Heimdall straightened up when he became aware of a familiar energy on Midgard. It felt like a mixture between the Tesseract and something he couldn't quite grasp. His eyes narrowed as the energy grew so much that it was visible about a thousand feet in the air. The blue spread until it disappeared in a small implosion.
"What…?" Heimdall's eyes widened when a body started falling from where the energy had just been in. It seemed to be a young woman. He whirled around, hurrying to ready the Bifrost to catch her. If she had indeed fallen out of that energy, he would need to alert the Allfather and collect her before the Midgardian authorities got their hands on her.
He took a step back just as the portal swirled, spitting out the girl. She fell to the floor like a ragdoll, causing Heimdall to wince at the sound her head made when she hit the ground. With a glance back at the Bifrost, he scooped up the unresisting girl into his arms and hurried towards the palace. He needed to talk to the Allfather and the Allmother as soon as he could. Now that he was seeing her up close, she looked so much like a female version of Loki, it was scary. Even the shreds of her clothing were the second Prince's.
"Heimdall?" Odin frowned when he realised who had interrupted his talk with Frigga.
Heimdall stopped at the bottom of the dais "My King. I bring disturbing news."
Frigga's eyes had drifted to the girl in the Watcher's arms "Who is this, Heimdall? Why have you not brought her to Eir?"
"My Queen. I have reasons to believe this is Loki…"
"Impossible," Odin shook his head "Loki is with Thor. They have returned from a hunt only this morning."
Heimdall hesitated for a moment "Not this universe's Loki, my King. She has appeared out of thin air, surrounded by the energy of the Tesseract and another object."
Frigga moved to step closer, removing the girl's hair from her face. She studied the still form for a moment before she let out a gasp "They could be twins," she murmured "Though… Something feels off. Heimdall, take her to Eir. Now. You may come back to discuss your findings with Odin later."
"Of course, Queen Frigga," Heimdall inclined his head and hurried to the infirmary with the Queen hot on his heels.
Once the three reached the infirmary, Frigga turned to Heimdall "Return to the throne room, please, Heimdall. And have some guards alert Thor and Loki to our guest. I wish to speak to them once Eir and I took care of her."
"I will do so once I reported to the King," Heimdall nodded. He hesitated for a moment "My Queen…" He stopped and shook his head.
"Speak your mind," Frigga prompted him when Eir hurried over to them.
The healer's eyes widened when she saw the injuries on the girl "What happened?"
"We do not know yet," Frigga told Eir "Start your treatment. I will join you momentarily."
"Yes, my Queen."
Frigga gestured for Heimdall to join her by the doors "What is it?"
"There is something strange going on here," Heimdall spoke up slowly "I do not know how she just appeared but I…"
Frigga nodded thoughtfully "I'm sure we will find out," she spoke up and smiled lightly "I thank you for being so prompt in alerting us. If she really is a version of my Loki…"
"I'm sure Eir will find out if it is so," Heimdall told her "What concerns me are the traces of the tesseract."
"I understand," Frigga told him "I implore you to bring those concerns to Odin. He will make sure to take care of them."
Heimdall bowed "I will do so now, my Queen." With that, he turned to walk back to the throne room.
"How is this possible?" Eir asked, looking at the scan in confusion "This is…"
Frigga stood next to her, looking at the scan as well "So it is true," she hummed, relived that her and Heimdall's suspicions had been true.
"My Queen," Eir spoke up tentatively "The scans are… The scans are the same as Prince Loki's."
"Yes, so they are," Frigga nodded "Now, what do we have to do?"
Eir squinted down at the young woman on the bed before turning to look at the Queen who was hovering behind her anxiously "There is something in her mind, my Queen. I am unsure of exactly what but the energy signature resembles the one all around her." The healer pointed to the scan "Here. There are some traces still left and they seem to practically cling to her."
"The Tesseract," Queen Frigga murmured, studying the girl. Was this her Loki? Well, maybe not her Loki. He was still blissfully unaware of the fact that something was wrong. In fact, everyone but Odin, Eir and Heimdall we're unaware of their guest "Is there anything you can do?"
Eir bit her lip before she nodded "I will need your help, my Queen but it should be easy to remove. The binding source seems to no longer be there."
"What do I do?" Frigga asked, her voice determined as she moved towards the bed.
"Place your hands here," Eir instructed "And here and push a little of your magic into her body."
The two women gasped when Loki's eyes flew open, glowing an electric blue. She cocked her head, looking around unseeingly "I won't help you," she rasped, looking to be struggling with the presence in her mind that had been disturbed by the foreign magic that was being pushed into her system.
"Relax," Eir soothed, placing her hand on Loki's head "Just relax. It will be over in a moment." Loki's hand shot out, wrapping around Eir's wrist and squeezing. The healer didn't let any emotion show on her face but the grip was getting quite painful "Now, my Queen." With those words, both women began pumping their magic into the unresisting body, letting it wrap around the presence. Loki gasped before falling limp on the bed, unconscious once more. Before her eyes fully closed, Eir could see the emerald eyes of the younger prince. Her shoulders slumped in relief as she backed away from the black-haired girl.
"You wanted to see us, father?" Thor asked as the guards opened the doors for him and Loki.
Odin looked up from where he had been whispering to Heimdall and nodded "Come here, my sons."
"What is this about?" Loki asked cautiously, feeling the Watcher's eyes on him. The intensity of the gaze made him a little uncomfortable.
Odin hesitated for a moment before he waved his hand at Heimdall "You may leave, Heimdall. Return to your duties."
"Very well, my King," Heimdall bowed and strode out of the throne room. He glanced over his shoulder at Loki once again before he shook his head, turning part of his attention to the unconscious girl in the infirmary.
Thor raised his eyebrow at Loki "What have you done now, brother?"
"Why are you looking at me?" Loki asked, equally as baffled as Thor "For once I'm truly innocent."
"Why don't I believe you?" Thor snorted, shaking his head.
Odin smiled at his sons' antics "Enough," he commanded, causing the two boys to quiet down "Heimdall has informed me of a… situation earlier."
Loki's eyes narrowed "That sounds ominous," he murmured.
"A girl appeared on Midgard… She seems to be…" he broke off when the doors of the throne room opened once more "Frigga. How is she?"
Frigga made her way over to her husband "She's alive. The presence in her mind was still strong, fighting her for control. I believe Eir and I have managed to vanquish it."
"Have you talked to her?"
"She fell unconscious again," Frigga shook her head "But the scan Eir performed proved Heimdall's suspicions."
Odin's eyebrows shot up "So she really is an alternate version of Loki?"
"What?" Loki choked, his eyes widening "What do you mean?"
"Heimdall reported that the girl appeared out of thin air," Odin sighed, running a hand over his face "We do not know much more than that. Other than the fact that she had been injured."
Thor tilted his head "How can you be so sure she is him… He am her… Erm…"
Loki's lips twitched despite the situation "Don't think too hard, Thor. You might hurt yourself."
"There are… certain characteristics that she has that are identical to Loki's," Frigga spoke up, choosing her words carefully. This wasn't the right moment to tell Loki that he was adopted… Or was it? What better chance than this? They had waited for the right time to tell him but there was no right moment. Only bad ones and worse ones it seemed.
"Characteristics," Loki raised his eyebrows "How does that prove it?"
Odin shook his head "Not now, Loki. We will be talking about this later today, alright? For now, your mother and I have to talk about what we'll be doing next."
"But father…" Thor went to argue but was cut off.
"No, Thor." Frigga held up his hand "Leave. We will let you know what we decide. For now, we only wished to inform you of our new guest so you won't be surprised to hear the gossip that will no doubt be circulating the palace soon."
"Of course, mother," Loki nodded before grabbing Thor's arm "Come on. Let's leave them to their talk."
Thor looked at his brother in confusion "Loki…"
Loki raised his eyebrows and looked at Thor pointedly "Come with me."
Frigga and Odin exchanged an exasperated look when Thor's expression lit up. It seemed as if Eir would get visitors. Hopefully, the two boys didn't frighten the poor girl should she wake up while they're there.
Thor and Loki were standing at the doors to the infirmary, watching the sleeping girl curiously. Thor leaned closer to Loki "So, what do you think?"
"What do I… Thor, what are you talking about?" Loki asked, studying the girl curiously. She had the same dark black hair he had but apart from that, he couldn't really tell whether they were similar in other aspects.
"Well, she's you, isn't she?" Thor asked "So what do you think of her, Loki?"
Loki rolled his eyes at his brother "She isn't even awake."
"Are you really?" a quiet voice asked, startling the brothers. They looked over to see the girl sitting up with a grimace.
Loki moved over to help her sit up against her pillow more comfortably "Are you okay? Do you need Eir?"
"No," the girl exclaimed, looking around panicked "Please… Don't."
Thor moved closer "We won't call Eir if you don't want her to. If you want, we could even sneak you out of here. Loki is pretty good at it."
"So you're really Loki?" the girl asked "How is this possible? Where am I?"
"On Asgard," Thor told her, blinking when both Loki and the girl on the bed stared at him with the same look on their faces "Wow, you could be twins. This is somewhat unsettling."
Loki raised his eyebrow at the girl when she snorted "Well, at least one thing doesn't change."
"Our parents didn't tell us much," Loki told her "Do you remember what happened?"
The two brothers were surprised when the girl looked at Loki in realisation "You don't know, do you?" she whispered "I…"
"Know what?" Loki frowned.
She bit her lip "I'm not sure if I'm the best person to tell you. Maybe go talk to your… parents? I don't even know if it's the same as with me. I – I don't understand how I'm here. I was on Midgard and then I woke up here."
"Why were you on Midgard?" Thor questioned curiously. They hadn't been on Midgard in ages and he didn't understand why the girl would want to go there.
The girl swallowed, looking down at her hands "I don't want to talk about it. But to answer your question from before. Yes, I am Loki."
"Why didn't you call me when she woke up?" Eir demanded, hurrying over to the bed. She frowned in confusion when the girl flinched away from her.
"That's why," Thor pointed out, shrinking back at the healer's glare "We'll just… You know, leave."
Eir's lips twitched "Off you go. I have a patient to see to."
"Loki," Odin spoke up as they were finishing up dinner. Eir had told them that their guest had talked with Loki and Thor a little before she had thrown them out. She had also reported that the girl seemed to know about her true parentage. Maybe it was time to talk to Loki. He deserved to know the truth even if Odin wasn't sure how he'd take it. At least there was someone Loki could talk to if he needed someone who had gone through the same thing "Stay behind. We wish to talk to you."
Loki raised his eyebrows but nodded his consent "What is it?" he questioned when Thor and the servants had left the room "Is this about… Loki?" He paused for a moment "This is weird."
"We will find a solution for that, I'm sure," Frigga smiled.
"Did she say anything to you?" Odin asked, looking at Loki searchingly.
Loki shook his head "She hinted at something but I'm not really sure what she was trying to say – or not say in this case."
Odin nodded "This is… It's something we should have told you a long time ago, Loki."
"What?"
Frigga took pity on Odin and took over for him "I'm sure you have noticed how you don't really resemble Thor or either of us."
An icy feeling spread through Loki's veins as he nodded numbly "What are you saying?"
"When Asgard was in the middle of a war with Jotunheim… I found a babe alone in the temple with the Casket of Winters," Odin started hesitatingly.
Loki shook his head "No… You don't mean…"
"Loki, that baby was you," Frigga told him gently, reaching out to grab his hands in hers.
He pulled back violently "Why have you never told me? Why now?"
"Because it was time for you to know," Odin explained "We do not love you any less because you aren't ours by blood. I just want you to know that. We have always loved you and Thor equally."
Loki swallowed "Who are my parents? Do you know?"
Odin and Frigga exchanged a look before the Queen nodded encouragingly "You're Laufey's son."
"Laufey's son," Loki whispered "I… I need to go."
"Loki…" Frigga called after him but the doors had already slammed close behind their second son.
Odin sighed "That went well."
"It could have gone worse," Frigga pointed out "I believe he needs time to process first. Let's give him a few days before we talk to him. I think I know where he went."
"The girl," Odin realised.
"Who better to talk about this than yourself?" Frigga shrugged elegantly.
"You knew, didn't you?" Loki demanded, his eyes rimmed with red "You knew that I was adopted. A frost giant."
"Yes," the female Loki nodded, fiddling with the blanket "I wasn't sure whether our lives were the same and for the most part I pray they aren't but being a frost giant isn't a bad thing. There is a lot of prejudice about us going around but look closer. The stories are nothing but that. Stories."
Loki chewed on his lip and nodded reluctantly "Will you come with me? Only once you're healed."
"You want to talk to Laufey?"
"I want to know why he abandoned me… us," Loki told her "I want to know why. Also, what do I call you? It is a little weird to think of you as Loki."
The girl cracked the small, brittle smile that Loki was already getting accustomed to and thought it over for a moment "Loptr. You may call me Loptr."
