A/N:Sorry this one came so late. it is the final chapter i will be writing for this part of the story. in the coming weeks i will be releasing the next part, where Loki meets Thanos in Sanctuary. it not exactly canon but i believe there needs to be some context for that. i hope you enjoyed.
Its Good to Have You Back
Once we got inside the palace, I shielded the Giants from everyone's view and quickly led them to Odin's chambers. Knowing my luck, Thor was going to somehow make his way back here, so we needed act fast. Frigga would most likely be in his chambers so I would I have to wait outside. I showed them to door, and as Laufey placed his hands on it, ice spread across most of its surface, and he barged in there. Frigga tried to put up a fight, but he just tossed her aside and made his way to Odin's bed. He crouched on top of him and peeled his eye open, still smiling.
"They say you can still hear and see what transpires around you," he hissed. "I hope it's true, so you may know—" He conjured an ice spike and raised it above his head— "That your death came at the hands of King Laufey." Just as he was about to bring that spear down onto Odin, I blasted him in the back with a ray of power from the Spear and he went flying backwards into the wall.
"And your death came at the son of Odin," I said to him. Laufey raised his head from the ground in shock, mouth hung open in a look of betrayal, and I blasted him again, reducing the great Frost Giant King to ash.
"Loki!" Frigga exclaimed, standing up and rushing over to me, "you saved him!" She wrapped her arms around my shoulders in a grateful embrace. I leaned into her slightly, putting an arm on her back, before pulling back again, meeting her at eye level.
"I swear to you," I said solemnly, gripping onto her arm, "they will pay for what they have done today. I—"
"LOKI!" Thor bellowed from the doorway. I internally screamed. Heimdall must have gotten out. Great. Without hesitation, Frigga left my side and embraced him, whispering words of thankfulness. Maybe Mother cared about me, maybe she saw me as her son, but she still cared for Thor more, despite everything. Thor hugged her back, but his eyes were locked on mine, glaring. He was definitely mad, but on a scale of on-the-brink-of-rageful-insanity, no one could beat me. Just looking at him, seeing him ruin my plans again, made me want to pummel him into the ground.
"Why don't you tell her," he boomed, stepping towards me as I backed away, gripping the Spear in both my hands, "How you sent the Destroyer to kill our friends, to kill me?"
Our friends. Right. "What?" Frigga gasped.
"It must have just been enforcing Odin's last command," I argued, sounding surprisingly calm, circling around the bed. Thor shook his head.
"You are a talented lair, brother, you always have been," he spat, also circling the bed. I smirked. There was only one option left, one chance to maybe prove my worth.
"Its good to have you back. Now if you excuse me," I placed a hand on my chest, "I have to destroy Jotunheim." I shot him with Gungnir and he went flying through two walls and out a window, falling to the ground. I didn't even wait to see what Frigga's reaction was because soon was down getting my house and riding as quickly as I could to the Bifröst. One chance. One last risk. I better not mess this up.
Luckily, I had gotten there before Thor, and I hurried inside, walking up onto the golden pedestal and lowering the Spear into the shaft once again. The Bifröst powered up with a loud whirring as the light travelled towards Jotunheim, crashing full power onto its surface. I removed Gungnir and watched as the branches of lightning froze, freezing them in place as I sent its maximum amount of energy to the planet. As it got colder in the room, branches spread up towards the ceiling like I tree, wrapping around the cogs and the walls, spreading on the floor. It was quite beautiful, despite everything.
I heard Thor's footsteps approach me, and I looked at him. He was horrified but seemed to understand what I was doing. "You can't stop it," I hissed, "the Bifröst will climb in power until it rips Jotunheim apart."
Thor lunged forward and tried to bring his hammer down onto the foot of the lightning tree, but I blasted him backwards out of the room with Gungnir. Slowly, he stood up, glaring.
"Why have you done this?"
"To prove to Father that I am the worthy son," I answered truthfully. "Once he wakes, I will have saved his life, destroyed that race of monsters, and I will be the true heir to the throne!" There would be nothing to remind me of what I am once they are gone.
Thor looked sick. "You cannot kill an entire race!"
I tilted my head at him. "Why not?" You were going to do it. I smiled quickly—this was all quite funny. "What is this newfound love for Frost Giants?" I walked down the stairs on the pedestal to face him, still smiling despite the amount of rage that filled me. Maybe I was insane now.
"You could have killed them all with your bare hands."
"I've changed," he growled.
"So have I." I aggressively stabbed the side of his face with the tip of the Spear, causing a thing trail of blood to trickle down his cheek. He wasn't going to let me do this, so there was only one way I could keep him occupied. "Now fight me." It sounded pathetic, even to my ears, and I knew I couldn't beat him, but hopefully by the time I'm lying on the floor half-dead, Jotunheim will be too.
I wacked him again, harder this time, sending him flying across the room with a yell.
"I never wanted the throne!" I growled, walking to his spot on the ground. "I only ever wanted to be your equal."
"I will not fight you brother!" Yelled Thor as he stood up again.
"I'm not your brother!" I yelled too. "I never was."
Thor didn't know what I was saying. "Loki, this is madness." I remember saying the exact same thing. To you. I think I completely lost all sense of sensibility then. The rage had been kept in too long.
"Is it madness, Thor?" Tears—angry, resentful tears—filled my eyes. I could see my breath freezing in the air as I exhaled. "Is it? Is it!?" He didn't reply, looking concerned. "Come on, what happened on Earth that made you so soft?" I remembered that girl he was with, the one who loved him. "Don't tell me it was that woman!" Thor looked away, still silent. That was all the answers I needed. "Oh, it was! Well maybe… once we're finished here, I'll pay her a visit myself!" A tear quickly slipped out of my eye. I didn't want to hurt her. But it was the only thing I could say to get a reaction out of Thor.
He roared and flew forwards at me, hammer out in front, and I blocked it with Gungnir, but his weight plus his power sent us both flying backwards to the other side of the room. We landed with him on top of me, and I quickly kicked him off, standing up before he could even think. I went at him with the Spear, but Thor kicked my ankles, and I fell to the ground. He tried to bring Mjolnir down onto my head, so I raised the Spear and held him back, kneeing him in the face and getting back up of the ground. Groaning, he stumbled backwards. I ran at him again, not even trying to hide how angry I was, and tried to hit him twice more with Gungnir, but he kept shoving it away. Gods, I'm such a pathetic fighter.
I kicked him hard in the stomach, and he flew backwards again, landing on the floor with a heavy thud. The Bifröst crackled and heaved as I landed on top of Thor, holding the Spear in both my hands and preparing to stab him through the back. Obviously, he rolled out of the way just in time, and the Spear smashed into the floor. He growled and ran at me, so I grabbed onto the Spear with both my hands, jumped up, and swung myself around on it like a pole, smashing both my legs into Thor's chest. I laughed.
He swung a dizzy punch at me, and I easily ducked, yanking the Spear out of the ground. Mjolnir was crackling with lightning sparks now—Thor was getting angrier. We continued to hit each other with little success, until Thor seemed to have enough and grabbed me by the back of my amour and threw me across the room. Pain hummed in my bones where I hit the ground as I stood up quickly. There was no time for pain now. Thor jumped off the ground and flew towards me, preparing to smash me with his hammer, and I attempted to blast him with Gungnir, but it did literally nothing to stop him from barrelling me through the wall and back onto the Rainbow Bridge. The Bifröst started to malfunction since it's walls were now very helpfully destroyed, and a bright golden light started to grow and probably just destroyed Jotunheim more.
I yelled out as I skidded down the Bridge with Thor, and in an extremely last-ditch effort to trick him, I duplicated myself and then turned my real copy invisible while the other rolled to the edge of the Bridge. It fell off and grabbed onto the side, legs and body dangling perilously in the air. "Thor, Thor!" I made it cry out as Real Me stood up without his notice. Thor approached the copy, standing just above it.
"Brother, please," I made it cry, looking scared. Water rushed angrily below it. Falling would mean supposed death. I honestly considered letting it drop for a moment there. I could fake my death and go live somewhere else, away from here. It could be nice, I suppose, but I'd be all alone. That wouldn't do.
Thor hesitantly reached out to help "me", but as he touched it, the illusion disappeared into green smoke. He didn't even seem very surprised. As he turned around, I revealed myself and stabbed him through the shoulder, and he yelled, but I made the Spear zap him too, and he crumpled to the ground. Grinning at his pain, projected many illusions of myself and had them all circle Thor, all of them simultaneously raising the Spear at the man on the ground. Thor screamed "Enough!" and sent out a giant column of lightning that spread, eliminating all of my illusions and sending me flying backwards.
A brief numbness spread over my body before it turned into pain. It felt like ever pore on my skin was getting jabbed with needles all at the same time, and I groaned. This is just great. Thor approached me again. Goddammit, I hated myself. Why wasn't I stronger? Why couldn't I just get up? Why did this hurt so much? Breathing heavily, we locked eyes, and I regrettably became afraid. Was he going to kill me? He was going to kill me. I had lost, I couldn't move, and he was going to stab that Spear through my chest, and I was going to die.
Despite my thoughts, Thor did not kill me, but just placed Mjolnir down onto my chest, which was decidedly worse. One, two, three, four cracks vibrated in my chest and a sharp pain added to what I was already feeling. I tried to lift up my head. Nope, can't move. I tried again. Still didn't work. Screaming in great agony, I used all the strength I had felt to lift it up off me, but no. Still. Didn't. Work. I groaned and laid my head back onto the ground, defeated.
Thor slowly made his way back towards the Bifröst, which was now certainly melting down. The lightning crackled all over the outside, and the golden energy was pulsating, pushing him backwards whenever he tried to get close. But he was getting closer, not that it would do much good.
"Look at you," I tried to yell. My throat was raw from the screaming, so it just came out as a raspy whisper. He did turn back, but I don't even know if he heard me. "The Mighty Thor," I continued, getting louder, "with all your strength… What good does it do you now, HUH!?" I managed a raspy yell, but I had to stop breathing before my chest caved in from the hammer. Why couldn't I be worthy?
After a few more moments of agony, the weight was suddenly greatly relieved as Thor drew the hammer back to him. I gasped in relief and sat up, clutching my chest and started to heal it quickly. But before I could even start to enjoy these moments, the entire Bridge vibrated and cracked as Thor slammed Mjolnir down onto its surface. He hammered it again, and again, and again, and I watched in horror. He was destroying the only thing that connected us to everything and everyone else, just so a race of actual monsters would be spared. We can all admit the Nine Realms would be no worse off with them dead, and yet here he was, ruining ancient property for them. He was insane.
The Bridge cracked more and more with each blow, and I became almost afraid of what would happen if it broke. Would we die?
"What are you doing?" I asked, horror mixed with my fear, and I sat up more. He shouldn't—he couldn't—collapse it, could he? Either way, one of us would get hurt. "If you destroy the Bridge, you'll never see her again!" I screamed at him. I couldn't get up—I wasn't healed enough yet. Not that it would make any sort of difference because he would always beat me, no matter the situation. It was just my fate. Bits of the Bridge were flying off now, as well as the walls of the Bifröst, and they were flying away down the golden stream into space. Obviously, Thor didn't listen to me, so with the very last strand of strength and sanity I had left in this weak body of mine, I got up, grabbed Gungnir, and ran—hobbled—towards him. I was far too late though, as always, and with one final blow to the floor, a loud scraping noise filled our ears as the ground blew up and sent both of us flying high into the air with glass and water.
The actual Bifröst screeched and powered down as it fell off the edge of Asgard, as did the rest of the Bridge that we were standing on, and I felt my stomach drop as I fell back down again. There was no solid space for us to land on; we were just going to fall into the void, never to be seen again. We were going to die. And it was all Thor's fault. A doomed feeling filled my chest as we fell past the broken edge of the Bridge, but it was soon filled with something else as I saw Odin, there on his knees at the edge, grabbing onto Thor's arm. Thor, not me. But then Thor gripped onto the end of the Spear, and the other end was right in front of me, so without thought I clutched it for dear life.
Now we were dangling, suspended, completely at Odin's mercy. Both him and Thor could easily drop me if they wanted to, but no, they held on. It was awful. Although, maybe, on some level, they did care. I felt the now growing wormhole from the Bifröst below me pulling me down, and I clutched harder, my knuckles turning white. None of this would have happened if they had just listened to me, for once.
"I could have done it Father!" I yelled, my voice cracking. I met his eyes. "I could have done it. For you, for all of us."
"No Loki," he rasped. Tears sprung into my eyes again. Wow, so that was how little he cared about what I had done. He wasn't grateful, he wasn't impressed, and all of this was just for nothing. Why did I expect anything different? I can only do wrong. The tears spilled sideways out of my eyes. I was filled with bitterness and resentment. It was like Odin was daring me to leave. I could just let go now, and all my problems would go away. I was wrong before. He doesn't care. That little part of me that thought he did was gone. He wouldn't miss me if I left.My hand slipped a little, but I let it. No one had made any move to help me up anyway. Thor saw this.
"Loki, no—" he said, but it was too late. Another slip from my sweaty hands and I had let go. It was a freeing feeling, really. Just floating down to imminent doom. Or, maybe not, but wherever I end up couldn't be worse than here. I closed my eyes and let myself fall, feeling the branches wrap around me, holding me, keeping me safe. It was… refreshing. And peaceful. Finally, I lost awareness and just kept falling, down into space, until my body landed somewhere with a thud.