Hi everybody, I promised I'd be back with a new chapter. Took me somewhat longer to finish than I had expected (namely all Saturday afternoon). But there are some threads to tie up and in order to do so, it kept getting longer and longer, and it was tremendous fun, as always. A warm "thank you" to my reviewers out there, I really appreciate your guys' comments.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, Loki, Thor, Jane et al., and I hold no rights to any of them. I do not make money from this.
+++Chapter 7: Revelations+++
Bling!
'All right! Another lasagne, anyone?' Thor turned around, a large glove on his right hand and the said dish hot and steaming on it. With all the food waiting to be prepared, he had become quite proficient with the microwave – without a manual and in the shortest time.
The kitchen table was laden with food, heated to perfect temperature and ready for eating.
'No, really,' said Jane. 'I'm still fighting with the broccoli.'
'Vegetables,' Thor growled, looking for a place to put the lasagne. 'Jane Foster, your eating habits are nearly as peculiar as my brother's.'
'He's vegetarian, too?'
'No, but he used to say things like, "Oh, but we had that boar just yesterday. Father, can't you tell the Einherier to stop killing him and go for a stag for a change?" '
'That boar? Him?'
'His name's Saehrimnir. He exists only to be hunted down by the warriors of Valhalla, get cooked and eaten, and return to life the next day.'
Jane stabbed at a piece of broccoli, 'Even for a boar that's one hell of a purpose in life, isn't it?'
'His meat sustains the one-thousand warriors that will fight for Asgard when the time for Ragnarok has come,' said Thor. 'He's got his own cook who's called Andhrimnir, and a kettle of his own, Eldrim.' He gave a proud laugh, deep and resonant. 'Tell me, Jane Forster, is that not a worthwhile way of life for a plain beast?'
'Well, it's probably one way to keep one-thousand men happily occupied,' Jane conceded. 'And Andhrimnir's got himself a safe job.'
She could tell that her reply vexed Thor, and she was glad to hear Erik return. She thought she heard even more...
'Erik? Did you say anything?'
'No,' called Erik. 'There is no-one here. I was mistaken.'
That was a bit out of context.
Jane and Thor exchanged glances.
'Erik?' Jane called again. 'Do you need help?'
'No. No, I'm fine. I just dropped a can.' There was an amount of shuffling and metal clanging sounds. Erik appeared in the door, his arms full of beer cans. Jane blinked: She thought she saw a strange blue light vanish from Erik's eyes. But in the next moment, it was gone, and he was all his usual jolly self, 'Thought I'd get us some supplies. This night has been long, and it's not over yet.'
'I'll trade one of your cans for a lasagne, Erik Selvig,' Thor offered.
Erik sat on a chair, 'Deal.'
'I've been thinking,' said Jane suddenly, 'Aren't you afraid your brother will suffocate in that narrow box?'
Thor eyed a slice of pizza "extra cheese" and tried to decide how to tackle it. 'He won't.' He dug his teeth in.
'How can you be so sure?'
'Mmmh!' Thor pulled with his teeth, but the cheese resisted. He used his fingers to remove the threads and stuff them in his mouth. Jane grimaced, pretending to be curiously despaired, and handed him a paper towel.
'Well?' asked Erik.
'We've done it before,' Thor said past a mouthful of cheese, olives and salami.
'What, lock him in a box?' Jane asked.
'Chained him, locked him in a box, threw him in a lake and forgot about him till evening,' Thor said, fishing for the next slice. 'He did the same with me. Together, we did it to Fandral and Volstagg.'
'Boys will be boys,' said Erik. 'That's what you're saying, isn't it?'
'Exactly. But we were a bunch of Asgardian boys. Powerful and very nearly immortal, or so we'd been told. Of course, we'd want to test the limits. We needed to find out what we could do.'
'And you found - ?' said Jane, intrigued.
'We don't die from lack of air,' Thor said. 'We just stop. Our bodies, our thoughts, everything stops. It's like Odinsleep, only more profound. We come back to life as soon as air is available again - ' He stopped, remembering.
'Where's the catch?' asked Jane.
'Yes, well,' said Thor, 'it turned out that even for Asgardians it is difficult to resume breathing with their lungs full of water. But my brother, he had unwittingly turned the water into ice.'
'Ice?' Jane shivered.
'It seems that Loki doesn't go into Odinsleep. He goes into a state of hibernation. Freezing the water in his lungs was just an involuntary side effect of his body temperature falling. Of course, we did not know then.' Thor blinked, blue eyes gazing into his past. 'When it was his turn, he woke up just like the rest of us. But he couldn't breathe. He simply couldn't breathe, and neither of us had the faintest notion of what was wrong. We thought we had finally found the limits of our power...and that my brother had transgressed them... my fear for him was great.'
'What did you do?'
'Why, put him back in and call father, of course,' said Thor, curtly. It was clear that not the happiest memories of childhood ensued after the events he had just related. 'Do you want another broccoli dish now, Jane Foster?'
'No, I'll have – some of that ice cream over there. Yes, put on some more, please. I guess this is the day when calorie counting goes out the window.'
'Secure the doors,' smiled Thor, arranging her dessert. 'I don't know what "calorie" is, but it sounds like I'd want it to stay outside. Where I don't have to think about it.'
'I'm sure you do. - I wonder how Darcy is doing,' said Jane, accepting the plate he handed her. 'I still think it was a good idea to take turns guarding the chest freezer. But she was so nervous Loki would actually come for her...'
As if she had supplied the cue, they all heard the scream. And Darcy's feet racing up from the basement.
Brock reached the bottom of the stairs and immediately turned to the chest freezer in the middle of the room. The tools on the shelves, the knick-knacks that were so strange to the eye – nothing was of import. There had been a fight; splintered wood on the floor bespoke of a fierce struggle, mano a mano.
There was a female mortal hidden from sight behind the large chest. Brock could smell her, and he also heard the flow of her breath: even and steady. She was not wounded. She was asleep. As was the Asgardian in the chest, probably. It was large, but not that big. Loki should have run out of air, and Brock knew it meant a valuable advantage for him. Even a mage of Loki's league could not snap out of deathlike sleep with his focus right on target and his spells ready.
The best he would be able to manage was maybe try and stab at the assailant with a throwing knife. They were the younger Odinson's favorite weapons to support his magic when fighting became too close-ranged for casting a spell.
Brock eyed the top of the chest. Then, he pulled over a wooden box displaying pictures of curiously shaped long yellow objects. He understood that they were some kind of exotic fruit but he still found them to look vaguely obscene. He stood on the crate: Now he could reach the top of the trickster's confinement. He wondered why Thor had put his brother in there. Was it a magic-restricting box? An artefact to control a demi-god's powers?
Holding his staff ready to strike, Brock opened the lid and peered in.
He pulled back, shocked.
He looked again.
The thing before his eyes responded to the fresh air and, probably, the light and stirred.
Brock prodded it with the tip of his staff.
The thing's hand shot forward on instinct and sent a shockwave of ice along the staff that Brock quickly countered with a spell of his own.
So much for the throwing knife.
'Frost giant,' the druid gasped.
'Where?' asked Loki, cracking open bleary red eyes.
That voice!
That magical signature in the ice encrusting his staff!
Brock reeled with the impact of the discovery. There was no mistake! Loki Silver-Tongue, Loki Lie-Weaver, Loki Wielder-of-Mischief-and-Magic, Odin Allfather's second-born son - he wasn't really the King of Asgard's son at all!
He was Jotun!
'Oh, this is great!' Brock leaned in, standing on tip-toe in order to whisper to the drowsy trickster, 'Wait till the druids and rulers of the nine realms hear – '
The freezer's temperature alert set off.
Darcy woke with a start. She was disoriented. She had not meant to fall asleep. Heck, she had been too scared to sleep, or so she had thought - the lid!
Looking up, she found the chest freezer's lid standing open above her. The scary god was about to escape!
Without stopping to think, Darcy jumped at the lid, throwing her weight against it to slam it down. It crushed down on Brock's head just as the druid retreated in shock from the sudden, unknown noise. Brock swayed and sidestepped to catch his balance. He planted his foot rather firmly, and the thin wood of the box he was standing on gave way. He staggered and landed in an unfortunate position on the chest freezer's edge. The lid came down on his head and neck like a strange monster's jaw, pinning him. The box under his feet collapsed in on itself, leaving his feet kicking the air.
But only for a moment.
There was a brittle sound of bones snapping and the gurgle of a windpipe violently squashed. Brock's gaze froze. His right hand made a few jittery movements. His staff clattered to the floor. He gave a grunting sound and strained as if trying to get up, then he relaxed. Blood started to trickle from his nose and mouth.
Loki looked up at the dead face looming over him. A couple of things went through his dazed mind, the clearest articulated thought being, Neck's broken.
And then, less coherent, but with feeling, Even for a fever dream, this is kind of stupid.
That guy was, like, what? – five thousand years old.
Inside Loki's head, a female voice recited that "due to improper handling and a lack of attention, most accidents occur at home."
Inexplicably, the voice sounded like Sif's.
And there was another voice - the voice of the woman he knew to be outside (whatever "outside" it was, he couldn't even remember what he was "in"): 'Oh no,' said Darcy, shuffling backwards. 'Oh no, no, no, oh no!'
'Excuse me,' said Loki, politely. Could anyone please tell him what this place was? In what realm?
'I'm freaking out!'
That, along with a peculiar whimper in her voice, set a wheel of memory churning.
'Darcy, right?' said Loki. 'Listen, could you maybe close - ?'
He heard her feet scrape on the floor as she turned and fled.
He looked at Brock's dead face again.
With an effort, Loki pulled himself up and pushed the dead thing out. He had to push several times, he felt so weak, and Brock seemed stuck. The sound of his body hitting the floor was already muffled by the slamming lid. The beeping stopped. Glorious silence and pleasant cold engulfed the sick god, along with an impenetrable darkness that made it all the same whether he tried to see or not.
Allowing his eyes to slide shut, Loki folded his arms over his chest and found a comfortable position with his back against the chest freezer's inner side. Before his mind's eye, he saw an image of Sif. She was wielding her two-handed battle-ax in a series of wild loops and whirls, jumping, dodging, spinning this way and that. Now she stopped, looked fully at him and said, 'Remember, Loki: Due to a lack of accidents, we must pay attention to handle our tools properly when at home.'
Heaving a sigh, Loki went back to sleep.
Roused by Darcy's scream, her panicked entry and incoherent report, Thor, Jane and Erik rushed to the basement. Thor held Mjolnir ready for battle. He had not been able to make much sense of Darcy's story. But he had gathered that the dwarves had finally arrived, and Loki was in trouble...
The basement room was quiet and peaceful. Nothing had changed from the time the friends had left.
Except, of course, for the corpse on the floor and the blood on the chest freezer's white metal side.
Thor paid no attention to the dead dwarf. He crossed the room with two long strides, calling out his brother's name.
Jane, however, gave a little yelp. Her hand went to her mouth.
'I told you he's dead!' Darcy wailed behind her.
'No, you said you thought he was dead.' Jane swallowed. 'You didn't mention it would be so messy.'
Thor threw open the chest freezer's bloody lid, shouting, 'LOKI!'
'Huh?'
'Talk to me, brother! Are you dead?' Thor looked into the freezer.
'I really meant to sleep this time, you know?' his brother said groggily. He started to pull himself to his feet, blinking away the mists of sleep. 'But no, my brother has to rush to my rescue. If that druid had – '
Thor quickly shut the lid again.
There was a thumping noise and the sound of something heavy tumbling down inside.
'He wasn't dead. But he might be now,' said Erik sternly. 'What did you do that for?'
'Er...' said Thor.
'Move aside, please.' Erik made sure he did not touch the dead body and talked to the chest freezer. 'Loki? You okay?'
No reply.
'Loki? How are you?'
Finally - 'It's dark, it's cold, and my head hurts,' Loki sounded remarkably dazed. Erik sighed with relief, but he did make a mental note: So it was possible to concuss a god, after all.
'Am I in some kind of prison?' Loki asked.
'Not really, no. This device is meant for storing food.'
'You want to eat me?' Still not quite there. But catching up on basic logical connections.
'Definitely not!' Erik assured him.
'Then why can't I get out?'
Erik gave Thor a stern look. 'That's mostly because your brother still has his huge paw on the lid. The one with the hammer in it.'
'My apologies, brother' said Thor, 'But I – it's for your own good.' He could not think of any words to tip Loki off, while not arousing the humans' suspicion.
Unfortunately, the trickster was not in the mood for catching subtle hints.
Loki banged against the lid. 'Thor! Move aside!'
'I cannot - '
'Oh, he cannot! Well, then stay where you are. Just take Mjolnir off of my head!'
'Be quiet and listen, I beseech you,' Thor begged. 'Only for one second - '
'Alright – second's over,' spat Loki. 'I've listened. Now you let me out!'
Thor realized there was one good thing to this fight: Loki had screamed himself fully awake. The bad thing was he was prepared to keep screaming until the world bent to his wishes. It usually did, if only to his overwhelming wish to see something destroyed. Next, the room would undergo serious redecoration, all tools, items on the shelves, fishing gears and probably the chest freezer itself getting hurled about in a short, but nonetheless powerful whirlwind of magic.
Humans could get hurt.
Jane could get hurt.
'For the last time: Get away from that lid, Thor! Now!'
Miserably, Thor removed his hand. The chest freezer sprang open and Loki pulled himself to a standing position. He breathed deeply, greedy for air. His whole frame was covered in glittering ice crystals like swarming bees clinging to their queen. His clothes were frozen stiff, his usually dark hair was white with rime and his eyes –
His hands –
He turned his red eyes to his hands and stared at the blue skin.
He breathed, 'What - ?'
'Loki,' said Thor, as calmly as he could. 'I meant to tell you: Your glamour has ... come off a bit.'
Loki gave him a look soaked with sarcasm, You don't say! I'd never have noticed.
Let me rephrase that.
'I didn't notice!' Slowly, Loki looked up to meet the stares of the humans. He felt he could see his reflection in their eyes now, if he looked real close: the image of a Jotun. The monster had come out when he was asleep in the cold of this machine. And a blessing it was that it had done so. His Asgardian form would not have sustained him in this environment.
But these three humans had learned the secret. And he could not kill them right away to ensure their silence because of Thor standing there, looking sympathetic but heroic all the same. Any attempt on Loki's part would instantly trigger the good old "Save the innocent and bash the villain" routine that his brother seemed to suck in with his morning mead.
Loki changed into his Asgardian form and raised his hands in a placating gesture. His brain still felt like a pile of ice needles grinding against the inside of his skull.
'My friends – ' he began, desperately trying to think of what to say next.
'Wow,' said Darcy, awed. 'Did you see him change his eye color? How'd he do that?'
'Well,' said Jane, snippily. 'I don't think it's much of an improvement, really.'
'Where'd he get that hair gel?'
'Dude, that frost giant anti-freeze in your veins might be worth a fortune, if one could isolate and market it,' said Erik.
The Asgardians exchanged a glance.
'My friends,' said Thor, 'You talk like this fact about my brother was already known to you?'
'Sure,' said Darcy.
'I did my homework,' said Erik, and Jane nodded, 'Me, too.'
Loki finished climbing out of the chest freezer and turned to Thor, 'You gave them the book.'
'I didn't.'
'Where's my coat?' Loki looked about.
'Now, wait –' said Jane, but Thor said, 'It's upstairs. On the chair next to the sofa,' and Loki already bounded up the stairs, taking four steps at once. Thor raced after him, clearing six steps in one stride.
Erik, Darcy and Jane did the best they could to follow, but when they reached the living room, the search was already at full sway: Loki held his leather coat in both hands. He turned the garment inside out. He shook it fiercely and probed for hidden objects. He was yelling at Thor that "it" wasn't there, and Thor claimed that no one had touched Loki's clothes since they had gotten them off him.
'He's got it, then!' Loki flung the coat back on to the chair and set off again. "He" obviously was to be found in the basement. Thor, of course, was hot on his brother's heels.
Jane, Erik and Darcy stared.
'Anyone can imagine that he was a fever-racked vegetable in Thor's arms about three hours ago?' asked Erik, but Jane and Darcy had turned on their heels and were already heading in the direction they had come from.
In the basement, Loki was on his knees beside the dead druid and went through the dwarf's pockets. 'I was supposed to protect it. Mother gave it to me to take it to safety. Thor, how can I look her in the face, ever again?'
'I will tell her how the loss came about,' Thor promised. 'That it was I who took away your coat. There was nothing you could've done. It was my responsibility.' He put his hand on Loki's shoulder and was surprised when his brother accepted the touch. He pushed his luck, squeezing a little. That, too, was allowed tacitly. 'Let us search this building. Maybe the druid hid it somewhere.'
Loki drew a shivering breath. When he replied, he sounded like the soft-spoken young man Thor had known and trusted in happier times, 'I could sense it, brother, if it were here. He's probably taken it to Dwarfheim, then returned to settle his feud with me.' Loki's tired voice changed. Now, it was flat and deadly. 'Curse him, he removed it from my reach.'
Jane said, 'What's this book you've been hiding from us, anyway?'
'It contains all,' said Thor when Loki appeared to be blinking back tears and would not reply. 'The tales of the beginning. The wise womens' songs of Ragnarok, the end of the worlds. And the great deeds, the adventures, sorrows, achievements that pave the way. The song of Grimnir and Wafthrudnir and Vegtamskvida. The story of Odin Allfather and the Asgardians. You name it. The fate of the nine realms is laid down in this book. It is the Book of Wisdom and Songs.'
Jane, Darcy and Erik looked at each other.
'Er,' said Jane, 'and that's why it's so important? That's why your brother,' she still refused to speak Loki's name easily, 'risked his life to safe it? Because no one must lay hands on those revelations and prophecies except Odin Allfather and his inner circle of druids?'
'Aye,' said Thor slowly. 'To have forfeited it is a severe loss to all of Asgard.'
'Well,' said Jane, 'maybe we should all, er, go upstairs and do some explain- '
Brock's dead body went up in flames. Loki stood over the burning corpse, the druid's staff in his hand. The fire was reflected in his eyes. 'Explanations, you say? That's wonderful. I cannot wait to hear your opinion on this, Jane Foster.'
'I would like to spare Thor,' Jane said, once again amazed by how much arrogance the trickster could convey with a mere smile. 'But you, I look forward to filling in on the news.'
In the living room, Erik searched his book shelf for something he would not speak about prematurely. Thor watched him from the sofa, where Jane had made the two Asgardians sit down. She hoped it would give Darcy, Erik and herself some kind of head start when her message registered.
For the moment, she was using Erik's portable Geiger counter on Loki. Taking his readings was convenient and easy because he was busy with a piece of defrosted cheese cake and raspberries.
It had seemed ridiculous, offering sweets to a Norse god and frost giant. But in the aftermath of his ordeal, Loki found himself alarmingly low on bloodsugar to the point of feeling dizzy. He was using a fork, of course. Apart from that, he basically inhaled the cake and sucked up the raspberries, and he wasted little time on pretending he actually savored the taste.
'Well,' Jane said. 'The fever's gone, the wound is almost healed, and your system seems to just have absorbed the radiation. Congratulations. You're in perfect shape.'
Loki was so unsurprised, he didn't even acknowledge the good news.
Or maybe he was just too enrapt with the cake and hadn't listened.
'Put the plate away for a sec; I'm coming,' huffed Erik, carrying a rather large and heavy pile of books.
Loki swallowed the last raspberry, just as Erik started to hand out books, 'Here it is. The Edda, Midgard edition, if you will. Nordic songs and sagas, complete, unabridged and commented for philological use. This is the children's edition. Yes, take it, Thor. Have a look. Note the carefully done illustrations. Here, a translation done in the 19th century. It focuses on reproducing the alliterative verses – you are aware that most songs and poems of the Nordic tradition are rendered in this form, aren't you? Here we have an issue completely in Icelaendic. I never got down to actually learning the language but I thought I might start, given the right incentive. This is some pocket edition I found at a garage sale. And here – '
'I don't have a red beard,' said Thor, flipping through the children's edition.
'This is common knowledge in this realm?' Loki stared at the pages of the 19th century English edition. 'It says here that Loki Laufeyson, child of Jotunheim, was accepted as an Aesir by Odin Allfather, and everyone in this realm knows?'
Jane, Darcy and Erik nodded: yes.
'I'm supposed to know, but I'd like to make sure...' Loki's gaze flickered up, 'What century is this?'
'Twenty-first,' said Darcy and shrugged her shoulders. 'I didn't want to tell you earlier but your coat sucks. The Matrix was Reloaded ten years ago.'
'Everyone in this realm has known for two-hundred years?' Loki's voice was soft and flat, but no longer deadly. Behind the pale forehead thoughts were visibly racing, tumbling over each other, and it was equally obvious that the result was far from pleasant.
'The Edda was compiled in the middle ages,' said Erik. 'But the songs had been in circulation for much longer. I'm sorry, prince. But I guess people of Earth have known for more than one-thousand years.'
'Looks like we've been duped big time, brother,' said Thor, looking at the book and shaking his head in wonder. 'Especially you. How many times did father punish you for trying to sneak a glimpse from these pages?'
Loki moved his lips like there was a lump in his throat that made it impossible for him to speak. He reached for something to crush in his hand. It happened to be the cheese cake fork, and he clutched it real hard.
Thor, on the other hand, was already smiling again, 'I actually like that beard. And this little guy's hammer is really impressive.'
'Asgard's most hidden secrets...' Loki's re-found voice was hoarse, 'The past, present and future of the nine realms – edited as an illustrated children's story,' his voice rose half an octave in pitch, while dropping in volume to a half-whisper, 'and all you've got to say is you appreciate how your beard is drawn?!'
Thor frowned, 'Forgive me. I am a warrior and must speak my heart. I cannot discuss books in the learned way of mother and you.'
'You're going to like this, then,' said Darcy, bringing on yet another publication. 'The graphic novel series, collector's edition. I loved it.'
'Oooh, I can see why' said Thor, delighted. He turned the book around and pointed, 'Look, brother. That guy in the horned helmet, that's you! Oh dear!' He put his hand to his face and laughed past his fingers, 'I never realized it looked that absurd.'
Loki couldn't breathe for fury. His eyes were glassy with angry tears. Slowly, unconsciously, he changed his grip on the cheese cake fork, making it stick out between his index finger and middle finger. 'If you say "Cow" in any language spoken in this or any other realm, I'll – '
'But that's what it looks like,' objected Thor, 'Just like a – '
'O-okay,' said Jane. 'Everybody head start. Now.'
+++End of Chapter 7+++
A/N: I feel like I should say a lot about this chapter, but actually there's not much to add. Except that I was sort of surprised to find that even that poor immortal boar, its perpetual cook and even its kettle got names of their own :) And that stupid things can happen, you know. I had no idea just how pathetic Brock's end would be until I wrote it down, word by word, phrase after phase. I stopped typing. I sort of "looked at him" from above. Loki looked at him from below. And then, after a moment of silence, he said to me (sort of; I'm not really schizophrenic), "Well, at least you never promised an epic final battle, did you.' At that, I decided I would not even try and rewrite :) End of chapter, but not the end of the story. :)
