Chapter 15

I art thou, thou art I

NOTES:

Hi everyone,

Here it is, finally! Yet again I have you all waited for far to long and I am sorry.
I was working on another story which took waaaaay more time than I had planned and then there was this thing called "life" which, well, let's just say it quite drastically changed my schedule for my fics...

Anyway, I've got my life on track again and I will be posting more regularly again.


'I command you to tell me who you are,' Loki nearly growled but he tried to remain his calm.

The stranger's cold and peering eyes made the trickster wary, his blood pumping through his body with tremendous force, his breathing slowly turning into soft panting. The muscles in his hands hurting as they remained tightly clenched.

Relax.

He had to relax.

He had to play this right, he had to ask the right questions and get all the information he so desperately hoped to find.

'Who am I?' the man asked, his cold expression unchanged. 'What could you possibly gain of knowing such information?'

'Tell me!' Loki demanded with raised voice.

'Hmm,' the man replied as he dropped his shoulders and slightly tilted his head. 'I had no expectations of you, yet you still managed to disappoint me.' He stared at the trickster, finally letting out a sigh. 'For now, I am merely who I need to be. I am the one you cannot live with nor without.' the man moved forward, closing in on the raven till he was within arm's reach. 'I am there, when the sun brightens your day and warms your skin,' he walked around the trickster, looking him up and down, his eyes keen like a hawk.

Loki stood still, his eyes staring forward, unimpressed by the man's eerie voice. He felt no doubt, no uncertainty, and above all, he felt no fear, as if his soul would not allow any other emotion then the one already raging through his body like a wild fire.

Hatred.

Pure, raw, and unchained, it was the emotion that ran through every fiber of his being. It was the fire that fueled his body. It was the one sentiment that his soul was feeding on.

He heard the man grin as he now stood behind him, a soft shiver traveling down the raven's skin as he felt the stranger's breath in his neck.

'I am there,' the man continued, placing his hands on Loki's eyes, 'when the shadow of night falls and plays your deepest and darkest nightmares.'

'I will only say this once more,' the trickster said, his voice dark, 'state your name.'

Loki could hear the man behind him chuckle as he removed his hands from the trickster's eyes. 'Let us try again,' the man responded as his laughter slowly died. 'I am that which changes your fate, from my choices your destiny is made.'

'I am in no mood for your games!' Loki shouted as his patience had run out. He raised his hand in which he had conjured a shining silver dagger, sweeping it down in a swift movement to pierce the man's side as he turned around.

But the grey-haired man was cunning, his body disappearing in a green mist with the touch of the tip of the weapon. Loki's eyes searched the room, taking rapid glances at every corner.

'The god of lies and mischief,'

Loki heard the voice again yet failed to find its source.

'The Liesmith, the Silver Tongue,' the voice continued, 'the Prince of Lairs. Oh, how those primitive Æsir gods must have loathed you. Thinking you are an exception, that your powers are special.'

It was only now that the raven realized where the voice was coming from. He looked up and saw how the stranger was using his Seiðr to dangling from the ceiling by his feet.

'Now please, take a guess. I am sure the notorious trickster of Asgard would not mind playing a little game, now would he?' the man smiled though the only response he got were three silver daggers piercing through his face, making him dissolve in green, again.

'Show yourself, coward!' Loki screamed as he became tired of the little hide-and-seek game the stranger was playing.

'Very well, how about this,' the man's voice echoed again, 'I give you three chances to guess who I am, now if you guess correctly, I will show myself, if not, you will be left here to rot, alone.'

'It does not seem like you leave me much choice…' Loki softly growled. He forced himself to take deep breaths and calm down. He knew the stranger was trying to get a rise out of him, to crawl under his skin and prey on his mind. But Loki would have none of it, he could not afford to let such pitiful mind tricks get the bettter of him.

'Cannot live with, nor without….' the raven mumbled as he closed his eyes. 'I am merely what I need to be…'

'Well? Come on, take a wild guess,' the voice teasingly provoked him, impatience ringing in his voice.

'My conscience.' Loki stated as an answer, but he received a wild laughter in return.

'Incorrect!' the voice shouted, 'Come on now, try again!'

Loki quickly took another deep breath, calming himself as best as he could. He still had two more chances, though he really had hoped it would not come to this. 'I am there, when the sun brightens your day and warms your skin… and when the shadow of night falls…' he mumbled, 'deepest nightmares…' he then looked up as another answer played in his mind.

'A memory,' he said with as much confidence as he could conjure.

Again, his guess got answered with a devious laughter. The voice sounded like it was closing in, yet Loki still couldn't see the man.

'So close, really, yet still so far away,' the man chuckled. 'just one more attempt, Lokes. Now, what will it be?'

At this, the raven looked up and squinted his eyes.

Lokes?

How did this man, this stranger, know of his nickname? The only ones knowing this are his fellow Avengers and… himself.

The trickster's emerald eyes then widened in realization.

'Me,' he stated firmly, determination glistening in his eyes, 'you, you are me, are you not?'

After this, an awful quietness haunted the dark chamber, like a ghost, restless and tormented.

'I am there when the sun shines, I am there when the night falls,' Loki continued, 'I am the one who can change my fate! I am the one whom I cannot live without… nor with…' he said a little hesitantly as the statement was so painfully truthful. 'For now, I… I am the one that you need to be.' He said, taken the silence as a sign that his answer was correct. 'You need to be me, you disguised yourself as me with your Seiðr, you used me to hurt Thor! Through my hands, you tortured my brother!' Loki shouted, his voice echoing through the dark crypt.

'You are clever, indeed.'

The raven heard a familiar voice coming from behind him. He turned around, his eyes going wide, clearly showing both shock and disbelief as he saw… himself.

'I am merely who I need to be,' the semblance in front of him smiled, 'to make you suffer beyond saving.'

After a silence that seemed to last like an eternity, Loki finally opened his mouth, his jaw softly trembling in pure anger. 'Me?' he managed to utter, 'you did all of his to make me suffer?'

'Quite.' The man, now resembling Loki, smiled kindly. 'Can you imagine? Your teammates, your dearest, most treasured friends all hurting because of you. Restless and weary, tormented, living in constant fear, all because you managed to anger a Vanir god.' He spoke as his kind and soft smile remained. 'As always, it is all your fault.'

'You represent me,' Loki hissed, 'you use me, but you are not me!' he lashed out and grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt with both hands, 'You are the one who put my friend and my brother through those horrors…!' he said, clenching his hands around the fabric he was holding, 'you are the one who damaged their bodies… their minds!'

'Beyond repair! Indeed!' the semblance laughed loudly, 'you have absolutely no gest of how accurate you are.' He smiled brightly, spreading his arms, 'your friends, they will all suffer, because of you! Because of us!' the man lowered his arms again as the trickster's bright green eyes were poisoned with rage, though a hint of confusion shined through. 'Not to worry, I understand, this might be a little too complicated for your Frost Giant brain to grasp, so please, allow me to explain.' He said in a soothing voice, followed by a soft chuckle as he placed a hand on the trickster cheek.

Loki quickly took a step back, violently pushing the man away from him. 'You better start talking before I slit your throat,' he growled as he conjured a dagger with a swift movement of his hand.

'As if you could.' The man smirked, his hands now carefully folded behind his back. 'but, as you wish, I will explain.' He said as he started to walk past the trickster, 'there was once a woman whose beauty was beyond compare. She was kind, generous, virtuous even…' he said with a dream-like smile on his face.

'I am in no mood for fairy tales or folklore.' Loki warned the man in a low voice.

The stranger frowned a little as he slowly wakened from his reverie. 'Oh, but this is no such thing,' he turned around, facing the raven, 'her eyes showed kindness and mercy to all that lived, the stars looked down in disgrace and complete admiration to her bright smile, her gracious appearance always made the sun rise in my mind as it was consumed by darkness.' The man spoke as he placed his hands on his chest. 'Her sunkissed, silky hair carelessly dancing in a playful breeze. And her skin… that gorgeous, perfect, alabaster skin…' the man looked at the Trickster who kept his prying eyes on him, constantly, listening to his every word. The man's smile then disappeared, completely.

'There was another man who saw that she was beautiful. A pious vulture of Asgard, who with a gesture of his claw, took that vivid sunshine, that jauntily flower, all for himself.' He lowered his arms, letting them dangle next to his body, his eyes averted towards the cold stone floor, 'and he broke her...' He uttered in a mere whisper, his disturbed eyes now slowly raising towards the trickster again.

'I do not understand what this has to do w-' Loki began but he got no chance to finish his sentence.

'Oh, how they look happy,' the man said as a twitching muscle in the corner of his mouth made it seem like he was fighting desperately to smile. 'Yes, quite happy, indeed, but she is not, how could she be? When he ruined her life.' The man looked at Loki, his eyes pleading for the raven to understand his lament.

But Loki's questioning expression remained at which the man took a few threatening steps towards him, only a few inches of thin air now separating their faces. 'She does not want this, you see?' he said as he leaned in a little closer at which Loki took a few swift steps back, raising his dagger at the man.

'Do not come closer!' he warned the stranger whose name he still did not know. But the man took a few unsteady steps forward, his eyes wide with what Loki could only guess was madness, or rather, desperation.

'To be held captive,' the man continued, 'to be hidden behind guarded walls! To give birth to a creature so disgraceful! To be forced to raise an abomination!' he shouted as the tip of Loki's dagger now rested against his chest.

'What is it this woman has to do with me?!' Loki unintendedly shouted in frustration, 'the man in your story, the creatures you speak of, why do you tell me this?!'

'YOU HAVE TO LISTEN!' the man screamed, 'just. listen!' he spelled out, 'I will free her! I will be her savior! I shall unchain her from all that binds her to that cursed palace!'

'The palace?' Loki repeated as he squinted his eyes, his hand now tightly clenched around the cold metal of his dagger.

'Yes,' the man said in a growl, 'I will free her from the avaricious vulture that broke her jubilant spirit, I will free her from the arrogant lowlife she was forced to carry for nine months, but most of all,' the man looked straight into the bright emerald eyes, 'I will free her from the abomination she was forced to raise, the foul snake that poisoned her happiness, the one that ruined her very existence by disgracing her again and again and again.'

'Free her…? You mean my mother…?' Loki asked in disbelief. 'Are you planning to kill me, my brother and the Allfather to "free" my mother?! You truly believe that is what will make her happy?!'

'Frigga is mine!' the man screamed, his temper now seemingly none existent, 'That fool Odin had no right to steal her from me! I will free her! I will make you and that selfish prince suffer till the point you both plead for death! I will torment both of you till the point where taking your own life is the only release of your suffering!'

'Then why?' Loki uttered through clenched teeth. 'Why make my brother suffer through "my" hands?'

'Is it not obvious?' the man replied. 'Because he loves you. You, who is his baby brother. You, who he shared his childhood with, you were raised together, played together, fought together,' the man smirked. 'Tortured by the one he held so dear, do you truly believe he will ever be able to live with what? The pain, the suffering, the humiliation, all of which he will be constantly reminded when he looks at you.' he said with a smile, tilting his head a little. 'Death by his own choosing, does that not sound pathetic? It clearly shows the cowardly and despicable bloodline which is Odinson.'

'So you tortured my brother through my hands so that he will commit suicide?' Loki managed to speak as his Seiðr was raging uncontrollably through his body. 'then answer me one more question before I will pierce your body on my daggers,' he said as he pushed his dagger slightly deeper onto the man's chest, which allowed for a single drop of ruby red blood to escape as the tip of the cold iron broke the skin. 'Why our captain? Why did Steven had to suffer so?'

'Like I said, trickster, as long as you live, I will keep haunting your friends.' The man smiled without moving a muscle, 'as long as you choose life, I will take your precious companions and make them go through hell.' The man laughed as he saw the raven's body tremble with rage. He then let his Seiðr retrieve from his body, changing himself back to his real from. 'You cannot stop me, Loki, even if you were to fight me till your last breath. So ask yourself, might it not be better,' the man said as he looked at weapon that pierced his chest. 'to point this beautiful silver dagger at your own throat, instead of mine?'


NOTES:

And that's it for this chapter,

Thank you all for sticking around and waiting for so damn long! Really, you guys are amazing!

Anyway, please leave a review if you liked it!

Until we meet again!

P.S. to all fans of A Tale of the Trickster and the Spider, chapter 2 of part 2 will be up tomorrow!