Edited! I changed the end and fixed a few minor errors. This used to be called All-Father's Day btw.
My stab at a father's day ficlet. Takes place after Loki is locked up on Asguard for his crimes in the Avengers. Enjoy!
Loki had escaped. This had always been a part of the plan. It was funny how mortals and Asguardians, for all their differences, could both be so easily taken in by their own 'successes'.
All resistance that had met him had been on the way instantly squashed and he was now almost to his destination. The weapon's vault. The end was in sight and it was so easy. All Loki had to do was grab a few relics, and he would have the keys he needed to bring the realms of Yggdrasil to their knees, as well as all he needed to make an easy escape right through the enforcements that Thor and Odin were doubtlessly gathering at the very moment.
He heard shouts in the far distance. Loki knew he still had plenty of time but still he jogged the last few steps to the heavy doors. He threw them open and dashed inside- and the sharp point of a giant golden sword almost speared him through. He stopped his momentum hardly an inch from the deadly weapon. He took a hasty step back before looking up into the face of Odin All-Father.
A rush of anger fueled power sped through his veins and Loki's eyes narrowed, his lips parted to expose his teeth in a dark grin. So he was to finally face his father.
Odin spoke first. "You shall not touch a single artifact. They are only to be used for the good of the realms by their true owners." He said with an air of righteousness that caused the grin to drop right off of Loki's face.
"Their true owners?" He asked with the making of a sneer on his face. "Truly, should I see nothing in this vault belongs to me? Should I have no hope then, of their retrieval?" His eyes flickered between the Casket of Winters, the Tesseract, and his staff. He recalled the spell that could would protect the artifacts from anyone but the All-Father and their 'true owners' from obtaining them. It came down to the use of the right counter spells to retrieve what was needed.
"None of them could belong to you, for you do not fathom the horrors you could so easily free into the realms." Odin said with his mouth set in a grim line.
"Oh, I see, well then, tell me, how is it I'm able to do this?" Loki saw Odin's muscles tense and the great sword began to swing in his direction. But his reactions were that of a weak old man's and Loki easily outpaced his actions. He grabbed the invisible strands of magic in his grasp and twisted them with a complex flick of his wrists. He broke the relics' protection and summoned his staff to him with seconds. It appeared instantly in his hands and with a growl of victory he had shot the All-Father back to the far end of the narrow room.
Odin's sword went clattering halfway between them and he landed not five feet from the Casket of Winters, his head banging painfully on the stone floor. Loki walked slowly towards the man he had once called father. Now that he had his staff he tweaked the magic in the air again and his full battle armor instantly formed around him. The weight of the extra protection and responsibility appearing on his shoulders was a welcome sensation to the god.
On his walk to the end of the hall he only stopped twice. Once to smash the Tesseract's container and pocket it, and a second time to slip the Infinity Gauntlet over his own arm. "Fits like a glove." He taunted Odin. Though he wasn't sure if the All-Father had heard him, for the man said nothing, he only lay there, a hand cradling where his head had slammed into the ground. Loki peered closer at his form and his eyes widened, there was blood shinning on the floor around his father's head.
He strode over to Odin and bent down over his limp form. He had a sudden moment of déjà vu. The last time he had been in this room with Odin, he had fallen unconscious then too. Loki was surprised it had taken him so little to defeat Odin, he remembered back when he was but a boy that Odin had taken hits worse than that while training and walked away quite unharmed. Loki supposed age and neglecting the Odin-sleep had greatly weakened the father of his past.
Loki turned to grab the Casket of Winters. For a moment his hand hovered over the relic and he felt the naturally comforting chill that it gave off combating with the incessant niggling in his mind. With a growl he finally gave into the greater desire and turned back to Odin. He appraised the man once more. The flow of blood on the All-Father's head was slowing (he always had healed quickly while unconscious). And now the All-Father no longer posed a threat to Loki. With the danger gone he allowed himself for a moment to fall to his memories.
He remembered the the time spent with his father when he had been a small boy. The time his father had taught him to use a vanishing spell. The time even before there had been any rivalry between him and Thor when he would sit on his father's lap and hear tales of his battles with the horrible Frost Giants…
Loki turned abruptly back to the Casket and without any further hesitation closed his hands around its cool metal handles. A shiver ran up his spine as soon as it touched the uncovered skin of his right hand. Instantly blue coloring began to creep along his skin. Loki had been expecting it of course, but he couldn't help the frown that appeared. He quickly slid off the Infinity Gauntlet and tucked it under his arm. He slipped the hand that was now free into his cloak to touch the Tesseract. He drew enough energy from it to transport the Infinity Gauntlet and Casket of Winters to the Chitauri and in a flash of blue light the two artifacts were gone. He himself wouldn't leave just yet, he still had unfinished business.
Loki took a deep, calming breath before turning around to face Odin once more. Here was the choice. On the one hand this was now his greatest enemy, the man with the best chance and resources to challenge Loki and the Chitauri. The obvious course of action was to initiate Ragnarok, and bring the death of the All-Father. On his Father's day no less, for today was the yearly celebration thrown in honor of the All-Father. That is why he had picked this day to escape, for nothing slowed down guards like a little wine and a belly full of delicacies. Not to mention the whole castle would simply sit, gathered stories above his prison.
Loki shook his head, and his lips turned up slightly in an ironic smile. Ragnarok to come about on the day of the All-Father himself? Perhaps on this day he would set himself back a little. Loki shook his head. It was something that needed to be done to secure the fate of the realms, though through all his anger at Odin the idea didn't sit well in his stomach.
But before he could consider the matter any further Odin opened his eyes. Loki instantly wiped all trace of a smile from his face. "That was a quick nap old king."
It took Odin a minute to answer, when he did a great sadness shone through his eyes. "You will fall Loki… just as you have fallen into disgrace."
Loki snarled. Any trace of sentiment quickly dissipating from his mind. "And who do we have to answer for that?"
"You cannot pass the blame, your mother and I gave you everything we did Thor." Odin pushed himself to sit up against the wall so he was a little higher as he looked up into the icy eyes of his son.
Loki's eyes turned icier, and he smiled wryly. "Of course, I would not think of denying anything that I have done, of denying everything I have done to bring about a new order for those mortals, a greater order than they would care to fathom. I would not deny everything I have done to protect Asguard from its greatest enemies. Everything I once did to prove myself to you." The shouting of the re-enforcements were getting louder through the open door of the vault and Loki gripped his staff tighter. "Not that I care about that anymore. We stand on opposite sides of the board now. And," he raised his eyebrows in mock concern, "you are at my mercy."
"Loki!" Odin snapped weakly. "You are my son! You will not-"
"No. I am not your son. Not anymore, that time is past." Loki spat as he loomed over Odin.
"Then you claim Laufey as your father." Odin said calmly, all trace of sadness suddenly hidden deep behind his eye.
This only infuriated Loki. "LAUFEY HAS NO RELATION TO ME! I killed that monster!" He took a couple deep breathes. "As you well know." He added once he had calmed a little.
"Loki." Odin sat up straighter. "I do not deny that I made mistaken choices, but you have got to understand that it is only your own fault that you are now an outcast. That you became a war criminal. You are a traitor. You are a disappointment."
Loki pointed his staff straight between Odin's eyes. "Aren't I?" He smiled dangerously. "And now you will finally be able to fall asleep. . ."
Odin 's eye stayed resolutely open and trained on Loki's gaze. The seconds ticked by and though Loki had a cache of energy ready to slam through his father's skull it didn't come. They stood there in silence and slowly the smile slid off the God of Mischief's face. His arm shook once involuntarily and the staff lowered a few centimeters. They stared at each other, neither one blinking.
The tension grew permeable and a moment later Loki dropped the staff back to hang limply by his side with a growl. He turned away from Odin, for now that he had let go of the power he held over the man he found it increasingly difficult to face him. Especially with the blood still trickling slowly from the wound in his head. "You will see, one day. All that I do has a greater purpose to bring peace to the realms. It will take time, but the plan has already been set in motion."
"Loki." The All-Father closed his eye. "You do not understand how the path to peace is just as important as its coming about." He slumped a little lower against the wall, his eye still shut, and the etchings of pain beginning to show on his face. "The people will not follow you if the only hold their hearts in fear. . ." He was losing consciousness again.
Loki bit back his retort and finally gave into the urge to crouch down next to Odin. His fingers reached up to the wound he had inflicted on Odin's head and he probed gently at the bloodied sight. The yelling of the soldiers was loud outside the vault and loki knew there was only a minute or so before they arrived. "I did not mean to harm you Father." He said softly to the unconscious old man. There was a flash of light and the wound had healed. Loki wiped some of the blood away. His anger at Odin had faded in the face of the man's danger and the light of regret grew a little brighter in his stomach. "Still," he said aloud to himself, "there's no helping that now." He composed his face into a mask and reached inside his cloak to draw the energy required from the Tesseract. He disappeared in a flash of light just as the doors slammed open and a hoard of soldiers came poring in, led by the God of Thunder himself.
They had appeared just in time to see Loki vanish, and Thor dashed over to his Father as soon as he spotted him on the ground. Thor dropped his hammer so he could cradle the old man's head gently, for he could see the drying blood on the side of Odin's face. "Father, I told you you should not have come here alone." He reprimanded him softly.
Odin's eye flickered open at the words. "My only regret is that I failed to stop him. He has grown more powerful than I had anticipated."
"Do not fret, I will retrieve what he has stolen before he can use them for evil." Thor said.
"Oh my sons." Odin was weary of dragging himself back into the conscious realm, and he knew as he felt himself slipping again that he would indeed fall back into the Odin-sleep. "Oh my sons..." he repeated, "I never meant for you to war with each other so. Thor, you must promise me that if you are to face him you will try to bring him back to sanity."
"Oh my father, I have done nothing but that every time i meet him. He will not listen I fear."
"So be it." Odin closed his eye again. "Oh my lost son..."
6/17/2012- edited 6/18/2012 Review?