Reunions Part 1

After Jake finished explaining his meeting with Death, Thor and Emma were left in shock. Emma's face paled as she realized that she had inadvertently spited Death, and she was relieved that Death had chosen to speak to Jake instead. On the other hand, Thor was taken aback by the revelation that he had a living sister all along, and nobody had informed him about it. This discovery left him questioning his status as the legitimate crown prince.

To give them some time to process the overwhelming information, Jake allowed them to finish their breakfast before teleporting them all to Asgard. He attempted to teleport directly to the palace, but he encountered a block. Nevertheless, he managed to breach the weaker wards near the Bifrost Bridge on the city's edge.

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"So, this is your home, Thor?" Emma asked. "It's… a burning dump." Emma didn't hold back on her brutal remark. Jake figured she had a point, though.

"…" Thor was at a loss for words upon seeing the state of his home. He was shocked at what had become of Asgard!

Asgard did not look as glorious as it did before Jake left. There had clearly been an intense battle throughout the city. The golden city was still standing, of course… mostly. But its once brilliant walls were stained with soot and blood from the recent invasion. It seemed that the people of Asgard had suffered a great cost for fighting off the invading angels; they were truly caught off guard. Thor cursed himself for missing the entire thing!

As they walked down the formerly golden roads heading towards the palace, the group saw a few dozen people with despondent looks on their faces. However, the Asgardian citizens perked up upon seeing their prince walking the streets.

"Thor! Prince Thor is back!"

"This is truly wonderful! Those damn angels won't know what's coming to them now! The prince will lead us to victory and vengeance!"

"Thor! Thor! Thor! Thor!" A small crowd started to form as they cheered his name.

Thor had a guilty look on his face as he now saw the state that his people were in due to his blunder. He was going to speak up and tell them that he was sorry and that he was currently powerless to help them… before he felt someone sock him in the gut!

"Ooof!" He exclaimed as he clutched his stomach in pain before turning to Lady Emma?! "What did you do that for, milady?"

Emma answered him with a lecture. "I was reading your mind and stopped you from doing something foolish. Look at these people, Thor! Your people! They have just been through an incredibly trying battle and clearly suffered. Asgard is in ruins. All they have right now to cling to is hope – hope that you will lead them to victory and greatness once more."

Thor realized he had almost completely demoralized his own people at their lowest moment. He apologized to Emma and thanked her.

"My people," he spoke up loudly to those nearby. "I have returned, and I promise Asgard will have Justice!" He declared to the small crowd that cheered in return.

"Justice!!!" "Vengeance!" Jake was taken aback by how quickly the dreary Asgardians turned boisterous and started calling for their enemies blood. They were a war loving people after all.

"Come on," Jake said. "Pretty soon the news of Thor's return will spread like crazy so we should reach the palace before we get swarmed by excited people." The other two nodded as they picked up their pace.

When they reached the palace gates, the guards immediately recognized their prince and allowed them all entry. Jake immediately headed for the healing halls with the other two following him. Before they could arrive, though, their path was intercepted by a familiar princess.

"Well now, I had heard you were back, brother. Still mortal though is see…" Loki said to Thor before she turned to Jake and bowed to him. "Thank you for rescuing the oaf. I had wondered how you all even made it to Asgard with the Bifrost currently destroyed, but I can see that someone has gotten quite a bit stronger." She was glad she'd put her trust in Jake and that he had saved her stupid brother. She was, however, upset that Thor still had his powers sealed and was basically useless as he was now.

Jake smirked at Loki. "Next time we spar, it won't go the same as before."

"I don't doubt that," Loki said while giving him an intense gaze.

"Is Serafall still asleep?" Jake asked. He wanted to go see her as soon as possible.

Loki looked taken aback a bit before she turned her head to the side guiltily. "Oh right – well, the thing is, Jake, Serafall has actually been awake for days…" She admitted to him.

"What!?" Jake and Emma shouted at the same time. "What do you mean she's been awake for days!?" Jake asked angrily. "You told me she would be asleep for a month. You told me back at Tony's house that she was still asleep!"

Loki just shrugged at him with a smirk. "I'm not a healer; I didn't know how long she was going to take to wake up. I just wanted you to come spar with me, and you wouldn't leave her bedside. I'm still surprised you believed me."

Jake just gaped at the audacity of this woman!

"My sister Loki isn't known as the liesmith for nothing," Thor said while nodding. He had learned never to trust a thing she says without fact-checking first. He figured Jake would start doing the same…

Loki continued, "As for me lying to you on Midgard, I wasn't trying to be malicious or anything. I just wanted to give you an easier peace of mind since you were trapped in that realm, and Asgard's war wards went into full effect, so you wouldn't be teleporting back anytime soon." She was wondering how he even broke through those wards and how he managed to become dramatically stronger in only a few days. That was a mystery she wanted to figure out.

"So, where is Serafall now, and what happened when she woke up?" Jake asked.

"Hmm, that's an interesting story. Where to start?" Loki replied.

"Most people prefer the beginning," Emma snarked. This was one of the reasons Emma believed Jake needed her as his queen. So she could help him see through liars like this princess.

Loki just laughed at the new girl's sass as they walked down the palace halls. "You there, maid." Loki called out to a maid that had just passed them by.

"Yes, Princess," the maid said, a bit jumpy at being called out. "What do you need of me?"

"Where is General Serafall now?" Loki asked. Jake, Emma, and Thor were all confused at the title.

"She's currently meeting with General Tyr and the Queen in the war room," the maid said before she scampered off to continue her cleaning duties.

Jake was confused. "General Serafall?" He questioned Loki.

The princess just smirked at him and nodded. "The palace was breached, and the people were panicking. Thor was gone, I was injured heavily, and my father was forced to enter his sleep. Things were not looking good. Serafall had apparently woken up during all the chaos. As our people were panicking without any leadership, she apparently sensed the strongest aura nearby and made her way to them. She was sensing my mother trying to rally the guard captains in the palace war room," Loki started explaining to them.

"And then what happened?" Emma asked.

Loki laughed, "Serafall, seeing angels attacking everywhere, and as an accomplished general of her own, just started barking out orders to all of the captains in the war room. When one of the captains tried to remove her, she slapped him into unconsciousness before threatening to do the same if they didn't start listening to her. Shockingly, my mother just handed over leadership of our forces to her. And then Serafall amazingly organized our forces to repel the angels and drive them from our borders." Loki explained it in the simplest of terms. It wasn't quite that easy though and many Asgardians were still lost…

"Mother just handed over command of our forces to an outsider?" Thor asked, flabbergasted.

"Mother is a skilled warrior, but she is no general. She was able to recognize, in that dire moment, what needed to be done and stepped down with almost no hesitation. The people are actually praising her for her humility." Loki herself didn't believe she would ever have been able to do the same as her mother. She recognized that had she been in her mother's place, Asgard may have truly fallen that day. It humbled her a bit, and she had spent the past few days reflecting on herself and her pride… she would still never give up lies and pranks though. They were just too fun.

"Damn…" Jake said to himself. He wished he had been there to see that. Watching a tiny Serafall slap the shit out of a giant Asgardian captain must have been hilarious – and hot too!

After walking for another minute, they reached the war room!

...

They heard arguing when they entered.

"And I'm telling you, mister! You just DON'T HAVE THE FORCES to launch a counter-offensive right now! That surprise attack by the angels was devastating towards your ranks!" Jake heard Serafall shouting at someone as he entered the Asgard royal war room. He saw that she was arguing with a large older man wearing intricate golden armor.

"…I know you're right, Lady Serafall, but we must do something… We cannot afford to fight a defensive war on Asgard!"

"Then you need more troops!" Serafall said to the man before she turned and noticed Jake had walked in. "JAAAAKE!!!" She squealed with joy before she leaped at him and glomped him in a tight hug. "I'm so happy you're okay! I'm so happy I'm okay! We're in a weird Asgard that's nothing like the one in our home dimension, but that's okay because we're both okay!" She spoke excitedly, tightening the hug.

"I'm really glad you're okay too… General Serafall," Jake said teasingly.

Serafall smiled jubilantly as she hugged Jake. "Oh my gosh, Jake! It was so weird; one moment, I was getting stabbed by the True Longinus, and the next, I woke up and heard people screaming in fear that the angels were attacking Asgard. Of course, I didn't know we were in a new dimension, and that these angels weren't the angels I fought against in the Great War, but I immediately went into scary serious Maou Serafall mode and sent those stupid doves packing just like I did hundreds of years ago! I had actually assumed that I had been brought to Asgard to be healed from being stabbed, and it was only after meeting an ALIVE Queen Frigga and a FEMALE Loki that I realized we weren't in Kansas anymore!" She ended her explanation and finally released the long hug.

…Kansas?" Thor questioned aloud.

"It's a Midgard joke," Emma explained, and he nodded.

"We are incredibly grateful for Lady Serafall's help," Queen Frigga said. "Also, you could have just told us you were from another dimension, Sir Jake. While rare, we are thousands of years old, and Odin and I have seen far stranger things than you can imagine in that time." She finished. Apparently, everyone knew about him and Serafall being from another dimension now as well. He just shrugged; he figured hiding it was still the safer move.

The man in the ornate golden armor, who Serafall had been arguing with when Jake came in, also spoke up. "Wherever you are all from doesn't matter to me in the slightest. All that matters is you saved Asgard, and for that, I thank you. Allow me to introduce myself. I am General Tyr, the commander of the majority of Asgard's forces. Unfortunately, during the invasion, I was off on Vanaheim. By the time our ships had sailed across space and returned home, the battle was already over. Of course, we have Serafall to thank for that." General Tyr explained, with Serafall looking smug next to him.

"Of course," Serafall said, smiling proudly. "Whether it's that evil Gabriel back home or the stupid doves here, Miracle Girl Levia-tan will always drive away all those mean, nasty angels!" She said as she made a peace sign over her eye and struck a magical girl pose. None of the Asgardians in the room, besides Thor, even batted an eye at her weird display.

"Are you truly all right now, Serafall?" Jake asked her.

"I'm definitely a lot better, but I'm still not 100%. Even now, I can feel the disgusting light energy coursing through my body, weakening me. I'd put my strength right now at the lower end of ultimate class, where before, I would have been at the peak."

"You'll be back to full power in no time." Jake reassured her, happy that she was at least up and about. She still had some time to heal, but they weren't able to return back to their home dimension until he went and found the Space Stone anyway. At least that's what the Ancient One warned him about. If he tried to breach the dimensions without it…"things" would notice him. Things he apparently didn't want to tangle with for a long time.

"So, who's the girl next to you? I can sense from her aura that she's a devil," Serafall said, scrutinizing the girl since she entered the room with Jake. She figured she was a new member of his peerage. Whether she was trustworthy and deserved such a position remained to be seen in Serafall's opinion, however.

"It's nice to meet you, Lady Serafall. My name is Emma, and I am Jake's Queen." The Asgardians in the room didn't know what that title meant, and they wondered if Jake was courting her.

"Oh!" Serafall said, trying her best to hide her surprise. They had been separated for only a few days, and somehow Jake went and found a queen!? She gave the girl once over, another scrutinizing look. Did Jake have a thing for blondes? First Fleur, then Luna, and now this Emma…

The Queen and Loki had just figured Emma to be some mortal girl from Midgard with slightly high magic reserves. They were surprised as well to learn that she was also a devil. Weren't Jake and Serafall supposed to be from a different dimension? Was this Emma girl from the same dimension, and she managed to cross over as well?

"If you don't mind me asking," Loki said, "where exactly did you come from?" She asked Emma. "I was under the impression that Jake and Serafall were the only two people from here to mention crossing over to ours."

Emma just gave Loki a smirk. "That's because I'm not from their dimension. I'm from Earth, or as you know it, Midgard. I'm a new species of humanity that has been popping up in the past few decades. We call ourselves mutants. I was kidnapped by an evil supervillain and mind-controlled to be his servant. Jake, however, dashingly came and rescued me along with Thor. I was reincarnated and transformed into a devil by him."

Loki was surprised to hear that devils could apparently transform other races into their own. She turned to Serafall and asked how that worked, and Serafall was happy to explain all about evil pieces and devil peerages in their society.

"Thank you for explaining that to me," Loki said. "So, your kind just hands out immortality and powerful magic in exchange for servitude to mortals."

"Pretty much," Jake responded. He was somewhat new to the whole peerage concept as well, since he only had a queen and a Bishop so far. He had learned a lot about how peerages were supposed to interact, though, from watching his sister Rias. Jake then explained to Loki how, at least for the Gremory family, a peerage was basically a surrogate family that always looked out for each other.

"Interesting…" Loki said with a touch of longing in her voice. Loki had recently been sat down by her mother, and it was explained to her that she was actually adopted. She was a Frost Giant, one of the enemies and boogeymen of the Asgardians. She wanted to rage and lash out at the information, but she knew that it would have been a terrible time to do that with the war going on and everything. Now, here in front of her was a method to completely change her own race and no longer have to be associated with the Frost Giants, but in return, she would have to be Jake's 'servant' for all time… She had some thinking to do, not that he had offered her or even hinted at that towards her; she doubted it had even crossed his mind.

"So, what were you guys arguing about when we first came in?" Jake asked.

"Eh, em…" General Tyr said, clearing his throat. "Asgard did not suffer defeat in the recent incursion, but we might as well have been. Throughout the Nine Realms, we have now been shown to be much weaker than we had let on. Even now, the other realms are already discussing whether they should secede from our rule and return to governing themselves." He had a serious expression while stating that.

"Would that be such a bad thing?" Emma asked. She didn't quite like hearing that Midgard had supposedly been under Asgard's rule this whole time as well. She figured most governments on Earth would flip out if they found that out as well…

"It's not that it would be bad per se," Queen Frigga answered Emma. "It's just that before Asgard united the realms, they were constantly at war with each other. I am originally from Vanaheim myself, and we participated in a long and bloody war against Asgard before I eventually married Odin, and the war came to an end peacefully with our union."

"So, I heard Serafall say that you needed more troops?" Jake asked. "If the other realms are planning on seceding, then I imagine they won't be sending you any." He correctly figured they were pretty screwed the way things currently were.

"That's correct," Tyr said bitterly. "The truth is, there's only one feasible way we could acquire more 'soldiers' quickly." He said the word "soldiers" with some trepidation.

"Absolutely not," Queen Frigga said. She knew what he was hinting at, and it was forbidden by her husband to even speak of. General Tyr was one of the few Asgardians who didn't have his memory modified and remembered…her.

"Well, I don't exactly know where you could get more troops. Other than hiring some mercenaries from Midgard. They'd probably take gold, and you all have that in spades. Don't know if the governments would allow their people going off to fight a war in space though…" Jake said jokingly.

"Hmmm," General Tyr put his hand to his chin. "Mercenaries from Midgard? If they were equipped with Asgardian weapons, then they might be a possibility." He shook his head, "I wouldn't want Midgard dragged into the conflict and possibly invaded though in retaliation." The General also feared that if Asgard brought in outside forces, Heven would as well. The frost giants would jump at the opportunity. Especially after their prince's recent attack on them.

"We have much to discuss for now Sir Jake. I thank you for returning my son to us. Is there anything else you needed? The queen asked.

"Oh, that's right, there was another reason I'm here," Jake said to the queen. "I have a letter from… a certain individual for you."

"A letter for me?" The queen asked. Wasn't he on Midgard till now? Who had he even met there that wanted to give her a letter?

Jake pulled the letter from his inventory space and tried to hand it to her. To his surprise Frigga and Tyr jumped back a bit once they felt the presence surrounding the parchment.

"That aura…" Frigga said with hesitation, not reaching out to take it immediately. "It's just like hers… How?"

"Jake, that letter feels like death itself," Serafall said, as Loki nodded along. Emma and Thor just sighed, knowing the shocking reveal that was soon to come.

"You have a letter from Princess Hela!?" Tyr asked. "How did you even reach Hel?" He was excited at the possibility. Asgard was never at its most powerful than when she led the troops. Even if she went a bit overboard on the conquest. She was also the one he was hinting at earlier.

"It's not from Hela."

Queen Frigga sighed in relief, while Tyr looked disappointed.

"I have a letter for her for later… This letter is from Lady Death." Jake smiled as he remembered her. Lady Death was a bit haughty at first, but he found her personality switch at the end funny and cute.

…The queen paled even more upon hearing the name.

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