"Sig, Sig wake up," Loki's voice was urgent, scared, actually scared, as he shook you awake.

"Huh?" you asked groggily, snuggling closer in your half-asleep haze instead of actually waking.

"Wake up, Y/N," Loki told you firmly, throwing the blankets off of the pair of you. The chill air and his following words got you properly awake. "There's trouble." Those words always had you instantly awake and aware. You jolted upright, rubbing your eyes against the lights in the room. It was well before dawn and neither of you had any rational reason to be awake at this gods' cursed hour.

"I didn't hear an alarm," you told Loki as you scrambled out of the bed with him. There should have been an alarm if something was going on, if there was trouble.

"There isn't one, but there's trouble. Trust me. C'mon," he told you urgently. You heard the fear in his voice and knew whatever it was had to be bad for him to be this distressed. You both summoned your armor with a shimmer of magic. Loki took your hand and rushed for the door of your suite. You had to run to keep up with his longer stride.

"What's going on?" you asked as you followed him up the stairs. He was too impatient to wait for the elevator, and too distressed to teleport. You couldn't help until you knew what was going on.

"I'll tell you when we get to Thor. We need him," Loki replied instead of answering. Thor's room was a couple floors above yours and you wished Loki was calm enough to think instead of running, but he wasn't, so you had to attempt to keep up with him or get dragged. He burst through Thor's bedroom door without knocking when you finally got to his floor. "Brother, wake up!" Loki ordered loudly as the door banged into the wall and the lights blared to life in Thor's room.

Thor shot up in bed and threw Mjolnir at the pair of you, half awake at best and surely thinking he was being attacked by incompetent intruders. You shoved Loki behind you and grabbed Mjolnir before it could hit him, grateful that you were worthy to wield the hammer, and therefore worthy to stop it from smashing through your face. "Thor, wake up!" you growled. Thor looked at you then, shocked and horrified that he had attacked you.

"What's going on?" he demanded, angry at being woken, and angry out of fear of nearly killing you with his stupid hammer.

"Mother contacted me," he tapped his head to indicate telepathically before you or Thor could ask. "There's trouble at home. We have to go. Now," Loki finally explained, his voice a scared snarl and you understood his fear now. If something was bad enough on Asgard for Frigga to contact the three of you here then it was bad. Loki was worried for his mother. She was the only one he truly loved there.

"Wait in the hall. I'll be there in a moment," Thor told you both firmly. Loki growled.

"Mother needs us now," he replied, desperate for Thor to get up and come with you immediately. Desperate for his brother to help him. Thor gave you a pointed look, a slight pleading in his eyes for you to be more reasonable than his brother. You flushed, realizing the issue, though Loki was too distressed to realize. You sighed and grabbed Loki's arm, dragging him back out of the room. Loki glared at you.

"Sigyn. Let me go. That oaf-" he started.

You rolled your eyes and cut him off. "Is wearing what most men wear to bed and would like for his brother and his brother's fiancee not to see his...hammer," you explained as you pulled the door shut behind you. Loki glanced at Mjolnir still in your hands and your words seemed to get through his brain.

He growled and rolled his eyes. "You better be out here in the next minute or I'm coming in there after you pants or no!" he shouted through the door.

"Breathe, love. Your mother is clearly ok enough to send you a message all the way here from Asgard. Whatever's going on can't be that dire. It'll be alright," you promised, wrapping your arms around his waist. His arms went around you automatically. You could feel his fear in his too tight grip, in the muscles in his arms that shook with the effort to contain his emotions. "Everything will be alright," you reassured him again. The door opened and Thor stepped through, dressed in his armor.

"What did Mother say?" he asked shortly.

"Just that there is trouble and we are needed home immediately," Loki replied. You reached out and grabbed Thor's arm and teleported the three of you to the spot you usually called the Bifrost from. Loki looked down at you gratefully. He hadn't even thought of teleporting. He just wanted to run to the defense of his mother, a small boy's reaction, not a master magician's. You handed Mjolnir back to Thor so he could do the honors. He raised the hammer, called to Heimdall, and an instant later the Bifrost opened and you were flying up the rainbow bridge to Asgard.

A minute later you stepped into the Bifrost room with the boys. Heimdall was standing in his usual spot with the Bifrost sword. "Welcome back to Asgard. The Queen is waiting for the three of you in her chambers." You grabbed Thor's arm again and teleported the three of you to right outside Frigga's sitting room door. You weren't rude enough to teleport directly inside. That would be unbelievably rude, even in the circumstances.

Loki was out of your arms the second you had appeared and burst into Frigga's suite without bothering to knock. He could get away with the behavior. She was waiting for you as Heimdall had said, pacing and absently picking at her left palm out of nerves. Loki rushed to her and wrapped her in his arms. "Mother, are you alright?" he asked, fear and concern in his tone. You and Thor entered the room more calmly. Frigga held Loki tightly and you could see her grief and worry.

"I am fine, darling," she finally told the worried Loki, but she kept her hand on his arm even after she let him go.

"What is the trouble?" Thor asked when she and Loki were both more calm.

"Come with me and see for yourselves," she told you all and led you from her chambers, her hand still on Loki's arm. He escorted her without question and you knew she was taking strength for whatever this was from his presence. You and Thor didn't begrudge her for it. Thor knew that Loki was Frigga's son, just as he had always been Odin's, of course she would go to Loki for comfort.

It was a brisk walk through the near-empty halls of the palace and you ended up in the healing wing. You straightened your spine, preparing for your skills to be needed for whatever was going on. Frigga led you to a quiet private room at the back of the healing wing. There was only one occupant, though a guard stood outside the door. He stepped aside to let your group in.

Odin was lying on the bed in the room, surrounded by a gold light. "Your Father has fallen into the Odinsleep," Frigga told you, worried and sorrowed. She went to the chair next to the bed, her vigil place from what you gathered. "It was unexpected, we don't- we don't know when he will wake," she explained, though it was difficult for her to get the words out. She stumbled over them, concern for her husband clear in her tone.

You started forward automatically to see what you could do to help, though you didn't know much about the Odinsleep. Thor grabbed your arm to stop you. "This is not something you can heal, little sister," he told you softly, gently. He knew that you'd throw yourself into the healing if there was any little thing you could do.

Loki's hands were on Frigga's shoulders and he kissed her hair. "He will wake again, Mother," he reassured her warmly. She smiled up at him, reached up to touch his cheek.

"I'm sure Father will wake soon," Thor agreed, joining Loki at Frigga's side.

"Thank you, my sons. Thor, I hate to do this to you..." Frigga started softly, sadly.

"No, Mother, you know how I feel-" Thor protested instantly. He had grasped what she was getting at before you had.

"Odin cannot rule like this... and I..." she was too emotionally compromised to assume the throne. "The line of succession falls to you," she told him.

"No, I can't-. I don't want-. The Midgardians need me, the realms need me out there defending them, not sitting on a throne here bound by politics and court!" Thor protested again. "Let-" he stopped midsentence and looked at Loki. He had been about to say something along the lines of 'Let Loki assume the throne'

"Brother, do you really believe that suggestion wise?" Loki asked softly, sadly, his voice hurt and bruised. He had ruled Asgard once before with poor results. You went to him then, wrapped your arms around his waist, reassuring him that things had changed since then. He now, like then, didn't want the power. He only wanted to be part of the family, to be Thor's equal.

You gave Thor a look. He needed to answer Loki's question carefully to not break Loki again. Thor thought the question over, thought over his answer before he finally spoke again. You hoped and prayed to every deity that might listen that his words wouldn't break his brother's heart, that he wouldn't shatter Loki to pieces with what he said.

"Politics and court intrigues were always much more your area of expertise than mine. Much as I would have hated to admit it back then, you are much better suited for the throne than I," Thor replied warmly, with his usual tone of such open honesty that even Loki couldn't deny that he was telling the truth. "So, I believe that not only is that suggestion wise, but that you are the best man for the job, Brother,"