"Why did you bring us back?" Thor demanded, turning to Odin, as soon as we were back on Asgard.
"Do you realise what you've done? What you've started?" Odin turned to face his son with a look of pure anger and disappointment. I stood back, so that I was standing beside SIf.
"I was protecting my home," Thor answered indignantly.
Odin scoffed. "You can't even protect your friends!" Odin bellowed, removing the Bifrost sword from its holster in the ground. "How can you hope to protect a kingdom?" He turned to the rest of us. "Get him to the healing room, now!"
Sif nodded and she, Hogun and Volstagg assisted Fandral in walking back to the palace. I tried to follow them, but Odin's booming voice stopped me.
"You," he shouted out, making me stop. I turned around to see his grave expression directed at me. My heart plummeted to my feet.
"Yes, my King?" I questioned timidly, looking up at him on the pedestal.
He beckoned me, with a withered hand and I approached him, glancing tentatively at Heimdall, who was standing stoically at the base of the steps. He sent me a sympathetic glance as I passed him. I stopped beside Thor and looked up at the Allfather.
"What were you doing, accompanying trained warriors to Jotunheim?" He asked, his voice eerily quiet with rage. "You have absolutely no experience whatsoever. It was a reckless and stupid decision, not to mention dangerous!"
I ducked my head submissively, knowing that no valid reason would satisfy him. Despite knowing my skill level was not as high as it should have been, to think I could survive the battle, I had let my sister's taunts get to me. I remained silent.
No one else came to my defence, not even Heimdall, who followed the others outside. I waited quietly, for Odin to administer my punishment or to reprimand me for my actions, but he did not.
"You should know better than to run into danger like that," he began, more softly. "You can not follow in your sister's footsteps until you have received the proper training." He waved me away and I took a few steps back so that I was no longer in his line of fire.
He turned his attention back to Thor, who was still seething.
"Protect a kingdom?" Thor questioned in exasperation. "There won't be a kingdom to protect if you're afraid to act." I watched as Thor struggled to prove his point. "The Jotuns must learn to fear me, just as they once feared you."
Odin scoffed, looking down at his son with chagrin. "That's pride and vanity talking, not leadership." I looked over to see Loki watching, looking as uncomfortable as I felt. "You've forgotten everything I taught you about a warrior's patience-"
Thor interrupted his father. "While you wait and be patient, the Nine Realms laugh at us. The old ways are done, you'd stand, giving speeches, while Asgard falls into ruin.
I watched in shock, at the way Thor addressed his father—and his king—with such disrespect. I wanted to look away. This conversation felt private and I felt like an intruder, but I could not tear my eyes from the argument.
"You are a vain, greedy, cruel boy!" Odin bellowed, with such rage and hostility, that I physically recoiled away from him. I could tell the exclamation had shaken the other two in the room, as they looked up at the Allfather in shock.
Thor glared at his father in rage, "And you are an old man and a fool!"
This insult seemed to spark a realisation in Odin and he stared down at his boy, coldly. Thor stared back up at him, breathing heavily, with his eyes tightened into a squint.
"Yes," Odin said gravely, looking down, away from his son. "I was a fool to think you were ready."
Loki stepped forward to intervene. "Father," he tried to reason. But Odin just dismissed him with an aggressive shout, making him take a step back.
I looked up at the king in fear. His face was contorted with a mixture of sadness, anger and defeat. As he looked up at his son, I held my breath in anticipation of what he was going to say next.
"Thor Odinson," he started in an eerily grave tone. "You have betrayed the express command of your king." Thor looked up at his father in confusion. "Through your arrogance and stupidity, you've opened these peaceful realms and innocent lives to the horror and desolation of war!"
He lifted the Bifrost sword and slammed it back into the ground, twisting it to create large streaks of lightning that flicked across the room.
He stepped down to Thor's level. "You are unworthy of these realms!" He exclaimed, ripping off pieces of Thor's armour, much to my shock. "You're unworthy of your title." He ripped Thor's red cape from his back. "You're unworthy of the loved ones you have betrayed."
Thor bowed his head, refusing to meet his father's disdainful eyes as he stripped him of his powers.
There was a brief silence, as Odin stared down at his misguided, power hungry son. I glanced up at Loki, who had remained awfully quiet since Odin had turned on him. He was staring forlornly at his brother, with an unreadable expression, as he watched Odin's outburst.
Odin stepped back up on the pedestal and held out a hand to Thor. "I now take from you, your power," he declared as he summoned Mjolner to him. "In the name of my father." Thor's right sleeve of armour began to fall off. "And his father before." The other sleeve reciprocated. "I, Odin, Allfather, cast you out!"
I watched in horror as Odin sent Thor flying, in a heap, through the window and into the Bifrost, where he disappeared from view. Loki ran towards the bright, rainbow window, looking out for signs of his brother. I reflexively stepped forward as Odin held the hammer up to his mouth and whispered inaudibly, before throwing it out after his banished son.
I watched in shock, as Odin marched down from the pedestal and left the room, without addressing Loki or I. I looked over at the prince who had his back to me, staring out the window where his brother had just been cast out.
I sighed, turning to face the door, where Odin had just exited. I could tell that Loki did not want to talk, and the shock I felt was only just starting to wear off, so I headed outside to where Heimdall was standing, watching Odin stomp back to the palace.
I stopped beside Heimdall, but did not say anything. I had nothing to say. I could tell he was disappointed in me and I could not deny the fact that I was in the wrong, so I kept quiet.
Heimdall looked down at me, analysing my expression. "Are you okay?" he asked in concern.
I turned to face him, nodding slightly. "Yeah," I sighed, turning back to face the retreating king. "Do you think he was a bit harsh on Thor?"
Heimdall sighed deeply. "He wants his son to be great, but he forgets that Thor is not as wise as him, yet. He is young and proud and yearning for the chance to defend Asgard. He does not yet understand the benevolent side to being a leader."
I nodded, understanding Heimdall's words. Suddenly, Loki exited the Bifrost and started walking towards the palace, ignoring Heimdall and I. He tucked his dagger into his belt, which made me realise that I still had one of them. I looked down to see the elegant weapon in my belt, hanging at my hip. I quickly unsheathed it and turned to Heimdall. "Gotta go. Bye."
Heimdall nodded and I sprinted after the prince. "Loki, Loki!" I called out, trying to gain his attention. He stopped abruptly and turned to face me, causing me to skid to a halt, to avoid crashing into him. I held out the dagger to him. "I forgot to return this," I said. "Thank you for lending it to me."
He looked down at the weapon, briefly, before taking it and sheathing it in his belt. He nodded at me, before continuing on his path to the palace. I jogged to keep up, matching my stride with his exceptionally long one.
He did not acknowledge me as we arrived at the castle entrance and entered. Only when we entered the palace did I think to ask him where he was going. "Um, Loki?" I questioned. "Do you know where the common area is from here?"
He flicked his eyes down towards me, before continuing to walk down the winding corridors. Not knowing what else to do, I continued to follow him, until we entered a familiar hallway, and turned into the common area, where Sif and the Warriors Three were sitting and pacing in agitation.
***
I followed Loki into the room, where Volstagg and Fandral were sitting on the couch. Sif walked around the fire and seated herself on the opposite one, while Hogun was pacing around the room agitatedly.
I rushed over and sat beside my sister as Volstagg began to speak.
"We should never have let him go," he declared, watching me as I took a seat beside Sif, who responded bitterly.
"There was no stopping him."
"Well, at least he's only banished, not dead," Fandral reasoned, as Hogun tried to remove a piece of Volstagg's armour plating. "Which is what we'd all be if that guard hadn't told Odin where we'd gone."
"How did the guard even know?" Volstagg demanded as Hogun rubbed his upper arm.
I shrugged my shoulders, completely clueless, when Loki spoke up. "I did."
We all looked up at him in shock. Sif looked furious, while Fandral looked slightly grateful. I watched Loki in confusion. Why would he betray his brother like that?
"What?" Fandral asked exasperatedly.
"I told him to go to Odin after we'd left," Loki explained nonchalantly. "He should be flogged for taking so long." I winced at Loki's harsh opinion as he continued. "We should never have reached Jotunheim."
"You told the guard!" Volstagg shouted angrily, disturbing Hogun's tending to his recently frozen arm.
"I saved our lives," Loki responded sanctimoniously. "And Thor's." He wrung his hands together. "I had no idea Father would banish him for what he did."
Sif stood up, a pleading look in her eyes which I could tell was taking all her willpower and tolerance to uphold. "Loki," she addressed the prince desperately. "You must go to the Allfather and convince him to change his mind!"
"And if I do, then what?" Loki asked in a breathy drawl. "I love Thor, more dearly than any of you, but you know what he is." He leaned towards Sif, his voice becoming more urgent. "He's arrogant. He's reckless. He's dangerous. You saw how he was today." He looked out over the warriors and I, with a pointed look, his eyes lingering on me for a moment, as if urging me to agree with him.
If I had to be completely honest, I did. Thor had done the wrong thing, but Odin's punishment was far too severe, in my opinion.
"Is that what Asgard needs from its king?" Just before he walked off, out of the room, he glanced at me, nodding subtly, before exiting, through the door.
I could see Sif seething, her teeth clenched and her glare following Loki out of the room. I could tell she was mad that her act had not fooled the prince.
"He may speak of the good of Asgard," she breathed, turning around to face the rest of us. "But he's always been jealous of Thor."
I winced at her deficient opinion of the prince, as she glared around, expecting our agreement.
Volstagg spoke up, somewhat coming to Loki's defence. "We should be grateful to him. He saved our lives."
I nodded in agreement with the bearded warrior. Turning back to see Sif's eyes burning in anger.
"Laufey said," Hogan began quietly from Volstagg's side, speaking for the first time since I had walked into the room. "There were traitors in the House of Odin."
My eyes widened in shock at his preposterous insinuation, and it seemed most of the others agreed.
"A master of magic could bring three Jotuns into Asgard," Hogun continued earnestly.
I looked up to see Sif's reaction. She looked as if she wanted to believe the wise warrior.
"Loki's always been one for mischief," Fandral pointed out, seemingly disagreeing with Hogun. "But you're talking about something else entirely."
I nodded in agreement. "We shouldn't assume anyone to be the culprit of this invasion," I said. "Laufey could have been lying to us, We were encroaching on his home."
Fandral nodded in agreement with me, but Sif and Hogun shot each other a doubtful glance, which made my stomach turn in uncertainty.
I watched as the warriors lapsed into silence, sitting back against the couches and thinking about the recent revelations and events. I crossed my legs underneath me and stared out the window, at the beautiful Asgardian sunset, watching as the orange sky faded into the beautiful colours of the galaxy.