Frozen Heart, Burning Soul

Retzio

Asgard has been a wonderful experience. Although bouncing back and forth between here and home was trying at times, but I'm happy with it regardless. Loki was probably the best thing to come into my life. Although because of it, I can't really live the life of a true assassin, I can still lead them. Loki is like a star when it comes to how bright she shines, and I am the shadow that encompasses that light to protect it. 

Loki herself isn't a delicate flower at all though, she is quite powerful herself. She saw me as a lover and a rival. It allowed her to reach high and truly explore her own potential. 

"Brother! Come, it is time for us to greet my father." Thor was still his happy go lucky self, but there is a vast increase in intelligence needed for a leader behind his eyes. Freya was the main cause for that, driving him to want to prepare himself more to lead Asgard.

"Of course, I'm as ready as I can be. Let us be off Thor." The two of us went towards Odin's throne room. Loki and Freya would meet us there since the two of them stated they had things to discuss and wanted their 'girl time'. While we walked through the halls, I thought back to all of the time I spent here. I felt like Asgard was truly a second home. From the regular brawls at the bar, to the rigorous training the valkyries put the warriors through. Then there are the magical scholars that study everything they can about Asgardian magic. 

Frigga also led the charge in making sure that I knew everything I could about Asgardian magic. Just their knowledge on runes was a significant boon. Also the knowledge on illusion magic so Loki can't pull any pranks on me. While she tends to keep it minimal, she does tend to try and pull a prank or two on me every once in a while. 

The hall I was walking in had wonderfully carved marble floors, with several insignia's to represent each valkyrie, Frigga, Loki, Thor, and Odin himself, among others. To the right and left of us as we walked had large stone pillars, although it wasn't normal stone, otherwise it wouldn't hold the amount of enchantments in place on each of them. There were also various paintings on the walls. They recently put up one of Loki and I. With her on my lap as we faced forward with smiles on our faces. 

"Reminiscing my dear brother? That's good, I found myself doing that often more recently. Freya has caused me to put many things into perspective. It seems that having a partner to lean on has led us both to become new people." Thor let out a boisterous laugh as I took in what he said. 

"That is very true Thor. Loki has made me think about many things. I'm honestly surprised that she could manage herself without being by my side. She tends to stay at max, ten feet from me if necessary." That caused Thor to laugh even louder, and I found myself joining him. Thor was easy to get along with once I got to know the guy better. While we still have yet to have a proper fight with each other, we have sparred several times and it was always a back and forth between the two of us. 

Thor was one of the strongest beings in the original timeline for a reason. Although, with all of the changes and differences our version of Draconic Deus has, that list of the 'Top 10' would never stay the same. Although I'm sure Father would stay there, I'm just not certain where. I was broken out of my musings once we reached the doors of the throne room, waiting for us beside it was Freya and Loki. One of which flew towards me like a bolt of lightning, and the other slowly walked to Thor to stay by his side.

"Retzio! Did you miss me?" My bundle of energy was currently attached to my chest, and wrapped her legs around my back. 

"Of course Loki. I wait with bated breath every time you have to leave my side." Her face blushed to the point that I could mistake it for her hair color. Till this day, she is still weak to me being genuine about her, casual flirting, or compliments. She shoved her face into my chest and didn't say anything further. She did release her legs from my back and stand up though. I hugged her closer to me, and we stood there comfortable for a moment, before I could hear a cough from our spectators.

"As much as I would love to leave the two of you alone, we do unfortunately have an important meeting with Lord Odin." Freya motioned for the door, and Loki took that as a sign to let go of the hug, and stand by my side. That didn't stop her from hooking her left hand around my right though.

"It would be better if you showed that type of public affection to Thor, Freya. I'm sure that he would love for you to do so." If Loki was an archer with a custom arrow, she would have shot an arrow labeled 'embarrassed' on it through both Freya and Thor. 

"Ahem, I think it would be best for us to not keep father waiting. I'm sure he has been watching us this whole time." With that, we headed inside. Although I did feel a tad embarrassed at the thought. Odin may not be a voyeur or as much of a pervert due to Frigga, but he does watch us with his eye from time to time. 

Within The Throne Room

Odin watched as the throne room doors were opened. Frigga was by his side, waiting for the four. Retzio had caused a giant impact upon Asgard. His very presence led them to eventually ally with the Golem Faction. Then there were the many times he would baffle even Odin in his potential for learning their culture, magic, and ways of physical combat. He went from the leader of a powerful assassin organization, to a battle-hardened magical warrior that still knew how to fight with every possible advantage. 

"I'm happy you all could make it in a timely manner. I would love to talk with you all about your relationship developments, but we do need to discuss our next steps in relation to the frost giants." Odin stood up and walked down the steps leading to the throne, with Frigga walking beside them. Once they got down the steps, a table was magically formed, with seven chairs. Each of them sat down, with the seventh one being empty. 

Before long, the seventh chair was filled. There was zero fanfare, no flashing lights, just one second it was empty, the other it was filled by a woman that held stronger power than everyone else in the room. 

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with us in person, Miss. Do you have a preferred name to go by? Or should I call you the 'Right hand of the Golem God'?" Odin questioned the woman that took the head of the table. She tilted her head and smiled.

"Nah, you can just call me Jess. It will be easier that way." Jess leaned back into the chair and motioned for Odin to continue. 

"Wonderful. I will do so Jess. I must confess that I wasn't expecting someone so close to Him to join in this meeting. That's besides the point though, let's move on to what I wanted to speak about, the frost giants." The group of four stood straight and gained a serious look once things were starting to get serious. Frigga took the lead next.

"What we have right now is the fact that Ymir reached out to us to discuss peace. Most

 likely spurred by the fact that us being in an alliance was spread in the nine realms. However, he requested that if they were going to meet for peace talks, that only Odin, and the four of them, would be allowed to go." Frigga sighed when she finished.

"This has to be some type of trap. He wants you to go to his lands with minimal protection to discuss peace?! I don't trust it one bit." It was Jess who spoke up this time. A look of mirth clearly written on her face.

"That may be the cause, but Ymir has agreed to sign a magical sealing contract if it would allow us to trust him better. If he breaks the contract, he would lose access to any form of magic, and his strength would be sealed to the point that it is equivalent to a human." Frigga spoke in response, but Jess' frown just deepened further.

"That just makes this even more suspicious! Why would that warmongering giant willingly agree to sign a contract that easy? What does he gain from it other than the chance to spark another war between the nine realms?" Before Odin could respond to Jess, Retzio interrupted him.

"I agree with Mom on this. Ymir has to have something that would allow them to fight us. This peace talks proposal is too good to be true." Retzio leaned back, and Loki leaned closer to him out of worry.

"Ymir stated that he would go to war, damn the consequences if we don't at least hear him out first." Odin spoke up with a grim face, and before anyone could respond, he slid a cube that looked like a frozen tesseract, to the center of the table. Once there, it projected a screen that showed Ymir sitting on an ice throne that resembled the iron throne from game of thrones, then played the message.

"Odin and people of Asgard, I grow tired of our constant battle with each other. I would like to enter talks for a lasting peace treaty. My people may love battle as much as yours do, but they have exhausted their interest in killing." He leaned further into his throne, looking up at the sky that looked frozen in time. His expression showed that he likely hasn't slept for days, or perhaps weeks. 

"How long must we fight until you are satisfied Odin? I know that you obtained an alliance with the Golem Goddess, but her generosity can only go so far. If it weren't for the fact that her son is there, I have no doubt that she would have conquered your land instead. However, I do not wish to see my people eradicated. I'm tired Odin…Tired of this endless fight, Ragnarok was already prevented, so why must we fight?" He stood up this time, rising to his full height of 30 meters. The projection moves to show the top of his body, along with his face.

"Odin, I beg of you, and I do not say that lightly, please convince Val to allow us to speak at least. I don't ask for more right now. I just want you to at least discuss with me. I would go to neutral ground, but I hope that you would understand that I do not feel safe anywhere but my own home. I even feel unsafe here at times, waiting for the moment that my head is removed from my neck. Grant me mercy Odin, and I swear on my magic and strength that I will be genuine in discussing peace." The seven of them were left speechless. Even Odin due to the fact that he hasn't activated the cube until now. The projection dissipated after that, and the seven people sitting at the table stood in silence.

"He looked…broken. Almost like he lost the will to live, only clinging onto strings in order to keep his people alive." Thor spoke for the first time and caused everyone else to look towards him like he gained a second head.

"Ymir was never one for deception, always going into things headfirst, showing his intentions and putting them at the forefront, never hiding them. The fact that he got to this point, something that I never expected when I activated that, bewilders me. His pride and stubbornness was stronger than even Thor at times." Odin contemplated the implications of Ymir's current mental state.

"Ymir getting ready to have a mental breakdown aside. I still don't trust it. I'm more reassured now, but I won't trust it. Clearly he swore on his magic and strength, then I saw his realm respond in kind at his promise, and if he signs that contract as well, then I will begrudgingly allow it. Since if he goes against his words, then both of those things together will kill him." Jess still had a frown on her face, but it lightened up a bit in comparison to earlier. 

She took out five boxes and slid them to Thore, Freya, Retzio, Loki, and Odin.

"Val and Jane prepared these for you all in case things would go south. They are rings that will teleport you out of there in case of emergency. Retzio and Loki will be sent to our realm, and the rest of you will be sent back here. Keep the rings safe, they are your lifeline." The rest of the participants of the meeting had various expressions on their faces, from shock and awe, to genuine surprise. Although Retzio was unaffected because he expected something like this.

"Even though Ymir clearly is a mess mentally right now, if that projected message is to be believed, that doesn't mean that the other realms will just allow these peace talks to happen. Even if they do go off without a hitch, that doesn't mean that all the frost giants are ready for peace. You need to prepare for the worst and hope for the best." Jess looked extremely serious as she made that statement. 

"I do think it would be best to wear those rings that Jess has given you all, especially you Retzio. If anything happened to you, I fear for the safety of the nine realms since it would cause the wrath of your father to come down upon us all." Frigga shivered as she finished what she said. Let it be known that all of the beings that knew of Mark, feared him. For he causes even gods and goddesses of war to fear the chaos that his very presence anywhere outside of their own realm would cause. Let alone if he actually took action. He would become their Ragnarok. 

"Heck, your mother even causes many to back away in nervousness. Her rampage across the many realms of the dead is remembered to this day. Hel is still recovering to this day. I invited Thor's sister back to Asgard a while ago, but she still fears her. At least she doesn't hate me for sending her to watch over the dead. I punished her enough already for when she slighted your mother." That mini history lesson sent shivers down the spines of Thor, Freya, and Loki shivered at the idea that Hel stays where she is by choice.

"Alright, as funny as it is to see you all scared of them, we do need to get things in motion, so I will send a raven to Ymir ahead to let them know that we will be on our way for peace talks. Be sure to prepare yourselves, we will be heading out tomorrow." With that said, Jess teleported back to her realm, and everyone else stood up and headed out of the throne room.

"Do you think that Ymir would lie about what he said, and risk losing everything? I know that the projection showed him genuinely done with fighting, and I doubt an illusion would get past your eye, or Miss Jess, but what if?" Loki asked an unsaid question that everyone else other than Odin was thinking about.

"I do not know. Like I said earlier, Ymir always wore his frozen heart on his shoulder for all to see. Never holding things back or trying to deceive even at times where tactics like that would probably have won him many battles in the past. Don't mistake him for someone that only knows how to handle things like a muscle brained fool though. Ymir has been alive for a long time, and has great wisdom behind his eyes. If he does deceive us, this would be the perfect opportunity to do so." Odin massaged his beard while he went over things with everyone while they walked through the halls.

"I hope for his sake that he does actually want peace. It will be a good step in the right direction of hopefully unifying the realms of the Norse." Retzio left with Loki after enlightening the others of his opinion on this.

Loki

Retzio was nervous. That was beyond the norm for him. He was never nervous. Even when I met Val the golem goddess, Miss Jane, and Miss Jess for the first time, he was a pillar of support for me. Always confident, never backing down in fear, except for when he had to 'fight' his father of course. I don't think that counted though, since everyone fears him in some way, shape or form. Even in Miss Jane and Jess' case, it would be better to say scaroused. No, right now he was genuinely nervous for our safety. I could tell because normally his nose twitches whenever he is thinking about something that bothers him, and his eye twitches when he might encounter something dangerous. Both are happening at the same time right now as I sat beside him on our bed. 

"What bothers you Retzio?" I pulled his head down to my lap and started massaging his head.

"I worry about what might happen to you if things go wrong. What if Ymir targets you to get a rise out of me? What if he targets me because he wants father to wreak havoc across the nine realms of the Norse? Or what if an outside source decides that it didn't want the peace to happen like what was discussed earlier?" I played with his hair while thinking about his concerns. Miss Jess may have already brought up similar points, but it was endearing to see Retzio so…vulnerable for once. He was always the one I clung onto whenever I had concerns, or if I was worried that he was getting too far ahead of me. 

Under all of that handsome, powerful, prideful, genius of a man, there was a small vulnerability when it came to those he loved. It made my heart race at the thought. 

I am his weakness.

Just that thought alone was cemented in my mind fully now. It never really set in until this point. I knew it was the case, but this was the first time he showed this side to me.

"I love that you are concerned for our safety, Retzio, but I am not a delicate flower. You know that. I can defend myself, so don't worry. If anything happens, I will use this ring, no questions asked. This relationship is a two-way road, remember that. If you ever just want to talk, vent your concerns, I will listen to them, and I will placate your concerns as many times as you need me to. I adore you and everything about you. I love you Retzio." I leaned my head down and kissed him, it wasn't a long kiss, but it was one of pure love.

"Thank you Loki. I love you too. We may have met on a drunken tryst with each other, but I don't regret it one bit." He placed his hand on my cheek as he looked deep into my eyes.

"Your determination to exceed any expectations those around you have, and your want to be my equal makes me want to cherish and support you every step of the way. Your thirst for knowledge in magic, not just your specialty with illusions and stealth, makes even Circi acknowledge it, let alone my own mother. Just the fact that you got their approval on your own merit, without my help, reignites the fire I had in me the day after we met, everyday. No matter what, we will make these peace talks work, and we'll be able to tell the tale to my siblings." His nervousness receded, replaced with a happy expression.

"Although you could do with a little less lust you nymphomaniac." I blushed at that comment, although I didn't say anything to refute it. 

How could I not? It was like your damn body was built for making me see the light everytime we battled in the bed! 

Retzio smirked as if he could read my thoughts.

"It's written on your face, Loki. Although tonight, I would like to just cuddle and perhaps watch that anime we have been watching. I believe it is called 'Restaurant To Another World?'" Ah, yes. I picked out that anime because it seemed cute, and the food in it looked absolutely delectable.

"Fine, but after this trip, I'm not stopping until the tap runs out of water." He chuckled at that, sat up, and pulled out some AR glasses for us to watch the show.

Jess

I didn't like this, not one bit. Retzio and little Loki have to risk their damn lives just because that ancient frost giant decided that it was depressed and scared. It would be better if he just declared war, but noooo, the frost bitch decided that it wanted peace. It pissed me off even more because he was genuine about it. 

Odin sent over a message with his crow, along with the magical contract, and Ymir signed the thing without hesitation. It was a powerful contract made by Circi, and then looked over by Val. I'm still miffed about the situation, which is why I was currently in Mark's lap, resting my head on his chest.

"I'm sure they will be fine Jess. Even if they aren't, Jane made sure that we could monitor them with those rings at any time, even if I couldn't already with my connection to Retzio." Mark rested his head on top of mine while he shifted on the couch a bit. Normally the rest of the girls would be here right now, but we worked out a schedule on spending personal time with Mark. Whoever was sent out for the meeting with Odin, Frigga, and the kids was given priority on the first spot. Hence why we were on the couch, cuddling with a blanket covering us on the couch, while watching Hell's Kitchen. 

IT'S FUCKING RAW

Gordon Ramsey was an amazing chef, but also a great entertainer. He knew what would draw in viewers, and in this case, it was the key moment that started many memes in Mark's original world. 

"You think a version of Gordon Ramsey will be born in this world by the time the 21st century rolls around?" That was an important question that Mark posed. Would Gordon Ramsey be born in the Draconic Deus universe? Or would there be an alternative in his place? The modern times of this universe already had a bad knockoff of Dragonball called Drag-so-ball. I watched a bit of the knockoff, but I cringed so much that I deleted the show from our servers. Mark found the situation funny, and just got a good laugh out of it instead of caring. 

"Perhaps, but if not, we could always visit a universe that has a version of him and participate in the show. Maybe we can even be stars of the show!" I showed my brimming excitement at that for Mark to clearly see.

"Or, we could go to a version of food wars that has him in it, and have him be a judge in a shokugeki." I was shaking at this point considering I wanted to see that happen. I imagined myself and Mark teaming up against the protagonist of the show, with the 'god's tongue' on his team, and us defeating them in the shokugeki with Gordon's seal of approval.

"It's a date! Whenever we are done with the things we need to do in DxD, you are taking me on a date in food wars!" I smirked at him when he looked at me somewhat bewildered.

"Sure, but Jane, Ophis, and Red need to pick out places to go on a date as well, to make things fair."

"Tsk, don't you know that you shouldn't talk about your other women when you're supposed to be spending personal time with me?" He just smiled at me, and I didn't like that smile. It was too mischievous. 

"Wouldn't you tease me if I didn't bring that up though? And I doubt the others would be very enthused when they hear about our future date plans." There it is, I pouted at him, but didn't have a clean rebuttal to what he said, because he was right. I would have teased him if he didn't bring them up. It took a lot just to keep them from reaching an agreement on the 'personal time' in the first place. I'm sure these dates will last a lot longer than a few days, so getting the others to agree on some dates for themselves with Mark, or Val if they prefer, makes things more agreeable in the long run.

Ophis and Red preferred Val, but Jane and I preferred Mark. Val was like the MILF that would do anything for their kids, even if said kids went to jail for any reason. She had a stronger lust for any new knowledge than her own lust for our bodies. She also tends to get lost in her own research into making the golem magic system better and better. Her body doesn't leave anything to be desired. Now that they have access to their divinity, their form has fully settled. Val had tan skin similar to an amazoness, with well defined muscles that were akin to a swimmer's build. 

She tended to tie up her long silver hair into a ponytail behind her back, her breasts were bigger than anyone else we have encountered. Modern day Yasaka and hestia had nothing on her. I could swear the damn gravity defying breasts should hurt her back, or sag more, but they don't. Don't even get me started on her hips. Childbearing hips doesn't even begin to describe how amazing those things were. If I were to make an accurate comparison, it would be like if a disney mom had anime looks. This applies to her butt as well. I slapped it a few times, and the ripples made me think of waves crashing into a beach.

The reason I prefer Mark is honestly quite simple, I may be bi, but I prefer men. Of course, because of their nature, Mark can be the best of both worlds. Mark though, his hair and eyes were pitch black. His hair was only shoulder length, and his body was what I would like to call a 'sleeper build'. He tended to wear hoodies, or bigger clothing to cover his body. His body was brimming with muscles, and due to his history in this world, his body was also coated in scars across it. Small and large scars, but they were from the many fights that he has done across DxD. He even threw hands with some eldritch gods that existed in this verse. 

It was always troubling to realize that Cthulhu was a thing here, but they, along with the other eldritch gods, weren't nearly as powerful as their many counterparts. Mark also had an ass to be admired. Better than Captain America's if I gave my opinion on it. During our time on the couch, we sat in comfortable silence, and managed to finish four full seasons of Hell's Kitchen.

"You want to watch something else? Or do you want to continue with the next season?" 

"I say we hold off on continuing for now. We can play some castle crashers if you're up for it. I found the game itself somewhat interesting because of the cutesy art style." I managed to convince Mark to play castle crashers, and he switched the show over to the game so we could play while on the couch. 

"Ya know, when we first started cuddling on the couch, you were extremely stressed. Now though, you relaxed quite a bit. I guess the situation with Ymir was bothering you quite a bit." 

Was it? I guess it was. I normally don't get this mad, but someone had to worry about the kids when Val wasn't around! If it weren't for the fact that she had compromised by Jane helping her with the rings, I am certain that she would be going crazy right now. That isn't the case though, since I'm not seeing Mark shift right now.

"That is true. I just hope for the best, and that they make it out safely." Mark shifted me closer as he handed me a controller.

"Me too Jess. Me too." 

Bob

"Hey Bob, you think Jewel likes magical girls?" I sat in a chair as I watched over Madam Levi while she fished in a pond. She was fishing for normal fish today, surprisingly enough. We were back at her old cabin, Arty was taking a nap on a small hill nearby. Miss Jewel was doing some experiments in a lab built in the new home that she built for her, Madam Levi, and their future harem members.

"I am not certain Madam, I do know that she has been watching an increased amount of magical girl anime due to your interest in such, but I am uncertain if she derives enjoyment from it. I'm sure you can just ask her though." She seemed to be contemplating my answer as she wiggled her legs back and forth on her chair, while waiting for a fish to bite. 

"That is true, although I like your opinion on things Bob. I don't think that I would be able to manage those under me properly without you. Plus your talent in administration and reading people is better than my own, even though I learned directly from momma Jess." I wasn't expecting her to compliment my work ethic today. Normally she is a bundle of joy and energy. More of a happy go lucky style of handling things. Those lessons with Mrs. Jess and Jane must have drilled her pretty hard. Although I do see her true personality mesh with the way she is currently quite well.

"Thank you for the compliments Madam. I'm sure that you will get much better at paperwork and working with your subordinates in the future. You have plenty of time to do so." She quieted down after that, and we fell into a comfortable silence.

The silence was interrupted though when there was a tremor from the ground. Arty woke up right away and flew to protect Madam Levi. Madam stopped fishing, and pulled back her fishing rod. 

"Madam, be careful. We have no idea what caused that, but it's around here somewhere." I heightened my senses to the extreme, and did my best to search for the source, but came up with nothing. I almost wrote it off as some of our golem brethren fighting in the distance, if it weren't for the fact that a giant claw popped out of the ground and sneak attacked Arty, that was knocked away, and out like a light. I grabbed Madam Levi, and jumped back. The creature crawled out of the ground like it was swimming in water. It was an earth dragon, but not a normal one considering its size.

"Madam, I need you to teleport out of here, I will hold it off." She didn't speak up, so I got worried and looked down. She wasn't injured, at least not visibly, but she grabbed my hand, and pointed towards the dragon.

"BOB, DO SOMETHING!" She yelled to the top of her lungs, before I saw her spit out a bit of blood. My mind went blank, then I saw red.