PRE-NOTE: I just want to make it clear that this is NOT an 'official' chapter. There is ZERO story progression in this chapter, it's quite literally all of the events from the beginning until the end of chapter 8 under Loki's POV instead. I wrote this as a personal exercise to keep track of his character and thoughts, and only posted it in the meantime while I'm working on the next chapter. So again, if you don't want to read this (it's an overlapping timeline), you don't have to, and you won't miss anything at all.
Thanks!
ONE MONTH AGO
The scheme had been wretchedly simple. Nothing should have knocked it awry or disrupted those well laid plans. They had been carefully thought out and meticulously devised, each flaw found and every perforation sealed. Even as he lay dying in his brother's arms, Loki's mind had woven together the next direction of his life would take, knowing full well that he could survive these wounds even if other Aesir—momentarily forgetting his true heritage—might have succumbed to them. As far as the universe would be concerned Loki's life would end here; both Thor and the mortal had borne witness to it, and they would spread word of his fate to all the realms. How lucky for him.
It was an act of selfishness and necessity. Those on Midgard would no longer seek justice for the crimes they felt he'd committed against them—although Loki believed yet that they might have flourished under his rule—and in turn their allies would no longer be wary of his presence. Odin would no longer look to imprison him for the near genocide of the Frost Giants and his momentary lapse of judgment. Most important of all however, was that word would eventually reach The Other and his master, and with Loki Laufeyson, once Loki Odinson no more, they would have no need to scour the cosmos for him. He wasn't a coward by nature, but Loki was no fool. He treasured his life, whatever tatters still remained of it, enough to abide living in the shadows until he could formulate a way to be free of the consequences his broken alliance had birthed.
It had unfortunately taken some time for Loki's body to heal completely, his injuries more severe than he would ever admit. The magic necessarily to mend all that had been broken was exhausting, but sometime later Loki found that was he alone on Svartalfheim and newly deceased so far as any knew. Staring up at the auburn tinted sky from his place on the ground, Loki gave an empty grin to the air. It was liberating, this feeling of freedom, and although he had not fulfilled his desire for vengeance against Malekith directly, Loki knew that his brother would finish the deed, if he had not already. It wasn't as satisfying as he would have liked, but his mother was dead and he lived on. His grieving set aside, Loki desired very much to keep the latter fact in effect for some time still.
It was this thought of Thor and Frigga that put into Loki the strange desire for recompense. The final words his brother had shared with him and the affection bared so openly on the oaf's face had left him with an ache for the family he'd lost in every sense of the word. He would find a way to repay his brother before leaving Asgard forever, if not for the misplaced love the warrior still showed for him than for the love their mother carried for them both unto her dying breath. She had never doubted his fondness for Thor, even as it wavered in the wake of his insanity, and to do nothing seemed a dishonor to her memory. This last debt would be paid.
Loki climbed to his feet and dusted the dried earth from his clothes, the length of time having passed since his death somewhat of a mystery. Glancing down he could see the steps his brother and the mortal woman, Jane Foster, had taken after leaving his body, and so he followed after them, wondering where they might lead. He found a cave soon thereafter, the floor littered with Midgardian oddities and the faint trace of magic still singing the air. There had been a portal here. Loki smirked at the mess strewn at his feet; the mortals with their worthless trinkets and colorful baubles; such a pathetic waste of resources. He would have ended that had he ruled them.
"A pity." He whispered the regret to no one in particular.
Eyes wandering the cave, the portal they'd found closed already since the convergence seemed over now, Loki's eyes stopped on a glint coming from the wall. He moved closer, leaning forward for a better inspection. Stuck between the stone, wedged in as if pressed through by some great force, was a piece of rock that seemed quite out of place. The mountain surrounding it was dark and unexceptional, but the gem glittering between it was a touch of gold and eventide shades. It caught the light of the sun at his back, glowing like a small star teetering along the edges of death. Loki could not resist the urge to take it. As soon as his fingers grasped the gem Loki realized it was something extraordinary. It sang with old magic against his skin, warm and whispering promises of power.
Knowing he would look into the stone, its origin and ability later, Loki slid the object into his breast pocket and left the cave. Somehow he knew there would be nothing else to find there, his millennia of experiences lending to his trust in the instinct that he could feel coiling within his bowels. He believed there was a Midgard term for the sensation: a gut feeling; crude perhaps, but accurate. Setting his curiosity aside for later, Loki made his way toward the breach between realms that he'd led Thor and the mortal through not long ago. It was time to go home one last time.
After dismissing his brother in a far kinder way than their father would have, Loki slipped away from the throne before Odin's return. The old king had taken to spending most of his time in the chambers he had shared with Frigga, the loss of his queen weighing heavy on his heart and body. Loki knew that Thor would speak to nobody else on his way out of Asgard, the prince's farewells having already been given before the meeting with Odin. It was during these farewells that Loki had come across Thor and heard of his intentions, and it was this eavesdropping that elicited his reaction to masquerade as the All-Father.
Odin never would have allowed Thor to abdicate the throne, even in his current state of depression. He would have taken matters into his own hands first, perhaps even going so far as to eliminate the mortal. Of course, Loki didn't know these things for certain, but he had known Odin long enough to understand that the throne of Asgard was more important than family and friend alike. The All-Father would never have abided having no heirs, but Thor was ever too thick headed to even consider that. His brother would believe in Odin until the end, and so Loki gave Thor the gift of freedom that he too enjoyed, freedom from the claws of Asgard and an old, bitter king.
There was of course, a moment of hesitation before he stood from the throne. He could easily have stayed there. He could kill Odin and dispose of the body or keep him trapped somewhere, alive but incapacitated. The idea of ruling Asgard, as he'd been promised for the whole of his life, was indeed alluring, but Loki had no desire to rule under the disguise of another. If people were to bow in his presence, it would be because he, Loki Laufeyson, commanded their fear and respect, not some mask he hid behind. No, he would remain dead as previously intended until the time for rebirth was ripe.
But even the best laid plans seem to have room for mishap. Loki had intended to leave Asgard after his encounter with Thor. He had intended to leave the realm and find another to remain in for so long as was necessary. These desires however were disrupted by the small stone that he had pocketed so haphazardly on Svartalfheim.
First he had used the excuse of only wanting to slip inside the great palace library to research the gem and find out what it was part of, where it had come from. This endeavor turned to days' worth of study and journeys outside the city to delve into the capabilities of the mysterious stone. Each time he would return to the library, and each day he grew a little bolder with his ventures through the palace. He slipped on the faces of those around him with ease, often parading as them whenever he knew there would be no chance of getting caught, and each time he did so Loki grew more aware of a difference in his magic.
The illusions felt firmer, more effective; an odd perception considering none had ever been able to surpass his mastery of the spell, with the possible exception of his mother, the very person who had taught him the ability. He believed the magic long since mastered, but somehow, what he created now felt far superior to any before. He sought to test this newfound ability against the man whose sight surpassed all others: Heimdall. Loki had been able to mask his presence, and the presence of others, for some time from the Gatekeeper, but this ability had never worked so well when face to face with the man. Somehow the watcher's sight was keener when he looked into a person's eyes, and so this would be the ultimate test.
Of course, Loki prepared for the possibility that he would need to kill the Gatekeeper should the illusion fail. It would not do him any good to have somebody aware of his being alive. The murder was unnecessary however when he paraded up to Heimdall as the impetuous warrior Fandral, going so far as the chat the Gatekeeper up about the latest maiden deflowered and some garble about bets won against Volstagg. The guardian had not been impressed, but neither had he been suspect of Loki's illusion. Whatever this gem was, it was a boon indeed.
SIX DAYS AGO
A month of lurking in the shadows of Asgard had come and gone, and Loki's patience was drawing to an end. He'd found nothing to indicate what the shard of stone had originally been part of, nor could he determine the locus of power. The gem did not seem to contain anything, but it looked as if that the stone itself exuded magical energies, which meant it had to have been created, which meant there must have been a record somewhere. It was a puzzle, and one that Loki was determined to solve. After countless experiments he decided it was time at last to see if he could perhaps amplify the energy of the relic rather than just borrow it. It was only a small section of something greater, and he could feel potential hiding within its depths; he only need access it.
Before the sun even rose Loki left the palace under a guise of shadows and illusion, heading toward the Plains of Ida. He went to the coast from there, to the Sea of Marmora. He would test it here, the city far enough away so that none would see anything should his experiment with the stone turn out unfavorable. Watching the water Loki smiled. If he could increase the power of the gem, if he could open it up and release the latent magic, then perhaps he would not have to remain dead for much longer. If he had more power then there would be nothing to worry over anymore. He could take Asgard for himself, banish the All-Father and then protect the realm again those who would seek him out for retribution.
It didn't take long for Loki to mentally delve inside of the gem, his magic reaching into the depths and caressing the energy within, tugging at it with the gentlest of touches and terms. He remained cautious with his every move, mindful of his actions in an effort to keep disaster away, so it was to some surprise when the world around him rocked underfoot. A wave of energy crashed out of the stone and into the space around him with all the finesse of his cavalier brother's wretched hammer.
Magic shimmered in the air for a moment before shooting away from him toward the sea. It stabbed into the sky with a scream of white light, and seconds later Loki watched as a body fell from the sky toward the water, a woman's shriek cutting the air before getting swallowed by the waves. He stood there for a moment, taken aback by the turn of events. Not quite what I had expected, he mused, watching the water to see what would happen to the person who had fallen in. Loki had no intention of setting forth to rescue the stranger, but neither would he hinder her survival; he wasn't a complete monster after all, and he had to admit that in some small way this might have been his fault.
As luck would have it a fishing vessel arrived to the scene shortly after, the flash of light having no doubt drawn their attention. A body was brought aboard seconds later, and moments after that it was clear that they were headed back toward the city. Finding himself curious about the person and the whole event, Loki wasted no time before heading back as well. He wondered if the person had anything to do with the stone or if it were a mere accident encounter. Determined to find out, Loki snuck onto the dock just in time to hear the fisherman state that they would go see Odin. That was an interesting development, considering Odin had announced that none should bother him for anything but the utmost important affairs concerning either the realms or his son.
Loki had to grin at the memory of the declaration. He had managed to mask his brother's whereabouts after Thor left the realm so that not even Heimdall could inform Odin of the prince's wellbeing or whereabouts. It should have been an impossible feat considering the distance, the spell only meant to mask their meeting in the throne room, but in hindsight Loki came to realize it was the stone that had given him the power to create such a spell, an incantation that continued to work even now. That brought him back to the girl and the fisherman as they left the docks together. Who was she and why was she being brought to Odin? He followed after.
When she was taken into the throne room Loki sent an unseen replica of himself in with them, his physical body remaining outside the door while the other listened in on their conversation. He felt a twinge of relief at the woman's account of events. She was nothing but a mortal from Midgard, a mere mistake, although it was interesting that she was friends with his brother. He couldn't help but wonder if there was something greater at work here; coincidences of that magnitude weren't oft occurring. She seemed harmless though, crass, but amusing in her lack of respect for the king.
When Odin summoned for a guard Loki didn't hesitate to slip into Sif's form and stroll inside. This mortal may not have posed any threat, but he would be glad to see her back home and out of his realm once and for all. He would have to do further experimentation elsewhere; it wouldn't do to have Midgardians raining onto Asgard with any frequency. That would certainly lead to some confusion and suspicion he was in no mood to dispel.
TWO DAYS AGO
Since his first attempt to augment the gems power, Loki had made great leaps of discovery in his research. It wasn't until a moment of tedium, when he deemed to break from his studies and read a book from his childhood that he'd come across the allusion needed to push him in the right direction. It had been a frivolous story about the origin of all magic, a mythos his mother had read to him when he was no more than a child.
Touching the leather bound exterior, Loki was struck by a pang of regret so powerful he had to sit down. He could recall lying in bed, his mother sitting at his side, stroking his hair with one hand while she held the book in her lap, reading to him as she bade him to find sleep. He had always been a petulant child, out of place and trapped behind his brother's praise, but where Odin took to trying to tame him through labor and punishment his mother had sought to work with him, rather than against him. She had never left him behind Thor.
"If you insist on foregoing sleep," she told him with a secretive smile, "then we shall at least make these hours more productive." Loki shut his eyes for a minute to fight away the bittersweet memory. When he could no longer see her face, smell her fragrance or feel the touch of her fingers in his hair, he opened his eyes again and began to read.
As if she'd been watching over him the entire while, Loki found his answer a few pages later when he opened to the story of Nemesis. The origin of Nemesis was shrouded in mystery, but many believed the being to be one of the first creatures of magic to ever have existed. Loki had no need to even read any further than that, the story of the soul gems burned into his memory. The answer had been in front of him this entire time, and while he'd been busy looking into every other species known to Asgard, trying to devise their powers and any relics they may have created and lost, the truth had been a simple story from his childhood. Loki pulled out the stone in his pocket and smiled down at it. The small gem warmed the palm of his hand, vibrating with unspent potency. He was holding a fragment of one Infinity Stone. Now all he needed to find was which stone it was, and where he could get the rest.
Hours later Loki was able to read the energy signature for what he believed was the Reality Stone, and knowing now how much the other pieces would be worth, he wasted no more time. He would find the rest of the soul gem and he would be unstoppable. Two of the Infinity Stones were even now accounted for, and while one was already within his reach, Loki had no longing for it, not when his former allies could still feel its presence, and should he dare touch it, his own. The Tesseract had seeped into his mind just as surely as those he had controlled, and while HE was still on the other side of the universe, Loki had no doubt that a link remained. They would know he was alive should he try and manipulate it. He would find his own Infinity Stone, and this one would render him unconquerable.
Loki followed the energy of his stone to Midgard where a similar force, likely a sister to his stone, was making itself known. He followed it into a building and to the top most floor; it was close now. As he drew nearer Loki gave pause to his steps in utter surprise at the sight before him. Standing there, staring at the magic he sought was the same mortal that had fallen through the portal he'd created on Asgard. Darcy Lewis, friend of Thor and—Loki's mouth nearly fell open from his disbelief—a being who also held a portion of shattered Infinity Stone, his Stone, and a portion he realized, that was larger than even his own. It was beyond belief that this human, this mortal, did in fact carry more potential strength than he. How absurd an event, but one he could not dare deny the truth of as it stood before his eyes. He closed the distance between them and stepped up to the glass, following her line of sight to the abnormality shielding the soul shard before them.
A moment later he could feel her eyes on his face, studying him. They both knew why they were here so there was little point in trying to mask his agenda. Instead he chose to taunt her, confident that no human could have mastered the use of magic, even with the aid of a soul gem, enough to do him any harm. "You may want to concede this one Miss Lewis, unless of course, you've learned to grow wings."
Without waiting for her to respond Loki made for the shard, and his second surprise of the day came directly after when she grappled him from out of the air, hooking her arms around his body in the same manner Thor had when they were children, wrestling to see who was the stronger. Loki was not a fan of surprises he himself did not orchestrate or of brawling melee in general, and since he had apparently underestimated her ability, he chose to leave with his prize rather than make any more poor judgments. He had what he came for; the human could wait until he determined a proper way to dispose of the competition.
Loki had no intention of crossing paths with Darcy Lewis even now that he had a greater share of the gem than she. How it rankled to even consider that she had any piece of the Reality Stone. She was a human! It was unthinkable. They couldn't even see magic, let alone manage it! He would wrest it from her once he had the remaining segments; she would be no match for him at that point. As it stood now however, while he may have been more potent, she was still unpredictable and held yet a great force in her hands. From what he'd gathered of the stone so far it would be no easy task taking it from her, not until he had the full artifact near to completion. Such was the nature of the gem, each one bending reality around it at all times so that it could never be taken once owned, although clearly it could be destroyed somehow, a contemplation for later.
It was then, to Loki's great shock and regret, that he had his third encounter with the mortal woman from Midgard who simply would not stay out of his path. It was as if the human endeavored to elicit a reaction from him; what other explanation could there be for her insistence in forcing her company on him? He understood she was likely only being drawn to the same energies as he, but the fact that she continued to arrive before him was something he refused to consolidate as mere intuition on her part. No, this was clearly malicious in nature, and as he got closer to her that idea only took root after seeing the body at her feet. The body wore his face, in a manner of speaking, although it was hardly impressive or stable. She was still grasping to control the energy, but that did nothing to change the fact that she was indeed learning how.
He decided to tread with a little more care than before. "I am flattered." The human turned to him, her eyes wide with shock that mirrored his own. Perhaps she hadn't been expecting him after all. His eyes flickered to the body, curious about why she had summoned it in the first place. "Of all the things in all the realms that you could conjure, you choose to create a mockery of me. Why is that, I wonder?"
"You're dead." She gave him as much respect as she'd given Odin and Loki couldn't help but wonder why he had expected differently.
"Clearly not."
"You're supposed to be dead." She'd given him the answer he needed, her quest full of spite after all. The little heathen wanted him dead, no doubt so she could have the gem for herself, never mind how she knew about it.
He refused to give her that pleasure. "I rarely do what's expected of me."
"Thor watched you die." Loki wanted to glare but kept his face schooled. It was still incensing to know that despite the final words Thor had spoken to him, his brother hadn't bothered to mourn his death, or their mother's, in the least. He truly was the brute that Loki had known so well growing up, self-absorbed and tactless.
"Thor," he couldn't keep the venom from his voice, "Could watch the moon rise and still insist it noon if he had it stuck in his head. His judgment on anything is scarcely credible. Is that the reason for this poor caricature; an insistence on seeing me dead?" Did she think to manipulate his life with the stone? Once complete, that would indeed be a possibility but for now what she held was only a shadow of the power available.
The woman shrugged her shoulders at him and had the nerve to smirk, "Can't blame a girl for trying, can you?"
"Did you really think summoning a mere image of me would be my end?"
"Maybe." Oh she was vexing.
"You really know nothing." He chuckled, choosing to taunt her again despite the possibility of danger. "How a mortal such as you came to possess pieces of a soul gem is an anomaly in itself."
"Maybe you just don't know us mortals as well as you thought ya did, eh champ?" Loki decided he would, once he had the stone complete, leave her alive at the end and simply remove her tongue.
"I know your species better than I'd like. Guileless chattel is all you are, and all you ever will be." Maybe he would keep her in a cage; she tittered on like a bird so it only seemed a fitting fate.
"I'll have you know I've got plenty of guile, buddy."
Loki saw her move a step closer to the portal, her stance indicating she thought the move stealthy. How droll. He decided to play along with her ruse; he may not have been able to force the sliver of stone from her hands yet, but he could perhaps restrain her until that point. He glanced at the anomaly to their left, then the body and her. How best to go about subduing her was the question. He had no way of knowing how much she could manipulate with the stone's magic yet.
"While I'm loath to admit it, perhaps you do have some semblance of intelligence. Giving Thor and his foolish comrades my body would certainly make my death that much more irrevocable." He'd meant it as a tease to her silly attempt at murder—clearly she'd recognized him from Midgard and sought to finish him once and for all—but now that he'd said it aloud the idea seemed reasonable. A dead body would forever keep suspicion away from him; none would even think to question whether he lived after that.
"What—no way! You can't keep pretending to be dead dude, so not cool, and if you think I'm keeping my mouth shut about this you are abso-freaking-lutely off your gourd. The second I get home this is getting tweeted, tumbled, dug, red and facebooked." Loki didn't understand many of her words, but he did grasp the gist of their meaning, which only further strengthened his resolve to capture her.
"If they have my remains as evidence, your word will be worth little more than senseless ramblings." Not that you will ever again have the opportunity to make them.
"Oh they'll believe me. They'll know it's fake." The silly girl took another step toward the contorted reality that housed the shard they were both after.
"Will they? You hardly strike me as a class of character they'd consider notable, and the body won't be a mere imitation so poor as yours. I could fashion it as real as I'd like."
"Then I can unfashion it." The child seemed to have an answer for everything.
Her show of bravery and the threat of knowledge gave Loki pause however. Could she offer up a challenge? That could turn out to be quite wearisome, but the mere thought of giving up the untouched piece of stone sitting so near to them now was unbearable, specifically the idea of relinquishing it to a Midgardian mortal. He looked her over, trying to gauge what sort of difficulties she might propose. She'd brought herself here after all, and had managed to reach him in midair before that.
"Perhaps you could."
"My, my, is that respect mine ears doth perceive?"
Loki had been willing to conceivably consider surrendering this time until the odds were better in his favor, he'd even ruminated on keeping her alive after defeating her, but for some mortal wench to dare mock him, Loki, would-be and rightful king of Asgard, that was unforgivable. A surge of visceral ire flared in him and he moved to her, carried by its fire. He grabbed her wrists and held them to her sides, pulling them down to keep her from lifting either in defiance.
"Do not mistake my grudging concession as respect mortal. You will yield those fragments to me or—"
One of her arms jerked toward him, a direction he hadn't anticipated, and before he could finish his threat or move her limb back in place a jolt of pain coursed through his veins beginning at his side and rushing up to his head and down to his feet. Every muscle on his body seemed to contract and flex as one, the strength of his legs giving way almost immediately. Falling to the ground, his anger and surprise mixing together in the most unpleasant manner, Loki could only wonder at what sort of sorcery she had used against him. The disruption to his musculature only lasted a second longer however, and he was climbing to his feet again with a snarl even as the chit dove up into the anomaly.
Loki wasted no time in chase after. He wanted to kill her now, he truly did, but before that he needed to get hold of the next piece of stone. Mind on the prize he swam after her through the cold water, barely able to see anything after a few strokes forward, then nothing at all a few after that. In an effort to find the mortal Loki cast a spell of light that filled the nearby expanse with an explosive green glow. She was close. Loki surged forward and grabbed for her ankle, determined to pull her away from the target and possibly break a bone in the process, but just as his hand encircled it he felt a rush of water moving forward and his fingers closed around nothing at all. A furious roar was building in his chest at the sudden escape and equivalent defeat, and with a taste for blood he vanished himself out of the impossible lake, back to Asgard so he could regroup and find his composure once again. Oh he would get the rest of the stone, he would get it and he would murder Darcy Lewis with such lingering care that she would beg for an end to her suffering.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Now, please let me know if this is something you'd like me to do again or not. I really didn't have any intentions of sharing this, but I decided to anyway, so if you are NOT a fan of backtracking like this just for the sake of seeing it from another POV let me know and I won't do it again since I know it could detract from the story since there's zero plot progression in here.
BUT, if you did enjoy this let me know and whenever I do this I can share it again.
Anyway, thanks for reading and thank you everyone for the kind reviews, I'm working on the next chapter already so hopefully that will be up within this coming week.