Chapter 31
You are hereby invited to the formal coronation celebration of King Thor Odinson of Asgard.
The invitations sped through worlds. Asgard had a very far reach, and it showed.
From Vanir nobility to the best of Nidavellir’s crafters, from the best of mages in University of Alfheim to the creme de la creme of Earth. The top people of the Milky Way galaxy, otherwise known as Yrggrasil, the nine realms, were invited to the event of a lifetime.
On Earth, reporters were desperate to be able to report on the event, and when she opened the invitation, she nearly fainted.
Christine Everheart saw how far she had come that she was reporting on this event through her personal invitation in her capacity as the Avengers favorite reporter.
“Lilith, what’s in the envelope?”
“Our invitation.”
“To where? Why are you so afraid of another social event?” Tony asked.
She passed it over wordlessly. “Thor’s coronation.”
“On Asgard. Tony, I don't have a choice.”
“Why?”
“If I decline he’ll look into how and the only detection I can’t block from completely is the magic of Asgard. Even through everything, it still recognizes me as of the royal bloodline. And if Thor, now that he's King, looks, he’ll find it.”
“So we’re going?”
“I’m a Gryffindor, aren’t I? Alright, I’m in.”
“Thor, what are you asking?”
“I am asking that you go to my coronation as not a brilliant researcher from Earth, but as my Lady Jane, future Queen of Asgard.”
“You really mean it?”
“Of course. I love you.”
“I love you too, Thor.”
“Heimdall, how fares the universe?”
“It fares well, though you shall have to ask Sif about Midgard.”
“Has something happened?”
“I know not, for I cannot see the realm.”
“You have not looked?”
“No, it is blocked from my sight.”
“Loki?”
“No, My King. I could not see the one who did it, but it does not have his signature.”
“Only those of the Royal bloodline of Asgard can block your sight, I know that. But Father kept many secrets. Are there any left but Loki and I?”
“Yes. Your cousin. Odin's elder sister died in childbirth and he took her daughter as his own. But Hela’s bloodlust outgrew her, and he imprisoned her for as long as someone sits on Asgard’s throne.”
“Where is she?”
“My King, the Allfather imprisonments her for a reason.”
“Just as he expelled me and locked up Loki. Heimdall, the throne has fallen to me. Where did he send her?”
“A barren world with no name. But she feeds off the magic of Asgard, if she were here she would be unstoppable. My King, I do not advise you”
“No, you do not. Heimdall, you are my friend, that is true. But you have turned away from the throne before, even if it was for your own needs.”
“You are suddenly full of wisdom, my King.”
“I have no choice, Heimdall. Bring her back.”
Heimdall sighed but obeyed.
“This feels much better.” Was the first thing Hela Odinsdottir said when she returned to Asgard for the first time in over a millennium.
Thor summoned Gungnir to his hand, knowing the action was symbolic. For all he was a hothead he did know how not to be, he had just previously ignored those lessons. The last few years had taught him otherwise.
“You’re not Odin.” She said.
“He fell in battle a fortnight ago. I am Thor, King of Asgard.” He was still unused to the title but saw from her hungry gaze at Gungnir she wanted the throne more than even Loki did.
“Shame.” She said. “I would have liked to gloat.”
“Father made a lot of enemies.”
“I’m not your enemy. I just want what’s rightfully mine.”
“And what might that be?”
“The throne of course. Queen Hela has a nice little ring to it.”
“I ordered Heimdall to cancel your imprisonment so I could fix what my father sowed before my coronation. You may be elder, but I am fathers only true born.”
“Wasn’t there another brother?”
“Adopted.”
“Like me. You didn’t mention that.”
“Loki tried to exterminate a planet when he found out the same, so I feared for whether or not you knew.”
“I might not have been born Hela Odinsdottir, but for all purposes I am.”
“Yet Gungnir did not come to you when Father fell. I do not wish for another enemy.”
“Let me guess, you’re going to go the sappy route of I only want to get to know my sister?”
“No. I need the commander if the Valkyrie. Asgard’s defenses were penetrated once already, we cannot have that occur again.”
“Well, I have been yearning for a good fight. Goddess of Death and all. What were you the god of again?”
“Thunder and lightning, the sky in its whole expanse. But those titles irrelevant, you’ll find the ambassador from Earth, what Midgard calls itself, will not worship you at all.”
“That I’m not worried about.” Hela said. “I’ve always been connected to death, of course I felt when a relative of ours united Deaths Hallows.”
“What.” Thor asked. After they had established a sibling-like albeit stiff rapport, they had set off along the rainbow bridge, Thor sending Gungnir back to its place. “They’re real?”
“I’ve seen one of them. Even wielded it. The wand of power. It’s a magnifier. Like Mjolnir.”
“How would you know of my hammer?”’
Hela smirked a smirk only an older sister could pull off. “Because it was mine first. Enjoy your hand-me-down.”
“Yet I have Gungnir.” He smirked the smirk of the annoyingly obnoxious younger brother he had seen Loki pull off so many times.
And for the first time, the two siblings chuckled together.
“Were you ever disowned?” Thor asked.
“When I was banished. The stipulation was only a King of Asgard could reinstate me by bringing me back.” Hela answered. She had connected to the magic of Asgard and was content to let the wells fill up before risking her newfound freedom.
“I searched for the secrets father kept with Gungnir and could not detect you. Or rather I could detect someone very similar to you but I could not detect who it was.”
“The wielder of the Hallows. It is not me. I cannot trace your connection, but I can sense several factors.” Hela was just as curious as Thor, might as well help him help her. “She is powerful, like you and me with our half and half parentage, we’re halfblood, that makes us more powerful. She is also like that.”
Thor furrowed his brows. “Half blood?”
“Half Aesir, half not. It magnifies any ability, which is why Bor agreed to your parents match. She is like that, but I can feel the power rests in her magic.”
“I saw that as well, but nothing else.”
“I sense a very large mix. Blood of Aesir, Vanir, Jotuns, Midgadians and something else, of pure magic, not to mention that of death…” Hela paused. “This is either very good or very bad. She holds not one Hallow as I once did. She not only wields all three, she owns them, and through them, death itself.”
“Is it good or bad? You would know best here.”
“She is going to be beyond my power or yours, or even both of us together, even with Loki added to the mix. If she is with us, that is good. If she is an enemy Asgard is doomed.”
“That was what Heimdall said of you.”
“Yet he can see me and not her. I will stand by you in your claim to the throne, King Thor, if you allow me one boon.”
“I know better than to owe blind favors.”
“I don’t think you’ll mind this one.” Hela said, and Thor agreed, tentatively.