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 7

The spell for fireballs still tingled at the tips of his fingers as he assessed the situation. Loki blamed it all on Thor's idiotic fault, that he did not bring the sceptre back quick enough like he had asked; that he was too busy saving his pitiful Avenger friends to do what was necessary. But most of all, Loki blamed Thor for everything in the first place, but especially for Thor, somehow, getting caught by Baldr who was exiled to Midgard of all places. It was the highest order of foolishly conceived delusions of grandeur. Because, he knew would not be in this situation in the first place if Thor had just done as he asked and stopped fooling around with his mortal friends.

"Sadly, not clever enough, Trickster," the Dark Elf shook his head, having taken his defensive silence as an answer.

He saw the barest of movement out of the corner of his eye and leaped into action. He sent a handful of fireballs behind him and saw the light grow brighter. The fireballs impacted several similarly-armored individuals that had faceless masks on as the rest fired. Loki dodged; the bolts of energy from their weapons pinged off of his conjured shield as he threw himself behind a nearby pillar. He took a second to draw in a breath and pushed off of the pillar, throwing several conjured daggers towards the source of the fire, ducking underneath a lash of red-black Aether-powered crystalline attack from the leader of the Dark Elves.

His wounds pulled at him once more as he hid behind another pillar catching his breath for a moment before pushing off of it again. He only got to take a single step before the pillar behind him exploded from a barrage of energy fire and Aether and he tumbled to the ground, gritting his teeth against the scrapes across his tunic and overcoat, sending renewed pain across his back. He pushed it aside as he fired back, a spray of magick slamming into several advancing Dark Elves, sending them flying back with sprays of blood. Loki scrabbled across the ground and pulled himself behind a mound of rubble, his breath catching as he blindly groped for the wounds across his back. He pulled his hand away and stared at it briefly, noting the thin slickness of blood on his fingers. It was not as serious as he had initially thought, but it was still a worry considering he was bleeding.

He wiped his hand messily on what remained of a lapel on his overcoat and placed his other hand against the pocket Jormungandr was squirming about in, quieting the serpent. He did not need his help at the moment, not without having to keep an eye on the idiotic creature just in case he decided to charge into the fray.

"Come meet your death, Trickster Prince," the Dark Elf taunted from beyond the mound of rubble he was behind. Loki considered sending out an illusion of himself or a ghostly familiar, to confront the Aether-wielding Dark Elf, but decided against it. It was more prudent to conserve his magick. There was no other way out as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, pushing past the pain, pushing past the sounds of boots advancing towards his position. Sleipnir expected him to die here, knew how to get here and Loki knew that the only way to return was either to find the Dark Elves' ship through an unknown amount of forces or to do what Sleipnir had done – draw upon the geas tethered magick of the Infinity Stone that housed Thanos – the Tesseract.

One leeched-off power of an Infinity Stone to open the portal out of the resting place of another. Though Thanos was trapped within the Tesseract, there was no way he could escape, that much was certain. Unlike a two-way door that transported beings and matter from end-to-end as was the purpose of the Tesseract, the Allfather had all but said that the Tesseract could not be open from inside to out nor from out to in unless one held it in their hand. But Loki knew that it did not mean that Thanos was literally sitting upon the source of power that was within the Tesseract – he just could not do anything with it while trapped inside. He had learned from Agent Barton while the agent had been under his control that two mortals by the name of Johann Schmidt and Dr. Armin Zola had harnessed the Tesseract's latent powers for their own seventy years prior to his arrival.

But Loki knew he himself could utilize that power. To escape the ambush Sleipnir had all but thrown him into. It was simple: open the geas connection he had with Thanos...

...his vision spun as he felt the white-hot lash of pain searing across his consciousness. Stars and bright lights exploded in his vision as Thanos roared his anger and betrayal mentally across their bond – his frozen form cracking as he clawed his way out of his temporary icy prison.

...the clawing pain that ripped each time he tried to fight against the Mad Titan's influence over his actions.

Loki forced open eyes he had not known he had briefly shut against the phantom lingering imagined pain, the memory of the pressure of the Mad Titan's mind suppressing his own. The cruelty, the hurt, the pain, the torture that had been inflicted upon him, before he had arrived to conquer Midgard, and even after when Thanos had sought and found him. He suppressed a shudder of revulsion. That bond – he sneered at the term – was nothing to him. An annoyance he wanted to get rid of; an annoyance that Asgard's libraries held no answers.

But it would do, for now.

There was no other way.

Loki let loose a quiet almost-shuddering breath as he squared his shoulders and drew upon the latent magicks from within. A quick check of the thread-bare ghost of a wisp that tied him to Jormungandr ensured that the serpent was ready as he heard more than saw the attack coming for him.

He could almost imagine the red-blacck crystalline Aether reaching out like a hand beyond the stars, trying to snatch him in its sharp, jagged grasp as he spun from his cover, his fingers drawing upon the spaces-in-between and pulled out his glaive. The deep blue stone embedded in its crown burst forth with the howl of a thousand blizzards; the power taken from the Casket of Ancient Winters spraying forth its glacial power. He spun in a half circle, freezing several Dark Elves that had been ready to fire at him, catch some of the energy bolts mid-air with the icy power of the glaive, dropping them like icicles on the ground.

At the same time, Loki reached deep within, the writhing, nauseatingly ugly feel of the geas making him gag and choke as he let it fill him, drawing deep within its nefarious source, diving deeper and deeper into its bottomless all-consuming power, a reflection of his core-

And plunged past the seemingly infinitely-hungry power of Thanos as he felt his heavy weight settle around him, to where he could feel the source of the Tesseract, the power that transported matter and material from one place to another-

He ripped a dark electric blue-black line down the air-

SoafraidsoafraidfearfearcannotfearbutIamsoscared

Loki plunged through the shadows of the void just as the Aether, or was it the Dark Elf, howled behind him, sending forth the shards of black-red crystalline chasing after him. He could feel himself choking on bile that surged up within him, the sickness that was consuming him- He was falling again – No! - falling into the nothingness-

OhNornswhathaveIdoneIdonotwantthis

Loki stumbled and found himself in the faint light of the Vaults of Asgard as he turned and hastily closed the portal into the shadows he had forcibly ripped open. Not even a second later, silence reigned in the Vaults save for a hitching sound. He belatedly realized that he that was making the sound and he closed his eyes, suppressing the bile that had risen up to his throat and swallowed the sour taste back down.

He could feel the coolness of the Vaults and the faint traces of runes embedded deep within the stonework as his hands shook to support him. He forced himself to breathe in and out, to calm himself down and slowly withdrew the contact he had made with the geas, burying it under layers and layers of internal spellwork, trying to purge his mind of how it had felt. He could feel Jormungandr shifting and falling out of his pocket and not even a second later, a spindly hand tingling with the remnant traces of what had once been healing magick, but was now more the leftover natural shapeshifting abilities.

"I did not give you permission to change," he growled out quietly, absently wiping away the small amount of spittle he had not known he had dry heaved in the moments of his arrival.

"But Loki you're-"

"I did not give you permission to change," annoyance flashed across him as he felt the hand withdraw. Silence reigned for a second before he felt something slithering across his hand as Jormungandr returned to his serpentine form. The snake stared up at him from the stonework ground. Much to Loki's growing annoyance, the snake did not look chastised, but rather was staring at him with as much of a narrow-eyed look as a serpent could possibly give at him.

He ignored the look and pushed himself off of the ground, closing his eyes at the brief lingering dizziness of using the geas in such a manner and also opening the portal. His brief fight, though mostly defensive, had drained him of a little of his magick, but the sheer amount of power he had drawn from the geas and Tesseract to open a portal out of the place had nearly overwhelmed him. Loki grabbed at the nearest pedestal for support as he opened his eyes to see that he had opened a portal right next to where the Tesseract was held. He took a few steps to the side, distancing himself from the innocent looking blue cuboid that was Thanos' prison.

A series of loud hisses from Jormungandr made him glance down to see the serpent slithering towards him, growing a little larger, looking more cobra-like than the coloration of a corn snake, before puffing out his hood in an attempt to get his point across. He ignored whatever Jormungandr was trying to imply and plucked him off from the ground, shoving him back into his pocket where the snake immediately returned to its tinier form. His back felt like it was on fire with the sharp staccatos of pain. The wounds he had received burned, but he quickly cast a glamour over it as he headed towards the doors. Sleipnir had woefully underestimated him.

However, he had only taken several steps outside of the Vaults when his vision suddenly whited out with a terrifying dizziness. He had only had a moment to realize that he had underestimated how much magick he had used along with how injured he was, before the ground rushed up to meet him and he collapsed, unconscious.

In his haste to leave the Vaults, Loki missed seeing the brief flashing change of color from the Tesseract in the aftermath of what had happened.

He had felt the touch, had reveled in the fact that the whelp of a Jotun had actually fully opened the link between them. All of the nudges, all of the subtle hints he had sent along to further his goals since his imprisonment had come to this.

And Thanos, the Mad Titan, smiled.

It was nearly time.

He would have his revenge against the House of Odin. He would bring the Trickster that had betrayed him, to his knees and make him beg for death. After all, there was nothing sweeter than to satisfy his love.

Hearing always seemed to be the first thing that returned, and he registered the soft wisps of cloth, gentle tapping of feet in the distance. The next thing was the soft scent of healing, of peacefulness. As much as Loki suddenly yearned for it, he pushed past it, his mind registering the lack of beeping machinery that he had associated with the last time- His mind raced to full consciousness as he opened his eyes, staring up at the familiar rose-red hues of the Healing Halls and the gentle smell of soothing fragrances. The last time he had woken up from being unconscious was when Fenrir had viciously attacked him, nearly tearing off his arm. His brief stint of magickal-exhaustion after killing Fenrir did not count as he just needed sleep.

Though he could feel the blankets that covered him, he also felt the crisp, clean tunics he was wearing. But the lack of pain that had seared across his back meant that Eir or whomever had been tasked to heal him had done their job. He shifted a bit and paused as he heard the slight grumbling hissing sound close to his left ear and turned his head. Jormungandr was curled up next to his pillow, seemingly sleeping with a coil draped over his head.

"It was Jormungandr who alerted us to your presence, Loki," he looked beyond Jormungandr to see Frigga sitting by his bedside, a tired smile on her lightly lined face. She reached out with a hand and gently pulled a strand of hair out of his face. Loki allowed her to do so but drew away at her attempt to stroke his face in motherly affection.

"He is a fool," he said, not surprised at how hoarse his voice was. He swallowed several times, clearing his throat as Frigga withdrew her hand. He expected her to look hurt, much like Thor always did whenever he tried to do something sentimental and brotherly, but she surprised him by nodding her acceptance.

"Then a good fool," she replied, "to have sent for help."

"I am not making him my familiar," he could easily see where she was attempting to lead the conversation.

"Then will you allow the madness of an empty core to eventually consume him?" Frigga countered with an arched look, "do not think me unused to the ways of magick, my son. I may not be as talented as you nor gifted as Eir or even Archmage Erikur, but I once was a battlemage of some renown. I know of the basics you too have learned. Jormungandr will either need to become a familiar or have his core replaced."

"Death would have been more merciful for him," he shot back, but Frigga only shook her head.

"No, my dear boy, spared because-"

"Everything Odin does is for a purpose?" he echoed her words spoken to him four years ago when Odin had fallen into the Odinsleep during Thor's exile. Frigga only smiled faintly, the edges tinged with a bit of sarcasm. "Then tell me this, mother," he continued, "what purpose does Odin have for keeping Sleipnir alive? It was he who did this to me." He gestured towards his back, jostling the pillow and out of the corner of his eye saw Jormungandr blink awake before trying to curl up under another coil to fall back asleep.

"Sleipnir lead the search parties for you, Loki," Frigga shook her head again, "you were gone from Heimdall's gaze for the last four days-"

"What," he interrupted flatly, stunned. It had only felt like minutes when he had been fighting the Dark Elves. He pushed himself up, the blankets dropping from his shoulders and pooling at his waist as he felt the tug of still-healing wounds. Sleipnir had four days to continue whatever plans he had in place and Loki had spent at the very least, another day in this Nornforsaken Healing Hall-

"Loki!"

He ignored Frigga's exclamation as he threw the blankets off of himself and stood up, wobbling slightly on unsteady legs. He grabbed the clean clothes that had been left near his bed and changed hastily into them. He could still feel the tug of magick-induced exhaustion biting at the edges of his consciousness. Had there been some kind of time dilatation or spellwork involved where the Aether had last rested? If so, it certainly explained why he had completely underestimated the drain upon his magicks. If he had literally fought for four days straight with no break, even he would have drained his reserves and fallen unconscious. The fact that he had been gone for four days... Loki did not want to think about what could have happened in the four days – what kind of damage Sleipnir could have done in his absence.

"Where is Sleipnir," he demanded as he fitted a new overcoat and absently grabbed Jormungandr from where he had been resting, putting the snake back into his pocket. The serpent hissed in sleepy protest moving a bit in his pocket before stilling.

"Sent to Vanaheim after your return yesterday. He has taken over the search for Tyr's murderer," Frigga replied reaching out and grasped the edges of his sleeve, "Loki, you are not well enough-"

"I am well enough, thank you very much," he shot back, but did not rip his sleeve out of her grasp, his mind racing with the possibilities. Something about her words made him uneasy and it was not that Sleipnir had traveled the Bifrost to Vanaheim...or it was... The Bifrost. "How can Sleipnir travel by the Bifrost when he cannot stand magick?" he had not missed the flinches and looks of a pained longing each time he had spelled or used magick near the auburn-haired man.

"He has endured the discomfort," Frigga replied softly and Loki turned to stare down at her to see something almost like sad affection flit across her features. Never before had he ever seen such a look on her face, even when he had been ordered to stay on Asgard in an effort to keep Thanos from outright controlling him.

"He is not who he claims to be," Loki did not like the look, tugging at something deep within him that screamed to be let out, to tell the Queen, tell the woman that had raised him like a mother, that she was being duped. "Do you know who did this to me?" he gestured to his now-healed back as he looked at her, "your beloved Sleipnir. He can use the magick he claims not to have." He wanted to tell her that Sleipnir had a geas with Baldr, that he was using the geas as a source of magick, but the words that easily came to his lips suddenly faltered and Loki found that he could not speak those words. It felt wrong. It was wrong. The words he could easily conjure up and speak somehow felt thick and unused in his mouth. It tasted like ash and Loki reeled at it.

It hit him a second later what was wrong. Sleipnir. Or more accurately, Sleipnir using the amplified power of Baldr wielding the Chitauri sceptre. It had the ability to control the minds of others, to bend them to the will of whomever wielded the sceptre. It was an Infinity Stone, more specifically it was the Mind Gem. Sleipnir was somehow, inexplicably, amplifying its power across the whole of Asgard. He knew what the sceptre did, what the stone of power did. Besides bending and dominating the minds of those it came in contact with, it had a latent power that twisted the thoughts of others; clouding their senses, blinding them to truths that could easily be seen without its influence.

When Agent Barton had requested his help with acquiring the iridium three years previous, he had obliged and allowed Director Fury and the Avengers to capture him. A subtle intricate plan knowing that they would study the sceptre. What the Avengers had not known then was how it twisted their thoughts, turning them against one another – something he had long counted on to slowly bring out the monster that was within Dr. Banner. He had plucked all of the relevant knowledge from Agent Barton and Dr. Selvig's mind to create his plan.

Sleipnir was somehow doing the same to Frigga, to Eir, perhaps even to Odin and Heimdall considering their lack of action in light of recent events. He looked back down at Frigga and saw her in a new light; she would not believe him even if he said the words now – the words that still tasted like ash in his mouth but was slowly being banished now that he realized what was truly happening. It somehow broke like the sun through the clouds of his mind, a sharp painful mental snap that gave him clarity – and in a twisted way, realized that for all of the man's babblings, half-truths, and falsehoods, Sleipnir had told the truth; that he was a familiar to Baldr and that he had a geas contract with the man.

Because there was no other way for him to become such a magick beacon, a power source if you will, for Baldr. Like the ghostly familiars each mage was able to learn and summon, they represented the caster themselves, carrying messages across battlefields and realms that only another mage who spelled it could read and relay. Erikur and the other Healers that had been sent out three years ago to scout and relay advance warning for Thanos' Chitauri invasion of the realms had used the ghostly familiars to such effect. The Archmage's now deceased sister had used one that clearly showed the state of the caster – her bligesnipe snuffling and braying as it circled and slowly died at the same time she had.

A living familiar, was the same concept – except their magick core was replaced by that of their master, siphoning and borrowing the magick to sustain their lifeforce. Those that lost their core or were not bound were as Frigga and others had already said, slowly degrading to the point where madness consumed them. Baldr was using Sleipnir as a living beacon to amplify the usage of the Chitauri sceptre – his rightful sceptre.

Perhaps there had been merit for Sleipnir to escape, but even now Loki doubted his words. Why would Sleipnir have escaped Midgard, only to send him through a portal of the void of Yggdrasil to where the Aether rested when he could have gone himself- Another thought occurred to him as he fought back a sudden wave of dizziness, his body still screaming for rest. Besides intending for him to die by the hand of the Dark Elf that wielded the thing, there had been many Dark Elves there.

An army of them in fact. All ready for an invasion.

Loki had no doubts that Asgard was the target. Sleipnir had expected him to die with the knowledge that an army, wielding the incredible power of the Aether, was ready to march on Asgard. Perhaps Sleipnir intended to open a portal into the resting place of the Aether to transport them. But then how did killing General Tyr factor into it unless...

"It's the invasion point," he murmured mostly to himself.

"...Loki?" Frigga sounded confused and he glanced at her, the pieces of the puzzle finally falling into place. As much as he wanted to rail against her, to yell at her that it was her fault, it was the Allfather's fault for trusting Sleipnir, for wanting to believe that people were like they had been, he found that he could not. Instead, he ignored her call and ripped a thin blue line into the air.

IwillkillhimIwillstophimhemustbestopped

"Loki! You have not recovered-" he ignored her as she reached out to stop him and stepped through the portal he had created, his heart leaping up into his throat at the sudden blackness and dizziness that washed over him-

HemustbestoppedhemustbestoppedAsgardcannotfall

-and stepped out into the golden hues of the Observatory. Just as quickly, he sealed whispering void, and turned to hear the remnant whine of the Observatory powering down. He frowned as he saw that Sleipnir had returned from Vanaheim, the Warriors Three and Lady Sif having accompanied him. That certainly explained why his thoughts had been muddled for a few seconds, unable to speak what he wanted to speak. Sleipnir's influence with the Mind Gem had grown in the days he had been missing.

"Loki, what-"

"At what point did you think I would not have returned, Sleipnir?" he ignored Sif's exclamation and stalked forward, summoning the Casket of Ancient Winters sceptre from the spaces-in-between. "That I would not be able to counter the trap you had sent me into."

"I do not-"

"Don't mock me," he growled out, baring his teeth as he raised his weapon up, daring Sleipnir to strike with the speed he had done so in the Healing Halls. "You meant to let the Dark Elves kill me there, with the Aether."

"Loki..." Sif suddenly stepped in front of Sleipnir, her weapon drawn and pointed at him and he stopped, staring at her in disbelief.

"Sif, what-"

"You are clearly not well-"

"What?!" he could not believe what he was hearing from her and saw out of the corner of his eye, the rest of the Warriors Three also approaching him with cautious steps, their weapons held aloft, but not quite pointed at him. Beyond them, he saw Heimdall staring at them, his golden-eyed gaze unreadable. He heard the distant musical tinkle of several horses approaching across the Bridge itself.

"You were found just outside the Vaults, Loki. We think that Thanos might have used the geas he had with you to influence your thoughts again-"

Loki's jaw dropped with incredulity, a bubbly hysterical laugh emerging from his lips at what he was hearing. He saw Sif twitch a little at his laugh and wiped at his eyes. "You are so very deluded, Sif," he could not believe what he was hearing.

It was so obvious at what had happened. They clearly believed that Thanos had once again, tried that little trick of his, of influencing him through his waking dreams to try to free him. He had no doubts as to who spun such an incredible tale. It certainly explained the way Frigga was acting just moments before by his bedside. She certainly believed him to be influenced and subtly controlled by Thanos and thus was trying to help him by keeping an eye on him like she had three years ago. He glared at Sleipnir beyond Sif's shoulder.

"You think you could outwit me, you poor deluded fool," he snarled, his anger rising in him. "You think you could do such a thing and get away with it?!" Clearly, Sleipnir's sphere of influence had spread to Sif and the others if they believed such an outlandish tale. The only problem was, that Sleipnir had spread a modicum of truth in that tale – that he had once been under Thanos' influence by this very method and Loki had been too blind to not see it until it was too late. The mewling bastard did not have to spread a complete lie, only bend a truth and put the kernel of doubt in the others' minds.

He took another step forward, Sif matching his to close the gap in between the crown of his spear to where she stood in front of Sleipnir. Her dark eyes flashed a pleading warning – one he could clearly see for him to somehow remember that they knew each other, even if they were not friends. It might have worked – had he actually been under Thanos' influence, he supposed, but right now, he was beyond furious.

"Get out of my way," he said quietly, leveling her with a look of pure coldness. "Sleipnir is the one who has deluded you all with his honeyed words. He and this Baldr have been planning an invasion of Asgard with the Dark Elves who have found the Aether."

"The Aether has been untouched even with the Convergence," Odin's voice was but a whisper, but it seemingly echoed in the cavernous space that was the Observatory. "Loki, lower your weapon. Sleipnir is not at fault."

"Can Heimdall see into the resting place of the Aether?" he could practically hear the unspoken words that Odin also thought that it was Thanos influencing his thoughts, using the geas to subtly control him – to somehow use the knowledge of the Aether existence against the Tesseract.

"I do," Heimdall's voice boomed from his right where Odin stood near him, "I see untouched shadows, rubble littering the area-"

Loki snarled wordlessly and made to move towards Sleipnir again when he felt Gungnir's point being leveled straight at him. He laughed lightly, taking a step back. "After all this time, you finally reveal your true colors, Allfather," he said softly, addressing Odin even as he kept his eyes steadily on Sleipnir who only stared back, his expression placid, "all of the broken promises, empty words you have spoken."

"To stop you from making a grave mistake," Odin replied, "and because I know my son is fighting from within, to rebel against your heavy hand. I have told you this once, end it, between you and I, my sons need not be involved."

"Thanos does not control me," Loki tilted his chin up. The mysterious Dark Elf had already moved his troops if what Heimdall just described seeing was true. He had no doubts that Vanaheim was the focus point of the invasion – getting rid of a majority of the mages there before launching an attack on Asgard itself. General Tyr had been sent to investigate and had paid for it with his life; Sleipnir's first mistake in his convoluted plan. If he had kept Tyr alive, then his plan would have been flawless.

He knew what he had to do now. To make all of them see. He lowered his weapon, letting it disappear into the spaces-in-between. As predicted, the others sheathed their weapons a second later. They were all complacent idiots, Odin included. He gave Sif and Sleipnir a faint smile as he heard the Einhenjar that had accompanied Odin to the Observatory approach, the clatter of their armor choing in the cavernous Observatory. He could feel Heimdall's golden-eyed gaze still boring into him, the soft caw of both Huugin and Munnin somewhere in the Observatory. There was no other way, not if Asgard was to survive the incoming invasion. Sleipnir, and by default Baldr, would not have his rightful throne.

He needed to find Baldr.

To do that, he needed to find Thor.

As the Einhenjar approached to escort him back into the Healing Halls or even the prisons considering what everyone else thought of him, he suddenly lashed out. He threw his hands to the side, fingers splayed as a wave of destructive magick burst forth in a circle and sent the Einhenjar tumbling to the ground. The others drew their weapons in reaction to his sudden attack, but Loki knew that they would be too late. He ripped open the thin blue line of the shadowed roots of Yggdrasil-

AsgardwillnotfallAsgardwillnotfallAsgardwillnotfall

Just before he stepped through, he met Sleipnir's icy blue eyed gaze with his own, vowing that the traitor would not get away with what he had done. He stepped through, the green-blue-white hues of Midgard rushing at him-

-and landed with a jerk onto the concrete brown-burnished gold coloration of Tony Stark's gaudy tower.

"Loki," three pairs of eyes, one of whom was the familiar blues of the soldier that was codenamed Captain America, met his own as he sneered at them.

AsgardwillnotfallThormustbefoundAsgardwillnotfallBaldrmustbefound

"Where is Thor?" he demanded, his voice hard and angry.

Author's Notes:

Hooray, we've caught up to the Epilogue of "Frozen in Time!"