Spidey's Babysitting Service

A Brief Intermission As We See What Thor Is Doing

"Everything is going to be alright." Thor assured himself.

"Didn't ya say these guys hate your guts?" Rocket asked.

"Oh, thank you, I had almost forgotten." Thor threw back sarcastically. He sighed. "I was merely trying to look positively on what will most likely be a complete disaster."

"Worth a shot though, right?"

"Yeah," Thor smiled, "Worth a shot."

It was no surprise when they arrived on Jotunheim, that the cold was sharp and biting. Despite his numerous layers, Thor still felt as though he was freezing over. Groot, who had spent far too much time on midgardian websites, said something about the temperature making him want to die. Rocket, who hadn't spent time on midgardian websites but was naturally nihilistic, agreed.

Thor decided not to dampen their dark moods with positivity. Different coping mechanisms worked for different people. He himself was not feeling at all positive – the cold fucking sucked – but rather than coping with dark humour, he was pushed forward with the memory of his sibling. This was for their people, to work towards a world where a frost giant like Loki would never feel like they had again.

It took them at least an hour to find signs of civilisation that hadn't been destroyed by the jagged scar the bifrost had left on the planet. Thor bitterly regretted not bringing Heimdall, who might've been able to land them closer to the palace. Regardless, they were here now. As was the large group of towering frost giants that had began to circle them.

"Is it too late to turn back?" Rocket asked.

"I welcome death," Groot said. Or rather, "I am Groot."

"If you wish to turn around, you may. They will likely let you go. This is my problem and I am the only one who needs to take responsibility for it."

Rocket shrugged. "I don't got nothing to lose anyway."

"What brings you here, Odinson?" Said a voice as cold as the world it hailed from. Thor looked to it and recognised the owner.

"Prince Helblindi," Thor greeted, bowing low. "I come to speak to your mother."

"Farbauti is dead. Died during the famine of last winter." Helblindi said. "I am king of Jotunheim now."

"My solemn regards." Thor replied, standing straight. "Then I come to you to speak king to king."

"Odin is dead?"

"Yes, I took his place as king of the asgardian people, although the realm of Asgard was destroyed by Hela."

"Goddess of death?"

"You know her?"

"She invaded this planet with her father. Your father. We would be stupid to forget her."

"Asgard forgot her."

"Then you're stupid."

"True enough," Thor replied, "but we were also manipulated. For a long time when I thought of this planet I thought everyone on it were monsters. So did all of Asgard. I want to change that. Everyone else in the universe evolved, but Asgard never did. I want to help push us forward, and the first thing that needs to happen is owning up to what we did. Nothing Asgard did to Jotunheim was justified, and after speaking to someone that was around during the time of our invasion here, I know you likely only tried to attack Midgard because we put you in a position that forced you to act out."

Helblindi snorted. "Yes, obviously. But how do you plan to fix more than a thousand years of oppression? Do you think saying sorry will make us forget what Asgard has done? Your brother killed more than half of our population. You personally killed at least a hundred jotuns when we peacefully let you go after you trespassed on our realm."