Sam had underestimated the sheer pain he was about to go through. However he had agreed to it, as he had been completely unaware of how addictive demon's blood was to humans.
So when Dean left the safe room on the second day (he would need four to get through the worst of it), he thought nothing of it. Sam had been pretty out of it while suffering the worst of the withdrawal symptoms and had been rather nasty towards Dean and Bobby.
Unknown to Sam, Dean had filed away some of the things his brother said...but rather than focus that against Sam, he decided to take it out on the bitch who got him hooked in the first place.
Loki was nothing if not patient. Ruby would not have a quick death, and she would learn not to cross the Asgardian god of mischief a second time if she lived through what Loki had in mind. He knew Hel hated demons and would gladly take out her frustrations on any that had the misfortune to land in her realm.
His...Loki's...daughter would probably be thrilled for her father delivering a brand new punting toy.
So while he claimed a food and booze run, stating a need to leave before he strangled Sam, even if his brother didn't really mean it, Bobby didn't even blink.
Loki didn't feel an iota of guilt for more or less sneaking into Asgard while banished, let alone grabbing some books on real magic, not the paltry crap the mortals used.
Sam wanted to become stronger, wanted to avoid being labeled as just the researcher. Loki could relate. So he would teach his brother magic and see if the idiot could figure out the truth himself.
It took everything in his power to keep on walking as if nothing was wrong when he passed Frigga. The emotions and impulses of Dean, combined with the memories of Loki, meant that every time he thought the word "Mother", he immediately associated it with Frigga.
Just like Dean associated the word "Father" to Bobby...and Loki tentatively did the same to Odin, but he was more inclined to look at Bobby that way.
Frigga did pause, as if she sensed Loki. But since he kept walking past the guards and the ever-watchful Heimdall, she had no idea he had been there.
At least, not immediately anyway.
Sam looked at the books with some surprise. He didn't honestly expect his brother to find and buy actual books with magic in them. Hell, he had no idea where Dean got them.
Bobby was thrilled having copies of his own that he could use. Dean had found some that he would want for his personal library, and had been deliberately vague on where he had gotten them. Even if most were written in Old Norse.
All they knew was that they had a series of long nights and translations ahead of them.
Sam said nothing when Ruby showed up, trying to weasel her way back into his good graces. He kept his mouth shut when Dean snuck up behind her and knocked her out cold.
He deliberately adopted a "see nothing, hear nothing" approach when Dean dragged the demon witch away and drove off. If Sam had seen Ruby being tortured, he might have been inclined to help her. And he didn't want Dean to become upset by seeing how Sam reacted to him disposing of Ruby. Instead he dove into what Dean had said was a "beginner's book"...which Sam believed considering it was the easiest one to translate.
Dean came back three hours later, with some smudges of red on his hands. Sam didn't ask, and Dean wouldn't say what he had done.
Sometimes ignorance was a better stance.
"Dean, do you have any idea how to pronounce this?" asked Sam.
Dean, in a show of solidarity and to avoid listening to Sam and Bobby complain about him doing nothing, had hunkered down to 'learn' Old Norse with them. For reasons they weren't going to ask, Dean seemed to have an easier time learning it, and could be counted on to translate.
At this point, Dean counted the mere fact they were too desperate to ask questions as a good thing. The whole stack of cards would come crumbling down soon enough...probably after he stole the staff. Thanks to the prevalence of cameras everywhere, odds were someone might see him catching the damn thing.
Even if he had used a bit of Loki's power to track down that damn file on the Winchesters, and wiped it from existence, someone might put Dean and the staff together...and when that happened it was only a matter of time before Thor got involved considering it had belonged to Loki.
He still had mixed feelings about Thor figuring out who he was originally...because he was too big of an idiot to keep his damn mouth shut.
He liked being Dean more than he had Loki, even if Dean's life had been crap before they were forcibly reminded of who they had been. Sam trusted him, and he didn't feel like he was just a pale shadow of Thor. He wasn't the adopted son of Odin, he wasn't the barely tolerated prankster of the gods.
He was Dean Winchester, one of the many silent protectors of humanity who didn't do it for the glory, but because they were needed. They weren't as flashy as the Avengers, or as open as S.H.I.E.L.D., but they were still heroes all the same.
At least they didn't have to fill out paperwork or answer for collateral damage...like buildings or other personal property. Or deal with idiotic supervillains.
Dean looked at it, and grimaced.
It was one of Thor's runes. Still, he answered Sam's question.
Just because he saw his brother in a slightly new light didn't mean he wanted to be reminded of him.
Sam nodded, though inwardly he wondered how long it took Dean to realize they generally asked him to make him feel more useful. Sam hadn't been the only one to notice some behavioral changes in Dean.
Bobby had noticed it as well.
They knew it was Dean though. No one could possibly fake being that obsessed over the Impala, and his reaction to Ruby getting Sam hooked on demon's blood hadn't been faked. He had genuinely been pissed off when he found out.
However something had happened when he had come back from hell, and he didn't automatically believe the angels were on the up and up about why they needed him.
Oh, he believed Castiel honestly thought that his brothers and sisters were doing God's work...but he knew better than to use Castiel as a measuring stick for the rest of them.
Loki only knew that angels (the winged ones that humans knew of) existed, but he never had personal experience with them.
He might mix with the other pantheons, notably the Greek and Roman one, but he didn't even consider dipping into the mythology of the one centered around a single deity that had a bunch of winged messengers/warriors and who had been misquoted for centuries.
Besides...every pantheon that had contact with Earth happened to know that Yahweh had gotten fed up with Lucifer and Micheal fighting, and had thrown his hands up in frustration before leaving to go on an extended vacation.
He was currently hiding among the mortals, changing form every so often to keep his children from finding him and begging him to lead them again.
He really shouldn't have made his angels so dependent on him. They were stable for now, but if anyone removed a major angel or other noteworthy leader, they would be like headless chickens.
Hence why Dean took any "order" from heaven with a grain of salt and a healthy dose of skepticism.
And Loki, being the chaotic pain in the ass he was, couldn't wait until the angels found out that their "Righteous Man" couldn't say yes to Micheal and act as vessel...because they could only possess a HUMAN. Dean was slowly, but surely, reverting back to Asgardian now that his memories had been freed.
And Asgardians were entirely too strong and different for an angel to possess.
Yeah, Loki was definitely looking forward to the inevitable bitch fest the angels were sure to let loose when they figured out Odin had accidentally screwed their plans. Best of all, he had no part in the fact he was Dean...it was all Odin's fault! It was a win-win!
Sam was slightly creeped out by the evil grin Dean barely managed to hide, as if he thought of something hilarious and more than slightly annoying.
"Dean, I don't know why you looked amused, and frankly I don't want to know so long as it doesn't come back to bite me in the ass later," stated Sam.
"It's nothing. Just imagining how pissed off the angels are going to be in a few months," said Dean, waving his hand.
"Again, I don't want to know on the grounds I would like plausible deniability."
"Eh...they already don't like you, and there's no way they can pin the blame for it on you either since it happened before you were even involved," said Dean off-hand.
Meaning it couldn't be Sam's fault because he hadn't been born when Dean had, much less had the ability to put Loki into his brother.
Sam eyed him suspiciously.
"This have anything to do with where you got these books, and why you have such an easy time with Norse runes?"
Dean couldn't look him in the eye.
"Maybe."
"Are you really Dean?" asked Sam. Bobby looked up.
Dean rolled his eyes.
"When I came up from hell, it broke a seal on certain memories. I'm still Dean...just with a few extras now."
Sam looked him in the eye.
"I believe you."
"Hold up, what sort of 'extras'?"
"I can see auras, I'm slowly remembering a bunch of languages like Old Norse and a little Enochian, I have a limited amount of ability to use magic...and when the angels figure out what happened they're going to be really, really pissed."
"Magic?" Sam perked up.
"Real magic, not that crap Ruby used or what demons peddle about."
"How pissed are we talking about here?" asked Bobby seriously.
"Let me put it this way... There's a reason why I never dabbled in their pantheon."
"Wait...so the gods are real?"
"I don't know about the Egyptians or some of the others, but I know for a fact the Greek/Roman pantheon exists, and the Norse one has an entire planet called Asgard that's visible from Earth if you have to right telescope and know where to look," said Dean. Seeing Sam looking really excited, Dean smirked. "I can possibly buy a telescope powerful enough and show you, just to prove I'm not lying."
He definitely had Sam hooked now. Bobby eyed Dean with an odd expression.
"This...magic...you're going to be teaching Sam. It's magic from the Norse pantheon isn't it?"
"Pretty much. I know more about that kind than the others," admitted Dean.
"And if I were to ask how you became human?" said Bobby.
"I may or may not have pissed Odin off to the point he banished me into mortal form...without memories... I will not confirm or deny which one I am," said Dean immediately.
Bobby snorted. Sam's eyes were wide.
"What...?"
"There are records of the Chief gods or goddesses banishing the lesser ones...or their children...to live as humans as punishment. The more pissed off they are, the more they have to do in order to be allowed back. If I remember right a god named Thor got his ass shipped back here to learn some humility recently, and it nearly leveled the entire town he was staying in. Never heard the specifics though," said Bobby.
"Long story short he was pissed because Loki did something to ruin his coronation, even if it was a good thing because it just proved he wasn't ready to become king just yet. Because he went to Jotunheim to demand answers from Laufey, King of the Jotuns, Odin got pissed and threw his ass out until Thor grew up a little," snorted Dean.
"And the destroyed town?"
"That, I have no idea. I only overheard the bit about Thor being sent to Earth for a few days because I went to Asgard to steal some books."
That had them staring at him.
"What? Do you have any idea how much it would cost to buy these books, or the condition they would be in? Never mind actually getting the real thing and not some cheap fake," said Dean in his defense.
"If you were banished, how exactly did you get into Asgard?" asked Sam.
"Ah, but here's the thing. I haven't technically been banished yet. So by that reasoning, I can't be punished for borrowing a few books, and there's no reason they'd be looking for a thief," said Dean smugly.
Sam might have tried to become a lawyer, but Loki could outwit and out talk him any day of the week. He had practice in getting idiots out of trouble.
'Hmm...there's a thought... Nah, S.H.I.E.L.D. would be on my ass the second they found out I'm Loki.'
Though the idea of screwing people over just because he could did sound appealing to Loki...Dean was simply too active to handle that kind of lifestyle.
"I really don't want to know," said Sam after a moment. He eyed his brother warily. "This isn't going to bite us in the ass later is it?"
"...Possibly, but not if we can word it right the first time. And then there will be the annoyance factor of a blond idiot with a hammer fetish bothering us whenever he manages to figure out where we are and ruining any chance of a hunt going right," said Dean after a moment.
Because really, Thor did not do subtle. He was all flash and no brain.
