Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize, and some you don't...I took a little creative licensing with some elements of mythology and canon.

Summary: Once upon a time, things were perfect, but fairy tales aren't real. The King doesn't rule peacefully, the queen is a monster, the princess isn't some damsel in distress, and the prince doesn't slay the terrible beast. Happily ever after doesn't apply when the Avengers are involved. Now with a Mad Titan breathing down their necks, it will take literally everything Earth's Mightiest Heroes has, past and present, to save not just everyone in the universe...but also themselves.

Please read and review! Thank you so much!

WARNING: Thor Ragnarok Spoilers...you have been warned!

Chapter One

The Past Hurts

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Before the first songs and sunlight, there was the Mother of the Cosmos, Alheimurinn, the Universe...she was vast and great, reaching far into existence and blanketing all that was with her might.

Her voice rang out over her depths, calling forth waters from below that which lay below her eyes. From her singing came the three wells, Urðarbrunnr, Hvergelmir, and Mímisbrunnr. And into these waters Alheimurinn planted the roots of her Tree, the beautiful sapling that would soon stretch into the budding stars and glowing cosmos.

Yggdrasil was a mere fractions of its might when Alheimurinn felt the first pangs of loneliness, and from her sorrow wished for an easing of her pain. Mother Universe's suffering brought forward her children, the Elementals, Children of the Cosmos, She named them after the focus points in her very being, gifting them with the powers befitting their domains as they chose their kingdoms.

Her sons, Soul and Mind, were the eldest, steadfast and hearty. While the youngest two, Heart and Breath, were daughters, passionate and with a flare for running. Once they were strong and knew their duties of guarding Yggdrasil, Alheimurinn gave her children the choice of their domains in the order of their birth.

Soul quickly claimed Fire, for passion thrives when tended like a raging inferno, or smoldering coals. Mind was content with Earth, to be grounded and shaped with time and care. Heart chose water, to be free and flowing yet steadfast and sturdy as ice.

Which left the Wind to Breath, and as such gave Lady Death her power to take away the air from one's lungs, holding their last breaths to her as they joined in her domain.

But Lady Death was not pleased with this, she wanted water...ice...snow...she wanted the delicate beauty her sister had been given in snow flakes, to freeze a heart like her Mother had frozen hers in not giving the youngest the gift of choice.

Mother Alheimurinn...she did not know what she had started, fading to the cosmos as her four children tended the Great tree Yggdrasil, thriving and conquering and forming the great realms and gateways and creations Alheimurinn left her children to be free. Giving them ultimate reign.

Soul and Mind were quickly off on their own, content to rule their powers from afar and let the races emerging on every realm and planet guide themselves in their paths to Destiny and the Wells of Fate, while the two brothers journeyed on and created more and more people. Love...she tried to work with her sister, and instead was punished, Lady Death roared out in her anger and attacked Love's people on her home of ice. Scarring them with twisting lines for generations to come on their skins. Marring their once beauty into what would soon be known as hideous beasts. Love cried for her first people, and then others as Death continued on and scrambled across the cosmos to poison those who thought Love could save them.

Love fought back, first with gifting the rare few of each race with magic, giving them just enough of the stars to save themselves and their people. It wasn't enough and soon the far reaches of the galaxies had heard of Death's grasp and clawing wind that stole the air from their lungs.

Crying for aid, Love pleaded to her Mother, yet received no answer. It wasn't until the brothers returned from their creation journeys, having populated the far reaches of their Mother, did Love gain the upper hand. The Titans were born out of rage against Lady Death, to tame her power.

And they succeeded, the Titans raged war on Lady Death and her stealing air, not needing the grace of breath to fuel their power. Soon, the youngest sister was banished from her grasp on the cosmos, sent to the depths of Hell to reign over those whose time had come to past.

With their target gone, the Titans then attacked the rest of Mother Alheimurinn's children, defeating them with ease and leaving their immense strength loose in the stars. Sick with grief and too weak to stop them, Alheimurinn took her children's powers and reshaped them, trapping the powers in radiant gem stones. To keep the Titans in line, she crafted a gauntlet to hold the stones, the bearer would have the powers of the Children of the Cosmos and be able to guide the millions of souls now growing across the galaxies.

But as the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility and the Infinity Gauntlet became too much for it's bearer, the power corrupted the holder and drove them insane. Kronos the Titan of Time tried to reason with his siblings, begging them to stop the bloodshed of innocents in their feuding and break up the Stones to diminish some of their strength.

Most agreed...except for one…

Thanos...the Titan of Chaos, it was he who dealt the final blow to Lady Death, sealing her in the prisons of Hell and locking the gates behind her. He grew angered that not only was he not given the Gauntlet as honor for his deeds, but that he now must suffer losing the might of all Infinity Stones, his rage was unparalleled even to that of Lady Death and his wrath swept across the realms.

The Titan of Chaos earned the name the Mad Titan very rapidly, and the others struggled to contain his insanity. In a final battle that tore apart the galaxies, scattering many of Yggdrasil's branches far from the great tree, he was ultimately destroyed, at the cost of all the Titans' lives.

In her deep sorrow for her creations and lost children, Alheimurinn broke apart the Infinity Stones and scattered them into the stars, giving Buri, son of Dagr the first Aesir king, the empty gauntlet for safe keeping on the ever growing realm of Asgard. Buri had his own son, Borr, who had the look of a conqueror in his eyes.

It wouldn't be long until Asgard became the center point of Yggdrasil's remaining nine realms, and Borr was the first to take the title of Allfather, and would one day pass the title down to his eldest Odin.

And yet, in the shadows of the Great Tree...darkness still lingered, for Alheimurinn's grief was so great she did not see that there was madness in the dark, and chaos still reigned when Death called for the sweet songs of pain.

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Lækna

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"It is a gift from the Gods your majesties, a son, you bear a son my queen! And the Grand Duchess has just been found to be carrying a daughter. A blessed omen, a uniting for the clans."

The queen was in tears as she nodded to the healer, allowing the one of the arts to head off to her next patient. Down the hall from the royal suite in the healing temple, a joyous cry came from the Queen's clan brother, and dear friend of the King who stood at his wife's side.

"A son my dear, a son!"

"The Gods have truly gifted us my heart," The voice that shook mountains rumbled in the Queen's chest as her husband spoke, "A son for the throne and a daughter of both our clans to unite the kinfolks across the realms. Hvîtur and Svartur united in marriage and clans blood!"

A raucous laughter filled the healing chambers as the Queen's clans brother entered the private suite, pressing a chaste kiss to his sister's cheek. His own wife, clans sister to the King himself, looked tired but pleased as her hands rested on the small swell of her abdomen that mirrored her hearth sister's.

"As soon as the babes are born, a betrothal ceremony will be held, the future king and queen of this realm must be recognized for who they are."

The King's clan sister nodded, leaning against her brother happily, "Of course, let us pray to the Gods for safe bearing of these children, and perhaps a bit of sun upon their arrivals, what are we my dear, due two weeks apart?"

"Days my wife," The Queen's clans brother corrected gently, "Two days, my sister first and then you, perfect for the alignment of the stars."

"And so be it," The King intoned, "By the Norns there will be peace in our realm at last!"

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But peace was not to be...the first battle did not take place on their home realm, and better for it, as the Queen was in the throes of her labor while her King was battling for their people's lives and freedom.

The King returned bloodied and bruised...and blessed...a healthy son born from his wife. And then the Fates appeared to curse their realm and people, so much bloodshed on their own grounds. The war raged on for miles, destroying everything from the smallest villages to the vast city-states the clans ruled from in their territories. In every battle there was one term set down, havens were never to be touched…

Temples for the Gods were forbidden to be taken over, left as a refuge to the injured and to the children, safety in the chaos of war. At merely a week old, the King's son, the Crown Prince, was hidden at the Temple of Kóngafólk for safe keeping, tended to by nursemaids to hide him from the horrors of war.

The King's clan sister delivered a beautiful baby girl in the middle of a terrible battle raging over their realm, her husband and brother not present during this event, only the Queen, still weary from her own labors.

While the palace called out in joy at the arrival of the future Crown Princess, the people cried out in horror as first the River Temple was overtaken and then the Mountain Temple...hundreds of healers and priests slaughtered, thousands of innocents perishing under the might of their enemies.

The realm cried in anguish, their King enraged and battling the armies that swarmed the palace gates to take the Queen's life while she was weak and unable to defend herself, her husband protected her with nearly his entire life...but it wasn't enough to save their son…

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Royal Nursery

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It was time...her son, her first born was weaned from her breast, and the nursemaids for that matter, the little prince was lively and ready to move to his own suites finally, and leave the nursery to be redone. It should have been redone for a new little one of the royal family. But her new baby hadn't even been able to grow to her third month, she'd barely known of the new babe before it was taken from her.

Now, the room would be cleaned, and a few things fixed if she was honest, and prepared for guests' children, ambassadors and diplomats and the like...until her little boy married and had children of his own...years from now…

Her husband wasn't there to see her tears as she wandered the nursery, collecting little trinkets and parchment scraps covered in toddler drawings and scribbles. Her hairbrush that had gone missing a week ago stashed under the cradle bed, shaped like a ship and padded with soft fleece and rich velvet. The king was off at war...again...and would come home victorious and-

Covered in blood?

She spun at his entrance, limping a little as he leaned on his staff like it was actually keeping him upright instead of just a symbol of power and the throne. His face was chapped and red, from wind and from the blood crusting down over his cheek and starting at his brow. He'd lost an eye, and won a war…

And brought back spoils of war if the shouting that echoed from the halls far away were any tell, and not just relics. Something was wrapped in his traveling cloak, not his war cape as that was stained with blood and ash, meaning it was likely needing warmth.

And rightly so as she stepped closer to her husband and looked at the small bundle being presented to her.

Dark lashes and faint wisps of black hair, tiny fists clutching the cloak's edges, puckered lips shifting in sleep and searching for something out of reach.

"I bring you a gift my queen-"

He spoke as if he'd brought her another trinket like their son was ought to do, not as if the thing in arms was alive at all.

"A gift? A gift?! That is a child! A-a babe for by the Norns. Not a flower or a gemstone to be plucked from the ground as a spoil of war! Is the mother not mourning her loss? The father not crying for vengeance!?"

A shake of the head was her reply, "There is no one...he was left to the elements, not a soul to be found."

"He?! The child is a he...the clans will not stand for this! You've stolen someone's heir! The seers will know whose blood this child claims. What...how could you?"

"I know whose blood this child claims, and there will be no fall back, only peace between the realms."

Groaning in anger she shoved away from his reaching arms, still careful not to harm the infant but refused to take the offered bundle. Her husband set the babe down on the day bed, meant for tired mothers and nursemaids to rest upon while caring for newborns. He moved closer and exposed the baby to the room as their shouting had roused the infant, the squirming shifting the coverings aside and exposing soft skin.

"How could you? After that cursed war…"

"He was abandoned my queen, left to die, look at-"

"No!"

"Look at Him!" His thunderous roar made her turn back at last, and see the baby fully as he began to cry. The cord was still there, withered and nearly gone, but the infant still fussed and wriggled, searching for comfort in a strange place that was nothing like home. A newborn….barely a few days old.

"Abandoned you say? Where?"

"Some temple, it does not matter my wife…"

Lies…

She didn't call him out though, her heart ached too much, especially when she made the mistake, the mistake of brushing a finger against the babe's cheek to sooth the miserable whimpers, and saw the babe's eyes for the first time when they locked on hers.

While not the same strength as a seer, nor even close to that of a mage, she was still powerful in magic, and like any mother, or someone graced with the power gifted from the stars, could read a newborn babe's soul and see their potential for magic, their true name…and their blood…

This time, her eyes were harsh, even if her arms were not as they lifted the babies to her breast and cuddled the chilled infant close.

"How dare you…"

"My dear…"

"No." She growled this time, furious beyond belief while shushing the poor babe and soothing the infant's fears. "You bring me Laufey's son and expect me to remain silent-"

"He is Laufey's no longer...he is yours."

The queen saw red, eyes sparking with magic as her power flashed a warning at her husband to stay back from her, and the baby.

"I know you brought the Casket back to Asgard, and I know what must have transpired for you to bring this child back to me, but think...think long and hard Odin, son of Borr, Allfather of the Nine Realms. Think before you speak to me again."

Odin did not dare to step closer, waiting as his wife and Allmother of Asgard closed her eyes, pulling her power back to her and settling her magic.

Frigga stared back finally, her own eyes filled with tears instead of the baby that now slept in her arms.

"What have you done?"

Tada? What do you think?