The Trickster: Ragnarok

by: Shadow Chaser

Disclaimer:

I do not own any characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. All characters belong to Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Comics, and Disney. I am not writing this story for profit, only for my own (twisted) amusement. I will try to return the characters unharmed, but some they might have a few scuff marks.

Story:

Chapter 5

Loki was acutely aware that most others, his oafish brother included, would have gone straight to the Allfather to demand the return of the wayward Crown Prince – or rather if it was his and Thor's place reversed, Thor would have loudly demanded it for all the realms to hear propriety be damned. But that was not his way, not without understanding all of the pieces of the story he had been given. There was still something Sleipnir was holding back, he could clearly see it when they had spoken the previous night. Of course, Sleipnir also had said that he was not there to convince him that he meant no harm. That statement in of itself bothered him. It was as if the other man knew exactly what he he had been thinking and so further his suspicions about Sleipnir.

Plus, he still could not shake the feeling that there was something dangerous about Sleipnir. Whether that danger was to him, to Asgard, to the Allfather – though he actually did not care enough about that – but he could not pinpoint the sense of danger. The easiest solution was to petition the Allfather and throw the red-haired man into the cells below Asgard. For proof, Loki knew he could have easily lied and said that Sleipnir was an assassin – come to kill him in the library at night. The lie would have been accepted and have been believed considering Sleipnir's unusual arrival and clear use of magicks witnessed by some in the Court. But something told Loki that dealing with Sleipnir in that fashion would have been far more detrimental than to puzzle out what bothered him. Letting Sleipnir roam free was the other option – especially considering what he had heard about the feast last night, lauded and given a place of honor amongst the head of the table. The Court was now well aware of the favor Sleipnir had with the Allfather and Allmother.

Again, Loki wished he had been at the feast instead of ignoring it to talk to Heimdall or even at the library. But he considered missed opportunities as another chance to create another window of opportunity. And that was something he was good at – creating opportunities.

"My Prince? What can we do for you?" a light voice politely asked as he pulled himself out of his thoughts and focused on the young Healer who was dressed in the smock and tunic of an apprentice.

"Eir," he said and the apprentice nodded once before gesturing deeper into the Healing Halls.

"Near one of the Soul Forges, sire," she bowed her head as he swept past her without a further word heading deeper into the Healing Halls.

The too-clean smell of the Healing Halls always bothered him, as did the faint tingle of healing magicks and healing stones at work. Those who were trained as Healers always had their voices at a quiet soothing murmur, and it irritated him to no end. Polite, calm, and rarely flustered, they oozed a sense of falsehood that grated at him, even if people around them were dying. A small measure of comfort for those in their last moments somehow struck him as wrong – a pity that was not needed. Death was death. There was no end to it just-

"Loki?" he stirred out of his thoughts again, briefly wondering why he was so distracted today, as he saw Eir send her latest patient off from the Soul Forge she had been operating on. The warrior, clearly sweat-covered from training, scurried off with a quick glance at them before making himself scarce.

"Jormungandr," he replied to her inquiry and held out his hand as the aforementioned serpent slithered from where he had been perched on his shoulder down to his arm and hand before coiling onto Eir's weathered ones. She smiled ruefully at Jormungandr who flicked his tongue in and out, tasting the air. "It has come to light that he has been spending a lot of time at the Observatory where the magick concentration is the highest-

"And you wish to know if this is normal," Eir finished for him before clucking her tongue a little as she went over to the Soul Forge she had been working at and placed Jormungandr in the middle of it, "Jor, I will need you to shift to your human form in order to examine your core."

The snake blinked once before lifting his head up to stare at Loki as if to ask permission to which Eir only sighed and shook her head. "You certainly act like one for not even being bound," she murmured quietly and Loki glanced at her before she met his gaze with a knowing one of her own. "I have had years of experience dealing with the magicks of familiars and the core. The spellwork I placed upon Jormungandr to adhere to the Allfather's judgment of not being able to shift to his human form has long been unraveled and I sense your hand in it. The fact that Jor still asks permission even if the threads and skeins of a familiar binding him to you are not present is telling, Loki."

Loki stayed silent, recognizing the hidden reprimand in her tone that she had long used on him when he and Thor were younger and had gotten into heaps of trouble. Eir was probably one of the few who could speak so frankly to him, something that he did not quite resent as much as he avoided her as much as possible. She was akin to a second mother to him, healing his injuries when he had not learned the spellwork, tending to him when he did start to learn spellwork and occasionally had a casting mishap. The reason why he tolerated her was that she had never, ever said anything to the Allmother or Allfather unless it was with his explicit permission – and that was something he secretly appreciated.

"Change, you silly little boy," Eir turned her sharp tongue on Jormungandr, "and do not waste my time."

The snake blinked once again, looking a bit cowed as much as a snake could, before quickly shifting to his human form. He kept himself prone on the Soul Forge as Eir held her hands up and started to manipulate the quantum field generators. "Speak your request." Her eyes were focused on the readings the Soul Forge was giving her, but her tone indicated that she was not fooled by his seemingly innocuous request for her to examine Jormungandr.

If it had been someone like Sif, he would have made a snide remark about how well he knew her, but Loki only acknowledged her request with a tilt of his head. "Who is Baldr?" he asked.

"To Sleipnir or to the House of Bor?" Eir countered and Loki blinked. That was not the answer he was expecting and saw the faint hint of a smile on the old Healer's lips. "You are not the first to ask such a question, Loki."

"So it is Sleipnir?" he countered and she sighed, nodding her head as if a little saddened.

"He is who he claims to be, and that disturbs me far greater than anything else," her fingers and hands paused in manipulating the field as she stared at a distant point beyond everything, "the poor boy...perhaps both lucky and unlucky to have survived for so long without a core and in such a state too."

"He has no other form than the one he has, unlike Jor or even Huugin and Munnin," she gestured absently to Jormungandr who had closed his eyes and was seemingly asleep on the Soul Forge. Loki suspected that he was probably enjoying the faint thrum of magicks the Forge produced, absorbing it as much has he could with skin-to-surface contact. The effect would last until he got off of the Soul Forge, but for now, he seemed to be content, or truly asleep.

"I would have thought he'd be a horse...an eight-legged one," he replied a bit dryly and heard the faint snort of amusement from Jormungandr. Eir only gave him a look to which he shrugged.

"The degradation of a magick-inclined person's mind with the the lack of a core can be minimized by keeping familiars in their animal form. Sleipnir is lucky that he still has his faculties intact. It seems that whomever has sustained him at least gave him bits of magick from time to time to minimize some of the degradation," she gave a very matronly sigh and shook her head, "if it truly is Baldr to whom he his bound to..."

Loki waited as she pinched her lips and stared at the readings, her eyes not quite reading it before she shook her head, "Foolish boy. No matter what deal Baldr offered him, why would he take it? He knew of the dark magick that had taken his adopted father." A faint sardonic smile appeared on her lips, "To answer your question, my Prince, Baldr was the third son of Bor Allfather. Not so much adopted as the Court might say, but rather a half-brother of then-Prince Odin and Crown Prince Loki."

"Better to be considered adopted than a bastard," it was something that Loki had been well aware of, even before he had found out he was a stolen Jotun babe.

The Court and Asgard as a society was rather peculiar about the adopted sons and daughters of its nobles and commoners. Both a bastard and an adopted child were shunned to a degree, but adoption was considered more...polite and somewhat more respectful than bastardization. Dalliances with those outside of marriage was not viewed with much disdain, but Norn-forbid a child was produced from such a union that gave the term bastard. Adoption by one parent into the family was the only way to erase such stigma and if either of the parents died without having the child adopted, then the child was considered a bastard through and through and shunned. One such former playmate in his and Thor's youth had been found and subsequently banished. Those whose parentage were unknown were often called bastards – hence some of the stigma attached to the members of his former coterie – after all with magick thrown into the mix, it was not spoken of in polite society; even if they had true parentage.

Eir only made a humming noise as she manipulated the Soul Forge some more, "Baldr was a proud son of Asgard and strove to banish the stigma one had for those adopted into families as bastards. Some nicknamed him the Champion of Reformation, derisive and undermining his attempts to change society and to change how people thought. But the Crown Prince loved him like his own and sought to help him."

"And Odin?"

"Alienated, I suppose, especially when both the Crown Prince and Baldr showed signs of magick," Eir looked thoughtful, "perhaps I see it in hindsight, but one could not really judge what has happened thousands of years previous until one has time to think and reflect on it." She made another quiet humming noise and adjusted the Soul Forge, "Odin loved Baldr in his own way, as did we all. He was kindhearted, a bit prone to dramatics, but he cared about the problems of even the smallest of those that served the House of Bor. He was...the people's prince, his sobriquet when people were kind."

"Sounds like Thor," Loki said, unable to keep the slight bitterness from his voice. To his surprise, Eir laughed lightly and shook her head.

"Perhaps, but not the one I would compare to," the Healer replied, but did not elaborate as she sobered, "but like all siblings, Crown Prince Loki and Prince Baldr were prone to fighting and so as one of their fights proceeded, no one thought anything of it. It was Sleipnir who alerted us to the fight happening on the Bifrost itself. I was only told by Frigga of what transpired, my studies keeping me here in the Healing Halls. The Crown Prince had apparently gone mad and ended up pushing Baldr's still breathing, but unconscious body off of the Bifrost and seemingly into the voids of the spaces in between."

"Then why did everyone presumed Baldr dead? There has been proof that things...existed, survived in the void," Loki swallowed back the sudden swooping dread that had filled him when he mentioned the void and the blackness, endless black-madness- He shuddered a little and ruthlessly suppressed the thought.

"Why do you think Heimdall's position was created posthaste? His first and only task was to search the realms for Baldr, for any sign of his body or even of him alive when Lady Hel reported he was not seen in her realm. It slowly evolved into the Guardianship that it is now, a protector of Asgard," Eir said as she absently chewed her lower lip, "But in the immediate aftermath, Odin proved he truly loved his younger brother by pursuing the Crown Prince, to bring him back to Asgard for justice. Freyr and his sister Freya were the first ones to fall to Crown Prince Loki's blades and magick. And it was only Sleipnir's supposed sacrifice that enabled Odin to slay his brother and end the madness that had consumed him."

Loki tilted his head a little – this was the second, if not the third time he had heard of the so-called 'madness' that had consumed Crown Prince Loki. "What madness was it that consumed the Crown Prince to kill Baldr in the first place?"

Eir only stared at him for a long moment before shaking her head gently, "I do not know, as I was not witness to the battle between the two, and even Frigga said she did not know what was spoken between the two before they reached them on the Bifrost. But what I do know is that the madness that was spoken of, was perhaps created by another, one of whom you are intimately familiar with, Loki." There was something in her gaze that made him feel distinctly uncomfortable all of the sudden; as if a nameless fear grew in him like the serpentine form of Jormungandr.

"He is not named Thanos the Mad Titan for naught," the Healer said quietly, "an epithet given to him by Odin after Bor Allfather sacrificed himself to banish him to the voids of Yggdrasil."

Loki's first instinct was to check the Vaults to ensure that the Tesseract was still there, but he stopped himself from doing such a childish action. It would only prove that he was still afraid of Thanos' shadow when he was clearly imprisoned within; like a mewling little child jumping at shadows in the dark when he need not fear it. There was no tugging, no horrific thoughts that whispered like his own, no sharp shooting pain that signaled the reactivation of the geas he had made with Thanos in a desperate moment of utter despair and fury. Odin would have been notified if the Tesseract was missing or if Thanos had somehow, improbably, escaped its confinement. He was safe, he was in no danger-

He breathed out quietly through his nose as he briefly pinched it in an effort to calm his nerves down. It made perfect sense, he reflected as he made his way to the private gardens to calm himself down some more. The Allfather's words that day on the Bifrost when Thanos had attacked Asgard in a bid to get the Infinity Gauntlet. Though he had been wracked with horrific pain, both physically and mentally, he had kept his wits about him – enough to both fool Thanos into thinking he had the Gauntlet, and also to have the coherency to attack him when his concentration was focused on said illusion. It explained a lot about Odin's words to Thanos and Thanos' taunts back to the Allfather.

His footsteps slowed as he approached the rotunda to the private gardens and heard the barest murmurs of voices from within. Norns help him if it was an amorous pair of servants or nobles that were strictly forbidden from entering the royal gardens-

And stopped abruptly before cloaking himself quickly in the shadows as he saw a flash of golden hair, silvery-blue dress, and heard Queen Frigga's light laugh as she walked by with Sleipnir of all people.

"...not get a chance to offer my heartfelt pride at what you had achieved," Sleipnir said, his voice lighter and much more friendlier than the night before. Loki was glad that he left Jormungandr with Eir back in the Healing Halls as he peered around the corner to see the two of them wander amongst a bed of flowers before sitting on the stonework bench. There was enough distance between Frigga and Sleipnir to indicate a sense of propriety and politeness, but the fact that he was talking with her in the private gardens spoke volumes.

In their youth, and even occasionally now, the gardens were a place to whisper sweet nothings to whomever he or Thor fancied in that moment, and even also to occasionally bed them when lust took over. They were also used for a place of meditation or quiet contemplation as Loki had seen the Allfather occasionally wander the paths more than once before and after Court appearances. He had caught both Frigga and Odin occasionally spending time in the gardens and even he himself used it as a place to read in quiet when Thor would not stop bothering him and he did not like being holed up in his quarters.

Certainly bringing another person that was not part of the royal household was rare and required at least some discretion – or in the case of Loki and hilariously enough, Thor when he was feeling a bit rebellious, no discretion at all. Certainly Frigga and Odin never did such a thing – at least even according to Court gossip, so this certainly was a first. And a surprise to Loki.

Frigga had hinted that perhaps there had been an affection for Sleipnir long ago when she had approached him yesterday morning. Odin's expression certainly said something, but Loki wondered if it really was true. Considering how gentle Sleipnir's voice was, maybe there was some truth to something that had happened between the Queen and Sleipnir before he had been presumed dead.

"The pride is accepted, but nothing has been achieved-"

"Frigga, er, Lady Frigga, you are Queen. A battlemage made Queen! Yes, Odin may have banished magick or at least forbidden it to be spoken of or shown, but he cannot forget that you were one before you were Queen!" Sleipnir sounded exuberant and Frigga only laughed lightly, patting him gently on the shoulder.

"Sleipnir, even now the people forget that I used to be one," Frigga sounded apologetic, "and my skills have only been extended to occasionally visiting the Healing Halls and helping Eir tend to her patients. Even then, it is very ceremonial."

"It's hypocritical, that is what it is," the other man replied crossly his initial exuberance all but gone, "surely the Court knows that Healers are mages-"

"It is something they have trained themselves to be blind to, Sleipnir," Frigga sounded infinitely patient as she tilted her head a little, "you have to realize what happened after...well, after your father and after you had supposedly died..."

"Odin got scared," there was a rough emotion that Loki could not identify in Sleipnir's voice, but it produced a soothing shushing sound from Frigga, "no, Frigga- Odin got scared. Odin was frightened by what he cannot, and still will not understand! Forbidding magick? Banishing it so that even our Vanir brethren practice on Vanaheim and are looked upon with disdain in Court-"

"Yes, Odin was frightened," Frigga sighed, "but what more did you expect? He lost his family, lost almost everyone he loved to magick because he was powerless to stop it."

There was an undignified, disbelieving snort from Sleipnir as he made a motion with a hand, raking it through his hair. It was unlike a mortal gesture that Loki saw Dr. Banner occasional use when frustrated, "But, why did you not convince him otherwise?"

"Because I was and still am his Queen," Frigga answered in a simple tone and Sleipnir laughed. It was a bitter sound that twisted something in Loki again like the few times he had heard such a sound or expression from the other man.

"Because the House of Odin, the former House of Bor, cannot fall. Asgard is ready to conquer once more," the auburn-red haired man shook his head, "maybe it is for the better that I do not have my core-"

"Do not say that!" Frigga sounded horrified, "Sleipnir! Do not-"

"Do you love him?" Sleipnir suddenly asked and Loki peered out, still cloaked in the shadows, to see Frigga staring at him, eyes wide with surprise.

"I-"

"Never mind, I know the answer. My apologies for asking such an inappropriate question-"

The surprise in her eyes suddenly turned into something ugly and full of hurt as she shook her head, "You were proud of my achievement as Queen even though I am a former battlemage. Yet, you cannot stand my betrothal and marriage to Odin. Sleipnir, I still have great affection for you, but I cannot be the Frigga you once knew."

Something in the other man's expression broke as he reached over and placed a hand over her own folded ones, "I know, I know...I...I am not asking you to, I just... Everything has changed since I was here last and I wanted at least someone who knew me to- To...just..."

"Odin still loves you like you were his own Sleipnir. The years as Allfather has taken a toll on him though-"

"Odin doesn't trust me, not like before. I mean, I practically fell into the throne room, claiming to be from Midgard, rambling about Baldr being alive and he will not believe the words I say because if he did, he would have done something by now. If I was to be a Sentinel, either to my father or to him since he took up the position of Allfather, should my word not be trusted and acted upon with immediate haste?!"

"The last time Odin acted with haste, he lost you, lost his brothers, and lost his love Freya, and his best friend Freyr," Frigga replied quietly, "everything the Allfather does now has a purpose."

"Yeah," once again, Loki was struck at the jarring change into the mortal's language that came from Sleipnir's mouth, "exiling Thor to Midgard was the best thing that could happen. Frigga, it accelerated Baldr's plans. He realized that Asgard was vulnerable and started his plans. The Baldr all of us knew from all those thousand years previous is not the Baldr we thought we knew. It was he who had always wanted the throne of Asgard, coveted from the shadows as he pretended to be the supportive friendly brother with my father!"

"And if this is true, then like you had said, he is no threat to Asgard so long as he stays on Midgard-"

"He's a threat to Thor! To your son!" Sleipnir shook his head, grimacing, "he is in possession of the Chitauri sceptre your other son wielded in his time on Midgard!"

"The sceptre-"

"Frigga, it-" Sleipnir abruptly stopped as he suddenly paled and from his vantage point, Loki saw a small drip of blood visible on his nose before his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed to the ground. Frigga barely caught him before shouting for the guards as they rushed in.

Loki flatted himself against his hiding place as they rushed past him and hurried to the Queen as she cast a spell over Sleipnir's prone form. Huugin's sudden caw was the only warning he got as the raven flew past him. The raven barely missed clipping his head with a wing as he landed on a branch to survey the scene with a tilted head. Not even a second later, the raven took off again, no doubt to report back to the Allfather what had happened as three of the guards lifted Sleipnir's limp body from the ground. His body was already glowing with a healing spell of sorts as the guards carried him into the rotunda. Frigga followed quickly behind as the other guards formed a protective barrier between her and any potential assassin that might have struck.

Even before they had all left, Loki cast a spell out towards the gardens, trying to sense if there was indeed any assassin that had been lying in wait, but felt nothing as he distantly heard the door close behind the last of the guards. His own lack of reaction when Sleipnir had collapsed surprised him, but for some odd reason he had somehow sensed that it was not an assassination attempt; but how he had known, was a mystery. Instead, Loki uncloaked himself from the shadows and left the gardens, making his way to the Healing Halls. Leaving Jormungandr there had been a good thing after all.

"There are signs of magickal exhaustion," Eir was murmuring quietly as Loki entered the Healing Halls, "but it seems that he had a spike in blood pressure that is most likely the cause of his collapse. Perhaps it was the abruptness of his travel through the shadows of the void, combined with feeling such intensity of magick that surrounds Asgard that led to this."

"He will recover," Odin's words did not sound like a question, but nonetheless, Loki caught Eir nodding as he approached the Soul Forge where Jormungandr had apparently reverted back to his serpentine form and was sleeping, one coil placed over his head to filter out the lights of the Healing Halls.

"He will, Allfather," Eir confirmed, "unfortunately he has been deprived of magick from his core that the tattered remains hunger for it so it is the probable cause of what led to his collapse."

"Compounded with the healing spell I cast upon him-"

"I did not say that, my Queen-"

"No need to placate my ego, dear friend," Frigga gave a bracing smile, "I did not realize the extent of it-"

They were interrupted by the loud flapping of wings as Munnin landed on the Allfather's shoulder, unceremoniously forcing Huugin to jump to Gungir's point in order to not be flattened by his brother raven. A second later, Odin turned his head to Munnin who cawed softly and took off once more. Loki turned and nudged Jormungandr with a finger as he saw Huugin turn its head towards where he was. It was as if the raven knew that he was attempting to eavesdrop and judging by what he learned about the ravens in the past day or so – Huugin probably knew that he was trying to eavesdrop without being obvious about it.

Jormungandr lifted another coil and tried to burrow under it to which annoyed Loki, but he dared not pick up the serpent on the pretense of letting him wake up on his own. It would have been easier to pick up Jormungandr and put him into one of his pockets and leave, but Loki was far more interested in what the Allfather, Allmother, and Eir were talking about than leaving the Healing Halls.

The sound of booted feet arriving with haste was preceded by the flap of Munnin's wings as he soared in and landed on the tip of Gungnir, ignoring the smug squawk of Huugin as he nestled back into his perch on the Allfather's shoulder.

"Is he-"

"He will be fine, Tyr," Eir said serenely, as the grey-haired old general looked at Sleipnir lying on one of the other Soul Forges in the room, "he will need rest and sleep, but he will be fine."

"...Good," the general sounded gruff, but Loki thought he heard a rough affection in his voice. As far as he knew, the General hated mages with a passionate distaste and Loki had more often than not had put the idiotic general in place when his solutions to problems involved hitting something. This...this was something new and proved that Tyr must have been part of the coterie the Allfather had formed so long ago. Something in him still twisted with a furious hurt at the knowledge that Odin had a coterie and did not even tell him about it when he had introduced his own hundreds of years ago. But he roughly pushed that emotion aside and watched with a discreet eye and ear as he continued to nudge Jormungandr to wakefulness.

"Heimdall has seen lightning on Vanaheim similar to Mjolnir. I wish you to investigate and report back," Odin said so quietly that Loki had to strain his senses and nearly cast a spell to enhance his hearing. He stopped short because he knew it would be felt by Eir if not by the others in the room.

"But if he said he is the only one who can-"

"You will speak to no one of this," Odin interrupted, his voice still a harsh whisper and Loki realized with a quiet start that Odin had already known what he was doing there – more than likely from Huugin on his shoulder or from the fact that his entrance was not as discreet as he thought it was.

He pinched his lips together, knowing that there was no more to be said around him as he gathered up Jormungandr, the snake waking with an abrupt hiss, before leaving. He felt Jormungandr slither and move from where he was gathered in his hand and glanced down to see the serpent give a very human-like shrug of, 'we tried.' Loki rolled his eyes and had to silently agree with the snake – he had tried. But at least he received an answer from what had been happening. Odin had a plan, even if he would not say more of it – and he was at least aware of what was happening. The next question was; to what purpose was Odin's plan? After all, Queen Frigga was right, everything Odin did had a purpose.

It was just after the hour of the wolf when Loki felt something faint press against the barriers he had on the doors to his quarters. He quickly awakened as he wondered what would press against his barriers before getting out of his bed, drawing one of his daggers with him. The spell had not broken, which told him that whomever or whatever was pressing against it knew the barrier was there. If it had broken, he would have heard and felt the abrupt flash of incineration that would have destroyed the assassin or person there. There had been the occasional assassin who had sensed the barriers surrounding his suite of rooms and had tried to lure him out by other means.

Thor and the other Warriors knew not to barge into his room, his previous barriers only shocking them. These new ones had been created after Fenrir had been dealt with two years previous. Perhaps whomever was on the other side of the door was part of the danger he had sense from Sleipnir, but he did not know as he heard Jormungandr slither behind him on the stonework ground, using his innate abilities as a shapeshifter to grow; making himself larger in order to help subdue whomever was on the other side of the door.

Loki cast his senses out and felt a faint presence, almost as if it was not exactly there, on the other side before he opened the door, Jormungandr ready to strike-

"My Prince," he barely halted the path of his dagger as the solemn light eyes of Huugin in his human form greeted him, "I am to report to you that General Tyr is dead."