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Chapter 7: Loki's Revelation

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Odin was beyond furious, enraged, and everywhere in between.

Geri and Freki watched him pace about his bedchamber; Gungnir in hand, fully armoured and most definitely heated. Even Frigga stayed wary of him in such a rage, for truly the anger of the Allfather none wished upon themselves.

Hugin and Munin vanished without his command, and from his throne he spied them on Midgard, circumnavigating the world of mortals with a cause unknown to him. Loki, he knew, was behind such an act, a violation of his orders- or so he thought when at first he was angered- but he could not prove it, for he did not see the event for himself. He, Odin, had been on Vanaheim, discussing pressing matters with the elves that resided there, leaving his pets and throne empty for a short time- open for his son to slither his way in.

But Loki had not disobeyed him, Odin concluded, for no portal via the Bridge Bifrost was opened, no son of his gone from Asgard to search on nothing more than a whisper of a rumour, a possible lie from Hel herself.

The God of Mischief was good at finding loopholes in every command, every order. An idea that drove the Allfather mad.

Odin seated his weary form and pinched the bridge of his nose betwixt his fingers, his one good eye closed to calm himself. They, his ravens, would return in a day's time, less no doubt, and with them the knowledge of their travels.

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Meanwhile, off in the far reaches of the palace, surrounded by his brother, Thor, and his confidants Loki waited anxiously for the ravens' return. He sat, hands cupped under his chin, and paid no mind to the banter of the God of Thunder and All-Things-Noisy-and-Boisterous and Lady Sif, their loud arguing amusing any other moment save for this one. Hugin and Munin had been gone for nearly a day's time, as the search for a single being was one wrought with difficulty. Odin's blindness was far more than cosmetic; Loki told himself and sat forward, his elbows on his knees.

"Why so glum?" Thor asked at his back and placed three strong pats against his shoulder.

The wind knocked from his lungs, Loki collected himself quickly. "It is none of your concern, brother." He replied dryly and straightened his coat, "Do not worry yourself with my well-being."

Thor laughed and seated himself by the much smaller of gods, his blue eyes twinkling in amusement, "Perhaps you are right." He quipped, "But you must admit, Loki, such a foul mood is uncommon even for you." Thor loosed another hearty laugh at the look that crossed Loki's face, his eyes narrowed and jaw set tight. "It will pass." He added in all seriousness and nudged at his brother's arm.

Silence sat between Thor and Loki then, and for once the trickster felt as though he should heed his sibling's words. What if Hugin and Munin returned with no word of Valr? That all Hel said was a lie, a cruel trick against the would-be trickster god? Perhaps, then, the feeling would pass, the pang in his heart dulling until he no longer felt sadness at the thought.

Loki turned his gaze away from Thor and covered his mouth with his palm to think, his eyes veiled to watch his boots. The anxiety made his nauseous, made bile rise in his throat and his hands quake. If the tables had been reversed, say he was the one to jest with a poor soul, he would have found a great deal of hilarity behind it all.

But Loki shot up at a loud caw echoing through the air, two approaching dots on the horizon, out at the tip of Asgard's sea.

They returned! His heart raced in anticipation at their words, of their hopeful success, and he stood from his spot beside Thor to greet them with an outstretched arm. Hugin landed gracefully on his vembrace and Munin on his shoulder, their forms ragged with fatigue.

Thor peered up to his brother and the twin ravens, his brow furrowed. "Are those father's birds?" he asked, but remained seated.

"What did you find?" Loki questioned eagerly, and raised Hugin to face him fully. Munin sidled closer and whispered into his ear, confirming what they had seen on their journey. Hugin looked the god dead in the eye, and in an instant their thoughts were one, a bizarre connection Loki had never felt before.

There was a haze, the night on Midgard bright under city lights. Loki watched on through eyes that were not his own, his breath caught in his chest.

There Valr sat, still dressed in the armour in which she was to be burned, shadowed by a man unknown to Loki. She was alive! Truly! Not some ruse, trick, or lie! Valr lived on Midgard!

Loki watched on as she, just as he had known her, went against her "friend's" words and tried to open the window to allow the ravens entrance, but was thrown back. He chuckled at her expression of shock, but soon scowled at the voice that followed, commanding her to heed his words.

Thor sat quietly and watched on as his brother absorbed the knowledge of the ravens, silencing Volstagg when he came about them to ask what the commotion was.

"If, by some small chance, you do understand, bring a message for me to… to…" Loki listened closely to Valr's voice, and heard not a cry of desperation or sorrow, but an annoyed confidence- it was the Valr he knew best. "Bring a message to Odin, Thor, Loki, whoever you can find. Tell them I'm alright. Well, I guess that's not entirely true, but I am alive. Tell them not to worry. But I do want to come home."

Loki gasped for air as Hugin broke eye contact and jumped to his free shoulder, the two ravens at his ears, the relief in his chest hiding the weight that literally rested on his shoulders. "Loki, what is it? What have they told you? What have you seen?" Thor dared to ask the questions the Warriors Three and Sif did not utter.

Loki turned without a word and pushed past the four warriors, his brother following closely in tow. Hugin and Munin bobbed with each step he took, but his pace did not slow even as Thor quickly caught up to him. "Loki! Brother, tell me!"

Loki spun on his heel to meet Thor face to face, his eyes crazed and face grave. "She's alive!" he hissed, the ravens bristled as though to match his wild expression. Thor searched his brother's face, "Valr is alive! Hel took her, after she'd been killed by the trolls' warbeast, and sent her away to Midgard. She's alive, Thor. Not even father would believe my words."

Thor grasped Loki's arm tightly and shook, "Be calm, brother. Are you sure? The ravens showed you this?" Loki could only nod, and the thunder god released him from his hold. "What will you do?"

"Father will not let me open the Bifrost to Midgard." Loki began, and played at the cuff of his sleeve.

"But what if Hugin and Munin show him what you have seen? Surely, the Allfather would not deny you then!"

"It is far more serious than that, Thor. Even with such knowledge, he will not allow entrance to Earth. I suspect Father sees something we do not."

"Does her safety alone not suffice, Loki?" Thor whispered in an attempt to quell the trickster's shaking. "Is she not well? Perhaps, it is best Valr…"

Loki growled dangerously at Thor, his teeth bared for a brief moment in primal anger. "No!" The ravens cawed madly their displeasure at such bickering, such squabbling, and dug their talons deep into the fabric of Loki's coat. He stiffened at the piercing claws, and reminded himself of his station. "Father will be furious." He murmured, collecting himself. "If I do not tell him, the ravens eventually will, no matter the orders I give them. If I admit my actions, even after allowing father to see Hel spoke the truth, I will still be…"

Thor clenched his jaw and stood tall, his broad frame massive even when he slouched, " I will tell him, then, that it was I who sent them to Midgard- if only for your sake." Loki gazed on, downtrodden, breathing heavily to catch his racing heart. "I was… 'pained by your sadness. The loss of your friend more traumatic than I'd thought.'" He conjured up in a flash. "Odin might just believe it. Might."

Loki cast his eyes to the floor and ran a hand over the smooth feathers of Hugin's head. "Thank you, Thor."

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Valr's neck ached terribly, for she'd fallen asleep at her window near about midnight. Rain pelted the dirtied panes through the illusions of boards, cleaning any grime on the outside away. A thunderstorm raged all through the night, and comforted at the sound and constant flashes of lightning the Asgardian sacrificed the softness of a bed to stay as near as possible to the window (as she had found, when attempting to sneak from her room, the doorknob had mysteriously disappeared). "Either Thor is having another party, or he and Loki got into a fight." She thought before sleep took her.

But when the morning sun rose it sat concealed by dismal clouds, remnants of the storm. Valr cracked her back and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, her hair a mess atop her head and her armour laid out neatly behind her. Only then, when she sat alone on the rug in "her room" did she realised how terrible she must look.

Originally, at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, Fury sent an agent, and by "agent" he meant Coulson, to show Valr her quarters. Amongst the things in her broom closet of a room was a most peculiar contraption. "It's a controllable waterfall?" Valr insisted on calling it, only to the amusement of the agent. Of course, she'd taken baths- she wasn't uncouth by any means, and her Mohawk would mat otherwise- but never before had she seen water shoot from a small spigot with such force.

For twenty minutes, she sat in the tub, only realising after the first five that she could control the temperature so that it did not scald her skin, and pondered in her pool of collecting water, letting it storm down her back. Was she to be stuck on Midgard for the rest of her years? Not a terrible fate, but she ached for home, the thrill of battle, the grand parties in the palace, and her loved ones. And, as she sat in her shower once again, the idea of spending several hundred years with a hermit such as Strange wasn't the most attractive prospect.

Even in the Sanctum Sanctorum, she sat and thought since she was allowed the time. What of the Chitauri? Why had they come to Midgard of all places, and why had they gone after Tony Stark- who just so happened to have recently met Valr? It was all too coincidental, she concluded and stood from the floor, her hips sore from how she had slept.

Valr never encountered a Chitauri warrior herself before having come to Midgard, and knew not from where they came or who their leader was. But they craved power, weapons, technology, anything valuable that could prove potentially threatening they desired. Maybe they thought Tony possessed such things, or knew of someone who did. S.H.I.E.L.D. did, obviously, its scientists almost a commodity and extremely valuable, their base thriving like a beehive. Perhaps it was fate, cruel as it was, that sent Valr to Midgard with the hope she would come to aid it in some way, any way she could against an approaching threat.

After a struggle with her door, the blasted thing sealing her away in her room after her bath, Valr trotted down the hallway, her armour left behind in her room to be polished later. The clothes she wore felt weird and unnatural to her and again she blamed Coulson, as he always seemed to enjoy toying with her.

Light filtered through the windows in the front hall and illuminated the dust thrown into the air with her steps, small diamonds in the dim brood of gray daylight. "Where is he?" Valr asked as she tiptoed her way through many corridors and rooms, one blending into the next without pause.

One such room fascinated her. A library. Shelves upon shelves, innumerable and laden with yellowed tomes- she could smell the age on them, that heavy musk she took secret pleasure in.

When she was younger, Thor took one of her father's books from her, The Field Guide to the Extraordinary and Spectacular, a wonderful read on ancient beasts such as dragons and giants. In an attempt to impress her before Loki with "better magic", Thor set the book ablaze by accident with a bolt of lightning, turning the book to ashes and leaving Valr with a red behind at the end of the day when she had to explain to her father as to where the book went. One of the many, a list she'd compiled, reasons she would never trust Thor with her personal belongings or secrets every again.

But Valr passed the library by and swore to return later that day, if Strange did not lock her in her room again, perhaps when she was left to her own devices. Strange was her target that morning, and she'd seen neither hide nor hair of him since the evening before. "A regular hermit." She mocked and looked to the many paintings and artifacts dotting the walls, odd little knickknacks here or there, inhuman or guttural noises emanating from the walls, and chills that would come and go. She could have sworn one painting groped at her arm, asking for a minute of her time, but continued upwards into the dank recesses of the third floor.

At the landing, Valr stood at a large door, mostly unremarkable save for the small sigils burned into the wooden surface. Amongst a number of stacks of books and many unlit candles Strange floated about, legs crossed, palms up, and eyes closed in a small circle of light provided by the round window in the slanted ceiling. The floor creaked and whined under Valr's step as she tread forward across the rug, her bare feet against the cool plush.

"What did I tell you about wandering alone?" Strange questioned Valr flatly, deep in some kind of meditation.

"You expect me to stay locked away until S.H.I.E.L.D. decides what they're going to do with me?" Valr answered and skimmed her hand across a bookshelf positioned against the wall.

Strange's cloak ruffled out as he continued to float, not at all turning to speak with her. He sighed and cracked open one eye to stare at the gray clouds through the window. "Of course not. You're not some animal trapped away in a cage. And I am merely your… keeper of sorts." He circled about to face her, his elbow rested on his leg. "Maybe you can help me with something, then." He lowered himself to the floor and strode away with the simple order of "stay put", leaving Valr alone in the attic-like space.

She did as she was commanded and rooted herself to the floor, deciding it far more comfortable on her aching hip to sit on a short pile of books. She drummed her fingers against her knees through the long minutes of Strange's absence, but perked up at the sound of the door opening.

Under his arm Strange carried a small, wooden chest, locked with a simple key, but no doubt protected by powerful spells to prevent its opening. "I was entrusted this not too long ago. From whom and by whom I'll not say, but feel privileged I am even sharing this with you." Doctor Strange sat in midair and presented the box to Valr, a strong aura radiating from within. He watched her open it silently and awaited her reaction, if any, to its contents. "You might be able to provide some insight."

A small gem like a glittering, rounded pebble one would find at the bottom of a brook sat inside the box, green in colour and mesmerizing in gleam. Valr hesitantly pulled the stone from its case and held it in the palm of her hand. "Is this an Infinity Gem?" She held it up to the light and stared through the translucent stone, an orb of green splashed on her face. A Midgardian, of all people, was in possession of one of the few most powerful artifacts in all the universe, an idea that astounded her.

Strange grinned at the knowledge she was surprised and answered earnestly. "Yes. The Soul Gem, to be exact. A bit… temperamental, hence my need to lock it away. Its hunger is insatiable, you see. It desires souls, craves them. And though it may appear to protect its owner, do not doubt it would betray them."

"I couldn't help you much with it." Valr admitted, and stroked at the gem's smooth surface. "I only know a bit, and that what I've learnt from books." She passed the stone to Strange when she felt a great pull against her, an unwelcome tug. "I've read something about an Infinity Gauntlet, but I've never seen the thing for myself." A nervous chuckle escaped her lips. "Used to be a game when I was little. Instead of being King of Asgard, Queen, what have you, we'd play a game where we had the gauntlet, became the strongest being in the universe. Absolute control." Valr bit her lip. "Horrible thought now, when you get right down to it, but we didn't see it that way back then."

Strange mused over her words for a minute and rolled the gem across his gloved fingers, his other hand on his chin. He sighed and set the stone back in its box, locking it away with the whisk of his hands. "It annoys me to no end, to know so little of something and yet be ordered to watch over it. The same could be said for you, I suppose. No offense."

Valr shook her head in dismissal, "It's alright. But I do have one question." Strange leaned against his hand and stared at her quite bored. "If you know so much about magic, which obviously you do- I'm not trying to stroke your ego, by the way- is there any way you can use…" Valr fought for the right words, trying to remember what Loki had said on the matter. "Astral projection, I think it is?"

Doctor Strange straightened at the question and leaned forward, "Whatever for?"

"A personal thing. I just wanted to see a few people, couple of places back on Asgard, see how everyone is faring. I just wanted to see if everything is alright after the trolls' attack."

"Surely your intentions are not so selfless?" Strange smirked, "I know that look, my dear. There's someone in particular you want to see, isn't there?"

Valr's face flushed and she rubbed at the back of her neck, her cheeks hot, and her usually strong and somewhat cocky demeanor gone. "You can't hide it. Despite what you may think, I've had my share of 'loves', if I had to call them something."

"It's not like that." She interjected. "He's a friend. Just a friend I love quite a bit.I just want to check on him. And the others, of course."

"Of course." Strange mocked at the blush on Valr's cheeks. "We'll see."

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NEXT CHAPTER:

ASSAULT