Chapter 1: A matter of importance.
As the doors to the throne-room opened it broke the heavy silence inside. Odin's eye immediately focused on his wife as she approached. He was quite keen to hear her news, the way Thor had come in to retrieve her had been quite panicked. Something had been severely wrong. From the way his shining queen was also pale he figured that it was as bad as Thor had made appear. He wished to be let onto this.
"My love…" he spoke when she grabbed his hand, fingers trembling. "Speak to me about what has become of Thor's urgent matter."
She inclined her head and stood tall, straightening her back.
"It has been taken care of. It was about Loki…" she paused to think on how to continue this explanation.
"Is our son in good health?" he asked worried.
She shook her head silently.
"It's better now. The Chitauri have attacked him. The wounds were rather vicious and deep."
Fregga paled at the thoughts of it again.
"He was attacked? Here in Asgard? Right under our noses?" Odin hissed lowly, his anger hardly contained, the guts of these creatures. "How has Heimdall not seen? How come not a guard has noticed, or my ravens told me?" he stood. "Where are these culprits?"
Fregga looked at her sleeve, the edge of it was stained red. She folded it under her hand, out of sight, out of mind.
"Thousands of light-years away from here, somewhere in the branches of Yggdrasil. No man has seen because they were never here. They practice dark magic, they took Loki's soul, not his body. But his wounds are real my love, the blood was real, and the pain was very much real too."
Red seeped into Odin's cheeks, he was infuriated. Not a man had the right to hurt his son, nor did a single monster. They would regret this, so he swore.
"For what? For being defeated on Midgard? Do they know no end?"
Fregga looked tired, shaken. It made his face harden even more, that meant it had been quite severe. He had only seen her like this when Loki had been shot with that arrow ages ago, so drained. This meant war, wherever they were hiding they would be crushed by Asgard.
"No, it is not. Loki has tried to explain… but I think he should do so himself to you as well. I understand little of this all."
"Is he in shape for such a thing?"
"He insisted."
Fregga gestured to the guards to let their sons in as well. Thor walked in, but the usual strength and cheerfulness had left him for the moment. He was as pale and shaken as his mother was, evidence of cleaning away blood was still everywhere, a crisp clean tunic, and cleaner hands than Thor ever had. But still there was copper red under his nails. He acknowledged his father with a nod and Odin greeted him back. Not as a king, this was family business. Loki trailed behind, his gaze on the floor to keep his focus. He looked sick and scared, and the way he walked told Odin he was still quite far from alright, the slight wobble in his moves, being unable to walk in pretty much a straight line. Thor noticed too and waited him up, holding his shoulder to walk the last bit. Odin immediately noticed the area that had been attacked. His arm was bulged under the sleeve of his left arm, a bandage from shoulder to elbow. A warning injury, painful but unrestricting enough to get something done. They had been demanding. Loki gave his father a quick nod.
"Father."
He looked bad, his eyes still hollow and his features still skinny from staying on Jotunheim for that long a time. But at least he was now getting better. Close of the palace made up for a lot, he had gotten a glimpse of what he had come here in. But his pride was still quite shattered, it could be read from his stance, tired and timid, so unlike the son he had raised. Loki flinched and looked away, mistaking his father's worried look-over for a judging one. Odin softened his face and instead smiled to his family.
"It's good to see both my sons again with the same eye. It makes a father happy to know that all is forgiven."
"All is not forgiven!" Loki's voice was suddenly very loud.
That was still quite a sore subject then. Loki sighed and proceeded with a more calmed voice.
"There's just a lot to forget…. And I have not forgotten all of it."
Thor's shoulders slumped a bit, clearly disappointed.
"But these past few days we were so well. I thought we were brothers again…"
Loki chewed on his lip.
"I told you it would need time. We spent ages wherein I really resented you. I can't just throw that past out and pretend it never existed. I've been home for only three days, and there's a lot I had to deal with already." He didn't know why he felt like he had to defend this. Three days was nothing compared to centuries, Thor could maybe make such an easy turn, but he sure could not.
"At least I am willing to work it out… That should be enough."
Thor nodded slowly. A silence fell and Odin suddenly regretted saying such a thing. Fregga eventually took up the task of breaking the silence.
"You and Thor can work out whatever in your own ways, why don't you tell father what you came for." She knew Loki was stalling from it on purpose. Loki plucked on the edges of his vest.
"I need your help, to build another Tesseract."
The statement was clear, a single line that asked for many explanations. But Loki did not elaborate. Just the one statement, not even a question. Like he had made up his mind, calculated that Odin had to jump in, it was only his call to grant that help or not.
"Do you even know what you ask boy?"
He sat back on the throne again, contemplating what this would be about.
"I'm not asking."
"Why would you even want another Tesseract? If you need it for whatever shady reason, why not use the actual Tesseract?"
"Not me, the Chitauri. They want the Tesseract. They will not relent in their persuasions until I bring it to them. It's why I could so suddenly be reunited with all of you. I am to retrieve it from Asgard." He looked at Odin more intently. "You of all have seen what they can do, not doing so is simply not an option. They will not stop."
His son's hand moved to touch his elbow subconsciously.
"If we do nothing, they will have it."
Odin listened, things made a little more sense now, if only just a little. Something had to be done, he agreed. And Loki had a plan, he never acted if he had no plan. He just could not see it yet.
"If we give them a weapon like the Tesseract, even if it is only a copy… The damage they will do is not to be overseen. Realms will fall, even our own actual Tesseract might not protect us. Such a risk cannot be taken."
"That's why I'm not taking it." Loki answered. "We need to build a copy because it needs to be able to do something the real one cannot."
Odin furrowed his brow.
"And what would that be?"
"Self-destruct."
And suddenly Odin got the picture. Loki wanted to destroy them by bringing them their gift, laced with a parting gift.
"It will wipe them out, every last one of them. Only then will they leave me alone."
Odin shook his head.
"And how did you wish to accomplish this? The Tesseract is ancient magic. Older than even the fundaments of Asgard itself. Made by the first Jotun sorcerers. They were the strongest our Realms have known, no mage since could even hope to become as strong as one. The Jotun haven't had a mage since."
"I am a jotun mage." Loki stated, crossing his arms. "I have read of their mages. The ringed moon of Jotunheim has an effect on a pregnant jotun, it drenches the baby she carries in its radiation. The longer it remains exposed to the ringed moon the smaller it is upon birth. But the radiation is what makes a jotun capable of magic."
He looked at his own fingers.
"The first mages, they were about my size. Which means that I too can accomplish this, but I need help. The ringed moon stood close to the realm of frost giants before I was born. I can summon these spells if only I knew how."
"I cannot help you. The legends may still live, but the nature magic of the jotun is long forgotten. The frost giants do not know them anymore, nor does any creature alive."
Loki felt his stomach coil.
"There has to be a record! There has to be! How else could they have told their kin of their magic! It cannot be gone!"
Because if it was then there was no hope left. No Tesseract, no bomb, no release.
"Think boy! The jotun murder all runts of their people, they care not for mages. Magic takes too long to develop it has no use to the frost giants. Why else would they kill them all? There is no legacy, no record, only the Tesseract."
And yes, that made sense, but if Loki admitted it true to himself then, what would his future be? Blood, pain, insanity. Thor knew he didn't have too much wit to rely on but this he was pretty certain about, so he spoke up.
"I know of people that already have reproduced parts of the Tesseract. They never made a second cube, but the essence they managed to copy."
Loki turned to his brother, hopeful. Odin snorted, he couldn't really believe anybody would be able to outdo Asgard in its capabilities.
"Allies of ours?" Loki asked, desperate for at least a hold-on.
"Yes brother… The humans have."
Loki's face dropped.
"The mortals? Your Midgardian friends?"
Thor nodded, he didn't really see the problem, this was great news was it not?
"There was a moment on that ship of the people with shields. They were arguing because there were weapons being made with the power of the Tesseract. Clearly that had not been shared with the rest. They wanted to use at as a power-source. They can help!"
"People with shields?" Loki repeated.
"Yes, the men in those fancy black suits who actually do not carry any shields… Mystifying…"
Loki shook his head.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. is an abbreviation. The name of their department." He really did not like his chances here. "But you say they had made copies, and that they had made weapons of it?"
"Yes, or… maybe. They just managed to extract energy from the Tesseract for these weapons. But the effect was very impressive according to the Captain. He said that one man had once done this. He said it had been a horrible slaughter, men vaporized into non-existence."
Loki nodded slowly, it sounded like it could work if he were to be included to look at things with the Asgardian knowledge. If only they weren't talking about the humans here, anyone else he could have probably swayed the right way.
"Brother, they will give us a hand with this if I were to ask them to. The Avengers are my friends. They trust me."
"That would not happen in a million years! The Avengers are YOUR friends, they are MY enemies. Or at least I'm theirs. Possibly the worst they have. They would not help me. Nor would they trust you about me, because I'm a trickster and could have manipulated you."
He groaned. Did he have actual other chances? Not really.
Thor shook his head.
"Man of Iron likes you. He said so himself. That you were his favourite enemy, for he hadn't ever met one so much like him."
Loki glared at his brother.
"I threw the man out of his window to die. Which would have worked if it weren't for that damned suit. He does not 'like' me. Thor, none of them do. I am a threat, they will not assist me in building a weapon for mass-destruction."
It fell silent again around them. Loki's head tried to tell him things that would avoid having to call in the humans. If he looked hard enough he could maybe find back the old spells, maybe they were still somewhere on Jotunheim. With Thor on his side he could travel through the wastelands rather safely. Maybe others had just failed to see it. But how long would it take to find it? He only had a month, and then of course, he still had to make it. Casting so many spells in one month… His mother told him what he actually already knew.
"I think the Midgardians are your only hope Loki…"
He knew that, but he hated confirming it. He nodded slowly.
"Come on brother, you are smart with your words. I'm sure you can talk your way into their trust."
"I'm pretty sure they won't let me." he countered.
"We have a common enemy, we will fight like allies against them, the humans would benefit from it too."
Loki started to weigh the possibilities in his mind. The clear advantage was of course the much more secure chance to build this Tesseract. The disadvantage, that he was not allowed to stay at Thor's side this time, that he could be killed by them. But those things seemed unlikely with Thor around. He would not let it get that far right? He grunted.
"Fine, but if they kill me know that it's on you."
Thor smirked victoriously.
"I think we all know by now that nothing can kill you brother…"
"Don't challenge fate Thor."
Loki looked, softly said, not amused at all. This weighed heavy on him. Thor knew he hated calculating in risks. He knew how his little brother liked an airtight plan that could only work out how he wanted. After all, look where previous risks had brought him so far.
"Man of iron did still owe you a drink is that not so?"
Loki sighed.
"Yes, but I still owe him half a tower… If we're going to think in debts."
"Not so sour brother. The humans have a saying on earth. It applies perfectly. It states; the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Is that not perfect?"
"It's nonsense." Loki fired back. "Why would having an enemy in common make people friends?"
"Because it takes proper teamwork to defeat a common enemy, you cannot do so when there is hate within your ranks." Thor knew Loki was just looking for bad things now.
"Fine, fine… I'm not even going to try and talk this through with you."
He waved Thor away. He looked at Fregga and his brother.
"I would like to speak to father alone for a moment…"
They understood and left, the doors again letting out a mighty groan as they were shut behind them.
"If you are not helping on the creation of my plan I do have yet another favour to ask of you father."
Odin sat up straight again. He had not meddled with Thor's proposition, had let Loki deal with the risks. This was for once, not his deal. The Chitauri were not from the Nine Realms. They were not accountable for Asgard's laws. They were rogue. But if Loki would ask his alliance he would see what he could do.
"I will have to put a lot of magic in this work still, to help the humans make this. I need you to keep us shrouded. Me and Thor. They cannot see what I am doing, they have no strength for that. But they can locate me. If they know I'm on Midgard, or Thor, there will be suspicions."
"You want me to mislead them? To make it as if you never left this place?"
Loki nodded. His father understood what was important.
"Especially for Thor… If he gets tangled up in what I have felt I would not forgive myself."
He turned away to leave. Odin smiled at that. Loki did care for his brother still. That made him happy. Proud.
"I will do as you ask boy. But there is now something I will ask of you as well. I know you are short on time. So you may go tomorrow morning when dawn breaks. I do however demand then, that tonight you will celebrate your return to our family and claim that place back in front of all of Asgard."
Loki stopped, his back still turned on his father as he let out a heavy sigh. No, no, no… he didn't want that. But he knew finality in his father's voice when he heard it.
"Is it not enough to be received hostile once? I must endure it here first, and then I can move on to Midgard to go through exactly the same?"
"The people of Asgard will be glad to see you return."
Loki turned around.
"Are you really that blind? We both know they would rather have my head, of Thor I understand such ignorance, but of you…"
"It is your duty as a prince, to reclaim your place, it will only be acknowledged if the people get to see it for themselves."
Odin could see the denial playing in Loki's head over and over. There had been quite a few days that he had been unable to read his own son. But this was just about screaming from him.
"And they will be happy if I tell them to be."
Loki smiled faintly before his face went back to that slightly desperate, defeated look again.
"Fine, I'll attend. But do not expect of me to linger long. An hour, no more."
"An hour will suffice." Odin agreed, willing to make that compromise.
Loki gave him a curt nod and strode away. His arm was starting to pulse again. He would need to rest it. He just needed a moment of peace and quiet. Tonight all hell would break loose, he was fairly sure that something would happen. How could he expect things to go smoothly? He knew how the people of Asgard were. He saw Thor and tried to pass by unnoticed.
"Brother! Can we have a small word?"
Attempt failed… He sighed and turned, his smile a little forced.
"If we must…"
"Come brother, it will not be so bad!" Thor was cheerful, happy apparently that he was for once the person that had solved the problem at hand.
He patted Loki's shoulder before remembering that was his bad shoulder.
"Sorry, my bad…"
Loki only rubbed the sore away and followed after his brother.
"I was planning on doing some work for myself Thor…" he tried.
"That's fine, we will just talk in your room then."
Failed again. Thor sucked at hints sometimes. He let his brother into his room and put away the bloody towel at his bedside. The sheets had already gone. Probably taken away by his mother or the handmaidens. Thor fell down on his bed with a sigh.
"I do hope you are not angry with me… For suggesting the humans."
Loki shook his head. He wasn't, he was just bummed that it was the actual truth like this.
"What will we need? To build the Tesseract I mean."
"My cube, some spellbooks, maybe some standard potions that the Midgardians do not have."
His sentences were short and to the point. His mind really wasn't thinking on Thor's words. He had more important things to think of.
"It will be fine brother… They will listen to me, believe me."
"They better." Loki huffed. "If they don't… Then we kissed goodbye our only chances. Father is right. There is no record. If nobody ever found it in all these ages… It's probably not there anymore, or never was. If your humans refuse help, then the Chitauri will push me long enough to bring them the real Tesseract… And only the Norns would know what will become of the Realms when they do."
"Not so gloomy. They will understand. Their Realm will be endangered too."
"I want to believe that Thor, I really do." He sagged down on his bed as well, resting both arms on his knees limply. "It's just that… Everything depends on this. I normally have alternatives, not having those is… horrible… And screwing this one thing up can really make a mess."
He let himself fall on his back. He couldn't stand all this doubt.
"You know, if you just stay the Loki you are now, the one I know from all these ages ago, then nothing can go wrong. I know that for a fact."
Loki nodded and sat up again to take the cube from his nightstand.
"This will also still need a lot of work."
"And you will do it perfectly. You always have, with everything."
Loki looked back to see Thor stretch his muscles with a lazy yawn.
"Father demanded to hold a banquet before we leave. He won't let us go without it."
Thor could hear from the dark undertone in Loki's voice that he really wasn't too happy with that.
"And when do we leave?"
There was plenty of time right?
"Tomorrow." Loki grabbed a leather bag from his closet and put his spellbooks and the cube init.
Thor suddenly sat up straight.
"Tomorrow? But brother, you need to rest still. And you are injured!"
"There will be a banquet tonight, tomorrow we leave at daybreak."
He lifted the pillow and grabbed the notebook and a few phials from his desk.
"But, do you not want some time to recover more, your spells will be better when you're rested, you said so yourself."
"I don't have such time. If I had I would take it. And if all goes well on Midgard then I can take upon rest and recovery there too." He leaned on the desk. "They gave me a month, a month is very short for this much work. That's why the arm is a real setback."
Thor followed Loki with his eyes as he walked across the room to pick up little things.
"And what happens if you don't get it done in time?" he had to ask.
How bad would it get? Would there be a way around it, buy more time if needed? Loki shrugged.
"Nothing good." He picked up a book that had fallen behind the bookcase. "Deadline means they want it quickly, which also means they have plans. Which is both good and bad. Good because it means they really need it and that gives leverage in bargaining. Bad because they'll be on edge and unreasonable when things go wrong. If we happen to be late… I think it won't just be the arm." His eyes darkened.
"So we're in a hurry to keep you in one piece?"
"Me…but you too. Anyone, anyone involved that I care about. I could be the one to hurt you, they can do that."
"I'm sure man of Iron will listen to my reason. He is a good man when you get to know him."
"But it won't go smoothly, you know that."
"Sunshine."
"Realist."
Thor stood up and chuckled.
"You win… That's what you want to hear?"
"Yes."
Loki left the bag on his desk and walked over to Thor.
"Now… go to your room, do something about yourself. You're still unwashed and you are definitely underdressed for one of father's grand feasts. Besides, I want to get some extra work done, possibly causing another explosion."
Thor nodded, he had not gotten to wash and brush properly yet, since he'd gotten up so hastily to check on Loki after that first explosion. He had barely even noticed.
"If I did not have you what would become of me?"
"You managed well enough for some three years."
Thor sighed but smiled as he turned to leave.
"The banquet will also work out just fine."
"Refrain from brushing your teeth any longer and no man would dare come close."
Loki wrinkled his nose. Thor shut his mouth and glared at his little brother.
"Prick."
Loki grinned and held the door open to let Thor out.
Unwilling to be commented on his personal hygiene again Thor immediately returned to his rooms to do the things he'd skipped this morning. He washed himself, brushed his teeth twice just in case, and when he was about to get his clothes sorted out for the evening there was a knock on the door. He didn't stop his current objective but turned around to give the other permission to enter shortly. The door creaked softly and the boots of the other sounded hesitant as they shuffled inside.
"Can we have a word Thor?" Fandral asked when Thor didn't look up from his pile of trousers.
"Can we?" Thor still very much remembered Fandral's judgements about Loki. And he wasn't going to forget about it either.
"I'm sorry about this morning, I truly am. Sif fed us with evil thoughts, she riled us up and that was wrong. I let myself forget that Loki was our friend for centuries, and that you still believe in him tells me you know more about this… I want to understand, but you'll have to answer my questions Thor. How the hell did he become such a monster? Is it gone now? Is it still there? Is he sick? Insane? Possessed maybe?"
Thor stood up and turned to face Fandral.
"You are serious about this?"
Fandral nodded, the look of guilt could not be faked like that.
"Then answers you may have. But only one question at the time, please."
"How by the Norns did he come by that tyrant complex? So suddenly."
Thor sat down on the chair at his own desk, gesturing Fandral to take place somewhere too.
"Ill judgement. We all chose to be blindsided by what was going on inside his head. Our father had told Loki… shocking… news, and he really had trouble coping with that. And while he tried coping…Father fell into Odinsleep, I was banished. So he was king. You know Loki, when he gets uncertain he needs control, more than usual. And what gives more control than power?"
Fandral understood the way it had gone. It sounded like the Loki he knew.
"But this had to have been quite a shocker to go to such extremes… What could possibly be so hard to cope with?"
"You remember Jotunheim?" Loki would kill him for this, he was so keen on nobody knowing.
"Well of course. I got skewered, Volstagg froze like a Popsicle… You had a blast." Fandral grinned.
Thor's lips only quirked up quickly, now was not the time for laughs.
"Well, Volstagg burned from a single touch. But what Loki never said that he got grabbed too. Only, his skin did not burn. It became blue, like a frost-giant's would. When he went searching for answers he used their casket. Until confronting our father about it when he really could not figure it out anymore."
Fandral took it in.
"So… did he figure it out then? Did the Allfather know?"
Thor nodded, reluctant to just put it out there and tell Fandral a secret he had promised Loki to keep.
"Our father decided to tell Loki the truth. He was adopted, from Jotunheim."
Fandral's mouth just fell open with shock.
"He is a Jotun?"
Thor looked away, out the window, radiating silent excuses in his head to Loki.
"Yes. Father found him at the end of last war. He had been abandoned for being small as he is. Too small for their standards."
"By the Norns, your little brother, is a frost giant runt?"
"Don't call him that!"
Fandral raised his hands in defence.
"I meant nothing bad with that… Just, a not so giant frost giant then. Do you even know… was he a peasant or…?" he shrugged.
"The first son of Laufey."
This was so hard to do, he couldn't have imagined how hard this would weigh on him.
"Son of… son of Laufey? Like, king of the frost giants Laufey?"
Thor nodded.
"The one Loki killed with his own hands? Did he even… know then?"
Thor nodded again. Fandral sat baffled.
"First son… That means he is in fact king to Jotunheim now that Laufey is dead… At least the legal heir."
"He wishes no part of that. Knowing completely turned his world upside-down. He just wanted to prove to father that he could be better than the monsters, that he had no ties to them, therefore he wanted to destroy them, make it as if they had never been there. That he was not like the monsters in the children's stories."
Fandral felt so enlightened now.
"The stories… Of course the stories, to grow up thinking frost giants are the worst things to ever meet. And then…"
"Exactly." Thor said gravely.
Fandral stayed where he sat. Trying to give all this new information a place in his head. It stayed silent for minutes. Fandral just soaking in, making ties.
"I am sorry, but there are things I must do." Thor eventually urged.
Fandral snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at Thor.
"No, of course… It's just…" he put a hand on Thor's shoulder. "Thank you for telling me this. This makes so many things so much clearer."
Thor smiled faintly.
"If you happen to come across Loki, keep this to yourself. He wishes for nobody to know this about him. I promised him."
The slighter warrior nodded and opened the door.
"I'll speak with you later… The both of you."
Thor waved at him and didn't answer, knowing that there would be no time for that anyway. The doors fell shut again and Thor packed his own few things. It wasn't much, just the clothes he had borrowed from Jane on earth and one of their standard arc-bows, to sway Tony the right way, a bit of bribing would never hurt. He smiled faintly at the thought before his face became grim again. He could not forget Loki's face from this morning. As he lay there hunched over, fighting of the Chitauri. Those eyes, so frightened, he had known he would be hurting, he had looked so… petrified. And there had been nothing he could do. And yet it still felt like he had not done enough.
"I'm so sorry brother…"
The memory was haunting.
"I'm so sorry…"
