Fic :: Fimbul (5/?)

["C S Armitage" <soren_nyrond@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

TITLE: Fimbul (4/?)
AUTHOR: Soren Nyrond
DISCLAIMER: Several characters in this belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. I'm poor, I'm harmless, I'm just borrowing.
SUMMARY: Another part, starring Rupert Exposition and featuring The Plot SoFar
SPOILERS: None; not even smut (unless it's hiding somewhere)
AUTHOR'S NOTES: All nice feedback welcome -- thanks for the nice comments so far.   
ARCHIVING: Wait and see if I ever finish the thing. Oh and BTW, I've finished correcting all the spelling mistakes in Fables now and thnak you to everyone for not pointing them out.


 
FIMBUL  
By Soren Nyrond
Part 5 :: Ice and a Slice (of Saga)
 
 
 
"It would appear that there are - or were - heretics everywhere," Rupert Giles said. "Even among the ancient Norse."
He cocked an eyebrow and Xander Harris decided against either of the jokes he'd been about to crack.
"As you know, the Norse worshipped gods they called the Aesir - the gods ofAsgard. The world we know was Midgard, the Middle Land. The Aesir sharedAsgard with the fire and frost giants - indeed, they were supposed to havesupplanted the giants - and it was to be against the giants that they would fight the final battle, Ragnarok. There almost all the gods would die, but so would all of the giants and the forces of evil, leaving the worlds for man."
"Giles," Buffy said patiently, "can we get to the bit about California ?" Willow leaned over.
"Let him go at his own pace, Buff - he'll get there."
"Yes, but - " Any more was lost in the full-mouthed kiss Buffy suddenly received.
"Okay, listening mode engaged," Willow said, decorously dabbing her lips.
"Being disturbed mode active," Xander commented: "Do you act that way roundyour folks ?"
"Xander, shut up, or I'll never let you sleep over again."
"That projects an equally disturbing image," Giles said, before continuing.
"It seems, however, that some Norse lacked faith that Ragnarok would end - or had ended - that way: they felt that the giants might prevail and they wanted to . the hedge their bets.
"Anyway, according to Professor Higurdsson, there was a heretic cult who believed that giants were simply biding their time."
 
He looked round - Xander seemed entranced; Buffy and Willow were either keeping each other warm or indulging in the early stages of what three years in America had taught him to recognise as a display of hormonally-charged teen-lust.
"You've all heard, I take it, of Loki ?"
"Trickster god," Xander said: "Always lying and cheating the other gods."
Willow nodded too, in between butterfly-kissing Buffy's foraged, cheeks andlips.
"Well, the heretic cult believed that the giants used Loki as their instrument. The fire giants, who were impulsive, are supposed to have set cindersin each of his heels, so that wherever he ran, during Ragnarok, he would burn the earth and open volcanoes.
"The frost giants, on the other hand, were willing to wait for their revenge. They foresaw that Loki would notice the volcanoes and work out what hadhappened. They offered Loki a necklace of jewels, saying that their powerwas bound up in them, and so long as he did not betray them it would be his to use after the battle, in case any of the Aesir survived and wanted revenge.
"They knew Loki would betray them, and so only one of the jewels, the smallest, was anything other than ice. It alone didn't melt in Loki's pocket, and it held all of their power. And, after Ragnarok, after Gotterdamnerung,it survived, somewhere in the netherworlds. One day it would come to light, and then, through it, the frost giants would return to rule all of Midgard, all of the earth."
"And this is what's happening ?" Willow queried.
"Ice, snow, wolves - it all looks possible."
"Then what do we do ?" Xander asked, dangling an empty cop of hot chocolatefrom a finger.
"I think we stay off the streets until we can see what's going on," Giles advised. "That blizzard can't last forever."
"Okay," Buffy said. "Willow and I will have the couch and Xander can sleepin your spare room, and we'll get to work in the morning."
 
 
>From the size of a marble, the Jotun had grown to cat-size with the assimilation of the English teacher and Richard Agnew. Now, with the Principal and the fire chief also to feed from, and warmth drawn from other sources (like the crashed car) it was as big as a goodly-sized dog. As the night fell, the clouds cleared, emptying the last of their moisture and moving away to glean more, and the temperature fell lower still. And shapes began to move, working out from the school, moving into the surrounding buildings, searching out boilers and other heat sources, and turning them full on, to feed the force that was gathering.
 
 
It would, Rupert Giles decided, have been better to have listened to Willowand Buffy. But, no: he was the adult, he had to be the one who *knew*.
At his insistence the girls had taken the spare room, and Xander had been awarded the downstairs couch. And for a good part of the start of the nighthe had been the unwilling listener-in on the noises from the room next to his own. Education was all very well, especially that provided by the Council to its trainee Watchers, but it had never extended to how to block out subtle, and not-so-subtle, hints that sexual activity was going on.
"I need a shower," Willow had announced, at an obscenely early hour.
"I'll help," Buffy had offered, and they were off again.
 
So, by the time he got downstairs and was getting breakfast (thank God for proper English tea and porridge oats), he was not in the best of moods.
"Hi, G-man," Xander greeted him: "How d'you sleep ? I kept thinking I heard voices, but . "
"Hi, Giles." Willow positively bounced into the kitchen, glowing with fresh-scrubbedness (or something). "Got any Wheatie Rings or something ?"
Buffy, when she descended a few minutes later, just wanted toast and coffee(and, it seemed, another - and prolonged - hug with her pet witch).
"So - today . ?"
"Today, we - look, will you two stop that ?"
Willow and Buffy reluctantly disengaged from a tickling contest and looked at Giles. Willow actually did look a little shamefaced: Buffy's expression, on the other hand, was one Giles knew well, and knew as counterfeit.
Still, she was the Slayer, and he was only a Watcher, not the Guardian of her Morals.
"As I was saying, today . "
The knock on the door interrupted him. Xander, as the closest, was the onewho went to see who it was. Outside there was a young man in military-type uniform.
"Please remain indoors at all times - the weather is still adverse, and we would prefer that people weren't wandering where they could get hurt."
"Ah, thank you," Giles said. "Do we know precisely how far the area of effect is ? Would we be able to drive out ?"
"I wouldn't advise it," the young man (his name-tag said 'Finn') replied. "The roads don't seem to be safe for vehicles either."
They waited for fifteen minutes after he'd gone, in case he was still in the area, before the four of them, wrapped up to the nines, snuck out to see what was going on.
 
 
Most of the snow had melted, although the skies looked capable of delivering more. But the area of hard ice had spread: now almost two full blocks were frozen in, centred on the converted warehouse that was now Sunnydale High, but spreading out. A mixture of police, fire officers and the military youth corps were maintaining an exclusion zone, but (to their relief) therewas little sign of its spreading.  
 
The Jotun (inasmuch as it had feelings at all) was frustrated: its purpose was to grow and envelope the entirety of Midgard, but to do so it needed fuel and these Men were a different breed - they worked by caution and reason, not like the Norse who could be panicked, and who were prone to sudden bursts of berserk frenzy, when they could easy be picked off.
< You must go forth > it told its creatures. < I must have more power >
 
 
Giles and Xander had been persuaded to check out the cemeteries ("With the weather like this, it should be plenty easy to tell if any vamps have risen, but it's bright enough sunlight to stop 'em from coming for you"), and Buffy and Willow had teamed up to check out other parts of the town, acting on their own initiative. Which, right now, given that there was no sign of unnatural forces anywhere, had led them to take a break. In the (disused) tower of Bonbuys Department store. For two reasons. First because it gavethem a clear view over all the centre of Sunnydale. And secondly because it was apparently one of the athletes' make-out spots.
"How did you find out about this ?" Buffy asked Willow, as they reclined onthe pie of blankets.
"Xander," the red-head replied: "When he was on the swim team, the others talked about it."
"It's very comfortable."
"It's meant to be - it's got to come up to Cordelia's standards."
"She used to come up here ?" Buffya sked, snaking a hand round Willow's neck.
"No, but some of the other Cordettes did, and they had to make sure she didn't think they were slumming." Willow co-operated, and they kissed for a while.
"Don't you ever get enough ?"
"Not of you."
"But we . all last night."
"I know - did you see Giles' face this morning ? I think he heard some of it."
"Well, you moan."
"Oh, and this from the girl who can't -"
A brief grappling match left both of them pink, giggling and semi-naked.
"We can either tidy ourselves up or - "
The 'or' was obviously the choice - skin was uncovered to wholehearted worship and both girls settled down to doing to the other those things which they knew they would each find most enjoyable (well, except that they didn't have any whipped cream, finely varnished wooden hair-brushes or stuffed toys with furry manes, and very firm little snouts, with them - a shame, but they had learned it was always best to leave something for later .)
 
 
Across town, Mikey Forster was bored. It was one thing for school to be closed, but it was another when you were class geek and the computer lab was about the only place you felt you fitted in. And his mom and dad didn't understand either - just wanted him to get through school and then get a job,preferably one that didn't involve the chemical works where his dad worked, so's Mikey didn't get the chest troubles his dad did .
Both of them had gone out to work, and Mikey was under orders not to leave the house.
So, the knock at his window came as a welcome relief.
At first he couldn't see why Angela Morrice was outside, but then, as soon as he got the window open, she swarmed in.
"Hi, Mikey - I got lonely."
"Hi, An-An-Angela." She was closer to him than she'd ever been before and she was licking her lips.
"So, how d'you want to spend the afternoon ?"
He was only human, and teenage hormones were playing fourth down and incheswith his sensibilities. She started off by getting him to turn the radiator in his room on full.
He was about o ask whey, when he saw that she was stripping off her clothes- mind you, she was hardly wearing anything - a flimsy blouse, a scrap of a skirt and something tiny that she had off in a moment, even while she wasopening the zipper on his pants.
 
He kissed her, he fumbled with her breasts . he expected some sort of hint of what she wanted, but she was just all over him.
 
And then he was . she was cooler than he'd expected - the guys had talked about warmth, but what did he know ..  
And she was going a lot faster than Mikey had expected, as if there was a time-limit on what they were doing (though he didn't actually want his parents to burst in on them) and .
 
The cold burst round him like an avalanche and Mikey Forster lost his consciousness about two seconds after his virginity. Then he was snap-frozen and the creature that had the shape of Angela Morrice was rising from his chilled corpse and smashing a hand into the hot radiator. The metal shatteredwith the intense cold and the water instantly froze. The freeze spread down the pipes, into the boiler and then even as the gas jets were starting to superheat the boiler metal, the ice-force of the Jotun enveloped it and the Forster house suddenly became an ice-pyre in the midst of suburban Sunnydale, sucking in heat from the surrounding area.
 
In the sky, clouds began to gather.
 
And in the midst of it all, Angela Morrice disappeared again.
 
 
End of Part 5