Gwen vaguely remembered being carried somewhere, getting dropped onto a narrow bed, and then, when the room was dark and empty, crawling off the bed and curling up on the floor. When she woke up, the man with the golden eyes explained to her where she was and to the woman's credit, she did not even bat an eyelid.
Heimdall's home was tiny, especially considering the size of the man who it belonged to; it also had a very unlived-in feel to it. Gwen sat at the well-scrubbed table and let Algernon run around on its surface, gently shoving him back to the middle every time he got too close to the edge.
"So they think your mum's sick?" she asked the golden-eyed man sitting opposite her in a hoarse voice. "Do you even have parents? I sorta get the impression you're eternal."
"Not quite," Heimdall smiled. Even outside of the giant golden dome, his voice still seemed to echo. "How did you sleep?"
"I didn't. But I'll be fine, I think. I'm good at having to cope with stuff." She rubbed her eyes. "It's just that… I feel like I should be sad, but I guess I kinda screamed all of that out of me yesterday, and now I'm just, like… empty. And tired. Weary to my bones."
"Fatigue," Heimdall told her, "I've seen it in too many soldiers after a lost battle. Fatigue and listlessness, since their grand plans have all surmounted to nothing. Many people try to write it off as denial, but I've often seen a man whom the hollowness has not left."
"Oh, great."
"But you have more reason to recover than they," Heimdall pointed out. "And I do not expect one such as yourself to be defeated so easily."
She peered through her fingers at him. "Oh, really? What's one such as myself, then?"
"I speak from experience of similar characters," he said, "namely, one silvertongue."
"Huh." She leaned forward and pressed her palms against her forehead, thinking of her absent lover. "Gods, Loki must be so pissed off at me. Even I'm pissed off at me, and I'm me."
"Loki has a short temper," Heimdall admitted, "and he does not find it easy to forgive."
"I was kind of hoping you would drop a 'but' at the end of that sentence."
"Ruling Asgard has made him wiser, I suspect," he said. "I suppose that may work in your favour."
"About that," said Gwen, "you knew, didn't you? I can tell by the look on your face, you knew he was pretending to be Odin. Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because Odin has ruled Asgard for millennia," Heimdall replied, "and I know that he would never kill his father, whatever he might say about him. Odin may not be where we can see him, but I don't doubt that he is alive. Most likely furious, but alive. And besides, I have always found that the best way to keep Loki out of trouble is to give him what he wants. He's not foolish, he knows how to rule better than his brother, and while he has many of his own, he lacks some of Odin's faults."
"You strike me as being cleverer than the pair of them," Gwen grinned, and Heimdall inclined his head.
"Far too clever to want the crown," he said, which made her laugh.
"You must have known him all his life. Loki, I mean."
"Not too far from it," said Heimdall. "That being said… if the Allfather is dead at his hands, I shall not hesitate in breaking his spine."
"Fair enough. Mind if I ask you stuff? Not really anyone else I can."
"Of course."
"I was, um, I was reading up on Norse mythology, and it said Loki had a wife called Sigyn. I don't want to be his mistress," she said in a rush, "if he's married, I'll have nothing more to do with him-" she hesitated as Heimdall laughed.
"Sigyn was – is – a princess from Vanaheim, Hogun's cousin I believe. She and Loki have been betrothed since birth in order to strengthen relations between the two realms, but it is no secret that she prefers the company of women to men. Practically everyone knew this except the fathers of the two betrothed, so they both agreed that the marriage should go ahead for the sake of their motherlands. Of course, now that Loki is dead this engagement means nothing."
"That's… a lot better than I was expecting," she said with relief. "Is she nice?"
"Exceedingly lovely."
"So she deserved better than Loki, then. And now he's dead, she might be able to get it."
"And yet you think he deserves you."
"I'm not a very nice person," she informed him, "and neither's he. It's a great combination."
Heimdall laughed again. "What do you plan on doing now?"
She bit her lip. "I won't be able to go home until the fuss has died down, which'll take at least a couple of weeks," she said glumly. "And I'll have to beg for forgiveness for the Rats when I do get back since I abandoned them… and all my clients'll be pissed… can I just hide here from all of my problems?"
"What, and give up all your Midgardian luxuries?" Heimdall asked in an amused tone.
"Fair point. Asgard isn't all Loki made it out to be, it turns out. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and all that shit. Still, it's nicer than London. Although if Thanos turned up and everything went to shit, it still wouldn't be as bad as London." She coughed. "Sorry, I, uh... petty earthly stuff. And this probably means nothing to you… I'll shut up now."
Heimdall gave her a look. "How much do you know about Thanos?"
"He gave Loki the sceptre, he's in space somewhere, and he's really big. Why?"
The Asgardian shifted slightly in his seat. "There is a storm on the horizon bigger than anything any of the Nine Realms have seen before. People throughout the galaxy have been trying to find the relics, the Infinity Stones, for years- the Collector, Galan of Taa- but recently, entire civilisations have come close to being utterly destroyed because of Thanos' desire to wield them, Earth being one of them. Two of the stones have caused war on Midgard in the last three years alone, not to mention the Aether here in Asgard and the Orb on the planet Xandar."
"Cool name. What are the Infinity Stones, anyway? Why does Thanos want them?"
"There are six in total, created before the universe began by an unknown entity or entities- we Asgardians know them as the Relics. They each encapsulate something different, which manifests in their ability- the Mind Stone can be used for cognitive manipulation, while the Tesseract functions as a bridge across space. When used together, the Stones are capable of immeasurable power which few would be able to harness without suddenly embracing their own mortality."
Gwen smiled grimly. "And of course, Thanos is one of the few people who can survive that power."
"I have no knowledge of his exact strength, but I suspect it is even more than the Allfather's. Gwen," said Heimdall gravely, "Loki cannot know of this, for his own good. He is content with Asgard for now, but the concept of so much power could easily tempt and corrupt him."
She nodded. Her… entanglement with the Asgardian did not mean she was blind to his many and various faults. "Who else knows apart from us?"
"Nobody that I know of. It is only because of my ability to see across the realms that I know of it, and I am the only person who can."
"Then why tell me?" she asked.
"Because should something happen to me, the knowledge of what Thanos might be planning cannot die with me. Because nobody will suspect a girl from Midgard. Because… you were here," he finished heavily, "and I trust you have enough knowledge of dictators to know how power corrupts, and would stay away from it yourself."
"All you needed was a human with a history degree. Well, I'm happy to oblige, and slightly terrified of everything now," she told him.
"I am sorry about that."
"I'm kind of stowing away in your house and forcing you to babysit me, so we're probably even," she shrugged. "Thank you for this, by the way."
"I serve my king," replied Heimdall, "in whatever form that may take. You should sleep, girl. You look exhausted."
"I always look exhausted," she mumbled, "because I always am exhausted. I don't sleep, y'know. Sleep is for people who aren't mob bosses with alien boyfriends." She picked up Algernon and carried him over to the pallet bed. "Heimdall?"
"Gwen?"
"D'you think Loki's a bad person?" she asked.
He considered the question. "I think we are at war," he said, "or at least, about to be. And notions such as good and bad mean nothing when all people should be striving for is to be alive."
"Very smooth avoiding of the question."
"Do you think he is bad?" Heimdall asked her, one eyebrow raised.
"Don't believe in morality," she said shortly, "too busy getting on with my life to worry about good and evil, and I reckon that's what he thinks too." She chuckled at herself. "Probably a stupid idea bringing this up. I think… if he was a bad person, if there was such a thing, then I would be too. But morality is a luxury we both lost a long time ago."
Heimdall nodded. "Get some rest, Gwen. I'm sure Thanos won't attack for at least a few hours yet."
"That is not funny."
A/N Because there is no god damn way that Heimdall doesn't know about Loki. (GOD damn, get it? Because they're all gods? I'M HILARIOUS. HA. HA.) Additionally, while I have many songs I listen to while writing this that suit the theme of it really well, literally within the last half an hour I've discovered Broken Bones by Kaleo. If this fic had opening credits, that would be the song to play over them.