Arc Twelve. Chapter Three-Hundred Fifty-Three. Broken

Queen Freya sat on her throne, picking up grapes and throwing them through a hole in space, to where a giggling Loki was catching them in her mouth. Freya would lift one, kiss it and then aim it at Loki who was weaving back and forwards, laughing as she caught and ate each one.

"I wish you could come home," Freya said sighing.

"I know but we're almost finished here. Earth has accepted most of our agreements, there are just a few holdouts." Loki replied, sitting back down on the bed in her quarters. "Once the treaty is signed by the United States then the rest will fall in line."

Their relationship was known amongst the Skrulls, but for appearance's sake, they kept it hidden. The Asgardians were slowly warming to Loki taking over, and with Thor missing, she was next in line after Freya.

Freya heard the beeping, "Work?" and Loki nodded.

"Long-range communication from the outer monitoring station." Loki leaned over and her face fell. "I have to go, An enemy force has arrived in the system. Portal to the bridge in one hour. I will have more information then"

Freya nodded, and the space tear closed. Tilting her head, she summoned Lady Sif, the head of her guards.

"I have received word that our forces around Earth are under attack. Prepare a dark matter bridge to Earth, we may need to send reinforcements." Freya commanded.

After the idiots of the galaxy had destroyed the rainbow bridge, Heimdall had used both the Power Stone and the Space Stone to repair the damage but it had taken a heavy toll. Already injured from the explosion he was retired and took more and more time on his own.

A new Asgardian watcher had been assigned, Skurge, and while the bridge was stable, it was easier for Skurge to use Dark energy. Instead of the Space Stone, which Loki kept with her at all times, the Power Stone sat under the newly constructed Eye of Asgard chamber.

Lady Sif saluted and left, leaving Freya to sit on her throne. It was the longest hour of her life, tapping her finger on the arm of her throne. She eyed and picked at the grapes but was in no mood to eat. She read reports on the deployment of Asgardian forces but the worry gnawed at her insides. If they had made it to Earth, was their token force there large enough to repel a force of any size. Especially if it was the Kree.

As the hour slowly ticked past, Freya hurriedly opened a spacial tear, "Loki?"

Loki was sat in the command chair of their cruiser. The stolen research vessel was the largest ship they had, even if it was Kree. "Freya. It is the Kree. We are mustering our forces right now, and they have made-"

The spacial tear spewed out a blast of hot gas and flames, blowing Freya from her throne and across the room.

Freya lifted herself, seeing the throne room was now in shambles, her guards fought with the normally regal curtains, now engulfed in flames and threatening to choke the occupants with thick black smoke.

Freya could see the spacial tear and watched in horror as not just the ship falling, but streaks of energy headed towards the planet. The Kree had attacked and destroyed the Skrull mothership. As a bright beam of light streaked dangerously close to the tear, Freya quickly closed it, scrambling backwards as its energy bled into the room.

Sitting, huddled against a wall, she shook her head, this wasn't happening, this couldn't be happening. Veranke was leading their forces to victory, only Earth and the Kree homeworld remained, and while there was token fighting, the galaxy was at peace.

Freya felt the sharp pain of anguish in her chest, it was Veranke that persuaded her to give up on her foolish quest, that a family was who you chose to be with, and that with Odin and Freya quietly dealt with she could start fresh, with her.

They had made plans, they had giggled and laughed as they schemed and plotted. A new homeworld for the Skrulls, Queen Freya would quietly retire to Earth, and Loki would rule in her place, the pair switching back, and Veranke could be Loki's official bride. It was perfect, and it had been working.

Only the Kree had resisted, as they always did, and fled into the outer rings. Hiding and conducting raids on any peaceful civilised planet. Their government brushed off their attacks as rebels.

Once earth had been brought into the fold, the next step would have been to annihilate that stupid planet and the idiots living on it once and for all. Neither Loki nor Veranke had any qualms about annihilating a race if they proved to be too genocidal. And the Kree certainly were.

They had attacked Xandar, and it was only luck that saved them. If Ronan had been smarter, and not outwitted by one of the dumbest people Loki had ever met, the planet would have been destroyed in its entirety. The Power Stone was not something to be trifled with, and even Loki and Veranke feared its true power.

But now it was over. Veranke was gone, and Loki curled her legs against her chest and sobbed as she buried her face between her knees. No, wait, she thought and ignoring the guards struggling to bring fires back under control she ran to her chambers.

There she found the book. It was the book of Asgardian history and she hurriedly flicked through the pages. This one spot was worn, and the book almost fell open at its page,

"If all seven are united, then the will of the bears can alter the fates of the universe itself."

Loki shimmered back into her own form, uncaring any longer about the ruse. And she took a breath.

Her original plan was to alter the past. She would change Odin's decision and remain with her Jotun family, but now. Now she would gather and use the stones to revive Veranke.

Holing the book to her chest, "I will save you my love" she said, and as she grit her teeth, "no matter the cost."

Loki stood, and stared at the boo9k, she threw it onto her bed and shimmered once more, taking on Freyas form, "I have the Space Stone," she said to herself as she tapped the bright blue gem around her throat, and a portal opened.

Skurge was standing, with two very attractive Asgardian ladies, "behold." he announced to the giggling pair, "My Stuff." and he swept an arm around, showing off the piles of junk from various worlds he had taken a fancy to. "Now you see, I dont just-" but he froze as a very angry looking Freya stepped through a portal in front of him.

"Leave or perish," she announced and the two ladies took one look at the angry Freya, owed and fled.

"My Queen, it is an unexpected," but Freya stepped forwards, summoned a portal behind him and pushed him through it." she had thought of somewhere at random, and had no care if he was still alive or not.

A new portal spilt and sliding her hand through it she grabbed the purple gem from its holder under the Eye's floating platform.

Screaming in pain, she let the gem go and stared at the burned and mangled hand.

Cursing she remembered that the stones would amplify their power and that the Power Stone required a suitable container to safely wield it.

Another portal opened and Loki was stood in the Asgardian vaults. Where her father kept not just the most dangerous items he had taken, but his spoils of war.

As Loki searched, ignoring the pale white casket and large suits of armour she finally found what she was looking for.

It was a gaudy giant golden gauntlet with six spaces on the back, forged aeons ago and now sitting unused. Sliding it on it hung over her arm, having been made for someone much larger than herself.

Stupid, it's too big, and she eyed around the chamber once more.

Over the millennia hundreds had sought the stones and had forged their own containers, boxes, bracelets, gloves, suits of armour, and finally. A necklace, with six empty ovals.

"This is perfect," she said, lifting it and as she slid off the necklace with the space stone it vibrated slightly and was sucked onto the new one, sitting at the right-hand end.

It was uru, forged by an ancient Asgardian queen for this very purpose, and she had been killed before collecting all six stones. It was her legend that Loki had first read about the Stones, and it was her quest that Loki had followed.

As she conjured another portal, this time she levitated the stone and as it hovered near the necklace it too was sucked into place, occupying the slot at the opposite end. Loki felt a twinge of pain as its power, although still muted, tried to flow into her.

Crying out in pain, she fell to her knees, and the pulse and blue streaks of energy coursed her skin. Her eyes flashed and glowed both blue and purple but as she screamed in anger, the light faded and she was left panting on the floor of the armoury.

It didn't matter, she would collect each stone in turn and revive her love. Nothing mattered, nothing was more important than saving Veranke, not even her own life.

Loki cursed as the power from both stones flowed through her. She could connect to both, and use the Power Stone to empower the Space Stone. She was connected to every point in the galaxy, and every cell in her body screamed in agony as they tried to remain whole under the pressure.

She could feel them, the Soul Stone was on a distant dead world, the Mind Stone was on Earth, and the Time and Reality stones flickered in and out of her perception.

Anyone else would have failed to locate them, but Loki was gifted and well versed in magic. She knew they were on Earth and were being held behind powerful wards, their flickering told her they were dimensionally locked, and that a powerful magician was responsible. But even the Earthen magic could not stop her from locating them, or from taking what was hers. No matter who got in her way.

As she tried to narrow down her search the power of the Space Stone tore at her and a small part of her vanished, as her fingers bled and unravelled she pulled back the power and contained it within the necklace once more. Two fingers were a small sacrifice for her love.

She now had two locations to gather the final four stones. All she needed was to get to them.

With the knowledge of their locations, she summoned her guards and began to plan.

Shimmering as Freya burst back. She summoned the last of her captains, and the Warriors Three and Lady Sif stood before her.

Queen Freya stood in front of her throne.

"Hear our Royal Decree." and summoning a scroll, she began to read.

"The murder of Loki is a crime we cannot excuse. To attack and murder a member of the royal family is to attack the heart of Asgard."

Lady Sif stiffened and had been very vocal about blaming the Kree for the disappearance of Thor, whose ship had gone missing close to a Kree outpost. With no evidence, the Kree had denied all knowledge of his whereabouts. But now they had received official word from the Kree about the reclamation of Earth, and Asgard had been ordered to retreat from what was now, under galactic law, a Kree world. However, the destruction of the cruiser and the death of Loki was a war crime, and Asgard was free once more to act.

"Lay waste to their homeworld, lay waste to their colonies. Any who resist are traitors, and all who resist shall perish. The Kree think themselves above all, You shall show them that Asgard's power is absolute."

Nothing would stop her, nobody would dissuade her from bringing back the one person she cared about. Even if she had to destroy them all, nothing was as important as Veranke.