Adventures with the Midgardian Fool
Chapter 3: Loki
What the Hel are you getting yourself into, Loki?
The thought ran through my head over and over again. Meeting Elijah, becoming weak before him, joining him for a meal, making him lie to his friends just to help me; how many debts was I to owe this mortal before my banishment terminated? Could I even bring myself to repay those debts in kind? And what was I to do if my banishment became permanent? I couldn't just rely on Elijah for the rest of my days. He wouldn't allow it. Surely, surely he wouldn't be stupid enough to allow it.
I found myself pacing in the hotel lobby. Not slow and steady, as per usual whilst I waited. My strides were long, fast, and full of purpose when there was no purpose to be had. My steps carried me from the front desk over to the dining area too quickly for my liking, and back again.
Decline, I found myself thinking, Decline his offer. You've made your way in other realms before. Surely Midgard will be no different. Just decline the offer when he gets back. No good will come of this...
"Excuse me, sir..." the voice of the lady at the reception desk pulled me from my thoughts, and honestly it was the last thing I wanted to hear at the moment.
"What?!" I shouted, my voice carrying through the silence of the lobby.
The receptionist jumped back a few feet, clearly terrified. Gods, I didn't mean it like that. I hated raising my voice in every sense, and the yelling was just downright painful and could come so suddenly. It made me sound like an arrogant brat, rather than a prince, let alone a king.
"I-I-I'm sorry," I managed to stutter out, trying to calm myself down, "What is it?"
My words didn't seem to ease the receptionist's nerves. She was shrunk back, wide-eyed, hands twisted up at her chest, mouth agape with a startled look on her face.
"I-Is everything all right?" she whimpered, taking a cautious step forward.
No. No, everything was not all right. If everything were all right, I'd still be in Asgard, sitting on the throne, Odin and the frost giants would be dead, and Thor would be the one who was banished, not me. If everything were all right, I would be ruling over the people of Midgard as a benevolent god, instead of being banished to Midgard and scarcely more powerful than the average human. If everything were all right, I wouldn't have to rely on a mortal just to get by. But what of this could this lady understand?
"Yes," I said, forcing myself to halt my pacing entirely, "Yes, everything is perfectly fine. It's just, uh, one of my friends is running a little late. Don't worry about it."
The receptionist nodded frantically as she tried to make herself look preoccupied with something on her desk. I decided to take a seat in a plush chair nearby, rather than resume my pacing and risk working myself up again. Not that it helped any. My mind was still racing with what I should do. What would Thor do?
Bah! That wasn't even a question worth answering. Thor would accept any help that was offered to him. He'd clung to that Jane Foster for dear life when he'd been banished. He just happened to get lucky that he'd been saddled with a mortal that took an interest in other universes, making it easier for him to convince and prove that he was the God of Thunder. And who was I stuck with? Some random Midgardian who enjoyed dressing up in silly, vibrantly colored outfits and meeting other Midgardians dressed up in silly, vibrantly colored outfits.
"Loki, this is madness!"
Thor's words echoed in my head, and my anger towards him started anew. I remembered a certain Asgardian who wanted to charge into Jotunheim and attack the frost giants, dragging me and his precious friends with him.
"Is it madness? Is it? Is it?! Come on, what happened on Earth that turned you so soft? Don't tell me it was that woman!"
The look that had been on Thor's face had said it all. Was that what the Allfather was trying to do? Saddle me with some human in the vain hope that it could soften me? Well, that wasn't going to happen. I wouldn't allow it!
And Frigga... My precious mother. What would she do? What would she have wanted me to do?
"We mustn't lose hope that your father will return to us... and your brother."
"What hope is there for Thor?"
"There's always a purpose to everything your father does."
Then what was the purpose of this? To punish me? To change me? I already had the hideous cold, blue skin and markings of a frost giant beneath this guise. What more was Odin wanting to change until he'd be satisfied with what I was? I suppose it would never be that way, though. Thor would always be the favorite son, and so long as there was still life flowing through him, he would always be considered heir to the throne.
Still, even as my anger mounted towards her words, I tried to listen to them as if Thor had been the one with her, and that they had been speaking of me. Putting it like that lessened my anger, and I tried to think of how my banishment would only last a year. One year. It's not like I was going to be here for the rest of Eli's days. I would not be made to watch him die of old age, or whatever disease came for him from those dreadful cigarettes. It would only be for a year, and then we could go out separate ways.
"Do you not truely feel the gravity of your crimes?"
Odin's voice washed over my thoughts like a shadow. No, worse than a shadow; a starless night with not a moon, fire, lamp, or candle in sight. It shrouded my thoughts in darkness.
"Wherever you go, there is war, ruin, and death."
War, ruin, and death...
I looked around myself thinking back to all that's happened today. I had angered a security guard, had collapsed, convinced Elijah that I was truely a god, and had scared a hotel receptionist half to death. In that amount of time, I could have done any number of things. I could have killed that security guard, enslaved everyone in that convention center, made Elijah drive off the road at some point, and attacked him and his friends. If my presence only brought about war, ruin, and death, then I must be doing a pretty poor job at being, well, me.
I thought back to after I had fallen into the abyss. Meeting Thanos, aquiring the spear, the Tesseract... Gods I hated what I had to go through just to get to Earth, and the person I'd become when I had. I was already weak and exhausted from all the tortures that walking grape could concoct; hungry, thirsty, in pain. But the bloodthirst... the bloodthirst had to be the worst of it; blinding me so all I could see was a throne just barely within reach, and everyone who stood in the way of that would be killed. That wasn't what I'd wanted. I wasn't a murderer by nature, but Thanos was. I wanted the buildings to stand, the people to live and kneel before me. Thanos didn't care. If the Tesseract was kept from him, there was nothing he wouldn't be willing to do to get it back. I had failed, and I was still alive. Thanos would be looking for me.
"If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he can't find you!" the echo of the Other's voice sent chills racing through the marrow of my bones, "You think you know pain... He'll make you long for something sweet as pain!"
This was the biggest reason I could not go through with accepting Elijah's offer. If Thanos came for me within the year, if he found me, Eli would only be in his way. He would die, and I would not allow another soul to die because of my selfish ambition.
The sound of the hotel's front doors opening pulled me from my thoughts. Eli strode into the room, tapping something out quickly on his cell phone before slipping it back into his pocket. I stood up from my seat and made my way towards him. Now was a good of time as any.
"Elijah," I spoke up, "I must speak with you urgently."
"So do I," Eli's response caught me off guard, "You go first."
"No, you first."
If I could put off having to say what I had to, I would. I didn't know what it was about him, but there was something about Elijah that was disarming.
"Alright," he said in a slight huff, "I managed to get around Ben and Morgan without them suspecting anything, but sometime within the next week, or so, I'm going to have to take you over to their place so you can be reintroduced to them, and, magic or no magic, we have to convince them that you're a god and were telling the truth, otherwise Ben is probably going to throttle you."
Oh, boy. I should have gone first.
"Actually, I've changed my mind."
My words made Eli's face contort in confused, slightly shocked expression, "What?"
"I cannot stay with you," I explained, "Please believe me when I say that I am grateful for all that you've done for me today, and for all that you were prepared to do, but... remember when I had said that I'd gotten myself into some trouble on Midgard? This ties in with that."
"... The police are after you?"
"No."
"The FBI?"
"No."
"Asgard?"
"No, this is worse. Far, far worse. Your life will be in danger if I am to go with you."
Elijah began pacing the length of the hotel lobby, just as I had been earlier. His steps were not quick or impatient, though. His were slow, steady steps that made his footfalls echo against the silence. He was quieter than I would have liked. I was half expecting him to plead with me to go with him regardless, or just become annoyingly loud and sad as Midgardians tended to do when their plans changed so suddenly. But that didn't happen. Instead he was silent, pacing.
"How long do you think it'll be before they find you?" he ask, pausing suddenly.
"I'm not sure," I replied, "It could be years, it could be an hour from now. Who knows? All I know is that if he does come for me, you will be powerless to do anything about it."
Eli resumed his pacing. He only managed a few steps before he stood up straight and turned to me, his movements almost mechanical.
"I like those odds."
His words hit me like a kick in the guts.
"You've got to be joking," I started, "Thanos has promised a world of pain and torture upon me for failing to subjugate the Earth. When he comes, there'll be nothing you can do to stop him. He'll kill you!"
"And how much better off are you on your own?"
The words were spoken bitterly, but not because Eli himself was bitter. I'd heard the tone before. It was a tone Thor used when he was being perfectly blunt with me. There was no heat or anger behind the words. He just wanted me to hear him. The fact that his new-found tone was completely different from the lighthearted tone he normally carried in his voice left me good and tongue-tied.
"You said that your powers as a god and your magic are both limited," he continued, "What are you going to do when this Thanos guy comes for you? Even if you still have as much magic as you do now when that happens, it probably won't be enough to stop him."
"And what of you?" I countered, standing toe to toe with him, "I've killed many and have hurt many more. There's nothing in all Nine Realms I can do to make up for that. You can at least say you've never killed anyone, or tried to destroy an entire race, or tried to enslave an entire race, but I have!"
Eli shrugged, his demeanor suddenly changing back to the one I was familiar with.
"True, but that still doesn't mean you've gotta go through this on your own," he explained, "Besides, you said it yourself; Thanos could come for you years from now, or he might come an hour from now. That leaves a lot of time. If we were to play 'Pick a Number' based on that, the odds of us getting the exact number would be astronomical."
"I still don't like my odds, though," I said, "Especially when it's lives I'm gambling with. I cannot do that again. Not again."
A smirk tugged sharply at a corner of Eli's mouth and his brows lifted.
"Something in me says this Thanos guy is the least of your problems right now."
It was those words that brought me back down from my panic. He was right. Thanos was the least of my problems at the moment. My first problem was finding a place to stay for the duration of my banishment, and here it was right in front of me; the only person who'd been willing to help me this entire time. The only person...
Without him, I was just a sitting duck waiting for Thanos.
Apparently, I was not the only one wise in the ways of being a silver tongue.
"So," Eli piped up, "Are you still coming with, or do you want me to leave you here to find your own way, like you suggested?"
000
"You're sure you wouldn't like any help with that?"
I watched in amusement as Elijah struggled to lift the last of his and his friends' luggage into the trunck of his car. His packing had been rushed and sloppy, as check-out was cut off at five o'clock and Valhalla forbid he be late for that. It was noted that the two suitcases had a mixture of everyone's clothes packed inside them, as well as a stash of shampoos, conditioners, lotions, and soaps from the bathroom. Why he hadn't decided to just go all out and make off with the bed he seemed so pleased by, I had no idea.
"Nope..." Eli choked out, hoisting the second suitcase into the trunk, "I got it."
I continued to watch as the suitcase was thrown inside with a loud thud. What was in the luggage that made them so heavy in the first place? How much had Elijah and his friends packed? It was only for the weekend. It's not like they were going to be away for several weeks.
"There!" Eli said with an exasperated breath, "Now all we have to do is go check out."
I nodded and follwed him back inside and into the lobby. The receptionist I had snapped at earlier was still there, and she looked to be none too pleased to see me. I stood a ways back from the front desk and allowed Eli to return the key card, which had failed him many times today, and pay for the night he and his friends had spent there. It only took a few minutes for the transaction to be completed, and before long we were back in his car.
"Is this drive going to be anything like when we came here from Shuto Con?" I asked, instinctively grabbing the handle I had clung to on the way to the hotel.
"Probably," Elijah responded as he pulled out his cell phone. He hit one of the small squares and it pulled up a map. He tapped the screen a few more times before a woman's voice came from the small electronic device.
"You are on the fastest route. You should reach your destination by 6:20 PM."
From the moment Eli pulled out of the hotel parking lot, the voice kept returning periodically to tell him where he needed to turn at, usually miles in advance.
"Is this your own version of JARVIS?" I asked, not taking my eyes off of the small blue arrow that followed a blue line on the map.
"JARVIS?" Eli questioned shooting me a confused look, "I though JARVIS was Stark's thing."
"You know Tony Stark? Metal Man?"
Eli laughed, "I don't think there's a person alive right now who doesn't know who he is. Multi-millionaire, ﹰAvenger, ﹰIronman; the guy's in the news every freaking day."
"Well you're not wrong," I chuckled, "So who is this speaking to you?"
"Everyone just calls her Siri. Nobody really likes her, but my GPS hasn't gotten me lost yet. Besides, we're only going to need it until we get to Grand Ledge. I know where I'm going from there."
I nodded and passed the time watching the scenery change from that of a congested city, to barren fields, to a quaint little town. Only then did Elijah finally bend down, turn Siri off, and turn on the radio.
Personally, I was glad he wasn't blaring the music like Morgan had been this afternoon. He turned it up just to the point where it could be heard over the low hum of the car. This type of music was far different than the ear-shreading noises Morgan listened to; still much different than the music on Asgard, but pleasant in a way.
Eventually the small town gave way to the sight of cornfields and trees. There was hardly any traffic, and Eli seemed to relax one thousand fold as he lit up a cigarette. Maybe those nasty little things did help him. Gradually, the calm sights, the quieter sounds, the fruity smell of Eli's smokes began tugging on my eyelids. I hadn't realized that I was so exhausted until now, now that I was relaxed, and sitting, and not having to worry about badges, or lines, or anything else that had happened today.
Eventually, I gave in; resting my head against the window, and falling asleep.
000
DISCLAIMER
Okay, I NEED a disclaimer for this one.
Firstly, I'd like to apologize for Loki's out of characterness throughout the story. It's just a thing that's going to happen, and is going to be there.
Secondly, based on this chapter, I am no way implying that Thanos will actually be making an appearance in this story. On top of me having an extremely limited knowledge about him, that particular scene is a very good example of how I'm a lot better at coming up with reactions and decisions in writing than I am actually speaking to people. If this had actually happened I probably would have just sulked, said 'Okay...' leave Loki behind, and live to regret it for the rest of my life.
Sorry, but THAT'S NOT AN OPTION HERE!
-BlueRaven 666