A little later they were all sitting in the conference room. Loki had carried Lori with him and carefully placed her on a sofa there, covering her with his cape. Then he had turned to the whole Avengers team and his adoptive brother.
"Don't look at me. If you want information, ask him. I know nothing."
"Fine, Manuel."
Tony deadpanned. Thor, who had placed his hammer on the table and looked surprisingly serious, said.
"The Allfather decided Loki was to learn respect for the mortals of Midgard."
"Easier said than done I can imagine."
Thor sighed.
"My mother would be better at explaining this; magic is not my forte." He gestured aimlessly at Loki. "All living creatures have a life thread. The Norns measure the life thread of every living creature in all of the Nine Realms, cut it at the right length. Our ancient stories say the destiny of the Realms is imbedded in a tapestry woven of all these life threads together. The threads that lie close together in the weaving are similar. The people to which they belong will encounter similar events, go through similar trouble, and even share similar features in character and looks."
Tony frowned.
"Fine Point Break, thanks for the little mythology class. But what's that have to do with Loki and Mystery Girl over there?"
"Father magically entangled Loki's thread with the closest thread of a human mortal he could find. Loki's body would be kept safe in a different dimension, and his mind would share the physical body of this mortal. He believed that if Loki would see how similar a mortal could be to himself, he might start to respect the Midgardians better. The magic was such that he could only be released if he lost his disrespect."
The Avengers are quite stunned. Finally Steve remarked.
"So… That girl… She had Loki in her head?"
The mentioned god of mischief coughed.
"I tend to dislike it when people talk about me as if I'm not there. And yes. I have spent about two months in Lori's body."
Bruce asked.
"But what did you gain by cutting off that other girl's hair? I suspect it was you, somehow repressing the host mind…"
Loki frowned angrily.
"I simply helped her to extract her revenge on the mortals that had humiliated her. She supplied the materials and I supplied the magic. It was a consensual activity, a joint venture so to say."
Thor smiled.
"The Norns are mighty indeed… Many of the court feared that father's actions would disturb the fates of those involved… But it seems that even this was destined to occur."
Everyone raised eyebrows at Thor's unusual demeanour. The thunder god didn't really act as his usual, boisterous self…
"Well, no matter how weird this whole thing sounds, it's Loki, who is a horn-bearing psychopath space Viking, so I tend to believe it. That doesn't explain why the hell he is out and about!"
Thor shook his head.
"I don't understand it either. If I didn't have such faith in the magic of the Norns I would say this is one of my brother's tricks…"
"It is no trick."
Thor looked at Loki with big eyes.
"Will you then explain me brother, what has this mortal female done to you that centuries of our father's upbringing couldn't?"
Loki scowled.
"He's not my father. And upbringing? Do you call what he did upbringing?"
"He was never unfair in his judgement."
"And if I needed more proof of what a stupid oaf you are, there you have it. Odin never let a chance go to humiliate me to his heart's delight, Thor. There was hardly something fair about that."
Thor frowned as well now. He boomed.
"I will not allow you to insult the Allfather over imagined slights, brother!"
"Call it imagined slights if you wish. I can tell you there was nothing imagined about having my mouth sewn shut. Those months without food were definitely not imagined either. Or am I mistaken? Were all the times Odin let your friends beat me up so I would grow character simply perks of a sick mind? Was that time with the fucking snake venom in my eyes nothing but a nightmare?"
Loki was pale but his eyes burned with incredible hatred.
"You never cared when I was 'put to justice', to quote your precious Allfather. You call yourself my brother but you sure never acted like one!"
Thor didn't know what to say, and the other Avengers were also slightly taken aback by this sudden display of 'sentiment' from Loki. The god himself didn't seem to mind. He growled at Thor.
"For years and years and years I have believed it was fair, Thor. For centuries I believed I deserved every cruel and unusual punishment Odin invented for me. I would have done anything to gain his respect!"
"Brother, please…"
It was clear that Thor was uncomfortable with Loki having some kind of emotional outburst in the company of the totally dumbstruck Avengers. Realizing that made Loki even angrier.
"Let them fucking hear it! I don't care anymore! Let your band of merry little heroes listen to it, so they know the truth!"
He clenched his fists, and his voice was strained but calm when he spoke again.
"I am done with it. I am done with trying to gain his respect. He doesn't deserve it."
"Brother… I don't know what has happened to you. How can the spell have freed you when you carry so much anger within you!?"
Loki eyed his brother, suddenly very calm.
"I do not look down on the mortals anymore. I do not wish to elaborate, but know that they have won my respect, as a species. The Norns wouldn't have let me go free if I were lying now."
Thor looked at his friends and nodded.
"It's true."
Then he turned back to Loki.
"But… I still don't understand…"
"Sometimes one must see things through other eyes to gain insight."
They were all silent as Loki softly caressed Lori's fuddled red curls. The girl was waking up from her sedation, softly murmuring things and shifting under Loki's cape. It drew a smile from Loki's lips, a smile Thor hadn't seen in a long, long time.
"Wake up my little poison-tongue…"
The nickname also caused some surprise, even though the Avengers believed they had reached the top of their Loki-Induced Perplexity Scale. Loki glared at the Avengers.
"Could you at least give us a little privacy?"
Thor sighed.
"We can't leave you without…"
"Fine you big oaf, you can stay, hope that satisfies your need to guard me. But the rest has to go, or do you want to give the girl a heart attack when she wakes up?"
Strangely subdued the Avengers made their way out of the room. As soon as the door closed Loki turned to Lori. The girl slowly opened her eyes, looking dazed and sleepy. Loki continued to pat her curls, and finally there was a spark of recognition in her eyes.
"L-Loki…?"
"I'm here. How do you feel?"
Lori pinched her eyes but she couldn't seem to focus.
"W-Weird… w-where are we?"
"In the tower of the Avengers."
"Oh… What?!"
Lori blinked a few times in confusion and tried to get up. She swayed, clearly not entirely balanced out yet.
"Watch out… They sedated you, I'm afraid you may experience some side effects."
Lori shook her head, trying to get her hazy mind back into action.
"It-It's okay…"
Loki smiled. He had always been such a reserved person, so private with every emotion… But it felt good to let it all out. Of course, no chance that the god of lies could ever be an open book in daily life, but for now he just didn't have the energy to hide his feelings. They would just have to endure it for a while.
(Pagebreak)
Outside, the Avengers were following everything on screen thanks to JARVIS.
"I don't believe this. I bet he's playing a trick on us."
"I… I believe him."
Clint turned to Natasha.
"What?"
"I can see when someone lies. He wasn't."
"Are you forgetting he is the fucking God of Lies?"
Natasha raised an eyebrow at her partner and gave him a very dangerous "dare me" stare.
"Do you doubt my abilities, Hawkeye?"
"Err…"
Tony saved the situation by pondering out loud;
"Do you think he fucks her?"
Everyone turned at the engineer with either raised eyebrows (Natasha, Clint and Bruce) or unhidden disgust (Steve).
"No offence, but… I don't think Loki swings that way…"
"Huh? You mean, the way of curvy redheads, or the way of females in general? I definitely have to ask Thor…"
"Warn me, because I do not want to be in the same room then. It would do no good for my temper..."
"I don't want to be outside that day; it's gonna be bad weather for sure…"
"Guys, she's seventeen for god's sake, and he's an alien! Could you not be disgusting for a moment?"
"Ah come on Capsicle, being a little more open-minded won't hurt… when was the last time you saw any action, by the way?"
The conversation was quickly deteriorating into quarrelling and innuendos… Inside, Thor watched how his adoptive brother helped the young mortal female to sit up, his movements caring and attentive. He has never seen his brother show such sentiment to a mortal… even most of the Asgardians never got to see it. Loki was a master in concealing his feelings. He could be most charming to a person he hated and… most disagreeable to a person he didn't dislike, if it served his purposes. But for a select few he had taken his masks off…
Thor remembered that once he was subject to that happy smile and caring gestures as well, and the memory stung. What had happened between them? Was it true, that the punishments of Odin had done more bad than good in Loki? Had he been a fool for not objecting to them?
"You're going to hurt your head like that."
Thor looked up, seeing the sarcastic look of his brother.
"Huh?"
"Thinking. You might get a brain cramp."
For a moment Thor was silent, and Loki knew it was the time needed to process the remark. He grinned as Thor's brow furrowed.
"Very funny."
"I thought so too."
There was an uncomfortable, highly unpleasant silence between them, while Lori shook off the final bits of the sedation. Finally, she looked clear out of her eyes, at long last aware of her surroundings again. She stared at Thor.
"Loki… who is…" Then she noticed the hammer on the table. "Oh. You're that oaf."
Thor felt like growling, but he knew that would only confirm the judgement.
"I am Thor of Asgard, the God of Thunder… Loki's brother."
Lori nodded.
"As I said."
Thor didn't really agree, but wasn't given much of a choice. Lori looked very seriously at him, her green eyes reminding him very much of Loki. The Norns were powerful indeed…
"You know Thor… I think you and Loki really need to have a chat. Just the two of you."
Loki objected.
"I do not trust the others not to harm you."
Lori shook her head.
"It'll be fine. This is more important than guarding me at the moment…"
With that she gave Loki a hug and left the room, to face the Avengers.
(Author's Notes)
And the secret is REVEALED! I hope you don't think it's too lame. Of course all the similarities couldn't just be random... Also, Loki's insight in Odin's assholery was not an intended effect of the "punishment". The punishment seems lenient yes, but imagine that Loki never "bettered" his behavior no matter how often Odin punished him, so the Allfather sort of expected him to be trapped for the rest of Lori's life.
Lori's acting pretty strong and sure of herself, but that's just false bravery and the remnants of those drugs. Don't worry about sudden character changes ;)
Please, please, please, please PLEASE REVIEW! This story lives on its reviews! The more the better! I love all my reviewers so much...
Cupcakes (for a change xD) for: no-MY name's Anonymous, srgthamy, Tiryn, RumbleRoar14, GabbyTheAngel, TheSillyKitten, AvengersGirl-LokisSpy, lilirox187, and one Guest.
