2 Worries

Odin Borson, the All-Father and King of Asgard stood quietly over the crib of his sleeping son, Thor. A child that was birthed between the union of himself and Gaea. A union between Asgard and Midgard. He was to be the future of his people, the key to the breaking of the Ragnarok cycle that had plagued his people for thousands of years.

Yet, as he looked down at his son, all that filled him was worry and fear. Fear of the unknown and what it could mean for him, his family and his people.

"What troubles you, my King?" Odin did not look up as he heard the voice of his wife as she glided across the room to stand by his side. She too looked down at her husband's son and felt a frown cross her features. Yet it was not due to the boy himself, no in fact she loved the boy dearly despite the short time she had known him. He was a happy child and she held no ill will to her husband or the child's real mother. She understood that it was done for the betterment of Asgard, her husband's actions always were for the betterment of his people.

"It is nothing," Odin responded, before turning away from Thor who slept peacefully in his crib. Frigga meanwhile leaned forward to stroke one of Thor's cheeks with one finger making the boy smile in his sleep, a sight that brought a smile to her own face before turning and joining her husband in bed.

"You need not worry about him, my love." She was well aware of what truly troubled Odin, the young prince upon being born did not possess an entire soul, it was fractured and broken. But what this could mean for him and Asgard was uncertain, Odin did not like uncertainty. "I have seen many futures."

Odin said nothing, well aware of his wife's greatest gift. A gift that allowed him to plan and prepare for his enemies, yet it came at a cost. His beautiful wife and Queen would be weakened each time she looked into the future and so, it was used sparingly.

"What have you seen?"

"Many things," Frigga replied. "I have seen the rise and fall of Asgard under many kings. But under the rule of Thor, I have seen Asgard flourish and prosper, yet I have also seen great wars waged."

Odin frowned in thought. "A worrying thought."

"Asgard will flourish, my love. Your son, Thor will be a great King." Frigga pressed.

"Asgard is not the place, but it's people."

"And they too shall flourish and prosper." Frigga continued. "Do not worry for what the future holds as it is constantly changing and never certain." Odin released a sigh, recognising when his wife would not bow and nodded his head in agreement.

But he could escape the worries of his mind, they were persistent as always.

His children, especially Thor were weapons he was to raise for the betterment of Asgard, to free his people from the clutches of his master. The fact he was still here, repeating the cycle over and over again, he had yet to succeed. This time though would be the last, his son's soul was so fractured and broken apart that there was nothing left to give.

After this, if he failed, he could do nothing else except trust in those that already lived out there in the Cosmos. But he did not like being unable to do anything, just relying on others to do a job that he, as King of Asgard should have done.

This was his last chance, last attempt at saving his people.

-X- Line Break -X-

The sound of metal clashing rang throughout the small courtyard as the two combatants traded blows. Swords sung as they cut through the air, sparks showered down upon the ground as the swords scrapped against one another. Shields moved to block and knocked strikes to one side.

It was all mixed in with the sounds of the heavy breathing of the two fighters and the shuffling of feet as they moved around the courtyard with masterful footwork.

Despite these sounds, Odin watched the two with a scrutinising gaze. The tallest of the two combatants was Volstagg, a warrior of great renown and prowess among the Asgardian military despite his young age by Asgardian standards. There were very few that did not know of him, most knew him personally as a boisterous friend and ally. His love for ale and celebrations had made him a popular figure, easily recognisable from his peers.

And his love for ale was matched only by his skill in combat.

This made him a perfect tutor for the second figure, a young child no older than seven years old. His blonde hair was short and slightly darker in colour due to the copious amounts of sweat and grime accumulated over the course of his hours of combat training. His face was scrunched up into one of extreme concentration as he desperately tried to block, parry and strike his opponent.

This child, was in fact the young prince of Asgard, Thor.

"Again," Volstagg ordered, his voice jovial with a large smile on his face as he looked down at the bruised figure of the prince. Unlike said prince, Volstagg was entirely unharmed, yet if one looked closely would see a small shine of sweat on his brow.

The young prince looked up at Volstagg and then his eyes turned to look at Odin, whose gaze and posture revealed nothing of what he thought of the performance. This it seemed, resulted in filling Thor with great determination as he rose to his feet on shaky legs and held his sword and shield firm.

With a battle cry, he charged forwards once more with Volstagg prepared for the young prince with a smile upon his face.

Thor's powers were great, Odin and many others could see that. In fact, Odin knew that his son could very well surpass him and from what he knew of his past incarnations, there were times in which Thor had very nearly done that. Yet, Odin could not allow his son to develop naturally, not only in power but in skill and all other facets required from a Prince of Asgard.

His son needed to be better than all of them, all those that had come before him.

But his masters knew everything already, they were in the minds of all Asgardians, including his own. It was why he had to be careful in what he did, think too far ahead and his masters would work to make sure that his plans would fail. But this connection they shared was a two-way street, he could feel their concern, they knew of the others that existed out there, the impact that they were having on the Cosmos.

One had already tried and failed to save Asgard, the power he possessed, the artefacts in his possession, they had worried his masters immensely and continued to do so. Unfortunately for them, their ability to interfere was limited and Odin was using that to his advantage.

Like always, they were scared of what this new Thor could do and become if allowed to develop. It was why Odin had to work hard to counteract their interferences with Thor's development. He was already learning at a rate that was astounding, Odin putting a great deal of pressure on his son to work hard in all aspects of his studies, especially combat. Fortunately, Thor was desperate to learn more with a curiosity that Frigga and many of these other tutors were more than willing to satisfy.

Like all versions of himself, Thor had shown the most progression and promise in combat. He excelled in it in fact, more so than any academic study and despite being only seven years old, was stronger than many Asgardian soldiers. His unique physiology of half-Asgardian and half-Elder God provided him many advantages that others amongst his kind did not have.

His physical strength and stamina were by far his greatest assets and it showed in his numerous spars with Volstagg that took place every day in this courtyard. His determination allowed him to get up even when Asgardian soldiers would have been unable. His stamina allowed him to keep going when others would have rested and his strength allowed him to keep matching his opponents blow for blow where others' would have waned.

There was a loud clang as Thor raised his shield to block Volstagg's swing only for the blow to knock the Asgardian prince back a few metres. After recovering his footing, Thor collapsed to one knee, breathing heavily, sweat dripping down to the floor.

Though his strength was great for his age, against figures like Volstagg who were praised for being some of the most physically powerful, it was nothing special.

Having seen all he needed, Odin turned around and left, dismissing his son entirely.

Just as he always did.

-X- Line Break -X-

Breathing heavily, Thor slowly and shakily rose to his feet, every fibre of his body protesting at such movement so soon after the hours of beatings he took at the hands of his combat instructor. Yet Thor ignored his body's protest and moved into a kneeling position.

"I believe that's enough for today, young prince." Volstagg spoke in his usual loud voice and Thor shook his head. "No?"

Thor took a few moments to steady his breathing and looked up to Volstagg with determination in his gaze. "I can still go." Thor, according to his tutors had achieved much in the few years he had spent training. Yet every time Odin came to watch, looking upon Thor's training sessions, all he did was walk away, dismissing what he did as insignificant.

Though his tutors may praise him, Odin did not and all Thor wanted was for Odin to recognise him.

"Are you sure?" Volstagg questioned, ignoring the glare sent his way by the young prince as he did so. "You can barely stand, my prince. You're determination is admirable, but pushing yourself too far will not help." That and Volstagg did not want to admit that even he was starting to feel a little winded.

It had being a surprise when Odin had summoned him to the palace and told him to train the young prince, Thor. After all, Volstagg did not have the best reputation as a responsible figure. A great fighter, yes. But that's all Volstagg was, a fighter. He fought, he trained and he partied. To expect anything more from him was a push and so he would have expected others to be given the honour of training the prince.

Still, when his King asked him to do so, he had accepted.

His second question – not expressed to the King of course, but in private – was as to why he was being asked to train the young prince when he had only recently turned seven. Sure, Asgardian's physical abilities far surpassed that of most individuals and suffered no detrimental affects to their growth as a result of training from a young age, but even so, seven years old was a young age to start training even by their standards.

Light training was common among Asgardian children. Learning to wield and swing a sword with some measure of skill and competency. But the heavy and brutal training the prince underwent was far from normal and from what he had heard, was a direct result of the young princes wishes and the King had accepted.

But once again, Volstagg did not refuse the Kings request, after all, Odin was the God of Wisdom and Volstag was not.

Then he met the young prince, he was comely lad. It was obvious he had held a blade before if a little unsurely, no doubt from sneaking into the palace armoury like he had heard the prince used to do. He also learned that the boy had numerous other tutors that taught him how to read and write, the history of Asgard, basic strategy, how to wield all manner of weapons and other skills that would be need for when becoming king.

Turns out, Volstagg's main purpose for teaching the young prince, was to simply be his sparring partner. To be the person to show the young prince that no matter how strong you are or how skilled, there was always someone better than you out there.

And with each day that passed, Volstagg found that harder and harder to do. Not entirely too difficult, but he certainly had to put some measure of effort into each spar, it would be embarrasing to lose to a child, evenif it was to the prince of Asgard. The boys aptitude for combat was impressive to say the least, he took beatings that would keep most men down for weeks and simply stood up for more. Not only that, but his skill with weapons was very high, though he was lacking somewhat when it came to wielding spears and other medium to long distance weapons. No, the young princes preferred area of combat was close quarters and it showed in his great skill with all manner of short ranged weaponry

Swords, axes, maces, clubs and other similar weaponry were the things he preferred to use and it showed. But even then, the boy had on more than one occasion looked at war hammers with interest, though due to his size, wielding one at his age with any measure of proficiency was all but impossible.

"Volstagg is right, my son." A melodic voice spoke, making those in the courtyard turn to see the Queen walking towards Thor, her adopted son, Loki walking behind her. While Thor was well liked amongst those in the palace due to his kindness and his never ending curiosity, not many were too keen on the adopted son of the King and Queen. Loki was a direct contrast to his brother, distant, arrogant and there had been early signs of cruelty in the boy with his love to play pranks on the many in the palace, some that were humiliating and could have potentially caused harm to others if he had not been stopped by Thor. They had started off harmless enough, but had progresively gotten worse and worse over the years.

The boy, unlike Thor was also a prodigy of the mystic arts and theoretical learning. Yet despite their contrasting personalities, the two seemed close, friendly and shared a close bond with one another.

"Come now, brother, no need to be a brute." Loki teased, though, to Volstagg's ears, it sounded almost arrogant, like he viewed himself as better. He wondered as to how strange it was that the young prince Loki acted like he was better than everyone, considering he was just a young child taken in by the King and Queen. If it had not been for their mercy, he may well have being just a peasant on the streets and nothing more.

He also wondered as to why Thor seemed to accept it so willingly, perhaps he just didn't understand the young prince like Thor did. Though it was not like Loki was one to openly go out of his way to interact with people, not like Thor was.

"Mother!" Thor exclaimed wth a smile and despite his aching body, got to his feet and ran as best as he could to stand by Frigga's side, limping slightly and the ocassional stumble doing nothing but slow him down. "Is it time to learn magic?" He asked eagerly once again proving to Volstagg how different the two brothers were. Loki avoided doing anything he was bad at as to save further embarrassment, whereas Thor never once backed down no matter how struggling the task was.

"Yes, I have just come to collect you for that very reason." Frigga then turned to Volstagg and gave him a gentle smile. "Thank you, Volstagg." Bowing to the Queen, Volstagg spun on his heel and left, leaving the group of three in the courtyard. "Now, shall we go to library?"

"The library?" Thor moaned, his face twisting into one of dejectedness. "I wanted to continue practising magic, I've been trying really hard and I think I've nearly got it."

Loki looked at Thor and rolled his eyes. "If you can't read a book, brother, you won't learn how to do things properly. At which point, you'll just slow me down." Frigga looked down at the two, well aware of Loki's brash and often rude words, even when trying to be encouraging and helpful. "Besides, mother did say that you'll eventually run into someone you can't beat just by punching them. Magic could come in handy, reading a book is the bare minimum needed."

Thor though was equally as used to his brother's words. "Fine." He bemoaned. "I just don't like sitting and reading, it's boring. Some of us actually have a talent for fighting." Though Loki was often the prankster and teaser of the two, it did not mean Thor was not able to give as good as he got.

The two eventually dissolved into a series of immature acts that made Frigga smile, shaking her head in amusement at the two as they walked down the corridors of the palace. Different though they may be, they were equally as immature and it made her happy to see both children had found a friend in one another.

Though she was not blind to the troubles forming.

Loki due to his personality was not popular amongst the servants or the people of Asgard. His pranks, once a source of laughter for all involved, recently a few had begun to take on cruel twists to them. No longer serving to create laughter, but only humiliate those involved.

This isolation contrasted with Thor's continued rise in popularity, even though he rarely ventured out of the palace, training with everything he had. This, plus the differences in their talents and the determination with which they trained to improve both their strengths and weaknesses, was causing some strain in their relationship.

However, their bond still held strong, both helping one another as and when they could as best as they could. This bond though was something she knew worried her husband greatly, for what reason she could not understand.

She had seen the future, in secret, the future that her sons could bring about if they worked together was great. The two covering one another's weaknesses perfectly, helping protect the other in areas they were weakest, fighting by one another's side. They would lead Asgard to a golden age that had not yet been seen.

But Frigga worried about what her husband would do about this.

He was not a jealous man, in fact, he pushed his children, to try and surpass him, none more so than Thor. The idea of being jealous of what could be achieved if Loki and Thor worked together seemed impossible, yet there was something about their bond that troubled him.

She worried what he would do as she knew better than anyone that when Odin feared something, he destroyed it.