Chapter 3
When Loki woke up again sometime later his head was pounding painfully with the echo of the Seiðr which had knocked him out before. In another surrounding and had he not been so exerted from locating her Seiðr previously, he could have shielded himself against the onslaught. He was unsure if he would have been successful, but he definitely would have tried. He recognized quickly that The Other or whoever else was on the ship had taken the time to bind him. Heavy and enchanted chains were wound around his body and connected to a muzzle, restricting all possibilities he had hoped for to escape. Anger bubbled through his mind again as the bindings reminded him of the Allfather.
Loki let his gaze wander through the cell, intent on locating something with which he could free himself and he was surprised to see that The Other had locked the princess into the same cell. The woman was still unconscious and lying on the ground. Loki did not know if she had simply exerted herself with the overuse of her own powers in a futile defence attempt or if she had indeed fought with The Other after he had lost consciousness. He could not make out if she was injured either.
Loki let his own Seiðr flow to the surface of his body, testing the chains which were binding him for any trace of weaknesses. The frustrated sound he made at finding none was muffled by the muzzle over his mouth.
The Other had promised him worse than pain in retribution if he failed in his attempt to conquer Midgard and secure the other infinity stone to Thanos. Could Odin somehow have predicted this to happen? Had the Allfather only sent him from Asgard and its powerful protection to get rid of him without sullying his own hands?
Loki shook his head slightly before he could let his dark thoughts wander too far. No, he had spoken to no one about what happened to him after falling from the Bifrost. Frigga and Thor had questioned him often enough on it, but he had kept his silence. The reasons why he was here mattered little though. He needed to think on how to get out of this situation again and very quickly if he wanted to escape alive.
The princess stirred a little while later with a groan. She had been lying on her stomach, so Loki had been unable to catch a glimpse of her features while they had been obscured by her wavy mane.
Her eyes were wide with horror when she sat up and turned to look around the cell. Her gaze came to rest on Loki's bound form a second later and the trickster noted on a trickle of blood having run from her nose and dried there. The colour confused him though. It did not appear as a clear red, but rather there seemed to be something shimmering in it.
The princess got to her feet, clearly swaying a little, looking outside of the cell and into the deserted hall. Weirdly enough, her horrified expression had calmed a tad bit as she gazed at him, almost as if his presence reassured her in some bizarre way.
She said nothing as she stepped over to Loki and reached out one hand towards him, simply touching a piece of the thick chains wound around the god for a second.
Loki did not know what kind of spell the princess may have used but the chains crumbled to nothing but rust in the matter of a few seconds. He could have done without the rust lingering in his mouth though.
Some more of the horror had left her eyes once Loki stood free again and she remained standing close to him, peering up at him inquiringly.
"Are you not thinking about anything?" the princess broke the tension filled silence between them and her tone conveyed the bewilderment she must be feeling. Weirdly, there had not been a bad tension between them, but rather one filled with innocent curiosity and her gaze had been free of any malice.
Loki could not remember having been faced with such an open and neutral expression in a very long while. Her words confused him though "A rather odd thing to ask" he commented with a frown. He looked more closely at the princess's features and although her eye colour was intriguing, something felt off about them, but he could not pinpoint what it was. His instincts told him to be cautious though.
A rustling noise further down the hall let them break their intense eye contact. Loki immediately whirled around to the origin of the noise. He doubted that they would have more than a few moments if their captors noted on him being freed of his chains. Loki could only assume that the princess had not been seen as a threat.
When he turned back to the princess, her eyes were wide again with horror. His brows furrowed when the young woman inched closer to him, as if she was expecting protection from him.
She reached out towards the wall and placed one of her palms on it as the rustling increased.
Loki was surprised to watch her golden Seiðr pour into the wall and around them and it formed a kind of sphere around them. There may not have been a definite spell behind the sphere, but it seemed to emit a kind of hum which definitely sounded protective to Loki's ear. Once they were safe, he would definitely inquire about how the princess had just done this.
He switched his thoughts to the pressing problem on hand, namely getting out of this ship as quickly as possible.
The trickster's lips pulled upwards into the hint of a smile when the ship suddenly gave a strong lurch, indicating they were passing through a passageway between the realms. This was the loophole he needed to transport them out without danger of someone being able to follow them immediately.
He held out a hand towards the princess mutely and without a beat of hesitation as if she trusted him fully, she placed her own hand in his gently.
Loki closed his long fingers around the princess's hand and held on tightly during the blink of transportation needed to bring them back to Midgard. As they had been closer to it than to Asgard he had chosen earth as the easier location.
They reappeared exactly where The Other had taken them, namely in the princess's apartment.
Loki's eyes focused on their entwined hands for a moment. The princess's Seiðr and his own were both flowing around their physical connection.
He had seen this before when Frigga had first taught him about Seiðr and how to use it. The memory flashed through his mind momentarily. He had been very young still and sat on Frigga's lap as she had conjured butterflies of pure light to her palm to entertain him. He had reached out to chase them with his fingers and instead his Seiðr had reached out and connected with Frigga's Seiðr. He still remembered how her blueish Seiðr had flowed in tendrils next to his pale green Seiðr, still weak and just forming.
Now though, their Seiðr almost seemed to mix rather than flow next to each other without actually touching as his own and Frigga's had done so long ago.
The princess had obviously noticed their connection as well and her eyes only snapped up to Loki's features when he wanted to sever their physical connection and let go of her hand. Her previously almost peaceful expression switched to confusion for a second, before she noticed someone behind Loki and her gaze turned angry and suspicious.
Loki could only watch the princess's golden Seiðr unfurl around them and flood through the small apartment. He sensed the presence behind him and recognized it to be Thor's, but the God of Thunder was not alone. Without looking back Loki did not know for sure which Avenger had accompanied the blond god, but it mattered little.
"They mean no harm" Loki tried to reassure the princess and calm her down. Her Seiðr seemed dangerously close to lashing out again at the strangers in her apartment, but it almost felt soothing as it flowed over himself.
"They are with you?" the princess asked, focusing intently back on Loki. The Seiðr was cackling around them like thunder conjured by Thor himself, ready to lash out at any second.
The trickster nodded his confirmation curtly. He almost would have liked to shake his head in the negative and see what she may do to Thor and the Avengers, but he could not be sure when The Other may return for them and getting to safety was more important now.
It took a little more reassuring words and some guidance for the princess to reign in her rogue Seiðr and they could finally make their way out of the apartment and to the Avengers Tower.
The situation did not get any easier from there though.
The princess had not spoken a word, but kept her hold on Loki's hand with surprising strength. He was confused by this fact alone already. If the young woman had indeed lived on Midgard, she probably would feel belonging for the mortals she had lived among. Nothing pointed to the fact though that she may have recognized the villain who had attacked earth over two years ago.
She actually appeared calmer in his proximity than she did when Thor tried to come closer and speak to her. Her Seiðr immediately whipped around herself and Loki in angry visible tendrils, which only calmed again once everyone left the room beside Loki. The princess had not appeared overly friendly to the Avengers either and her gaze took on an almost hostile quality as she gazed at them before the door finally closed for good to the hall.
"Explain again please who she is supposed to be" Tony Stark asked into the silence in the room. He had gathered the Avengers, including Thor, into one of the meeting rooms, a few floors beneath the guest room. Jarvis had already pulled up the live stream from the guest room, showing Loki and the woman just gazing at each other for long moments.
Thor sighed. It was obvious the situation had been taxing for him. He had rushed back to the Avengers Tower a few hours ago. Frantically asking for help in locating his missing siblings. The Avengers, especially Tony, had been more or less convinced that Loki must have simply captured the supposed princess of Asgard. The God of Thunder appeared more tired than any of them had ever seen him.
"She is my sister" Thor repeated what he had already explained numerous times before.
"Great, so, beside psychopathic Reindeer Games we now have a second lunatic god to deal with?" Black Widow commented with a voice laced with sarcasm.
"Loki is my brother" Thor reinforced with a little growl. He may not agree with everything the trickster had done, but in the last two years his brother had not misbehaved even once.
"He killed 80 people last time he had been here without batting an eye" was the dark comment.
"Well…" Thor scratched his head "he is adopted". He had told the Avengers already that Loki and he were not related by blood, not that it changed anything in his mind.
"And how could she be on earth for so long without detection?" Captain America ignored the bickering. It was worrying that an unknown creature could just appear out of nowhere and abduct Loki and the princess likewise.
"Better question, how long are they going to stay?" Tony threw in with his eyes still on the screen.
"Our sister needs to calm down before we can use the Bifrost. It is too dangerous when her Seiðr remains so unstable" Thor may not be an expert, but he remembered enough to know that forcing her to Asgard through the Bifrost right now, could very well harm him and Loki.
He had expected that meeting his rightful sister would go over differently. Thor had hoped for some spark of recognition, but nothing in that direction had occurred.
The trickster himself was suspicious though now. The woman clearly had worked with The Other and Thanos and he could not fathom her reasons for doing so. Neither had she asked for their reasons yet why they had been in her apartment to begin with.
Loki was surprised again, when the young woman sat down on the bed and finally let go of his hand, looking up at him inquiringly "Who are you exactly?" her voice was calm and collected as she voiced her first question.
The trickster met her inquiring gaze with a frown and forced some impassivity on his features "You should know who I am" he answered vaguely "What name have you used?".
The woman tilted her head sideways before she sighed "Freiya is the name I have been given" and she shook her head slightly "I do not know from where I should know you though".
"You have lived on Midgard" Loki pointed out and crossed his arms over his chest.
She shook her head again "I have not been here for five years" the princess exclaimed and a flash of grief visibly flashed over her features. She suddenly started to pick under her nails, noticing that there was still dried blood visible.
Loki frowned only deeper. Something clicked in his mind as he recalled what The Other and the princess had said to each other. If the princess indeed had not been on Midgard for the last five years, then she indeed had not witnessed his attacks on Midgard.
"You were in another dimension for the last five years?" Loki checked what he had already concluded himself. The princess must have received an infinity stone from Thanos, most likely with the quest to look for others.
Freiya's expression fell visibly, but she nodded in confirmation, trying not to let her thoughts wander to the last five years. The thoughts of the others in the building had thankfully faded to an inaudible whisper in the back of her mind and the tower was remote or rather high enough that the people in the streets were too far away to cloud her mind.
Loki's expression closed off fully. The princess had just confirmed that his conclusion had been correct. She had worked with Thanos and most likely willingly at that. "Why?" he all but hissed through clenched teeth.
Freiya visibly startled at the apparent change of the trickster's mood and tone. Her shoulders dropped and she sighed. Her expression seemed to switch between sadness, anger and something which may be hysteria.
He was surprised when the princess actually turned from him and looked out of the large window on the other side of the room. Loki thought that he would not receive any kind of answer at all, when Freiya spoke up in an eerie tone.
"You know, all I ever wanted was to belong somewhere" the princess said "I never knew why everyone around me aged and died, while I remained untouched by time. I don't even know anymore just how old I am. I had no idea there was life beyond earth..."
Loki listened to the princess attentively and he could feel the deep pain bleeding into her tone.
"The Other found me two centuries ago. He showed me glimpses of worlds, planets, dimensions, realities however you want to call them, of which I never knew that they existed. I still do not know who I was supposed to be…" she paused for a moment and turned back to face the trickster, tears glistened in her eyes "… Thanos promised me my real origins if I could find the other stones" she admitted and shook her head with a huff and her voice turned bitter with her next words "How utterly foolish I obviously was, right, brother?"
Loki took a startled step back. He could not detect any untruths in her eyes, but he still could not be sure just yet. "So, you do know who I am" he retorted, not hiding his suspicion anymore.
Freiya shook her head "No, I do not, not really at least" and she hesitated for long moments, before she decided to drop all pretence "The others' thoughts about you were less than favourable though and Thor's thoughts of finding your sister were all but screams in their volume".
The trickster blinked for a moment at this unexpected piece of information and he immediately focused his own Seiðr on enforcing the barrier around his own thoughts. His thoughts reeled at all the things she may have already seen within his mind. There were spells which allowed you to spy on another's thoughts or other means like the Mind Stone to even control and manipulate another completely, but that was very complex Seiðr usage and stood in stark contrast to the princess's apparent lack of tutelage in the field.
Freiya shook her head quickly and a slight smile ghosted over her lips "Don't worry. You are keeping your thoughts guarded. That's why I asked if you are not thinking anything."
Loki inclined his head with an almost relieved sigh. He had never heard of anyone being able to hear the thoughts of those around him without the active casting of a spell. This particular one was so complex that he rarely ever used it. Something else remained on his mind though "What do you know of Thanos's plans?"
"Nothing" came the quick reply.
For the trickster's taste the answer had been too quick, but the princess's features showed no hints of any lie.
"I am not your brother by the way" he informed the princess in a clipped tone, intent on getting the facts straight quickly.
Freiya frowned "Why would Thor lie in his own thoughts?" she wondered in honest confusion, which switched to suspicion a second later "Why did you help me then?"
Loki pinched the bridge of his nose in apprehension. He did not think that he had actually done anything which was any help for the princess.
"You could have left me behind when I freed you" Freiya pointed out as if she was indeed reading his thoughts contrary to what she had claimed.
Loki opened his mouth to retort something, but closed it again. In honesty, the thought of leaving the princess behind had not crossed his mind. "The queen and king of Asgard sent us here to look for you" he finally defended his actions "Thor did not lie; he is your brother".
"And you are?" Freiya checked. She had stopped picking at her nails, it was hopeless to try and scratch away all residual blood.
"I was raised as his brother, second prince of Asgard" Loki clarified and while he spoke, he let his Seiðr change his clothes back to what he had worn in his quarters before.
Freiya appeared as if she had wanted to probe for further information on that, sensing that Loki was leaving out something essential, but she held her tongue on the matter for now. "Tell me something about Asgard" she asked with honest interest.
"You shall see it soon enough" Loki deflected the question. He did not intend to darken the princess's perception of Asgard and his own thoughts were too dark still to paint it in any favourable way.
He regarded the princess for long silent moments, paying particular mind to the Seiðr still flowing around her visibly. It seemed to have calmed though, so, it would probably be safe for them to make the journey to Asgard now.
"You are going to bring me there?" she questioned and her eyes were suddenly filled with what Loki would have described as wonder.
The trickster nodded. A barb was on his tongue to destroy the princess's apparent hopes of finding whatever she had been searching for in Asgard. He had found nothing but betrayal, pain and anger in the golden halls of the palace. "If you remain calm, we can leave immediately" he said instead, keeping his thoughts to himself. He was fairly certain the princess would be welcomed in Asgard with open arms. Seiðr usage as a female was something magnificent in the kingdom. Freiya would undoubtedly need time to adapt to the life of a royal, but he doubted she would face many difficulties.
His mouth tightened slightly as his thoughts wandered to the question if he ever had had a real chance on Asgard. Odin would never have crowned him king.
Loki had not noticed that the princess had stood from the bed and he startled visibly when she reached out and touched one of his hands. He had not noticed balling them to angry fists at his sides.
Her eyes were compassionate and her expression open and friendly "Are you alright?" she questioned in a soft tone.
The trickster looked down at their shared physical contact. Their Seiðr had started to mingle around their hands again and he was momentarily mesmerised by the enthralling sight.
A very small part of him wished to whisk the princess away instead of bringing her to Asgard. He knew it would not take long for her kindness to fade and be replaced with the disdain he had grown used to.
Loki only inclined his head as a mute answer to her question and took a step back from the princess. He had heard steps coming closer from the hall. He had not considered the possibility that Thor and the Avengers may have listened in on their conversation, but he guessed this to be the case. The timing of Thor's arrival would have been too much of a coincidence otherwise.
The God of Thunder indeed stood right in the opening door a second later.
Freiya winced visibly as the blond god entered the room and she took a slight step closer to Loki.
Thor had picked up on the movements as well and his face fell visibly.
"I know you are not doing this on purpose" the princess spoke up, surprising both gods with her words "but you are extremely loud".
Thor's brows furrowed and Loki could only guess he was trying to reign in his own thoughts to ease the princess's visible discomfort. He had an idea though. If he could use the spell to guard his own thoughts from the princess's "gift", maybe he could shield her from others with it.
To test his sudden hypothesis, Loki reached out and grabbed one of her hands again, extending his Seiðr on to her purposefully.
"I don't know what you are doing exactly, but please do not stop" Freiya breathed out in apparent relief and rubbed at her temple with her free hand and the hint of a pained grimace remained on her features.
Loki inclined his head again. He concentrated on extending the spell over the princess fully for a few moments. He let go of her hand again once he was convinced the spell would hold with the necessity of physical contact.
"Better?" he checked in a neutral tone.
Freiya nodded with a sigh "Why is it that one of you obviously is very good at this, while you are so loud it's painful?" The princess looked between the two gods with a frown.
Thor slightly shrugged his shoulders "I was never good with Seiðr. I dropped the classes altogether". The God of Thunder offered an easy explanation.
"Mmh" Freiya made a humming noise of acknowledgement.
"We can depart now" Loki proclaimed curtly. He was torn between wanting to stay for at least the night with the possibility of speaking to the princess alone and returning to Asgard and the isolation of his quarters.
Freiya inspected the leftovers of the scorched imprint the Bifrost had left behind on the top of the tower in interest while Thor spoke a few words to the Avengers. Internally, she was brimming with excitement and anxiety likewise. Loki had told her that they would use the Bifrost to get to Asgard. She had no clear idea on what this was even supposed to mean, but something had changed about Loki's demeanour after they got company and she reigned in her multitude of internal questions.
She tried to remember if Thanos had ever used the name Asgard for one of the worlds he had spoken of. If Thanos indeed had known about her true heritage and origin, she thought it likely though that he had deliberately left the one world out where she could really have found answers. She did not know just what backstory Thanos and Loki had with each other, but it was clear already that it was not a good one. She would try to find a moment in the next few days to ask him about it.
Thor was still standing off the side and conversing with the Avengers silently. The spell Loki had been casting to keep their thoughts out of her head was still keeping her mind heavenly silent.
She frowned slightly. She had no idea on what to expect from Asgard. Loki with his words and Thor with his thoughts had already told her that she was supposedly royalty and both of them had grown up as princes. The moment she had dreamed about basically during her whole existence was finally within reach. And now, the most prominent feeling she had was fear.
Not for the first time since meeting him, Freiya wished for the ability to read Loki's thoughts. The dark-haired man stood rather close to her, probably to make it easier for him to continue his protective spell over her mind. She could almost feel his thoughts flowing around her just barely out of reach. Freiya was certain that she would be able to catch them if she just pushed a little bit against his own magical defences. But his previous reactions had given her enough hints to know that the prince would not forgive such a transgression and breach of trust.
The Avengers all had held dark thoughts of the second prince of Asgard, but Freiya could not share them yet. Thus far, Loki had mostly only extended kindness towards her and she was intent on paying that back in kind to him. Even under the protective influence of Loki's spell, she did not need to be able to read the Avenger's thoughts to read from their features if they glanced at Loki to know that they were most likely hoping to never ever see him again in their lifetime. Freiya did not know exactly just what Loki may have done to incense the Avengers like this, but the snippets of thoughts she had seen before told her that there was a history of fighting and war between them, fought on different sides of the battlefield.
Once Thor had broken finally away from the Avengers and joined them, Loki held out his hand again for her. Freiya did not know if he was doing so to offer her some comfort or assistance, but his gaze was kind as he looked into her eyes.
The princess only gave him a soft smile in answer while she willingly placed her hand back into his offered one. She waited for a moment with bated breaths of what was going to happen.
Thor looked up to the sky, holding up his rather huge hammer and called loudly to the gatekeeper to bring them home.
Freiya was still gasping loudly when they had arrived on the Bifrost and were faced with Heimdal. She would remember the weird feeling of transportation surely for some time to come and she was thankful for the anchoring physical contact Loki had thought to offer to her by the simple gesture of holding on to her hand. Thor it seemed, had not even considered such a thing to be helpful or necessary.
The princess was a little disappointed that Loki let go of her hand immediately when they were faced with the gatekeeper's golden gaze landing on their still connected hands. She was still excited and afraid likewise and would surely have benefited from some continual support, but one short glance at Loki told her that the prince was almost as much on edge as she was. His posture was extremely stiff and his eyes cold as he met the golden-eyed stare.
She was quickly distracted though by all the new sights around them. She only noticed now that they were standing in a weirdly shaped golden globe-like building and when she turned around in the direction Thor and Loki were facing, her gaze immediately halted on the weird structure they had arrived on. She blinked dumbly at it, it almost appeared as if they were standing on some weird kind of rainbow, not that such a thing should even be existing, but there simply was no better description for it.
Freiya was so busy taking in the look of the Bifrost itself, that she had not even noticed the presence of another person beside the gatekeeper. She turned back around when she heard the steps and felt the sudden presence of powerful magic around the woman who was getting closer to them.
She watched how the unknown woman's gaze came to rest on Loki, who curtly nodded to her. Could this be the queen? Her mother?
Freiya waited likewise in patience and wonder, simply observing how the woman stepped closer to Loki enveloped him in a warm hug and said "thank you for returning, sweetling" in a soft tone to him. The words had just been loud enough for Freiya to be able to catch them and her own lips pulled into a slight smile at the almost adorable term of endearment.
She gasped involuntarily when suddenly a mass of foreign pictures assaulted her mind, too quick to recognize anything, but they made her dizzy in a flash. Freiya was not entirely sure which thoughts she had just received but after another second it was over and she noted Loki watching her with an almost apologetic gleam to his green eyes. Freiya breathed out deeply and shook her head to clear it from the uncomfortable sensation. She hoped that Loki would be able to instruct her on how to use magic to shield her mind from the thoughts of others as it would really improve her life tremendously.
It seemed that the gasp had caught the woman's attention though and Freiya saw her let go of Loki and step away from him and in her direction.
"Let me look at you, darling" Frigga addressed the daughter she had thought lost forever as she stepped over to the young woman.
Freiya gave the queen a wobbly smile, but did not step closer or reach out to touch the queen either. Her eyes swept over her, trying to look for visible resemblance to the woman who had birthed her. She could almost physically feel her power tingling all over her body while she tried to reign in her emotions. The situation felt suffocating and overwhelming and she did not know what to do.
If the queen was disappointed by the lack of apparent enthusiasm, she did not show it. On first glance the resemblance to Thor was blatantly obvious. They both had the same blue eyes and blonde hair. Loki stood out starkly next to them, being of a slenderer built than Thor, green eyes and dark hairs. Of course, if he was adopted into the royal family, he would not share their blood.
A silence settled between them and Freiya started to fidget subconsciously. The situation was freaking her out and she could feel her powers beginning to slip from her control.
The queen and the two brothers likewise appeared alarmed by the visible change in her magic and Freiya took a further step away subconsciously.
She had not noticed how close she stood to the edge of the rainbow bridge and gasped again when she felt one of her heels losing the ground beneath.
Freiya was almost waiting for the typical feeling of falling, when in the blink of an eye Loki seemed to have teleported directly before her, reaching out and pulling her back from the edge of the rainbow bridge.
She looked up at his green eyes and was confused to see a flash of horror pass through them, before they blanked over right in front of her. Freiya itched to try and find out what the prince was hiding, something told her it was important.
"Thank you once again" she instead said in a soft and honestly grateful tone while she held his piercing gaze and she could feel their magic intermingling around their hands again.
When Loki finally released her, Freiya noticed that the queen was staring at their hands with a weird expression.
The expression was back into kindness though when the queen met her gaze "You must be tired" she said and there was something in her voice, Freiya could not pinpoint, as if she wanted to say something else entirely.
She nodded though. Although they had not even really talked with each other, she indeed felt drained. So much had changed in her life in the last few hours, not even a full day, that her mind had difficulties keeping up.
"I will show you to some guest quarters" Loki offered, motioning with his hand towards the other end of the rainbow bridge.
The queen stopped him and informed him that accommodations had already been made for the princess in the wing of the royal family.
Freiya saw Loki's shoulders tense momentarily, before he offered her a hand with a teasing "So that you do not fall for sure".