A few things before I get into this chapter. First, I don't normally comment on these sorta things but if you have issues with my writing don't be weird about it. I recently re-read through some of the reviews and found some to be very strange and just generally unpleasant. They have since been deleted. I do not mind critique, I in fact welcome it. But those comments were just straight up weird. Don't do that. Secondly, expect another bye-week near the end of the month, as I will be busy once again. Keep an eye on my profile page for more info. Lastly, thank you and enjoy.
Las Vegas
Atreus' blood went cold, there were few times he had the displeasure of having this feeling. Last time it happened was when his father found him feeding Speki, Svanna, and Fenrir when they were pups. It was these times when he felt the most dread, when the inevitable was put in front of him and he could not avoid what was to come.
There standing next to the dwarf, was the false-Loki. The pretender with the scarred face and the wicked grin. False-Loki flashed him a smile before turning back over to the dwarf.
"I can't help but admire how well you did your job, bravo, A+." Loki clapped.
The dwarf, The Big Man as he was called, sat in his chair cross-legged with a glass in one hand. "You come to me with a proposition, I'll make sure it's done right." The Big Man had a deep voice one or two octaves lower than the rest of the men here. He was dressed in a plain black suit, but the plainness of his appearance belied his true wealth. He didn't need a long flowing robe, a shiny golden crown, or a grand scepter to flaunt his wealth. Compared to him, Gart practically seemed like a wandering raider.
"Oh you sure have, you even caught a couple of extras!" Loki approached the three of them, "Some Greek girl, I have no need for her. And-ooh, what a pleasant surprise it's the All-Mother! What a pleasure to see you again, I thought you'd be in Folkvanger." He looked Freya up and down before raising an eyebrow, "You do look a little different, did you tire of your meadow and come down here to let loose a little?" Loki made some stabbing motions.
"Unfortunately you have me at a disadvantage, I don't know you at all." Freya said, looking at the false god.
Loki stopped stabbing the air before looking at Freya with confusion, "I'm sorry, was that supposed to be a joke? You know you aren't very good at those."
"What do you want with us?" Annabeth interjected.
Loki turned to her, as if taken aback, "Oh, I'm sorry girl, I don't want you." He pointed to Annabeth and Freya.
"I'm here for him." Loki turned to Atreus, but as he approached Gart stepped in his way.
"Ah ah, not so fast trickster, I think you're forgetting a lil' something." Gart rubbed his fingers together.
"Ah yes, compensation, unfortunately I'm not too liquid right now." Loki pulled at his pockets only to reveal they were empty save some bits of wool before shoving them back in, "But we can do something more than simple exchange of currencies. I'm sure you have a favor you have in mind."
The Big Man pondered this for a moment, before Gart stepped up, "Hey boss, what about that thing we've been talking about for years now. Y'know, the thing."
The Big Man considered it, before nodding. "Very well, come back tomorrow and we will be ready."
"Oh I will, feel free to use these three for that job…y'know since…" He waved his hand in front of his face, and it went through. It had just struck Atreus that the false-Loki wasn't even here, it was a projection. But it looked so real.
"We will, this meeting is over." The Big Man waved his hand, as if to shoo away the false god.
False-Loki turned to Atreus, "Please be good, I don't want to have to come back here only to see your mangled corpse. I still have much planned for you." He waved before disappearing.
Gart walked up to them with another dwarf holding up a crossbow at them, "Walk." They begrudgingly did so.
As they were escorted higher up the building, the three of them remained silent as Gart and his friend made small talk about their day.
"So, Atreus, want to tell us what that was about?" Annabeth asked finally.
"I…um…" Atreus hadn't yet figured out how to tell them, how could he? The idea that an older, more grotesque version of him was running around trying to push his buttons was mind-boggling to begin with. Trying to explain that to someone he had just met less than a few days ago was a challenge.
"He has his secrets, we all do." Freya spoke, saving him the trouble of having to explain it. But even he knew he'd have to explain it, now that it was Annabeth and Freya's problem to deal with as well.
"I'll explain, just not now. I have to think about it." There was a lot to think about.
Behind them, Gart yawned, "You midgardians are so dramatic."
As they crested another flight of stairs, Gart stopped them near a door. Pushing through, they reached a long hallway with more doors lining the left and right walls. "Alright kiddos, here's how it works. Both of you take a room and sleep there for the night, at 9 a.m. you're off to do a job. So be up early, and don't flake. Or we'll find you. We have eyes and ears all over the city."
Atreus didn't like the idea of doing a favor for these dwarves but right now he was staring down a crossbow bolt aimed directly at him so it's not like he had much of a choice. He thought about trying to summon one of his animal familiars, but he didn't like the chances of being shot before he could finish one of the spells.
Gart continued "As for you, All-Mother, we have a special room for you. You'll be staying in one of our better rooms for our more esteemed guests, where you will stay there until we say so." Freya turned to him in a scowl.
"And if I don't you will harm the children?" Freya surmised.
"Bingo." Gart clicked his tongue, and just for emphasis the dwarf behind them hefted his crossbow straight to Annabeths head.
"We get it, can you please lower the crossbow?" Annabeth wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of having a gun to her head.
The dwarf lowered it, getting a sigh of relief from Annabeth. Gart moved in between Freya and the rest of them, "I will escort the All-Mother to her room, if you even think of trying something funny I radio in my friend here who will end your little demi-god friends here. You got it?"
Freyas scowl deepened. Atreus could tell she was thinking of how to best handle the situation. How to knock out Gart and his friend before they could let out a bolt. But even Atreus couldn't figure it out, he and Annabeth were too close, too easy to hit.
Eventually Freya came to the same conclusion, "Very well." She bit out, not liking the idea of being in another prison.
Gart chuckled, "I'm glad you see it our way. Now come, let's get a room for ya." Gart escorted Freya out of the hall, leaving Atreus and Annabeth alone with the dwarf with the crossbow.
"Pick a room and stay there." The dwarf said, not letting his aim falter for a second.
Atreus looked to Annabeth, who only nodded at him to go and get to bed. Atreus chose the closest one as he saw no need to be picky. The inside of the room was somewhat barren. Unlike the cabin back in Camp Jupiter, the rooms here were stale, concrete walls and floors, no window outside, not even a chest to store his things- not that he had anything to store anyway.
The bed in the far corner of the room was basic, supported by a metal frame with only a single blanket to cover. As he sat down on the bed, the frame creaked loudly, as if it was about to buckle at any moment. But it held his weight and stood firm. The bed itself was stiff and rigid, somewhat like fathers back at their cabin but worse.
"Great." Atreus muttered, wiping his face.
As he sat there, he contemplated how best to tell Annabeth and Freya. A conundrum he had been hoping to avoid since he learned of the false god.
"Just great." He muttered to himself again.
"Why thank you I did the best I could with what little I had."
Atreus snapped his face upwards, sure enough there stood the false-Loki.
"You!" Atreus stood up, hands up ready for a fight.
"Why, aren't you the most perceptive little godling." He chuckled, pacing around the room, looking at its amenities - or rather the lack of it. His eyes scanned the room, but all that he was met with was the plain pale concrete walls.
"You'd think they would treat a god like you with some respect, Freya is too proud to do it. But you? Well, you just have to flex some of that power of yours, make them understand why you should be given the respect you deserve." The thought of it made him smirk, it held an edge not unlike a knife. Which was an apt description, because Atreus felt like at any second the false god would take one out and stab him with it.
"Why are you doing this? Just because you think I'm you?"
False-Loki turned back to him, "That's the crux of this issue isn't it? Are we the same? Sit with me for a moment." He summoned a chair and sat on it, motioning Atreus to do the same. Atreus hesitantly sat back down.
"See, I've been pondering that question ever since I met you. At first I thought you were a rogue aspect of myself, but now I've come to a different hypothesis." He raised one leg over the other, crossing them.
"What would that be?" Atreus asked.
"We are the same, but different." False-Loki admitted.
"We are not the same." Atreus refuted.
"Only in the ways that don't matter my little godling. See I've been watching you since I met you trying to piece it all together. At first, I thought that your power, really your lack of it, was just another symptom of being an aspect of mine. Your attitude for being so nice, might be from when I was just a kid. I made so many excuses for so many inconsistencies, but now I'm starting to think those excuses were wrong." False-Loki stared Atreus in the eyes,
"Why?" He leaned in just a little, the gods words intrigued him.
"And that's the million dollar question, isn't it?" False-Loki pointed at Atreus, "Why are you the way you are, and why am I the way I am? Perhaps we were once the same but split off? One Loki, two directions? I dismissed that just before coming here, not enough to back that little hypothesis up yet. You're too different to simply be a version of me that took another path. No, you're something else entirely." He stood up abruptly, making his chair clatter to the ground.
"What do you mean?" Atreus stood up with him, now totally invested.
"I was thinking of this all wrong, for so long I thought that there could only be one. Just one Loki. But everything I've seen of you, has changed it. Instead of one Loki, perhaps there are two. You're not an aspect of me, a version from the past, or anything like that. You're your own person, your own god. But how? Well, I'm planning on figuring that out. Will you help me?" The god stuck out his hand, waiting for Atreus.
For a moment, Atreus reached out but stopped. Answers were right in front of him with a waiting hand, ones that Atreus needed. But did he really? Going with the false god meant leaving Annabeth and Freya with the dwarves. Besides that, it meant straying off his path, the one that led to his father. Ever since he arrived here, Atreus had so many questions, about the places he had been to and seen, about the people he had heard of and met, about the world around him that was so different from the Midgar he knew. But he put those questions aside - for the most part - and focused on his task. He was out to find his father, to reunite with Mimir and bring them all home.
Atreus pulled his hand back, "No." He resolutely said.
False-Loki's inviting smile turned into a deep frown, "Hmm, I miscalculated. You disappoint me, we could have done great things together, if you joined me. I tried to convince you, but it seems like you will only respond to force." He sighed, "Fine, be that way, but when your friends' entrails line the walls, don't come crying to me."
Atreus blinked, and he was gone. Before Atreus could do anything there was a bang at his door, "Lights out!" The dwarf guard yelled, and soon enough the lights went out.
Now in pitch black Atreus finally sucked in air, unknowingly having held a breath. He had to figure a way out, and fast.