Epilogue
The Horfin games came down to Loki and Thor, as everyone had known they would. Volstagg and Fandral had fallen prey to one another's victory lust. Hogun had been eliminated by an impressive show of magic from Amora. The Ladies Sigyn and Amora had fallen prey to Loki's tricks. Thor had made tactic of avoiding them altogether and amassing an impressive hoard of game, but had no choice but to eliminate Sif when confronted. It had been a worthy battle between them, and would impress the Elders enough that they would hand over the title of warrior to Lady Sif regardless of her loss. Thor had known, in the end, he would eventually have to eliminate at least one, for it would be the last contestant.
He had known in his heart of hearts that it would be Loki. He had hoped against it, but he had ultimately known. No man or woman in Asgard better knew how to hunt down the gullible better than Loki.
Loki had confronted him in an open valley near the Gamana's entrance. It all seemed so planned, too. Thor had amassed his game there, so Loki would obviously plan to take it once he had eliminated Thor, thus winning him the games. The entrance to the Gamana also held a wide, high-rising circle of stands, filled with entertained Asgardians. They whooped and cheered as they watched their two princes circle one another. Odin and Frigga presided.
"You know you will lose," Thor said with a smile. His mind journeyed to their many play-fights as boys. Thor's might usually handed him victory quite easily but… every once in a while… Loki would weasel or trick his way out of it and stand over Thor with a satisfied smirk.
"Do I?" Loki called to him, tossing his spear in the air and catching it, over and over, for theatrics. The crowd loved the taunting. "Compare the statistics, Thor. By direct attack or influence, I have eliminated four competitors."
"You would take responsibility for Volstagg and Fandral, then?" Thor called, spinning Mjolnir. The crowd was becoming rowdy.
"Who do you thinksentthem the game over which they fought?" Loki yelled with a wide smile. The crowd buzzed as they realized Loki's trickery.
"Do not be so presumptuous, brother; they fell to their own stupidity!" Thor called.
"HEY!" Thor heard offended cries from both Fandral and Volstagg, who sat beside one another in the stands, mead and meat in their hands.
The crowd positively guffawed, and Thor wished to give them a show they would never forget.
Loki was ahead of him, however, as he leapt up, a battle cry issuing as he brought his spear down heartily. The crowd bounded to their feet, crying for epic battle as Thor and Loki sparred and parried.
Thor had might, but Loki had speed. For a long while, they were equally matched, only landing small, hardly wounding blows.
It was then that Loki began using apparitions, and a slight worry overtook Thor. To win, he would have to figure out which was truly Loki.
Thor paced, watching each copy closely and studying them. The crowd fell silent, watching with strained interest as they thought Thor would fail. Each apparition spoke at once to obscure and confuse Thor's analysis.
"How now, brother?" they said with a wicked smile, closing in on him. "Dost thou truly know me?"
They each moved differently, and Thor thought on what he knew of his brother. One of the apparitions skulked as it walked, and Thor knew Loki to have too much pride. He would never stoop low. One apparition had green eyes instead of blue. One held the spear in his left hand instead of his right. All these things Thor knew to be false. Others however, seemed identical, though he knew Loki had planted ways for Thor to decipher them—a part of his game.
Thor knew not how. Until a thought struck him—he didn't need to.
He began to spin Mjolnir, and the clouds cracked overhead. Many of the apparitions smiled, and Thor was positive he could count the real Loki among them. This playing would positively amuse him.
Thor threw his arm into the air, calling all the might of the lightning he could muster. He then directed it at a few of the apparitions, crying out with the rage of battle as the lightning struck and disintegrated several.
One of them leapt at him from behind, spear raised. Thor abandoned the lightning, spinning fast and hitting Loki in the chest with Mjolnir.
Loki cried out, spinning in the air with the force of the blow and landing hard on his back at Thor's feet. The rest of the apparitions promptly disappeared with the hit. Thor placed the hammer quickly on Loki's chest to keep him from rising. He pulled the spear from Loki's hand and straightened.
"The real Loki would wait forme to attack," Thor said heartily. "Then he would make his move."
"Sly mongrel," Loki grinned, but there was sadness in his defeat.
"I know my own brother like the palm of mine hand," Thor said with a haughty breath.
In the youth of the games, Thor disregarded his brother's sadness, his envy. There were any number of things he could have done in that moment… should have done. Thinking back, pulling Loki to his feet and telling the crowd that he refused to wound his own brother would have impressed them even more. It would have been a metaphor for alliance and strength within the kingdom of Asgard.
But alas, a warrior at heart, and a mighty flawed one at that, Thor raised the spear high overhead.
"Apologies, brother. There can be only one victor," he cried, bringing the spear swiftly down into Loki's chest and turning to meet an adoring crowd.
Fin.
"Doomed to an endless, angry search for a vengeance you'll never have;
I would call that a curse, wouldn't you?"
Final Author's note:
I just want to say a (frost)giant thank you to all my readers for sticking so close! I know a lot of you wanted a redemption story, but I just didn't see it in Loki's near future. He's too angry. (Comic book spoiler ahead: if you're reading the comic books, and have not caught up to the present, don't continue!) Loki does get his redemption, but it happens in Siege. And, considering the Marvel movie-verse started with the plotline from Avengers #1, I don't see it coming any time soon. Avengers #1 was written in 1963, Siege was written in 2007. That's a lot of ground to cover between Avengers and Thor 2, and I don't think they'll do it. But hey, what do I know. Mandarin is the baddy in the current Ultimate Iron Man comic books, and he's the villain in IM3. So anything could happen, I guess. I also wanted my story to be able to stand alone (in between Avengers and Thor 2), no matter the events of Thor 2, and I thought this would be a good way. Relatively nothing will have changed, except he killed the Other, reforged his bond with the villain Enchantress, and had a brief affair with the woman who eventually becomes his wife. He'll still be imprisoned, and the events can pick up in Thor 2. Hopefully.
Anyhoo, thanks again for reading, and hope to see you in another fanfic. ODIN FILLETH THY CUP!
P.S.- If you can tell me (honestly, without using Google) where the quote at the beginning of the story and at the end came from, I will love you forever (sorry, can't think of a better reward right now :-])
P.S.S.- I know the real Loki actually has green eyes, but the majority of the movie shots have him with blue, so I went with blue.
(Last one I swear)- I made a video companion casting my lovely ladies. I'd love it if you would check it out! (Damn FF ghost keeps erasing everything I write. Just put youtubeDOTcomBACKSLASH in front of this): watch?v=ieVRQdv6OAI&feature=