, Coruscant too was a giant single city. The difference was that Asgard was not built upon a volcanic world and that it was more beautiful than Coruscant. They saw so may things, the statue of Buri, Bor and Odin – the three Allfathers. Ezra and Sabine's Lothwolf, which they had named Sira, was bounding ahead, with Ezra yelling at it to stay with the group. When they caught up with it, they saw Sira sitting on her hind legs, her tongue out and her tail wagging, looking at the food stall in front of her, which was serving some funky kind of meat.

"Ok.", Sabine said as Sira then turned at her and started whining. Using the money, Thor had given them she bought Sira and everyone else the funky kind of meat. "Thank you.", she said to the woman.

"Your very welcome, my dear.", the woman said. As Sira chewed on the meat from her and Ezra's hand, the woman started a conversation with Sabine asking if she and Ezra were from Mandalore.

"I am and so is he… in a way. But how did you know?", Sabine asked. Sira had now switched to Zeb and Rex, eating the meat from their hands.

"Tarre Viszla.", the woman answered.

"Oh! Right", Sabine said, "My name is Sabine. This is Ezra, Zeb and Rex," She gestured at the three, and then patting Sira's head she said, "and this is Sira."

"I am Asny,", the woman said, "owner of this fine food stall."

After a small conversation with Asny, the five of them moved as her stall was now getting very crowded. Rex was sort of looking back in her direction as the went onwards. Zeb nudged Ezra slightly and together the two of them shared a small laugh at Rex, who saw this and gave a small chuckle.

"She seemed interested in you. Why don't you go talk to her?", Sabine asked.

"I think I will.", Rex said.

"Ok then, remember to come by the palace in the evening. Won't want to miss the feast.", Sabine said.

Inside the apartment of Tarre Viszla, some distance away from the palace and the market. Tarre and Ahsoka had just finished cleaning the place, which had been left unattended for a long time. "You know they make droids for this.", Ahsoka said wiping sweat from her face.

"They do, but give yourself some credit. 12% of the credit.", Tarre said with a smile.

"!2%?", Ahsoka asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well… I did most of the heavy lifting, besides 12% is a good number.", Tarre said.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes at this, "We're going for a bath. After that, you are taking me shopping." Tarre smiled at this, and lifted her up (bridal style) and walked towards the bathroom.

After a long relaxing bath, the two came out and were preparing to leave, when Tarre's commlink beeped. He ignored it, but Ahsoka picked it up and answered. She saw Thor's hologram manifest, "Ahsoka.", Thor bowed his head a little.

"King Thor.", Ahsoka bowed her head a little and smiled.

"Is he hiding in the wall?", Thor asked.

Ahsoka was a bit confused by this and then turned around to look for Tarre, who had mysteriously disappeared. On the floor next to her was note saying – 'If he asks, I am not here.'

"Something like that.", Ahsoka said picking up the note.

"Hmm. I want you to ensure that he doesn't miss tonight's feast.", Thor said.

"He wouldn't.", Ahsoka said.

"Also, I have transferred the list of requests made by the people for the champion to answer.", Thor said.

"Requests?", Ahsoka asked.

"Yes. As the champion of Asgard, he is honour bound to answer every call throughout the nine realms – from diplomatic missions to rescuing cats from trees.", Thor said with a smile.

"How many requests are there?", Ahsoka asked.

"Too many.", Thor answered with a sigh.