Anonymous Review Replies!
Missing: It WAS, wasn't it?! Glad Ver has people here that agree with her. XD
OP: Thank you! :D
Fir3dancer: He so totally does, doesn't it? (I think there are even some canon crossovers with the Fourth Doctor and the Fantastic Four in the comics?!) I think if the Doctor had been with the Avengers in the Infinity War, they might have even gotten by without casualties. (unless things went really, really badly and the Doctor was unaware until he got snapped...) The Doctor and Loki alone are a terrifying combination, the Doctor alongside Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange and all the Avengers would *definitely* need to some truly dangerous foes to have a challenge (kind of envisioning the *Master* with the Infinity Gauntlet here XD). Glad you like, thanks for the comment!
Affriended: Happy to hear that! And almost done! :)
LoneGarurumon: Hahah, thanks for all those comments! (And also I'm SO happy to hear that someone appreciated the incredibly obscure Marvel lore I dug out for Ver's backstory, that...took a while to research and get correctly XD) And as for whether this means the MCU will run differently now that the Doctor has started meddling...well, please read on to find out! :D
Short Author's Side Note: So I thought this was the last chapter, but this wouldn't be a Taranea-fanfic if it hadn't become faaar too like *everything* I bloody write, so THIS is now the penultimate chapter. Please enjoy!
Chapter 18: Time Enough for Spring
"...the Infinity stones. Right." The Doctor nodded after Loki had finished his explanation. " You know, I think I read about them at some point, but there's always so much to deal with, you tend to forget things. And I thought they'd not been used or seen in centuries." The Doctor scratched his head. "Seems like someone is interested in them now. Interesting."
"True. But not pertinent to our current situation," Loki pointed out. "Presently, the spells affecting the climate and keeping your space ship trapped need to be reversed first." Then he hesitated. "...what would you do with the girl?"
"I don't know yet," the Doctor said, looking at Ver's sleeping form before returning his gaze to Loki, raising his eyebrows. "I'm a bit surprised you don't want your revenge still."
Loki looked away before the Doctor could study his face too closely, crossing his arms. "She is a child, and one who was not even in possession of her own mind entirely when she did what she did. Revenge against her would ring hollow."
(Loki was also carefully not meeting the Doctor's eyes now, because he had a feeling the Time Lord was smiling at him, and Loki had some pride, thank you.)
"Hollow. Yeah, it would, wouldn't it," the Doctor nodded, then once again sidled closer to the frost giant. "Speaking of Ver not being in control of herself, I would like to take a look at the-"
"Doctor, no." Loki once again moved to block the Time Lord's move toward the sceptre, ignoring the annoyed 'Oh come on', from the Gallifreyan. "Scan it if you must, but do not touch."
To be honest, the thought of the staff taking over the Doctor's mind, the mind of this Time Lord who had already slain civilizations and entire planets all on his own, was not something Loki wanted to contemplate.
"Bossy. Why do I always take the bossy types along?" the Doctor huffed, seemingly muttering more to himself, but at least seemed to acquiesce. "Wish I at least had my screwdriver again, this way I won't be able to scan the thing until we get it into the TARDIS..."
"Well. Wishful thinking aside, my question stands. What do you propose we do with...her," Loki asked, chancing another glance at the sleeping, blue-skinned girl, wishing something inside him didn't feel as if it was tying itself into a knot when he did.
"Good question." The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, face sombering. "She has so many dead on her conscience. And she's not even old enough to really understand what she's done," he said, and it sounded tired.
"That would not grant her a milder sentence on Asgard," Loki couldn't hold back the words, feeling their sharpness in his throat. "Young age does not protect from punishment in the Allfather's eyes."
"And I think I already told you what I think of Odin's justice, didn't I?" The Doctor said, still sounding weary. He rubbed his upper arms through his suit sleeves, gazing up at the icy ceiling of the throne room. "You'd think he especially would understand what happens when you always take an eye for an eye, but no."
"You're shivering. My spell inside you must be fading," Loki said after the silence had stretched for a moment, once again not quite able to quell the mixture of feelings coming up when someone else than him declared Odin unjust and fallible, and therefore tried to cover his lapse of control quickly with action. "Push up your sleeve, I need your wrist again."
"...yeeah, been meaning to ask, actually, why the wrist?" The Doctor asked curiously as he held out his arm for Loki to grasp and wrap his fingers around, letting the spell of heat seep into the Time Lord's body.
"Any magic targeting your blood - if only to warm it - works better if it is applied where it flows closest to the surface. Wrist or neck therefore are best," Loki explained, carefully not mentioning how anyone on Asgard would also have thought the Doctor mad for offering such a vulnerable spot willingly to Loki. He released the Time Lord and stepped back again. "There."
"Thank you," the Doctor gave him a grateful nod, adjusting his suit sleeve again before he sighed. "So. What to do with Ver. And what to do with this entire planet." He raised his eye brows at Loki. "Don't suppose you'd have a warming spell like this, only..." he sucked some air through his teeth, also making a gesture like he was trying to hold a large cheese-wheel. "...hemisphere-sized?"
Loki had to suppress a snort. "Well," he said, twisting the staff in his grip. "With access to the power of the stone, I am certain I will be able to reverse the spells of mind control, technological regression and environmental changes to this planet." He paused. "But there is no way to resurrect its dead."
"No," the Doctor said, quietly. "I didn't think so."
"Except..." Loki could hear himself say, despite not having meant to - what did he care for the fate of this planet, the guilt of the girl?
…except, but for a moment, there had once again been this familiar pain in the eyes of the Time Lord, and - "There are some spells," he said, before he could think better of it. "Not for resurrection as such, but for...turning the time back on a life, before it was taken. But a spell like this, for an entire planet, you would need not only the power of an Infinity stone to cast it, but also a very specific one of them - namely, the Time Stone."
"The Time…Stone," the Doctor repeated, eyebrows once again rising. "Taking a wild guess that it can manipulate time?"
"Well, it is not called the Soup Stone," Loki replied flatly. "But it also has not been heard of for centuries. And without it, manipulation of time is impossible, no matter the available power."
This, for some reason, seemed to produce a very thoughtful look on the Doctor's face.
Xxx
"Ohhh, this is going to be great. Ooooh, this is going to be good," Heimdall was saying at this point, though by now, Sif and the others had largely ceased trying to make sense of what he was seeing, if he wouldn't bloody tell them.
For the moment, they were more mystified why Thor was still so sure that Loki was alive after the Allfather had said that he had fallen off the Bifrost to his death in the Void more than four days ago, nor why the Prince still seemed to be in a sometimes strangely contemplative, but comparably good mood after the disastrous battle with his brother that had destroyed the rainbow bridge (for the moment haphazardly repaired with wood so at least the observatory was accessible again).
"There is something Thor isn't telling us," Sif spoke out loud what they were all thinking. "But what…?"
xxx
Loki stared at the Doctor.
"Your ship can do what?"
"Well, I don't generally go around telling that to companions on their very first day," the Doctor defended himself. "If I do, it usually tends to lead to resurrection attempts for dead fathers and a time line tied up in loops." He gave a guilty grimace.
"Well, you would not have had to worry about me resurrecting mine," Loki said wryly, ignoring the second 'Loki, seriously' glance from the Doctor that day.
"It's impossible to go back on one's own timeline," the Time Lord said instead, "but time can be rewritten. If it's true that it's only been two weeks since she started changing this planet and only made everyone think this winter had lasted for three years, do you think...?"
"...that it is possible to use the power of the Infinity Stone and your TARDIS to revert this planet to two weeks ago? It might be," Loki said, thoughtfully. "The challenge would be interesting, at least."
"Brilliant!" the Doctor smiled. "Then let's-"
"But..." Loki hesitated again. If the Doctor had had to guess, it looked like there were different impulses fighting within him, even if the Asgardian tried hard to keep his face neutral. Finally, Loki seemed to steel himself. "She has all but slaughtered a people." Loki looked at the Doctor. "What would it mean if we just erased that?"
The Doctor paused. It was strange - Loki was technically even a century older than he himself, he knew, and the Doctor also currently existed in a body outwardly as young as the frost giant, as always pretending to be a much younger man than he was. And Loki was clever and experienced, finishing the Doctor's thoughts and knowing far more about the universe and its different races and planets than any other companion ever had, wielding more power than any of them - so it was hard to remember that in some ways, he could be so much younger still.
"In the really grand scheme of things?" The Doctor managed to give a tired smile. "Probably nothing."
Loki's eyebrows drew together, as he was clearly trying to form a protest – a protest which the Doctor was intimately familiar with, because of course, this wasn't about Ver at all, not really…or, at least, not entirely, he thought.
The Doctor drew a breath before Loki could speak.
"No, saving a single world…it won't mean a thing where the universe is concerned. But for Ver…well, it's one child saved from joining us," he said, and he knew he felt the same sting Loki was trying to hide right now. The Doctor tried to force his face into a smile, even if he could feel the tired pain in every bone of his body.
"It's a burden so heavy for shoulders so small, Loki. Let's not have her carry it with us."
Loki still looked hesitant. "…it will not make our load lighter."
"No," The Doctor shook his head. "But it does make it easier to carry, sometimes." He reached out a hand and tried a weary grin. "Ready to lift it together?"
Xxx
It was a little bit later that Loki looked at the TARDIS console.
Currently it had a clothes dryer wedged into its steering unit, aluminum foil wrapped around its strings, was topped with seven kitchen sieves welded into some sort of star-shaped antennae, there were several pieces of what looked like a disassembled bicycle hanging at what may have been strategic intervals, there was also an upended umbrella and then, of course, Christmas lights wrapped around everything. If Loki had known of more Midgardian institutions, he might have thought it looked like an IKEA and a junkyard had had a lovechild, and then that lovechild had also imploded.
The frost giant glanced back at the Doctor.
"And you're absolutely sure," he said.
It was now a few hours after their defeat of the "wizard", their fourth (and hopefully last) day of Lakvit rapidly coming to an end, but at last they were now back inside the TARDIS, Loki not only having managed to teleport them there, but now also having been able to melt the ice surrounding it.
Inside, nothing had been damaged at all, and now the comforting hum of the machinery and warm golden light was surrounding them as they were preparing to repair a shock-frozen planet.
Ver, who they had brought with them without waking her while they still didn't know what to do with her or whether even the first part of this plan was going to work, was currently still slumbering peacefully on the car seats at the console. Loki and the Doctor had been working for the past few hours – the Doctor mainly on the console itself, wiring up a reverse flux-catalyst and installing magic-resistant overload buffers in his own words (which, yes, he'd made from said clothes-dryer and kitchen equipment, but looking fancy wasn't the point, after all, thank you), while also fixing a quick portion of the console's source code that would enable the TARDIS' engines to work together with Loki's spells.
Loki himself had been busy checking things in his books, painting what looked like a rather complicated circle on the floor of the TARDIS -
("Oh, interesting," the Doctor had commented.
"What?" Loki had looked up.
"She says that tickles.")
- and had been arranging the scepter and several bowls of different substances at what probably were very important locations in his pentagram, the center point of which ended straight at the base of the console.
And now the frost giant had finally gotten back to his feet, regarded the Doctor's handiwork and asked the question.
"What?" the Doctor, ripped from the calculations in his head, blinked at him owlishly.
"I said," Loki repeated. "Are you absolutely sure this…" he gestured toward the contraption the Doctor had built, "…will help your TARDIS connect to my magic and enable us to reverse the spells and deaths?"
"Sure? Me? Oh no, never, would take all the fun out of it," the Doctor grinned at Loki (who predictably only responded to the quip with a flat stare of his own.)
But, even if his new companion – and no, the Doctor thought he would never be able to quite stop the happy double-thump of his hearts whenever someone had decided to travel with him, despite the danger, despite everything – didn't seem entirely happy with the gung-ho nature of the Doctor's preparation, Loki had still made no attempt to move from the circle he had drawn up, was still standing in his pentagram's center waiting for the Doctor to tell him they could start.
The Doctor reached out to put his hand on the lever that would make the TARDIS tear the time vortex wide open for Loki to draw upon; would make her accept the magic woven by him and amplify it. On the scanners they could see Lakvit circling below, the TARDIS now high up in orbit around the planet. The Doctor looked at Loki.
"Ready?"
"Yes," Loki said and when he raised his hands, magic flared out and mingled with the time energy from the TARDIS console like a perfect storm of gold and green.
xxx
When the Doctor had met Loki, when his new, not-yet-companion had first crashed into the TARDIS like a homicidal wrecking ball, a hunted, sharp thing, talking to him had felt a bit like dealing with the Master had - a brilliant mind, yes, but brilliant like a shattered mirror was brilliant, and reaching for it would end in blood.
But now, just four days later, here they were instead, saving a world and, just for once, letting everybody live, and the Doctor couldn't help but laugh as below them, the whiteness on the planet's northern continents was receding. The TARDIS soared in its orbit while time and magic wove an atmospheric net around Lakvit, detailed cities spreading again instead and spots on the darker half of the planet lighting up in a sea of artificial illumination. (The Doctor then also stopped laughing when Loki shot him a bit of a worried look, but the giddy feeling remained long after Lakvit was already turning in space, looking as if nothing had happened at all.)
xxx
"…Doctor?"
The Doctor looked up. It was the first time Loki had spoken after almost having keeled over from the exertion of channeling both the energy of the scepter and the TARDIS, barely catching himself on his hands and knees as the spell was finally done. He had waved off any attempts of the Doctor to help him up – he wasn't that exhausted any more, thank you – but had let himself drop onto the steps straight after, glad that nothing more was required of him.
"Are you feeling better? You just reverse-magicked an entire planet," the Time Lord pointed out, lower lip jutting out as he gave an impressed nod.
"Yes. Well," Loki said, as he tried not to preen too obviously. In fact, he was also very impressed with his own handiwork, but it really was nice if other people pointed out how brilliant you were without prompting. (Or, well, pointed it out at all, he thought wryly.) Loki downed the last of his tea, then set the mug aside as he forced himself back to his feet.
Back inside the TARDIS he had changed his armor and sturdier leathers for the thinner green and black robes he had preferred for days spent in the palace, before. The Doctor had shown him the defence mechanisms of his bizarre ship and it was true that they seemed neigh-impenetrable – meaning, it was alright to feel safe here, for once.
"It was an…interesting exercise," Loki said, tone deliberately lofty. He took a couple steps toward the TARDIS console where he had placed the scepter underneath a scanner to be examined. On the seats, Ver was still sleeping, young face relaxed in the slumber his spell had forced her into. After what she had done to him while wielding the scepter, Loki had felt a brief temptation to also give her a nightmare or two - but surprisingly, that desire had also been gone as quickly as it had come. In the end, he had said it himself – what satisfaction was there, really, to further torment a lonely child?
He turned from her toward the Doctor.
"Have you considered what to do with her yet?"
"Weeell," the Doctor ran a hand through his hair, "Actually – I thought about erasing her memory about this whole thing here and then dropping her off at this boarding school for young people with special abilities? Chap who runs it owes me a favour after that whole phoenix stuff anyway…"
"What?" Loki blinked.
"Erm. Well," the Doctor hedged. "Technically, it's a school for mutants, but she's a Kree-Wraith hybrid – that should count as mutanous enough, shouldn't it?" He frowned. "Mutanous? Wait, is that a word? It sounds like a word."
"A school," Loki cut through what was promising to become one of the Doctor's sidetreks again. "On what planet?"
"Oh. Well. Earth, I suppose," the Doctor winced. "See, I try not to bring too much alien interference to that place and yet-"
"A school on Midgard," Loki repeated, tone sharper than before, but not because he was still begrudging the Doctor's request to not drop Loki off there when he had first fallen into the TARDIS. "Pardon me, Doctor, but in my opinion this would be the quickest way to turn her into an outcast yet again. This universe for some reason seems to have the Asgardian shape as default, with only various shades of white and brown allowed and everything else quickly viewed as aberration."
"Ye-es. For…some reason," the Doctor repeated suspiciously quickly. "I don't like that any more than you do, I promise," he added. "But no, last time I was at that place, they had more than enough interesting-looking students around. I think there was one who looked like a hedgehog? Ver should be fine."
Loki briefly felt the need to massage his temples at this new information, but chose not to. "And you think they'll just take her in?"
"Well, the last time I was there I was there because I had to fix the Earth's timeline after they completely shattered it, so they better." The Doctor shot him a grin and reached for a lever on the console. "Ready to try and surprise a telepath?"
To be concluded…
Aaand there you go! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, even if it took a while - and if you read, please review, every comment does brighten up my day a lot! :D
