Temptation

Silence...

"I'm sorry, you have reached the life model decoy...."

"Shut up, Stark! I need to speak to you. And now!" Thor growled at him down the phone. Blast these infernal things: Why couldn't he just use a raven like civilised people?

Tony rolled his eyes as he sat, feet up, in his lab. Beside him, Dummy - his favourite robotic assistant - prepared him a little drink. He was nothing if not practical with his genius these days. "Ok, ok, Point Break, what's up? Why you got your Asgardian knickers in a twist this time? Loki caught you playing with your tesseract again, eh?" He sniggered like the smutty little boy he loved to be when Pepper wasn't around.

Dummy carefully lifted the cocktail it had poured into a martini glass, and turned to hand it to him. Just as Tony was about to take it, Dummy turned it upside down and poured the entire contents into his lap. The ice and drink instantly soaked him. Making him jump and yell.

"Jeeeeeesus! What the..... do that again, and you'll be picking packages for Amazon until your batteries are cold and dead!" With an almost sarcastic mechanical "ohhhhhh," it retreated, and Tony sat back down, wincing at the wet fabric.

"I BEG your pardon?" Thor stared into the phone as if it had bitten him. "What did you just say?"

"No. Shit. No. I wasn't... I meant..." Tony flapped his hand to try blot up the mess with a rag from the bench. "Sorry. Little mechanical failure this end. Now, what can I help you with?" He smiled and could virtually see Thor's confusion.

"Well, do you know where I can find Strange? I need to ask him something - a favour actually - about the time stone." For once, Tony had no pithy reply. No joke, no smart comeback. The tone of Thor's voice said it all.

When Loki first went AWOL, everyone had secretly been a little relieved. He was, to say the least, unpredictable. You could never truly relax while he was in your universe.

As the weeks had rolled on, though, even Tony and Fury had expressed their worry over his seemingly complete disappearance. It wasn't like before, when he'd come back all burdened with glorious purpose and a psychotic desire to rule the planet. This time, he'd been a changed God as Fury put it. Less glorious and more burden, wasn't that how he'd eventually described it to Thor.

"I need to speak to Strange" Thor repeated, this time more slowly. "I need him to get me to this TVA place and I think we need the time stone to do it."

Tony shook his head, unaware for a second Thor couldn't see him. He paused and took a breath. This wasn't going to be well received. "You can't."

"What do you mean 'I can't'? "Thor was confused. "Why not? This is important Tony, I wouldn't ask if there was an alternative."

"You can't because he's not here. He went to Kamartaj. Wong contacted him a couple of days ago to say they were under attack and he hasn't come back. Seemingly he left to go to some mountain or other in search of the attacker and we have no idea where he is. Sorry Thor, you're on your own with this one." Tony couldn't bring himself to use his usual nicknames or sarcasm. He knew this was too serious, even for his disrespectful humour.

"Shit."

The line went dead and Tony sank back into the chair. "Dummy? Another one, make it a triple." The robot got to work.

Eva sat in the shade, watching delightedly as the dark haired boy clutched the toy horse, making neighing sounds. He was as bright as his father had ever been and, for one still so young, extremely articulate. At only two he had been able to say 'mama' "Nuncle Tor' "Figga' and 'Bezzy' and often had. The other name she had practiced with him every night as she laid him in his little carved bed? 'Papa'. She had a small portrait of her and Loki in a gilded frame next to the little boy's bed. Every night, he'd turned and looked at it with his little green eyes, smiling brightly. "N'nite Mama N'nite Papa. See soon." She'd known he didn't really know what it all meant, but she'd wanted him to know his father. For when he returned. She always told him that Papa would return.

Now, years on, she sat and watched him play under their tree, as she promised she would do, and waited. As she had every day for years. At first, Erik had gurgled and wriggled on a blanket. Then, as time passed he'd toddled and scraped his knees. To begin with, he'd had his brother to play with too. Blezan had loved Erik from the moment he laid eyes on him. It had hurt them both when he decided to join Asgards army and was posted away as a cadet.

He'd sent regular updates though and both Erik and Frigga were incredibly proud of their brave big brother. Now, Erik played alone with little toy soldiers and bows and arrows. The one thing he'd always played with? His little toy horse. Now battered and a bit disreputable looking, he loved it above all others. Even now, as he began to see himself as a more "grown-up" boy, he loved it. Neither Frigga nor Blezan had ever dared touch it. Normally a placid soul, he was feral about Sleipnir, as he'd named it. He was about to show just how much he valued him.

Thor walked across the gardens, accompanied by Sif and Gundrun. Eva looked up, their faces grey and fearful. A hand of ice gripped her heart. She stood, clutching onto the bark of the tree, the roughness digging into her skin. As they approached, she began to howl, a visceral, keening wail. Thor carried a bundle. A bundle dressed in green breeches and soft leather boots. A bundle with beautiful dark hair and pale skin. A bundle that wasn't moving.

"Thor?" her head swam and her legs gave way. Sif ran and caught her as Thor placed Frigga on the soft green grass. "Baby? Wake up baby? " she crashed to her knees and gathered the little form into her arms, rocking. "Wake up Frigga, Mama's here...." she looked up at Thor.

"She fell off her horse." he knelt and put his arms around her and the lifeless girl. "She broke her neck, it was instant Eva, she didn't feel anything I promise you." he sobbed as Eva screamed her lungs out. Erik ran to Gundrun and hid in her skirts.

"What happened to Figga?" he asked quietly, his face as white as snow. Gundrun crouched and hoisted him into her arms. "Is she.... dead?" his little voice quavered and Gundrun nodded.

"Yes Little Prince, she has gone to be with your Grandparents in Valhalla." She answered, tears running down her face. He was being so brave for his Mama. Erik nodded solemnly.

"Who will tell Blezzy and.... who will tell Papa?"

Eva stared at her son and just stopped screaming. "I will." They were to be almost the last words she uttered for months.

Silently now, she stood as Thor picked up the little girl and covered her with his cloak. She watched mutely, as he carried her back to the palace, following on arm in arm with a weeping Lady Sif. As they passed the horse that threw her, Eva stopped. For a moment, she looked at it. Everyone held their breath. Eva let Sif's arm go and walked over to it.

The little mare bowed her head as if she knew. Eva rested her forehead against it's neck. "I forgive you." she whispered. The mare whinnied and pawed at the ground. Eva patted her neck and walked away, resuming holding onto Sif.

The palace echoed throughout to the sounds of crying. When Frigga was laid in a little wicker bower, covered with flowers and a beautiful sheer cloth so people could come and pay their respects, the one other thing she was given, was a small toy horse named Sleipnir.

"I don't want her to be lonely. It's a long way to Valhalla" said the little boy with the dark hair and green eyes.....