(For @fantasystoryteller , I hope this is close to what you wanted, more angst and fluff in the next part, I went on a bit of a tangent so this fic could turn real long real quick X'D This also went Disney on me, I hope that's okay..I'm weird. If not I'm happy to write again and again and again.)
"I am King Loki,” he said, “of Asgard.”
“Ah!” the icey, unlit yet glowing Candelabra gave an elaborate bow. “Forgive me, Your Majesty, I had no clue! A visiting monarch, it's very exciting! However...” He glanced uneasily over his-shoulder. “The queen is..not in a state to receive visitors, even of the highest office, you understand.”
“I believe I'm beginning to,” Loki said with some mirth, unraveling the mystery of this isolated queen. Many realms were backward-thinking when it came to sorcery, which this woman doubtlessly possessed, and it was not rare for a monarch to be dethroned, cast out, or even killed for possessing it. The thought churned something he couldn't name in him. Ignoring it, he made a note to use this idea against the queen should he need to. At the same time..
If she had been cast out recently, that would render her kingdom in political unrest, which would be the perfect setting for a good domination. Perhaps he could find a place in this frozen kingdom after all.
“Very good, Your Majesty.”
“However.” Loki stood and held his wound. “I am at the moment- incapable- of proceeding through these mountains to the next town, and require a shelter until I have recovered the strength for the journey.”
“Ah!--Well of course, you are very welcome here, Your Majesty.” Another bow.
“No! No no no!” spat a nearby voice, and a small icey grandfather clock strode over. Loki watched, bemused, as the two argued.
“Cogsworth, would you have him freeze to death out there?”
“Her Majesty was very specific, Lumiere, you can't simply--”
“Now boys.” All three turned as an enchanted ice tray with two shelves rolled over. “Our poor guest here is freezing while you squabble.”
“Mrs. Potts, I must insist--” Cogsworth started.
“Really, Mrs. Potts,” Loki said, taking up the name for familiarity, “I am quite comfortable in the setting, and Lumiere has been most accommodating.”
Lumiere looked smugly at Cogsworth, who narrowed his eyes unfavorably before approaching Loki.
“Your Majesty,” Lumiere murmured.
“Yes, right, Your Majesty, I—Your Majesty!” Cogsworth practically jumped, much to Loki's amusement. True he wasn't getting very far here, but the entertainment was splendid while he took in the rules of this new world. The clock bowed. “I must apologize, Your Majesty, I hadn't the faintest--”
“Might I offer you a some iced water?” Mrs. Potts chimed in. “Not very relaxing but it's all I can carry without melting away.”
“Some water sounds very nice,” Loki said, taking his steps carefully until he understood the full power of this mysterious queen, “thank you, Mrs. Potts.”
She smiled kindly, and poured some water into a little ice cup with a chipped top Loki knit his brow at. What sort of queen conjured a broken cup? Still, he took the cup with a show of gratitude and sipped carefully. The water was pure and refreshing.
Taken aback, Loki looked to see the cup had two eyes and was smiling.
“That tickles!” he laughed.
“Now now Chip, let him drink in peace-”
All of the attendants shook at the sudden voice from the stairs. All turned to see a blue silhouette behind the icy ballroom wall.
“Your Majesty,” Lumiere said as each of them bowed, including Loki, a small, careful gesture as he took in her shadow's physique, “this is King Loki-”
“I heard his introduction,” she said. “And his troubles. Leave us.”
“Leave us,” she repeated, and the servants obediently pattered or rolled from the room. For the first time, the doors behind Loki closed. Warily he strode closer to the wall, but just as a few of her features had become clearer, something grasped his feet, forbidding further movement. He looked to see small ice cuffs had grown from the ground and were holding him in place. He smirked and gave a graceful bow.
“The servants are not familiar with Norse Mythology, King Loki,” Elsa said, “but I am. You understand?”
“Good. Then call the Bifrost and leave this place.”
“Oh that I could,” Loki said. “But Asgard is in a situation currently and it is not in my best interest to return.”
“But it is in mine,” Elsa said, “and I am the queen of this kingdom-”
“Are you?” She faltered. “What sort of a queen abandons her people?”
“I had no choice,” she said.
“Now you do. Give me full reign over Arendelle, for you know who I am and you know I am superior-”
“Yet you mistake your place!” Elsa snapped. “Perhaps where you come from you are a god, Loki. But here-”
“It's Your Majesty!” Loki snapped, not to be belittled by an inferior with a sharp tongue. “You have let your people in chaos. I mean to rule them-”
“The answer is no!” Elsa snapped, and Loki realized he had far overstepped, yet could not leave it there.
“If you are to speak to me like this,” he said, “then I dare you to do it to my face, Your Majesty. Step into the light.”
He saw her hesitate, then descend the steps. She moved with a certain grace, it was easy to see she had been raised a queen in the way she stepped, the way she held herself. As she drew closer her silhouette grew smaller, to human size, and he could more clearly see her outline. Then she stepped in front of the threshold into the stairwell room, and was in full view.
That never stopped him before.
He bowed again, with the utmost cheek. “Ah. So you are not all a coward.” He stood up again. “But you are afraid of your own people.”
“I will be called nothing by you, God of Mischief,” she spat, and something in him responded well to being called by his full title again. “You will leave this kingdom, or you will stay in the castle as my prisoner.”
“On what grounds?” he asked.
“Treason,” she said. “The people are not as understanding of the supernatural as I. As long as you are here you will be seen as a mortal. If I call you a liar, they will believe it.”
“Oh, I'd believe it too,” he said. “Yet allow me to call your bluff. I don't think the people are in a position to believe a word you say at the moment.” He smirked when her expression and a tremble of her hands affirmed this, and something else. “And I sense your understanding of the supernatural is not as adept as you claim.” He looked around the ballroom. “Your work is beautiful, but sloppy. Obviously built in outbursts of emotion. You must learn control.” He caught her uneasy reaction. “I could teach you, in exchange for my freedom-”
“I will bargain nothing that endangers Arendelle,” Elsa assured him.
“Oh I believe you,” he said, then set his jaw. “Then that's the answer. For me to be as trapped here as you.” He swayed a little despite himself.
“Your wound cuts deep,” she noted. “Stay here and recover while you make your decision. You have no choice until then anyway.” She turned as the cuffs around his ankles shrunk back into the floor.
“Do not turn your back on me.”
This she ignored, calling for Cogsworth and Lumiere to show the prisoner to his room as she scaled the stairs once more. Not savoring the thought of being held against his will to say the least but truly seeing no other option, Loki followed the clock and the candelabra up a flight of stairs which had not been in the room behind the ballroom previously, to a wide room with a simple bed with satin blue covers and curtains and an eclectic ice wardrobe against one wall, no windows, only see-through walls and a door which bore several intricate locking mechanisms. He had to admit, he was impressed.
It was poetic, he pondered. Every cage he'd been contained in 'til now was see-through, a taunting image of a world he couldn't touch. He was no stranger to being locked in.
He watched Lumiere's apologetic face through the door as the candelabra and the clock locked it from the other side. He watched them until they had vanished again down the stairs, leaving him to his thoughts.
For the first time in a very long time, he leaped, then turned on the wardrobe that had spoken, silently scolding himself. Of all the enchanted objects, he should have known. He should have known such a clever queen would not leave him unguarded. Did he call her clever? Well, she was.
“You must be the gentleman guest!” she cried. “Oh, we've never had a real, human man in the castle before-”
“I am a god,” Loki corrected.
“That works too! Oh, we'll have so much to talk about! Queen Elsa is a darling, but she's not one for conversation all of the time.”
The next hours consisted of Loki snapping snide remarks at the wardrobe, who simply could not take an insult and responded with the kindliest and longest of replies. The conversation did eventually warm him up, and in spite of himself and in the growing weariness from loss of blood and travel he found himself falling into drawn out, decent, even pleasant conversations with the piece of furniture. He'd concluded he'd finally gone mad when he dozed off against the silken covers.
Elsa shook her head as she watched Loki and Madame through the one-sided icey wall, then waved her hand so it was covered again with a protective layer to give them their privacy as the god dozed off. Privacy! What was she thinking? She concluded her diplomatic studies had gotten the best of her, and the trickster was hardly deserving of such pleasantries. She finally concluded it would only be dull to eavesdrop further, and sighed as she uneasily tucked into her bed, gazing out across the balcony into the cold night. Not that it bothered her. But isolation did. Having someone in the castle, someone human, was...new, she interrupted. It was new, and intriguing, and nothing more.
Rolling over again, she let herself fall into a tense, dreamless sleep.
She woke early. The sky was awake, so she was awake, she told herself bittersweetly. She'd woken this way for years since...She stood and dressed in her usual cape and blue dress before peering in again on Loki and the Madame. Loki was still asleep with the dying dawn, probably exhausted, she observed with a pang of pity. She waved the vision and the emotion away. Not like someone as prideful as he would appreciate it. She took the steps down, greeted Cogsworth, who was flitting about the palace, and took the stairs up to the prince's room. There she hesitated. Should she knock?
She elected to try not to wake him, and unlocking the doors, stepped in. Drifting past a snoring Madame, she conjured a vase and a chalice at Loki's bedside, filling the chalice with some thin ice that would soon melt into fresh water and the vase with some silken bandages soaking in ice. She rapped some soft snow into some of the silk, and paused, studying his face.
“Would you like to do this yourself, Your Highness?”
“Majesty,” he said, his eyes flitting open easily as he sat up, conjuring some presentable clothes in golden lights towards which Elsa could not hide her admiration. It was not lost on the trickster as he took the bandage and folded it around his lower back and side. The wardrobe continued to snore, and Loki nodded his head toward her. “I did sleep well, no thanks to your servant.”
“I can remove her, if you'd like.”
Mixed surprise, confusion, and hesitation appeared in his face, and she grinned. To him it was a cheeky, challenging smirk that made him writhe. He shook his head.
“That won't be necessary, Elsa.”
“It's Your Majesty,” she said, standing. “I will send Mrs. Potts with your breakfast in some time.”
“And what am I to do until then?” he inquired to her back.
“Perhaps amuse yourself with your illusions.”
She whipped her head to him, hurt and vulnerability registering in her eyes like he hadn't witnessed there before. It satisfied him, yet..it didn't.
“Do not presume to know anything about me, Loki.”
“Then don't make it so obvious when I'm right, Elsa,” he countered with a cheeky, charming grin. Charming? No-Hardly.
She stood there for a time, then turned and locked the door behind her. She stormed down the stairs, emotions fighting and tangling inside her as she started up her own stairs.
Then, the most unexpected, heart wrenching, familiar sound met her ear.
Loki wrapped the silken bandage around his skin, binding the soft snow tightly to his wound, though the silk itself was chill to the touch. Elsa's creations..they were beautiful. There was some soul to them, so yearning for creation, for expression. A longing for beauty.
He stood to pace around the room, taking the chalice for a drink. The water again was fresh and pure and empowering. He could feel some of his strength returning, though he doubted it would be wise to attempt an escape past the powerful queen. It was true she lacked control, but she was dangerous nonetheless. And that was the saddest thing about it-
Sad? Hardly. She was here, she was afraid by her own choice. If she'd had any sense she would have controlled it long ago. She would have found a way.
Glancing at the drowsing wardrobe, Loki approached the door warily and listened with intent.
Elsa appeared and talked to the new person. Loki pondered that person's identity, then discarded the notion for a later date as he realized the two were scaling the opposite stairs, the servants all hidden from sight, the wardrobe sleeping yet--
Concentrating on the locks, he held up a fist, then opened it, holding his side at the exertion using magic required, but all of it worth it as he heard the satisfying click!, and the door fell ajar. Slipping out with a final glance toward the wardrobe and-on second thought, he'd better not look-he sprinted down the steps and slid across the ballroom, catching himself on the door, still open from the other woman's entrance. He pulled it further enough to slip through, then fell back against it to allow himself a moment's rest. Then he raced past a figure sitting on the icey staircase outside, into the unforgiving frozen mountains. (Part 2 coming soon with much more angst and fluff-and some singing? Tune in then, I hope you enjoyed so far!)