One week later, no word or action was made from Tyr. One evening, Colora wanders around the palace when she sees the servants going through the plans and making something with the Cube. She notices they are struggling until Amora intervenes and tries to help. As she sees this, Colora immediately heads back to her room. Once in her room, Colora recalls what the servant told Tyr they needed. Suddenly a guard walks into the room and informs her, "Excuse me, your grace. But the Emperor would like to speak to you." Colora tilts her head and then leaves her room.
At the same time, Tyr is in his chambers alone. Colora hesitates but takes a deep breath, enters the room, and says, "You sent for me, darling."
Tyr turns his head to her and sees Colora standing there. He replied, "Yes, I thought maybe you and I could talk."
She stood there feeling confused by what he meant by that. "Talk?"
"Yes, since I have been busy trying to take over the world, I have barely had time to spend with you. My wife."
"What do you want to talk about?"
He gently grabbed her hands and gazed into her eyes. All she could feel was hatred, but she could not. He asks, "Could you make me a tonic to make my migraine go away?"
"Sure," Colora replied as she lets go of his hands and headed to the table.
As she prepares a concoction, Tyr watches her.
"Do you remember when you were talking to Julian about literature?"
Colora turns around slightly and faces him. "Yes, I remember. Julius was one of the Roman Guard, and I asked him if he liked to read. What do you remember?"
"You came to my chambers and wanted to talk to me."
Colora's Memory
Colora enters Tyr's chambers. Tyr is surprised to see her. He looks up at her and asks, "Colora, what are you doing here?"
Colora answered, "Tyr, I wanted to talk to you. About what you saw this afternoon."
"There's nothing to talk about." Tyr stood up to make himself a glass of wine. Colora watches his behavior. "You obviously have feelings for someone else."
"Feelings?"
"With that Roman guard." Tyr turns to her with hurtful eyes.
Colora covers her face, feeling shocked and embarrassed. "You saw that? Look, ever since I read that scroll I -"
"I don't have a taste for stories like that. Whether or not they come from scrolls or books. They don't allow me to read."
"Don't say that." Colora walks over and leans next to the table to be next to Tyr. He looks at her. "I heard that before you joined the Senate that you used to read all kinds of books. Books about history, poetry, love."
"How did you even come by that?"
Colora looks down and smiles. "I received it as a birthday present. From your brother Loki, actually."
Colora's Memory - Vanaheim
A servant gives her the gift. Colora reads the note that says, "Dear Colora, I read the book you gave me, and you're right, I liked the book. Anyway, I was in the royal library the other day, and I saw this book, and it made me think of you. I remember that you said how you love poetry and romance novels. I've read it twice, and I think you'll like it too. I hope you are well, and I miss you dearly. P.S. I promise I didn't put anything mischievous in there this time. Happy birthday, with love - Loki." Colora opens the present and reads the scroll. She smiles. "I started reading it and fell in love with it. I put myself in the stories."
Past - Colora's memory
Tyr is hurt and jealous to hear how his little brother has given her attention. "I play the parts; imagine what it would be like. To be with someone that you love."
Tyr stands up and shouts, "Please. Just stop." He walks a few steps away from her. "Leave me alone."
Colora can see that he is hurt by something. So she sits up and walks to him. "Don't send me away, please. I beg you. I'm sorry if I hurt you -"
"Oh, Colora, perceptive feelings we must not voice." They look deep into each other's eyes. "The inside, the inside is to act in ways we should not." He leans in and kisses her, but then Tyr pushes her away. They are both shocked that they have strong feelings for each other.
"What have I done?" asks Colora feeling confused.
"Go back to your room, quickly," Tyr persists.
"I'm sorry; I shouldn't have done that."
"No, it was my fault. I shouldn't have. Forgive me." Colora looks at him, then quickly leaves. After she goes, Tyr looks down and then shuts his eyes as he knows he wanted to kiss her.
Present
Colora is looking at the ground as she remembers what happened that day. She slowly works on the tonic while listening to what Tyr remembers. "After we kissed, I not only thought it was my fault, but I was overwhelmed because I wanted to kiss you so badly but wasn't sure of myself," Ty continued. "Do you remember what happened then?"
Past Tyr's memory
The following morning, Tyr enters Colora's chambers. "Good morning, Princess Colora," announces Tyr.
Colora quickly stands up and says, "Morning, Tyr. Um. How, how did you sleep? Did you sleep well?"
"Yes, I did, thank you. And you?"
"Indeed I did."
"Good. Good. Um." Tyr walks towards her. "Colora, if you grant me a favor, allow me the chance to explain myself. For yesterday -"
"It's alright, Tyr," Colora quickly said as she stepped away from Tyr. "We were caught in the moment and were just dazed, infatuated that we both wanted to experience what our first kiss would be like."
He stares at her until suddenly, a roman guard enters the room and says, "Excuse me. But the Emperor would like to see you, Colora."
Colora turns to Tyr and nods her head at him. "Excuse me."
Tyr bows as Colora leaves the room. Tyr then turns to look at the marble statue and breaks the head into pieces.
Present
Colora is looking at the table, where she sees a bottle of tonic and a glass of water. "That day, I wanted to tell you how I felt about you. How I felt since I met you when we very first met." She glances to the side and sees files with Project Pegasus. She sees a sticky note that says, "Project Pegasus Model Stark Industries." Colora glances over her shoulder, then at the tonic once again. Colora then has an idea. She then takes the remedy, puts a spoonful of it in the glass of water, puts it back then, and with a flick of her fingertips, she puts a sleeping spell in the drink. "Everything would have been fine if -"
"What happened was in the past," Colora replied as she turned to face him. "You can't change that."
"I wish I could change it, though," Tyr implied. "If I had told you how I felt earlier, would that made anything different."
Colora walks towards him with the tonic in her hand. "I don't know. Perhaps." Tyr sighs. Colora gestures the remedy to him. "Tyr, here. Drink this. You'll feel better."
"Thank you." He takes it and drinks it.
He pauses for a moment, then takes her hand and tries to seduce her. "Colora."
However, before he can do anything, Colora takes a step back and says, "Tyr, I think you need your rest now. Your headache will not go away unless you get some rest. The pain will go away in the morning."
Tyr nods and sighs, "Will you stay with me?"
"Still afraid of the dark?"
Tyr turns away from her briefly. "Still. Always." He turns back to face her. "Stay with me tonight?"
"You know I won't." implying that she does not want to participate in another sexual activity just to please him.
He walks towards her. "Then kiss me. Please."
They look into each other's eyes. Tyr leans toward Colora, but she kisses him on the forehead. Colora then whispers, "Goodnight, Tyr." She quickly leaves Tyr in his chambers. As soon as she's gone from his chambers, she wipes his taste off her lips and groans.
Once she's in her chambers, she walks to her desk, writes a quick note then sighs as she is about to take a risk to tell Loki and the others where Tyr is heading next.
A few hours later, Loki is on the patio watching the night sky, Dellinger and Harisa are cleaning up the kitchen, and Thor walks out from the forest and heads to Loki and says, "It's a nice night. The stars. Don't they remind you of home?"
Loki sighs, "Yeah. It's very nice."
Thor walks to Loki and stands next to him. He hesitates to talk about the night, but it has been on his mind since it happened. So he sighs and leans over to him. "Brother, I know I already asked this, but why didn't you take Colora?"
"She told me not to." Thor raised his eyebrow at him. Loki turns to continue. "When she took my wrist, she took me to a place briefly. I know it doesn't make sense, but you got to understand. Colora can manipulate time to tell you something critically important."
"Is it a new gift?"
"No, she's had this gift for a while. At least, I think." They look away from each other briefly. "Anyway, she told me that if I did, then our brother would have hunted for her and tried to kill us just by trying to protect her. And she said that in order for her to save the world, Colora wants to spy on him and be our eyes and ears."
Thor grins a little as he remembers how Colora always wanted to be a step in front of the bad guys. "Always on the move." Loki smiles as Thor's comment amuses him. "But why didn't she leave or escape?"
"I often wonder what choice did she have," Loki commented. "Stay and live or get the chance of escaping but getting caught and die."
Suddenly a white dove flies to them with a note. The bird gives the message to Loki. "A bird?" Thor questioned. "What is a bird doing up this late at night?"
Loki opens it and reads it. He turns to Thor and shows him as he explains, "It's a clue from Colora." They stare at each other in amazement.
One minute later, they all meet in the living room, discussing the hidden note's secret message. "Project Pegasus Model at Stark Industries?" Harisa questions. "How's that possible? I thought S.H.I.E.L.D. destroyed it."
"Apparently not," Dellinger groans, knowing that Tony Stark or SHIELD wanted to keep the design for future projects.
"Where is it?" asks Perseus.
"Los Angeles," Thor replied. "Stark talked about the company several times before he died."
"Ok, so what should we do?" asks Harisa.
"We must find out more about Project Pegasus, why this model is there, and when Tyr will go and steal it," Loki replied.
"How do you know he won't steal it now?" Dellinger questioned him.
"Because he wants to make a scene. Just like I did when I was trying over New York City." Loki implied.
"Loki's right," Perseus comments. "This will be different. It will mean something to him."
"Exactly," Loki interrupted. "So he will need to make a statement and show the world who he is. So we will need to prepare for anything he throws at us."
"Aunt Harisa," says a soft voice from across the room.
Thor, Loki, Dellinger, Perseus, and Harisa either turn around or looks over someone's shoulder as they see a child standing at the doorframe. Thor and Loki glance at each other, confused by the child being there. Harisa and Dellinger glance at each other then Harisa quickly walks and kneels to the child. "Liam, what are you doing out of bed?" asks Harisa.
"I couldn't sleep," Liam replied.
"The nightmare again?" Liam nods his head. Harisa sighs. "It was just a bad dream."
Thor turns his eyes to Loki as he sees a certain look in his brother's eyes. As if he's seen a ghost. He whispers, "Harisa."
Harisa turns around and sees the look on his and Loki's face. She quickly stands up. "Oh, um. Thor, can I -"
"Thor?" Liam questioned with a look of shock on his face. "The God of Thunder!"
"Yes, I am," Thor replied.
Loki and Liam look at each other as if something is connecting them. "And you're Loki," Liam suggested. "The God of Mischief and Magic."
"Yes," Loki replied softly.
"You've got to help me!" Loki raises his eyebrow at him.
"Liam, please, don't," says Harisa.
Liam turns to Harisa and says, "They can help us, Aunt Harisa!
Maybe they know where she is!"
Liam runs to the bookshelf next to the bookshelf and searches for something.
"Wait, hold on a second?" Loki turns and looks at Harisa with a stern look. "Harisa, what is he talking about?"
Harisa whispers, "I was going to explain it to you when the time was right but -"
"But what?"
Liam appears back in the room with a box and takes out several pictures. He shows it to Loki, and it surprises him. Thor notices the expression on his brother's face. Harisa and Dellinger look at each other with a specific look. Liam sees a look of shock in Loki's eyes as he asks, "Do you know what's happened to her?" Loki gasps as he sees a picture of him and Colora when they were visiting Earth. He looks back at Liam and is confused and shocked. "Did you know my mother, Mr. Odinson?"
Feeling like all of the air was sucked out of him, Loki could only utter, "Colora's your mother?"
Liam nods his head. Loki stares at the picture, shocked to know Colora has a child. Harisa looks at Dellinger and Thor as she sees that Loki is overwhelmed by the truth. Harisa quickly walks to Liam and touches his shoulders. "Alright, Prince Liam, that's enough for tonight." Harisa takes Liam's hand.
Loki looks up at Harisa, shocked that she said the word. "Prince?" he questioned.
Harisa and Liam walk to the doorway to the stairs. "Say goodnight, Liam," says Harisa.
"Goodnight," says Liam as he looks at Loki once more.
"Goodnight, Liam," Perseus and Dellinger say together.
Harisa and Liam walk upstairs and go back to bed. As soon as Liam and Harisa are gone, Thor, Perseus and Dellinger turn to Loki as they see that he hasn't moved an inch and is still holding onto the photograph. "Brother, are you alright?" asks Thor.
Loki stands up and then paces as he begins to break down mentally. He stutters, "It can't be true. It just can't be. That boy looks very much like her, but he, his eyes -" Loki stops as he notices that the box that Liam left is still open and that there is something else inside. He slowly walks towards the bookshelf and takes the box. He looks inside and sees many pictures and notes, and letters. Thor, Perseus, and Dellinger look at each other as they know this is difficult. Loki has tears in his eyes as one particular photograph shows a picture of Colora holding an infant in her arms. On the corner, it shows the date of Liam's birth. 'July 28th, 2014'. Loki covers his mouth and cries. "Oh, dear God. No."
Also, in the box, Loki sees a birth certificate with Liam's birthright.
'Liam, God of Healing and Peace; Prince of Vanaheim and Asgard. Son of Colora, Goddess of Beauty and Victory; Princess of Vanaheim; Son of Loki, God of Mischief and Magic; and Prince of Asgard and King of Jotunheim.'
"I have a son. I'm a father." Thor, Perseus, and Dellinger look at each other once more, then look at Loki as they petty him.
Thor leans over to Loki and whispers, "Brother, why don't we go outside and -"
"You knew about this," Loki said as he turned to face Thor, Perseus, and Dellinger. "Didn't you, brother."
Thor pauses as he sees the look in his eye. Loki stands up and shouts, "Didn't you!"
Thor answered, "Yes, I did. I found out after -"
Loki is shocked that his brother knew but didn't tell him about having a son. "Who told you?" He turns and points at Perseus. "You did! Didn't you, Perseus!"
"No, I did," Harisa replied as everyone
turned around and saw her at the doorway. She walks back toward Loki and explains, "I told Thor before you found out what Tyr was after and where he was going. I was going to tell you -"
"Does anyone else know about this?"
"No, the only people who knew about it were Harisa, Dellinger, and my family," Perseus replied
"Not even the Avengers," Dellinger added.
"That's right, Colora never came to headquarters when we needed her help," Thor commented. "We only saw her a few times on the com link."
"When Liam was around three, we would bring him to headquarters but convinced them that Liam was her nephew," Dellinger informed him. "It took some time, but they believed it because Liam didn't talk much at the time."
"Why?" asks Loki.
"She never told anyone because she was afraid of what everyone might think," Harisa replied. "Thor, the Avengers, everyone who she was friends with. She thought it would have been best for no one to know."
Afraid but curious, he continues to ask more questions. "When did she find out?"
"Two months after you died, well, faked your death. After finding out she was pregnant, she immediately went back home to ask her family for help. Colora was relieved when she told her family about it. But after she told her family, her father demanded that she tell him everything she kept from him. So she told him everything."
Ten Years Ago
Colora is standing in front of her mother and father. Her siblings, Harisa and Dellinger, are behind her a few feet away on the right. Perseus says, "She told my family that even though Odin forgave her for what happened, she explained that she tried to help you by stopping you on Earth by intervening and helping the Avengers. Aiding Thor by letting him, you, and Jane escape and save Asgard. However, as she was explaining why she did what she did..." Colora's father stands up in frustration and yells at her. Colora flinches and sheds a tear.
"He was so angry at her that he felt like she betrayed him and our family by seeing you. That's when he decided to do the most heartbreaking thing he could do to her and our family."
Freyr takes a few steps close to Colora and yells at her, "How could you do this? You had betrayed not only your family. You have now betrayed our realm!"
Afraid, Colora stutters, "Father."
"Enough!" He shouts. Colora holds her breath as she fears her father's anger. Freyr points his finger at her. Everyone waits for what he is going to say or do next. "Colora, you are hereby banished from Vanaheim and from Asgard for what you have done."
Everyone is horrified. Perseus steps forward and shouts, "Father!"
"Freyr!" Sjofin cries out.
"Until such a time when Perseus becomes King," says Freyr as he stares at his daughter with a stern but heartbroken look. He then turns away from Colora. Colora's siblings rush towards Colora as she falls to the ground and cries out, "Father! Please!"
"Please don't do this, father!" pleads Sadiel.
Sjofin walks towards Freyr and begs her husband, "Freyr, she's our daughter!" Freyr turns back around to see Colora staring at her with tears on her cheeks. He turns to his wife, sighs then leaves the throne room. "Freyr! FREYR!" Colora and her sisters start crying. Sjofin has tears in her eyes as she turns to her daughter. Colora weeps in her brother's arms.
The following day, Colora goes to the Bifrost with Harisa, Dellinger, and her family, except her father. Dellinger loads up their belongings to the Bifrost, then walks to Colora as she is reminiscing and saying goodbye to her home. Harisa said, "After that, Colora, Dellinger, and myself gathered many of our belongings and brought them to the Bifrost."
Dellinger walks to Colora as she says goodbye to her family. He whispers, "It's time."
"Ok," she whispers back. Dellinger bows to the family. The family weeps. As the Bifrost starts up, Colora looks up and sees her father from the balcony watching her leave. She sheds a tear. "I'm sorry, father."
Colora turns around and heads to the Bifrost. Her father sighs as he is broken to see his daughter leave.
Present
Everyone is back in the living room, listening to Harisa and Perseus explain everything. Harisa added, "Colora was very upset that her father did not come to say goodbye. She felt as if she really was a disappointment to him. Even though she told her father everything and felt good that she did, Colora was deeply upset that her father wouldn't understand. It was heartbreaking for her that she didn't get to say goodbye. Once we came to Earth, Colora decided that this place would be our safe house."
"So after all this time, she's been here," Loki looks away and sighs. Dellinger, Harisa, and Thor glance at each other confused. He covers his face. "I should have known."
"Why?" asks Thor.
Loki looks at them with tears in his eyes. "Because we came here for a weekend 12 years ago." Everyone is confused. "We came here just to spend time together and to be far away from Odin as possible. I don't know if she knew it, but that weekend meant so much to her and me. she showed me not just what she wanted to do, but colora wanted to show me what she saw in the world through her eyes." He pauses as he knows that there is one thing he would have done.
"If I would have known she was here, I would have given up everything just to be with her."
"Even the throne?" questioned Thor.
Loki nods his head. "Even the throne."
"That's a first." Thor thought.
Loki notices on a chair by the fireplace that there is a blanket that looks oddly familiar. He walks towards it and picks it up. He sheds a tear as he recognizes that the blanket is the cape that he gave to her. "She must have been so scared. Why did she look for the stones?"
Perseus answers, "Because she's stubborn and thought that -"
Loki quickly turns to interrupt, "I know that, but didn't she remember what I said about Thanos? What if he could have taken our son!"
"Colora told us to take Liam far away from here as soon as she felt his presence," Harisa interrupted quickly.
Loki shuts his eyes in disbelief. "She knew that if Thanos found out about him, he would go after him. So, she chose to send Liam away whenever Thanos came for her. Dellinger, Liam, and I left for Alfheim until he was safe. Loki, it was her choice." Loki takes the blanket and covers his mouth as he sighs at Colora's choice. Harisa walks towards him and then gently touches his shoulder. Loki looks up at her with more tears in his eyes. "Loki, not a day went by since you saved died, faked your death, she never stopped thinking about you. She loved you and Liam more than anything in the entire world."
Loki sheds a tear and then pushes away from Harisa as he huffs, "I need some air. Excuse me." Loki storms out of the room with the blanket and the box of pictures as he heads out to the backyard.
Everyone turns to face each other. Harisa asks, "Should we go after him?"
"No, this is a lot for him to take right now," Thor replied. "I think we should leave him be. Give him space to process all of this." Harisa and Dellinger both agree and then head upstairs. Thor turns as he watches Loki; it saddens him that Loki never knew the truth about Liam, but Thor knew that his brother had to find out sooner or later and probably the way that he did.
As for Loki, he slowly walks down the steps and then finally sits down. He looks at the box of pictures of her and Liam, her and Loki, which breaks his heart. Then he puts the box down and looks at the blanket. He notices that the blanket on one side was his cape sowed into one of the wings as a part of a dress that he remembers from 13 years ago, which was his favorite. He sighs, "Oh god. What have I done?" He takes the blanket-made cape and covers her mouth as he continues to cry. "Colora. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry."
At the same time, Colora looks at a ruined but saved photographs of Loki when they were on Earth and Liam was a baby. And she picks up from the table a new picture of Liam, celebrating Christmas with Steve Rodgers and the other avengers six months before they fight against Thanos again. As she sees 10 yr old Liam, she begins to cry as she misses her son more than anything and wishes to have him in her arms once more.
