Authors Notes: I figure I should admit right out that when it comes to comic books, I find it a little intimating so I'm pretty much a movie-based fan who occasionally wiki's what happened in the comics. I'm not sure if that will effect this story, but I always feel like I need to admit that before people read my comic related fics.
Disclaimer: I (sadly) do not own anything that is Marvel's. Ariana and the old woman are my creations.
Special thanks to HarbingerLoki for the beta'ing services.
Odin sat in a room full of people, but at the moment felt very alone and very much his years. He had always placed his role as All Father foremost, feeling a responsibility for his people and the realms they protected. He had attempted to train his sons to do the same thing.
It had taken him several centuries to learn that perhaps being a father first might have been what was best for his people. After all, He was called the "All Father". Perhaps, if he had made wiser decisions with his own children, his people would not be here today to witness his youngest son being punished for his actions.
His eldest son sat off to the side, looking at the walls that held portraits of the royal family over the years. He was alone except for the presence of the woman he had claimed as his own from Midgard. The woman who had helped Thor when he needed it. While she was not the one to teach him the lessons of humility and forethought, she had been there to help him as he learned it.
Currently they were viewing a portrait of the family that had been made a few centuries ago, not long after Loki's short lived marriage to Sigyn. In that portrait they all looked happy. Even Loki.
Further down the room and the table that Odin sat at were members of The Avengers as well as Warriors Three and Lady Sif. They, unlike Thor and Odin, were there to see that the punishment was accomplished. Odin just wanted it over with, wanted to rebuild his family from the falling pieces it was at the moment.
Frigga was with Loki, who was in another room being seen by the old woman who would bind his magic till he was able to use it with responsibility. She had not been pleased by any of the events of the last few years, and had made sure her husband knew that.
The large and thick doors that separated the council room from the rest of the palace started to open, revealing the old woman. She had been a healer amongst the Asgard since Odin had been a child himself. She was not of Asgard, hailing from another planet, its name long lost. She had long white hair, kept in a single braid down her back. She wore simple robe like clothes, and had no ornaments except for a ring she wore on her right hand.
"We have a complication," she stated as she paused in the door way and took in those who were there. "The binding cannot proceed as planned." Voices rose in protest, half in concern for the one being punished, half in wish for retribution. The old woman ignored them all, walking towards Odin himself.
"Silence!" Odin commanded. "Explain." He continued to the old woman.
"Your son has been touched by the Tassaract," she stated, and then addressed the whole room. "The damage done by this artifact has to be repaired. Binding may occur before the healing is finished, but it cannot occur the way as intended." She then paused and stared at Odin for a few moments.
"I shall prepare. You must be honest with those here as to the events that made this happen." She started toward the door. "Your actions, while not responsible, are a component. The Father must heal as the son does, or the son's daughter will feel the pain."
Odin remained silent as she left the room, knowing the rest of the room was watching him. Thor gave him a knowing look, having known the story. The rest remained confused as to the words of the old woman.
Apparently it was time for Odin to confess.
Frigga sat near her unconscious son, running her hand through his hair as she did when he was a boy and he couldn't sleep. Loki used to have such nightmares. He was a solitary child, and probably would never have told her his nightmares if she hadn't heard him one night. He told her dreams of being so very cold, and alone. She always wondered if part of him remembered how his birth parents had left him to die because he had been so small.
She had always hoped he hadn't.
She looked up as the old woman reappeared. Frigga had always found it fascinating how the woman could either made a large entrance or pop up behind you in utter silence. She was there when she was needed.
The Old woman peered down at Loki, left unconscious from a sleeping spell. It always made it easier to heal the sick when they were asleep. Sleep after all, was a healer in itself. However this spell was not put to heal as much as prevent Loki from harming himself while she bound the magic that flowed naturally within him. She had done so before, usually on small children whose magic abilities had developed faster than their abilities to control and understand them. Usually it was only for a few months while they were given quick lessons in control. This punishment was indefinite and since she could not let it dissolve naturally, it would be more painful if the patient was awake.
She placed a pale hand on his forehead near were Frigga's own rested and felt the turmoil inside the young man lying on the bed in front of her. There was the natural pain of having been lied to, of self-loathing. But there was also a layer of what the Tassaract had enhanced, had developed. His anger towards his family for abandoning him. His desire to rule over Midgard (when he hadn't wanted to rule before) and his hatred towards his brother (whom he loved still).
There were remnants of good feelings that the Tassaract had not completely done away with. Memories of his mother comforting him after a nightmare, or when he had hurt. Memories of his father giving him his first sword, and helping him design his personal set of weaponry. Memories of his brother and their exploits together. And memories of a woman who had won his heart. Those last memories were hazy, tainted by the Tassaract and the damage it had inflicted.
She sighed in sadness. He would never be able to trust those memories as true. He would have to rebuild his relationship with the young woman. Hopefully that woman was strong enough to help him through what was to come next.
Loki, son of Odin, would need all the help he could get in the coming months.
Sif sat, her mind circling over the facts Odin had presented. While it had not excused Loki's actions, it had put a drastically different spin on things and she found herself reevaluating the situation.
Loki was a Jotun. He had been left out to die by his parents, most likely due to the fact that he was smaller than normal for a Jotun infant. Odin had found him after the battle and removed him, both to save the child and as a hope for a future where Asgard and Jotunhiem could live in peace.
Loki had only found out this when they had fought the Frost Giants after Thor's intended coronation day.
She wondered if he rethought every interaction he ever had under this new information. Words said in jest must now seem like serious thoughts.
No, it did not excuse his lies to Thor, or his attempts to remove the Jotun, but it made his motivation more clear.
He wanted to prove that he was his father's son. That he was a son of Asgard. That he wouldn't become what they hated.
"All-Father, why did you not tell Loki of his adoption earlier? If you intended that he take Laufey's place as King of the Jotun, why did you train him to hate them?" She asked.
Odin looked old in his chair, his one hand tightening and relaxing against the edge of the table.
"I love my son, Lady Sif. I did not want him to feel different. I didn't want…" He paused, unsure for a second. "I didn't want my son to stop loving me because I was not his real father. So I did not tell him. I thought it wise. No one would know, no one would treat him differently than Thor. Clearly my wisdom was faulty in this case."
"As for the Jotun, I didn't realize I was training my boy to hate who he was."
"What about the granddaughter," one of the Avengers spoke out. Odin looked at him, trying to recall how his son had introduced the sandy haired man. Ah, yes. The Captain who became the eternal soldier
"I know not of what she speaks. As far as I am aware, my son has no children."
"Not even the horse?"
"Shut up, Stark," Fury, the leader of this group of warriors stated.
"Horse?" Sif asked.
"Apparently the myths that have existed on earth about us have….gotten a bit fanciful," Thor explained. After he had returned to earth from dropping off his brother to see Jane, he had finally done a bit of reading of the earth myths about himself and Loki. "According to the knowledge base known as Wikipedia Loki was the father of my father's stead, Slepnir. Apparently someone took my brother's abilities to shift form in another direction. "
"Mr. Stark did not intend to offend anyone," Fury stated, obviously trying to lessen any damage the question had caused, even though Stark himself looked unrepentant and almost amused by the whole thing. Sif hid a smirk. No doubt Stark and Loki would get along under normal circumstances. They always liked to shake things up. However, she wasn't as sure if Loki would have approved of the subject matter of said shake-up. Fury looked like he regretted bringing Stark along.
"Thor, do you know of your brother having any children?" Odin asked. There was always a possibility that Loki had hid the fact from him. After all, his relationships with his sons had not included telling him about all of their partners.
"I know of none."
"Perhaps she was thinking of the future, of a child might have once his ordeal is through," Fandral pointed out.
"That would be incorrect, young one." They all jumped at the sudden reappearance of the Old woman. Her robes were now removed revealing a simple sheath of blue. "The child has already been born to a woman on Midgard. We will need her help if we wish to heal the son of Odin."
"Any chance of a name?" Stark asked. He wasn't sure he wanted to know where the god of Mischief had spent his nights.
"From his mind I could not pull a name. The memory, while fond and a good one, remains tainted by the Tassaract's effects. She was in the company of Thor's brúðr." Everyone looked towards Jane, who looked at the old woman in surprise. And then in realization and shock.
"Darcy," she stated ignoring the fact that she had been named Thor's bride. In fact, everyone pretty much found that to be of little notice.
"Lady Darcy?" Fandral stated, also clearly surprised. "I would not think him to be her type."
"That's because you want to believe you are her type," Volstagg joked, trying to lighten the mood. "Thor has told stories to us of Lady Darcy. Apparently she is formidable in her own right."
"Heard she Tasered him," Stark said with perhaps a bit too much amusement.
"If Lady Darcy is indeed the woman of which we speak, then I have met my niece," Thor stated before Volstagg could tell the story. "She gave birth several weeks ago. She named the child Ariana, although she told Jane and I that the child's father was a man named Aaron Rogers."
"It is possible that my brother took on this name while he was on Midgard. He did claim to watch Erik for several months before he became known to us.
"That would make sense. My memories of Aaron from the few times I saw him in the lab were hazy. He was supposed to be a computer analyst from SHEILD that was assigned to help us with our data."
"Could Lady Darcy be unaware of my son being this man," Odin asked standing and beginning to walk around. If his son had lied to this woman, and left her while she was pregnant she might not be willing to assist his son.
"I don't know. All I know is that 'Aaron' left to deal with what he called family issues about eight months ago. About the same time Erik was asked to work primarily on the Tassaract."
Odin and Thor shared a look. Thor had told his father of his brothers words meant to cause Thor to fight him. Thor had been embarrassed to have fallen for such a trick, but with this new information it seems that what had been a comment meant to cause Thor anger had become an action. He had gone after Jane, but had decided on another plan.
"We must bring her to Asgard," Odin stated with evident command. The concerned and sorrowful father had stepped back and the King was once again before them. "For her own good as well as our own."
After all, this child was his grandchild. This woman his son had been with might not be properly prepared to mother a princess of Asgard.