Chapter 2: The Truth About Heaven II
(Relatively) rapid/longer update because that last cliffhanger was cruel. Enjoy!
Warning: semi-graphic depictions of violence and torture
There's blood—a pool so vast, and Steve could hardly comprehend that a human body could contain so much blood. But then again, Loki isn't exactly human.
"I am rather pleased to inform that your death will not come this soon." A hooded figure rasps, his teeth sharp and grotesque behind silver frames—The Other—Steve recalls, based on these characteristics. Loki's capturer runs a metallic claw along the flat plane of the god's stomach, reopening old wounds, and the god cries again, hoarse and broken as more red pools at his navel.
"No—NO!" Steve shouts and lunges at the figures before him, but no matter how many steps he took, or how fast he ran, Loki—bound in chains, in darkness, thin frame bleeding and broken—is always just a fingertip out of reach.
"You are still of use to Master, but in the mean time, I bear no hesitation in reminding you of your place, Godling." The Other takes a fistful of ruffled black hair and yanks, earning a sharp inhalation from the god. Rings of bruises adorn the captive's neck. "And I will find immense pleasure in abolishing any treacherous thought, in this guileful mind of yours."
He brings his pointed fingers to the corners of bleary green eyes, and the next cry comes from Steve's own lips.
"Stop it! Stop this, please!"
And to his surprise, everything does stop, although in a more literal sense than the soldier had intended—the horror freezing before him as if someone hit the pause switch on a movie. Heimdall is once again by his side, vacant eyes sullen.
"This is what happened to him after—after his fall." The soldier does his best not to choke.
"Yes."
"And you're showing me this, everything that happened because—you can see everything."
"Yes."
"But if you knew—how come no one even tried to..."
The silence was enough to verify. Steve shakes his head in disbelief.
"How long was he here, before he started working with Thanos."
"Roughly one year, in your Midgardian time."
"A whole year!" The soldier could hardly contain his rage. "One whole year in this hell, and you knew! You knew, and you left him here! How could—"
"How could you!"
Steve falls silent upon the wailing of a woman. Frigga appears before Heimdall, delicate features contorted in grief, angry tears smeared across her cheeks.
"The Bifrost was destroyed, and the path of dark energy could only ensure one way, with no means of returning" Heimdall speaks, gentle but devoid of anything else, "There was nothing we could have done."
"Why did you not tell me that my boy is alive?"
"You would have only suffered more, knowing he is suffering."
"Is that what Odin told you?" the queen frowns vehemently, almost reminding Steve of the Mischief God himself, "When he ordered you to conceal the truth from all but him?"
"I cannot betray our King."
Frigga breaths shakily through her teeth, her wrath broiling beneath the sorrow. "You might have kept your loyalty to our King, but you have betrayed me."
"My Queen, please—"
"You have wronged me, Heimdall. You have betrayed my friendship, my trust. I will never forgive you, for what you have done."
The guardian finally falters, a hint of unease in his tone. "You have placed me in an impossible situation."
"You will watch over our kingdom." Frigga is shivering with rage. "You will watch over my two sons, your two Princes—regardless of their treacheries, past or present, or any personal woes you may share. That is your duty, if not for Odin, but for me. You owe me this much."
Heimdall looks at his queen sullenly, before complying under her relentless glare. "Yes, Lady Frigga. You have my word."
Frigga vanishes, leaving Steve alone with the guardian. The soldier swallows thickly before finding his words. "So does this mean they considered the circumstances surrounding Loki's crimes, when they determined his punishment?"
Heimdall responds without much of a personal statement.
"Do you forget that you are Queen?" Odin, on his throne, looks grimly at his wife.
"And do you forget that you are a father? His father?" Frigga, before her king, levels her shoulders.
"Had he been the son of any other, he would have been executed. His life has been spared, in honor of your good word."
"You act as if he alone is responsible for his fall. You abandoned him first, in that wretched place, to be tortured, to wish for death, and—"
"And what would you have wished me to do?" the king bellows, the blunt end of his staff striking the marble floor. "Send Thor? Send the one good son we have left, to die? For the other?"
"They are both good sons!" Frigga raises her voice in equal, and Odin frowns thunderously.
"Loki brought war to the Nine Realms, death to the innocent, suffering to all who crossed his path."
"And so did Thor, or do you forget?"
"The damage Thor had caused was merely a shade in comparison. He has already served his punishment, on Midgard."
"And what does that say about us, my King?" Frigga laughs bitterly. "That both our boys would commit such treachery, in the name of Odin."
The king heaves a heavy sigh and brings a hand to rub wearily against his temple. A long stretch of silence hangs heavily between them, before the king finally speaks, quiet as a whisper. "What do you wish me to do?"
"Banish him, like what you had done for Thor." Frigga approaches her husband, covering his battle-worn hands with hers. "Do not let him sink deeper into his hatred and anguish, alone. Give him another chance at happiness."
"What world would accept him now?" Odin shakes his head, but his queen remains steadfast.
"Midgard."
"Not Midgard."
"Midgard, someday."
Steve is then brought to a dungeon, before a fluorescently lit prison. Inside, Loki sits on the ground, dressed in the same dark tunic and pants as he had when he fell to Earth. His wrists and ankles are bound by thin, silver chains, while a muzzle obscured the lower half of his face.
He kept his head bowed even as Frigga entered the cell, followed by armed guards. She kneels before her youngest son, and runs a gentle hand through his hair, down his face. She removes the muzzle as their eyes meet.
"Foolish woman," he says as she presses her forehead to the crook of his shoulder, her arms circling his neck.
"All mothers are."
"His sentence was therefore a century of imprisonment." Heimdall reappears besides the soldier. "Until new generations of Midgardians replace the old, and Asgard's crimes abandoned to the pages of history. Loki will then live as a mortal—regardless of how many lifetimes it may take—until he proves himself worthy, to return to the Realm Eternal."
Steve looks at the guardian in disbelief. "So your plan was to wait until everyone on Earth—everyone who had to suffer through the Chitauri invasion—dies, so Loki can be banished here?"
"Perhaps, a gift of mortality overlooked, is that you share not the grudge of gods," came the impassive reply.
Steve glowers at the guardian, feeling woefully insulted.
"But things rarely go accordingly to plan," Heimdall says before returning them to the golden observatory at the heart of the Bifrost, but only this time, the walls appear in repair—exposed to the outside where the rainbow bridge glimmers like lights in glass.
And suddenly, the ground beneath them quakes, and the swirl of gaping nothingness below the bridge seem to augment until something bursts within, and Steve watches in astonishment as a massive hand claws its way through the narrow opening.
"That's Thanos, isn't it?" Steve remarks mutedly as the ill-reputed monster comes into view. This is not his real form, Steve reminds himself of one of his first conversations with Loki, this is only a projection, a fraction of the real monster. But even so, the villain is on an entirely different level of fearsomeness, easily overpowering the guards rushing to the scene.
Heimdall gives a valiant effort in defending his post, but the guardian soon succumbs under the onslaught of Chitauri soldiers—exactly how Loki had described—collapsed in a pool of blood, his left arm and right leg severed. Steve clenches his fists helplessly as the invaders pass right through him, rushing onto the streets of an unsuspecting kingdom.
"What plagues your dreams, my son?"
Steve is now standing beside Frigga, before Loki, whose long limbs flail as he startles awake. Steve recalls Loki's inability to sleep without forgoing his mind, and judging by the complacency of the Queen, the Mischief god hasn't even told his own mother of these lasting consequences from his fall.
"The evening of your anniversary, and you choose to visit me." The god rubs at his eyes with the heel of his palm, his body visibly relaxing upon realizing his whereabouts.
"I fear I am an old woman now," Frigga smiles, "Find these endless feasts and celebrations exceedingly tiresome."
"Nonsense, mother—" Loki begins, but his breath is abruptly caught in his throat as he clutches at the side of his head. He scrambles out of his bed before his mother, eyes wild and frantic. "Leave. You have to leave now."
"Loki." The queen furrows her brows in worry.
"Asgard is under attack. Thanos, he is here."
And as if cue, the sound of alarms blares and echoes along the stone walls of the dungeon, troupes of armed guards gathering by the exit. "We have to get to the vault! They're trying to break in!"
"Listen, mother," Loki edges closer to where Frigga stands, nearly pressed against the barrier separating them. "It is a trick. The vault is simply a distraction. He is coming here."
"How could you possible know?" The queen looks at her son with questioning eyes, but the Mischief god shows little desire to elaborate.
"For vengeance, on me. I know, mother, I just know! There is no time for questions. You have to leave."
"Those brutes that hurt my poor boy," Frigga says under her breath, completely ignoring the prior instructions, and Loki—for lack of better word—howls in frustration.
"Mother, listen to me! It is not safe here. You must go, you must—"
"The Godling, he speaks the truth." The immense figure of Thanos steps into view, face framed in bronze metal, his matching armor smeared with blood. "Lady Frigga, a pleasure, I must admit. My name is Thanos."
"I know well who you are," the queen calmly replies, the paradigm of regality. Loki, behind her appears much more distressed.
"I have no quarrel with you." Thanos' tone is deceivingly gentle. "I only wish to speak with your son."
"Your request is neither granted, nor your presence welcomed." Frigga stands firmly between the two men, much to Loki's voiceless complaint. "I advise you to leave."
Thanos grins, his thick jaw slack and protruding. "Pity. I would hate to harm a lady."
And upon command, two Chitauri soldiers emerge from the shadows and lunge into attack. And Frigga —with an elegant turn—reveals the hidden dagger beneath her veil, striking them down with easily. Thanos attempts to take her by surprise, his large hand extending and circling around her neck. And Frigga's guarded expression opens briefly, before the image of the queen vanishes in a flash of green light.
Thanos seethes upon realization, before turning his back, only to be greeted with the sharp edge of a dagger. Frigga slices him across the vast expanse of his face, dark blood spilling from his wound, but the villain wastes no time in recovery. He seizes the queen by her delicate wrist and twists until she drops the dagger.
"Now I see where the Godling had learned his tricks," Thanos grins, blood staining his teeth. With his free hand, he grips the queen by her chin, covering her lips with his large palm.
"Don't!" Loki protests just as Thanos threatens to break her neck. "Leave her be, and I will go with you. Willingly."
Thanos looks pointedly at the god, his grin never fading, and Loki licks his lips hesitantly, before adding a demure, "Please."
Thanos chuckles, striking the queen with the flat of his forearm and sending her flying across the deserted dungeon. Frigga collapses a few yards away, motionless.
"Mother!" Loki presses a hand to the barrier between them, only to be repelled.
"She will be fine." Thanos scoffs, as he connects his fist to the transparent wall, obliterating it in one strike.
The impact sends Loki crashing into the opposite side, and before he could regain his footing, Thanos grips him by the neck, effectively pinning him.
"Worry more for your own sake, Godling," the assaulter grins menacingly, taking Frigga's dagger and running it along the god's ribs. Loki's cry reverberates within the deserted dungeon.
The next thing Steve knows, he is back at the observatory—bodies of both Asgardian and Chitauri at his feet. The Bifrost has been overran, but more and more Asgardian soldiers are arriving, forcing the invaders to retreat.
Steve watches as Thanos manhandles Loki into what's left of the golden dome, the god stumbling as the chains around his ankles catch on a piece of debris. The portal through which the Chitauri had arrived is now a gaping vortex, pulling everything from rubble and fallen soldiers inside.
Thanos shows little patience as he grips Loki by the back of his neck, forcing him on hands and knees as they hover over the abyss. Loki grunts, before daring a glance into the other end of the portal, where millions upon millions of Chitauri soldiers await their arrival.
"They cannot kill you, at least not today," Thanos rasps against the shell of his ear, "But they will make you wish for death, wish you never existed to cross our paths."
Loki looks at Thanos, eyes shining with defiance and unadulterated hate, as if to say he already does. And Steve feels his blood broiling, with the frustration of knowing that this is the past—hopeless and unchangeable. But the tragedy does not end, as Thanos arches his back suddenly, a terrible sound ripping from the depth of his throat.
"Witch!" He seizes Frigga by her arm. "What have you done?"
The wound on his back begins to glow a simmering red, spreading like ink in water. Frigga's dagger has been enchanted—it seems—and the projection of Thanos begins to fade and crumble against the searing light. The monster scowls lividly, and Frigga is bold enough to return a sneer. Loki, once more, looks absolutely awed.
"Foolish woman," Thanos roars, "You will pay for these treacheries with your life."
He throws the queen among a troop of Chitauri soldiers, arriving from the entrance of the observatory.
"Finish her," he commands, despite Loki's fruitless protests, "And retreat. We have what we came for."
Thanos lifts the god by the neck, until his limp form is hanging over the abyss. Loki claws at the thick fingers obstructing his breath, straining to look beyond the vast shoulders of his assailant, to his unfortunate mother. Frigga's cry traverses the chaos around them, and Loki ceases to struggle, his arms dropping weakly to his side.
His expression is blank, unbelievably lost and young, and it's the first time Steve has seen him—anyone—cry like this. No sound, no anything. Just tears freely falling.
He thinks Frigga is dead, and Steve believed so too, until today. And now, the soldier doubts this reality—hoping against all lingering doubts, that somehow, the queen is alive, and pulling the strings behind everything that Steve is experiencing.
Thanos laughs cruelly before releasing the god, leaving gravity to pull him deeper into the abyss, with the Chitauri army restless on the other side. But before Loki could reach the intended destination, a brilliant streak of light spits the portal in two—destroying it—and suddenly, the Mischief god is nowhere to be found.
Thanos frowns viciously as he turns to Heimdall, who—with his remaining arm—has managed to operate what is left of the Bifrost.
"You could have lived another day," the villain taunts, his body dissipating but not nearly fast enough.
"My debt to the Queen," the guardian manages as his eyes grew dim, but before Thanos could lay a finger on the fallen warrior, a bolt of lightning pierces him through the chest.
The monster roars thunderously and crumbles into cinders, just as Thor plants himself firmly onto the platform of the observatory, releasing his hammer to strike down the remaining Chitauri soldiers.
"Bring the healers! Hurry!" Thor commands the incoming guards, rushing to where the queen lies. Her veil and golden garments are tainted in red, where her midriff is impaled by a long, curving dagger.
"You will be alright, mother." The Thunder god kneels beside the queen, urging her to remain still as to not exacerbate her injuries. "Please, hang on."
"They took your brother," Frigga shakes her head, pain etched in her contorting features.
"No." Thor brings a gentle hand to his mothers face, wiping away tears as quickly as they form, "Heimdall sent him away with the Bifrost, although only he knows where. But we will find him, mother, before Thanos can. I swear on my life that we will find him."
The scene fades with the end of Thor's sentence, leaving Steve standing in the center of the observatory—the one of the present, he assumes—with not only Heimdall before him, but Frigga as well, alive and well.
Steve regards both of them warily, before the queen finally approaches him in elegant, even strides.
"Captain Rogers," she raises her hand for him to shake, and he accepts without too much hesitation. He can never be rude to a lady, no matter how frustrating and strange the circumstances might be. "I am Lady Frigga, Queen of Asgard, mother to Thor and Loki. And now that you know the truth—or as much to the truth as we know—will you save my youngest boy?"
Steve releases her hand, and looks at her with a strange mixture of uncertainty and surprise. It's not a question of whether he wants to, but whether he can. And he fails to comprehend how the queen could speak with such confidence, such hope, that Steve is the right person for this impossible task.
Frigga waits with motherly patience, and the soldier feels a rush of guilt with every passing moment, before finally deciding on the right words. "I would have said yes, even without knowing."
Happy Thanksgiving, and enjoy! :)
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