Twilight of the Gods Preludes
A Lie and a Promise
The throne room was silent. Only the distant echoes of the battle outside disturbed the eerie stillness. No guards interrupted the titan's strides down the long, pillared chamber. Nothing and no one stood between him and Asgard's golden throne. Both the current and previous kings were in the courtyard outside, putting up enough of a fight that it was clear that Asgard would not fall today. And not to the Black Order.
Thanos paused in the midst of the triquetra mosaic before the throne. It was quiet and still... too still, too quiet. That no one would defend this room was... uncharacteristic. He closed his fist, powering up the gauntlet. There was a chill to the air that shouldn't have been there—not with the midday sun shining outside.
He saw the flash of green at the edge of his field of view too late to react and a jagged blade of ice sunk into his side. A cold like the deepest reaches of space tore at his flesh and he roared as he swung his gauntleted fist at where a green-and-black shape crouched.
He'd wondered when Asgard's queen would make an appearance.
Loki nimbly side-stepped the strike, spinning to slice at Thanos' armpit, his eyes, the back of his knee. Orbiting him like a satellite—a green and gold tornado. Thanos felt blood run down from the slices; too shallow to hinder him, but painful, distracting. Thanos swung his hand out again and seized Loki's forearm. Loki stumbled as he was snared, hissing like an animal. The snarling face he turned on Thanos bore little resemblance to the lost and terrified boy that he'd first found falling out of a collapsing wormhole. It bore even less resemblance to the pallid, sweating, broken creature he'd been when the Ebony Maw had finished with him. There was fire in him now—ferocity not tinged with desperation.
Loki dropped his knife from his trapped hand to his free hand and speared Thanos' wrist. Thanos howled; the blade sliced tendons and his grip slackened. Loki twisted free, cape and hair flaring around him as he spun. With a simple gesture of his now empty hands, a box materialized before him—blue and shimmering. Loki seized the handles and a blast of cold unlike anything Thanos had ever felt fountained from the side of the box and struck him with all the force of a solar flare.
Ice adhered to Thanos' armour, building up around him like a cocoon, spreading across the floor, immobilizing him. The cold threatened to rob him of breath. He'd been in hard vacuum before; this wasn't much different. Frost crept into his flesh like needles, the fluid in his eyes began to crystallize, his joints ached.
He reached to the stone already on his gauntlet. Burning heat raced through nerves and veins and purple fire flared beneath the ice. He clenched his fist.
Ice exploded across the room in chunks and shards, smashing against pillars, ricocheting off the walls and floor with a sound like falling glass. The shockwave of violet energy from the Power Stone threw Loki from his feet and sent the box flying from his hands. The Asgardian landed in a heap, his golden helm bouncing along the floor.
Thanos shook off the lingering discomfort, blinking away the frost in his eyes, and stomped across to where Loki was trying, despite obvious pain, to pick himself up. With a snarl, Thanos kicked him onto his back—and cocked his head in surprise. Loki's skin had turned a deep blue, raised ridges marking his forehead, chin, and cheeks. His eyes opened: a brilliant, blood red.
"A frost giant... Unexpected." Thanos planted his boot on Loki's throat. "I thought they were all savages."
"An easy mistake," Loki rasped. "Not your first and not your last."
Thanos stepped down, twisted his foot, and heard vertebrae crack. Loki went limp and then vanished in a green shimmer. He grit his teeth and growled.
"You honestly believed my son fool enough to face you with nothing more than a knife?"
Thanos turned. Seated cross-legged upon the throne and dressed in the blue and white armour of a Valkyrie, was Frigga. Her right hand was clasped around the hilt of the sword that lay across her lap. Her left rested, deceptively relaxed, against the arm of the chair. Her eyes were a predator's, focused and sharp and cold.
"Odin sends both his witches after me? A poor strategic choice."
"And what do you know of strategy? You, who walks into the bowels of Asgard alone?"
Thanos stepped closer to the throne, stopping with a boot perched on the first step of the dais. "You know what I've come for."
"This?" Frigga lifted her left hand and seemed to pluck the Tesseract from mid-air. Blue light danced off the polished stone walls and floor and painted Frigga's face white. "The last being who tried to take an infinity stone from us met a gruesome death."
"Malekith was a fool with vain ambitions," Thanos stepped to within reach of her but paused again. She was almost certainly another illusion. She made no more to defend herself and held the Tesseract before her like a lure. The attack would come from behind the moment he reached for it, he was certain. "He sought to rule the universe. I want to save it."
Frigga smiled and it was almost a snarl. "The vainest ambition of them all. To believe you know what is best for an entire universe."
Movement flashed behind him again and this time he turned sooner, ready to strike. He reached for the billowing blue cape, but the Frigga on the throne struck first. She swung with the speed of a viper, her sword slashing across his throat deep enough to draw blood. Before he could raise the Infinity Gauntlet toward her she kicked him down the steps of the dais and onto the sword of the other Frigga. The blade slipped through a gap in his armour and bit deep.
Jaw clenched tight, Thanos reached behind and wrenched Frigga away, tossing her against one of the stone pillars. The other swung again, sword cleaving his arm. He reached for her; she spun away and another blast of ice and cold struck him. Another Loki, this one wielding a sceptre not unlike the one which had held the Mind Stone, stepped out from behind the pillar that the second Frigga was regaining her feet beneath. It was impossible to tell which was illusion and which was real—or if they were all illusions.
They danced around and ducked beneath his fists. Blades flashed, biting here and there, shallow cuts interspersed with deeper stabs, like pack hunters swarming their prey. Two more Lokis sprang from behind pillars, one wielding the jotun weapon and the other wielding knives. They were fast—faster than Thanos by any measure—but he was stronger. He grabbed the wrist of the knife-wielding Loki and shoved his blade into his own chest. The jotun gasped, then shimmered green and vanished. Ice cascaded over him again, and Thanos closed his fist. Another burst of purple fire threw one of the Lokis into the wall with enough force to leave a dent. He turned translucent and dissolved. The Frigga who had been on the throne struck again, her blade sliding into him just above his hip. Thanos snarled and backhanded her. She hit the stone floor with a cry and the other Frigga rippled, flared green, and was gone. The remaining Loki whirled in close, slashing upward with his sceptre. Thanos wrenched it from his grip and kicked his knees out from beneath him. The jotun fell flat on his back and Thanos brought the sceptre down, blade first. There was a yelp and the crack of ribs and for a second Thanos thought he'd found the real Loki, but with another green shimmer the body and the sceptre were gone.
Frigga, at least, was real. Thanos reached down and pulled her up by her braids. She grimaced and clawed at his hand, but she didn't make a single sound of pain. She lunged for her sword; Thanos kicked it away.
"You faced me yourself. I'm impressed." He moved the Infinity Gauntlet toward her head and watched her eyes follow the purple stone. "Where is the Tesseract?"
"You couldn't torture my son into giving it to you and you won't torture me into it either."
Thanos laughed. "But I did. It took me two years to break him." He enjoyed the flinch on Frigga's face that those words earned him. "But I'm patient. How many did he kill on Earth while fetching that stone for me?"
"I don't see the stone on your gauntlet." Frigga's eyes met his, blazing. "He didn't fetch you anything. He saw his opportunity to escape and you fell for his grand promises. Didn't he lose you the one stone you did have?"
Thanos pushed the Power Stone to Frigga's temple. Her body seized, purple light dancing along the nerves of her face. She dug her fingernails into his wrist and clenched her jaw, teeth bared, to keep herself silent. He increased the pressure. Sparks started flying from the stone and Frigga shook. What began as a harsh exhalation grew to a growl and to a scream. Green fire flared around her hands but withered before she could focus it. He held the stone in place a few seconds longer, then withdrew.
Frigga fell slack, her breathing loud and harsh in the quiet hall. Thanos leaned close.
"Where is the Tesseract?"
"Hrafnasueltir," Frigga spat. "Gang uppfǽða Þinn bikkja móðir."
Thanos charged the stone until it glowed near-white and thrust it to her temple again. This time her ragged scream was immediate. After another few seconds he withdrew the stone. Frigga remained slack and trembling. Her skin shone with sweat and the colour fled her face.
"Where is the Tesseract?"
Frigga said nothing but her eyes were venom enough. He charged the stone again.
"Don't!"
Thanos looked up. Loki had emerged from the mass of pillars behind the throne, one hand held out in a placating gesture. He wore no helm and held no obvious weapons but Thanos knew better than to assume he was unarmed. His hair was twice the length it had been when Thanos had sent him to Earth, hanging in loose waves around his face. Like Gamora's. Loki's armour failed to hide the swell of his very pregnant belly.
Thanos chuckled. "I see why you used illusions."
Loki's other hand moved to his stomach, an instinctual protective gesture. Thanos had seen it many times. It never did much good.
"Let her go. She doesn't have the Tesseract."
Frigga hissed, some steadiness returning to her voice. "Loki, don't."
Thanos yanked her higher. "I decide the terms." He held the Infinity Gauntlet where Loki could see it clearly. "Give me the Tesseract, or I kill her."
Loki's throat bobbed. Wide green eyes darted from Thanos to Frigga and back. "I don't have it."
"Somehow I don't believe you."
"Let her go and I'll take you to the vault."
"And into an ambush, no doubt." Thanos twisted Frigga's head to the side and held the Power Stone within a centimetre of her temple. "Last chance."
Teeth bared, Frigga kicked out. Her boot connected with Thanos' knee and bone cracked. Rage boiled in Thanos' chest and the roots of his teeth; he slammed the stone against her head and was rewarded with twin wails—pain from Frigga and horror from Loki.
"Enough!"
The shout was accompanied by a metallic bang that reverberated behind Thanos' collarbone. He powered down the stone and pulled it away from Frigga's skin as he turned.
Odin and Thor stood a few feet back from him. Thor had Mjolnir in a white-knuckle grip, snarling, his eyes sharp and fierce; the air smelled like static. Odin seemed serene by contrast, but his gaze was unblinking and wolfish. The source of the bang, Gungnir, was held in a deceptively loose grip, and Thanos had no doubt that if he made any aggressive move, that spear would be brought to bear too fast for him to react. He well remembered the stories of the Allfather that had reached Titan when he was young. An Asgardian tyrant swimming in the blood of a dozen worlds. He was old and grey now, but he didn't look any less dangerous.
"Spare her life and leave this place, and I will give you what you seek," Odin said.
"Father!" Thor whirled but Odin held his hand up and the new king fell silent.
Thanos considered Odin—considered that one, blazing eye, that steady hand. He didn't trust the Asgardian, but he didn't have anything to lose. He dropped Frigga and she landed in a boneless heap.
"Deal."
He stepped toward Odin; Loki rushed to Frigga's side. Outside, the sounds of battle ceased. He had no communications device, but Ebony Maw was always attentive. Thanos had only to think an order and the Maw would hear it and comply.
"I have your word that you will leave in peace?" Odin's eye warned of the consequences of oathbreaking.
"I have no quarrel with your people," Thanos replied. "You have my word."
Odin was still for a moment. Thanos wouldn't—couldn't—begin to imagine what the ancient Asgardian was looking for. Whatever it was, he found it.
"Don't do this," Frigga urged, voice ragged and quiet. "Not for me."
"Loki," Odin beckoned.
To Thanos' right, fabric shifted. Boots tread softly on the stone floor. Loki stepped back into view, morose and pale and giving Thanos a wide berth. He met Odin's eye and the old king nodded.
Loki raised a reluctant hand; the Tesseract appeared atop his fingertips as if the universe had rolled up like a curtain. Blue light washed over his face. An odd, metallic whine filled the crushing silence—a whine that prickled at Thanos' skin. He resisted the urge to look into the swirling blue of the cube's center—where the Maw had assured him he would receive visions—and instead turned his attention to Loki. The trickster's jaw was tight and his upper lip twitched in an aborted snarl.
Instead of taking the Tesseract, Thanos snared Loki's forearm. He squeezed and tugged Loki close. Terror bloomed in his eyes. Now he looked familiar. Small. Scared. At Thanos' mercy.
"This better not be a trick," Thanos said. "For your children's sakes." He leaned closer. He was aware of the shift of Gungnir and the crackle of electricity in the air, but he kept his eyes on Loki's. "If this is an illusion, or a fake, I will come back and I will kill your children in front of you, one by one, until you give me that stone." He glanced down. "Even if I have to carve them out of you." Loki flinched and tried to pull away but Thanos held him fast. "And you know I keep my promises... Is there anything you want to tell me?"
Loki trembled, his breathing rapid, but he shook his head. Thanos plucked the Tesseract from his hand and released his forearm. As Loki shrank back, Thor surged forward and wrapped one arm around him, the other holding Mjolnir out in warning.
"It's time for you to leave," he growled.
Thanos ignored him. In the distance, engines howled as landing craft returned to the sky. He closed his fist around the cube—squeezed and squeezed and felt the crystal sides give way. He let the clear shards and glittering dust fall through his fingers. There, in his palm, was the real prize. The Space Stone. He rolled it between his thumb and forefinger, observing the rough surface and the soft glow. Then, aware of his audience, he dropped the stone into an empty setting on the gauntlet.
His breath left him and he ground his teeth as heat and static and pressure raced through his nervous system as one. His fingertips and the backs of his eyes burned. His muscles seized. His pulse throbbed in his ears. And then it passed. The gauntlet took the strain of a second stone and Thanos' body acclimatized. He drew in an unsteady breath.
He looked from Loki to Thor to Odin, and then to the doorway in the distance where the silhouettes of Einherjar were now visible.
"I hope that when I'm finished the best of your people will still be alive."
He clenched his fist. The Space Stone flared and the universe warped around him.
For several moments after Thanos vanished, there was silence. Even the air was still. Loki stared through the spot where the titan had stood. He couldn't swallow, couldn't move, couldn't breathe. One of the babies kicked up into his diaphragm and he sucked in a breath, shivering against Thor's chest.
Odin moved first, stepping to Frigga's side and offering his hand. "Excellent performance, my lady."
Frigga took Odin's hand and pulled herself to her feet, favouring one leg. She looked somewhat worse for wear, but triumph replaced fear on her face. "I only hope our stone is as convincing."
"It will work," Thor said. "So long as he doesn't have all the stones, it will work. And now we have more time." He set Mjolnir down and stepped around into Loki's view. His palm cupped the side of Loki's neck. "Are you all right?"
Loki swallowed around the cold lump rising up his esophagus. "It won't last. Sooner or later he'll realize. He'll come back—"
"I heard what he said." Thor lowered his voice. "I swear to you, he will not touch you again. If he returns to Asgard, he dies."
For the first time since he'd approached Thanos, Loki moved—a jerky motion of his hand toward Thor's. Thor caught it and entwined their fingers. As Loki relaxed, as he allowed himself to move from his rigid posture, he became uncomfortably aware of the thumping of his own heart. Sweat ran down the back of his neck. He set his left hand over the swell of his belly, feeling the flutter of movement underneath. Another hand came to rest on his shoulder and he turned, meeting Frigga's eyes.
"We have a plan; your plan. Nothing is amiss so far." She squeezed his shoulder, like she had when he'd been a child. "We knew Thanos would threaten you."
"When he returns, we will be prepared," Odin said. "Frigga, you should have the healers tend to your wounds."
"In time," she replied, not looking away from Loki.
"Mother," Thor said, his voice still low.
Frigga pursed her lips and sighed. "Yes, my king."With another soft squeeze of Loki's shoulder she backed away. Odin joined her and together they made for the healer's halls. Frigga's limp wasn't obvious, but Loki spotted it all the same.
Thor remained where he was, quiet until Odin and Frigga disappeared into a dim hallway. "If all goes well, the fight will never return here. There is still a chance I can end this on Earth, with our friends."
"And if all does not go well?" Loki swallowed again; the lump would not be dislodged.
"Then we will return to Asgard. The defences will be ready and we'll have our friends as reinforcements." Thor didn't try to hide his nerves, yet his optimism was no facade. "I have confidence... In you, in your plan, in our army. Do you not?"
"You heard what he said."
Thor frowned. "Our children will be safe, Loki. You will be safe. I promise you."
"We have a plan," Loki said, barely above a whisper.
"And we have a Hulk." Thor grinned and Loki couldn't quite restrain returning the smile.
Einherjar approached at a trot, coming to a stop several feet away. Both were ever-so-slightly out of breath. Blood marred their armour, red and frothy.
"Your orders, Your Majesty?"
Thor kept his hand entwined with Loki's when he turned to the Einherjar. "Keep to cleaning the streets until Thanos' fleet has left scanner range. Then start the evacuation. If we begin preparations now he'll become suspicious."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The Einherjar rushed back toward the distant doorway and Thor returned his attention to Loki.
"I have to go. We have limited time and I still need to see Eitri before I travel to Earth."
"Go," Loki said, the nervous buzz returning to his chest. "The sooner this is over, the better."
Thor nodded, then pulled Loki into a gentle embrace, mindful of his protruding abdomen. Loki siphoned seið energy up into his hands and traced precise rune lines along Thor's back. He spoke, and the magic braided and cemented with each syllable.
"Unharmed go forth. Unharmed return. Unharmed back home."
Thor nestled his face into the nape of Loki's neck. "Thank you, my love."
"Thank me by killing that purple monstrosity."
"I intend to," Thor said with a smile.
Boots thumped on stone and from a side-hall, a lone Einherjar emerged with his helmet under his arm. "Your Majesty, Lady Sif has returned with news of Xandar. She has brought a crew of Ravagers with her who have information about Thanos."
"I'll return soon," Thor assured Loki.
"I'll be here." Loki stepped away, toward the hall that would lead him to the healers. Thor inclined his head, a subtle bow, his eyes warm. Then he turned to follow the Einherjar back into the side-hall.
Loki tried to ignore the crushing awareness of how little time they had in which to prepare. He knew that if he allowed his thoughts to linger on that ticking clock it would paralyze him. There were preparations to attend to, and even in his present condition there were defensive measures that he would be responsible for weaving into existence. Feeling somewhat like the White Rabbit from that Earth story Narfi loved so much, Loki hurried down the halls of Valaskjalf, reviewing every detail of his plan and preparing fresh contingency plans for the inevitable complications.
He had spent the last eight years in fear of this moment. He'd be damned if he let all that worrying go to waste.