Summary: The war between Jotunheim and Asgard draws to a close, but thanks to a horrible twist of Fate (or perhaps not), the nameless runt of Laufey-King is not discovered by Odin and so begins a remarkable journey of life that should not have been. Jotun!Loki AU. Set pre-/during-/after Thor/Avengers Assemble. MCU-verse only.
Warnings: ANGST! Loki-whump! Language, adult situations, violence, child abuse, dub-con, sexual assault (also of a minor), substance abuse, one abortion scene (sort of), slavery, sex trade (maybe), some mild original character/Loki M/M pairings.
Comments: This is not a slash fic. Sorry. It's Loki-centric, although I definitely show the rest of the Avengers and etc. Please review! Constructive criticism welcome.
Disclaimer: I do not own Avengers. Marvel owns it. I do not get paid for this piece of work. Sadly, but understandably. LOL.
OK. So. Here goes: DID YOU KNOW... that if you search the Marvel Universe Wiki, you can find Doctor Who and Gallifrey. Therefore... therefore... if you are a proponent of the Avengers/Thor movie Loki being closer to the comics, you would also be able to argue that the Doctor could be in the same 'verse without using the word crossover. Technically.
Now, I actually seperate the MCU-verse (Earth 1999999) (not sure how many 9s go in there exactly) very distinctly from the other comics (especially Earth-616 which most people mix it up with) OR Norse Mythology. When people writing for FFNET's Avenger category casually give Loki kids (or other mythological stuff/life experiences when there is no sign of him having/not having experienced such things) - without saying its an AU or non-canon, I kinda go... "Hmmm... OK...". Of course, I'm writing an AU and if I wanted to, I could write Loki as anything from the comics/mythology... like portraying him as a father. But I won't. Sorry. No Dad Loki in this fic.
Anyway. There you go. Loki and the Doctor. Go for it. :D Nom nom. (just wants Matt Smith and Tom Hiddleston in a scene somewhere together...)
ALSO SAW IRON MAN 3! OMG! (dies) (so fun - although for some reason Chinese theaters added two scenes with Chinese actors in it. What the...)
But also exciting... Tom Hiddleston's Adam the vampire - as seen in the sneak peeks. You can see my tumblr post I made here: http: SLASH SLAHS mischiefmakerloki DOT tumblr DOT com SLASH post SLASH 50564611683 SLASH the-adventures-of-adam-loki-and-tom-some-adtomki
I want to ship them so hard... Must be the fact that Thor 2 Loki and Adam both have gorgeous long hair. Yes. That must be it.
Anyways... THANK YOU TO ALL REVIEWERS! To wbss21 (as always awesome), Raven's Dusk (so kind!), The Obsessor11294 (spoilers!), princessofd (huggles) and Serpent Prince (yay~). And to all those who fav'd and alerted and stuff. I genuinely thought that the last chapter would squick you guys and just turn off all my readers - but you guys are so awesome and cool and encouraging! (tears)
WARNING! BULLYING AND MORE UP AHEAD! WARNING!
Distortions In Time
[Bitter Desolation, Incandescent Harmony]
Chapter 9
Diamond in the Rough
"That vaetki – have you seen the vaetki around?" asked the miller, his voice heavy with anger and the tread of his feet was equally heavy. "I swear I saw it a moment ago."
"No, Master Hvati," was the quiet reply of clerk who sat by the door of the mill and inscribed the daily quotas of each individual who brought in the various imported grains to be ground down further for meal. "I have been sitting here the entire time and saw nothing."
"I swear I saw it in the corner of my room just a moment ago – dipping into the corn stores which Skira gave us to grind –"
"Well, since Skira did not weigh it beforehand, it matters not –"
"Oh, he didn't?"
"No," smiled Vani, the clerk, "but I will keep my eyes peeled nevertheless."
"You do that. So will I. I know he was the one who took the hvaeta meal from Elder Orn the other day." Master Hvati glared down at his young clerk and sniffed. "Go ahead and laugh. I know you think my age is catching up with me."
"I am thinking no such thing," Vani lied smoothly.
A week before, Master Hvati had burst in saying that Elder Orn's hvaeta sack weighed one measure short – and that it had been the vaetki's doing despite the fact that it had been stored overnight in a triple-locked room. Really, Vani sighed, at this rate I will be the one shouldering the burden of this place...
But Vani had a wonderful sense of self-preservation and held his tongue. If Master Hvati wished to blame the vaetki (however nonsensical it sounded), none could gainsay it. After all, on this side of Utgard, anything unfortunate was usually laid in blame at the vaetki's door.
[... the wind did not carry their whispers to the East...]
-0-0-0-
"Aha – there you are!" Oklo chuckled darkly as the group of short youngling Jotuns circled around a small corner on the far end of the Gothahus, where they had trapped the small stripling who now stood, back to the wall, chin down and eyes trained on its feet.
It was the vaetki. The abomination, their parents called it something. The kinder ones called it dvegr. It had no name. Living curses were not gifted names; they were usually gifted death. And if not death, which was the natural order of things, then dishonour and shame – and punishment for continuing on a burdensome existence.
"Where have you been hiding all day?" Oklo asked theatrically.
He was the leader of the small band of younglings who roamed the disintegrating citadel and scavenged stones and excavated items for their parents. On lucky days, they left the city for the Myrkr Skogr to hunt for fell wolves in the forest or sea serpents below the thick ice of Vollrvatn Lake. Today was a free day and it was time to hunt down the vaetki and inflict justice upon its dark head for the insult it had paid to Shavi's father, Ekil the master weaver.
Apparently, Mage Opna had sent money with the vaetki to pay Shavi's father for a wall hanging – but upon arrival, there was found to be a shortage in the amount. Mage Opna blamed Shavi's father and the vaetki. Ekil had unfortunately voiced his first thought – that it was perhaps the fault of Mage Opna – but a few days later, apparently, the mage had searched the little beast's hideout and found the missing coinage, resulting in a shaming on Ekil's name for having spoken out against the mage.
All because of the vaetki's trickery.
Oklo's hand darted forward and he grabbed ahold of the creature's hair shaking it roughly as he lifted it up by the long black stuff. The creature came to his waist – but there was not much meat on it to weigh down Oklo's arm. A small whimper emerged as he bent the head back forcing small red eyes to meet his own. Dead-looking, empty red eyes. He snorted with disgust tossing it at the wall. It fell to the ground in an ungainly sprawl and lay there stunned for a moment.
"There is not a hint of a warrior in that thing," he sneered. "Did you see, Valki?"
"Well, that would be a crime against the concept of being Jotunn, would it not?" asked Valki in his usual pretentious manner.
"Particularly considering that it is a thief -" Here, Shavi kicked at the thin ribs. "- and a liar also!"
The vaetki was moving now, scrambling backward and sideways in an vain attempt to slip past Elo's weighty mass, but Valki easily caught it and held it upside-down, pinning it to the wall.
"A crime, yes," Oklo agreed. "It's very continued existence is a crime. That's what Father said."
"Well said," Shavi sniffed. "What should we do with it then?"
"Teach it a lesson, obviously," Valki snorted.
"Hey, hey." It was the youngest of the bunch, Navi. "So, is it true that they are deformed? That they are even unable to bear children?"
"If you believe witless giant tales," Valki shrugged.
"I should hope they are not able to bear children," Shavi huffed. "The last thing Jotunheim needs is some kind of weakling breed leeching from its soil."
"I heard that they have no manhood or womanhood," Elo muttered slowly. "Mother said that it is nature's way of ensuring their poisoned seed does not infect our Realm."
"Hearsay," Valki replied dismissively. "But we have a live specimen – hold his legs apart, Elo. Don't break them, idiot! Do you want Mage Opna cursing you for disabling his slave?"
Elo eased up – but not before leaving long dark bruises along the calf muscles and ankles. The vaetki began to struggle in earnest as Valki tore off the small canvas kirtle wrapped about its waist. Large heads crowded round and peered down and small hand below scrabbled to find purchase against the Gothahus's stone wall.
"Well, that's disappointing," sighed Valki. "Everything looks normal."
"So the thing could bear children!" Elo said horrified, nearly dropping the creature on its head.
"Of course not," snapped Oklo. "Have you seen the others with child? The size of a Jotun babe would split its body in two."
"Forget the act of getting with child," Valki added suggestively.
The others tittered nervously, their uneasy laughter drowning out the increased whimpers below.
"No, I think it is in no position to be of real danger to any of us. Unless it grew larger."
"I think that is impossible, Oklo," Valki shook his head. "From what I have read, there is no account of a tall runt. Then again, most runts do not live within the week of their birth."
"What about a slow grower?" asked Elo. "What if runts were merely slow growers?"
"Slow growers?" Oklo and Valki chimed together in disgust.
"Is that even a word?" Valki laughed. "No, Elo. I think not. It may gain several more heads in height – but the end result will probably be more alike to an Aesir than a Jotun."
"Aesir scum. Perhaps this thing could be sent to Prince Thor as – Helheim!" Oklo's sentence broke off as uncomfortable heat blossomed against his chest.
Jumping backwards, the group of teens scrabbled at the flames which had appeared out of nowhere underneath their noses. Elo dropped the vaetki with a dreadful scream as his hands caught on fire. For a moment, there was panic as everyone dived into various snowbanks and rolled in the comforting cold, cursing and exclaiming over where it had come from. When they finally emerged, the torn canvas kirtle and vaetki were gone.
-0-0-0-
That night, in the secret of the darkness of his cupboard, the vaetki chewed the hunk of meat it had snagged off Lind's plate and a hvaeta loaf it had stolen from an inviting window three streets over. With sustenance in his belly, the vaetki found the strength to chant a healing song and ease the bruised muscles, allowing his skin to return to its recently much more healthy blue. Its fingers lingered along the lines which branched over its thighs and down to its knobbly ankles.
Mage Opna had told the vaetki that one day they would rise with age and harden into smooth lines. It would happen, the Master Mage said, sometime after its horns began to bud (if they ever were to grow). One day, the swirls would tingle with a heated fire which only another's tongue could quench. The words of Oklo and Valki however spoke of an eternal loneliness. Which was worse? It was hard for the young mind to decide.
Wrapping thin arms around equally thin legs, it nestled its head on its knees and smiled. The incantation for fire went well – and the flame was quite hot... Carefully, it ran fingers over its face and headband to check for any singes. None. The grin grew wider. Elska was right – magic feels so right. Another part of me I did not know.
[... that night the Casket of Ancient Winters swirled brighter...]
[... but no one was there to see...]
[... Elska saw – and he smiled proudly...]
-0-0-0-
Several moon cycles later, the vaetki grew its own ice. As the variegating pearlescent and transparent natural Jotunn ice grew along its left arm, the vaetki eyed it with wonder. Its fingers (with sharp, black fingernails now) trailed along the cold dagger which formed naturally into its hand. Squatting there in the far north-east corner of the Gothahus (his remaining secret haunt), the vaetki raised its blue hand and stared at its fingers now entwined with the natural weapon of all Jotunn.
I am Jotunn, it thought, tears forming at the corner of its eyes – small beads of ice which froze on dark eyelashes. I am Jotunn and my mother is Heimsrsal just as she is for the others. Elska was right... in the end, I will not be forgotten. Even if I die tomorrow, I know I will go to the arms of the For-Eldra.
The ice cracked easily in its grip as it released its will and hold on the dagger and the pieces fell to the ground beneath its feet. Out from beneath its small blue toes sheets of ice spread before the vaetki and behind it up the wall. Unheeded. There was only relief. Relief from the unspoken fears which had grown in the darkness of its cupboard seeded by the cruel words of its betters.
If the snows of his Ancestors accepted him tomorrow, Elska would be waiting for him. That was enough.
The vaetki rose at the distant roar of its name. Mage Opna was calling – but that didn't matter. Summoning small daggers as it walked along the side to the corner and around to the eastern door, the vaetki practised its aim. Who cared what Mage Opna thought now? Today it had been granted the power of the Jotunn. There was hope.
[... that night, the stars danced...]
Next chappie... Loki has an adventure and things happen... (of course, things happen! durrr) but, I mean, THINGS happen. Update will happen around the weekend, as usual. :) See you then, folks!
Let me know what you think, etc.
Glossary:
hvaeta – wheat
vaetki – nothing
dvegr – dwarf
Myrkr Skogr – shadow forest
Vollrvatn – Lake of the Plains
For-Eldra – Ancestors
