Chapter 10: Loki's Change
"We should never have let him go." Sif said in regret after Loki told them everything that happened.
"There was no stopping him." Fandral argued.
"Well, at least he's only banished, not dead." Volstagg said optimistically.
"Which is what we'd all be if that guard hadn't told Odin where we'd gone." Loki said.
"How did the guard even know?" Fandral wondered suspiciously.
"I told him." Loki said.
"What?" Volstagg stiffened.
"I told him to go to Odin after we'd left." Loki repeated, "He should be flogged for taking so long."
"We should never have reached Jotunheim." Sif sighed.
"You told the guard?" Fandral glared at him.
"I saved our lives." Loki said, "And Thor's. I had no idea Father would banish him for what he did."
"Loki." Sif suddenly looked up, "You must go to the Allfather and convince him to change his mind."
"And if I do, then what?" Loki frowned, "I love Thor more dearly than any of you, but you know what he is. He's arrogant. He's reckless. He's dangerous. You saw how he was today. Is that what Asgard needs from its king?" He left them after he finished. Sylvia narrowed her eyes and went after him.
Loki went downstairs to the weapons vault. She had an idea for what he was going to do after what had happened during the fight.
He picked up the Casket from the Frost Giants. And he started to turn blue from his hands. He was visibly shaking.
"Stop!" Odin appeared from the other side and Loki put the Casket down then turned to see him. He slowly turned back to normal from all blue.
"Am I cursed?" Loki asked, clearly fearing for the answer.
"No." Odin answered without hesitation.
"What am I?" He was more afraid this time.
"You are my son." Odin replied.
"What more than that?" A pause, "The Casket wasn't the only thing you took from Jotunheim that day, was it?"
"No." He admitted and decided it was time for the truth, "In the aftermath of the battle, I went into the temple and found a baby. Small for a giant's offspring. Abandoned, suffering, left to die. Laufey's son."
"Laufey's son." Loki repeated in disbelief.
"Yes." The Allfather confirmed.
"You were knee-deep in Jotun blood, why would you take me?" He questioned.
"You were and innocent child."
"No. You took me for a purpose. What was it?" Loki was losing control, "Tell me!" He yelled.
"I thought we could unite our kingdoms one day." Odin said quietly, "Bring about an alliance, bring about permanent peace. Through you."
"What?" Loki breathed.
"But those plans no longer matter."
"So I am no more than another stolen relic, locked up here until you might have a use of me."
"Why do you twist my words?"
"You could have told me what I was from the beginning, why didn't you?"
"You're my son." Odin repeated, "I wanted only to protect you from the truth."
"Because I'm the monster parents tell their children about at night?"
"No, no."
"You know, it all makes sense know!" Loki ranted, "Why you favored Thor all these years! Because no matter how much you claim to love me, you could never have a Frost Giants sitting on the throne of Asgard!"
There was silence, then Odin suddenly fell.
"Guards!" Loki shouted, "Guards, please, help!" A few guards rushed into the vault and rounded up around the Allfather.
"Loki – "Sylvia attempted to say things to him, but he pretended not to listen.
"Allfather, we must speak to you urgently." Sif said as she and the Warriors Three walked into the throne room, with Loki sitting on the throne.
"My friends." Loki welcomed them.
"Where's Odin?" Fandral looked around, as if expecting the Allfather to walk out of somewhere.
"Father has fallen into the Odinsleep. Mother fears he may never awaken again." Loki told them.
"We should speak to here." Sif said.
"She has refused to leave my father's bedside." Loki continued, "You can bring your urgent matter to me." He banged the spear on the floor to show his power, "You king."
The four people looked at each other and decided to kneel.
"My King, we would ask that you end Thor's banishment." Sif requested.
"My first command cannot be to undo the Allfather's last." Loki said, "We're on the brink of war with Jotunheim. Our people need a sense of continuity, in order to feel safe in these difficult times. All of us must stand together for the good of Asgard."
"Yes, of course." Sif said, clearly couldn't find a way to argue the perfect speech.
"Good. Then you will have my word."
"If I may beg the indulgence of Your Majesty to perhaps reconsider…" Fandral tried to reason.
"We're done!" Loki boomed and they walked away. "You can come out now, Sylv."
"Don't." She murmured as he was about to mock her sneaking skills.
"How did I act as the king?" He grinned.
"I thought you would be a better king than Thor, but it seems that I was wrong." She sniffed, "But as an Asgardian I suppose I should say you did very well, my King." She seethed the last words out in fake respect.
"I'm going to tell Thor." Loki announced.
"Tell him what? That the Allfather's dead?" Sylvia sneaked into his mind.
"You know I wasn't planning to – "
"I know you want the throne more than anything else, but you've got it, you have the throne and proved that you're no better than Thor."
"I am your King, and you, my friend, shall not question the King." He said forcefully.
"Well, then I think we are done." She did her best not to call him an idiot and stormed off.
She wandered nowhere in particular then decided to go and find Sif. The place with the most possibility was the hall. And there were there.
"…Asgard on the brink of war," Fandral was saying to Volstagg, "yet you've managed to consume four wild boar, six pheasant, a side of beef, and too casks of ale. Shame on you. Don't you care?" Ah, typical.
"Do not mistake my appetite for apathy!" Volstagg defended himself.
"Stop it, both of you!" Sif growled at them, "Stop." She repeated, "We all know what we have to do."
"We must go." Hogun said, "We must find Thor."
"It's treason." Fandral argued, "To hell with reason, it's suicide."
"Thor would do the same for us." Sif said, "Now shush. Heimdall might be watching."
"Heimdall demands your presence." A guard walked in and told them.
"We're doomed." Fandral shrugged.
"Seriously?" Sylvia sighed.
"What are you doing here?" Sif asked.
"Loki's mad." She said simply and they went on the way.
"You would defy the commands of Loki, our king, break every oath you have taken as warriors, and commit reason to bring Thor back?" Heimdall asked them as they reached there.
"Yes." Fandral answered uncertainly.
"Good." Heimdall nodded, "I am bound by honor to our king. I cannot open the bridge to you."
"Complicated fellow, isn't he?" Fandral frowned, "Now what do we do?"
"Look!" Sif motioned to the Bifrost with the sword in it.
"You comin'?" He asked Sylvia.
"If Loki's going to do something out of line, then I think I should stay." She replied, "Trust me, and bring Thor back."
"Alright." Sif said and led the Warriors Three into the Bifrost.
"You can't see him, right?" She turned to Heimdall.
"Yes." He admitted.
"Where did he last go?"
There was a pause. "Jotunheim."
Crap.
Loki walked in. She was sure that he didn't come back to Asgard via Bifrost. He was a little surprised to see Sylvia here but as always, hid it well.
"Tell me, Loki, how did you get the Jotuns into Asgarol?" Heimdall asked calmly.
"You think the Bifrost is the only way in and out of this realm?" Loki sniffed, "There are secret paths between the worlds to which even you, with all your gifts, are blind. But I have need of them no longer, now that I am king."
"Loki, I warn you – "
He ignored her, "And I say, for your act of treason, you are relived of your duties as Gatekeeper, and no longer citizen of Asgard."
"Then I need no longer obey you." Heimdall said and raised his sword.
Loki held up the Casket and released a bright blue force of power to freeze him thoroughly.
"Loki, you really are going to do this?" She knew she shouldn't change too much in the past or else it would cause things in the future to change dramatically.
"There's no other way." He replied darkly, "And if you're going to stand in my way, I've got no other choice."
"I'm always neutral." Sylvia replied, "But I will protect this realm as long as it's my home."
"I take that as you're in the way."
"No. I thought you were going to 'save' your dad from the Jotuns afterwards." She rolled her eyes, annoyed that there were people this complicated, "If you promise to be your normal self then I'm in." She took a deep breath, "I'm not willing to fight you, Loki, but I won't say that for them." A few Frost Giants walked in from the opened Bifrost.
"I suggest you get out of the way." Loki said quietly.
"I would have agreed." A sword of sharp stone formed in her right hand, "But I can't do too much of anything."
"This way." He said to Laufey and led the way. A few giants remained in the room to guard the Bifrost and Sylvia chose to Apparate to the village.
"Right, you can't change a thing in this time or else…" She murmured that over and over, but still couldn't help herself from looking back to the bridge which led from the palace to the Bifrost.
It was a long wait. Then she saw the Bifrost open and someone flew in. She sighed in relief. Thor was back.
Not too long later she saw someone – two people – going into the Bifrost. She couldn't stand waiting here like nothing was happening anymore.
Sylvia used air powers to fly to there. She didn't want to land on anyone by Apparation. When she got there, she saw the guarding Frost Giants on the floor, with a scatter of ice not far beside them, and Heimdall nowhere to be seen. The Bifrost was open and the energy from it was frozen in a strange shape of a tree.
Loki and Thor were fighting on the bridge. They were fighting. It was stopped by the time she saw them. Loki was on the floor, clearly beaten, and Thor was staring at the Bifrost, not very sure what to do. Thor's hammer was on Loki, holding him down.
"Do you hear me, Brother?" Loki shouted at Thor in an attempt to get up, but he wasn't worthy, "There's nothing you can do!"
Thor stood there for a few more seconds and suddenly started to hit the bridge with his fists. The bridge started to break, and he summoned the hammer to hit it harder.
"What are you doing?" Sylvia asked in shock. If he breaks the bridge…
"If you destroy the bridge, you'll never see her again!" Loki was thinking the same. Finally, something normal from him. Seemed like Thor has got a… girlfriend from Midgard.
"Forgive me, Jane." Thor murmured. Sylvia now remembered his girlfriend he introduced to them during the search for the stones. He gave a final strike and the bridge broke into pieces, making them all fly backwards by the explosion.
Loki fell first. Sylvia grabbed his hand and grabbed hold of the spear with her free hand. Thor grabbed hold of the other side of the spear, but he hasn't got anything to grab on the other side. When they thought they were all going to fall into the darkness, Odin suddenly appeared and grabbed Thor's ankle. They made a weird human chain.
"I could have done it, Father!" Loki shouted to the Allfather, "I could have done it! For you! For all of us!"
"No, Loki." Odin said.
"Loki, no." Thor warned him.
He still let go. Sylvia gripped hard on his hand, refusing to let go of him.
"It's fine, Sylv." He murmured.
"If that's your way of reassuring – "She didn't get to finish when a strong blow of wind swung them hard. Her hand was tired from a long time of pressure and slowly slipped from the spear.
"NO!" Thor yelled and tried to follow, but Odin was grabbing his ankle.
"No." Odin murmured.
The broken bridge became smaller and smaller in their sight as they fell into nothingness.