Once the Warriors left the throne room, we left to focus on our path forward. There was a lot left to do before meeting with the King of Jotunheim.
I, personally, needed to confront the fact that I wouldn't be able to stay on Jotunheim forever. Dragons wouldn't do well there, anyway. Still it could make for a nice vacation home if not too much got exploded.
Freyja probably wanted to find a way to keep me from the frozen planet until the end of time. It wouldn't matter whatever she did, the real estate was too good.
Then came the King himself. The one person who out of the three of us had the most reason to return to Jotunheim. Loki procrastinated meeting his own biological father. I couldn't blame him for that.
Loki stayed standing ahead of us. I walked up to him.
"What do you plan on telling Thor?" I asked, trying to make it sound casual.
Loki hummed in thought. "You still insist I visit?"
"Yes." I'd told him my plan earlier. The top priority was keeping Thor on Earth for at least three days. That meant checking on him, seeing his progress in terms of being worthy. "You need to talk to him."
"Again, I fail to see why." Loki replied. "There is no chance he's learned anything."
"I think he'll surprise you." I reminded him. "So what do you plan on telling him?"
Loki twisted the spear in his hand. "I will tell him nothing, for there is nothing to say."
"So you've got nothing?" I asked him. Loki looked up at the spearhead. Freyja snorted behind me. "Okay. You completely forgot everything I told you."
"Be mindful, Morgan." Loki told me. "I am the Allfather, your king."
"I am a Queen. I bow to no king." I replied. The back and forth made me grin. "Allfather or otherwise."
"Tell me- why would I need to repeat your words?" Loki asked. "Moth...Frigga herself said she did not know if he would wake."
"And Frigga is a beacon of truth." Freyja reminded him. "Never lied to you before in her life."
Loki glared. Though I disagreed about her opinion on Frigga, she had a point there. "Share your wisdom, then, Queen Morgan."
I nodded my head in thanks. "You can't tell him Odin is dead. Asleep, yes. Dead, no."
"Because of your vision of the next two years?" Loki asked. I nodded. "Will it truly make that much difference?"
"Yes." I replied.
"How so?" Loki asked.
"You'll be caught in a lie." I warned. "We can't hold off the Warriors- not forever. They'll find a way of reaching Thor. If they tell him Odin still sleeps and you've told Thor different-"
"He would take their word, over my own." Loki reasoned.
Anyone else would've been upset at hearing their brother didn't trust them now. Or worse, maybe thinking that they never trusted you at all. Loki took it as he always did- keeping himself cool and contained. The kind of persona that wouldn't crack for anything.
Keeping out the Warriors 4 was a side-priority, along with keeping Heimdall from letting them go. If the Warriors 4 made it to Earth, they would give Thor all the wrong implications. With the plan we had going, if Thor came bumbling in like he did in the movie, everything would implode.
Everything hinged on Thor not doing that.
Loki wouldn't kill his biological father.
Thor wouldn't storm back into Asgard.
Loki wouldn't fall.
Everything will work out. It has to.
It literally can't be anything
"Not that it will matter." Loki replied. He walked to the throne. He sat himself upon it, leaning on the side with his legs spread. "I will not be speaking to Thor any time soon. Heimdall is no doubt keeping watch over him. Beyond that, he's been down there for two days. What harm could befall Thor in so short a time?"
I genuinely don't know if he means that or not
The door to the throne room opened. A guard ran inside. He knelt at the stairs of the throne.
"Allfather! Heimdall says he has seen the banished prince in danger!"
Freyja rolled her eyes. I blinked at Loki, unsure if I should be knowingly smug or sympathetic. Loki himself looked down at the guard, pressing his lips in a thin line.
"Leave." Loki ordered. The guard did so. Loki stood on his feet. He walked up to me. I sucked my lips in, slowly nodding. "Keep watch over the Warriors. I apparently have business on Midgard."
"Will do." I replied. Like I would've done anything else anyway. Being smug could wait until I knew for sure that Loki wouldn't fall.
Loki left the throne room in a flash of green magic. I let out a breath, holding my hands behind my back.
Freyja walked down the throne. I followed after her.
"Hey, hey! Where do you think you're going?" I asked.
Freyja kept walking away. "Didn't you hear? There was a guard that needed flogging."
"What? No! You can't just flog a guard!" I scolded. As I followed after her, something buzzed. "That's- it's a bit his fault but you can't do it." The buzzing got louder.
Freyja paused in her steps. "Do you hear something?"
"...yes."
"Is that- is that a phone?" Freyja asked. My eyebrow rose, curious. I reached into my Bag. "I thought your phone didn't work."
Oh
Oh no
Oh no no no no no
No way am I letting you and her meet
Or talk
Last time I brought up family around you, they died.
"It's a different phone." I pulled out my other phone. A classic, boring iPhone from my Earth. "Go flog a guard, I suddenly don't care."
Walking around a confused Freyja, I left the throne room without her. Once I thought myself far enough from her range I accepted the video call. It wasn't much farther before Freyja's chambers.
"Hey there, princess!"
"Hey Mom! How's everything going?"
"I am so glad you asked."
==L==
His brother- no, not his brother, never his brother, never his anything- sat in a sterile white room. It reminded Loki of the dungeons of Asgard, only with less gold. Thor sat in a seat, slightly damp from the rain outside. His clothing simple and plain, borrowed from tender hearted Midgardians that took him in.
According to Heimdall, he had tried picking up Mjolnir. Fath- Odin- left a strong binding magic to the hammer. It would refuse to lift for anyone except the worthy. Thor hadn't learned. From Heimdall's report, Thor fought many of their soldiers to reach his hammer and reclaim his glory.
Loki watched the conversation. A Midgardian stood across from Thor, dressed in a black and white suit. Loki gave himself a matching suit. Granted his was more embellished, benefitting his status as royalty.
Both of you were born to be kings
What kind of royal was Loki? King of a land that wasn't even his by blood. Maybe the Warriors Three and Sif hadn't been too far off with their mistrust. He'd stolen the throne. He (somehow) tricked Thor into being banished. He caused Odin to fall too soon into Odinsleep. That event filled Frigga with worry, so much that she handed over the throne to him.
Loki didn't deserve this throne. Whatever Queen Morgan and Lady Freyja said, it didn't belong to him. He never even wanted it.
Or maybe he did. Maybe he, like all Frost Giants, wanted to steal from Asgard. That's all Loki was. A thief. How ironic, that all the stolen relic does is take.
"It's not easy to do what you did." The man spoke with Thor. Thor didn't look up from the ground. "You made us all look like a bunch of mall cops. That's hurtful."
Loki heard something ringing. The man silently sighed, reaching into his pocket to some device. After, he continued talking to Thor without missing a beat.
"The men you so easily subdued are highly-trained professionals, and in my experience, it takes someone who's received similar training to do what you did to them." The man reasoned. Loki could almost praise the thought. Pity he couldn't "Would you like to tell me where you received your training?"
Thor said nothing. Loki remembered it well enough. The centuries spent sparring with fellow...with Asgardian warriors and future Einherjar. Thor and Loki went on numerous campaigns throughout the Nine to fight monsters and claim glory. Each time left Thor the golden son, and Loki the disappointing trickster.
He never stood a chance. Looking back, how could he even have fooled himself?
"Pakistan? Chechnya? Afghanistan?" The man asked. Loki heard a buzzing sound this time. The man ignored it, keeping his focus on Thor. "Then again, you strike me more as the soldier of fortune type. What was it, South Africa? Certain groups pay well for a good mercenary. Especially HYDRA."
Loki wondered what a six headed snake had to do with all of this. Were those more common on Midgard than Loki recalled? He would ask Morgan on his return.
The buzzing happened again. The man ignored it. "Who are you?"
"Just a man." Thor answered, sounding defeated.
Loki had never seen Thor so low. The golden prince never stood without adornments or armor. He did not look as a prince here. He barely looked like a son of Asgard. Loki, in his faked suit, looked more royal than his brother- than Thor.
"One way or another, we find out what we want to know. We're good at that." The man left. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. The device lit up. The screen warned he had 30 'missed calls' and over a hundred unanswered messages. The man still left the room.
As the door shut, Loki let himself be seen.
"I thought he'd never leave." Loki remarked.
Thor's head shot up. "Loki? What are you doing here?"
"I had to see you." Loki explained. At Heimdall's warning and Queen Morgan's insistence, he couldn't very well leave Thor alone.
That, and he wanted to see. Did even Thor know of his origins? Freyja hadn't known. If the Warriors knew, it would explain their long running distrust of Loki. And if the Warriors knew, it wouldn't be a long jump to say Thor knew too.
But Thor was an awful liar. Loki needed to see for himself.
"What's happened?" Thor asked. A second wind coming to him in his defeat. Maybe he thought Loki had come to save him, as Loki had done many times before. "Tell me. Is it Jotunheim? Let me explain to father."
Morgan's warning rang in Loki's head. To prepare in case the Warriors Three and Sif made it down to Midgard. They could not risk Thor ruining everything.
Asleep, yes. Dead, no.
"Father fell to the Odinsleep." Loki answered.
Thor's expression fell to dismay. His blue eyes softened in worry. "What? How?"
"Your banishment. The threat of a new war. It was too much for him to bear." Loki explained.
He would not explain the specifics of how Odin fell. All Loki could recall from that experience was a blur of pain, of his entire life being upended. Morgan's expression as she held to the Casket, holding Loki in place.
"You mustn't blame yourself. I know that you loved him." Loki explained.
No matter how much you claim to love me! You could never have a Frost Giant sitting on the throne of Asgard!
"I tried to tell him so, but he wouldn't listen."
He fell into his Sleep then
Morgan pulled me back from him
My touch harmed her
It would harm him too
Loki put himself back in this moment. "So cruel to put the hammer within your reach, knowing that you could never lift it." Thor sagged, glaring down at the floor. His usual look of frustration. The solution was always so close to his face. He could never quite get it. "The burden of the throne has fallen to me now."
Thor snapped his head up. "Can I come home?"
"The truce with Jotunheim is conditional upon your exile." Loki told him. While they hadn't spoken with the Frost Giants yet, Loki and Freyja reasonably believed they would agree to continued peace if Thor was gone.
"Yes, but...couldn't we find a way to..." Thor pleaded.
Loki wasn't used to seeing Thor plead. Or beg. Usually, his...his former brother would demand what he wanted. "Queen Morgan herself forbade your return." Loki told him.
Thor stared, his mouth unable to form words. A tear fell from his eye.
"As the King, I must think of Asgard first." Loki reminded his brother- his former brother. Hopefully this time, the lesson would stick. Though Loki did not want Thor on Asgard yet, he wanted the best for him. "This is goodbye, brother. I'm so sorry."
Thor would need to be at his best to wipe out the Frost Giants...
"No. I am sorry." Thor spoke. It struck Loki hard. He had not ever heard an apology from Thor that was not forced from their mother. "Thank you for coming here."
"Farewell." Loki turned, fading from sight.
"Goodbye." Thor replied.
"Goodbye? I just got back." The man remarked.
==L==
Loki reached for the hammer. The Midgardians walked around, not even their machines noticing Loki there.
The hammer felt odd in his hands. Heavy.
He pulled.
The hammer wouldn't move. No matter how much Loki pulled and tugged, it wouldn't as much as twitch.
You could never have a Frost Giant sitting on the throne of Asgard!
Loki ignored the disappointment that grew in his chest. Would he never get to prove himself? Morgan's plan would bring peace, but would it last? Freyja seemed to believe it. How could there be peace with a race so bloodthirsty, so dishonorable, the same race that bore Loki?
Morgan seemed to believe in Loki. She herself said she knew the truth long before she even met him. Still, she trusted him. She stood by him. Freyja's opinion hadn't changed either. Both of them treated Loki the same, as if being a Frost Giant meant nothing.
Laufeyson
Loki stepped away from the hammer.
Before he faded, he spotted the man who had spoken with Thor. Another man walked up to him- darker skinned, with glasses.
"Stark keeps calling." The man explained. He typed away on the device. "Thinks we have intel."
"How long has she been gone?" His fellow asked.
"Nobody's seen her for three days." The man explained. He tucked the phone back in his pocket. "He thinks we know something."
"Do we?" The other man asked.
The other said nothing. "What do you have?"
"Our guest has a visitor." The other explained.
Loki had no need to be here any longer. He made his way out, ready to be summoned back to Asgard.
==L==
"How can you be bored in Asgard?"
"When some of the people dislike you because you side with the Trickster god, you kinda get the cold shoulder." I remarked, with a teasing grin. "Oh wow. Cold shoulder. I liked that one. Should write that down. But I couldn't help who I made friends with."
My daughter giggled. "Mom, you're silly."
"Kinda. Promise not to tell anyone?"
"I promise!" Lilac raised her hand over her chest, like a Girl Scout. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Honor!"
My phone beeped. I checked it. A timer was about to go off. I frowned, quick to correct it back.
"Lilac, honey? It's been an hour." I reminded her.
Lilac frowned.
The door behind me opened. I should've been left alone for so much longer. No way did it take an hour to flog someone. Maybe shorter to speak with Thor but I doubted it.
Time worked funny between realities. Generally speaking, I could spend a while here. Whole lifetimes if I wanted. On the other side back Home, an hour will have passed. No matter how long I spend here, it's always an hour out there.
"Hey, it's okay." I assured her. Wanna know why? In a second, I'm gonna wake up and give you a great big hug."
Lilac nodded. She was still frowning. She turned her head towards the bed my body rested on.
"Lilac?" I asked.
My child shifted in her seat, the phone jostling in her hand.
The person behind me walked in the room. I ignored them, keeping my focus completely on my daughter. Nobody else mattered right now. I'd been away for a month. Just seeing her smile made it worth it.
"Did you want anything from Asgard? I could probably find a magic paint brush, or magic paint." I offered. "Maybe even show you some paintings!"
Lilac frowned, fighting a giggle. "You can't steal Asgardian paintings." She snickered.
I hummed. "I think I can."
Lilac giggled. It made me feel lighter.
The timer went off.
On her she's, I heard the shuffling of someone on a bed.
"See? There I am. Complete with Asgardian painting." I joked. "Gimme a hug?"
"Okay Mom." Lilac smiled again. As I went to disconnect the call, I heard her voice again. "Mom did you really get me a painting?"
"Pfft, I said I would, didn't I?"
The call ended. I took a deep, shuddering breath. Leaning back, I tried to get my head back in the game. Whoever would be in the room when I opened my eyes, they would want Queen Morgan of Midgard, Becky Stark aka Night Mistress.
They didn't want Morgan, single mother of one.
Hell right now I don't want to be that. If I was, I'd start crying because my little girl wasn't around. But she couldn't be around, not here. Not with death at every corner.
She has to be at least twenty for that.
No, thirty.
Maybe fifty.
Someone sat beside me. I took another breath, sitting up. When I opened my eyes it was to the sight of the king of Asgard. He still dressed in the Midgardian suit from the movie.
He was staring at me in a new light. He came closer. The couch was too small to be too far apart. Those big green eyes were staring at my phone as if it was giving him all the answers he wanted.
"Where is Lady Freyja?" Loki asked.
"Flogging a guard, I think." I answered. "How did it go?" I found myself saying, trying so hard to get my head straight.
Loki nodded silently. He leaned back on the arm rest of the small couch. The weight on his shoulders lessened slightly. Loki rolled his eyes, returning to stare at me with a bored expression. "You were right."
I gave a gentle smile, just on the edge of smug. "Generally, yes. Why am I right this time?"
"I told Thor the truth."
"Ah. About that." I pulled my legs up, curling them beneath my legs. The Asgardian dress pooled around me. "Was he okay?"
Loki looked away. He held his hands together, squeezing tight. "Did your Sight not show you that?"
"Maybe I want to hear it from you." I replied.
Loki squeezed his hands again. I kept giving him a gentle smile. "He wasn't harmed. Even mortal, he has great strength." I nodded. Loki looked around Freyja's sitting room. "According to Heimdall, he took down many of his foes."
I nodded again. My hand held my phone tightly, the other hand rested in my lap.
"He-" Loki swallowed. "I've never seen him like that."
"Like what?" I asked.
"So...low." Loki replied.
"Yesterday, he was going to be king of everything. Now, he's not. You are." The change would be startling for any newly crowned king. "Did you think Thor would be angry at you?"
Loki looked down at his hands. He squeezed them again, taking a deep breath in. "No."
"It's a normal reaction." I told him. "To think that. Based on when you last saw him-"
"Who was she?" Loki asked.
Okay.
There are nicer ways to change the topic.
Given the topic in question, I won't exactly blame him for being curt.
"She?" I asked.
"She called you her mother." Loki pointed out.
I tensed in my spot. My hand curled tighter around my phone. "Ah...you did catch me at the end, there."
Loki stared at me, waiting silently for my answer.
"Lilac, my daughter. She's seven." I explained.
"Who watches her while you have been here, her father?" Loki asked.
"She's adopted." I corrected him. "Her father has no idea she exists. Or maybe he does, and he's the one that left her with me. She hasn't asked, and I haven't been able to find anything. Not even..." I stopped, looking down at my dress.
Not even Darcy found anything
Which I guess says a lot
"Lady Freyja found nothing?" Loki asked.
"She doesn't know about Lilac." I replied. "I just...somebody else I...they looked into it. Lilac wanted to go, she thought it was a road trip. I reminded her she was four."
"She knows then, of her origins?" Loki asked. "That you aren't her mother?"
I couldn't stop it. I glared at him, glared with a rage I only felt to annoying ignorant humans. "She's my daughter. I am her mother, and I always have been."
"But you did not bear her so by definition, you are not her mother." Loki pointed out. He spoke in a calmness. Too calm. He was trying to goad me. Make me feel his rage, his rejection at the House of Odin. Maybe he even compared me to Odin in his mind.
That insult would not stand
"When she was four and had nightmares every night, it was me she came to for comfort." I snapped. "When bullies at her school made fun of her, it was me that held and soothed her. I taught her to speak, how to write, how to read. Yeah I didn't give birth to Lilac but I am her mother in every way that counts."
"Does she even know? Have you told her the truth, or do you let her believe the lie?" Loki asked. His own sharpened gaze telling me he took it personally too.
"She's a dragon that sneezes fire. That shit's hard to hide." I argued. "I am no Odin, Loki, and I don't take the comparison well."
"She looked Midgardian." Loki pointed out. "I believe I can be forgiven for my assumption."
"She wears it because she likes looking like me, because she can forget she's adopted. So people won't look at her funny for being around me." I snapped. "Don't you ever assume-"
"What of your throne, Hmm? You must have a court, a group that won't see a dragon crowned. They would want a true born child on your throne." Loki argued back.
"Then that will be their problem." I stated firmly. "She's the heir. Always. Even when I have more kids, it will always be Lilac first."
Loki laughed, derisive. "Surely you don't believe that?"
I took a deep breath. Loki was just trying to goad me. Something down there shook him deeper than he wanted me to think. Something in Thor's reaction? No nothing there could have started-
Ah.
Mjolnir.
Something came to his mind as he tried lifting Mjolnir. His own worth? He keeps trying to trick me into hating Lilac- that her species would change how I love her. How can that apply to hi-
Oh I'm an idiot.
Sometimes I am a great big idiot.
"I loved her ever since I first looked at her." I admitted. "Since I first heard her speak to me, I knew that I would love her forever. That everything I wanted would come second to what she needed. Being a dragon changed nothing."
"She could hurt you." Loki warned, green eyes wet and vulnerable.
"Then I'll be burned." I replied easily. "She can control herself better than she thinks."
Loki shook his head. "She could kill you."
"Oh for sure. But she won't."
"You can't know that."
"I can tell just by looking in her eyes." I leaned in, making sure our eyes stayed locked. Reflective green staring into golden amber. "And could try but we both know who would really be hurt. I love her too much to let her be hurt like that."
Maybe we were both crying now. Maybe staring so long in his eyes just made me forget to blink, so it was just my eyes watering from that. Or, both of us just wanted to let tears fall.
My hand let go of my dress. Loki unlocked his hands, reaching for mine. We held our hands again. It wasn't lost on me the last time we held hands. This time his hands were much warmer.
"I could still kill you." Loki pleaded. Begging for me to leave, to run? To fight the monsters? To hold him tighter?
I squeezed his hand. Loki's breath hitched. "Would a monster cry over that?"
His hand squeezed mine. My thumb brushed on his hand. "I don't know."
"It's okay to be scared." A tear fell off my cheek, falling on the dress. "I am too."
You could still fall
That would kill me for sure
"Probably scared enough for the both of us." I promised him. "If that helps."
"I don't understand you." Loki replied.
That made me laugh. "I could help you?"
Loki leaned forward again.
The door got thrown open. Loki and I moved away from each other, schooling our expressions into a mutual blankness. Freyja walked in, her dress lightly splattered with blood. She smiled at us.
"Well that was productive." She snarked. She dropped a large flogger from her waist onto the small table in front of us. It still shined from use. "Turns out the guard just really hates Jotuns, and wanted Thor to wipe them out."
Loki's hand still held mine. The two of us realized that. Freyja hadn't even noticed yet. That was fine. It was- it was fine.
"I'm exhausted." Freyja walked off towards her room. "We can talk about Jotunheim in the morning, yes? Good night." She closed the door to her personal chambers.
I squeezed Loki's hand. He squeezed back. Still, he untangled our hands. Once he let go he stood up to his feet. He straightened out his suit.
He looked back on me, face stuck in a worried frown. "Goodnight, Morgan."
"Goodnight, Loki." I smiled at him as he left the room.
Only when he was gone did I grab a pillow to scream into it.
==L==
AN: ...did I do good?
Because I worked on this for like, three months. Just please say if it's good or not. Constructive criticism is welcomed. Anything.
Seriously I'm getting hyped for Loki the show and I am just...leading up to it, I'll update this more. Y'all leaving comments would really encourage me there.
Morgan and Loki's relationship is just so fun to write. Their dynamic always comes across like Loki is constantly trying to catch her in a logic trap but Morgan gets out of them and that makes Loki only more pulled in by her. That she constantly defies his expectations throws him for so many loops, it's amazing.
Loki deserves loving friendships.
You hear me, Marvel? Give him a friend or I riot.
Thanks to eM2201, L is After Beyond Birthday, I am prodigious, Dark Repaer, for favoriting
Thanks to L is After Beyond Birthday, I am prodigious, Jormugand, Dark Repaer, for following
