I don't use a beta, so any mistakes are my own.
I do not own any of the Marvel characters in this universe, I only own Caelum Stark, some parts of the plot and any other OC's I make up. All rights to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Marvel Comics go to their respective owners.
Cale is quiet as he followed Frigga towards the cells. There's type of dread in the way that he walks and his mind is torn in two different places; his mother was in here somewhere if she was still alive and then there was Loki who he was actually going to see in person since the first time he'd met him in New York. He folded his arms behind his back and kept his eyes on the queen's head, noting that Thor certainly got his hair from his mother. The teenager didn't realize that Frigga had stopped moving until he'd almost walked right into her. "Your majesty?" he frowned.
"Wait here a moment," Frigga instructed.
She walked away from him, leaving Cale standing there in the middle of the hall with two guards and a whole lot of prisoners watching him from their individual cells. He ran a hand through his hair and shifted on the balls of his feet whilst he waited. The minutes passed and eventually a guard came around the corner and waved Cale over, telling him that the queen was finished speaking with Loki and wished him to join her. He stuck his hands in his pocket and walked after him as they both just managed to catch the last of the conversation between the queen and her imprisoned son.
"-and then there is the matter of this young man," Frigga added, "your student I believe?" the queen asked, holding an arm out for Cale. "Caelum, son of Nathan from Midgard."
Cale waved a little, mirroring the actions from when they first met. "Hi, so turns out those hidden paths you were teaching me about, one of them opens up in New York. A wolf brought me through. I called him Shiro."
The god actually looked slightly stunned but the look disappeared as quick as it came. "What are you doing here Caelum?" Loki demanded to know. "You're going to get yourself killed, and for what? An idiotic desire to see this hellscape?" Yeah it was safe to say that Loki was angry.
"Aside from being chased by bow wielding crazies, this place is pretty okay," Cale shrugged. "I'm gonna be here awhile Loki and there is nothing I can do about it, your mum-" That was when he realized that the queen was gone and had left just a guard close by the watch them. He sighed and pressed his hands up against the glass of the cell, Cale could practically feel the magic layered in there that was keeping the two of them aside. "You're my friend Loki, whether you like it or not. I know you're only doing this to get me the fuck out of your dreams but I'm here for now. Just accept it. Throw a few books around if you must, I'm just not going anywhere."
Loki crossed his arms as he watched Cale from inside his cell. There was something arrogant and annoying in the mortal's green eyes that was easier to see each time he saw him. Caelum Turner reminded the god of himself in a way, there was so much potential wasted inside him by him wanting to be a hero. "You are wasted on being a hero Caelum. You're wasted here, power like yours, you could be out learning to conquer the universe." What the God of Mischief was not expecting was the feral smile to spread over his students face followed by the wicked glint in his eyes.
"Maybe that's what I want?" he asked him. "You'll never know until I see what I can really do. Your mum wants me to stay on Asgard a while so I'm gonna do that and I'm gonna learn everything I can about my magic, who I am, I might as well if I can't actually leave. You just watch me Loki."
"I might just do that Caelum."
"You're getting better at that," Fandral smiled proudly as he watched Cale sheath his sword. "A fine warrior you're making Caelum." When Thor first came to the Warriors Three to request that the help his young friend adjust to living in Asgard, he would be the first to admit that he was wary of the newly discovered hybrid but he soon warmed up to him...well he warmed up to him after Volstagg and Hogun did. Discovering that he held a talent with wielding a blade was something that peaked his interest.
"What? Kicking your ass?" Cale smirked, brushing his hands off on his pants. "Cause I will never get tired of that. It's a new national pastime that I enjoy thoroughly and I thank you for participating." He winked at the warrior and crossed back over to Thor who stood leaning against the fence looking into the training yards. "Back from Venaheim so soon?" he asked.
Thor shrugged. "For a time," he answered. "I came to get my companions and yet I find you destroying one of my greatest. He has taught you well." He clapped Cale on the back a little too hard and laughed as he watched the young man stumble. " You still require a sufficient amount of muscle though."
"I'm leith," Cale argued as he climbed the fence. "Face it Thor, I lack the ability to attain muscle." He checked his watch and frowned, "and I have a lesson to go to."
"I still don't understand your...companionship with my brother," Thor frowned. "Or why my mother is allowing you to continue these lessons with him. You are a strange one Son of Nathan."
Cale laughed and shook his head. "I am an enigma that refuses to be solved," he told him. "Come on Shiro, I need to clean up." He waved the wolf over who had been his constant companion for the last few months, "catch me before you go Thor." Cale walked away with Shiro following him, not many people had been too happy with the giant wolf and the half-breed having such freedmon around the palace but the queen had taken him under her wing as his student and that was that. A few days after Cale had shown up, Shiro had reappeared and then he hadn't left.
It had taken him more than a few days to get over the fact that he wasn't going home but there was little that Cale was able to do about it. He had his own rooms, with Frigga and Loki's assistance, he was able to hone his abilities into something more constructive and less wild but there was that part of him that was missing...home. He wanted to go home. Days turned into weeks and weeks had turned into months...next week would mark four months since he'd taken off to help fight a monster in the tunnels under the city.
"Where did that come from?" Cale asked himself. He shook his head as he entered his rooms, he hadn't thought about home for ages...probably because his birthday was coming up and Clint always took time off to drag Cale to a baseball game, he hated it but he enjoyed the company. Natasha would give him some kind of obscure Russian book to study so they could talk about it the next time they saw each other...come next week he was no longer a teenager and it sucked.
Cale peeled his back scabbard off and stripped down to nothing so he was able to quickly clean up and change into something more presentable. He loved the feel of the fabrics here in Asgard, everything was so soft and for some reason, everything he had was either black or green. Volstagg had taken to calling him Loki Junior. Not that Cale could be bothered to care. He kinda loved it.
And this was where things got...complicated. Caelum Turned was in love with the God of Mischief and it was so damn pathetic it hurt. First of all, who falls in love with their teacher? And secondly, who falls in love with a psychopath?! Cale that's who. He left Shiro curled up on the floor by the balcony window and made his way to the cells. His destination was almost in sight when he stopped in the middle of a row of cells and watched Lady Sif walking around like she owned the place. Cale did not like that woman at all, she was...really brash and rude, not to mention hopelessly in love with Thor who was still hung up over Jane Foster. He watched the warrior as she made her way away from a cell before finally vanishing out of sight. "What are you doing Lady Sif?" he frowned, walking down the hall from where she'd come.
After what seemed like forever, Cale found a cell tucked away where there appeared to be only prisoners of the female variety. Many of them perked up when they saw him, all of whom he ignored as he stopped in front of the last cell at the end of the row. "Fuck me…" he whispered. He paused and immediately scrambled through his clothes for the photo that he carried everywhere with him and withdrew it from his pocket. "Mum…" he whispered. Cale glanced up and walked over to the cell that housed the woman that had given birth to him. Suddenly he was angry, really angry, seeing her like that...muzzled in the same way that Loki had been when he first met him...it was his mother.
