Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality
Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen
The next morning, the sky was blue, the birds were singing, and the sun was shining. Loki woke up, peeled himself off of Sigyn, and rekindled the fire so he could make breakfast. As his siblings woke up, first Hela and Hodir, then Balder, and finally Thor and Sigyn, Loki fried sweetbreads on the hot rocks suspended over the fire. Naturally, everyone adored them, and everyone was very excited to get started on their hunting. Since it was rather late in the morning, Sigyn started out walking into the city, with a link to Loki and enough money to choke a dragon.
Thor and Balder readied their weapons, and they began on the hunt. Balder was very pale and quiet all morning, and despite Hodir's best efforts to cheer him, he remained melancholy. As the were quietly walking through the woods, Balder crept up beside Loki.
"Brother?" He whispered, avoiding eye contact.
"Hm?"
Balder hesitated. "I love you. Never... never forget that, alright?"
Loki looked at him in surprise, loading an arrow into his bow. "And I, you, Balder. Why choose this moment to voice your affections?"
Balder shook his head, his eyes filling with tears. "No reason." With that, he returned to Hodir's side, guiding him through the underbrush. Not very long after, he went up to Thor, and said the same thing.
"Brother, what funk has gotten into you?" Thor asked, smiling confusedly at his younger brother. "You sound like you're saying goodbye!"
"Perhaps I am." Balder murmured miserably, walking back to Hodir.
"Balder, what's going on?" Hela asked. "You can tell us, whatever it is."
Balder only shook his head, staring at the ground.
Loki was desperate to lighten the mood, as gloom settled on the little party like a cloud. He tried to think of something that would make his brother smile, and thought back to the way Loki'd throw rocks at him when he was younger, just to annoy him when they bounced off, not harming him in the slightest. He was always slightly annoyed, but he found it hilarious that absolutely nothing could hurt him. Just at that moment, Balder moved away from his twin's side, walking with trembling legs up to Hela, telling her in a shaking voice that he loved her. Loki crept up to Hodir.
"Brother." He whispered. "There's a ten-point buck forty paces to the north of you."
Hodir raised an eyebrow. "Why are you telling me this?"
Loki put his bow into Hodir's hands. "I'll aim for you, and you take the glory of bringing it down."
Hodir looked shocked. "You'd do that? For me? Woah, thank you, Loki!"
Loki bent over next to Hodir, quietly guiding the bow to aim at Balder. "Just a smidge to the left, now... hold... and release."
The arrow flew through the air, sinking deep into Balder's chest, and he fell to the ground with an anguished cry. Loki blinked, uncomprehendingly as Hela and and Thor rushed to help their brother.
"Did I get it, Loki?" Hodir asked excitedly.
Loki gaped in horror at the amount of blood gushing from the wound over Balder's heart. "Wha... But... He's not supposed to..." He looked down at the arrows in his hands, only too late realizing they were tipped with mistletoe twigs. "What have I done?" He breathed, blood draining from his face. "Oh, Allfathers, what have I done?"
"Loki?" Hodir asked, entirely oblivious. "Erm... what happened?"
Loki bolted across the underbrush, kneeling by Balder's head. "Brother, I- I didn't know..." He gasped, his voice high and hysterical.
Balder's pain-filled gaze shifted to to meet his. "I..." He gurgled weakly.
"No, no don't talk. just ho-hold still." Loki assured him, as Hela desperately tried to stem the flow of blood. "We'll get you through this, just hold on!"
Balder brushed his blood-stained fingers along Loki's arms. "I-I... forgive... you, Broth..er..."
And he was gone.
Thor grabbed his shoulders and shook them desperately. "No, Balder! Come back!" Balder's head lolled limply to the side, a thin trickle of blood escaping his lips. "Don't go, brother, please!"
Hela sat back on her heels, covered in her brother's blood. "Don't you get it?" She screamed. "This is what he saw last night! This is what's been bothering him all day! He's not coming back, Thor!"
Thor looked between their faces, despair etched across his features. Hodir walked up behind them hands outstretched, trying to feel where they were. "Would somebody please tell me what happened?"
The three of them glanced up at Balder's twin, not exactly sure what to do or think.
"Hello?" Hodir asked, entirely not amused. "I can hear you breathing, I know you're there."
"Hodir..." Hela breathed. "Balder, he... he's gone."
"Gone where?" Hodir snapped impatiently.
"He's dead, Hodir." Thor said, as if he didn't truly believe it himself.
Hodir's eyes widened, finally understanding. "Loki, you... you aimed the arrow at..."
"You did this?" Thor roared, springing to his feet as thunder clapped ominously overhead.
Loki scrambled backwards away from Thor, terrified. "It-it was an accident, I didn't mean it, I swear! You must believe me!"
Hodir dropped to his knees on the bloody grass, hands fumbling for the dagger he kept at his hip.
Hela whirled around, reaching to wrest the blade from his fingers. "Hodir, NO!"
It was too late. Hodir had sunk the blade hilt-deep below his heart. Within seconds, he, too, was no more.
The three remaining stared at the bodies of their younger siblings, numb, and empty. They glanced at each other, then back at the horror. Light and Joy had gone from this world, and Darkness and Wisdom had soon followed it. There was nothing more but grey oblivion.
Loki?
Loki looked around frantically. Who was speaking?
It's me, Thalionen.
Oh, yes. His link with Sigyn.
Not now, Melleth. He responded, gazing numbly at his blood-stained hands. Norns, there's so much blood!
There was silence. Even the birds stopped singing, and slowly, it started to rain. Gentle light droplets falling from the clouds, kissing the earth and trees, almost as if they were weeping. Thor, for the first time since his infancy, was crying.
"What do we do, now?" Hela asked.
That was, indeed, the question. "This is all Loki's fault." Thor growled through his tears.
"That doesn't matter." Hela quietly stated. "We... we need to get them home. For a funeral. To get ourselves cleaned up. To mourn."
Thor gave Loki a baleful glare. "You will pay, brother."
Loki was very sure he would. Odin would kill him. There was no doubt. Loki was for the ax, and Thor would probably be glad to swing it. What kind of monster kills his own brothers?
"We... We should wait for Sigyn to return, and then we'll go home." Hela declared. "Heimdall has most likely already notified Father."
"What the hell?" Sigyn screamed. "Loki?"
Speak of the elf, Loki supposed, and she'd appear.
"Why is everyone blaming me? I swear, it was an accident!" Loki weakly defended himself, not sure anymore if that was the truth.
Sigyn dropped to her knees beside her husband, completely at a loss for words. She numbly held out the satchel she'd been wearing, but nobody took it from her.
Hela stood up, tears streaming down her face. "H-Heimdall?" With that, they were whisked away to Asgard.
A company of Einherjar were waiting for them, and they immediately snapped handcuffs on Loki, and led him away. Odin and his Mother were standing on either side of the bridge outside the observatory. The queen was quietly weeping into her hands, but she offered Loki a mournful smile. Odin only glared. Loki shook.
It hadn't seemed real at the moment they had died. It hadn't seemed real when Sigyn found out. It hadn't even seemed real when Odin glared at him. The moment it felt real was when the door to the cell clanged shut behind him.
Loki was a murderer. He had killed his own brothers, and he was spending the night in a cell. His trial would be held at dawn, and he would most likely die after that.
It was over, and he couldn't help but feel miserable.
Sigyn must be so disappointed in him.
If someone said three years from now, he'd be long gone,
I guess I just didn't see how I was all wrong.
Who Knew, P!nk
Sigyn left the satchel full of hair in front of Lady Sif's door, somehow feeling that fulfilling her duty would make the situation better, somehow. She slowly returned to her room, not entirely sure where else to go. Vali was playing with his animals on the floor, and somehow, it seemed so wrong that his life could go on like normal. He'd barely be affected by this at all. Sigyn, on the other hand, was almost always with the twins, when Loki was busy. Never again...
"Mama?" Vali looked up. "You're back! Where's Father? Did you get me a present from Nid-a-vil-er?"
Sigyn silently sat down on the bed, running her hands through her hair. "Your father... he made a mistake." She started, her voice hollow.
Vali nodded, sensing something was wrong, and crawled onto the bed beside her.
"He... there was an accident, and... he's in jail." Sigyn tried to explain.
"In jail?" Vali echoed. "He's not a bad guy!"
"No, he's not." Sigyn agreed. "But, the Allfather doesn't know that. He... thinks your father did something really bad, and tomorrow, they're going to have a trial for him."
Vali stared at her with wide eyes. "What's a trial?"
Sigyn sighed. "It's when the Allfather listens to people who were there say what happened, and he decides if the really bad thing that happened was your father's fault. And if he thinks it is, he gets punished. And if not, he gets to go free."
"It wasn't his fault, though, was it?"
Sigyn bit her lip as a tear trailed down her cheek. "I hope not."
She stood up, and ran out of the room. She had to find Loki.
As she'd been in the dungeons an unhealthy amount of time, it didn't take long. Loki was tightly curled in the corner of his cell, staring with blank eyes at the stones of the wall opposite him.
"Loki?" She asked breathlessly.
His eyes slowly shifted to meet hers, but he remained silent.
"Are you... well?"
He shook his head dumbly and went back to staring at the wall.
Sigyn reached her hand through the bars. Loki didn't respond. "We're going to be alright, Loki." She was trying to convince herself just as much as him.
Again, Loki may as well have been made of stone.
"Can you... tell me what happened?" She asked, her voice cracking.
Loki shook his head, again, and slowly closed his eyes.
"Too painful." Sigyn agreed. "Just... we have to be here for each other, Thalionen. You can't leave me alone, please."
"I'm not... worthy of that title." Loki whispered brokenly. "I'm a monster."
Sigyn widened her eyes, tears rolling down her face. "Loki, no matter what happened, you'll always be my hero. You're not a monster, you're... you made a mistake, that's all."
Loki shook his head, and turned away, refusing to speak again. Sigyn stayed by his cell all night, silently weeping.
It's interesting, writing something I actually have experience in.
Next time, we'll have the trial, the Massacre of the Valkeries, and the funeral.
A heart will give you a tissue, a review will let you give Loki a hug.
Depressingly, TheOnlyHuman.