The paintings of Asgard were truly things of beauty. As I looked at them, all one could see were scenes of battle painted with garish gold and red. Many of the paintings showed scenes of a noble conquer or of another realms monarchy destroyed. All in all, very unhelpful for pursuing paintings to steal. Lilac would hate them.
How do I fix this issue?
There are a myriad of options. The most delicate paintings would be held in less populated places. Maybe the library, or even Freyja's room. I doubt Loki would have the paintings I needed.
That settled it then. I went off on a mission to the library.
The shelves were as majestic as last time. Aisles on aisles of books that probably came from all corners of the Nine Realms. My targets were on the walls beside.
I walked down an aisle. They installed a small reading area here. More exposed walls were here, all furnished with hanging pots of alien flora and paintings.
I promised my daughter art
By the small snippet of future dialogue, I succeeded. Or stole it from elsewhere.
Either way Lilac will have Asgardian art
Only a few nicer paintings were up here. One of a waterfall, one of an Angel flying over a field of flowers, and a bowl of fruit. While someone smarter than me could go on about the different styles, or different meanings, or what all of it meant in terms of art, I was not that person.
Lilac was though.
She would have a lot to say about it.
It's what I wanted, honestly. The more she talked about her passions for learning purposes, the more well-rounded she would become. My daughter would be damaged in many other ways but she would know her mom encouraged her passions.
I walked up to the Angel painting. Even here, the Angel looked like a fierce warrior. The flowers were pretty. They looked foreign to me, but I don't know the complete flower species. If Lilac knew them, even better! She could explain it to me.
Footsteps echoed softly. I stepped closer to the painting. Observing it, I considered where it would be put in our house. Would it move to Equestria? It wouldn't fit in the Spencer house. If I moved some knickknacks around, it would look lovely.
Loki walked to my side. This went better than last time. Lucky for him I figured him out by his footsteps.
"Where's Freyja?" I asked him.
Loki frowned, thoughtfully. "I sent her to check on the Warriors Three and Sif. They have been quiet for too long."
"I'm surprised she agreed." I replied.
Loki hummed. His mischievous smile appeared on his face. "I may have implied you went there first."
That made me laugh. "Did you know that was wrong, or did you hope?"
"I took a chance." Loki replied. He walked closer to my side. His fingers were clasped at his front. Noticing that, my hands wrapped around my back to clasp together. "I remembered you spoke of wanting to see our art." Loki gave the painting in front of me a once over.
"Like being right?" I asked him.
Loki smiled, laughing. It looked and sounded right- still it made something in my chest tighten uncomfortably. "Oh of course. So tell me, what do you think about these pieces?"
"I think this painting will do. Lilac likes flowers." I told him.
Loki snickered. It sounded good coming from him. "The dragon likes flowers."
"People are conundrums, god of chaos." I replied. "Especially my family. That she carries that legacy? I'm so proud."
Loki looked away from me. His hands stayed together, clasping and unclasping his fingers. His anxious tell. Ah, he was still stressing out. Not that I could blame him. The day had been full of startling moments.
"I know I confuse you." I replied. "Same for Freyja. Or maybe you expected her to be an outlier...not even I can tell. Sorry for the mental gymnastics over me. People are often annoyed by it-"
"No apologies needed." Loki replied. He gave a tight smile. It made his words feel like a placating lie. "I don't find it annoying. It's…oddly charming."
It had to be a lie
No way anyone would be that kind to me
"Freyja would disagree." I laughed, trying to bring back some levity. "My actions often annoy her."
"Is the sentiment not returned?" Loki asked.
"True." I replied, chuckling lightly. "But her ideas are often the worst."
"Oh? Tell me about them." Loki asked. He stretched out his arm, inviting me to sit on one of the sparse chairs in the library.
Intrigued, I sat. "She hasn't told you, then? Interesting."
Loki took the seat beside. "Then you get the honor."
"Maybe I think she would rather be secret. Believe it or not, the stories don't color us in the best light." I replied.
"It can't be that tragic." Loki countered."Not if you're going to tell me.
"So convinced I'll tell you." I teased. "Maybe I'll carry that story to my grave."
"Since you are going to die soon saving the Frost Giants, there's a pressing need." Loki remarked in a snappish tone. His green eyes narrowed on the painting, refusing to look at me.
I shifted in my seat. The sudden turn to anger and rage made that uncomfortable feeling in my stomach grow. Like I'd eaten something wrong- and a lot of it.
That I angered him at all upset me so much- every part of it. I know I upset him. My choice to save Jotunheim was already obvious to him, even though it could kill me. Saving the Jötunns at all never sat well with Loki. Me offering myself to help without question? It made sense and it upset me that I knew why he was hurting, and I could do nothing.
He didn't understand my reasoning. He couldn't. Understanding it meant explaining why I wanted to save them. Well other than the crushing guilt that would kill me otherwise. In saving them, it stopped Loki from ending them. In stopping that, it took anyway anything Thor or the Warriors Four could use against Loki later. That damned fight wouldn't happen to stop Loki from using the Bifrost. It kept Loki from Falling.
No matter what, that was the goal. He needed to stay safe. Whatever I needed to do to save Loki, I would do it. If that meant using a lot of my magic, I would do it.
Without question
But how can I tell him that I'm going this far just to keep him alive from a movie ending?
An ending that, deep down, I don't know if I can change?
He did want something else. A small, useless sort of story that I could wrap up in a few short sentences. But it was something Loki wanted. So he would get it.
"I dabble in engineering." I explained, shifting in the cushioned chair. My arms relaxed on the wooden arm rests, squeezing the ends. "When working on one...device...it activated early. I'll admit, some magic went into creating it. On activation it...summoned Freyja to me."
Loki lifted his hand, covering his mouth with it. The look was familiar- the same face he made in that popular shot of him on Asgard's throne. It made me feel at ease about this.
"She didn't like me." I added. "Not at first. Ordered me around, yelled, complained, all in all it was pretty funny. When I told her what I'd created...she was impressed. We talked more and- we got along. We had a lot more in common than we thought."
We both had the same powers. Both of us felt so alone in that, in thinking we were the only ones that could do it.
I thought being alone made me a freak, an abomination, a sign of the end times, probably a changeling left behind by fairies to freak out the Christian parents.
River had a different belief. That her powers made her even stranger, that they were an unplanned part of her skills meant to kill the Doctor and Terra Johnson (myself, in the Doctor Who universe). River Song learned that she could be her own person in these places- that she could do what she wanted without people telling her what to do.
Meeting the other gave us a lot of answers. I wasn't alone at all- I wasn't an aberration. There was someone else like me. Having River around settled something deep inside. It left a lot of questions unanswered, but I still loved the answers I got. River learned that her powers weren't a fluke, or a side-effect of the time stream in her DNA. She had someone who understood her desire to run away, to hide in other worlds and do what she wanted without argument.
River and I were friends. We got close.
Then she fucking died on me without giving me a way to reach her. All over again, I was alone. For decades. Until I watched Doctor Who 'Let's Kill Hitler'.
"She...went away." I replied. My voice shook as I continued. Loki looked over at me, green eyes shimmering. "My...the device tied her to me, it- it broke."
Me, over a mic, screaming and crying
River-Melody-Freyja- Her voice full of pain and grunts as her robotic body shut down
Me, screaming again when her voice stopped for good
"She- She was- gone." I swallowed, trying to focus on the bookshelves around us. My hand squeezed tighter to the chair-
Squeezing tight to the metal bar.
River sitting in a chair, metal wires all around her. She wore a white spacesuit, sans helmet. She held two cords in her hands. She brought them together with-
"Spoilers."
I let out a harsh breath, shaking. Loki wanted me to finish the story. He wants to hear. He's gonna hear it.
"I- we-I was alone. Again."
I couldn't breathe.
Somebody held my hand.
I blinked, harshly. My vision came and went, water making it difficult. As I blinked the water away, forcing tears back in, the image in front of me became clear.
Loki.
Holding my hand.
*cue internal screaming*
"You can stop." Loki assured me. "I don't need to hear the rest."
I shook my head. "You asked." I weakly answered. "Sorry I- can't even tell a story without breaking down. Crap this used to be easier."
Get back in there, tears!
"I didn't know it affected you so strongly." Loki apologized. His fingers squeezed my hand. Pretty sure my brain short circuited. "I hadn't meant-"
"Good."
Loki blinked, eyebrow scrunching up. "Good?"
"You feel good." My hand squeezed his. My cheeks heated up again. Damn I am a mess. "Thank you."
"I...Do not thank me. The action was a- a reflex." Loki excused. He started pulling his hand from mine.
In reflex, my hand tightened on his. Loki looked at our joined hands, confused.
My brain was still shorting out. It couldn't do anything. Processing? Pfft, a thing of the past. All I could focus on was his hand on mine.
*cue internally screaming*
By how Loki's hand held mine, he must be going through the same thing.
It took a minute for my brain to catch up with itself. Even as Loki didn't let go of my hand, nor I let go of his. We just sat there, him kneeling in front of my chair. Holding our hands- his free hand on his knee while mine stayed on the arm rest.
"I like thanking you." I told him.
Loki swallowed.
"You've- helped me." I offered him.
"I did?" Loki asked.
I nodded.
The answer surprised Loki. He leaned back, hand not leaving mine.
Though he wasn't saying it, I could see the thought from behind his green eyes.
'How funny' His eyes said. 'That I brought her here to help me, now I have helped her by doing something as simple as holding her hand.'
Yeah, that was funny.
"You're still angry at her." I nodded. "Freyja doesn't hold that hate. Why else bring you here?"
"She did it to yell at me."
"Or maybe…she missed you too." Loki offered. "Just as much if not more. Because- because-" Loki paused, glancing up at the art around us. He braced himself.
That hand squeezing mine again.
I followed his line of sight. A warrior Angel, long blonde hair flowing behind them, a field of warm colored flowers below.
"…because she knows I'll help her. I always help people. Even if I'm mad at them." I finished his thought. When I checked how Loki was doing, the answer became very clear: not good.
His green eyes welled with tears. His jaw clenched.
"I don't think I'm the only one." Leaning forward, I used my other hand to lift his face back to me. Loki's lip thinned as he held it all back. "After all, I'm only here because you wanted to help Thor."
Loki laughed, bitter. "And look where it got him. Would he thank me then?"
"Maybe not. But would he hate you?" I countered.
We both knew the answer. Even without seeing Thor for days or liking his pre-movie self, I knew the answer. Loki, who grew with him as a brother, knew of no other answer.
No
No he wouldn't
For I bet even on the worst of days between Thor and Loki as children, Thor always came back to Loki like an eager golden retriever puppy. Loki would definitely have cast it aside- trying to appear like a strong Asgardian warrior who had no need of such emotional affection.
But sitting in front of him, I knew it was the sort of thing he craved most.
Loki tried to look away. I brought him back with a soft giggle.
"Always so insightful." I mused, quoting Frigga.
"He's a fool." Loki argued.
"Never said he wasn't." I replied. "But I think this is the one thing he got right."
"He should hate me. All of you should. I am still a monster, no matter what you say otherwise." Loki dismissed.
"Yet still you sit here. With me. Alone." I reminded him.
No Freyja in sight
No maid or guard either
Just us
Alone
Just like befire, the universe kicked me in the teeth.
The doors of the library slammed open. Offensively so, I might add. Loki pulled away from me. He did his best to put us at a respectable distance.
"Freyja, I was just thinking about where you were." I snarked, leaning back in my chair to glare.
Freyja walked around a bookcase. Her blonde hair was an even bigger frazzled mess before. She should pull it back in a ponytail-
-a ponytailed head of blonde hair-
-Nevermind, no ponytails. They look stupid on her anyway.
"Forget that! What are you doing?" Freyja snapped.
"Stealing a painting, and figuring out how to save a planet. Got any tips?" I asked.
"You're an idiot and don't do it?" Freyja offered. She marched to my side, knocking my arm off the armrest. She took the spot as a seat.
I glanced at Loki. He quickly started his eyes off me. It made me smile and blush all at once. "Risk myself to save a planet, or let it die?" I asked her.
"It's reckless. I can't let you." Freyja argued.
"Would he not do the same?" I asked.
The mention of the Doctor had Freyja frowning in annoyance. Yes, every version of River Song loved him. That didn't make her any less annoyed by his martyr complex when it came to dying planets. "Damn you."
I winked at her. "Yeah he would. We both know that."
We've both seen it by now, many times over
"That doesn't mean you should copy him." Freyja argued.
Loki looked endlessly confused. To be fair, playing the Pronoun Game in front of outsiders was often rude.
"Of course not. But could either of us put up with the guilt?" I asked Freyja. She groaned, rolling her eyes. "Why did you even come here? You knew the argument would be pointless-"
"Because I had to stall you." Freyja answered.
That concerned me. Loki too, as he sat up straighter in his original chair. "…from?"
"Heimdall summoned the Warriors 3 and Sif." Freyja explained. Loki and I snapped our heads to her. "I was deliberately asked not to follow."
"What? No." I stood up from the seat. "We should've had more time-"
"Heimdall took notice of our return and what it meant." Loki reasoned. "He believes us traitors and thus will act in the name of Thor."
I swore, stomping my foot.
"We need to get moving to stop them." Freyja told us. "Morgan, I hope you have a plan ready. Because whatever it is, it's starting now."
==L==
AN: SO EPISODE ONE CAME OUT AND I CAN'T SAY ANYTHING BUT JUST KNOW I AM SCREAMING AND WHERE IS EPISODE TWO I AM A SUFFOCATING SPONGEBOB AND I NEEEEEEEED IIIIIIIT!
(also yes the title is a reference to an Among Us modded role. Maybe it's foreshadowing. Maybe I'm in pain from watching Loki the Series. MAYBE I AM ALSO A COSMIC MISTAKE THAT NEEDS A HUG DAMMIT-)
I am fine
Thanks to Stella-Nyx for favoriting and following!
