fossilised | I come from a land of ice and snow

I come from a land of ice and snow

Asgard sat atop the branches of Yggdrasil since time began, and little had changed in their society in the years since. Each Asgardian was long-lived into the millennia, their lands were fertile, their people brave and strong. They had their vassals, their allies, and their enemies. Yet even those who opposed them respected the might of the Golden Dias, and the royalty who sat upon it. Currently that was Odin Borson, though he grew weary more easily now and had begun to consider passing the throne to his eldest son.

He had been blessed with many children, but only two that he considered worthy of his lineage and status. His firstborn, Thor, strong and honourable and everything an Asgardian warrior should be. His second son, Loki, was not natural born, though none knew that but his wife. He was different, a creature of magic and mayhem, of sharp intelligence. Both were worthy, but together they would take Asgard to a new prosperity, he was certain of it.

Midgard, where the mortals dwelt, was a land raided every few centuries for stock. It was seen as a breeding ground, much like a corral for cattle. Mortals were lesser, short-lived and weak, they were fit only as slaves. The last raid had taken place when Loki had been but a baby, nearly a thousand years ago, but the mortals that had been taken had been bred and cared for so that a healthy slave population still thrived. Slaves were given a weakened mixture of Idunn's crop with their food, to extend their natural lives to at least a few centuries in order to make them worth the effort to train. They had no rights, but they were taught well that this was their natural position.

All slave children were raised in a central pen and taught the same when small, those that then displayed talent at cooking, riding, hunting, housework, artisan skills, or singing were then measured off to be specially trained for higher masters. Every five years those who could afford to buy a slave, or those of high enough status to simply demand them, came to the corral and chose. Those who were chosen were special, were envied, and those who were not ended up working the fields out in the far reaches of Asgard, the most menial of work.

Anthony and Steven had been friends since they were little and being raised in the large pens together. Both had excelled, Anthony at crafting and Steven at warrior's skills, but neither were chosen when they were five, nor ten, nor even fifteen. Now, at twenty, it was their final chance to be chosen before they would be assigned to one of the meanest farmers beyond the borders of the great capital. Steven woke Anthony as the dawn rose, mingled excitement and nerves on his face.

"Anthony! Wake up, I've got news! I heard the overseer talking to one of the passing guards, and Princes Thor and Loki are coming to the corral today."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Anthony knew that Bruce held a fond place in the heart of the All-Father, but he also knew he was no longer attached to anyone in particular but instead managed the entire household. The responsibilities were greater but the prestige lower. And to be honest, Anthony didn’t have a head for that sort of thing. His hierarchy tended to put Loki above all else. As it should be.

He was about to argue with Bruce about responsibility when he showed off the book. Something some old and so well bound was immeasurably valuable. He blinked at the book and then at Bruce. The other man’s whole room was lined in books, floor to ceiling, but most were just bound parchment or scrolls without embellishment…they were cheap copies.

“Bruce… Of course you—” He didn’t want to be the ‘only one missed.’ The implications were terrible. Anthony still felt a little sick about it. Sure, he knew he fawned over Loki, he knew he was in love with him, but he never stepped over that line. He made sure of it. Bruce taught him well when it came to that. “You’re the most precious Midgardian in this palace. No one questions that. And this gift…it’s beautiful. And well deserved.”

"Not the most precious Midgardian to the ones who came to rescue us," Bruce said with a small smile, though he made sure to keep his voice down in case anyone should happen to come within hearing distance. "I've been back in the palace for over an hour, that means I have already heard all the gossip. You needn't fear, all think the Prince showed his temper in pique of childishness, not out of inappropriate affection."

Bruce had never judged, it's why he had helped Anthony understand how he had to behave with Loki and then pass that wisdom on to Steven after he had disgraced himself with the older prince.

"The All-Father would never have come for me, and that is something you must be prepared for one day. I am content with that decision as it was not the best use of resources to keep Asgard safe to come for us, one day you may need to understand why your master does not come."

But the book was a gift that showed that even if Odin's duty had forbidden rescue, his heart was glad for it.

Anthony’s eyes widened and he more or less decided not just to walk Bruce back to his room, but to shove him inside and close the door behind himself after he hurried in after him. He wasn’t angry, but he found the entire thing to be utterly embarrassing. He wouldn’t argue about being left one day. He had no intention of needing to be rescued again and he intended to stay with Loki until the apples ceased working and then he would retire to doing menial tasks away from Loki’s sight so that the Asgardian didn’t need to witness his quick aging and death.

What bothered him was again how easily Bruce had determined the reason for the anger…and why Loki had not bothered to put his things right for a full month after Anthony had been taken. He pinched the bridge of his nose and paced in the small spot he’d often sit in to be lectured by the older man on how to properly serve.

“You need to get it out of your mind immediately that he cares about me. The only thing we need to do is damage control on anyone thinking he was being childish,” Anthony insisted. He was deflecting, yes, but he knew Loki. His prince was not fickle and gossip cut him despite how aloof he acted. “He’s been through so much. We need to turn the gossip elsewhere.”

It would take a lot more than Anthony trying to boss him around to intimidate Bruce, he had been around for far too long and see far too much. Besides, he knew Anthony well enough now to see that he was only trying to mask the fear for his master and for someone knowing his secrets.

"I don't care how the two of you feel about each other, Prince Loki is sensible enough not to flaunt it and so I think you're safe. And you're worrying too much over gossip, there's always gossip and isn't it better for it to be about a childish rage than the potential truth?"

Childishness was, after all, something that Loki had been accused of before. It might stain his reputation a bit, but nothing like finding out he had destroyed his rooms, lived in the devastation for a month, and gone behind the All-Father's back all for the love of a slave.

Opening his mouth to give a retort, any words fell silent on his tongue as he leaned back against Bruce’s door and let his head hit it with a bang. “Stop being so wise. It’s really annoying and… And…Fine. You’re right. Always right, aren’t you?” He couldn’t help but rub a hand down his face. “I have to go back and finish getting ready. One of the imposters.. It was Loki. I’m sure of it, shapeshifted to try and fit in. And that’s a secret, Bruce. We have to find him and kill him….or… I don’t know what the prince is planning but—”

Anthony huffed and reached out to his hug his friend and advisor and teacher. It was a swifter, smaller hug than the one he gave to Steven.

“So it might be awhile until I see you again.” Or it might be never. A campaign like this was not sactioned by the All-Father after all. “Just give us a head start before you tell anyone?”

Bruce’s loyalties were hard to pin point.

To the All-Father yes, but also to the princes.

Bruce's heart was troubled by this, but he couldn't stop the two princes from being headstrong, he didn't have that sort of authority. But hunting down another version of Loki seemed foolhardy and might only lead to all-out war with these other realities that existed... something which he did not want to see.

"You should try and counsel your master against this, there is little that can be gained from pursuing retribution in this way."

But he doubted that Anthony would be able to do anything either, and so he reached out and put his hands on the younger man's shoulders in a gesture that was both warm and affectionate.

"I will give you until sundown, but then I must tell all I know to the All-Father, so do not be surprised if you are brought back before too long."

Loki would never listen to him. Not in this, not when listening to him would wound his pride in front of Thor, or in front of that young version of himself. But Anthony would have to try. He was sworn to keep Loki's well being after all.

Hurrying from the kitchen where he inspected the food to be wrapped up for extended travel between four party members, Anthony found his master in the stables, not his bedroom. That seemed almost like a shrine of his grief.

He paused at the large doors, watching Loki in profile, before he sent the stable hands away and plodded up to the prince.

They were alone for the most part.... And that was difficult for Anthony too. Propriety was never one of his strong suits when they were in public and in private it was so much harder.

"My prince... Provisions have been obtained. And I packed some of your things." So he had seen the room. He made had clear. "But I... I think we should stay here. I do not want to meet your inferior."

It had partly been seeing the state of his brother's rooms that had convinced Thor to come with him against the All-Father's orders, he knew what it was like to love a slave more than was appropriate and he owed Loki for having kept Steven and reuniting them after helping him learn how to be more circumspect. It had been humiliating enough to have Thor seeing that, but to now know that Anthony had seen the evidence of his grief was somehow more upsetting.

It felt vulnerable in a way he disliked being, and that made him sharp and eager to find retribution on something else.

"We have naught to fear from him, but I will not allow him to remain alive, poisoning my name with his foolish deeds. Let me hear no more dissent on this, Anthony."

[Fossil!!!!!]

If there was one thing that Anthony never wanted to see, it was his prince being something other than completely sure and calculating. He understood that this was about his pride, he knew it was going to end in punishment, and that there could be massive consequences. Usually, Anthony was completely up for whatever the wind brought their way, but this time, he feared for what would become of them.

Anthony was not going to hold his tongue. He marched himself in pristine tall boots towards the man staring at his horses, and reached out to take the hem of his sleeve. He’d been doing this from time to time for the last fifty or so odd years of his employment with Loki and while it was childish, and he knew that, Anthony was tactile and the connection was important to him.

Even if it was just through fabric.

“They have the backing of many poisoned worlds. Would it not be better to find a way to sever the branch rather than pluck the twigs?”

[JENIIIII... alas my last tag for today but I am here tomorrow, wait for me!]

Of course Anthony's plan was the more sound one, Loki was far from foolish and he knew that potentially waging war over a few individuals was the epitome of idiocy, but he could not back down now. Even more so because to do so would be to humble himself and say that a slave had better ideas than he.

He did not pull his sleeve from the grasp of Anthony, a sign of how much he had missed the man during their time apart, but his voice was cold and unyielding.

"Those poisoned worlds will have no way to retaliate without a sorcerer of my ability assisting them, the Bifrost cannot pierce realms in this way. If you are too cowardly to attend then you may remain and I will share Steven."

"Master--" He was given a direct order here. He should mind his tongue but Anthony could not. "The place through the Void is foreign and the rules have changed. It js possible that your counterpart is not the most powerful sorcerer in that world."

Actually, Anthony doubted he was in this world too but he would never say it. Frigga still bested him for now, but Loki was growing in his craft and skill.

"You may call me coward but I will go with you anywhere. Nothing could keep me from your side." Not even this folly.

"It is more than mere revenge."

Loki's voice lowered, speaking truth rather than bravado, though he still did not look at Anthony for admitting these sorts of things aloud, even in private, was almost anathema to him.

"Though I cannot deny the desire to see his blood run through my fingers for stealing my most precious of possessions, it is more. He will return to his brother and his father, they will mount their armies for what we did at Vanaheim, and invasion will come. War will come. The only way to stop this is to find him before he reaches his family and slaughter him, so that none will know where the threat came from, and none will be able to retaliate."

How could Anthony argue with that logic? He trusted Loki to have what was best for them all in mind and he let his arm drop, face looking more determined. "What else needs to be done before we depart?"

He was lucky that he wasn't punished for such back talk, but Anthony rarely thought in terms of fortune for his life. This had all been laid out for him and he deserved a Master like Loki. Fate and destiny had been working together to bring him the perfect Master and so Anthony felt all the things, good and bad, that occurred to him were meant to be.

And this chase across the Void to slaughter and inferior version of his Master? That was just part of it.

"I have a month of catching up with back here. Our loose ends need to be tied quickly. Steven must be dragging his feet. Or polishing armour again."

"Nothing, we need only wait for my brother and yours to arrive."

Brothers were not always blood, after all, and Steven and Anthony were close enough that they should have been allowed to hold that title for each other for a long time now. Loki raised a hand and tugged it through Anthony's short hair, some of his anger fading enough to give him a fond look.

"Go and hunt them down, be sure to make certain that there are enough of Idunn's crop in our provisions to last us all for a year of campaign."

He hoped they would not be gone for quite that long, but it was better to be prepared.

A year? That other Loki would make it back to the other Thor easily... Unless the Loki that they had met had been brother to the Thor he had seen his Prince kill. Maybe he had no where else to go now. That could indeed draw out a campaign.

Anthony briefly touched his fingertips to Loki's chest before he rushed off, the length of his hair a bit longer than was usually preferred among the Midgardians (for Asgard favoured a longer mane) caught in the wind behind him.

Whatever bushels of apples Steven was bringing, Anthony doubled it as he fell in line beside his brother and behind the crowned Prince. Thor looked majestic and amused as they headed to the stables and Anthony chances a little bit of an eyebrow waggle at Steven before they reunited with Loki.

There was much to do after that as night was falling swiftly.

He'd been on hunting campaign many times with Thor and Loki before, but this was so very different.

The fact that they had not been stopped and taken before the All-Father by now, despite their slaves openly preparing for campaign, was a strong enough suggestion that while this was not officially condoned, it was going to be allowed. Likely because of Frigga's influence, she had seen the toll this past month had taken on her youngest and she knew that keeping him from his ill-guided mission would only have a worse outcome.

So it was that they led their four horses from the stables eventually in peace, out towards the countryside that they all knew so well. Home. Peace and prosperity. This was where they belonged, but not where they were destined to stay.

Following the thread of seidr he had felt before the other him disappeared, Loki pulled them all through the Void and then hissed in frustration as his horse immediately collapsed due to the cold. Even Aesir horses, bar the magnificent Slepnir, could not withstand Jotunheim cold.

"Why would he flee here?"

"Perhaps he knew we would follow. Asgardians did not fare so well in the cold." Thor was on his feet again, ignoring the plight of the animal in favour of being angry at where they had blindly gone. "Or it is a trick to slow us."

Though no magic was needed to warm him, it would be to keep Steven and Anthony in top shape. Their horses would need an even more highly concentrated act of magic to keep them going and Thor suspected they were already too far gone to save. He was angry at that too. His charger had been a gift from his brother along with Steven all those years ago and he had cherished the beast. Not as much as he cherished Steven but he was still dismayed.

"Send out belongings into the Void to retrieve later. Let us find this imposter. I will rend him limb from limb."

Thor perhaps should not be so foolish into battle with Loki. After all, Loki knew he could best and kill Thor with luck and magic. He just had not told his brother this.

He bid Steven to cloak himself in fur and was already heading across the frozen landscape.

Loki busied himself with setting the warding spells around the two mortals, such that they would feel the cold but only as if it were a sharp winter's day in Asgard and not as a dangerous chill that could leech the life from them. He did not bother with the horses, though it was extraordinarily irritating to see such good beasts flounder, partially for conserving his own energy and partly because they were as good as dead already.

"We must proceed with caution, there are sure to be Jotnar here and no Frost Giant has ever taken kindly to seeing an Aesir on their land. It would do us no good to fall to a pointless battle there without ever seeing the imposter."

A good name, better than giving him the dignity of being called Loki.

Steven glanced at Anthony in concern, this had suddenly become much more dangerous than he imagined it might, and he could think of no reason why Loki would ever choose Jotunheim as a refuge. Surely it would be as dangerous to him as anyone else?

"I liked this a whole lot better in my armor," Tony said as they crouched in a cavern. So far, nothing had decided to eat them, which was nice, but he also was half frozen despite what Loki said. She had warded him, whatever that meant, but his bones felt thicker and heavier. He rubbed his hands together as he watched the princess pace. "We should just go to your dad."

It was the fourth time he'd suggested it but they were still here in the cave instead of in the nice, also cold palace of the King of Jotunheim. Fuck his life.

"I know you're worried about them coming back, but they won't. Listen. We've had enough to do with them. More than enough. They have their people back and didn't try to take us all. We have to cut our losses and work on finding a new home."

But he felt sorry for the princess too. She looked so young and so at a loss. They'd brought evil into their universe, and all because she wanted to help some mortals.

Loki was afraid.

She was afraid of the foolish mistake she had made and what the repercussions might be on all of them, but more than that, she was afraid to analyse her own behaviour and discover why she had more cowardice than she thought. She had not stood to face her foes when her deceptions were laid bare, she had fled without a moment's thought to the land of her people like a scared child.

That she still was a child in many ways seemed no excuse. Helblindi never would have fled, but then nor would he have got himself into such a situation in the first place. She was ashamed, and that made her stubborn.

"If they follow there will be war. They will keep coming and we will have to fight until one of our entire branches of Yggdrasil is destroyed, such-- chaos, such death, that is not what should have come from offering succour to mortals."

He knew what that fast talking meant because he'd done it for years when he had nothing else to say. It threw people off, it kept them away. You just put enough blase truth in there and people sort of put their hands up and let you do you. He wasn't going to let Loki stew in her own mistakes, even if they all centered around trying to help his people.

He stood and wrapped his arms around the much smaller princess, hunching a bit to drop his chin onto her shoulder. He let his forehead press to her long neck and he sighed.

"Let's think smart. We both like to believe that we're the smartest and wittiest people on our planets but sometimes we have to rely on other people. Like now. So think like an evil version of yourself. What would you do if you wanted to find you? You'd go to your home and ferret you out, right? You're on your home turf but he's older than you are and probably is better with magic than you are. So what we really need is more fire power. You've got a stupidly strong husband to be and a sorceress for a future mother in law. I think we need to go there."

She stiffened as his arms closed around her, but only for a moment before she leaned back into his embrace. There was something very odd about him, she had befriended him far faster than she normally would with any other and he fed into her true self as if they were destined to be side by side. It was unfair that he was a mere mortal and would live only a fraction of the time she would.

"We may have already brought war to Jotunheim's doorstep, you think we should bring that war to Asgard as well? We do not even know that he has followed us, but-- we can find out, we can find him and discover what he is doing."

Reconnaissance.

That was not so foolish an idea, right? And it would delay the time until she had to tell anyone of her failings.

"Do you have some sort of magic for that?" Because if she did that meant that he would as well. Tony really didn't like that at all. He was without his armor here and was more or less useless. And he hated that too.

All he needed was some metal, some connectivity, but he was out of his element here.

Or was he?

"I need some supplies. I can make something mechanical. If you can point the direction to go, we can watch them with something that can't be traced back to you," Tony said, already pulling off his shirt.

There were some backup parts in the reactor he could use but he still needed a shell.

"Do you have any pots and pans?"

"Perhaps, I can't locate him specifically with magic, but I know my realm. It will be easier for me to find a seidr signature that does not belong here than it will for him to be able to find one among the many that do belong."

Like spotting an apple in a bowl of oranges, whereas she was just another orange within that bowl. This was her realm and her people, she was Jotnar. It would be easier still if he had brought any others with him, ones who might not be able to hide their magical signature so easily.

The second request, though, that brought her up short in confusion.

"I have naught with me, you know we fled here with nothing. There are small villages within a day from here, they would give us all we needed, why do you ask?"

"Because I'm going to stop being lazy and letting you do everything." Tony could have asked for Loki to just use magic but that would give her magical signature away. Tony had learned enough about how all of that worked, and he understood that when dealing with yourself, you needed to think outside of the box, to know that it was problematic for Loki to just try to find that evil version of herself. Even if it might be easy, it would leave her open.

And for all he knew, they were already on Asgard making a mess of things anyway. Once Loki pinged the people she was sure were trying to find them, she would need to go off grid and that made Tony's invention important. He doubted that the Asgardians would understand what a miniature drone was, and if Tony had a few hours, he could make it small enough that no one even noticed. So back went his shirt over his head.

"Lead the way. Somewhere were no one is going to ask questions. And I'm going to need your help disconnecting enough of my own power source to make our little bug move."

It took only a few hours to hit an outlier village and he and Loki slipped into what looked like an ice mound and ended up being a store room. There were hooks there for fishing and baskets full of twine and that was all that Tony needed to get to work building his quarter sized mechanical bug. Infused with Loki's sorcery, it could remotely monitor the people following them...even they even were.

Which led to the most important part of the whole thing....getting the wiring done. He popped open the reactor, which led into a large tube filled with clear lubricant that allowed for connectivity between the reactor and the electromagnet at the base of the socket. "Your hands are little. I need you to reach in here and yank out the yellow wire."

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