Loki and the Aethon
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"Well, we know that magic and youki are direct opposites, but what I don't get is why Legolas, who now has magic, can see the spirits, and you, Horns, can't." After he abruptly left the meeting with Sho in tow, obviously to discuss yet another miscommunicated issue between the two of them, Stark had returned to the living room to talk to him and Clint.
Loki wanted to roll his eyes. Deeply. Far into the back of his head.
"You're…mostly correct. Magic has different purposes. My magic, at least up until recently, was centered around misdirection, illusion, and deception. Pure magic has one singular goal, to target Youki and to dispel impurities that youki destroys. You said yourself youki is positively charged and harms mortals. The most viable weapon that the mortals had were the priests and priestesses that harnessed pure magic. It is why that spectrum of magic can see spirits, and my magic cannot." Loki had truly hoped this would appease Stark and they would let them go about their business.
Loki was in NO mood to be explaining something an adolescent on Asgard would already know.
Loki's blood itched for a spar. Or rough sex.
Odin had lied to him about a great many things, this was not news to him.
However, Odin lied to him for CENTURIES about the fate of his closest friend, then prevented him from saving his life by stranding him on Alfheim. Not only that, he lied to him about knowing where at least SOME of the remaining Demons were, and masked his real reasons for Thor being so enraged by storming Jotunheim, causing his exile on Midgard.
Odin wasn't that irate about Thor blundering into a situation he couldn't get out of by inciting war with Jotunheim. Oh no, he was worried they would find the frozen Demons on Jotunheim while they battled!
Him using the Bifrost as a weapon and shattering the ice prison that housed the Demons had worried Odin far more than the fall of King Laufey.
Odin didn't just lie to Loki this time, he lied to Thor as well. It slowly began to dawn on Thor, when he pulled him and Sho from the meeting in for their little chit-chat, how pervasively he had betrayed them.
Odin watched from afar as GENOCIDE occurred. The genocide his best friend's RACE that he had valiantly led the prevention of! In Loki's point of view, he may as well been an accessory in its undertaking. And of all people, Sho was the one telling him to calm down!
But Sho didn't understand that Odin had pledged to be the protectorate of Midgard and its inhabitants. He couldn't simply cherry-pick which inhabitants survived, and Loki was sure that mortals must have too perished in this war. It could not have seen only Demons as its casualties. Odin had failed to even lift a single finger for a realm he vowed was under Asgard's protection!
"Perfect. That means we can use Cupid's purple mojo to create a containment field for the magic spirits, or at least a visibility fence so we can see them and who knows, maybe even exorcise them, banish? Ghostbust them?" Stark, with a predictable ostentatious flourish, brought up his various holograms, revealing a blueprint of some sort.
"You think you can really make a containment field for spirits…using my new magic?" Clint sounded skeptical and Loki shared the sentiment. Demonic spirits were not to be underestimated, and they could vary between extremely strong and quite weak if Ryokutsusei and Hakudoshi were any indicator. It definitely could not be relied upon.
"I don't even know what I'm doing with it Tony. I can't even control when it happens. I don't think you're going to be able to help me stabilize it, much less make other people see these things." Clint sighed and oddly, an itching sensation flooded Loki's chest. The itch to comfort Clint. He didn't particularly need it. Loki just had the impulse to whisk him away from all of this.
"Oh ye of little faith…rather science. You're talking to the man who made an Early Warning Line to detect a stealth alien armada. Go ahead, fire an arrow off with that bow that could put fully chrome lambos to shame." Stark gestured to Ichaival as if it were just some gaudy accessory. Now, Loki wasn't about to say the golden bow wasn't a bit fancy, it just also so happened to be a terrific conduit for magic.
Ichaival had the ability to fire bolts made entirely of the magic signature and energy of its wielder. It needed no physical arrows, it simply launched magic energy. Loki could never control it well, Ichaival seemed very reluctant to respond. He'd simply get too… angry? Frustrated? He didn't know, he also couldn't trust the memory as one that was true due to the other. He couldn't even remember when or how he acquired it. Odin seldom used it, yes, but how did he not know it was missing from the armory?
Loki didn't have answers, but he did know that Clint could most likely make use of the bow. It made sense and Ichaival literally warmed to Clint being an incredibly skilled archer.
"The guy who flies around in a gold and red suit of armor is calling me gaudy? Now I know the apocalypse is upon us. I haven't even tested this bow yet, but… Yeah, let's see what this thing can do." Clint strode to the weapons cabinet and Loki watched his ass each step before stopping him.
"You don't use physical arrows with Ichaival. It channels your very magic energy into an arrow." Loki explained, hopefully not too condescendingly. He didn't want to sound too uppity with Clint, but he just needed space and this wasn't it. Loki knew he was on the brink of exploding and doing something or saying something sharp and wicked and he'd rather it not be Clint. He'd rather be anywhere else, but he couldn't just….leave.
Could he?
His fingers twitched and he pursed his lips. He needed to get out of here. Wait, how did he swing from wanting to comfort Clint to wanting to be away from him?
"It makes its own arrows? No need for ammo, that's great." Clint smiled and he loved it. But. He was losing it. Maybe it was the scepter. Maybe it was his hatred of Odin bubbling back up. Like the scepter had been right all along to draw this hatred of him. The Other manipulated him, yes. He would flay him open like a goat at a feast, of course. But, how much of this hatred did the Other create, and how much had just always been there?
"It draws on your magic reserves, it ceases to fire when your reserves run too low." Loki half explained. It didn't require a full explanation because he wouldn't allow Clint to fall to any danger where it would be put in a position to use Ichaival too recklessly. Odin could use Ichaival tirelessly. Odin.
Yet…Maybe the Other wasn't wrong in sprouting the seeds of hatred he had for Odin. He was a weapon, and maybe after he killed the Other, he could turn himself on Odin too. He stood up to Odin's magic with his own branch of Yggdrasil. Maybe it was enough. Maybe he could wait, and plot and scheme and find a way to weaken Odin and then finally finish him off.
"Best news I've heard in a while. I won't have to worry about running low on ammo." Clint smiled earnestly and Loki caught himself returning it. Thor could have Asgard. He was more than ready. The truth of the matter was that Thor had somewhat matured and while Thor didn't quite realize it yet, he didn't need Loki's help. Yes, before he fell from the Bifrost this could not have been further from his stance, but it's not like his opinions ever really mattered anyway.
Not like he'd really survive this war to see Thor sit upon it anyway.
Clint pulled back the iridescent bow string and it glowed a vibrant, stellar violet. The whole bow glowed with a purification magic that Loki had believed had been extinct for centuries.
Loki forgot to breathe, feeling a niche, arcane magic flourish in Clint made him secretly still in awe. It was odd, because in most other circumstances Loki would have felt extreme envy or jealousy over someone picking up a most fickle magic with such ease with aid, but here, he just felt pride.
Yes. That was his partner who could generate a purification arrow in Ichaival. Loki doubted there was any other being in the galaxy who could, not even Odin. Oh and how Odin probably wished he could…
An equally exquisite violet arrow, unfocused and shaky, wild appeared in the bow. Loki noticed Sesshomaru's youki on instinct spiked a bit. Maybe this bow could help Clint hone his natural Priest instincts as well.
Loki allowed a cautious light of hope to flicker in his chest. Perhaps these Demonic spirits wouldn't tear the mortals asunder as he had originally predicted.
Clint let the glimmering bowstring go.
Like a magic bolt from his own hand, the arrow shot through the air towards the target. Fantasti—
THE NINES.
Sesshomaru, faster than Loki had seen him move in quite a while, in front of the path of the arrow.
No one had time to say anything, but Loki could see Clint's eyes widen and Stark's spine stiffen and straighten.
The purple arrow was grabbed out of the air by Sesshomaru and instantly a wash of blue youki flared out and all the markings on Sesshomaru's face and wrists turned jagged and long. His eyebrows furrowing slightly was the only sign of discomfort as the arrow and the youki dispelled into a lapis powdery dust.
"Are you crazy?! This is the magic that was basically created just to kill you! This isn't some sport or game!" Clint yelled from across the room. Loki could tell he was clearly agitated because obviously the last thing he wanted to do was to hurt Sesshomaru. They had grown rather curiously close as friends.
Stark had remained suspiciously silent except for a long eye-roll and a huff. He suspected that Stark was a hair more angry than he let on.
"…I haven't witnessed this display of purification magic before." Sesshomaru glanced down at the hand that caught the arrow. He opened and closed the fingers as if testing it.
"Curiosity didn't kill the cat, it killed the dog." Stark predictably threw his hands in the air and Loki chuckled. Only he knew that it would take a lot more purification magic than that to seriously harm his friend.
"I shall not die in your sparring room, Stark." Sesshomaru then looked a hair annoyed. Those two were positively the worst pair in the history of Demonic Mating rituals. Loki was sure of it.
"Yeah, yeah, actions speak louder than words, and trying to grab an arrow made of magic designed to specifically kill you out of mid air doesn't reassure me." Stark retorted.
"Yeah, and don't put that on me. I'd rather not explain to Rin that I shot her dad and turned him into magic purple dust." Clint put the bow down and Sesshomaru tossed his hair.
"My test was sufficient. Your magic bolts are more than potent enough to purify the spirits, they, however are not strong enough to harm me. It'd be unwise to test your magic on Jaken." Sesshomaru stated, showing his palm which didn't so much have a mark. Loki scrunched his nose, Clint had just begun to discover Ichaival's potential as well as his own. He wondered if Clint continued to hone his ability if he actually could purify Sesshomaru.
Loki's thoughts flickered to the scepter and Clint's crystal blue eyes. That moment in the tunnel three years ago when he said he needed an eyeball.
No. He wouldn't allow that to happen to Clint once more. He COULDN'T.
"Jarvis you got that Magic signature right?" Stark asked his rather snarky AI. Loki tried his best to avoid it's detection, but it did always seem to catch him when he least wanted it's attention.
"Yes Sir, I am constructing an algorithm now from its data. It is remarkably similar to Loki Defender of Earth's magic signature, however the wavelength is even shorter, similar to that of a hard-xray." The AI informed the room and Stark's eyebrows furrowed.
"Might want to be careful how much you practice with your love-bow cupid. While that's not putting out enough radiation for me to paint the walls with lead pant, you're a walking Xray machine. So let's make sure you only practice that away from people who you know, may not want cancer or a bad sunburn. You can get a job at TSA now that you quit SHIELD." Stark flipped up another one of his boasting holo projectors and Sesshomaru just looked on with practiced boredom.
"What?! Loki you didn't tell me I could cause cancer!" Clint whipped around to Loki who shrugged. He wasn't aware that purification magic could do so either, in fact it didn't make much sense but magic often didn't.
"Mortals are fragile creatures, yet I doubt very much Ichaival would allow any undue harm to mortals. That wasn't its crafted purpose." Loki articulated. He didn't know if Stark's AI was accurate or not, and if it wasn't he would find a way to communicate to it to not interfere with Clint's mental state during his training. Spreading misinformation about his magic wasn't going to help them win this war.
"This bow, Loki, for what purpose was it crafted?" Sesshomaru approached and Loki smirked.
"Ichaival was crafted to hunt down those who pose a threat to Odin, specifically meaning your species and a few others including the Jotuns. I do say I am enjoying this little twist of fate." Loki flashed his teeth. And Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes. Ichaival was indeed forged to lay waste to those specific species, and he intended that Clint should never find out about his true heritage. Now that Loki thought about it, it was his Jotun heritage that most likely prevented him from utilizing the bow.
"Ok, yeah, no target practice until the real threat gets here, and don't worry, I won't threaten little green with it." Clint stared at the bow and his own hand, and Loki mused in his head what would happen if Clint ever used his purification magic on him. Would it hurt him as potently as Sho due to his Jotun form? Could Clint kill him?
Maybe that's how it should be when the time came.
Loki predicted the Aethon would make it's repairs soon, and then they would place the bait.
"Let's be off Clint, Stark has wasted enough of his time tinkering, let's go find dinner, I am feeling...steak." Loki wished to take Clint to that steakhouse before the whole city shut down to prepare for an intergalactic invasion.
It was by all accounts a gorgeous day that most insipid mortals here would enjoy by drinking their weak spirits and playing that game with the disc on the grass.
Well, it was a beautiful day indeed, aside from the Aethon, all black obsidian and teeming with an army hell-bent to slaughter all those who inhabited the planet.
Loki did itch to slaughter some of The Mad Titan's army and decimate the abomination of a spacecraft that used his own blood magic. His strategy was sound, and they were prepared as they could be…yet he sincerely doubted that Midgard, and the lost creatures led by their intrepid, but naïve captain were ready for the first wave of battle.
Loki had suffered far more than his fair share of loss.
Loki scrunched his nose. This wasn't going to be easy; they would suffer casualties. There would be funerals, and mourning and this would sober up their rag-tag group of misfit toys that this war would kill them. Perhaps all of them.
Except Clint.
He'd endeavor to protect him until the last drop of blood flowed through his capillaries.
"Earth to Loki? Are you focused?" Just the person he had been hoping to avoid speaking with. The captain. Loki glanced down the cordoned off street, flashing blue and red from garish sirens from their emergency vehicles.
Thanks to Sho's youki field surrounding Midgard, and his scry, they had ample time to evacuate most of the mortals that dwelled in this city and bring in their paltry military. The captain had managed to eke out some semblance of an order to the brigades of soldiers to heavily fortify the city, along with numerous armored units such as tanks and helicopters.
The illusion of strength was better than nothing. Loki's lip twitched up, he knew all about illusions.
"You will find no one more focused than I, Captain." Loki flashed an irritated smile. He knew the captain was simply just trying to ease him into some sort of conversation, but Loki wasn't in the mood for chit-chat. He just wanted to maim something.
His armor would be positively glinting in the sunlight if the Aethon hadn't blanketed their city in shade.
The captain got closer to him and Loki regarded him with actual eye contact. What could he possibly want? Didn't he have some orders to bark to one of his dim mortal soldiers.
"It hasn't done anything yet, it's been stalled above DC for a half hour. What do you think is the reason for this?" Loki just KNEW he'd ask that question. Yes, the Aethon had been stalled above their city like a gavel unmoving, dark, and no sign of life waiting to fall and flatten them to the ground. The Captain had ordered not to fire the youki capsules Stark had engineered on the ship in case they wanted to speak to the leader of this province of Midgard.
Or the commander of the Aethon decided to do something brash, and defect.
Stark had been positively grating over it all, that and his constant fidgeting. His obnoxious, clipped done in his voice and his constant, jittery, unnecessary movement demonstrated a clear sign of anxiety over this situation, and how Sho was to handle the Nycteus.
Its sister ship, the Nycteus, was about to get ready in position over their most heavily fortified naval base, Norfolk.
He promised Clint he wouldn't teleport down to Norfolk to see if they needed his assistance, but he didn't intend on keeping that promise if sensed Sesshomaru's youki reach critical levels.
Sho's youki remained steady, and he was a Demon Lord. He could handle the Nycteus if he could channel the Astral Plane.
"The likely answer, is that they are aligning their assault schedules and that they instructed the Aethon to arrive first to incite us to panic." Loki had been unable to teleport past the ship's shields into the craft thus far. His own blood magic proved an effective barrier against him, but he had seen it coming. It left a dark cold pit in his gut that The Other knew his magic just as well as he did.
At one point, he knew it better. Not any longer.
"It's a common tactic. One we won't fall to. I sense a victory here, Loki. We're ready, thanks to you." Their ever idealistic captain sounded serious but the note of optimism was too much for Loki.
"Are you? Are you ready for the volume of death that is sure to drown you and the morale of your military? The Other picked apart my brain and put it back together. I assure you, Captain, they have something planned to counter my strategy. Steel yourself to lose a friend or twenty." Loki's green eyes cut sharply and Rogers straightened into rigid stone. This was going to be nothing like his farcical invasion three years ago, or the warning shot from the Aethon mere days ago.
A dark anger began to buzz in Loki's chest. He summoned his daggers. Enough was enough, he could bring the fight to them. He could just leave an illusion to fool Thor and teleport up and use Yggdrasil's magic to blast a hole through the hull. His own magic in their shields, as well as Thor's overprotectiveness, be DAMNED.
"I'm ready to die for my friends and country, Loki. Are you?" Rogers turned and Loki scoffed.
"Do you think what I'm ready for really matters, Captain? Death reaches and death takes, it doesn't care if you're ready." As if on cue, the Aethon lit up. Ultraviolet lines glowed across the entirety of the ship and the main door underneath the Aethon slowly opened.
He heard a whisper of something on the wind. Faint, but he recognized it.
His heart twisted and stopped. No.
He had heard that war trumpet before many, many times, and each time brought a defeat.
Loki's mouth dried out as the blood rushed from his head to his heels.
That noise itself was death reaching its taloned hand out and clenching his throat shut like a vice.
"Stark better have completed that containment field from Clint's purification magic…. We are about to need it." Loki murmured. Loki had been floored that Stark had wanted to try to use Clint's purification magic to create a containment field.
'I know you can't believe
I could just leave it wrong
And you can't make it right
I'm gon' take off tonight into the night'
The track of 'Heartless' a ballad off of Kanye West's, Album '808s and Heartbreaks' sang muted out of the speakers of Clint's small speakers as they lay tangled on Clint's bed.
Clint had explained to him that 808s meant a certain bass drum frequently used in hip hop music. Loki didn't really understand all of what that meant, but it seemed to fit since his heart pounded in the base of his ears like a wardrum.
The glowing digital clock read 3:49 am. The Aethon and Nycteus had powered up their engines according to Sho's most recent scry and Stark's D.E.M.O.N.S. device supported this. Loki supposed he was as ready as he'd ever be.
"Loki, you know you can tell me anything, right? What's up?" Loki had his head on Clint's chest and while it wasn't the most natural position for them laying down, Loki sort of…needed it. He longed for Clint's calloused fingers to meander through his dark, wavy hair.
"Don't worry about me, Clint." Loki stated absently.
"Don't give me that shit. An invasion is on our doorstep, even Nat is antsy. You needing something from me isn't… asking too much." Clint gripped his hair a hair too tight and Loki pursed his lips. He always ran a fine line between what he wanted to say and what was needed.
Loki had a feeling of dread he couldn't place. That something was going to go horribly sideways when the Aethon arrived in the capital of this province in eleven hours time.
They were lucky to get this time together; he wasn't going to ruin it with unsubstantiated nonsense. But Thor's restlessness, and Sho's rigidity all showed what the mortals couldn't sense.
That this battle was going to set the tone for the whole war, and it wasn't a good tone.
Loki sat up and propped himself up to take a good long look at the mortal he had come to love.
Yes.
Love.
Not.
Covet.
What in the Nine realms had he let himself fall into this time?
Not that Clint would ever know it. This was his selfish, lead lined, velvet trimmed burden to bear.
'I'm a monster, I'm a maven
I know this world is changing
Never gave in, never gave up
I'm the only thing I'm afraid of'
The song had changed to 'Amazing', one of Loki's personal favorites.
"Clint, the Aethon and the Nycteus will arrive, they will annihilate more than you and your allies have possibly calculated. They will kill many, many mortals. You will all grieve their losses, but in no solar system will I allow the Aethon to take the capital city of this province. Sho will assure a similar outcome for that military base. Victory will be ours, and we will witness it, together." Loki grinned and he hoped he sounded as sure as he wanted to sound. Because he wasn't this was a smooth, icy lie he had practiced. Well, half-lie. He couldn't insure that the capital city of their province wouldn't fall to the Mad Titan, but he could definitely defeat the Aethon and insure a draw. A tie of sorts. As long as that mortal, Obama Barak? Fled and his most close advisors lived, then it was enough of a victory for Loki.
Well, that and if Sho didn't get captured by the Other. Loki was most certain his closed off best friend was keeping something from him about the scepter that he hadn't told him.
"… why am I not buying this? What am I missing?" Clint's warm gaze locked into his, and Loki grinned and sighed.
"I do believe, my dear Clint, you may be overthinking our current predicament." Loki placed slow, deliberate kisses on his chest.
"And I do believe, my dear pain the ass, that you're hiding something from me." Clint straightened up and Loki barely hid a huff. He just had to fall for an observant mortal.
He always hid from people, especially those he was closest to.
"Clint, I'm not hiding anything from you. My strategy will hold and…" Loki struggled with this. How did he phrase his itching anger and unease? "The Aethon and the Nycteus will fall." Loki smiled earnestly, except it wasn't earnest. Yet, he was the God of lies, that was to expected, right?
"Ugh I don't buy what you just said at all. You can't fool me. Just look how Thor keeps looking at the war table and he isn't touching any food, not even the pop-tarts or ice cream Rin gives him. All Fancy Pants does is stand on Tony's roof, train, and glare up at the sky. I don't think he's slept in days, won't come inside, and Tony's at absolute wits-end—" Loki pressed a finger to Clint's lips. He was going to be difficult about this wasn't he?
'I'm not loving you, the way I wanted to
See I had to go, see I had to move
No more wasting time, you can't wait for life
We're just racing time, where's the finish line?'
'Love Lockdown.' Loki didn't like this song too much. Something about it hit too close to home. Like if Clint really listened to the lyrics, he would figure him out.
"Clint. This is the Mad Titan and his armada. You and the other mortals, no offense to you all, may not understand that this warlord has been destroying planets for longer than Thor has lived. He is cunning, relentless, and has already bested Sho once in a duel. That, I assure you, tells of his prowess. While Thor and Sho have squared off in friendly melee, neither of us have fought Sho one on one seriously and we don't relish the prospect. What Sho said about him being trained to be a duelist was true, along with Thor being trained to be a general, and I a strategist. As long as we stick to our advantages, we will persevere. Thor's unease lies with being a leader and dealing with loss, and Sho's vigilance is due to his new gifts and technology is faced with, I will ensure they shan't be overwhelmed. The threat we face is real, but we will hold them back." Loki vowed. "Remember I am your shadow of vengeance and I will live past this battle to slay the Other." Loki licked his lips.
Clint immediately scooted back on the bed, hinged up, placed his hands on the sides Loki's face and kissed him slow. Loki worked his lips against Clint's like this would be the last time they'd touch skin.
"OK, OK, I get it. You and the immortal force are nervous, but got it handled." Clint's eyebrows waggled and Loki chuckled a bit.
Street Lights by Kanye started to play. Loki could relate to this song. He had so much more he wanted to accomplish.
'Seems like street lights, glowing, happen to be
Just like moments, passing, in front of me
So I hopped in the cab and I paid my fare
See I know my destination, but I'm just not there.'
"We are far from immortal. You could perhaps slay me easily with Ichaival." Loki sat up on the bed and put his hands up in the universal sign of surrender.
"I shot you once before, I don't need to do it again." Clint flashed a little grin that was all façade. Loki hummed.
"I deserved every arrow. But Clint, if for whatever reason the scepter gains control of my mind, and Sho is not arou—"
"Don't. Don't ask that of me, because it won't happen." Clint sprung up and tackled Loki to the bed, his arms on either side of Loki's head, chests pressed together together as if to cement themelves as one. "You're stronger than…anyone I've known. We have the scepter under control and I believe you can bring it under control too. Trust yourself, Loki. Trust yourself as much as I trust you." Loki on instinct, almost laughed, but the genuine honesty, the drive that Clint put into his words…made him want to believe.
Maybe…maybe he could best the Other's magic over his mind. Maybe if he killed the Other it didn't mean the Other's magic holding his own mind together would unravel and he would lose himself too. Or maybe he should just have Sho kill him. Sho would and could stomach it. They had long, long ago as adolescents made a pact to slay each other if the time called for it.
Loki opened his mouth to say something but Clint just shut it again with another warm kiss Loki knew he didn't really deserve. All this kindness. Warmth. He couldn't possibly begin to repay it.
"Loki, you're stronger than you give yourself credit for. Stop fishing for compliments, I've always been a better hunter than a fisherman." Clint chuckled and Loki couldn't help it, he did too.
'I got my life and it's my only one
I got the night, I'm running from the sun
So good night, I'm headed out the door, door, door, door, door
After tonight there will be no return'
Loki hadn't listened to 'See You in my Nightmares' before, but he rather liked it. It paralleled what he went through.
"Fancy Pants told me some things you like. Check this out." Clint flipped around on the bed, and Loki had absolutely no idea what Clint was talking about. Sesshomaru would by no means tell Clint what he liked. Sesshomaru didn't needlessly divulge information.
From underneath the bed, Clint produced a T shirt. That reminded him he would have to glamour some more ridiculous clothes on Sho for this.
Printed on the orange and white T shirt was an OWL. AN OWL! Loki's skin crawled and he wrinkled his nose. How any being could bare to entertain the thought of those pests being anything other than abhorrent was a complete mystery. Owls could twist their necks all the way around! They sounds they made ghost stories real, and their EYES! Anything with eyes that big and a mouth that small were not to be trusted. Also birds carried all sorts of disease, plagues, and shat from the SKY.
He and Sho never understood the allure of feathers, they seemed absolutely impossible to keep clean.
The word 'Hooters' (no doubt some sort of homage to their screeching terrible noise) was also emblazoned in an absolutely heinous shade of orange.
Along on the shirt was a name-tag.
It read 'Kiki'.
Ok. He was wrong. He didn't love this man. He wanted to murder him. And Sho.
Sho had told him about Suzuka.
'It's so crazy, crazy-crazy
I got everything figured out
But for some reason I can never find what real love is about
No doubt.'
Pinocchio Man, Loki had heard this fable from a cartoon once upon a time when he visited Midgard on an anniversary trip. He visited Midgard once every fifty years on the date that he last saw Sho. It was about a puppet whose nose grew whenever he told a lie. It hit a little too close to home, well except for the nose growing thing.
Being someone's puppet, lying to make everything go smoothly or to please Odin. Being swallowed by a giant maw and being left for dead. Wishing to be real.
Was the God of Lies…this Pinocchio truly? Nines he was thinking too much, he'd surely become Sho at the rate.
"I am going to pretend that you never showed me that atrocity. I am going to make myself believe that you do not tolerate those vile feather covered plagues. I am also going to tell myself that Sho did not tell you about Suzuka, or I really will challenge him to a duel, and win handedly." Loki's green magic coiled at his fingers. He knew whatever Sho meant was in jest…but OWLS and Kiki?
He would have to keep an eye on their friendship, and never allow them to accompany each other unattended in a jet ever again.
Speaking of that, he would have to really lay into Sho how he never told him he could fly. He doubted very much that he learned that skill after he departed for Alfheim. Sho did indeed keep some things quite secret. Not that he didn't but Sho wasn't him and Loki almost felt betrayed.
"Aw, you can dish out the nicknames and jokes, but can't take them back?" Clint chided and held up the shirt on Loki as if to check to see if was the correct size.
"Kiki was a name bestowed upon me by someone with who I had a complicated relationship. She was a Phoenix Demoness of immense prowess and would best me often in duels. We were not…enemies per-se, but we certainly were NOT close friends. The name I gave Sesshomaru is in a completely different context than the one she would taunt me with." Loki sneered. He was right.
The album by now had looped back around to first track: 'Say You Will'.
'When I grab your neck, I touch your soul
Take off your cool then lose control.'
"Yeah, Fancy Pants told me she had the advantage on you, that you're weak against Demonic Fire. Though, turn around is fair play, Kiki. Plus she doesn't sound that bad. From what I've heard you were a pretty aggravating teenager. You probably deserved whatever she dished out." Clint sassed and Loki sputtered.
Ok. Perhaps that may have been true in some regard, but she had quite literally tried to KILL him. Three times! They of course teamed up on occasion, mostly due to Sesshomaru's decision, and usually their spats devolved into something more heated….
Ok he was not discussing his ex-lovers…whatever Suzuka was with his current one. He also didn't truly wish to talk ill of the dead, especially with their spirits now flitting about.
"Oh and I am sure you were a treat to be around at that age as well." Loki flashed a grin and decided he'd let him keep that shirt. Maybe it would come in handy later.
"Hey, at least my fights didn't cause inter-planetary incidents, which I'm sure yours did with Fancy Pants and Thor." Clint attempted to throw the shirt onto a hanger hook but missed and the shirt fell to the floor. Loki magicked it up to the hook for him. "Nice assist, we should play two on two basketball." Clint pointed and Loki immediately wrinkled his nose. Surely Clint had to have known that Loki loathed sporting games. Sho also despised them, aside from the occasional race.
Was that something he needed to participate in? his love of Midgardian sports? He hoped not…but…well…
They did offer some good wagers.
"We cleaned up almost as many messes as we started." Flagrant lie. "Thor loves to speak about the time we defeated a vicious army of Scorpion Demons that had begun to lay waste to a certain region of Asgard." Loki informed, remembering that battle of attrition quite well.
Heimdall, Odin, Frigga, and himself had never quite figured out how the Scorpion Demons managed to infiltrate Asgard, but they did and ravaged countless villages before he, Thor and Seshomaru defeated them. To this day, Loki suspected someone close to Sesshomaru had been responsible, though Sho vehemently denied any involvement. Loki ardently believed his innocence, as did Thor. After recently hearing of Sesshomaru's mother's mastery of the Astral Plane, he surmised it was probably her attempt at revenge on Odin for nearly killing Sesshomaru when he transformed into his grand canine form in the middle of Odin's assembly hall.
Sesshomaru was not happy to hear Odin's excuses about missing Son of Taisho's funeral.
That was NOT a fun day.
"Well, then, we got nothing to worry about when the Aethon gets here." Clint fussed with the hem of his shirt which just made Loki magic it off.
"Let's…enjoy the time we have left, Clint. I grow bored of hearing you talk about such dull topics." Loki unleashed a devilish grin. He wanted to push the invasion off to the farthest corners of his mind and focus on the crooked smile as warm as Vanaheim sunshine in front of him.
The last track started to play, 'Welcome to Heartbreak', when Loki trailed wet love bites down Clint's chest.
'And my head keeps spinning
Can't stop having these visions, I gotta get with it
And my head keeps spinning
I can't stop having these visions, I gotta get with it.'
"Tony, it's go time for Operation Ghostbusters." The ever intrepid captain announced and Loki summoned his daggers. This was NOT a fight he was looking forward to having. He never thought he would have to encounter this particular Demoness again.
Yet, didn't he just say The Mad Titan would find the one flawless counter to his strategy?
As soon as the trumpet blare ended, a globe of purple light directly under the Aethon expanded as a glowing dome to encompass not only the Aethon, but at least a mile out in either direction. Stark's containment field bubbled to life making their battle appear as if inside a purple sparing arena. Or one of those snow-sphere toys that if one shook it, white bits of snow would swirl and fall.
As if snow was really beautiful. Snow only meant silence and death.
A glint of gold, orange, and crimson flared from the bow of the Aethon. Stark's invention had worked, he could see her! It perplexed Loki for when Sesshomaru explained the situation of the Demonic Souls, he would have sworn that she would have found herself sealed in Jotunheim. Loki had a very hard time imagining her expiring before the war with the Mad Titan, she was an incredible fighter.
Loki watched as she descended through the sky on golden wings of flame. Two long, feathered antennae looped above her head, creating a glowing saffron circle above her long crimson feathered hair. Adorned in flowing white robes and polished armor, she looked every bit an entity that most in Midgard would regard as an Angel.
However, that was only because their memories of the legendary Phoenix Demons were lost long ago. She was about as angelic as he himself was.
In her right hand she wielded a long trumpet that reached about well over a meter long.
"We're…we're fighting Angels?! We can't fight Angels!" Loki heard one of the soldiers shout from across the battalion near him.
"If she's our enemy, she's no Angel, soldier hold your position." The Captain commanded and Loki remembered something about him ascribing to one of the mortal religions that revered these Angels as holy and good. He ardently believed some asinine drivel about a mortal who could create grape wine from water, and build a boat to hold of two of every animal and other sorts of nonsense.
"Couldn't have said it better myself, Captain. Don't engage her, you'll just lose your life. She is their counter to my strategy" Loki stepped forward as she landed in front of him, wings tucked and folded behind her. Even at her full height she barely reached his shoulder.
"It has been a long long while Kiki. Did you miss me?" Her beautiful smile broke into a wild smirk. Her sharp rose eyes stared him down as her long talons drummed lightly on her gleaming trumpet. Loki sighed through his nose and palmed his face.
THE NINES.
Of all the Demonesses…of all the Spirits who could plague him. it'd be HER.
Suzuka.
The stunning Phoenix Demoness with whom on many occasion 'fought' in more ways than one. She was a force unparalleled, and no, Loki didn't loathe her. He couldn't. He, however, didn't hold any affection or lust for her any longer. He respected her speed, her mind, and her tenacity. However, he had no idea what she was thinking now.
"Loki…who is that?" Rogers called out, shield ready.
"…I believe the term you mortals would say, an ex-girlfriend of mine." Loki's mouth hardened into a grim line as feminine laughter percolated through the air. She even fooled most by sounding like an Angel. He had believed it once before as well. She looked every bit the part of celestial, along with Suzaku who Sesshmaru mercilessly slew centuries ago.
Five-hundred years in the Demonic Underwold only to be forced out by half the Soul Gem. Loki was willing to bet
"Hello Suzuka, Lady of the Southern Fire Islands." Loki had to play this just right or she'd incinerate each and every mortal in a three kilometer radius with a singular blast from her trumpet. "It certainly has been a while, and the company you're currently keeping is certainly not up to your usual standards." Loki poked a bit, hands white knuckling his daggers.
Every time he faced her, he had lost. Miserably.
She probably would have slain him back when he was much younger if Sho hadn't intervened. He claimed he did it only to repay him from the Uru dragon, but he knew that Sho wouldn't have let someone kill someone in his 'pack' in his territory without his expressed permission.
"So formal dear Kiki, you can call me Suzu like you used to! Oh and the company, allow me to explain, some arrogant Fire Demon, Mephisto, and some other masked creep struck a deal with me. I get a second chance at life and my choice of body of those Demons left in the Frozen Lands, and all I have to do for him is to fight and kill you. Easy pickings." Suzuka smirked pressing the trumpet to her lips. Loki's magic immediately began to coil green and hot around his hands, readying to teleport and fight her to the death.
She was being used as a distraction so he couldn't concentrate on bringing down the Aethon himself.
She did give him valuable information however, Mephisto had to be in league with the Other, Loki was sure of it. If the Other and Mephisto were working together to thwart his strategy, he doubted the Fire Demon was the one behind the mutany against Thanos. That left whoever was the captain of the other battle ship, the Voracious.
"Maybe I am mistaken, but as a Phoenix Demoness, I thought you had the ability to achieve a second life all on your own? Suzu, you've lost your touch, literally and figuratively." Loki taunted, keeping her attention. He replicated himself five times, in a pentagram all around her.
"Kiki, You don't even know what befell me, do you?" Suzuka frowned, almost, almost sorrowfully. "I'll have to pick your brain a bit to see what you really remember, my lovely magic man." She flashed her fangs at him and laughed. He had to throw up a shield against the Aethon just like he had in Shanghai. It may not last long, but if he could funnel and redirect the Chitauri into a few choke points, it would help Stark and his other friend 'Rhodey' pick them off easier.
He reached his hand up and the flowering, green Oleander flower blossomed out much easier and with less resistance than it had days before. Maybe he had gotten the hang of summoning Yggdrasil's magic after all. The Chitauri now snaked out sluggishly from small gaps in the pedals and he caught Stark's friend hit a few of the escaping Chitauri with his own weaponized suit of armor.
"Brother! Now is not the time for your tricks and games involving one of your former lovers! Begone vile Siren!" Thor's voice bellowed out from down the street. Loki's eyes flashed wide.
THAT MORON.
"Heeeeeaaaayyyaaahhh!" A brilliant thunderbolt arced from Mjolnir at Suzaka who merely glanced passively its direction. In the same instance the lightning hit, she vanished.
"YOU DOLT. She is as fast or faster than Sesshomaru, direct, long range attacks won't work!" Loki shouted but it was far too late. Suzaka had basically materialized next to Thor, looking up to him, flaming wings out.
"I can see why Loki never liked you. You're dumb, slow, and incapable." Her radiant wings flared out. "Using lightning against a spirit, don't you think? I didn't even need to dodge your attack! It wouldn't have grazed me! Now, let me show you how to really start a fight. Radiant Blaze of the South!" Her wings raged like an inferno and fanned out towards Thor and a whole battalion. Thor braced himself but was flung far back as a flaming, burning heap. Mortals in his brigade shouted out in terror, trying in vain to put out the fires. Great pillars of unceasing fire had caused a few of the tanks and armored vehicles around the mortals to combust and buildings' windows blew out from the heat.
The cries, shattering glass, and shout of Thor made Loki roll his eyes. Suzuka certainly remembered how to make her signature entrance.
Loki pursed his lips. He didn't start this mess, he didn't ask for this trouble, but he wasn't going sit by and watch Suzuka kill Thor and countless, harmless mortals. Loki threw out his hand and willed the borrowed branch of Yggdrasil's magic into it, just like he had back in that city where he healed their intrepid captain and Romanoff.
"Your fight is with me, Suzu! Or did your memory vanish with your physical body as well!?" Loki grinned as the green magic unfurled from his hands as verdant ivy vines and snaked across the street, spreading green powdery magic to snuff out the red youki flames. The green and red intertwined and smoked out into a brown, listless dust.
He may have lost to her before, but he was stronger now. His magic very well may not be enough to defeat her, but it sure was enough to get her attention.
She turned to him, the brilliant, raging inferno from her wings dying down to their regular golden hue. Her feathered antenna continued to circle her head. He once thought her so intriguing, but now she just grated on his nerves. She wasn't supposed to be here. And in a twisted way he almost felt betrayed even though he had no real right to feel that way.
How dare she take up arms against him, and team up with the Mad Titan? Didn't she know…no. She probably had not the faintest idea who The Mad Titan was if she fell before he arrived at Midgard.
She was just a pawn. A puppet.
"My memory is crystal clear. You disappeared from Earth for fifty years. I grew bored and searched out for you. I even heralded with my trumpet the Aesir which I had every right to as the Lady of the Southern Fire Islands. You know what I got for my troubles? A squadron of Valkyries. Oh, of course, at first I thought they had come to assist in your search, but no. They arrived to silence and vanquish me and scatter my ashes into the Great Sea." Her cold eyes cut to where a smoking Thor had begun to stagger up to a standing position, brushing embers from his charred cape.
So Odin had sunk to assassination of a Demoness, one he knew to be an ally, to ensure they wouldn't be found on Alfeim.
"Allfather would never order the Valkyries to slay a Demon Lady, especially one you courted!" Thor looked shaken up, as if he also forgot how perilous Demons could be when they fought like the meant it. Yet, Loki couldn't spare any concern Thor's way. He'd been through far worse and it was as if the fire youki affected Thor's body like it did his own. Jotuns were rather sensitive to fire youki.
Loki didn't say anything, his fury was building within him, but all he wanted to do was shake Thor with it.
"...right brother?!" Thor insisted.
"Odin stood silent as the Demons were wiped off the face of the planet. He allowed their genocide, Thor, and for the last time I am not your brother." Loki sighed, black magic surging within him. He probably couldn't hit Suzu with it, but there was only way to find out.
Suzu's scarlet brows furrowed.
"You should have known better to seek me out if I didn't want to be found, Suzu. If you want my undivided attention, you have it now." Loki gritted his teeth, gripped his daggers, and teleported in front of Thor to come between Suzuka and the blundering God of Thunder.
"So, you defend that warlord you call a father?" She seethed back.
"Never! He was never my father, but you should have been smarter to think he'd ever help you." He bit back. "He certainly never helped me, nor any other Demon." Loki and his illusions chorused. He found his rage. He, along with his illusions, summoned dozens of sparkling black gumtree bombs to surround Suzu and in union collide on her location. He glared back at Thor, hearing him spin Mjolnir.
"Thor stand down! This is my fight and don't you dare let anyone else interfere. Focus on the Aethon's cannons when Stark brings down their shields with Sho's youki capsules." Loki ordered with a grave tone he knew would ensure Thor wouldn't meddle in his affairs.
"Brother, she is formidable. Mjonlir is red from the heat of her flames, I have never seen Mjolnir react this way against fire ever. She could kill you." Thor warned and Loki sighed long and hard through his nose.
"Uru reflects Youki and absorbs magic, Thor. It seems that her attack almost overwhelmed Mjolnir's threshold to reflect youki. You'd do best remembering this if you face another Demon Spirit, or Mephisto himself." Loki ignored the obvious, of course she could kill him. Had Thor suddenly gotten more dense in the past few days?
"But brother, can you even hurt her?!" Thor asked and Loki rolled his eyes. He needed to mind his own business.
The dust and smoke settled and Suzuka shrugged her slim shoulders.
His black magic, which could scorch and severely damage Sesshomaru didn't faze her in the least. The purification dome simply rendered her visible, she was THAT powerful.
"You were always ungrateful, I won't regret killing you here." Suzuka twirled her trumpet and blew, unleashing more pillars of fire that Loki managed to rebuff back with a vibrant, green wall of flowers.
"Focus on yourself, Thor, and relay this to your captain, Mephisto the Fire Demon is in direct league with the Other, he is not the head of the mutany that Hakudoshi spoke of." Loki's eyes widened. Hakudoshi. He was unaccounted for.
He must be on the Nycteus. Good, Sesshomaru could more than handle him.
"I will and brother, I believe in you. We will both stand victorious." He ignored Thor's empty encouragement, and teleported to Suzuka and lashed out in a horizontal strike.
Suzuka blocked the blow with her trumpet and smirked.
They continued like this, flits of strikes of silvery daggers sparking against the gold trumpet. He kept a portion of his mind and magic locked into upholding the shield against the Aethon's smaller cannons and Chitauri. It was far easier this time around, but he needed to think of a way to harm her. He couldn't simply keep dodging and deflecting her attacks.
He'd eventually tire out and lo—
He missed a parry and took a harsh crack to the right temple, sending him bouncing and sprawling across the pavement. His ears rang and blood flowed from his mouth. Broken jaw. He mended it with a bit of green magic and rubbed it.
"You're still a touch too slow, Kiki." Suzuka flit back and put the Trumpet to her lips. "Sonata of the South!" Suzuka sang and just like how her voice sounded like the sun, the inferno that raged from the horn scorched like it.
Loki threw up a green magic force field that he prayed would hold. He strained as he pushed every strand, every branch of magic he could muster into the wall. The heat from the flames dampened his hair and burnt the asphalt on the ground he stood on.
"Curse your damned fire!" Sweat already had begun to snake down Loki's brow and into his eyes. How could she be this strong as a mere spirit? Did it have something to do with her being a Phoenix? No, this was her fighting spirit.
She was betrayed too by Odin, by Mephisto and the Other, and he had let her down as well. He pitied her. Yet another soul that lost their life to Odin's callous greed, but he didn't have the time to get her favor onto their side.
The crimson and gold tongues of flame burned through his wall and THE NINES was it impossibly hot. Loki could feel his magic wane, he couldn't grasp the branch of Yggdrasil. Pain chewed up his arms in the form of blossoming burns. His shield wouldn't last much longer.
Anger swelled in his chest as Loki sneered and refocused through the pain. He couldn't let her win! Not this time, not when it really mattered! He had so much left to destroy! He hadn't slaughtered enough of the Mad Titan's army yet. He hadn't done ANYTHING worthwhile yet!
He had the spirit in him to fight too!
His once polished armor now had blackened and warped from the heat. His hands began to blister and bleed from the burns. He couldn't hear anything except his own pulse in his ears and the roar of her Phoenix fire. The pain spiked and his daggers glowed scarlet and orange from the heat. The uru was doing its best to refract her fire, but they were getting too hot to hold. His arms trembled and his arms now blistered and puckered.
He was NOT going to fall here at his first opponent. He had to slay the Other! He had to protect Clint, he had to tell Sho about the cosmic gems and the gauntlet. He had to find some shred of magic to use against her. He concentrated, but his left dagger, hot and slick, slipped from his grip and he closed his eyes in anticipation of the wave of fire. He didn't even hear the dagger clatter on the ground.
"Your magic has always been fickle, Kiki!" The shield slipped and a torrent of fire hit him square on. Loki braced himself as best he could, but the fire surged so much hotter and vicious than he remembered. As much as the Demons did not deserve to be obliterated out of the tombs of history and frozen on Jotunheim, he certainly did NOT miss fighting them.
The fire hit him head on right before he managed to teleport away.
He coalesced as much emerald magic as he could in his right dagger and launched at Suzuka. That should show her to boast!
His dagger sailed through her, just like what happened to Hakudoshi. No. Stark's containment field may be strong enough for his magic to block hers, but not enough to directly harm an incredibly spirit like her even with a physical attack.
No magic. No weapons. She was invincible. Loki fought the acid of panic flooding his veins.
He knew he should have had Thor steal him more Blitzen poison from the Scepter room. That incredibly overly paranoid Stark had put the remainder of his poison in the youki room that held the scepter just to spite him. He knew it.
Now he had to think fast.
"Now feel the death I felt! Feel the life drain from you and know that nothing can save you! Sesshomaru and that sword of his are far from here, and I can smell none of that poison you used on Hakudoshi! Crumple and fall Loki of Asgard!" she turned to him, so so angry. "Radiant Blaze of the South!" He braced his arms around him, trying in vain to coil his magic around himself.
The torrent of fire clawed and peeled his skin through his lightweight armor. His ears rang despite him tucking his head behind his arms, he had to gather his magic and teleport out of this situation, but the intense youki merely vaporized his teleportation magic once it started to ring around him. Agony lanced through his body disoriented his magic. He had to gather it all up, concentrate, and unleash it quickly.
The thin magic protection powdered around him fast and he heard himself scream, the tips of his sweaty hair ignited into candles. His magic flickered and failed. Why? Why was Yggdrasil failing him now? He had done so much better against Sho. Why was he fading here?
Why did he always fail when it mattered most?! He opened his eyes and willed his magic to the surface, but the fire blistered hot and his charred skin cracked open.
Loki screamed all the air from his lungs past his cracked lips.
Out of the corner of his eye a streak of stellar violet speared through the sky and suddenly the fire ceased.
Clint! NO!
Scorn darkened Suzuka's fair face. She had somehow managed to deflect the Purification Bolt. Loki's throat closed thick and wet because he knew that she wouldn't allow such an offense to slide. Loki cursed himself. He cursed his weakness. He cursed that no matter what, he still couldn't amount to anything close to what Thor was meant to be. Resentment and anger coiled and twitched in his blood.
He hated how much he hated himself, but he had to overcome this. He had a mission and that was to prevent Suzuka from roasting Clint to cinder. He spotted Clint high on a building, maybe he thought he could have the advantage of height, but he'd be mistaken. She could cross that distance in no time.
"A Priest dare turn his arrow at me?!" Suzuka had that certain look in her eye that she wanted to eviscerate everything in her path. Her halo of feathers brightened and began to pulse in light, readying her ultimate attack. Loki knew he had one shot at getting Clint out of harm's way. Loki then realized that the Chitauri had poured out the Aethon in droves. His shield had lost a few magic pedals and now only blocked around two thirds of the bottom of the Aethon.
Even a few of their galactic Cetaceans had emerged and destroyed what looked like a tall white obelisk.
He had to defeat Suzuka and assist the others in fending off the Chitauri or they'd surely level the whole city.
He had to end this senseless duel fast.
"—Loki!" Clint called and he had no idea how he could hear him from that distance but he knew his voice anywhere. Clint sounded panicked and the Chitauri began to swarm his position. Loki seethed, he allowed Suzuka to distract him from protecting Clint. His eyes turned a wicked black.
Dark magic coiled around Loki's right hand and a vine of dark magic shot out and grappled Suzuka's gleaming trumpet. They both struggled to control the direction and movement of the trumpet. They must have looked ridiculous, like two children playing tug of war with a musical instrument, but he could not allow Suzuka to use her strongest attack.
Loki stole a glance back, catching Thor's lightning arcing across the sky, electrocuting a swath of chitauri and a Cetacean. Pops of gunfire sounded all around him, but it all sounded a bit muffled through the anger fogging his head.
"You will leave him be! He is my lover and you will NOT kill him over our bloodfeud!" Loki's chest radiated rage. He was DONE with the PAST. He had to focus on the present. He summoned his left dagger back to him and lunged at Suzuka using all his speed. Suzuka set her stance and her wings flared to life.
Another purple flash came out of the corner of his eye and Suzuka effortlessly dodged the bolt just as she had the lightning from Mjolnir. If only he could use the Purification magic himself!
Just then, he had an idea. His uru daggers, they refracted youki, but absorbed magic…
"Oh, are you attached to the Priest, Loki? Did you take up a mortal lover in this time? You were away when my people were massacred by the Aesir and now you love a mortal?!" Suzuka shrieked.
So, Mephisto and the Other told her that the Aesir killed the Demons. It made sense, in a way they were partially responsible.
"Open your eyes, Suzu! The Mad Titan and the Other killed all the Demons centuries ago, why else would Sesshomaru take up arms against them?!" Loki pleaded, but logic was most likely lost at this point. Suzuka would never allow herself to be hit by a purification arrow; she could easily dodge them now they weren't a surprise. but…if his uru daggers could absorb Clint's purification magic….
"He betrayed us! Mephisto said he betrayed his own mother for Sounga! He is in league with you and that Storm God!" Suzuka raged, fire balls flashing out from her wings in all directions, hitting more armored vehicles, soldiers, and Chitauri alike. She couldn't be reasoned with, and he almost didn't blame her.
He could win. He WOULD win.
"You're a relic, a hold over, a chain to a past life that I will sever, Suzuka. You don't belong here." He circled around, wincing as his blistered skin cracked open and bled from the exertion. He had to slice through the Purification bolt just right….
Suzuka reared back, finally winning back her trumpet. Her eyes flashed in fury and her feathered halo spun round her head, shining like a beacon. She extended her trumpet high in the sky, the edge of the trumpet ignited in fire like a torch.
"I belong wherever I deem belonging! You don't get to determine my fate! I will slay you here! Herald of Fortune!" Suzuka shrieked and a circle of fire ringed her trumpet. He had seen her ultimate attack only once before and it wasn't used against him. Believe it or not, he and Suzuka had actually teamed up and were on the same side for a few battles.
He spotted another violet bolt. Loki had little clue how Clint knew to keep firing at her, perhaps it was just instinct. Or maybe there was some deeper bond between them. Maybe what they had….no he couldn't entertain that idea. He cursed himself again. Clint should be focusing on the Chitauri and assisting the other mortals in their own battles, not his duel.
"Death doesn't scare me!" Loki's mouth dried out, the timing on the bolt and her attack was too close. He'd probably have to endure at least the initial part of her lethal attack. Loki got on the balls of his feet, pushing the radiating pain of his burnt skin to the farthest part of his mind. He had gotten quite good at pushing the pain away when he really dug deep.
He wasn't lying. He wasn't afraid of death, but he didn't wish to die here, not right now at least.
The ring of fire around her head expanded and swooped down in front of her as she thrusted her trumpet through the hollow space in the middle. Loki could sense the magic of the Purification bolt swiftly coming from behind him. He could time this right.
The whirling, circular blade of fire finally reached the apex of speed and power as it lashed out. Loki threw out a magic shield he knew wouldn't hold for long, but it would buffer him against the initial volley of fiery, slicing wheels.
Maybe.
"I will not go back to that underworld! I will find another body and live anew!" Suzuka shouted, her beautiful face gaunt in rage. Loki could hear the shriek of the Purification bolt as his shield buckled and powdered into brown dust. Loki twisted back, lifted his left arm over his head and threw his dagger at the bolt. He threw up a grand, verdant cyprus tree of green magic with his right hand, a vain attempt to buffer the flames while he waited for the bolt and the dagger to collide.
His ornate, uru dagger struck and absorbed the violet magic in a radiant burst. He quickly called the dagger back as the flames incinerated the magic Cyprus tree, his last line of defense. He couldn't risk throwing the dagger at her lest she dodge it just as he had the bolts. He had to stab her directly.
"Beings like us, Suzuka, don't get a second chance at life!" Loki yelled hoarsely back, embers burning his mouth and lungs. An immense, rushing wall of fire smacked him head-on as he grasped the glowing purple dagger and launched himself through the flames. He'd make it through this. At least long enough to stab her through the heart and purify her back to the Demonic Underworld where she belonged.
His clothes and armor on his back ashed away as he ducked low and lunged to the most direct route to her heart, fire be damned! He could feel his hair wisped around him, burning and how his scalp stung! Pillars of flame around him condensed from around him in an attempt to render him to embers before he could strike.
Yet, he was the ultimate weapon. Weapons and shadows didn't allow pain to take root.
He was the shadow of vengeance to Clint's light of hope and he would stay true to that promise. He would keep this vow even if this fire ultimately obliterated his darkness. The inferno still roared and he knew that he must look like a charred piece of meat from one of Asgard's feasts. He wondered absently what joke Thor and the Warriors Three would make at his expense if this was any other battle. The rank stench of his own burning hair and flesh overcame his other senses as he got within point blank range of Suzuka, her rose colored eyes wide in surprise.
He understood how surprised she was, because he was just as surprised.
Loki shoved and twisted the dagger deep into her sternum, right where her heart would be if one still beat in her chest. Her lips parted as her body began to dissipate into light and stars. He'd think it poignant if he cared for such sentiment and beauty. Clint and Thor probably would. He tried to inhale and say something, but his lungs refused to operate. Maybe he inhaled too much smoke…maybe his chest cavity had been roasted away. He refused to fully absorb how much damage her youki fire has raged against his broken body.
Broken Blade…
"Kiki…you're dead too, and so blue." She murmured, her fading eyes piercing his own. Could she really see the Other's blue magic lacing his own mind? Could she see his own depthless melancholy? As she vanished into the sky he could blearily make out behind her the extent of the damage of her firestorm.
At least a kilometer of the surrounding area had been torched asunder. Buildings lay in ash, trees burned, countless bodies, Chitauri and mortal, lay prone in the flaming aftermath. He had warned them that there would be mass casualties. He wondered if Rogers believed him now. Then everything tilted and suddenly all he saw was the hull of the Aethon, his fading Oleander shield, and the swarms of Chitauri and streaks of Midgardian jets' missiles.
A yellow ray of youki struck the starboard side of the Aethon. Jaken.
Oh. His body hit the ground. He struggled to inhale, his chest wouldn't expand. No air. His head lulled to the side and he caught legs rushing, but no sound, the ringing and blood in his ears drowned out any sound that could have registered. His thoughts fogged and nothing but pain rushed into his brain. It crippled him, he couldn't move.
Maybe he had done enough? His magic reserves had all but tapped out; he couldn't grasp a single leaf of Yggdrasil's magic either. His mouth was so dry and his body spasmed from the chill. Cold. Him. A Jotun. Ha.
Death was cold. Always cold. His fall from the Bifrost nearly froze him solid. Sanctuary chilled him to nothing as well. He hoped when Clint finally perished of a natural, old mortal age he wouldn't feel this cold. Maybe someone would hold him…and that thought made his chest clench.
He'd die alone. That was ok, but not Clint. He would have someone to watch after him as he perished. Sho would have the foresight to ensure that for him. Sho was not warm, but he was observant. He'd do his best to ensure Clint made it through this invasion, or at least watch over him as he perished.
He heard something over the ringing in his ears. Shouting, gunfire, explosions vibrating the asphalt he lay on? No, It wasn't that…
The Aethon, their primary cannon had fully charged. It would render this entire anthill of a city into a crater with Clint along with it. The Nines, he just wanted peace. He tried to ball his fist, only to see that his right had been seared off at the wrist into a blackened nub. Oh. He really was in rough shape. He couldn't feel his legs.
He let his eyes close. Yggdrasil, the tree of life, could use his remaining life force for something worthwhile. Loki had never been one for selfless sacrifice, but he knew a smart tactic when it presented itself to him. He resented he would never get to exact his revenge on Odin for keeping all those secrets and deceiving him and killing Suzu, so. but maybe this would allow him to enter Valhalla and see his mother one more time.
Frigga…witness this. Witness your son make one positive impact.
He opened his eyes to heavens as if to will her to scry this exact moment.
Loki relaxed his whole body and he sensed all his energy rush into his chest and spin itself into a tight green ball. A seed. A kernel of a last ditch tactic.
A yellow ray of youki shot out to strike the cannon but was canceled out by the secondary aft cannon. The smaller aft cannon fired again and again and again. Lighting arced around the ship, but suddenly stopped. It really was up to him. How predictable.
Clint, maybe in another timeline, they could have been something more…
He pushed and willed every last bit of himself into that seed as the Cannon reached the pinnacle of its devastating power. Loki wondered what tree would sprout and erupt from his life energy… Pine like his scent? He had always been fond of Olive Trees. Loki's eyes rolled up and into the back of his head as his body succumbed to the heavy, icy chill.
A tingling sensation of a mighty rush of life rippled through his body as a tree trunk punched up into the sky. A rush of roots webbed out across the asphalt, concrete, and grass. The trunk of a massive sequoia tree impaled straight through the hull of the Aethon and its primary cannon.
Sequoia? Maybe Clint was right, he was stronger than he believed.
The branches speared and lanced out from inside the Aethon, crunching its metal, disabling its cannons and destroying their engines. The giant, green magic sequoia began to tear the Aethon apart, moans and groans of metal shrieked through the air. Shrapnel fell from its hull and struck his resuscitated Oleander shield, disintegrating it.
Good. The ship won't crush the city. Their Broken Blade breaks their Swiftest Cruiser. He let his eyes close again.
It wasn't a lie, what he said to Suzuka. Beings like him and Suzuka didn't get a second chance at life. He had envisioned himself lasting longer against the Mad Titan's forces, but Mephisto just had to bring back the one near-invincible opponent to change that.
They countered his strategy perfectly, but they didn't count on Clint.
Vibrations of heavy boots registered next to his head. Probably a Chitauri to finish him off. He forced himself to open his dry, itching eyes. He would look this Chitauri in the face when he died. Always look death right in the eye, Suzuka knew that too. She looked him in the eyes.
His vision warped and focused on…The Captain?! Rogers? His mask had been torn away, though he was bloody and bruised he had all his limbs. Fortunate.
"Loki…you're…literally black and blue…uh...hold on we can get a medic down here. You're a God, right? You've survived being a POW, you got this." The captain knelt down and from this angle he could see the underside of his jaw had soot and blood crusted all underneath it. Loki couldn't find his voice, but he didn't need to say anything as the Captain touched his shoulder and that's when Loki saw it.
His skin.
A charred Jotun blue.
That's what Suzuka meant by 'so blue'. She hadn't meant his sadness; her youki had actually dismantled Odin's glamour. He wondered absently if all of his skin was blue. Were his eyes red? Did their captain know what this meant?
At least Clint was far enough away to not see the monster he truly was. He saw instead the chosen, empty vessel for Yggdrasil's magic.
"Stay with us. I don't… I don't even know how you managed to last this long. Clint is on his way, Thor is caught up with some of the leviathan…god damnit… Loki." Roger's cursed for the scant few times Loki could remember.
He didn't think this is what he would do to cause the good captain to curse.
Loki wouldn't be able to say goodbye to him. To Clint. That somehow caused a far deeper, plunging torment in his chest than any fire could.
"You did it, you brought it down, just stay with us ok? We need you…eyes on me. Focus on me. You can do this, you're Loki you're stronger than this. Medic! We need one here now!" Roger's called out in vain. No mortal doctor could save him. He doubted even one on Asgsrd or Vanaheim could either.
Need? The mortals who once scorned him, who once called for his death stated they needed him? No, that's the precise reason he had Odin summon Sesshomaru here. He could carry the mantle from here. He understood the threat now.
He had more to say. But what? He had started this battle with so much hate, so much anger. He fell short of his goal, of his chance to finally slay the Other.
Yet, despite his best efforts, he couldn't get angry. He couldn't get mad for once in his life where it made sense.
What did he want his final words to be? Ones of reassurance? Grit? Ardor? He couldn't burden Clint with his affections. Not when death had him by the throat. Clint deserved better than that….
But that selfishness reared its ugly head. Maybe he wanted him to know…
No.
If he could be selfless to any being in this realm he could be selfless to Clint.
Maybe a clue. A… inside joke.
'So I keep it low, keep a secret code,
So everybody else don't have to know'
The Kanye West Album.
Through sheer force of will he lifted his finger and with it plumed just enough magic to give their weary captain a final message. The drumbeat of his heart began to thump just a little slower.
'808s'
He rather liked that album by that Midgardian singer Kanye. He had hoped he could listen to it with Clint once more before he perished, but fortune never smiled on him. Ever.
And second chances were for beings like Sho, and Thor, ones who didn't crawl in the shadows and use people.
"808s? I don't get it Loki…Loki... I don't know what that means! Not your funeral, not here. Not yet, God please." Rogers plead, but no amount of please to some nonsense deity could save him from the reach of death. A drop of water hit Loki. Was it rain or something else? Sweat? No one could cry over him, especially not Captain Rogers.
He hoped Clint wouldn't. He would miss him, love him more than anyone would ever know.
Clint's humble smile, his fresh cotton smell, his yawns, his voice like water over rapids, his wit, his honestly, his light. The feel of his skin, so real and so full of life.
'Real life, what does it feel like?
I ask you tonight, I ask you tonight
What does it feel like, I ask you tonight
To live a real life.'
'Pinocchio Story,' did he live a real life? Loki didn't know, but the light that Clint gave off made him hope he did.
The resplendent, emerald sequoia tree, along with the Oleander shield fizzled and evaporated into a glimmering jade mist, taking with it Loki's heartbeat.
Loki of Asgard was no more.
Hello dear readers! I am back! I took a break when I got a new promotion and I am now able to balance my time a lot better!
Yes, yes, I am evil.
Please let me know how you liked this one!
-TL