Chapter Text
Chapter One
Some Time In The Not Too Distant Future
Screams filled the still air… Jor nearly choked on his own as he scrambled for the Bi-Frost with what little energy he had left. He was burned and exhausted, but his instincts had kicked in, just as his father had promised. Light and sound were a thousand times more devastating. The lapping of Asgard’s oceans against the structures holding the rainbow bridge in place cut his ears like a dull knife, while the shrieks of the dying shot projectiles of agony through his fragile frame.
Later they would tell him what he experienced was a trauma. They would tell him that the things he saw and heard were being absorbed differently because of the adrenaline rush of flight or fight instincts. None of that mattered while his life was still in jeopardy. His father had given him his instructions. The Bi-Frost was his only means of escape, cut off from others, but Loki was a god with special skills no other could ever hope to match.
Jor stumbled several times out of sheer exhaustion. His hands shook violently even as they dragged across the surface of the bridge in a pathetic attempt to keep upright. He was much too young to comprehend the horrors he’d just witnessed. Tears had run dry, and his lips were cracked and bleeding. His tongue felt like sandpaper in his mouth, and his vision was growing blurry by the second. He wouldn’t last long. The BiFrost had already been activated… he didn’t know by whom. It didn’t matter. It was his only means of escape. It was to be his salvation. Just a little further. He felt the familiar pull, and he let himself fall this time. Relieved to be free and yet he was far too broken to concern himself with what would await him on the other side.
*~* Present *~*
The large man set aside his weapon without hesitation as he drew close to the youth who’d somehow made it to Asgard’s doorstep without an invitation… impossible, he’d once believed, but the evidence lay before him. Magic and sorcery, or perhaps a trick by Odin’s enemies? Though his eyes roved for clues, none surfaced. There was simply a boy… having appeared out of thin air, lying half-dead at his feet. His clothes, mostly burned away were distinctly Asgardian, but Heimdall could feel the chill of his bones, and it made his blood pressure drop. The All Father would not be pleased….
*~*~*
“… so young, who would dare hurt an innocent?”
“I do not know, M’Lady. His clothes may be Asgardian, but this is not the realm he hails from. It is possible he is as dangerous as Loki….”
“… not dangerous! He is a mere boy!”
“So was the god of mischief… once.”
“The path he chose was not entirely of his own making, as you well know.”
“The All Father may not agree with your assessment, my Queen.”
“The All Father is wise, but he is still as foolish and stubborn as any man. Leave us. I will care for him myself.”
“As you wish.”
Warning bells went off in Jor’s head like that of Midgardian fire alarms. The voices were familiar, but their awareness with him was nonexistent. They compared him to Loki with sour dispositions, as if they had no knowledge of their shared blood. It was startling to say the least, and Jor struggled to listen. Instead of voices, footsteps drew closer but the boy kept still and quiet. He refused to meet the gaze burning his skin worse than the damage he’d already suffered at the hands of Thor and his power of lightening.
“Your breathing quickens. I am not easily fooled, boy. I know you’ve awakened.”
He was not as adept at lies… that was his father’s gift. Jor slowly opened his eyes to face the only ally he currently had. The wife of Odin… Lady Frigga was just as brilliant and humbling as ever. He didn’t speak. The shock of his experience had made his throat close on him with a suddenness he couldn’t comprehend. Later men of medicine would tell him this was his body’s response to his traumas. The body had a strange way of reacting to such things.
“Do you not speak?”
Jor shook his head, blinking once or twice to clear his gaze. His muscles ached, but the softness of the bed gave him a small measure of relief even in the places where his skin still burned. His clothes had been removed, but a blanket kept him modest in his Grandmother’s presence. It was clear he was in Asgard, but the room around him was pure and untouched. He could not comprehend how that was possible. He couldn’t shake the overwhelming smell of death and dirt from his nostrils. He couldn’t make peace with the gold blackened with smoke and blood when compared to the room as it was now. It was like fire and ice, black and white… had the blood stains been wiped away so quickly? Or perhaps had they never been there in the first place?
“Yet you understand me?”
Jor nodded once, and swallowed hard. His throat was still dry, but it was not overly uncomfortable considering his condition before. His eyes searched for the clear liquid that was his saving grace. It sat beside his bed, and he fumbled awkwardly trying to reach it.
“You are still parched. Allow me,” Frigga insisted, easing behind him so that she could shift his body up, and carefully tipped the glass against his split lips. He drank eagerly, almost frantic until she pulled the glass away. “Easy… you must take your time.”
His head rested in her lap, and she was idly running gentle fingers through his matted hair. It was familiar and comforting in a way he could not fathom after what he’d been forced to endure. His father’s weakness need not be his own, yet here he lay in her arms with such contentment. If he could produce the tears, Jor knew he would be inconsolable by now.
“Do your mother and father still live?” She spoke the words carefully so he could answer them. He only wished he could better explain his predicament.
He nodded.
“They are of Asgard?”
He hesitated, unsure how to answer, but eventually shook his head.
“Yet Asgard is home… is it not?”
Again he found himself at a loss as to how to answer. He was a child of two worlds… neither of them Asgard. Home shifted and changed like the wind. Danger kept to his heels with overwhelming insistence. He wasn’t even sure if he had a home left. With a sigh he closed his eyes, refusing to answer her question and without the ability to explain himself. He didn’t want to alienate his only ally in this realm, but she asked questions beyond his capability to respond.
Frigga seemed to understand, and let out a sigh of her own. “Do you know of me?”
He nodded.
“Do you trust me?”
Again he nodded.
“Then I suppose that will have to do, for now.”
*~*~*
Thor was already tiring of their frequent quarrels over Jane. His father did not approve of his beloved, but the heart would not be swayed so easily. Why could Odin not see the potential he’d once discovered when cast out to Midgard? Jane Foster was worthy. She did not have the strength and fight that the women of Asgard did, but her mind was just as perilous as Sif’s blade! “I do not seek the approval of the All Father, but were you to give her a chance-”
“A chance! A chance! You speak without wisdom, boy! Our people would never give her a chance any more than I can.”
His hands tightened into fists without his consent. His muscles tensed as if he were knee deep in blood and grim from the glories of battle. This was a war he fully intended to win, even if battles were lost in the meantime. “She will prove her worth to both you and our people!” Thor insisted.
Odin turned swiftly to face his son, his good eye narrowed as if Thor were nothing more than paper swaying in the wind. “Perhaps… but only if she undergoes the test. And we both know she will most certainly fail.”
Thor’s eyes widened at that. “You mock me! It was you who cast the eldest son to Midgard to learn of wisdom and mercy, yet you reject the very person who gave me the balance to be a worthy king!”
His father laughed without humor, sounding more cruel than Thor had ever heard him. It was not just the god of thunder who’d lost part of his soul when Loki betrayed Asgard. Both men had changed, and hardened like volcanic rock after an eruption. “You can learn much from beasts of burden in the field and the tiny insects crawling over the surface of this realm, Thor, but to allow them your loyalty and love would be unreasonable.”
Thor grew dangerously close to the All Father, and any hint of patience soon fled. Tension cracked and sizzled in the air between them as they stared one another down more like enemies than family in those few brief moments. “You will not compare Jane to mindless creatures,” Thor warned.
Odin opened his mouth to speak, but another voice beat him to his reply. The god of thunder had a sinking feeling it was for the best. “My lord… your wife cares for the child Heimdall discovered in the Bi-Frost. He has awakened, though he seems to be mute.”
Thor’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Child? What child?”
The All Father stiffened in the presence of the servant. He ignored Thor completely. “Has Eir been able to identify his lineage… or where he hails from?”
The hesitation spoke volumes. “We have yet to discover a genetic match… however it is clear the child is of mixed heritage. He is… Jotun and Midgardian.”
Thor’s self-control left him as he bellowed a hearty laugh. “You lie! That’s simply not possible! No Frost Giant would ever engage in the throes of passion with a Midgardian!”
Panicked eyes widened as the servant took a step forward and bowed lower. “I would not lie, sire! Eir insists that is what he is! The boy is quite powerful; in fact… his wielding of magic is beyond even the god of mischief at such an age! He is healing rapidly.”
“Yet he still does not speak?” Odin questions.
“He will not utter a word in anyone’s presence.”
Thor quirked an eyebrow in curiosity and hope; temporarily distracted from his troubles with Odin. “If he is from Midgard, perhaps it is a Midgardian that will reach him… putting his mind at ease. I could fetch Lady Jane.”
Odin’s eye was sharp when he turned to face his son. “Do not think I am ignorant of your schemes, my son. You do not fool me quite as easily as Loki,” the king snapped, but gave a nod despite his words. “Bring her to Asgard immediately to see the boy. In the mean time… I will see to him myself.”
To Be Continued