Chapter 38) – Fake ID

The tour of the palace was a bit rough.

Mainly in the sense that Thor had never actually shown someone around the palace before.

Combine that with the fact that Thor was always away keeping the peace over the 9 realms, or partying, there were some areas in the palace he hadn't been to in centuries and forgot existed.

In essence, it was a learning experience for all 3 of us, instead of what we expected to be Thor informing us about every aspect of the building.

During the tour, Mara was calling Thor brother whenever she spoke to him or asked a question. After a few fumbles, Thor had also begun to refer to Mara as his sister - even if neither of them had really come to terms with how exactly it ended up as such in such a small timespan.

Once the tour was complete, we met back up with Frigga in Odin's bedchambers.

The resident of said bedchambers was also awake, which meant that the power nap, which was needed to recharge his battery, was done as well.

Odin was an old man. He had white hair, with grey strands, which went down to his shoulders and a pure white, full, beard. Even sat down, it was evident that he wasn't the tallest man, and he would only reach the same height as Mara without any enhancements. Just like his son, he had a blue left eye. It was eye singular as, just like the S.H.I.E.L.D. director Fury, he had an eye patch. Specifically, Odin's patch was opposite to Fury as the king's was on his right eye, rather than the director who wore his was on his left. Unlike Fury, however, Odin's patch was metallic and didn't have any strings that held it in place, but rather was probably held there by some Asgardian magic. It was evident that the ruler of Asgard had only recently arisen, due to him still being in the all-white pyjamas he was wearing from the day before - while he was still in Odinsleep.

Obviously, Thor took the news that his father was awake like an excitable puppy, "Father you are awake! I apologize for being unable to capture Loki and make him pay for his actions. I dread to think what could have happened had things not transpired as they did."

Standing up from the side of the bed he was sat on, Odin addressed Thor's comment, "I will tell you what would have happened, Loki would have tried to destroy Jotunheim using the Bifrost. As you know, during Odinsleep I am still able to see and hear all the happenings in the 9 realms. Loki visited myself many times during your short exile, and he informed me of his plans under the correct assumption that I would be unable to do anything about them. In fact, just before you arrived in my chambers to stop him, he had smuggled Laufey into the palace and killed him - which was what he had informed me he was going to do the day before. Although, it is worth mentioning that his plan was hurried along due to your willingness to change in order to regain your worthiness and Mara here who assisted you in that regard."

Being mentioned, Mara took it upon herself to join the conversation, "Hello Odin- err am I able to call you father? Or is this 1 of those 'I will not recognise you as my daughter' types of deals where I have to do some arbitrary tasks to gain your approval?"

Smiling softly at Mara's jesting, Odin chuckled slightly, "Hoho, no child, there will be no arbitrary tasks for you to complete. Like I said to Thor, I could see and hear everything in the 9 realms during my slumber - which naturally includes your contributions. I believe there is another that should be commended for their efforts, no?"

Taking Odin's words as an invitation I created a head, like I had become accustomed to doing, and introduced myself, "Hello. My name is Elysium or El for short. Pleased to make your acquaintance Mar's new family."

Thor went wide-eyed at my introduction, or rather the fact that I even existed.

Frigga looked surprised for half a second but quickly reverted back to a smiling face once the initial shock had worn off.

Odin himself showed no change in facial expression, but considering he was already aware of me, that was to be expected.

While I had that thought, I realised that I hadn't shown myself for a while, so I was unsure how exactly Odin was aware of my presence, "If you don't mind me asking, how were you aware of my existence? I am fairly sure I haven't shown myself in front of others in a few days."

Nodding his head, Odin was more than accommodating in his reply, "It was a combination of things. When Mara first met Thor she spoke about herself using 'I' or 'my'. That by itself was not anything suspicious, but when Thor met up with yourselves during the fight with the Destroyer, a remarkable effort to hold it at bay for so long I must mention, but I digress. When you were speaking with Thor and his companions in your battle armor, you referred to yourselves as 'we' and 'our'. The first few times I thought it might have been in reference to the organization you work with, but even when you came to Asgard you continued to refer to yourselves as multiple individuals rather than singular. I had my suspicions then, but the evidence presented itself once Mara awoke this morning."

Knowing exactly what the adoptive parent was talking about, I continued for him, "I see. It was when I created a head in order to speak with Mar. But now I am curious about how long you were watching over us while we slept."

Laughing with his chest this time, Odin responded, "Hohoho! Fret not youngest. You have every right to be cautious with how little we know 1-another, but I was simply ensuring that my treacherous child did not sneak back into the palace somehow and take revenge whilst you were vulnerable, like he had attempted to do to myself. By that point, my reserves of Odinforce had exceeded their minimum capacity which would have allowed me to intervene if necessary."

The talk about the morning reminded me to ask Frigga what I spent time machinating over once I had awoken, "Frigga, the talk of our sleeping has me curious about something. Usually, I cover Mar with our powers to act as clothing, but since you put us both to sleep our powers deactivated. Who was it that dressed Mar in pyjamas considering she would have been naked on the rainbow bridge?"

It was Frigga's turn to chuckle at my comment, "Haha, do not worry littlest 1. As soon as I realised that the battle armor Mara was wearing was actually your powers, and she was wearing nothing underneath, I covered her body myself with my magic. Once I moved her back to the palace, I replaced the magic covering with physical clothing. Nobody saw anything that they should not have, of that you have my word. And call me mother."

Pleased that my host was not exposed to any third-party, I had nothing else to say on the matter. I had to trust in our new mother's word, which, from what I had seen so far and Mara's prior knowledge of the woman, I was confident in doing so.

Thor recovered from my initial introduction and took the lull in the conversation to question, "I apologize if this is improper, but what exactly is Elysium? Do all humans that have gifts also have another being inside of them?"

Since I was not sure how exactly Mara planned to explain my existence, what with her already exposing part of her origins, I left it to her to reply to our new brother, "I don't want to lie to any of you if we're going to actually become a family, but I also don't know you well enough to trust you with certain information. The best I can give you for now is that El is a part of me, both physically and mentally. El came along with our powers just over a month ago, but since they were a blank slate, their personality is still developing and is doing so using mine as the template - considering we spend every moment together. While I control our body, El has control over our powers. We can't tell you our origins yet, but we've told the organisation we work with on Earth that we have amnesia, and that El is my split personality."

Bobbing his head in understanding, Thor affirmed, "I understand. I hope 1 day you will inform us of everything about you, but there is plenty of time for that. For now, we must finalize the adoption process to make both of you official members of the family… whatever that entails."

With Thor not knowing what came next, we turned to look towards Frigga and Odin who were stood side-by-side.

Frigga made to speak, but Odin held out a hand to prevent her from doing so as he spoke towards us, "Before your mother explains what comes next, I need to make a confession and a request of you 2. The truth is, 1 of the reasons I was so ready to accept the adoption was in the hope that by doing so, you would be more lenient towards Loki if you came across him in the future - for the sake of your family. I know he betrayed Asgard, as well as our family, but everyone deserves a second chance like Frigga has stated previously. I want you 2 to know, that such a hope is no longer 1 of the reasons why I am willing to accept you as a member of the family. That is, however, the request I want to make. If you come across Loki first, I implore you to return him to Asgard rather than execute him."

Punctuating the end of his small speech, Odin made to kneel down to show how serious he was in his request.

Stepping forward and holding Odin's shoulders to prevent him from kneeling down completely, Mara answered, "You don't have to kneel, father. Truth be told, no-one I care about was harmed through Loki's actions, other than yourselves. So, if the ones who were harmed the most are willing to forgive, then there's no reason we shouldn't either. We'll try to keep him in 1 piece, but we can't make any promises for any other humans or if he takes things too far."

With my host answering, I nodded my head in agreement as any additional words were unnecessary.

Considering Loki had disappeared, and Mara knew where and when he would most likely turn back up, holding a grudge against him was wasted energy for the time being.

It was more important for Mara to build up her relationship with her new family, and wait for Loki to reappear on his own, than to focus on someone she would never be able to find.

Since he was prevented from kneeling down, Odin rose back to his full height and smiled as he continued, "Thank you both. Now, enough family drama. We've already written Mara into the family records, but we will need to add Elysium to them alongside her since I was unaware of their name. After that has been completed, we need to announce it to the whole of Asgard, but we need to ensure that close retainers and associates are already aware of the news for any possible uproar. To that end, we can achieve that during the revelries Thor and his compatriots are planning to throw for rescuing Asgard from Loki's nefarious clutches."

Evidently, Odin had ruined Thor's plan however, "Father! That was supposed to be a surprise for Mara, and El as well now."

Chuckling at the childish response, Odin stroked his beard and retorted, "Hoho, do you not think yourself too old for such childish novelties now, son? If you did not inform them of the event, who is to say they would not return to Midgard once their business here had been resolved and we were not adopting them?"

Before Thor could give another presumably childish reply for someone his age, Mara realised that we would be staying in Asgard for a little while, "That's a good point father. Is there any way to get a message to Earth so that I can inform S.H.I.E.L.D., that's the organisation we work with, that I won't be back as soon as I expected. Initially I thought it would be a quick in and out, but with the revelries alone it's going to be a few more days and that doesn't even consider that I want to get to know you all since we're going to be a family."

Nodding her head, Frigga answered, "Of course, dear. We will send a messenger down to inform your compatriots about your situation and that you will be staying in Asgard for a little while."

Like being hit by a lightning bolt, I had an idea which could possibly resolve some of our problems back on Earth as well as allow Mara to resolve her fake amnesia, "Mar. Would it be a good idea to have the messenger declare that you're actually Asgardian, or at least half Asgardian? Since you left your origins obfuscated, we could say that you somehow fell out of Asgard and the resulting landing on Earth is what caused your amnesia. Returning to Asgard restored some of your memories and you realised you're related to father and mother. Father, do you have any long-lost relatives we could claim Mara was a half-descendant of? We could use that for our explanation to S.H.I.E.L.D. and you could also use it during the revelries so that you don't have to expose our, or Loki's, true origins."

Stroking his beard in contemplation, Odin turned to speak with Frigga, "Do you think it would be appropriate to use 'her' considering all the effort we have put into erasing 'her' from record?"

Bobbing her head slightly, the queen responded to the king, "It would be fitting. Not only has 'she' been banished for over a millennia, and thus no-one would be able to refute our words, but 'she' was also the original wielder of Mjolnir and so Mara being able to do the same would suffice as further proof of our claim. Some may argue that being the child of 'her' should result in Mara also being banished, but the sins of the parent are not the sins of the child. Claiming Mara is part Asgardian, with her powers and vague enough proof of relation to our family, should allow her to be accepted and integrated easier than if she was completely human with no relation to us at all. I am in favour."

Nodding once in affirmation, Odin agreed, "I was thinking along the same lines. It is settled then."

Turning back to my host, Odin clarified who exactly he was talking about, "Mara, the best fit for Elysium's request is our daughter, Hela. She was banished to the wastelands of Hel before both Thor and Loki were born. I won't get into the details now, but she attempted to take the throne of Asgard by force in a violent coup which ultimately failed. Your powers, at least on the surface, also have a similar appearance to hers. Hela could create weapons and armor from various parts of her body. I am unsure if you can create weapons, but the armor alone should serve as viable proof of who we claim you to be to those that remember my daughter. Truth be told, I attempted to wipe my daughter from all records due to her treason, but those that are still alive from those days are sure to remember her. Although we will adopt you, and thus you can refer to myself as father and Frigga as your mother, for authenticity's sake I think it would be best to have you take the name of your supposed mother. Is that acceptable for you?"

Not taking too long to think about it, Mara replied, "If that makes the process easier then I don't mind. We can also create weapons, but they're made from our powers so just like us they're averse to heat. Other than heat we've had no problems cutting through most things when we have made blades, isn't that right El?"

Supporting what Mara had said, I naturally responded with slight pride in my tone, "Indeed. Father, is there a specific type of weapon or style that Hela was known to use?"

Answering my query, Odin stated, "Other than Mjolnir, she was partial to Necroswords. She also regularly made spears, axes, and daggers, but the Necroswords were by far her most used. They were obsidian swords with a slim blade, but had curved protruding features along the main blade to inflict more damage than a standard sword edge. The Necro part of the name came from energy she infused them with, but just being able to replicate the appearance should be enough to serve as proof. We can claim you only inherited part of her ability due to you being half-Asgardian."

Although I planned to absorb the head I created back into the clothing form Mara was wearing, in order to imitate the swords Odin described, hearing the name of the swords made my entire being shiver for some reason.

Said shiver caused a ripple effect over my entire form, which was clearly visible to all current parties, but since they were unaware of my abilities they must have assumed it was part of the sword creation process.

Since we were bonded, Mara obviously noticed the disturbance in both my form and mentality, [El, is everything okay? What's wrong?]

With the disturbance in my mentality quickly passing, I promptly replied to my host, <I don't know. When Odin was talking about the swords, I felt a strange feeling that can't really describe. It is gone now, so it probably nothing.>

As I had recovered from the small blip, I re-absorbed the head and set about creating the swords Odin described - albeit with only the few details I had to go off.

I started with a tendril that I extended out by a metre before flattening it and sharpening the edges to create a black and burgundy blade. I could have made it entirely black, but I wanted to add some differentiation to my imitation.

Before I advanced to the next stage, Odin took it upon himself to guide me during the creation, rather than advise what changes needed to be made after the fact, "The guard was curved on itself and ran parallel to the main blade, pointing towards the tip. It was connected to the main blade with an additional, small, curved piece. The outside of the guard and the connected piece were sharpened to also function as blades, with the ends of the guard protrude slightly to create a sharp point. The tip of the sword was more like a spear tip as it had a cut-out on either edge of the blade, slightly back from the very end of it. Halfway up the sword there was a barb on both edges of the blade to inflict more damage when the sword was pulled from the victim. The middle of the sword, between the barbs and the cut out for the tip, was removed to reduce the weight of the sword. The handle is irrelevant, so just go with whatever fits best in your hand."

Following the instructions I was given; I created a replica of the obsidian swords used by Hela with the only difference being the colour and the handle design which was just a moulded grip to naturally fit Mara's fingers.

Reinforcing the accuracy of the replica, Odin praised, "That looks about right from my memory, your power is really versatile."

Swinging the sword a couple of times, Mara commented, "Yeah, El's really got a perfect handle of our powers. So, now that I assume everything is decided, what comes next? Do we party or is there something else we need to do?"

Chuckling to himself, Odin responded, "Hoho. There is 1 final process called Knésetja that needs to be performed to make the adoption official. However, that will take place in front of witnesses during the revelries and when the formal announcement is made in front of the people. The process may be embarrassing for yourself considering the difference in cultures we have, but I assure you that none in Asgard will berate you for it. For now, you should go with your mother to choose what you will wear for the revelries in the coming days. As you may have already noticed, the garments we wear in Asgard are distinctly different from those on Midgard and you cannot simply wear Lady Sif's armor to the occasion. It is a celebration, not a battlefield, and as such armor is improper. I can see that Thor has some questions about what we have spoken about, so I will answer those and join up with you later."

Accompanying Odin's words, Frigga stepped forward and held her hand out.

As I absorbed my head and the imitation of Hela's sword back into my form, Mara extended her hand to grab a hold of Frigga's.

The adoptive mother then began to walk away while holding Mara's hand. Not forcefully dragging my host with her, but showing the gentle care she already seemed to have for my host.

Naturally, Mara didn't try to fight the action and was soon walking side-by-side with her new mother; thoroughly enjoying the tender handholding she had rarely experienced through her turbulent life.