A.N.: it's my birthday! (And I am old) Have an update!
This chapter begins the part of our story that syncs up with the MCU timeline. I'm not afraid to change canon details to suit my purposes so if something happens in a way it didn't happen in the movies, roll with it.
This chapter is synced with the movie Thor.
With great care and caution, Loki snuck back into his bedroom to blessedly find his wife still sleeping peacefully.
It was passed even mid morning, breakfast was wrapping up, not that he'd gone, and she was still splayed across their sheets, hair spread out in dark, mussed curls, a look of satisfied peace on her face.
He smirked a little at that, feeling a bit smug on top of his relief that the first part of his plan had worked.
He'd needed her to be fast asleep so he could carry out a scheme of great importance, and even beyond her inherent abilities to see the intentions of others, Kagome was too damn smart and insightful for her own good. She would not have let him leave the room last night if she'd felt even the tiniest fluctuation in his aura. He was not going to drug her so, as crass as it was to say... he'd just... worn her out. It was a phrase more suited to the likes of his brother but it's exactly what he had done.
And it had worked! Better than he thought it would.
She'd eventually been too exhausted to keep her eyes open any longer and her tired body fell into a deep, replenishing sleep.
He'd slipped out of the room, transformed into something small and undetectable to anyone save his wife, and slipped away.
He'd completed phase two by the start of the morning, and now was phase three.
This was going to be a very delicate situation from this moment on, and he would have to tread very, very carefully. Kagome would know he'd done something. Hopefully he could convince her it was a harmless prank between brothers and nothing more.
But she was smart. So so smart. To pull this off would take the upmost care and precision.
He sat on the edge of their bed and brushed a stray tentil of hair from her face, gazing lovingly at her sleep soft features, trying to calm his thoughts by focusing on her deep, even breaths.
Truthfully, he felt a little guilty that we was trying to deceive her as well as everyone else.
It's not like it would work for very long, she would eventually find him out and she would be furious.
But it had to be this way. She would see that soon enough. They all would see that.
He looked out the window again. It was creeping closer to mid day, and if he didn't get Kagome up soon, she would be late for the festivities, and then she really would kill him. As wary as she was about everything happening, she would not miss Thor's coronation for anything in the world.
He leaned down, brushing a soft kiss against her forehead, her nose, her mouth, until she stretched and groaned. Her eyes fluttered open and she stared blankly in the direction of his face until the sleep cleared from her vision.
And then she glared that bone chilling glare.
"There had better be a good reason you're waking me up right now, and it better not have anything to do with what's inside your pants. That's the reason I'm so damn tired in the first place."
He grinned, dragging his eyes down her naked body and watching with interest as her skin flushed as his gaze passed over it.
"A tempting thought, little wife. I had only intended to wake you for the coronation, as it is almost noon, but if you don't get out of bed I'll have to assume your persistent laziness is an invitation, and then we'll both miss-"
She was up and gone in a shot, shrieking that she couldn't believe he'd let her sleep so late before the doors to their bathing room slammed behind her and he chuckled as relief that he'd not revealed himself yet flooded him.
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Aside from Thor, Loki was the first to arrive in the small waiting chamber. Kagome had shooed him on as she was not quite ready yet, and truthfully the less time he spent in her presence the less likely she would be to grow suspicious of him.
And it might be nice to have a few minutes with his brother. No matter what uncertainties the last months had wrought, he still loved his brother.
"Loki!"
He smiled warmly and stepped up to Thor's side, gritting his teeth and enduring Thor's spine shattering shoulder slap.
"Hello, brother. Big day."
"Indeed it is little brother. Where's Kagome?"
"She's still getting dressed. She slept in."
"I was surprised to not see her at breakfast this morning. She's usually up before the dawn when shes excited about something."
Loki glanced to the side to ensure she wasn't about to enter. She was immensely private about certain... things...
"Yes well, she was up late last night."
"And since you also missed breakfast I assume you were also up late. Celebrating early I see." He laughed loudly, though Loki just grimaced at such a crude joke made at his expense.
"Something like that. Listen Thor, I am proud of you, and I love you. I am envious sometimes, but I truly am proud to be your brother."
Thor smiled softly and tugged Loki forward for a brief hug, and then his mother and Kagome arrived.
"Hey if you're giving out hugs, I want one!"
Loki stepped aside and Kagome lept into Thor's embrace, laughing as he spun her around. Then Frigga kissed both her sons' cheeks, and it was time to start.
Sif and the Warriors Three were already in place when Loki stepped through the doors with his mother on one arm and Kagome on the other. The crowd cheered and applauded, always happy to see the royal family even though they weren't the stars of this particular show. Kagome had come so far since her first nervous days here and in the public. Gone was her timidity and reluctance to be seen. Now she smiled and waved proudly. Her grace, love, selflessness and strength had won her a great many followers in her centuries here, and she always treated them all with great care and respect. His mother was most beloved of course, and he felt a great measure of pride to escort two of the strongest women on Asgard on each of his arms.
They reached the end of the procession aisle and took their places on the throne stairs, and watched Thor enter and work the crowd with all of his pride, happiness and charisma. The next minutes were a blur of nerves, happiness and anxious anticipation. Thor's swearing in was watched breathlessly by all, even Kagome, who seemed too distracted to feel Loki's internal unrest as he waited for his well planned interruption.
And then, just as Odin was about to announce the new king of Asgard, chaos struck.
"Frost Giants."
Time sped forward quickly, as the crowd turned to disperse.
Loki turned to his mother and pushed Kagome into her arms.
"Mother, take her with you, get out of here."
"Very well my son. But be careful."
"Wait, What?!"
He watched for several seconds as his mother pulled a loudly protesting Kagome out of the room and far away from danger.
Her safety was paramount. No matter how angry she would be at him, at least she'd be safe.
He followed his brother and father to the underground storage chamber, and readied himself to begin phase 4.
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Thor didn't realize how predictable he was, how easy he was to lead into the same pitfalls over and over again.
This was why he wasn't ready to be king.
He could be played like a child's instrument with almost no effort.
With a few simple words and phrases Thor was worked up and ready to commit all out treason to get his blood soaked glory.
He sent their friends away to prepare, and then it was just them.
"I will send someone for Kagome, she'll want-"
"No."
Thor blinked, suddenly unsure. He knew exactly how Kagome would react to being left behind, and she was probably already hopping mad that Loki had locked her away with their mother.
"You know how she reacts to being left out, Loki."
"Yes but... we have reason to suspect she might be... with child. You cannot say a word to anyone, we aren't sure yet. But I won't risk her safety for anything right now."
Thor's eyes lit up with profound happiness, and he almost felt guilty.
"Brother that's great news! All the more reason to show these monsters we won't tolerate any danger to our home. Let us go."
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However he thought this little jaunt here would go, it was not like this.
Agent of chaos he may be, but this was not supposed to happen. They were overwhelmed, swarmed, doomed if someone didn't show up to intervene as they'd been supposed to.
"Don't let them touch you!"
The warning came too late as one of the frost giants grabbed him firmly around the wrist.
Loki watched his metal bracer and the leather sleeve underneath freeze solid and crumble away, but his skin underneath did not turn black as it ought to have, dying under the extreme cold of frost giant blood. He watched with confusion and dread as the hue of his skin shifted to a deep blue that matched perfectly the hand grasping him.
'What is this? I'm not... I'm not doing this...'
The blue spread further up his arm. He quickly dispatched the frost giant and shook his hand clean of whatever curse had overtaken it, swallowing down the panic clawing at his throat to continue fighting their way out of this mayhem.
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The casket glowed at the far end of the storage room, taunting him, mocking him, whispering all the nasty things he'd ever felt and had almost completely pushed from his heart for good.
He approached it slowly, slowly, one measured step after another until he stood right before it, felt its magic swell out and brush against him, wishing him to take hold of it and unleash it.
He would take hold of it, but only for his own purposes. He needed solid proof.
As soon as Thor had been banished to Earth he'd slunk down here to hideaway, unable to face anyone as a maelstrom brewed inside of him.
And now here he was, determined to get his answers, but petrified of what they may be.
He'd thought his father's favoritism skewed toward Thor for being the eldest and being most like him in his battle prowess.
But if what he suspected was true... then there was a much more devastating reason his father didn't love him as much.
Maybe didn't even love him at all.
He reached out with shaking hands and grabbed the handles of the casket and watched with a sinking feeling of despair as his skin began to shift again, blue bleeding up from his hands to his arms across his chest and face.
And there it was, the sure sign of his damnation, the knife in the gut of all of his dreams. This was the reason he'd never stood a chance of stepping out of Thor's shadow. This was the reason he'd been looked over time and time again.
He was not a son of Odin.
He was not a prince of Asgard.
If he wasn't even born here, then who was he?
Who was he?
"Stop!"
He set the casket back down on its pedestal, ready to be be done with the damn thing. He didn't want it, he didn't want this. He hadn't... he hadn't wanted this.
He stood paralyzed, pieces of his mind and heart cracking away, scattering about.
He could feel Odin's stare, knew he knew about his revelation, that he'd discovered the lie.
The lie.
How had he not seen it? All this time his life, his name, his title and position, his family had been a lie and he'd never even noticed.
He, who had been built on turning tales and deceptions, who's very bones were knit together with chaos and lies... had been lied to.
WHO WAS HE.
No... not who...
With tears in his eyes, choking him, he breathed a shuddering breath.
"Am I cursed?"
One last ditch effort to dispel his growing horror, admit he may be wrong.
"No."
More cracking, more splintering, more agony.
"What am I?"
"You are my son."
True enough. He detected no falsehood in that. Maybe after so much time he did see him as a son.
He turned slowly, slowly, little shards of his heart, of his mind breaking off and drifting away like the blowing flurries of ice and snow he'd apparently been born to.
He met Odin's gaze, his vision burning with anger, disgust, sadness and tears.
"What more?"