Half of a man
All secrets revealed
Loki got off his Midgardian clothes and decided to put on his Asgardian attire as a Prince of Asgard. The golden glow was all it took him to be clad in his leather mixture of gold and green. One look at the mirror made him pause. He looked every inch like the God of Mischief and Fire he used to be. For a moment he stood there thinking about his different faces within time.
Prince Loki of Asgard
King Loki of Asgard
Fallen Prince Loki of Asgard
Loki the villain
Loki Laufeyson the traitor
Thomas Kent, a homeless guy
Tom the trickster friend to Millie Stark and in…*ahem whatever it was* with Natasha – Not Natalie- Romanoff.
Loki the prisoner
Loki the secret prince of Norway
And now he was Loki the Prince of Asgard once again … maybe for the last time.
The young God locked the door to his bedroom and shield it with his spells. Having done that he turned around sat behind his desk watching the city below him.
He closed his eyes and let his mind go away.
…
He was before a familiar gate. Most people would be shaking just by the thought of it but he didn't mind. There was a time he would come very often and admire the handiwork of the bone build gate.
He was in Hel once more
He always thought Hela had found her place in the world when she had become Queen of the underworld. She was uncomfortable among the living so …
He regretted having abandoned her when he had started planning his revenge, though. He had been very young and foolish when he had had her but that did not excuse him for his mistakes as a father. It was not like there was anyone else around to take care of her.
For a moment he let himself go back to those sleepless nights when she had been a baby and had oathed to never let him sleep. She had been a very active baby for a half dead one.
"What brings you in the land of my Kingdom, Odinson?" he heard her ominous voice as the gate opened.
"Ehehe, princess…" the God of mischief laughed as he walked down the path that crossed the River of Death towards Hela's throne. "You shouldn't use that frightening voice to me. Besides I am the one who taught you how to do it." he said stopping before the dark alley he knew Hela was.
"I see you have found your disrespectful self once again." The queen of Hel told him in the same ominous voice. Loki shook his head as he paced around; that girl was always a little more like Odin than him when it came to rules.
"I guess the red headed woman managed to find you." She added. That caught Loki's attention.
"What red headed woman?" he asked. "And for Odin's sake show yourself we can not discuss this way." Loki added.
"I will decide whether it is worth to reveal myself to you or not." Hela said.
"Ehehe, I always knew you were kind of shy little princess but I thought that after a millennia you would be over it." he said smirking.
"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT? I AM THE QUEEN OF HEL; I AM NOT YOUR LITTLE PRINCESS ANYMORE!" Hela yelled in a voice that seemed to come from the depths of the underworld as a light appeared above her to illuminate her position.
"Oh, by the stars that shine within your eyes princess, you made your father deaf." He said smirking, faking the ache in his ear.
"You are not my father." She said in her deep yet normal voice.
Loki looked at her, finally. She had not changed much since the last time he saw her, many years ago. She had his black hair and green eyes, her skin had a touch of blue in its paleness and he was certain she would turn in a more frightening Jotun than him if she got really mad.
"Yes, I am. I am the one that gave you life, the one that created you inside your mother's womb and the one that was kept awake by your non stopping cries when you were a baby." He said laughing internally at how much like Odin he sounded right now.
"Yet, you let Odin sent me here, in the shadows of the underworld." She said in a cold tone.
"I fought, you know I fought for you but you wouldn't be happy in Asgard either so…" he said but Hela interrupted him.
"What is it that you want… father?" she asked him sounding every inch like the Queen of Hel she was.
Loki started pacing again glancing at his daughter occasionally.
"That red headed woman you spoke of, who was she?" He asked her.
"She was your enemy and your lover, your past and your future, your doom and your salvation." She answered making him groan in frustration. He hated the way the Mysts always spoke in riddles.
"Was it Agent Natasha Romanoff?" he asked. He already knew the answer but he needed a confirmation.
"Indeed, that was her name." she answered.
"How did she get in here? What was it that she wanted?" the young prince asked Hela. The Queen of Hel gave him a picture of his own smirk and short laugh.
"She was sent by the Queen of Asgard to retrieve information of how to awake you from your curse." Hela answered.
"What?"
"How to save you…" she added and she took pleasure in her father's lost look as he paced up and down trying to figure everything out.
Natasha had gone to Hel and back to find a way to save him. She had actually passed the gates no man was ever meant to pass twice, for him.
To save him
Why had she done that?
That was my first murder…
He tried to save you…
Let's see who the most damaged one is…
Will you remember anything when you wake up?
One after the other the images flashed before his eyes. He held his head in hands trying to ease the pain back. What had happened? Why were these images there? How had she found herself in his memories? Why did he have her memories in his head?
He blinked twice and stood straight.
He could remember having her in his arms, her soft lips upon his, her flesh coming alive in his skilful hands.
"Did you tell her how?" Loki asked but he didn't need an answer. He already knew. She had been in his mind. He didn't know how or why but she had gotten in there and had pulled him away from the shadows.
No, he knew why. As he stood there replaying every minute of those ethereal intimate moments they had spent together in the dreadful world that was his mind he knew why she had done it.
He knew why she had kept him close, why she had helped him to get a new life and why she had not given up on him while he had been miles and miles away from her.
It wasn't guilds.
Is this love, agent Romanoff?
Love is for children.
But maybe, just maybe this once they could make an exception.
"Agent Romanoff is not the reason I visited you." He said retrieving his neutral tone. This was it. He had to do it now more than ever; the most important step for his plan.
"I know it; you have a request and I wish to hear it." Hela said smirking at him coldly. Oh, sometimes he just wanted to get up there and ground her just like when she had been little. He really couldn't stand the cockiness of some Mysts.
"I wish to speak to King Laufey and Nancy, the princess of Norway." He said.
"And why is that?" Hela asked him.
"Well, you are the one with the gift of the All – sight, you should tell me." Loki said and it was his turn to smirk at his daughter's angry look.
"I know and I shall tell you just this once that the path you have chosen is deadly and no return is certain." She said.
"Yes, yes I know all that." Loki said wavering his hand in the air showing his impatience. "Will you let me talk to them?" he asked her.
"Princess Nancy is not in my realm." Hela answered cold with authority as she straightened her back.
"I knew that as I know that you can pull some strings so that I can talk with her. Don't forget who taught you everything you know, princess. I know exactly what you can do." Loki said trying to convince her. She was a stubborn little pain in the neck, just like Odin.
Oh, by the All – father, how had his daughter ended up like his father? Where did it go wrong?
"I will grant you your wish but note that. It is not because I am your blood neither because I applaud your suicidal plan. It is because I have seen within the slots of time that no matter the outcome of this any other action will be the doom for us all." Hela said.
The Queen of Hel raised her skeleton hand and formed several circles in the air muttering words in the dead language of Hel. With every circle she made a golden ring was formed more powerful than the previous until the ring became as big as a mare. There, inside it, he could see the fields of Heaven or Valhalla, he wasn't sure which. From the depths of the field he could see a dark figure approaching. She became cleared with every step she made until Loki could recognize in her face the woman that had taken care of him when he had needed her the most.
Nancy Guttenberg, lost princess of Norway and his Mother by birth
"Oh, by the nines, I knew you would make it back, my boy." She said. Her hair was white and the green eyes that ornamented Loki's and Hela's face had lost its sparkle but he could still see that woman in the portrait inside the Norwegian palace.
"Nancy Guttenberg… princess of Norway" he said approaching with every nod she gave.
"My mother by birth" Loki said and halted.
"It is great to finally meet you my son." She said.
"We look very much alike." He said.
"Yes, we do." The old woman said. Loki took a moment to see her before he turned towards his daughter.
"Laufey, now." He said. Hela narrowed her eyes at him but knocked her spear on the ground before she called for the dead king with her deep, frightening voice.
The Jotun King rose from the River of the Dead and halted at the sight before him.
"Oh, a family reunion without Odin's eight legged horse?" he mocked. "It wouldn't be fair."
"Shut your mouth. I will ask the questions and you will give the answers. Time is of essence." Loki said regaining his serious demeanor. The dead Frost Giant scoffed but with a soft move by Hela's skeleton hand his hands and legs were bound forcing him on his knees.
Loki smirked at his daughter before looking back at his biological father. He took several steps towards him with the air of an Asgardian King and reached for the giant's ear.
"Kneel before the runt, now." He whispered feeling the air of absolute pleasure entering his lungs.
He walked back to his previous position so he could take a good look at both of his parents. How had they gotten together, really? But the biggest question of it all was…
How had he ended up reaching the age of two millennia if his mother had given birth to him no more than thirty years ago?
"How did you get your hands on her?" Loki asked Laufey. The Jotun King looked at him obviously irritated by his disrespectful manner. Well, that was something that ran in the family…
"I ask, you answer…" he said in his low voice.
Laufey looked at the Queen of Hel and then at Nancy.
"There is an ancient prophecy which claims that a Jotun King born by the line of Odin will make Jotunheim ruler of all the nine realms." The Frost Giant said.
"That explains your vanity for power and victory against Asgard not why you got your hands on her." Loki said looking as cold as ice. I guess it was only fitting.
"I wanted an heir strong enough to win the war if I failed; one that would fulfill the prophecy and rule all of the Nine Realms. I could not lay my hands upon a random girl of the Asgardian palace." Laufey said and smirked. "It had to be her, someone with strong will and mystifying powers that would make my son as much a powerful sorcerer as he would be a warrior. I had planned everything right. She was supposed to do this by her own will, away from the war and I needed the stars to be on my favour." Laufey said.
"How did you do it? How did you get ahead of time?" Loki asked him.
"With a little help, the same one you got." The Jotun King said.
Loki looked at him, arching an eyebrow but the dead Frost Giant just kept smirking.
"There's nothing for which you can boast, Frost giant. You are in Hel, sent here by my hand. You have failed." Loki reminded him.
"Answer the question, peasant." Hela said obviously taking great pleasure in tormenting the former King of Jotunheim.
"He had the Time gem and he said that the only way to beat the All – Father was by transferring the war into a timeline that the All – Father was weak. I was not stupid; two birds in a one stone." Laufey said.
"But you only got one bird." Loki said.
"Well, I needed to create an heir now, didn't I?" Laufey said and Loki felt disgusted by his cocky smirk. He turned to Nancy with a grimace of wonder.
"Why would you ever follow a beast such as him?" He asked her. The old woman smiled kindly to him, not even once looking towards Laufey.
"He wasn't a beast when I met him and I knew what I was supposed to do. I wanted to meet you, my son." She said.
Loki retrieved his talk with Borr. Yes, Laufey must have presented himself to her as a human. If he was a shape shifter, so was his father.
"You had dreams of me." Loki said and the princess nodded.
"You were my gift from the Gods." She said.
"So, you just traveled through time and space with a complete stranger." He said making no sense of her words.
Was she crazy?
Well, that could explain his own tendency to madness.
"You cannot understand. I knew him. I knew who and what he was before he would come to me. I had seen him in my dreams; I think I had even loved him because he would give me the most precious thing I could ever have." She said but then that glow left her face.
"Reality was cruel." Loki said trying to read her. The eyes that met him reminded him more of Hela's cold stare than the look of the good woman that had helped him stand back on his feet.
It was the look of the Queen of Jotunheim.
"I became Farbauti, first Queen of Jotunheim as I carried you inside my womb. Your power kept me safe inside the never ending winter. I saw creatures that would intimidate even the bravest man in earth and I lived through the worst war I never wish to see knowing I was on the enemy's side. I endured all of that so that I could hold you in my arms and make you the man that would bring peace to this world." Nancy said.
Why did everyone assume he would make a great peacemaker? All he ever wanted was to be the troublemaker. Well, that reveals the truth about parental knowledge.
"He took you from me the moment you were born not even letting me see you! But I knew… I knew what the stars had written down for him." She said. Loki watched the dead woman seethe in anger before he turned towards the Jotun King.
"Well?" he asked him.
"A runt… I had planned everything in perfection, I had followed the prophecy and all she could give me was a runt? And after all I did to make sure you could become the Jotun you were supposed to be she cries and screams that one day you will be my murderer." He said but Loki did not get a chance to comment.
"You took him away so you could try all shorts of spells and poisons, any secret ritual you knew to make him bigger and stronger. You were torturing him not realizing how magnificent he was! I could not let you play with my son and have him slaughtered just because you were blind!" Nancy screamed at him.
Loki looked confused between the two of them.
"You took me to the temple?" Loki asked surprised.
"It would be the only place no one would be able to touch you. I had been studying sorcery and he made the mistake to help me find whatever little sparkle had been left in me. I made sure you would be safe." She said and Laufey's roars could be heard all around Hel.
"If I had known then what you would happen later, I would have let both of you rotten inside that temple." Laufey said.
"Oh, you mean your failure, misery and inevitable death?" Loki mocked him.
"It was your fault!" The Jotun King growled and made an attempt to rise in his full height but Hela brought her spear in front of her to make him kneel once more.
"If I had not spent so much time and energy trying to create my supposed to be -all mighty- heir; I would be able to confront the All – Father and I would have won." The frost giant said.
"Well, that just shows how much of a pathetic and stupid creature you are. You chased after a prophecy as a dog chases after the end of the rainbow instead of going into that war as a King." Now he actually sounded like Odin.
"You are pathetic and weak. You don't deserve to be called a King; you are the ant beneath my boot." He said looking to the Jotun's red eyes.
They stared at each other with the Jotun King unable to speak. Eventually Loki took a few steps back and looked at Nancy. He could guess how the woman had found her way back. He knew Odin had beaten Thanos one too many times before so that must have done it. The All – Father had retrieved the stolen relic and had undone whatever magic had done with it. Thus, he had been left inside the temple all alone with no one to care for him until the King of Asgard had found him.
What would have happened if Nancy had stayed with him? If Odin had found both of them in that temple? Would things have been easier for him and his plans or would have things turned out different?
He shook those thoughts out of his head. It wasn't time to add more questions to his mind. He needed answers to fill his blanks.
"You knew who I was that night, right? I… I remember you saying an ancient prayer above my head in the hospital, a spell." Loki said deciding to ignore the frustrated giant for the moment.
"I knew and my heart ached as I saw you bleed that night. I thought I would never see you again but deep down I knew… I knew New York would be the place. When I saw those monsters fly over the city I knew you should be there somewhere, I just knew. I searched for you but I did not find you until that Night… Oh how frightened I had been that night, thinking I would lose again before I had found you. You were dying but I knew that my fate was to give you life… once again. So I did, I gave you as much of my life as I could and I tried to help you become a man again but I was so weak… So weak my son, forgive me." Nancy said.
Loki looked away remembering those terrifying moments as he struggled to understand the world. He remembered being bombarded with sounds and images that made no sense at all. How he tried to communicate, to sort things out but he didn't know how. In those agonizing moments of his new life, Nancy had been there for him.
"There's nothing to forgive, mother." He said feeling weird for saying that word to another woman except Frigga. Frigga would always be his mother but this woman who had sacrificed her life for him deserved to hear it just once.
Loki turned to his daughter giving her a full smile. The cold hearted Queen glanced at him but she couldn't keep the smirk of her face. The truth was never pretty but it was out in the open for once and now Loki had no doubt.
This was no fairy tale were a trail of misdeeds and misunderstandings had ended up to the prince's torment neither it was the dark story of hatred and disgust Loki had assumed it would be. It was as everything life; a little bit of black and a little bit of white.
He knew now where his loyalty would lie; where it always did and always should be.
He knew now. He had been used and hated but he had been loved and cared of as well. As he put those two on scale the good side won.
Damn, he never liked the good side, it was always so boring!
But he knew what he had to do and for whom; for his family, his friends and the woman… he loved.
He turned towards Laufey and smirked.
"Now, tell me how I become King of Jotunheim."
For those who don't remember, Nancy comes from Odin's bloodline being a princess of the north thus her powers
The next chapter is dedicated to Natasha
just a few chapters until the end now... stay tuned!