"Do you two believe in love?" Garfield suddenly asked the question with an air of deep mystery.
Fran and Angie were momentarily confused. Two fair-skinned, long-legged elf girls looked at him in puzzlement as they drew closer.
"What is love?" Fran asked earnestly.
"Is it like when I raise a dragon?"
Garfield froze. …A dragon?
A small gecko?
No, there was absolutely no way this soft, gentle, clingy elf girl was talking about that kind of creature.
"Sister," Garfield asked carefully, "Do you mean… a dragon the size of a puppy?"
He gestured with his paws, outlining something fluffy and harmless.
Fran shook her head and pointed toward a towering statue outside Asgard.
"Ours is over a hundred meters long." She said calmly. "About that tall."
"His scales are larger than I am, and he can bite through steel this thick in one bite."
She made a casual chopping motion with her hand.
Garfield's mind immediately supplied an image of another nightmare creature… Pandora.
Over a hundred meters long. Two thousand tons. One bite and an aircraft carrier was gone.
He stared at Fran.
At this soft, sticky, sweet elf girl. So you're the kind of person who raises extinction-level threats as pets.
If she ever realized he was trying to trick her…
She would absolutely let the dragon out.
Nope.
Can't afford that.
Slip away.
Slip away now.
Garfield quietly shifted backward, preparing to vanish and was immediately blocked by Angie.
"Your Highness." Angie said calmly, "You still haven't explained what you meant by that kind of love."
…How old were these elves? How did they not know this?
Garfield cleared his throat.
"It's a relationship." He explained, choosing his words carefully, "between men and men, men and women, or women and women… something deeper than friendship."
"And then… they live happily together."
"…" The two elf girls exchanged glances.
"Oh!" Fran said, suddenly enlightened. "Angie and I have lived together since we were young. Is that love?"
Garfield hesitated. "…That counts."
"Yeah." Angie nodded seriously.
"Yes." Fran agreed.
While the two girls fell into deep thought, Garfield made a decisive choice… Run.
He turned into an orange blur and vanished like lightning.
✦••┈┈••✦••┈┈••✦
The banquet lasted late into the night.
Thor drank with unmatched enthusiasm. By the end, fewer than half the guests were still conscious, and Loki had long since disappeared into some dark corner of the palace.
Thor finally collapsed, thoroughly drunk, and was escorted away by Fandral.
Fandral supported the staggering Thunder God as they left the hall, completely unaware of the furious gaze burning into his back.
From the shadows, Lady Sif watched them go, teeth clenched.
"Damn it, Fandral." She muttered. "Couldn't you have given me a chance? Fine. I'll settle this with you on the training field later."
As Fandral carried Thor through the palace corridors, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
He turned around.
Nothing.
Only guards on duty. No one else.
…Weird.
Am I imagining things? Is someone… waiting for me?
The thought made him nervous and oddly excited.
Fandral sped up, completing a ten-minute walk in barely three minutes. After settling the snoring Thor onto his bed, he turned and ran back toward the banquet hall.
When he arrived, the hall was empty.
"…Huh?" Just moments ago, it had been overflowing with gods and immortals.
The confusion overwhelmed him. His vision spun.
Fandral collapsed.
At the moment he fell, a black shadow emerged silently behind him. It dragged him into a corner… and calmly removed his clothes.
✦••┈┈••✦••┈┈••✦
After successfully slipping away, Garfield wandered the palace for a while, enjoying the rare freedom.
Eventually, he returned to the banquet hall.
Amenadiel was gone.
Angela was gone.
The elves were gone.
Garfield exhaled in relief. I can finally enjoy myself.
He padded over to the musicians and raised a paw. They stopped immediately.
"Your Highness." One of them asked respectfully, "Do you have a piece you'd like us to play?"
Dangling his paws off the edge of the stage, Garfield looked at the stunned musicians and announced solemnly:
"Nuuuuuu~ don't be afraid. I'm about to take you into… another world of music."
"…?" The musicians stared at him.
Garfield waved a paw. With a ripple of magic, arcane symbols unfolded in the air, rapidly assembling into a full set of glowing electronic equipment… mixers, turntables, oscillating runes, and a floating microphone.
Garfield grabbed the mic.
"Hello, everyone!" He called out cheerfully. "Would you like to try a different music style tonight?"
Before anyone could answer, his two paws slammed down.
"One—oh."
"One—oh."
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo~
The hall froze.
"Su~ hey! Su~ hey!"
Bright, lively electronic beats surged through the banquet hall, sharp and infectious.
Garfield's followers were the first to react, heads nodding, shoulders twisting unconsciously.
As the rhythm deepened, Garfield snapped his claws.
Illusion magic flared.
A ring of Garfield clones appeared around the hall… dozens of orange cats, all moving in perfect synchronization, swaying and bouncing to the same beat.
Fueled by wine and divine enthusiasm, the guests who could still stand began to move.
Gods, warriors, elves, everyone swayed to the rhythm.
"Su~ hey! Su~ hey!"
The electronic chant echoed across Asgard's night sky.
Fran and Angie, who had been searching everywhere for the runaway cat, froze the moment they heard the unmistakable beep-beep-beep.
They rushed back into the hall and immediately jumped into the crowd, laughing and dancing along.
As for Silver City's eldest son, Amenadiel?
He never returned.
By the time Garfield's music had knocked every last reveler flat, there was still no sign of him.
Garfield was exhausted.
Unfortunately, Fran and Angie slightly drunk and extremely excited, were not.
They happily fed Garfield cup after cup of wine. Even beasts feared alcohol, and Garfield was still, fundamentally, a cat.
One cat.
Two drunken elf girls.
The outcome was inevitable.
Garfield's consciousness wavered as he was carried away, cradled between the two elves, escorted by Asgardian guards toward the palace's uppermost floor… his personal chambers.
The room was magnificent.
Resplendent décor with soft golden lighting. A massive bed large enough to sleep five or six people without crowding.
When Garfield rolled onto it, he looked… perfectly at home.
One of the elves hugged half his body tightly.
Both girls fell asleep almost instantly.
✦••┈┈••✦••┈┈••✦
Asgard sank into deep slumber.
Only Heimdall remained awake, standing watch within the Bifrost control chamber. His gaze pierced the void beyond, the first and greatest barrier protecting Asgard.
Though the palace appeared quiet, its defenses were fully active.
Magic.
Technology.
Ancient wards.
Asgard was no crumbling relic, it simply chose when to awaken.
Da. Da. Da.
Footsteps echoed softly.
After a pair of patrol guards passed their route, a figure slipped out of the shadows.
Fandral.
He waited until the guards vanished, then carefully began exploring the upper levels of the palace.
First floor.
Second floor.
Third floor.
"…What is this place?" He muttered. "The entire palace is only halls after halls. Nothing useful."
Complaining didn't stop him.
Whenever he encountered guards, he avoided them if possible. When that failed, he made small noises… stones rolling to draw them away.
An hour passed.
He had lost count of the floors. Then at the corner of a dim corridor he noticed a door left slightly ajar.
Fandral paused, then he peered through the gap.
Inside stood Odin.
The All-Father was alone, holding an ancient tome, calmly turning its pages.
Fandral's breath quickened.
Excitement surged through him. Slowly, he reached for the hilt of the sword at his waist.
꧁𓊈𒆜༺⚜༻𒆜𓊉꧂
PhantomDream