Frost Evermore
Author's Note: Just a little Plot Bunny I just got. So I just decided to spend an hour writing it. First Loki character study thing. It mainly just goes over two scenes in which he discovers he's a Frost Giant. And what he might have been thinking then. I'd love a review and some advice or criticism, so I can write more things similar to this in the future! Thanks ~Jazzy
Summary: Nothing more than a stolen relic... that's all he was. One touch from a Frost Giant showed him the truth, one word from Odin proved it... He was no more than a monster. Oneshot. Character Study.
Loki spun around, facing yet another Frost Giant. The monster roared, reaching for him, and he found himself caught off guard. The Frost Giant grabbed his wrist with a deadly grin, his red eyes flashing in the moonlight.
The prince's armor fell to the ground, rapidly dissolving. Loki could see his life flashing before his eyes. One touch can kill an Asgardian... that's all it takes... he recalled the words of his elders, found in the stories that were passed down at campfires on cold nights. Stories about the Frost Giants and their wrath. The strange control over ice they all possessed. And most importantly, how deadly they all were.
The first thing Loki noticed was a chilling sensation running up his arm. He looked down in confusion. Flakes of blue were appearing on his skin, melding together to create intricate patterns and lines. He blinked, suddenly regaining his senses.
With his free hand, he pulled out a small dagger, and threw it into the Frost Giant with the aid of a burst of magic. The monster fell to the ground, drops of blood staining the white snow underneath.
Loki raised his hand up to his face. The blue skin was retreating rapidly in the absence of the Frost Giant's touch, but he could still feel the chill of frostbite.
This is not supposed to happen, he thought. I was supposed to die... But in a few seconds, it was all gone. He looked around to hear a cry of anguish nearby. This was a suicide mission, and Loki knew it. He planned for it to all go wrong. He knew Thor would pay for it, when Odin found out. The throne would be safe for a few months more.
But this... this was intriguing. And at his core, Loki could feel an emotion he not often felt- raw fear.
However this was no time to feel sentimental or let emotions play wild. He was in the middle of a battle, and if he didn't keep his head straight... He shook himself off, using magic to place a glove on his hand to protect it from a future incident.
Later. Later he would give this due consideration. But for now? He had a prince to shame.
Thor was gone. Loki had not considered Odin's rage to be quite as severe as it was. But this development was quickly forming to Loki's favor. Thor was temporarily no longer a problem. Perhaps now Loki could find some answers to the questions he had been putting off.
His footsteps echoed in the chamber as he stepped inside, waving the two guards to let him in. Priceless treasures lined the walls. But Loki's eyes were only on one of them.
The Frost Giant's treasure. Their source of energy. The Casket of Ancient Winters. If answers lay anywhere, it would be here. The God of Mischief felt himself tremble slightly as he lay his bare hands on the sides of the casket.
It pulsated. Barely noticeable. Both hands gripped the sides of it, and Loki stared down at his fingers. Frost chilled him from the inside out. He felt the same as he had back on Jotunheim.
He shivered as his hands slowly turned blue...
He shook his head, trying to deny the simple fact that was now becoming apparent to him. /What is happening to me?/ He breathed deeply, willing every ounce of magic inside of him to stop this. Stop whatever was happening. Still the cold seeped into his very being.
"Stop!" The voice of Odin echoed through the corridor.
Loki stopped. He remained motionless, not even bothering to breathe for a moment. Finally, he spoke. "Am I cursed?" His voice was calm, and it took every bit of his silvertongue to keep it so. Otherwise his voice would waver.
"No," Odin replied calmly.
Loki started to lower the cube. Ice was creeping up into every part of him. His veins were freezing over and he closed his eyes. "What am I?" He set it down harshly, the sound of its landing resounding throughout the room.
"You're my son..." Odin stated simply. Loki could sense it. He could sense the lie in the Allfather's voice. Odin should know better than to lie to the Liesmith. He turned to face the man.
He saw his arms and could see the dimmest reflection of himself in the cube as he turned. And then he knew he was not of Asgard.
His skin was a deep blue. Patterns and shapes were indented into his skin, or raised above it. He saw two orbs of red shining on the casket's surface. They blinked when he did. His raven-black hair was sleeked back behind him, the only part of him that was still part of the same old Loki.
He looked directly at Odin. "What more then that?" He asked, his voice low. It was spoken like a challenge, daring Odin to answer truthfully. As he spoke, the prince felt the chill leaving his body, returning himself back to his original hue.
The ice left with a violent shudder, and Loki felt broken in so many ways. He took a step forward, walking closer to the silent man.
"The casket wasn't the only thing you took from Jotunheim that day, was it?" Loki muttered, just loud enough for Odin to hear him. He knew his answer now.
But he needed to hear Odin say it.
He needed to hear him tell Loki that Loki had been living a lie. That everything he ever knew about himself was wrong. That he was nothing more than a stolen child raised on lies and fables. Was it any wonder he was the God of Lies now? His life was nothing more than a deception. And he needed Odin to tell him. He needed to know his anger and confusion was justified somehow...
He was at the base of the steps. Loki saw Odin's face illuminated by the flickering candlelight. It was impossibly old. His single eye showed truth and pain and the harsh reality of what was to come.
Odin's face remained emotionless. "No..." Odin rasped. Loki stopped moving, staring at the man who was at the top of the staircase. "In the aftermath of the battle, I went into the temple and I found a baby..."
Loki could feel a memory flashing before his eyes. Ice... cold... death... then warmth. His father... Was this his past? All he ever knew was Asgard... but there was something more...
"Small, for a giant's offspring," Odin said softly, memories of his own being revealed. A dwarf Frost Giant... that would explain why no one missed him. Who would want the abnormal child? It was only convenience that he would grow up to be a perfect Asgardian size... "Abandoned, suffering, left to die..."
Out in the freezing cold of winter. In the middle of a war. The war.
Loki listened quietly, searching the Allfather's face for any sign of emotion, any sign of a lie. ...No... this couldn't be...
"Laufey's son."
"Laufey's son...?" Loki's voice cracked at the end, repeating the words as if it could change their meaning. His eyes swept away from Odin, looking at the torches on the walls. A deep breath. He turned back.
"...Yes." Odin replied.
"-W-wh-?" Loki's eyes were everywhere, maybe... maybe it wasn't truth. Oh- but he knew it was. He saw the truth of it in Odin's face. It explained so much, but one question he had to know. "Why?"
Loki knew the stories. He had heard them so many times. The Jotuns killed, the glorious fight. Odin lost his eye, and the Frost Giants lost their power.
"You were knee-deep on Jotun blood... Why would you take me?" Loki inquired. Odin wasn't a merciful being. Why spare a child?
"You were... an innocent child," Odin whispered, his voice growing quieter, as Loki's grew louder.
It was a lie. Odin would spare no compassion for a child of the enemy. The child of a man who took his eye. Not for no ulterior motive anyway. "No, you took me for a purpose," Loki said intently. His gaze was fixated on Odin, intense and commanding. "What was it?" He felt years of restrained anger and emotions boiling up inside of him...
Odin looked silently at him, desperately at him. Lost for words. No, it wasn't fair. He owed Loki that much, he owed him an explanation.
He was not a child of Odin. He was not an Asgardian. He would never have the throne. He was a child of Laufey. He was a Frost Giant. His life was a lie.
...It was all a lie...
"TELL ME!" He thundered, his voice shaking and his face warping into one of anger. He breathed heavily, staring at Odin in shock and confusion. Why? Why?
"I thought we could unite our kingdoms one day..." Odin began. Loki stood there in stunned silence, trying to gain a grip on the situation. "And bring about a permanent peace... through you..." He finished.
"-Wh-wh..." There were no words he could say. Nothing. Hurt and pain and confusion overwhelmed him.
"Those plans no longer matter," Odin added. And all because of him. All because Loki convinced Thor to kill them, to go to Jotunheim. Loki was obsolete. A tool of Odin's that no longer had purpose. He couldn't stop the tears from falling down his face, running off his cheeks.
"S-so I'm no more than another stolen relic? Locked up here until you have use of me?" He snapped.
"Why do you twist my words-"
"-You could have told me," Loki insisted. "You could have told me what I was from the beginning." It would have been so much better. He would have known to never expect the throne or be treated the same. He would have known his history and past.
He wouldn't have grown up hating the very thing he had just found out he was. He was a monster.
"Why didn't you?" He demanded.
"You are my son," Odin said weakly. "I only wanted to protect you from the truth."
"W-what, b-because I-I-I'm the monster who parents tell their children about at night?" Loki said, his voice stuttering and stumbling over the words. He stared past his father, towards the door, unable to restrain the single tear that formed as he spoke.
"No...no..." Odin mumbled, but Loki drowned him out.
"You know it all makes sense now," Loki thundered. Odin was falling down to the ground, but Loki was beyond caring at the moment. The injustice of it all was making it hard to think anything clearly. "Why you favored Thor all these years..." He stepped up, towards the Allfather. His voice raised to a shout. "No matter how much you claimed to love me, you could never have a Frost Giant sitting on the throne of Asgard!" Loki yelled, glaring at the Allfather.
Odin was laying on the stairs, one hand extended in a plea. Then he fell to the ground.
The mist of rage left Loki, and he realized what had happened. Odin lay there silently, his chest rising and falling- but just barely so. Loki looked down on him, then quickly crouched down. He extended his hands over the Allfather. Am I responsible for this...? He asked himself. His hand reached out towards Odin's, hovering over the surface of it. He placed it down, clasping the Allfather's hand one last time.
There were no more tears left to shed.
"Guards!" He called, standing himself up, giving Odin one last glance. "Guards please help!" He begged. The large doors opened up, and the two door guards stepped in. Loki stepped back and let them carry Odin away...
He sat in the chamber for a few hours. Long after Odin had been taken away. He would need to go check on him soon. Frigga would be worrying. And if this was the Odinsleep... that presented a new set of problems.
The God of Mischief stood himself up and walked to the back of the chamber one last time. He set a hand on the Casket of Ancient Winters and closed his eyes.
When they opened, he knew exactly what he needed to do...