Loki was awakened again by light, this one not as bright as the last, more warming this time. Loki yawned, stretched, and got up, gravitating to his living room, where the light was coming from. "Hello, Loki!" a voice boomed from the room. Loki grumbled groggily, and rubbed his eyes.
There, sitting in a chair, was Volstagg, one of the warriors three from Asgard. Loki's mouth dropped. "Volstagg?" Volstagg laughed heartily, eating some cookies. "Good to see you, my friend! Now, let's get going. We have a lot to cover tonight!" Loki just stared, then followed him.
"Christmas is a time of year when all humans get together and share in joy and laughter!" Loki scoffed. "Yes. I've noticed." "Well, why don't we go see what some people are doing this fine Christmas, shall we?" Before Loki had any time to protest, Volstagg had transported them to a house filled with cheery people.
Loki immediately recognized it. It was his brother and Jane's home! There seemed to be some sort of game going on. He looked around the room, surveying who was there. It looks like Thor had invited Sif, Fandral and Hogan, and Jane had invited her best friend….. Loki's heart stopped. It was Darcy. Living, breathing Darcy sitting right there in front of him.
She was laughing along with everyone, not her same carefree snorting laugh, but the laugh of someone who had been hurt and was still recovering. It hurt Loki to see her like this.
"Let's play a new game," boomed Thor, smiling. "Yes, a game Thor, those are the best on Christmas!" said Jane, wrapping her arms around his waist.
"Alright… guess!" Everyone looked deep in thought. Hogan spoke up. "Is it… vicious?" Thor laughed. "Can be." "Does it love a good fight?" asked Sif. Thor thought. "It never was one for physical ability." Loki started to get into it. "Can it talk?" he asked, but of course no one heard, since Loki and Volstagg were but shadows.
"Is it dashingly handsome?" asked Fandral. "Many might say, yes." "Does it like people?" "Oh, certainly not." "Could it be described as Hot or Cold?" "Cold, in more ways than one." "Wait! I know it!" said Hogan. "Sometimes vicious, not very physical, many think it's handsome, and cold! It's your brother, Loki!" "Yes!" They all erupted into laughter, and Loki looked down, hurt.
"Come, Loki. We have much to see," said Volstagg. They next appeared in a smaller home, the home of a family. Two children ran through the small place, one with an oversized lab coat on, and the other with a pair of science goggles. "Hey! Stop playing with my stuff!" said Bruce Banner, laughing.
The kids laughed. "Sorry Daddy." Bruce turned to his wife. "Betty, I promise one day my invention on Gamma radiation will make us a better life. But until then, I must keep working for Mr. Laufeyson." She hugged him. "Bruce, I couldn't care less about the money. All I care about is our family, and… us." She kissed him. "But I do wish you wouldn't have to work for that unfeeling, cold Mr. Laufeyson!" Bruce rubbed her shoulders. "Please don't speak ill of him on Christmas Eve, darling. All he needs is a friend."
Then, a younger boy with wavy light brown hair and blue eyes came down the stairs with a limp and a crutch. "Hello, father, mother! Oh, dinner smells wonderful!" Bruce picked him up. "Harley! Merry Christmas, Harley!" "Merry Christmas Dad." He picked up a pink watch from the ground, and laughed. "Annie? You dropped your limited edition Dora the Explorer watch!" She came and took it. "Thanks, Harley!"
Volstagg waved away the vision. "You see, Loki? They hardly earn anything, but they're one of the happiest families in town!" Loki thought about this. "Will… will the child be alright?" "Who, Harley? I cannot say. That is the future. I am the present." Loki sighed. "Lead on, Volstagg. I want to go back to bed."
Volstagg brought them to one last vision of the present. "Where are we now?" "The town orphanage." Loki looked around at the young children who didn't have any parents. "These are the children who were unwanted by their birthparents, and are living here to survive. For some of them, something has happened to their parents." Loki looked around, seeing a boy that looked similair to him when he was young.
"You see Loki, you were once one of these children. Cast out by Laufey, and adopted by Odin. You would have gone your whole life without a parent who even remotely loved you, and you would not be here now, to hate him."
Loki looked at the ground. Maybe Volstagg had a point. But he still refused to believe Odin took him out of compassion.
Volstagg waved away the vision, and brought them to a cemetery. "Why are we here now, Volstagg?" Loki asked, looking around the foggy graveyard nervously. "Now it is time to see your future," Volstagg remarked, and with that, disappeared into the mist. Loki looked all around him. The fog was getting so thick, he could barely see in front of him!
Then he saw a shadow. A shadow of a metal suit, and a hand pointed at his back. Loki turned, and came face to face with a man made of iron. Loki shrieked, surprised at the sudden appearance, and stepped back. "Who are you? The apparition of what is to come?" The iron mask lifted, and the man underneath smirked. "Yeah. I'm Tony Stark, some call me the merchant of death. I'm a man of the future. I am beyond anyone in my time in my technical abilities, so I can see the things that are yet to be."
The man gripped Loki's arm, and blasted off into the sky with him, flying through the air using his suit thruster technology. They landed in a the part of town that Bruce Banner and his family lived. Loki managed out a small smile. "Ah. The home of my clerk. The secret scientific genius. Please, take me in, spirit." The guy just laughed at Loki's eagerness, and brought him in.
But the small house wasn't filled with the regular cheeriness of the kids running about and Bruce and Betty kissing. A sort of sadness hung in the air. "Why is it so quiet, Stark?" asked Loki. Tony just pointed to an emty chair by the fireplace, and a special edition Dora watch.
Loki covered his mouth. "Oh no. No! Not poor Harley!" Tony nodded, then shrugged. "But what's it matter, right? You can't afford to give a little money to people like him, so why should you care?" Loki gulped, feeling guilty for saying that earlier.
He watched through the window as Bruce and Betty came downstairs, not their usual selves, jumpy and cheerful, but rather sombre now. They looked truly exhausted, like a huge burden of sorrow was placed upon them. Betty started to cry, and Bruce hugged her tight. Loki turned away from the window.
Tony took his arm again, and blasted off to a different part of town. They arrived at two people talking. There was a bald man with an eye patch, and a woman with dark brown hair tied back into a tight bun. "I don't see how anyone who would want to go to his funeral," said the woman.
The man nodded "I agree with you, Hill. He was such a mean guy. But I wouldn't mind going to it…" Hill raised her eyebrow. "If they have some snacks!" Hill laughed, and they walked off.
Loki looked down. "This man wasn't very loved in life, I suppose?" Tony nodded slowly. "I guess you could say that. He might not have been loved, but he had a few people who cared about him."
At this, Tony took off with him one last time somewhere. But when they landed, they weren't on Earth. They were on Asgard!
Loki looked around. Many people were gathered, some crying, everyone holding flowers with a candle in the middle. They were all looking in the same direction. Loki followed their gaze, and saw they were looking out to the waterfalls. He immediately recognized what was going on. A funeral was taking place, and the body was about to be set on fire as it drifted down the river in the boat.
He looked up to the front onlookers, and recognized Thor, Jane, and…. Darcy was there. Why was Darcy there? She was crying. Loki turned shakily to Tony. "Stark, I fear to ask, but I must know. Who… is that man in the boat? Who was the man the humans spoke of?" Tony just looked at him for a moment, trying to decide if he should tell him.
Loki looked at him, desperate now as he began to suspect. "TELL ME!" Tony sighed, and flew them over to the floating body. Loki's eyes were squeezed shut, but when Tony stopped at the body, he opened them slowly. There, lying motionless in the boat, was…. Him!
Loki shook his head, eyes starting to water. "No. No, this isn't possible… I can't… this can't be me! I'm young, I've got so much longer… Please! Stark, please tell me I can save myself! I realize now that my family was only trying to make me feel more welcome into the universe! I will be good, like Frigga knew I was! Oh, please, give me another chance. Please!"
Tony looked hard a t Loki, and powered up his reactor, ready to set the ball of magic powder that came soaring over to the body on fire. The ball came closer and closer, Loki gave one last protesting shriek as Tony blasted the reactor.