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Wanda returned to Asgard in a star-shaped tear of scarlet light that opened in the courtyard like a wound in the air.
For a heartbeat, the palace looked the same—golden spires, shining bridges, the great columns that seemed carved from sunlight itself. Then the wind shifted, and Wanda realized what her eyes had missed at first glance.
The courtyard was full.
Not with servants. Not with courtiers.
With soldiers.
Rows upon rows of Asgardian warriors stood in formation, shields strapped, helms under arms, spears and swords gleaming. Wagon-trains loaded with supplies rumbled past. Smiths ran between stacks of newly forged weapons. Valkyries wheeled overhead like white birds of war.
And at the far end of the courtyard, Odin stood upon the great steps of the palace—Gungnir in hand—speaking to commanders whose faces were scarred and grim.
He was preparing for war.
Wanda's breath caught.
She had left an active battlefield to return to a realm that was supposed to be safe—only to find it braced like a drawn bow.
A familiar figure moved through the crowd.
Harry.
He spotted her at once, relief flooding his face. In two long strides he was in front of her, and for a moment he forgot that he was acting as king when Odin was away, forgot the watching eyes, forgot the tension in the air. He hugged her.
Wanda held him tightly, fingers pressing into his back as if to confirm he was real.
"You didn't send a mirror call," she murmured into his hair.
"I couldn't," Harry answered softly. "Everything… changed. The moment the Bifrost brought them home."
Wanda pulled back enough to search his face. "You're hurt?"
"No. I'm—" Harry hesitated, then glanced toward Odin. "I'm busy."
That was one word for it.
Wanda turned.
Odin's voice carried across the courtyard like thunder.
"—and if she dares step into Asgard's shadow again, I will end what I should have ended long ago."
Wanda felt the air tighten around her ribs.
Hela.
So that was the shape of this fear.
Harry's jaw clenched. "He executed them," he said quietly, reading her expression. "Three lords. The ones who broke Helheim's seals. And the magicians."
Wanda stared at him. "Executed?"
Harry nodded once, grim. "No trial. No debate."
Wanda's hands curled. "Odin…"
Harry caught her wrist gently. "Don't," he warned. "Not here. Not like this."
She forced herself to breathe.
"You came back alone?" Harry asked.
"I left Hela in Vanaheim," Wanda said. "King Freir asked us to stay. I refused. Hela stayed because she knows Odin. She said if she walked into Asgard unannounced, she'd be imprisoned again for five thousand years."
Harry's eyes flicked toward Odin. "He'll take that as proof she's plotting."
"I know," Wanda said, bitterness creeping into her voice. "He hears caution and calls it conspiracy."
They moved quickly through the courtyard, slipping past soldiers and servants, up the broad palace steps where the air smelled of polish and steel and freshly lit torches. Every corridor they passed held evidence of Odin's new urgency—runners carrying sealed messages, healers preparing bandage stores, council scribes scribbling faster than their hands could keep up.
Wanda reached the doors of the war room and paused.
Even before entering, she could hear it—raised voices, sharp orders, the scrape of maps being unrolled.
Harry pushed the doors open.
The war room was a circular chamber with a table carved from stone and starmetal, etched with the World Tree and the Nine Realms. Crystals floated above it, displaying shifting images—Jotunheim's icy plains, the moons where mining camps had once stood, the borders of Vanaheim pulsing like a bruise.
Odin stood at the head of the table, the new armor Harry had forged for him fitting his frame like destiny made metal. At his back, faintly glowing, energy-tentacles hovered like living weapons, twitching slightly with his mood.
Frigga was seated to one side, calm but watchful, hands folded as if she were holding her own tension in place.
Several generals and jarls stood around the table, silent when Wanda entered.
Odin turned.
His single eye fixed on her like a spearpoint.
"So," he said, voice cold, "the Scarlet Witch returns."
Wanda didn't flinch. "All-Father."
His gaze swept over her, as if checking for wounds, weakness, hesitation. Finding none seemed to irritate him more.
"Are you with me or Hela," Odin said.
"I am with my son," Wanda replied evenly.
Harry stepped forward at once, voice controlled. "Grandfather—"
Odin cut him off with a raised hand. "Do not call me grandfather when you argue against me in the same breath."
Harry stopped, jaw tightening.
Wanda's expression sharpened. "Odin, I did not come to fight you."
"No," Odin replied, leaning slightly on Gungnir. "You came to tell me I am wrong."
Wanda held his gaze. "You are preparing for war against a threat that hasn't moved."
Odin's armor tentacles flared, as if bristling.
"She has moved," he snapped. "She sits in Vanaheim."
The room went even colder.
Frigga's eyes closed briefly, as if in pain.
Harry spoke carefully. "Hela stayed because she knows you will treat her presence here as invasion."
Odin's lip curled. "And you defend her absence as innocence."
"It is not innocence," Wanda cut in. "It is restraint."
Odin's voice rose. "Restraint from the Goddess of Death? Do you hear yourself?"
Wanda's hands tingled, scarlet power stirring instinctively—then she forced it down, clenching her fingers until her nails bit her palm.
"I have seen what she is," Wanda said, controlled. "And I have seen what she chose not to do. She could have slaughtered half of Vanaheim's council. She didn't. She could have marched that army toward Asgard. She didn't."
Odin stepped closer to the table, the crystals above it vibrating faintly. "And what did she do instead? She made herself the king's shadow. A blade behind his throne."
"She made herself a deterrent," Harry said. "The war with Vanaheim is not happening because she is there."
Odin's eye narrowed. "Or it is delayed until the moment she chooses to strike."
Wanda took a breath, then said the truth that mattered.
"Odin, your army is exhausted."
The generals shifted. Some looked down. Others stared straight ahead, refusing to acknowledge what was obvious.
Harry seized the opening. "They've been fighting for weeks," he said, voice firm now. "They lost friends. Brothers. They need to eat without counting rations. They need to sleep without listening for horns."
Odin's jaw worked. "If I let them rest and she attacks—"
"Then you will have an army too tired to defend you properly," Wanda snapped, the first crack in her composure. "You don't protect a realm by grinding its defenders into dust."
Silence struck the room.
Frigga finally spoke, her voice soft—but carrying.
"He is right," she said to Odin. "And she is right."
Odin didn't look at her. His gaze stayed locked on Harry, as if the boy before him was a battlefield he refused to yield.
"You speak as if you have years," Odin said quietly.
Harry met his eye without wavering. "We do. Because Hela is not here to fight and what of the three lords?"
Odin's voice tightened. "What of them?"
Harry's voice dropped into something heavy and terrible. "They were pillars of their houses. Wealth. Influence. Armies. Their deaths do not end their power—they redistribute it."
Odin nodded slowly. "I know."
Wanda frowned. "You executed them. You didn't think of what happens next?"
"Their estates are restless," he said. "Their soldiers are leaderless. Their allies are frightened. Some will bow. Some will… test."
Odin's armor tentacles writhed slightly, as if hungry.
Harry continued, "If you march the entire army to the gates now, you leave the realm under-defended internally."
Odin's eye flashed. "You think I have not considered that?"
Harry's voice stayed calm, but stronger. "Then consider it again, because you are acting out of anger."
That was the moment the room truly froze.
Even the crystals above the table steadied, as if afraid to flicker.
Odin's gaze burned.
Frigga rose smoothly, stepping between them as she had done countless times across millennia—between Odin's temper and the world that would pay for it.
"Odin," she said quietly. "He is not insulting you. He is reminding you that the throne must be wise, not only powerful."
Odin's shoulders rose and fell once.
For a long moment, it looked like he would shout.
Then his voice came out low.
"You speak like a queen."
Harry's jaw tightened. "I am acting as king."
Odin stared at him.
Then, with a sound like steel grinding, Odin turned away from the table and walked to the tall window that overlooked the courtyard. The soldiers below moved like pieces on a board, unaware that the hand moving them was shaking with fury.
Odin spoke without turning.
"Do you know what it is," he said, "to bind your own child in chains because you believe the realms will burn if you do not?"
Wanda's breath caught.
Harry went very still.
Odin continued, voice harsh. "Do you know what it is to hear her scream your name, not in hate, but betrayal?"
Frigga's expression softened with old pain.
Odin turned back slowly.
"But I do," Odin said. "And I will not be caught unprepared again."
Wanda stepped forward. "Being prepared doesn't mean being reckless."
Odin's eye narrowed. "Then propose something better."
Harry exhaled, gathering his thoughts like a commander, not a child.
"We rest the army in rotations," Harry said. "Half on duty. Half home. The veterans first. The injured. The ones with children."
Odin's gaze remained unreadable.
Harry continued, "We tighten internal security. We absorb the dead lords' private armies into royal command. We appoint temporary stewards to their estates, overseen by grandmother and the loyal council."
"And Vanaheim?" Odin asked.
Wanda answered, "Freir is consolidating. He will not move against Asgard—especially not with Hela watching. But we should send envoys. Quiet ones."
Odin scoffed. "To negotiate while death sits at their king's shoulder?"
"To confirm intentions," Wanda said. "And to make it clear that Asgard watches too."
Harry added, "If Hela intends betrayal, she wouldn't allow those envoys to return."
Odin stared at them both.
Frigga spoke again, gently. "Wisdom, Odin. Not pride."
For a long moment, Odin was silent.
Then he struck the floor once with Gungnir.
The sound echoed through the palace like a verdict.
"Very well," Odin said. "Rotations. Internal consolidation. Envoys."
Harry let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
Wanda's shoulders loosened slightly.
But Odin's eye remained cold.
"This does not mean I believe you," Odin said to Harry. "Or you," to Wanda.
It wasn't cruel. It was honest.
"It means," Odin continued, "that I will not waste my warriors out of impatience."
Harry nodded. "That's all I'm asking."
Odin's gaze sharpened. "And if she steps into Asgard?"
Harry answered without hesitation. "Then we deal with her together."
Wanda's fingers flexed, scarlet light flickering briefly. "Together," she agreed.
Frigga watched them—husband, grandson, and the boy's mother—standing in a triangle of tension and loyalty and fear.
Outside, the horns of war still hung in the air.
But for the first time since Odin's return, the realm breathed—just a little.
Because the army would rest.
And because the next war—if it came—would meet Asgard awake, not exhausted.
When the tension in the war room finally loosened—when Odin turned back to his generals and Frigga began issuing calm, measured instructions—Harry slipped away.
The palace corridors felt different after that confrontation. Quieter, somehow. Not empty, but subdued, as if the walls themselves were listening, storing the echoes of raised voices and unspoken fears. Servants bowed as he passed. Guards straightened, fists to chests, eyes following him with a mixture of reverence and uncertainty.
And yet, in moments like this, Harry felt most like himself when he was alone.
The forge awaited him.
Deep within the palace, past halls few nobles ever entered, lay the royal forge—an ancient chamber carved into the heart of Asgard itself. The walls were blackened with millennia of fire and magic, etched with runes older than the throne. Rivers of molten metal flowed through enchanted channels, glowing white-hot without consuming their stone banks. The air was heavy with heat, ozone, and power.
Harry closed the doors behind him.
The forge welcomed him.
He exhaled slowly, rolling his shoulders as he approached the central anvil—an immense slab of uru veined with silver light. Upon it rested the beginnings of a suit of armor. Incomplete. Untested. Waiting.
Loki's armor.
Harry stared at it, fingers hovering just above the metal.
"I still can't believe it," he muttered under his breath.
Uncle Loki.
Frost Giant.
King of Jotunheim.
The words still refused to sit properly in his mind.
He had grown up knowing Loki as clever, infuriating, brilliant—sharp-tongued and sharper-minded. A god of magic, illusions, mischief. Someone who laughed too easily and trusted too rarely. Someone who had always stood just a step outside Asgardian norms.
Now Harry understood why.
And the understanding came with a bitter taste.
Harry picked up a hammer, its handle warm and familiar in his grip. The metal responded instantly, faint frost forming where his magic brushed against it. He frowned.
"Right," he murmured. "Ice."
Loki's armor could not be like Father's.
Nor Grandfather's.
Nor his own.
Thor's armor had been forged for lightning and momentum—wings of storm and force. Odin's was command incarnate, bound to the World Tree and war itself. Harry's own armor, still unfinished, was chaos and thunder and will given form.
Loki was different.
Ice did not rage like fire.
It endured.
Harry began sketching runes in the air, glowing pale blue before sinking into the uru surface. Insulation runes. Stabilization arrays. Channels designed not to amplify heat, but to absorb and redirect cold.
"Comparable with ice magic," Harry murmured, thinking aloud. "Resistant to cryo-forces. But not rigid. Flexible. Adaptive."
Because Loki was never rigid.
Harry struck the metal.
The sound rang through the forge, deep and resonant.
As he worked, his thoughts drifted—unwanted, but insistent.
Grandmother.
He could still remember the moment he had seen her reaction, even though she had hidden it well. The tightening of her jaw. The way her eyes darkened when Odin revealed Loki's true heritage before the assembled realms.
Harry understood why.
You do not reveal a truth like that in front of armies and enemies and allies alike.
You do not strip someone of an identity and hand them a crown in the same breath.
You do not weaponize a secret that should have been given gently.
Odin had done exactly that.
Harry struck the metal again, harder this time.
Frigga had told him later, in private, her voice quiet with restrained anger.
"He should have told Loki long ago," she had said. "Not as a confession. As trust."
Harry remembered her words clearly.
"Loki spent his entire life feeling like an outsider without knowing why. Odin could have helped him understand himself. Instead, he let the wound fester."
And now, the consequences were unfolding.
Harry shaped the armor slowly, methodically. Plates formed under his hands—sleek, layered, designed to move like flowing ice rather than solid stone. He wove enchantments that would allow the armor to regulate temperature, preventing Loki from freezing allies or weakening himself.
All the while, his thoughts returned to the same worry.
How would Uncle Loki change?
Harry knew power did not corrupt—it revealed.
Loki now ruled Jotunheim, a realm that had hated Asgard for generations. A realm that had just been crushed, humiliated, and forced into a peace shaped by Odin's will.
And Loki had been placed on its throne not by choice, but by necessity.
Would he embrace it?
Resent it?
Twist it into something new?
Harry struck the metal again, sparks flying like tiny stars.
"He has no reason to respect Odin anymore," Harry said softly to the empty forge.
Perhaps he never truly had.
Loki had always questioned Odin's authority. Always pushed back against his rigid sense of order. Now, Odin had taken away even the illusion of fatherhood by revealing that Loki was never truly his son.
Not by blood.
And blood mattered in Asgard, no matter how much they pretended it didn't.
Harry paused, resting the hammer against the anvil.
"Would I forgive that?" he wondered aloud.
He wasn't sure.
He knew Loki cared about him. That much was clear. Loki had trained him. Protected him. Teased him relentlessly, yes—but also trusted him with magic others never saw.
But kingship changed people.
Responsibility reshaped them.
And bitterness… bitterness had a way of finding fertile ground.
Harry resumed his work, now channeling frost magic deliberately into the forge. The uru responded beautifully, glowing with a cool inner light rather than burning white-hot. He smiled faintly.
"Good," he murmured. "You'll suit him."
As the armor took shape, Harry layered in safeguards—runes that would prevent the wearer from being overwhelmed by the magic of Jotunheim. Stabilizers tied to Loki's own essence, so the armor would respond to his emotions without amplifying his darker impulses.
Because if Loki fell…
The Nine Realms would feel it.
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