Fic: A Traitor in the House of Odin (12/14)

[bookishwench]

Peter nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand on his shoulder from behind. He turned to find Sif very gently trying to lead him away from the dais. He managed to step backwards a few paces before he realized what else was happening: the assembled Einherjar were becoming restless again. They looked livid.

“It might be better if you leave very quietly,” Sif whispered, “and very quickly.”

Thor, who was still standing close to Peter, noticed the shift in mood and rapidly took in the scene. He frowned, then shook his head at Sif.

“Too many,” he mouthed silently.

She looked around the throne room again and seemed to concede the point. Instead, she drew her sword and stood directly behind Peter, back-to-back, ready to attack anyone who led a charge against him. He didn’t really know her very well, but he appreciated the gesture. Still, he couldn’t help thinking that if a few hundred heavily armed space Vikings were planning to kill him, there wasn’t much any of them could do about it.

“Loki,” Frigga said calmly, breaking the accusatory silence she was leveling at her husband. “Come here, please.”

He immediately climbed the steps of the dais to stand beside her.

“Yes, Mother?”

“Loki’s skill in magic is unquestioned,” she said, putting a hand on her son’s shoulder but keeping eye contact with Odin. “Would you concede this?”

“I would,” Odin admitted, “but I see no point in a display of tricks now.”

“More like exposing one,” Frigga said, turning her attention back to Loki. “Darling, you have the skill to go inside of minds and see memories, do you not?”

“I do,” Loki said uncomfortably. “It’s usually not very pleasant for anyone involved, though.”

Odin snorted, then said, “You want Loki of all people to search my mind to see what I have done with Mjolnir? He is the god of lies, Frigga! Why would he not lie about what he sees?”

“No,” Frigga said, turning back to Loki. “I want you to go into my memories and see if anything appears to have been tampered with. Can you do that?”

“This is ludicrous!” Odin said, but Peter thought he looked rather alarmed.

“Why would you want me to do this?” Loki asked, ignoring his father.

“Because when I checked earlier, there are a variety of signs that one has been put under a memory spell. I have practically every one of them: experiences everyone else can recall but me, mild headaches that come and go on my left side, periodic extreme thirst. There is only one left. Is there a small mark of some kind behind one of my ears? It would be extremely difficult for me to see for myself,” Frigga said. “Could you look, please?”

Loki’s brow furrowed, but he nodded. He carefully folded her right ear to one side, then drew in a sharp breath.

“There are two runes here, written extremely small: knowledge and loss,” he said.

Frigga nodded as though this confirmed her suspicions.

“Thank you. Now, if you would be kind enough to go into my mind and see exactly what knowledge has been lost? It should appear as a blurred area amidst the rest of my thoughts.”

Though he still seemed reluctant, Loki closed his eyes and, gently touching his mother’s shoulder, made the connection necessary to see her memories. For a long moment, nothing at all seemed to happen except that Odin’s eyes were crackling and Thor looked worried. Then Loki’s eyes shot open wide.

“There are enchantments here,” he said, his voice dark with barely suppressed rage. “Many of them, like patches of dense fog. I can’t see through them.”

“He is fabricating falsehoods,” Odin said.

“He is not,” Frigga said, her eyes screwed shut in concentration. “I can see them too.”

“Or he is putting them in your mind himself,” Odin said.

“I cannot create memories that never existed,” Loki said, still locked in looking into his mother’s mind and seeming appalled at whatever he was finding, “nor would I do such a thing to my own mother even if I were capable. That would be a lie too far, and whoever has done this is guilty of nothing less than treason.”

“Can you clear them away?” Frigga asked.

“I do not know,” Loki said. “I would not want to harm you.”

“I believe I have already been harmed,” Frigga said. “Healing may hurt, but it is better than sickness.”

“I absolutely forbid this!” Odin stormed. “Loki, you will not assault the queen in this way!”

“I believe that, while you rule Asgard, I am still the ruler of myself,” Frigga said, glaring at him. “I have made my wishes perfectly clear. Loki, I would appreciate it if you would do your best to remove whatever is quite literally clouding my memories.”

Loki didn’t even glance back at Odin. Instead, he carefully put his other hand to her forehead, closing his eyes in concentration. A green aura started to emanate from the pair of them when Odin suddenly strode quickly towards them, his hand on his sword hilt.

Thor was quicker. He placed himself between the king and his goal, holding Mjolnir between them. It took both Asgardians a moment to realize Peter had moved to stand by Thor in a battle stance at the exact same moment, his chin up and fully expecting to be blasted right off the planet, but meeting Odin’s single eye with his own gaze.

“Father,” Thor said, his voice low, “you will leave them be. My mind misgives, and I hope my fears shall not come to fruition, but it is not Loki’s magic that worries me.”

“Then my own son is a fool as much as the ingrate foundling I stupidly pulled from the stinking refuse of that temple long ago,” Odin bellowed. “If you dare raise that hammer to me, I will call it back. I gave it, and it is mine to withdraw that gift at will.”

“Maybe so, but you didn’t give me anything,” Peter said, and he looked so ferocious that Thor was taken aback. “Even if you take Thor’s hammer, I’m still here, and for a mortal I’m pretty strong.”

“Laughable,” Odin said, “and possibly insane.”

“He isn’t alone,” said another voice, and Sif joined them. “Something foul has happened here, and until it is clear what, I will honor the hospitality of Asgard and protect our guest as surely as I will protect our princes or our queen.”

“I notice your vow to serve your king goes unmentioned,” Odin said.

“I would defend you from any outside attack, but the only one here who is trying to harm you is yourself,” Sif said. “From that I cannot defend you.”

“I have done as much as I dare, Mother,’” Loki said, stepping back from Friga with an exhausted exhale. “There is too much amiss to clear everything at once, but your memories should start to come back to you now, beginning with the most recent. Are you well?”

Frigga slowly opened her eyes, and Peter gulped. He’d seen that look before when May had found out he was Spider-Man and he had been keeping it a secret from her: a combination of betrayal and fury.

“That was quite a revelation,” Frigga said coldly. “Where should I begin? With the fact you have repeatedly erased memories I had that you found inconvenient, or perhaps that one of them involved me accidentally overhearing your ridiculous plans to make it look as though Peter was responsible for an attempt to overthrow the crown?”

“You did?” Thor said, turning back to Odin.

“Do try to catch up, brother,” Loki said. “I suspected something along those lines at about the point when the Grishnaks were able to avoid Heimdall’s gaze. I certainly didn’t do it, and the only other one who could is the king. Heimdall also said that he had seen who put the trackers in Peter’s clothing, but that he couldn’t say who it was. Not wouldn’t, couldn’t.”

“Because he is compelled by his oath to obey the king,” Thor said, realization dawning as he laid his hammer on the floor in shock. “But then if it was not Father arriving through the Bifrost, who was it?”

“No one,” Frigga said icily. “It was a bit of simple misdirection. He has been here the whole time, haven’t you, either cloaked in invisibility or changing your appearance to look like someone else.”

“Like that guy at the stable who started spreading the rumor about the crown being stolen,” Peter said.

“And ransacking our rooms,” Loki said. “My guess is he made himself look like one of the maids come to tidy up the hearth as that would be the disguise least likely to draw suspicion.”

“Ridiculous!” Odin said. “Not a word of it is true!”

“Father,” Loki said, glaring at him, “you’re lying. And I would know.”

“Why would you do such a thing?” Thor asked, looking so betrayed he was on the verge of tears.

Realizing he was cornered, Odin glared so hard at his son that Peter swore he saw sparks shooting from his eye.

“I grow weary of my sons, princes of Asgard, spending all their time with Midgardian fools!” Odin barked. “They are mortals, doomed to live and die in such a short span that their fates should matter to you as little as the passing of a moth. Yet, against my express orders, my own wife brings one here, judging him fit to set foot in the Realm Eternal!”

“Mjolnir judged him worthy,” Thor said, standing his ground and looking furious. “Have you forgotten that?”

“Worthy or not, these ludicrous so-called heroes whom you devote so much of your time and energy to protecting are beneath your notice! You should be here, learning the proper way to govern the kingdom and finding an acceptable wife rather than that prattling idiot of a scientist. She is, I grant you, pretty enough in her own way for now, but within a few decades, she will decay like all the rest and be lost to time,” Odin said, pausing, then his voice became a shade gentler. “I would save you that heartbreak, my son. Look elsewhere before their mortality poisons you with their weakness.”

By now, Peter was feeling extremely awkward. He glanced over at Sif, whose sword was still drawn. She gave him a sympathetic look and shrugged. Peter stared at Mjolnir, which he had somehow automatically picked up when Thor had set it down. He didn’t even remember doing it. It felt strange in his hand, though it wasn’t heavy. Somehow, as crazy as it seemed, he started to get the sense that it was angry.

“You aren’t alive or anything, are you?” he whispered, hoping he didn’t sound like he’d lost his mind.

The hammer quivered very slightly.

“Okay, sentient hammer, new thing to add to the ever-expanding list of stuff in my life that is weird,” Peter said. “Do you want me to put you down?”

Nothing happened, so Peter took that as a no and clutched the handle just a little tighter.

“And give back that hammer!” Odin suddenly yelled, lurching forward and grabbing at it.

The hammer stubbornly stuck to Peter’s palm, Odin’s hands scrabbling along it and unable to get a grip, let alone pull it away. He made a noise that sounded something like a very angry grizzly bear (or what Peter imagined one would sound like since that was at least one experience he hadn’t dealt with yet), gritting his teeth in rage.

“Husband,” Frigga said quietly, “you are embarrassing yourself. You have said the hammer chooses who is worthy. Obviously, it has chosen Peter, and it rejects you.”

“Someone has done something to it!” Odin said, turning to Loki. “What enchantments have you put on it?”

“Perhaps the same should be asked of you,” Frigga retorted angrily. “You have used Mjolnir repeatedly to show Thor’s authority, his innate worthiness, but the moment it accepts someone you consider insignificant and rejects you, suddenly you call its power into question. How convenient!”

“Peter,” Sif said quietly as Frigga and Odin continued to argue.

She pointed to one side, and Peter followed, the distraction of the king and queen arguing drawing almost everyone’s attention. Loki realized they were making their exit and tapped Thor once on the shoulder, pulling his gaze away from the scene playing out very loudly on the dais. Inclining his head slightly in the direction Sif and Peter were going, Loki told Thor with a look to follow. A moment later, Loki simply disappeared.

By this point, Sif and Peter were close to a side door near the back of the throne room. They slipped quietly outside, then exchanged a quick look of disbelief that they’d gotten away with it and broke into a run through the nearest door outside, Thor catching up to them in seconds.

“Where’s Loki?” Peter asked, handing Mjolnir back to Thor as they ran.

“Who knows?” Thor said. “Who ever knows?”

Judging by the tumult coming from the direction of the throne room, someone had finally realized they were gone.

“Damn,” Thor said. “This is really so much easier with two instead of three. Peter, grab my arm. Sif, neck.”

Before Peter had time to think, Thor had used Mjolnir to lift them into the air, out of the sudden tidal wave of Einherjar who were now pursuing them. They were left standing there, staring, utterly useless, as their quarry simply flew away.

Less than a minute later, Thor landed on the rainbow bridge, just outside of the golden dome of the Bifrost. Loki was already waiting for them inside.

“Took you long enough, brother,” Loki said.

“Not all of us can evaporate like the morning dew, brother. Peter, I believe we had better end your visit now,” Thor said.

“Yep, that’s fine by me, just fine, no problem,” Peter said, staring back along the bridge and seeing a dark cloud of Einherjar amassing at the end of it.

“Heimdall,” Thor said, striding quickly to the Bifrost’s platform, “we need to go to Midgard. Now.”

“To the home of Anthony Stark?” Heimdall asked.

“Indeed, or has my father forbidden you from sending us there?”

“Not yet,” he said, “though that could change at any moment.”

“Then we had better leave now. Sif, I believe Tony and his lady would be very happy to extend you their hospitality, especially as it is the eve of the Midgardian New Year,” Thor said.

“I accept with gratitude,” Sif said quickly, joining the others on the platform.

Moments later, Peter once again experienced the blinding tunnel of light as he hurtled across starry universes, very happily leaving Asgard behind him. Then, with an abrupt jolt, they stopped. They were back on the helipad of Avengers Tower, and Pepper was already opening the door to join them on the roof.