#and then they go rescue heimdall and the rest of the asgardians the end

[veliseraptor]

it slips between my fingers now, 3.9k, thor pov, endgame fix-it, thanks @portraitoftheoddity​ for this idea it was a lot of fun to write as you can tell by the fact that I did it in less than a week when I should have been working on other stuff, anyway a lot of angst but there’s a happy ending?

Thor had been with the Guardians for maybe a week when he first caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye. When he turned his head, though, there was nothing there.

Of course there wasn’t. Whatever else he was (and Thor could think of a number of things he could call himself), he wasn’t mad - at least not yet. So it was impossible that he might have seen his brother.

Because Loki was dead. And the piece of Thor’s heart that whispered you thought he was before - that piece was poison, a deadly hope that could kill (and stubbornly refused to entirely die).

So no - he had not seen Loki. A trick of the light. His brother was far from here, at peace in Valhalla, along with Frigga, and Odin, and the Warriors Three, and Heimdall, and probably Sif as well. All gone, and he remained.

A fist clenched around Thor’s heart and he went to raid the hold for drink.

**

On an unnamed planet in the Thaumis system, cleaning Stormbreaker of the blood of the creature he’d just helped slay, Thor saw him again.

He froze, and this time he was certain, or nearly: it was Loki, or a shade of him, translucent as mist. He looked just as he had in the moments of his death, frozen in time as he was in Thor’s memory. Bruises ringing his throat, hair disheveled.

A cry burst from Thor’s lips, and as though the sound drove him away Loki vanished into nothingness.

“What, did you chop one of your toes off with that thing?” Rocket asked. Thor shook his head.

“No,” he said. “That isn’t…” He swallowed hard. My brother. I saw my brother’s ghost.

Half Rocket’s comrades already thought Thor was a little mad. He did not need to prove them right. He might have imagined it. (You didn’t.) Conjured Loki from thin air out of wishful thinking. (When you try to avoid thinking too much of him at all.)

“It’s nothing,” Thor said, calling up a smile. Rocket eyed him dubiously, but didn’t question him. That was one of the things Thor appreciated about his new comrades: for the most part, they didn’t question. Did not want to ask probing questions about Thor’s thoughts and feelings.

There was too much, and if he spoke it it would drown him.

“Okay,” Rocket said. “Sure. Sometimes you just gotta yell for no reason.”

“Yes,” Thor said. “Exactly.”

**

In the dark, lying awake in his bunk, Thor tried to recall everything he knew about ghost-lore.

It wasn’t much. It had hardly been an area of study for him - he’d found the very idea unnerving, and Loki’s pranks at his expense–

Thor cut himself off and redirected his thoughts before he could sink in them. Ghosts, or shades, were rare. There were the undead, like the soldiers Hela had raised, but a true spirit was something else, less common, that resulted only from specific circumstances.

But what were those circumstances? Improper burial rites, Thor thought he remembered. Some unfinished business tethering a soul from taking its proper place in the afterlife.

Loki had not had any burial. And unfinished business? He - Loki’s murderer - was dead. What else…

You. You let him die. You let them all die.

For a moment Thor could not breathe. He had to focus, hard, to make his lungs inflate again, and then again, and again.

Was it possible? Was he being haunted?

Was his failure keeping Loki from Valhalla?

He was cold. Thor wrapped the blankets tighter around himself and bit the inside of his cheek. Let it not be so. Let it be something else, anything else, let it be creeping madness, but let this one thing not be his fault.

When he fell asleep, eventually, Thor dreamed he was floating amidst the shattered remains of the Statesman, Loki’s body just out of reach. His eyes snapped open and he said in a voice like death, “why did you leave me, Thor?”

Thor woke with tears on his face.

**

The next time Thor was alone, he tried to call him. “Loki,” he said, “show yourself.”

He did not. Did not appear to explain to Thor what he wanted, did not tell him what he needed to do. Of course he didn’t. Loki had never done what he was told. Why should his shade be any different?

Thor wasn’t sure if he wanted to cry or laugh.

Instead, later, when Thor was in the middle of attempting to explain why visiting Muspellheim was a bad idea, there Loki was, standing in the cockpit with his back to Thor, and his voice choked off in the middle of a sentence.

“I don’t understand,” Drax said.

Thor didn’t dare blink, or look away. He seemed clearer this time, more solid and the only word Thor could force out of his throat was, “look.”

The Guardians turned, looked, and then turned back to Thor, to a one with expressions of total incomprehension.

“Look at what?” Peter asked.

“Don’t you see…” Loki’s head turned, and then he did. His eyes looked through Thor, blank and lifeless.

“Are you seeing things that aren’t there?” Mantis asked politely. “That isn’t a good thing.”

He is there, Thor wanted to say. He’s right there, right in front of me, but he couldn’t speak and couldn’t move and Loki didn’t seem to be seeing him at all.

Then Loki’s eyes moved, locked on Thor’s, and widened. His lips parted like he was about to speak.

Drax stepped into his line of sight and said, “I don’t see anything,” and Loki was gone.

For a split second Thor could have struck off Drax’s head. The fury evaporated quickly, leaving a hollow in its place.

“What just happened,” Rocket asked.

Thor turned and walked away without answering. He didn’t trust himself to speak.

What had Loki been about to say? What words were so urgent that they bound his brother here? He feared them. He needed to hear them.

“Loki,” Thor whispered. “Can you hear me?”

No answer. Maybe he really was going mad.

**

“Thor.”

A voice that reached down through his dreams, drawing him up out of alcohol-soaked slumber. It was little more than a whisper, but he answered its call instinctively, and for a moment he hung between sleeping and waking where he almost believed that the last five years had been some terrible dream.

Then he woke entirely, and remembered.

Loki was standing by his bed, looking down at him. Thor stared back, barely breathing, not daring to move. Something built in his throat and exploded out of him, an inarticulate sound, and he reached out but stopped himself before he could feel that there was nothing there to touch.

“Loki,” Thor said, his voice choked, and the next words, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry–”

Loki blinked at him, eyebrows knitting with confusion as they might have in life, and if it weren’t for the translucence of his body, the fuzziness around his edges, he might have been. Thor could almost pretend that it was one of Loki’s projections, the early attempts.

“For what?” Loki said.

“You-” Thor could not say died. “I didn’t save you.”

Loki just stared at him. “You couldn’t,” he said. Simply, sensibly, and it wasn’t good enough. Thor had dreaded his brother’s rage, a ghost’s need for vengeance, haunting Thor for redress of his wrongs. But it was worse to be so easily released.

I should have. I should have been able to. If I were everything I am supposed to be…

“How can I set you free?” Thor asked. Loki looked blank, and he said, “you are trapped here, when you should...you should be at peace in Valhalla.”

(Some hideously selfish part of him said don’t go. Stay. Stay with me.)

“I,” Loki started to say, and broke off at a sharp knock on the door.

“Who are you talking to?” said Nebula’s harsh voice, and Thor almost snarled. Loki was gone again.

He stalked over and yanked the door open. “What do you want,” he snapped.

“I heard you talking,” Nebula said. Her gaze was direct and apparently without emotion. “Are you losing your mind?”

“I wouldn’t know if I was, would I,” Thor said harshly. “I was busy.”

Nebula shifted slightly. She seemed, Thor thought, uncomfortable. “Look,” she said. “If you ever want to, I don’t know, talk...Mantis is actually a decent listener.”

Thor sighed. It wasn’t her fault. Wasn’t anyone’s fault. (Except his.) “Thank you,” he said, what he hoped sounded like it was sincere. She shrugged.

“If you’re going to talk to yourself, just do it a little quieter,” she said. “I can keep my mouth shut, but no one else on this ship can.” She walked away before he could answer, and Thor retreated. Loki didn’t reappear, though. Thor stayed up the whole night, just in case, but he never came back.

**

“All right,” Rocket said, plopping himself down across from Thor and stealing the rest of his drink. “If no one else is going to ask...spill.”

“Give that back,” Thor said, gesturing at his flask. Rocket drained it and then tossed it back in his direction.

“Come on,” he said. “You’re dragging the mood down. Get it out of your system and stop moping.”

Thor’s jaw tightened, then relaxed. Hel with it. “I’ve started seeing my brother’s ghost.”

“Your dead brother,” Rocket said. “The one Thanos-” Thor twitched, but Rocket didn’t react. “-killed five years ago. That one?”

“Yes,” Thor said.

“And you’re seeing his, uh, ghost.”

“Yes,” Thor said. Rocket just stared at him.

“Yeah,” he said. “Okay. Sounds reasonable. Not crazy at all. Does that happen a lot where you’re from?”

“Not often,” Thor said. “But it does happen. The restless dead have been known to linger.”

“Seems like maybe he’s a little late,” Rocket said. Thor gave him a sharp look, and he held up his hands. “Just saying.”

Thor faltered. “I wasn’t exactly…” He paused, and said carefully, “I wasn’t paying much attention to my surroundings.” And that was a thought that struck him like a blow. That Loki might have been there all along, and Thor hadn’t seen him, hadn’t known.

“You know you’re kind of fucked,” Rocket said. “In the head. Right?”

“I am not seeing things,” Thor said loudly. “I spoke to him, and he answered me. He is real. My brother - Loki-”

There was an odd look on Rocket’s face. “That was his name, huh?” Thor glanced at him, and he shrugged. “You’ve never actually said it before.”

“Oh,” Thor said after a moment. “Hm.”

They were both quiet. Finally, Rocket shrugged. “Okay,” he said. “So you’re seeing your brother’s ghost. How come no one else has?”

“I don’t know,” Thor said. “Maybe because he’s my brother. Maybe he’s not strong enough.”

“Or maybe,” Rocket said, “ghosts aren’t real and you’ve got a bad case of wishful thinking.”

Thor’s temper surged and for a moment he almost lashed out. He shoved back and stood instead. “You asked what I was thinking, and I told you,” he said. “You don’t have to believe me. But don’t mock me.”

He didn’t wait to hear any response. His heart beat in his stomach, but a part of him wondered if he wasn’t angry because of the possibility that Rocket might be right, and he’d somehow wished a shade of Loki into existence out of desperation.

**

Loki appeared to him again in the middle of the night when Thor was drinking instead of sleeping. He sat down, or seemed to, and said, “you don’t look well.”

Thor didn’t look at him. “Don’t attempt to appeal to my vanity. I haven’t any left.”

“I’m not,” Loki said. “Only…” He almost heard him sigh. “You left Asgard.”

“What’s left of it,” Thor said. “Valkyrie is in charge.”

“That’s a terrible idea,” Loki said.

“She’s better at it than you’d think.” Thor set down his drink and raised his eyes to look at Loki. “Are you real?” Loki’s brow furrowed in that too familiar expression and Thor’s eyes burned. “I mean - am I imagining you because I want so badly for you to be here?”

Loki seemed to think about that. “Would I know?” he asked.

“What do you remember?” Thor asked. Desperate. For a moment, Loki seemed to flicker, then solidify again. He seemed stronger now, Thor thought. Like glass instead of mist, though as likely to shatter.

“I died,” Loki said. “I remember that.”

Loki struggling, clawing at Thanos’s arms, gasping out his last words and then that horrible crack, his body going limp. Thor took a shuddering breath in and downed the rest of his mug. “And then…?”

Loki’s hands twisted together. Another gesture so familiar from life, from their mother, a tell of unease and discomfort. “I was in Valhalla, I think,” Loki said. “It’s not...clear. But then I wasn’t.”

“Why?” Thor asked. “Why did you leave?”

“I don’t know.” Loki looked lost. He wrapped his arms around himself.

“Is it me?” Thor asked. His eyes prickled. “Is it because of me that you can’t rest?”

“Why would it be because of you?” Loki asked. “I just know that I’m cold, now. I remember sun and light but now it’s just...the cold. And you.”

Thor felt a pang. So Loki had been at peace, and now...and now he wasn’t, drawn back it sounded like against his will, suffering…

Pulled out of Valhalla - back to the land of the living. Cold - like the depths of space.

A spark bloomed in Thor’s belly and his breath caught. Bruce had tried, he remembered, to bring back Natasha, and said he had failed. What if he’d been wrong?

What if he’d been wrong, and Natasha wasn’t the only one he’d brought back, only...only they had stayed just where they’d fallen?

“Loki,” Thor said, and he could hear the vibration in his voice, knew he was treading on dangerous ground, ice that if it cracked would plunge him into black depths from which he might not surface. “Do you know...can you see anything?”

“You,” Loki said. Thor shook his head.

“Anything else.”

“No?” Loki was giving him an odd look, but Thor’s heart was pounding, and he ran for the cockpit.

“Do you have the coordinates for where you found me,” Thor asked.

“What?” Quill said.

“I said, do you have the coordinates for where you found me,” Thor repeated.

“I...might, I guess,” Quill said. “Course, that was five years ago. Why the fuck do you want to go there?”

“Because I think Banner might have been wrong,” Thor said. “I think maybe...I think maybe he brought them back after all.”

Nebula jerked. “Brought who back?” she asked.

Thor took a deep and unsteady breath, his eyes fixed on the stars in front of him. “My brother,” he said. “At least. And maybe...maybe not just him.”

There was a profound silence.

“All right,” Rocket said. “I’ll say it. You’ve officially lost your fucking mind.”

**

Thor dug in his heels. He argued. He pleaded. He stopped just short of threatening, though only just. Finally Nebula said, “either humor him or knock him out, I’m sick of listening to this,” and Quill threw up his hands.

“Fine!” he said. “Fine, we’ll go check it out. I hope you’re happy.”

Thor didn’t respond, his eyes fixed forward. He was thinking of how Loki’s ghost had been growing more and more solid. Closer to death? Even a Jotun could not live forever in the cold depths of space, without air, or sustenance.

Would Heimdall be there as well? The other Asgardians?

Had Bruce brought Natasha back after all?

Too many questions. At the moment his focus was narrowed to one: finding Loki and bringing him back.

“What are you doing?” Loki asked.

“Saving you,” Thor said. As he should have before. But at least now...perhaps now he could redress at least this one thing. “Hold on,” he whispered. “I am coming.”

**

Thor had expected the wreckage of the Statesman, but of course it was gone. Dispersed, drifted apart, and Thor’s heart plunged into his stomach. The bodies were gone, too; of course they had not simply stayed in place all this time.

Which meant he still had no idea where Loki was. How far his body might have drifted after five years.

“Okay,” Rocket said. “So...what now?”

“He’s here,” Thor said. “He has to be here...somewhere.” He scanned the stars as though he might see him. “Search for anything living,” he said, and could hear the desperation in his own voice.

“Thor,” Peter said, and he almost sounded kind, “there’s nothing out there.”

His chest tightened. The now familiar onset of panic, and he tried to force himself to calm. “No,” he said. “I am sure...look again.”

“Buddy,” Rocket said. Thor banged his fist against the side of the ship.

“I said–”

“Watch it,” Nebula growled. Thor glared at her, and she looked back at him, her jaw tight.

Something went out of Thor. The ice cracking under his feet.

He turned and walked away before he could break down in front of any of them. His eyes burned, and he found a quiet corner and collapsed into it, burying his face into his hands.

Loki was here. Somewhere. Thor was sure of it. And yet...space was enormous, and he didn’t know how much time they had before Loki died again. Thor failed him, again.

He almost heard the whisper of air as someone sat down next to him, and knew without looking that he was no longer alone.

“Thor,” said Loki’s voice. “It’s all right.”

“No,” Thor said, raw and hoarse. “It isn’t.”

“I’m not in pain,” Loki said. “Only...a little cold.”

Thor shook his head, his throat closing. “Don’t,” he said. “Don’t try to make me feel better. It isn’t fair. It isn’t fair that you died, and it isn’t fair that everyone else…” He swallowed hard. “If you could just tell me where you are. You shouldn’t have to...I was going to save you.”

Loki had a small, strange smile. “It’s good of you to try,” he said. “But I’m not certain I’m alive at all.”

Thor shook his head. “I know it,” he said desperately. “Why would you be here, otherwise? Why would you not be in Valhalla anymore? Why appear to me?”

“Bad luck?” Loki said. He sounded so clear. So real. The sound Thor made was akin to a sob.

“Loki,” he said, and stopped. He didn’t know what to say, other than that, and fell silent. They were both quiet. How long, Thor wondered, did he have? How long before Loki was gone again, and this brief glimpse of what it was to have him ripped away?

“How did you find me?” he asked. Loki shrugged.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I was alone, and cold, but I reached out and you were there.”

“Reached out,” Thor said. “With what?”

Another shrug. “I don’t know that either,” he said. “With...whatever it is that binds us together, I suppose.”

“Could I…” Thor trailed off. “Could I do it? Reach back, and...and find you?”

Loki blinked, and was quiet. Thor reached for his hands, but his fingers went through.

“Tell me how,” he said, soft and frantic. Loki shook his head, mute, and Thor said, “please,” with all the desperation in him, all the grief and pain and need, and Loki flinched back like Thor had struck him.

“I don’t know how,” he said.

Thor squeezed his eyes closed. He tried to imagine Loki: his face, his voice, the gestures of his hands. The sound of his laugh. His knives in Thor’s side, the force of his rage. The feel of him in Thor’s arms. The texture of his scales when he was a snake, or fox-fur, or feathers. Trying to hold everything that was Loki in his mind, his heart aching.

He imagined on the Bifrost, as he had a thousand times, reaching for Loki’s hand and grasping his wrist.

For just a moment, his awareness doubled. He was sitting on the ship, and he was drifting, frozen, heartbeat slowed almost to stillness. Thor sucked a breath into his lungs and he was only himself again, but he still felt it, a tug in his chest like there was a string wrapped around his heart.

He lurched to his feet and strode back to the bridge. “That way,” he said, without preamble, pointing.

“Um,” Peter said.

“I’m certain,” Thor said. “Go that way. Not too quickly.”

Silence met him.

“Go,” Nebula said, finally. Peter muttered something under his breath, but he went. Thor held very still, barely breathing, all his attention dedicated to that string pulling him onward, onward–

“There,” he breathed, because he could see it, just see it, one body in all the dark. “There.” His heart was pounding in his ears, fear and hope warring in his chest, and he did not dare move, as if to move would break him.

**

They brought him aboard. Brought Loki’s body aboard, and placed him on a table like it was a bier.

Thor drew close, slowly, and looked down at Loki’s face. There was ice rime on his eyelashes, his skin Jotun blue and Thor had never seen him like this before but he could scarcely even care. Just as on his ghost, the bruises lingered, a deeper purple on blue skin. He looked dead.

No, Thor thought. No. Don’t you dare. Not when we’re so close.

“Mantis,” he said. “Do you know...can you tell…”

She moved closer, tentatively, and reached out to lay fingers against Loki’s temples. Her antennae glowed softly, and Thor held his breath.

“He is alive,” she said, and Thor heard himself make a soft noise. “But sleeping very deeply.”

“Wake him,” Thor said, and remembered to add belatedly, “please.”

“I’ll try,” Mantis said. She sounded uncertain, but closed her eyes, brow furrowing in deep concentration.

Loki’s chest rose. Movement flickered briefly under his eyelids. Thor leaned forward, barely breathing himself.

His fingers twitched, and heaved in a ragged breath.

Red, red eyes opened.

The sound Thor made was weak and wretched, what another version of himself might have called pathetic. He didn’t care. He lunged for Loki, seized him and pulled him into a hug, not caring if the cold burned him, not caring about anything but this, this gift, the universe at last giving him something back after all it had taken away.

He could not speak.

“Thor,” Loki said, almost a wheeze, and Thor loosened his hold, pulling back just enough that he could see Loki’s face, drink in the familiarity under the unfamiliarity. Loki looked at him, clearly dazed still, blinking out of whatever hibernation might have saved him. Thor could not tell if he was laughing or crying; perhaps both.

Loki blinked at him twice. “Thor,” he said again. “Where did you get a new eye?”

Thor grabbed him again, not answering. The string around his heart thrummed, and he didn’t think he would ever let go again.

[marvels-writing-hoe]

Test of Time Part 3

Previous Chapter

A/N: Sorry this one took so long, I was almost done with it before someone shut my laptop without this having been saved and I lost all progress. 

Warnings: Cursing, fluff?, mention of death, almost nudity, Bucky’s PTSD(if you read between the lines)

Bucky Barnes x Y/n Odindottir

By the end of the battle with Tony and the others, you had managed to successfully avoid going head to head with your best friend several times before watching her run to the aid of Steve and Bucky. It pained you to watch him leave when you’d just found him, but you knew you had to in order for him to succeed. 

You scoffed at Tony’s attempt to put cuffs on you. 

“You Asgardians just don’t know how to stay out of trouble do you?” He asked, tightening the cuffs a little tighter than they should have been. He was pissed, and worried about Rhodes, understandably. 

“He’s innocent, Tony. He didn’t do anything.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that you guys broke the rules. They were simple, Y/n. and you still ignored them,” 

“What would you have done, Stark?” He didn’t answer as you were shoved into the back of a high security transport vehicle, right next to Sam. 

“Don’t worry Y/n. I’m sure they’re half way there already. They’ll come out on top, just like they always do.” Sam reassured you, sending a glare in Tony’s direction. You held you’re head high, the way you’d seen Loki do when he stood trial for New York. An agent shut the doors, and you felt the vehicle begin moving. 

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You spent three days in lock up before Steve showed up to free you and you all went your separate ways. 

“Tell me where he is.” You demanded of the super soldier. 

“He’s in Wakanda. T’challa agreed to help rid him of the winter soldier.” You didn’t stick around for any more explanation, instead calling on your most convenient form of travel. 

“Heimdall! Take me to Wakanda!” 

Appearing in the middle of a heavily shielded country in a blast of rainbow light didn’t exactly earn you subtlety, but it did gain you an audience with the king, just the man you needed to talk to. 

“I wish to see Bucky Barnes.” You gave a shallow bow to the king before speaking your request. 

“You’re friend awaits in my sister’s lab.” T’challa stood to lead the way. Upon reaching the lab, you instantly saw the gleam of a metal shoulder, the arm that should have been attached ripped away. 

“Y/n! You’re okay! I thought-” as soon as he saw you, Bucky was up, running to you. 

“I’m fine, Buck. Steve rescued us from the pit. Are you okay? What happened to you, your arm?” You fussed over him the same way you had in the 40′s when he’d come back from a battle cut up and bruised. 

“It’s a long story I’d rather not get into right now. But you, you’re a god? Why didn’t you tell us?” He put his hand on your shoulder, his thumb grazing the base of your neck. 

“I didn’t think you’d understand. besides, you guys had enough to deal with without your friend being a goddess. That’s why I was there. I’m-” He cut you off. 

“Still as beautiful as the day you left.” his voice grew soft, “God, I missed you so much, Doll.” There it was. That nickname that had made butterflies in your stomach since day one. He pulled you into another hug, as tight as he could make it with only one arm, and you knew you were home. 

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Within a few days, T’challa had given the two of you a small two bedroom farm house and a few sheep to tend. The first day was great, you helped Bucky with the sheep before putting your room the way you wanted it, with pictures you’d taken over the last year hanging above your bed, and a painting done of Thor, Loki, and yourself when you were younger framed on your bedside table. 

That night, however was not as smooth. You’d gone to bed at a reasonable time, planning to wake early in the morning to prepare breakfast. Around midnight, you awoke to a scream and a thud. You threw yourself out of bed and rushed to Bucky’s room, knowing that the sound had come from there, not even bothering to put shorts on with the long, over sized, t-shirt and boy-shorts you’d worn to bed. 

“Bucky?” You knocked gently on the door, no answer. “Buck, is everything okay?” Still no answer. Growing ever more worried at the lack of response, you were about to knock again when the sound of shattering glass reverberated from the room. You shoved the door open and ran in to find that Bucky, who was laying in the floor, had become tangled in a lamp cord, pulled said lamp off the table, and was now struggling against the bonds of the tangled cord. 

You ran to the soldier, repeating his name to try to wake him

“Bucky, Bucky wake up, everything is okay, wake up,” you coaxed as you quickly realized he was having a nightmare. You said his name again, this time laying a gentle hand on his flesh shoulder. 

You squeaked when he suddenly sat up, bolt straight and his metal shoulder flexed as if trying to grab at something. 

“It’s me, everything is okay. We’re in Wakanda, they’re trying to help you,” you rambled trying to get him to calm down, even slightly. His eyes turned soft at the sound of your voice.  “Y/n, did I-” his voice fell in shame, “I didn’t hurt you did I?” 

“Oh, Bucky...” You rested your hand on his cheek, his growing stubble tickling a bit, “You didn’t hurt me. I’m okay.” You pulled back a bit to show him you hadn’t been hurt before starting to untangle the lamp cord from his body. As you pulled the cord away from the sling that mostly covered his left shoulder, you suddenly became very aware of what he was wearing, which was nothing aside from his boxer briefs. You’re face went cherry red as you continued your task, avoiding eye contact with the very tan, very muscled, super soldier before you. He shivered, you’re cold hands a far cry from his hot skin. 

“Why you so cold, Doll?” You guessed he was trying to start conversation to distract his mind from whatever nightmare had plagued him. 

“I like it cold when I sleep. Gives me an excuse to curl up with fuzzy blankets.” You went along with his attempt. You pulled your hands away when you’d finished untangling the cord, the last of it falling to the floor. “Plus, when we were younger, and Loki was first learning magic, he would play pranks on me and turn my room cold at random times. Eventually I got used to it.” You smiled at the fond memories of your brother. 

“Do you ever miss them? You’re brothers I mean?” He asked you, already visibly relaxing from his nightmare. 

“Sometimes. Thor’s off on one of his adventures right now though. And Loki’s been-” you’re voice stumbled over your words, “He’s been dead for a while.” 

“When Steve woke me up, made me... aware of who I was, it hurt so much more than forgetting. Rebecca, and my mom- they were both gone. And then I remembered you, and I thought you were gone too. I never- I thought-” He paused, rethinking his sentence, “I didn’t know what to do with myself. I still don’t.” 

“But I’m here. And I’m not going anywhere.” You grabbed his hand, to prove to him that you were really there. He smiled, small, almost unnoticeable, but you saw it. 

You stifled a yawn, looking at the clock that sat in his bedside table. 12:33. 

“You must be exhausted, Doll. Get some sleep, I’ll be okay.” He pulled his hand away from yours to place it on your shoulder. 

“I’m not tired,” you yawned. He chuckled. 

“Go on. I’ll be fine.” 

“Okay... But you’ll wake me up if you need anything right?” 

“Of course, Doll.” 

“G’night, Bucky.” You kissed his cheek, standing to go to you’re room across the hall. 

“Night, Doll.” he coughed out, you thought it was odd, but you were also too tired to care, too tired to remember that the underwear you’d had on under your t-shirt had a not so PG message on them, and too tired to realize that previously mentioned t-shirt had ridden up and Bucky had a full view of your ass- and the message- as you left his room. 

Next Chapter

[gingerwritess]

Hi ! May I request Loki bringing reader and Elliot for the first time in Asgard ? I really love your writing !

ahh thank you!! this is such a good request omL

okay idk what time period this is, for my purposes Odin Badparent is still on the throne but lovely Frigga has died, but Loki was with you instead of in prison. idk pls be nice.

whoops i made it a lil angsty

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

You still remember the first time you saw Asgard: the bifrost had dropped the two of you off at the end of the rainbow bridge and you had promptly grabbed Loki’s hand and used it to punch yourself in the face.

Needless to say, you weren’t dreaming, and the mighty Heimdall’s first impression of you would forever be tainted by Loki shrieking “WHY IN THE NAME OF ODIN DID YOU DO THAT?!”

…followed by you screaming “I FORGOT YOU’RE, LIKE, MYTHOLOGICAL OR SOME SHIT!!” right back at him.

Then you had taken off down the bridge dragging your boyfriend sputtering behind you.

You had ended up staying in Asgard for probably over two months (you kind of lost track of time) and every single day was an adventure. By the time you decided you should really go back home and get your earthly life sorted out, you’d made sure to sneak secret kisses in every tiny closet the palace provided, and every single night had been spent on the highest palace balcony, staring at the stars until you fell asleep in each other’s arms.

It’s easily the most beautiful place you’ve ever seen. Golden buildings rising in the middle of bustling streets, mountains and waterfalls and rivers and more natural beauty than you’d ever beheld, and then there’s the food. The food alone is enough to make you seriously consider leaving the entire planet earth and just becoming a full time Asgardian.

You’d taken every opportunity to go back any time you were able to escape your life on Earth, and when you had finally decided to get married, the two of you spent another extended period of time in the realm during your first few months as a newly wed couple. It has certainly become your home away from home, and even Loki has started to enjoy being there more. The smug bastard says it has something to do with a change in the political dealings of the realm, but you know it’s just because you love it so much.

Not that he’d ever tell you such a sappy, hopelessly romantic thing like that.

He suggests you go visit as often as he can, just so he can see the shock on your face when the bifrost surrounds you, so he can hear the excited squeal when you see the golden castles in the distance, and of course so that he can laugh at you when you fail to address his family and the rest of the royal court properly (you do believe you’re the one being who has ever called Odin Allfather “dude” and lived to see another day).

But after his mother’s death, the realm eternal lost every ounce of its appeal. Wonderful memories became painful, tensions rose, and any joy that had come from Asgard was forgotten. It had taken ages just to get your lover to smile again, and you knew better than to suggest returning to the realm.

It was Elliot’s birth that finally brought a sliver of light back to his life. Yes, he tried to stay positive for your sake and still tried his best to keep your spirits lifted, but you could tell that something was missing from his life, a little light had gone out and needed rekindling.

Nothing does the job quite like a baby.

Once Elliot was born, travelling across space and time into another universe became the furthest thing from your mind, so it took you by complete surprise when Loki suggested you all spend the weekend showing the three month old baby around Asgard. Of course you agreed right away, hoping this could be a chance for him to reconcile old disagreements and even possibly gain closure on a treasured but lost relationship.

Now you find yourself at the foot of the rainbow bridge for the first time in a very long time, this time with a baby tucked in one arm and Loki’s hand locked with yours. Almost as an instinct, Loki looks at you when you step into the glaring Asgard sun, waiting for your face to light up when you see the city as it always has.

Your excitement doesn’t disappoint.

It’s wonderful to be back, but this visit is bittersweet; you’re excited to explore again this time with your son, but something about Loki still seems off.

The three of you spend the day traipsing through the lower levels of the city, mingling with the commoners and enjoying the street food and everyday life of what you guess are normal Asgardians.

It’s pretty obvious that Loki is avoiding the palace.

But he reluctantly agrees to return to the palace for dinner, knowing he owes his father the chance to meet his grandson. Hopefully Thor will be there to help keep things civil at the reunion.

Once again, baby to the rescue.

At first it was extremely tense around the table, but the Allfather seemed to have a soft spot for your little boy. He kept trying to hand him drumsticks of some kind of dark meat, which you politely tried to decline and secretly pushed onto Loki’s plate. Come on, the baby isn’t even one year yet. At one point you even caught Loki smiling when Odin asked to hold Elliot; your heart twisted when Loki caught your eye with an excited gleam in his own at the thought of his adoptive father favouring his son, something of his creation.

He’ll always be searching for some kind of validation from the man who lied to him, whether he realises that or not.

You kind of lost your husband and your son after dinner.

You had taken a quick run back to your room to go get your phone (Loki and Elliot were being too cute at dinner and you had to get a picture) but when you came back, they were gone.

After asking around for a bit, a chambermaid tells you she saw Loki step outside a few minutes ago, and she points you to a winding path leading away from the palace, away from the city into a dark expanse of land.

Figures, doesn’t it? What a great, totally not-threatening place for Loki to take his three month old son.

But despite your fears, the path leads you to a little garden, beautifully well-kept and so brightly coloured that the flowers seem to glow right through the darkness of the night. Out of the corner of your eye you spot Loki, walking slowly between the trees with Elliot in his arms.

For some reason you don’t call out to him just yet, and you follow him until he comes to a stop in front of an exquisitely painted mural on a stone wall. The mural is breathtaking, it looks like it’s been painted with actual gold—wait, these are gods. It probably is.

The scene painted is of a woman, you can’t tell who from the distance you’re watching, but you can tell she is beautiful, elegant, and in every way regal, judging by the golden crown that adorns her head. She’s standing in a forest, it seems, a forest or garden of sorts that looks strangely similar to the one you’re in. Loki is staring at it, and he reaches out a hand to brush his finger over the chipping paint.

Something about this is weirdly familiar.

You silently watch as he sinks to his knees on the damp grass before the mural, Elliot cradled in one arm as the other hand brushes across the ground—a strange type of darkly petaled wildflower sprouts from the soil where his hand touched, an oddly shadowed addition to the beautiful garden you find yourself in.

You’re about to call out to him when you hear him speaking in a barely audible, noticeably pained voice.

“Hello, mother.”

Your breath catches in your throat.

“Have I…have I made you proud?”

Should you go to him? Leave him be? You don’t want to interrupt. You hear him continue speaking before you can decide what to do.

“Look, mother. After all I’ve done, every—every mistake I’ve made, I’ve still somehow been given a son.” He slightly lifts the bundle of blankets in his arms, pulling the blanket away from the baby’s face. “We’ve named him Elliot…and he is the most beautiful child ever created.”

He’s just talking quietly into the air. You’re not sure if he’s speaking to the mural or just to himself; it seems as if his words are swallowed by the wind and cast around every living thing in the lush garden. You might just be sleep deprived and going crazy, but it’s almost as if the flowers and trees are bending towards the god and his son—listening.

Elliot is waking up, slowly starting to gargle cries as he squirms in his father’s arms, and Loki quickly shifts to hug the baby to his chest, shushing him and running a soothing hand over his back.

The simple movement nearly breaks your heart. You step out from behind the tree and quietly walk over to your family, placing a gentle hand on Loki’s back as you take a seat on the grass next to him.

He looks at you in surprise when he feels you, his cheeks faintly flushed at the state you’ve found him in. He never meant for you to see him like this, so exposed, vulnerable…weak.

You put a hand on the side of his face and reach up to kiss him softly, pouring every ounce of reassurance and strength into your lips. His cheeks are slightly wet against yours and when you pull away with a comforting smile, it’s a new, fresh tear that races down his face.

“Your majesty,” you suddenly call out, an idea forming in the back of your mind. You turn to the mural and lean against Loki’s side, squeezing his hand tightly in your own. “Your son is the most incredible father.”

…it feels kind of stupid when you say it. You’re not sure if this is how it works, if just anyone can speak with deceased goddesses by talking to a painting of them, but you push your doubts aside and keep speaking. If anything, Loki is the one who needs to hear this.

“You know, he’s changed my life,” you continue, laying your head on his shoulder and reaching over to rub a hand on Elliot’s back. “The life he’s given me, our son, whatever the future holds for our weird little family…I don’t know what I did to deserve someone like him, but, um, I think I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to repay him.”

“You don’t need to lie in attempt to comfort me.” His voice is so quiet you can barely hear him. “I don’t need your false reassurance.”

If it weren’t for the sensitivity of the current situation, you would have smacked him across the face and kissed some sense into him, but that doesn’t exactly seem appropriate for right now. So you resolve to rolling your eyes and moving your hand to cover his mouth. “Shh. Just listen to me, please.”

Pulling yourself to your feet, you take Elliot out of Loki’s arms and step closer to the mural, lightly bouncing the little baby when he gives another cry and stretches out a tiny, tired arm to the painting on the wall. “You know, Loki has changed, your majesty.” You wince; this probably isn’t how you should speak to a goddess-queen. “He’s changed a lot the past few years. He’s…opened his heart. To me, to our son, even to his brother and father at times. You raised a-a god with a beautiful mind, and yeah, his heart is a little stormy most of the time, but, well…” you catch Loki’s eye and smile. “Most of the time he lets me dance in the rain.”

Loki’s behind you now, his arms around your waist and swaying the three of you gently side to side. You’re cradling Elliot to keep him warm from the chilly night breeze picking up, and Loki’s lips are pressed to your temple, not moving, just wanting to feel you.

“Thank you, my love,” he whispers, and you don’t expect him to say any more.

However, he holds out a hand, and that same dark, unnaturally ominous flower from earlier appears in his palm. There’s a handful of threatening thorns lining the stem, but Loki runs a finger down the stem and the thorns promptly fall to the ground. Thank goodness, too, because then he tucks the flower behind your ear, brushing his hand along your cheek with a small smile as he withdraws his hand.

An unusually sweet gesture from your lover, an action strangely…midgardian.

“‘He lets me dance in the rain’?” He repeats, tilting your head up to look at him. An amused smile is hinting at his lips—meaning you’ve done your job. “My dear…that was awful. So tasteless. Honestly,” he chuckles at the feigned hurt on your face. “I thought I was training you better.”

“Hey, geez, sorry for caring!” You laugh and slap him in the chest, shifting Elliot to your other side. “Sorry I’m not some ��scholarly poet’ like you, oh exalted one…my mediocre mortal vocabulary will have to suffice.”

Laughing, he takes Elliot out of your arms and wraps the blankets tighter around the little boy, then slips an arm behind your neck to pull you closer to him. “I suppose I appreciate the sentiment.” Thankfully chipper and smiling again, he leans down to give you a quick peck on the lips. “Sentiment. Such a fickle thing.”

You slip your arms around his waist and hug him tighter than you probably should, but hey, he’s a god. He can handle it. “Yes, sentiment, idiot…good thing a mighty god such as yourself would never stoop so low as to actually share his sentiments with another being.”

He sighs and nods in agreement, trying to pry your arms from his waist while holding his son in one arm. “Your sentiments tend to be overtly physical, dear.”

“Shh. You need it, and I know you love it.”

Loki pauses and you take the opportunity to grab his face and kiss him, not letting go of your hold around his waist. Then Elliot lets out a squeal and frees a tiny arm from his cocoon of blankets, grabbing Loki’s shirt and pulling himself tighter against his father’s chest—you almost laugh.

The baby is trying to hug Loki too.

There’s absolutely no way Loki can’t smile at that, and he hoists the baby further up on his chest to press his lips to Elliot’s forehead. “You’ve broken me. Ruined me, softened me, demolished my reputation…”

He gives a dramatic sigh and finally wraps his empty arm around you.

“And I can never thank you enough for that.”

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hope you enjoyed, feel free to send me ideas!

loki tags: @bluediamond007 @himitoshi @drakesfiance @destiel1597 @dangertoozmanykids101 @archy3001 @jcalpha1 @yzssie @skullvieplu @forthesnakeofdragons @skulliebythesea @wegingerangelica @storiesfrommirkwood @agarwaeneth @adaliamalfoy @laurfangirl424 @paradisaicsam @fitzsimmons-is-forever @ladylokimischief @katelinwrites @tarynkauai @polaristrange @loavesofmeat @canadian-ravenpuff-multishipper @lou-makes-me-strong @holyn0vak @chocolatealmondmillk @swtnrholland @kenzieam @jessiejunebug @catticas @the-republic-and-face-of-texas

[fcrgedstrcngth]

Frigga

Face-claim: Rene  Russo

Status: semi-active

Main verse: canon; post-Avengers

Biography:

Pre-Thor:

Frigga was born the daughter of a relatively inconsequential Vanir nobleman, and a well-respected witch who had turned her focus towards healing – all the better to be accepted by the Vanir. The youngest of a half-dozen children, she spent much of her younger years three steps behind her mother, watching her heal others, and going on to learn the basics of the art for herself. It was her brothers who ensured she knew how to defend herself, how to wield a sword and daggers, and in time she learned how to use her magic defensively as well.

A fact which she was later grateful for, as her people fell into war with the Aesir. The war was trying for the Vanir, and distasteful to them; soon they began to desire peace, and a truce. Bor, at least, wasn’t a totally unreasonable man, and a truce was soon reached – though it came at an unexpected price for Frigga. Bor’s favored son, Odin, the heir to his throne, had taken note of her – or at least of her beauty – in the council rooms while the truce was being outlined. Part of the price of peace was that Frigga moved to Asgard to become Odin’s wife and eventual queen, and for the sake of her beloved people, Frigga agreed.

It was a difficult transition, though not, at least a difficult beginning to a marriage. She came to care for, and eventually love, Odin, but she struggles with Asgardian culture. The violence that was seeped into every aspect of their lives hurt Frigga’s heart, and though her opinions slowly began to change parts of Odin’s outlook, one woman couldn’t change a whole culture.

In time, she turned her thoughts toward more personal things – hers and Odin’s growing desire to have children. However, it was not something that came easily to them – specifically to Frigga, and healers had never yet been able to heal their own bodies.

It was a painful irony, Frigga thought, that her title became that of the “All-Mother” when Odin took the throne, but it became something that she embraced. If she couldn’t have children of her own, why shouldn’t she “adopt” and look out for all of Asgard? That was her title, after all, and from that angle, it was one she was able to embrace. Her unbreakable love for the Vanir remaining, the notion of it made her feel like a fully-integrated Asgardian at long last.

Yet a miracle was waiting just around the corner for the couple. Frigga became pregnant and gave Odin a perfectly healthy miracle son they named Thor. The miracle even happened a second time; she became pregnant again… but it was not to be. This time, the child, a daughter, was born lifeless.

Amid a chaotic time of war with Jotunheim was not the time to grieve, but Frigga couldn’t help it. She took to her bed, she was so inconsolable with grief for her child and a growing hatred for her own body. Odin’s frequent presence in the warfront – and absence from her – did not help, and Thor was the only reason she was kept from abject depression most days.

Then the war with Jotunheim was over and won, and Odin returned to her – bringing much more home than she had ever anticipated. She was sitting in Thor’s nursery, minding her son – as she’d had energy to do little else since the stillbirth – when Odin came in, traces of the battle still on his armor, and placed a blue-eyed baby boy in her arms. An orphan misplaced in the war, he said, their son now, if she desired it so.

She didn’t question it until that night when they lay together in the darkness, unable to see one another’s expression. How had he found an Asgardian infant on Jotunheim? He hadn’t; the child was a Jotun, but well-disguised of the babe’s own accord, and he need never know his true heritage. He could be their second child, and if the time ever came, revealing that a Jotun had been raised in the Asgardian palace might help bring about true peace and partnership with Jotunheim.

After that night, it was never mentioned again, and the boys became equal in Frigga’s heart… though as the years wore on, she noticed that they were not viewed as equals by their peers. So, she took Loki into her personal tutelage; he had shown signs of proficiency in magic even if he didn’t know how much so, and she taught him how to capitalize upon it. How to use his size as a strength all it’s own, more spells than were perhaps necessary – but he was good at it, and she enjoyed the private time spent with boy… even as he became a man.

Even as she and Odin began to disagree more and more on things, as Thor’s childish character flaws remained despite his age, as Loki began to maintain friendships with fewer people than ever. The flaws in her family were beginning to show, and despite being the All-Mother, Frigga didn’t know how to help her three men. So, she loved them all as fiercely as she could, but it didn’t really help, and she felt increasingly powerless against it all.

Thor:

Especially when Odin banished Thor to Midgard, of all places, with none of his powers or any real context of the culture he was entering. She didn’t like to yell at her husband, but she did then – and he ignored her pleas, regardless.

But as bad as the incident with Thor was, he at least returned home changed for the better.

It was Loki whose issues were more difficult to resolve. In going to Jotunheim, he’d met Laufey, and come home and touched the Casket, discovering his true heritage. Odin, she believed, had done his best to answer Loki’s questions, but clearly, they hadn’t been sufficient answers, because Loki had come to her with his questions while they were at Odin’s bedside. Her heart stuttered in her chest as he explained what he’d discovered, she did her best to answer his questions and ease his obvious disquiet. She knew by the look on his face she hadn’t said enough, even as guards came and presented him with Gungnir, making him king until Odin awoke.

She told herself she’d done her best in the moment, but in the end her best clearly wasn’t enough. Loki fell from the Bifrost, and she grieved, swearing to do better – by Thor, by Odin, by her people. 

The Avengers:

And she tried to do better… only to have that wound of her grief ripped back open when Loki reappeared, warped and evil, on Midgard.

She tried to tell them – Thor, Odin, Heimdall, all of them – that something wasn’t right with Loki, but again she was ignored, and the second prince of Asgard was brought home in chains and a muzzle. She spent years visiting him periodically, trying to get him to talk about what had happened, what had changed her boy. 

Thor: The Dark World:

In the end, her presence was once again for naught – on all counts. When it mattered, Odin ordered even her from the room and sentenced her son to a life in solitary confinement. Once again, she felt all but helpless to do anything about it.

Feeling increasing trapped and useless, Frigga felt her life shrinking down to visiting Loki via her magic, trying to keep Thor content in a life without the presence of his Midgardian love, Dr. Jane Foster, and distressingly, trying to avoid an increasingly unpredictable Odin. Then, Dr. Foster was on Asgard, and under Frigga’s protection, and a terrible, unprecedented opportunity – a chance to rest, and then do some good.

She used her magic to create the necessary glamours, fighting Kurse with a double until he wrung its neck. She left the double where it was, for Thor, Odin, and Jane to find, going so far as to make it appear that she had stopped breathing. It had taken an enormous effort from her magic so suddenly, but so far as Asgard and her family knew, she was dead. She stayed on Asgard to maintain the double until it was sent up in a funeral pier, while simultaneously keeping the glamour of a peasant woman over herself. With the double gone, she allowed herself to rest from draining her magic, then used a bag from the royal treasury to buy a small spaceship.

Post-Thor: The Dark World:

No one ever discovered where the missing money had gone, so that she knew, and so long as she kept up a glamour, Frigga found herself blissfully free to travel wherever she wanted. She healed wherever she went, giving passage and safekeeping sometimes to those who needed it. She felt useful and happy and good again.

Post-Thor: Ragnarok: 

But she had never meant for her absence from Asgard to be permanent, only a long vacation, and she would deal with the repercussions of her hasty actions when she returned. After two years, though, she suddenly heard rumors of a new… dictator, a queen, taking over Asgard. Violently. Frigga returned to her ship, and to Asgard, as quickly as possible.

But Asgard was going up in smoke, and she was barely able to find radio waves claiming to be coming from Asgardian refugees. Yet again, she was just too late. Horrified, still shrouded in a glamour, she rescued the few floating, live stragglers that she could and rendezvoused with them under the care of the last remaining Valkyrie. Staying quietly to the sidelines and always disguised, she helped them rebuild on Midgard, hoping that here, calling herself a healer named Gitte, she could find a way to be useful to the downtrodden people who had no idea she was their queen.

Verses:

FROM THIS MOMENT ON: follows canon MCU and Norse Mythology

ROAD LESS TRAVELED: any other AU threads

AUS:

SO MANY WAYS TO BE: (Descendants) queen of a country near, but not brought into, the US of Auradon

EVER EVER AFTER: (Fairytale) queen

BORROWED BABIES: (Foster Care) foster mother

I SOLEMNLY SWEAR THAT I’M UP TO NO GOOD: (Harry Potter) Ravenclaw seventh-year

ALL THAT GLEAMS AND GLITTERS: (Modern) an orthopedic surgeon

ALTERNATIVELY 1902: (Victorian) disguises herself as a nurse whenever she feels like interacting with the Midgardians

GROW UP WITH THE LAND: (Wild West) disguises herself as a nurse whenever she feels like interacting with the Midgardians

FORWARD TO VICTORY: (World War II) a disguises herself as a nurse whenever she feels like interacting with the Midgardians

Starter Call

[tonaathena1996]

A Lokane Fic Idea

So I have this idea that came about since IW premiered. I don’t think I will ever write the entire thing. So I started writing a book report type of summary just to get the idea out. This monster has grown. Not even to the bulk of the story yet. I’m just gonna share to get it out there. Maybe it can give someone ideas. Or maybe I might work on it. Don’t know yet...see what you guys think.

[[MORE]]

on Asgard, Hela reigns as Queen. Loki is her son with Laufey. He is regarded between both worlds as crown prince. He chooses to live on Alfheim much to his father’s displeasure while Hela is thoroughly pleased. Laufey reluctantly explains the marriage arrangement Hela had made at his birth to marry him off to Aelsa, princess of Alfheim. Laufey encourages his son to find a way out.

Jane opens the Einstein-Rosen Bridge. Steps through. Ego finds her and reunited her with her brother. Peter who he also just reunited with. Ego begins to teach them their powers. Yondu and the rest of the gotg2 team rescue them. Yondu survives.

On Alfheim, Loki notices the bridge opening on Midgard. He contacts his Mother who agrees it is time to open relations to the planet once again. She sends Loki, Thor, and Sif to Midgard. They make contact with Erik Selvig and Darcy Lewis. Fury comes along and they negotiate a quick treaty...just as the Chitauri attack. The Avengers are revealed who welcome their new heavenly friends. The Chitauri are defeated quickly with the help of the forces of Asgard and Jotunheim. Revels amongst the Avengers. Once all is said and done, Hela calls Loki home. Before leaving, Erik asks Loki to help him find Jane. He doesn’t believe the scientist is dead. Loki agrees leaving Thor and Sif to aid Midgard.

Jane and Peter try to use their power. Yondu tells them he’s heard of the Asgardian witches and sorcerers and their millenias of knowledge. He suggests they go to Alfheim where they are sure to find someone to help. Jane and Peter agree.

Yondu takes them to Alfheim where they meet Loki. Yondu asks what it would take to get them trained. Loki sees a quick fix to his problem. Offers a handfasting to Jane in exchange for training. Jane balks at first before Loki offers her a trip to Earth so perhaps she may learn to trust him.

Loki takes them to Earth. Here, he reunited her with Erik and Darcy while he reconnects with Thor. He tells Thor of the deal he’s made with Jane and all his reasons why. There may be Asgardian ale involved. Thor agrees with the plan but makes one suggestion. Put Fandral in front of Aelsa. Erik and Tony talk Loki up to Jane. Yondu takes Peter and Gamora to visit his mother’s grave with permission from Fury.

Loki and Jane take some time to get to know one another. He asks her to show him some familiar places on Midgard since he hadn’t been to the realm in centuries. She agrees but questions him about his powers and magic the entire time. They find common ground in their intelligence and pursuit of knowledge. Loki makes Jane a vow that he will act only as her mentor, only asking for her attentions in public gatherings and only what she finds comfortable. Jane finally agrees.

Loki leaves his companions on Midgard to make arrangements for the handfasting. First, he travels to Jotunheim to speak with his father. Laufey thoroughly enjoys the idea. Then, Loki travels to Asgard and speaks with Odin to perform the ceremony. Loki uses his best convincing speech to twist Odin’s arm who finally agrees but declares firmly that he alone will be responsible for informing Hela. Loki informs his mother of the handfasting and she loses her mind. She demands Heimdall summon Jane to Asgard at once so that Hela may judge her herself.

Loki welcomes an irate Jane at the Bifrost. She is wearing only a towel and her hair is wet. She was just getting out of a bath and she is livid. Loki quickly explains his mother’s reaction before using magic to dry and clothe her. Hela arrives at the Bifrost and eyes Jane suspiciously. A tense exchange happens before Hela declares a feast where all of Asgard should get to know their potential Queen. Loki takes Jane under his arm and tells his mother they really would like more time to be allowed to invite Jane’s family as well. Hela gifts them one day. Feast will be tomorrow.

Loki escorts Jane to the castle where his hall offers chambers for his guests. He explains that while he could offer her one of those rooms it would look more convincing if she stayed in his rooms. Jane and Loki have a discussion about what is expected over the next few days. Loki vows he will not dishonor her in any way. Jane doesn’t appear convinced.

Invitations go out to Laufey and family, the Avengers, Erik, Darcy And Fury. And to Aelsa of Alfheim. Thor warns Loki of Aelsa’s arrival. He grumbles before going to Jane. Loki tells Jane of their troubles. He suggests they attempt to look convincing and offers to try a kiss. They do and Jane mutters she’s convinced. Loki says he just really isn’t sure and invites Thor to judge. Jane demands Darcy’s presence. Once she explains to Darcy it has to look convincing, Darcy invites Black Widow, Hawkeye and Stark to judge with her. Peter tags along with Gamora and Rocket. Loki kisses Jane thoroughly. Discussion ensues. Loki finally whispers to Jane with a dastardly smile, “Well, I’m convinced.”

The feast begins. Jane is fidgeting with her royal apparel and nervous about the entire situation. She begins to rant incessantly just as their entrance is to be announced. Loki attempts to interject several times before just stealing her attention with a rather passionate kiss that leaves her gasping for air. When he is done and their lips part, Jane finally hears the roaring of the crowd as the doors to the grand ballroom have been opened, revealing the couple in each other’s arms. Laufey chuckles heartily, teases Hela about finally having some grandchildren. Hela is not impressed. They enter the hall as Jane’s cheeks are flushed. They bow to Hela and Loki formally introduces Jane Foster of Midgard, daughter of Ego. Gasps amongst the Asgardians and Jotuns. Hela coldly welcomes Jane. As dinner progresses, Frigga and Odin ask many questions of Jane who answers as best as possible. Erik speaks with Hela, working his knowledge of Norse myth to ask her questions about battles to which she thoroughly enjoys telling of her conquests. Laufey and Byleistr speak to Loki and told him he’s very wise and has chosen well. Laufey suggests his son get started on that heir immediately. Loki confesses his desire but also his vow. Laufey tells his son he’s not at all wise...Byleistr places a wager on how long the vow will last. Thor interrupts to place a wager. Sif and Fandral as well. Loki tells them all to jump into the void.

When the meal is complete, dancing begins. Hela announces the couple’s dance. Loki leads Jane to the dance floor where, despite the height difference, they flow seemlessly. During the dance, Laufey approaches Hela. Reminds her that not all arranged marriages are good ones. Reminds her of their past together because she did not wish to marry her arranged partner. He almost talks her into a kiss before she pulls her self back and declares that Loki and Aelsa will be married. Laufey glances to Loki and Jane on the dance floor and tells Hela, “You’ve been wrong before.”

At the end of the dance, Loki and Jane’s eyes remain upon one another. He kisses the back of her hand as a proper gentleman and she smiles brightly at him. He tugs her into his arms and he speaks gently to her about leaving the party now. She agrees, kisses him to make it look good. Loki begs his mother’s pardon but requests alone time with his beloved. Hela dismisses then flippantly.

Once back in Loki’s rooms, Jane changes into her own comfortable clothing. Loki does as well. They sit and talk for hours about family, interrealm politics and history. Jane says she should be exhausted but she isn’t. He explains the magic of Asgard, the realm Eternal...home of the eternal flame. Any magical being feels recharged here. He mentions she certainly is magical. Jane isn’t quite sure how take that but feels it has double meaning. She asks about the handfasting and what the ritual is like. He gives a brief explanation before smiling brightly. He suggests they have the ceremony performed at dawn before his mother awakens. Jane says Hela already hates her. Loki says don’t take it personal. She reluctantly agrees.

Odin performs the handfasting of Loki and Jane with Thor/Sif, Bylesitr/Skadi, and Darcy/Steve, Frigga, Erik and Peter/Gamora as witnesses. Upon their kiss, time freezes.

The Norns pull Loki and Jane to Nornheim through Yggdrasil. The Norn of the past, Urd, looks to them coldly. Tells them it’s about time. Verandi, Norn of the present, declares it has begun. Skuld, Norn of the future, tells them “great things will come from your union.” The Norns declare together ‘blessed be the union of our king and queen’

Time begins again. Jane and Loki practically shove each other apart. Jane demands answers. Odin asks what happened to which Jane starts to explain. Loki tried to downplay it all. Jane continues to tell the truth. Loki tried to distort it. Odin declares enough before he smiles at Loki “Your Mischief finally landed you in the right place at the right time, my boy”. Jane demands answers. Odin explains the Norns to Jane and that it appears their union will last much longer than a year and a day. Jane is eying Loki with suspicion. Odin and company give the newlyweds a moment alone. Loki swears he has no idea what the Norns have to do with anything. Jane warns him “a year and one day, Loki. That’s what was promised.” He acknowledges agreement.

Frigga has a celebratory breakfast feast arranged in the newlyweds honor. Hela is psychotically pissed. She takes a moment to threaten Jane, reminds her that she is Goddess of Death for a reason. Jane scurries away, frightened that she’s made a deal with the devil that’s gonna get her killed. Loki sees his bride flee, admonishes his mother, and seeks Jane out. He finds her in his rooms, tells her not to fear his mother. He will protect her. Jane glares at him in prominent disbelief. She says she wishes she’d never opened the bridge. Loki consoles her as best he can. A guard knocks on the door. Loki winks at Jane before he cast an auditory illusion of the newlyweds making married people noises behind closed doors. Jane buries her head in his chest as she tries not to laugh.

Loki steals their share of the wedding feast after a suitable time for newlywed activities had passed. He and Jane eat and talk. He suggests a tour of Asgard while he leaves some illusions to hide their escape. She agrees. They travel to a couple of different places, sharing stories and Loki begins to teach her some magical basics. By the end of the day, Jane figures the situation might not be so bad.

That night, Loki says they should make some sort of appearance at dinner. Jane reluctantly sees the logic and goes along. He advises her the moment she is uncomfortable she can make a suggestion to exit and he will follow. Because they spent the entire day behind closed doors, of course, they are mercilessly teased by those in attendance. After a sharp verbal dig by Hela, Jane slides into Loki’s lap and suggests they resume their private celebrations. Loki is privately delighted she’s going to this length to be convincing and follows her lead. They kiss and it becomes passionate rather quickly. They transport back to his rooms. Where they slowly end their kiss, Loki and Jane fight for breathe and struggle with their responses to each other. Jane excuses herself and goes to take a cold shower. Just before she goes into the bathroom, she takes a moment to thank him for showing her Asgard. Once she leaves, Loki speaks to himself saying he’s condemned himself to a fate worse than Helheim.

[storiesofwildfire]

It’s Tough to Be a God

          { plotted starter for @likesbeingbad }

♔—- Everything had been painstakingly meticulous. From the very beginning, Loki knew what they set out to do would not be an easy task to accomplish, but one that needed to be done. After the years of abuse by the hands of their father, that same cruelty lashed out across Loki’s children tenfold. Any good mother would have given up everything to protect them, it just took Loki a great deal of patience, time, and energy to plan, form alliances with those they trusted, slip away from Odin, rescue their children from their individual prisons, and disappear off every foreseeable path.

Loki managed to hide from Odin numerous times in the past, but it had always been weeks, maybe a few months, or a year or two if really pressing boundaries, but to disappear? Seemingly forever? That proved to be a more difficult feat, but one Loki knew they had to excel at.

They hadn’t managed it alone, of course. Convincing those they cared about to essentially help them commit treason seemed cruel, but Loki only approached those they knew beyond a shadow of a doubt would do what was right. Heimdall. Fandral. Sigurd. Asmund. There were, of course, others that Loki trusted and cared for, but given the sensitivity of their goals, they needed to keep their circle as tight as inhumanly possible. The more people who knew, the more likely the plan would fall apart and the more people Loki would be putting in danger.

It broke their heart to abandon Asgard, strange as that sounded. While Odin had never been good to them and Asgard had always treated their second prince as an outsider, Loki’s whole life sat upon that realm. Friends, family, old and new love interests alike, the source of so much of Loki’s happiness despite all of the misery that they faced on a day-to-day basis. Asgard may not have been their home, but it was the closest thing Loki ever had to one and to leave, knowing very well that they may never be able to come back...

That had been harder than they expected and when they left, it had been with a heavy heart.

But Asgard was not more important than their children and with not only the desire and determination but the need to reunite their family and protect their offspring from the cruelty of Odin’s hands, Loki left without looking back and without regret. Saga and Sleipnir disappeared with their mother, as they were the only two Asgardbound. Loki debated whether they should come and how safe it would be for them, but in the end, if Loki disappeared and saved their off-realm children, the ones closest to Odin would suffer greatly in their place. It wasn’t worth the risk and Loki wanted all of their children together.

Liberating Hel from Helheim and Fenrir from his prison had been... daunting, to say the very least, and even more difficult than Loki originally anticipated, but they managed it. It took nearly everything they had, but they’d done it. That only left Jörmungandr but he was an easy find and he also happened to be located on the realm they were destined for anyway.

Midgard.

No one expected Gods to make a living as a mortal. Sure, visiting Midgard was one thing, to see how the ignorant realm worked and how so many people could go about their daily lives with so little information about the rest of the Universe. Most Asgardians didn’t believe it was worth the time, but some found interest in it even enjoyed mingling with and often forming short-term relationships with the mortals they came across. Loki was no stranger to that mentality.

Once they arrived and collected Jörmungandr, the rather large family headed to London. Loki already had an elaborate scheme prepared for the persona they would inevitably take up.

Fandral and Sigurd helped with the preparations of Loki’s new life, as they both had access to non-Aesir agents who held no loyalty to Odin. These on-world spies went to work securing the proper location, supplies, and ties for Loki’s gang before they ever arrived, making it more than simply enough to slip into the roles already decided for them.

Loki went by the name Bella Charming, a young woman who ran a joint called The Empire. She took in both young women and men on the side, training them in what most would call criminal activity but it was a way to make a living, get people in need off the streets, and it formed some fiercely strong loyalties. Loki’s children took up various personas as Bella’s first girls (and in the case of Fenrir and Sleipnir, boys).

Keeping in contact with only a few individuals on Asgard, Loki was able to monitor their moves from afar and with Heimdall in their court, Loki knew if Odin ever caught onto their position or lifestyle, Loki would be the first to know about it.

For years, they went undetected, living their seemingly mortal lives without much in the way of disturbance. Asgard never seemed to catch onto them, but it turned out that Asgard wasn’t the only threat they faced. What humans were referring to as “monsters” popped up more frequently and with these supernatural creatures came organizations in pursuit--people like the Invisible Men who wished to eradicate the monsters to keep the world safe from them, and people like Tenebrae, who wished to harness their power to enhance their own agendas.

Due to just how much magic Loki and her family produced, they had a bad tendency of drawing unwanted attention to their area, though they were always careful not to give their true selves away, it certainly didn’t make for an easy ride. Loki thought about relocating, to get as far away from both the Invisible Men and Tenebrae as they could, but there were no reassurances that no one would follow or turn up in the new location of wherever they settled. 

Besides, Loki and the kids were happy in London, had grown attached to their new home and the people they let in along the way. Bella’s girls became an extension of Loki’s family and it seemed too cruel to rip that away from them after all of the trauma they’d been subjected to.

Falling in love though... that hadn’t been part of the plan.

Well, love was, perhaps, a strong word. Loki’s attraction to Hyde was obvious from the very beginning. Her willingness not to bend to his will or influence was just as strong, but she allowed herself moments of weakness with him. At first, she wasn’t entirely sure why she found herself captivated by him. He was obviously more than human, but that didn’t mean much to her. She could have cursed her own self out the first time she’d fallen into bed with him.

Inviting Hyde in, though... meant putting herself and her lifestyle at risk. For the most part, they’d been able to lie low, take care of creatures that threatened to out them if need be, but mostly go unnoticed by those too stupid to realize they were anything but human. Getting close to Hyde, though, meant Tenebrae and the Invisible Men would follow. 

Hyde--and the man he lived inside of, Jekyll--both seemed young and inexperienced, unprepared for the challenges that they would face. Hiding definitely hadn’t been much of an option for them and they lost friends along the way. Gods, they nearly lost their little brother, Ravi, in all the chaos. 

It would have been wise to distance herself, Loki knew that. Even her children knew that and yet, they could not bring themselves to scold her for indulging in a touch of desire and romance. By the Nine, they all seemed to take well to Hyde despite his... issues. Simply tossing him aside quickly became something that none of them were willing to do, especially Loki. Knowing what the Invisible Men or Tenebrae would do to or with him, Loki tried to protect him, attempted to warn him in subtle enough ways that would not put her family in direct danger.

That final showdown, though... Gods, that had been the undoing of everything.

Loki and her children were used to traveling via magic, but willingly participating in portals or teleportation or even something like the Bifrost was insanely different from being ripped through space against your will, vacuumed up like a few dust bunnies and tossed into the void. It had been some intense power to pull them all through with such force. Even Loki’s magic couldn’t combat it, not that she really had the time to try anything.

The stress of being forced out of the form she’d taken for years proved... far more painful than she could have expected. Shape-shifting had always come naturally to her, something easy and painless that allowed her to be whoever and whatever she wanted in the matter of a few seconds. Reverting back to her more normal appearances was usually just as seamlessly easy, but when something else’s power forced her against her will to shift, it felt like molten liquid coursing through her veins, likely due to her own magic attempting to combat the foreign energy source and remain in Loki’s chosen form.

She staggered as they came out the other side of...? Wherever it was that they ended up, eyes squeezed shut and jaw clamped tightly to keep from screaming as, momentarily, it felt like she could have been ripped apart from the inside out. Of course, she knew better, truly she did, but the sensation was no less horrible because of is and as she fell to the ground, her teeth grinding together with enough force to cause some noticeable concern in her jaw, her hands came up to grip at the collar of her jacket. Pulling it open, she nearly clawed her own skin as emerald magic danced angrily beneath her flesh, attempting to keep her visage as Bella Charming intact, but it quickly fell apart, revealing paler, porcelain-like flesh, much more angular features as far as the face was concerned, and vividly green eyes.

Loki’s hair was still quite dark, perhaps even darker than Bella’s had been, and it cascaded over their shoulders in thick waves, unkempt and in desperate need of a proper brush and a few sturdy hair ties. The clothing Bella wore hadn’t been nearly long enough for Loki’s normal stature, making it look a bit out of place, though no less flattering. Even with a flat chest and harsher bone structure, it was difficult to place Loki into a specific gender and while still glad in Bella’s garments, mistaking them for a female would have been easy.

“Mum!” they could hear someone shout, Saga, they thought, though their ears were ringing so loudly that it was difficult to make out which of their girls it actually was. "Mum, are you all right?” Footsteps hurried towards the crumpled figure and the young woman hit her knees beside Loki, both of her hands outstretching to place on her mother. That touch helped ground Loki, helped rouse them out of their momentary lapse in presentness, and slowly, the no longer disguised God finally opened their eyes.

“Oh thank Gods,” Saga murmured, tossing her arms securely around her mother. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, I think so...” Though Loki’s head pounded ferociously, they could at least see straight as the pain eased out of their system.

Behind Saga, Loki could see their children going through similar system shocks. Hel’s form had only been what her Aesir form would appear like without the half-dead portion of her body. She phased in and out of the projection of half-decay several times in the course of a few short moments but eventually managed to stabilize her visage the quickest. 

Jörmungandr, while hidden in the guise of a beautiful young woman with red hair and bright green eyes, demonstrated a surprising amount of restraint considering the natural size of the World Serpent’s true form. Rather than shift completely into a massive snake, Jor managed to force a shift back to what he would call his natural Aesir visage, a rather feminine male who looked remarkably like his mother in just about every way, though he did stand a bit taller than Loki. The transition wasn’t seamless, though, as Jor developed several serpent-like traits in his attempts to remain humanoid, the most obvious being the snake-skin that cropped up in patches across his pale flesh and the inconsistency of actually having a proper nose.

Fenrir and Sleipnir, the poor dears, were forced right into their most natural forms, though. Sleipnir had never been very strong with magic and when it came to shape-shifting, he always needed a bit of help for the initial shift. Fenrir was far more powerful in magic, but far behind his siblings in his studies due to how long he’d been imprisoned before their time on Midgard and while both brothers were massive in size, they were at least smaller than Jörmungandr’s true mass.

Hel was already at Sleipnir’s side, knowing out of all of her siblings that he would need the most hope in shifting back into an Aesir form, but Fenrir lowered himself down close to the ground, looking as if he were prepared to pounce on someone. His muzzle pulled back in a snarl, growling at anyone who dared to get close to him and even snapping his jaws at one of the Tenebrae nearest him.

“We need to help them,” Saga murmured. “Do you think you can stand?” Loki nodded and Saga took that as an invitation to get back to her feet, both of her hands grasping onto her mother’s hand and arm so she could help hoist Loki up.

As Loki got to their feet, a bit of magic swept over their clothes, shifting Bella’s typical style for something much more practical for moving about. Slim-fit black pants tucked into calf-high boots, a simple tunic tucked under a light jacket, and their hair twisted into a long, sturdy braid draped over their left shoulder just to get it out of the way.

It took them a moment to feel sturdy on their feet as whatever so violently forced them out of the only form they’d known for years had really thrown them through the wringer, but as soon as Loki could confidently step forward without falling back to the ground, they quickly made their way to Fenrir. A gentle hand fell on Fenrir’s muzzle, the other lifting as high as Loki could manage to scritch behind Fenrir’s ear. 

“It’s all right, love, it’s all right,” they murmured. “You’re safe with me.” 

Fenrir’s growls quieted and he relaxed, his massive head gently nudging against Loki’s chest so he could press as close to his mother as his oversized form would allow unless he literally knocked Loki off their feet and laid on them. It wouldn’t have been the first time but that seemed impractical now.

“What happened?” the wolf asked and while he still sounded like himself, his voice was rougher, more jagged, almost as if he’d growled the words out rather than spoke.

“I’m not... really sure,” Loki admitted. “But we will figure it out. Just breathe and relax a moment. I’ve got you,” they added, placing a gentle kiss atop Fenrir’s head.

Thankfully, Hel managed to help Sleipnir shift back to their Aesir form without much of a problem and while Jor still had slitted snake eyes rather than average, human-looking eyes, the rest of his appearance stabilized without a problem. His eyes immediately looked around for Ravi, as he’d found himself growing fond of the little human. It should have worried him that Ravi would be terrified or, at the very least, confused, but that didn’t even occur to the serpent, as he was more concerned about ensuring he was all right than anything else.  

[cottontail20]

A Legend All Their Own, Chapter 32: Spoken Like A Queen

Summary:  Wanda must awaken her inner queen to convince King Odin to help her rescue Vision.

Ao3 link:https://archiveofourown.org/works/16736589/chapters/43436678

Princess Wanda sat alone in her room, oblivious to the trouble in which her Protector had found himself. She hadn't even heard him leave the room next door.

She was completely focused on her book. Her progress was slow, but Loki had told her there was something in this particular book, a detailed account of the story of the very first Scarlet Witch, that might help her situation with Vision. If that was true, she was going to find that something, whatever it might be.

So, Wanda focused. She sat reading well into the evening. Just as she was about to give in for the night, thinking to pick up again in the morning, she reached the section on the Witch's- future Queen of Sokovia, but still a Princess then- original quest to find the Mind Stone, and how she had met her sweetheart, the boy who had become the Stone's first keeper.

Something inside Wanda told her to keep reading. So she did, and as she read, a wide smile began to spread over her face, and she knew exactly what Loki had been talking about when he said the book would help her.

The first Scarlet Witch's sweetheart was a Thief.

He had initially followed the Princess on her quest in hopes of taking the Mind Stone for himself, but these plans changed when he fell for her, and she for him. In the end, after the Witch had gained her powers, she gave the Mind Stone to the Thief willingly, and he had become her Protector, just as Vision was Wanda's. When the Kingdom's troubles were over, they married, and he ruled at her side for the rest of his life.

The first Scarlet Witch and her Protector had been a Princess and a Thief.

The entire Maximoff royal line had come from a Princess and a Thief.

Wanda herself was the descendant of a Princess and a Thief.

Wanda fell back onto her pillows, laughing joyfully.

A Princess and a Thief.

Well, history did have a way of repeating itself, and it seemed she and Vision were repeating it. Carrying on a Maximoff family tradition. She jumped up, intending to run next door and talk to Vision right away.. and almost crashed right into Heimdall, who had been about to knock at the door.

Wanda squeaked in surprise, but Heimdall didn't flinch, nor comment on where Wanda was going. He simply handed her a folded piece of Parchment.

"I am sorry to disturb you so late, Princess. A disturbing note was left for you at the gate.. We cannot make sense of it. We were wondering if maybe you knew what it meant?"

Wanda, confused, unfolded the parchment. When she read the short, simple message, her blood ran cold.

Princess Wanda,

We have your Puppy.

"Vision.. Vision!" Wanda ran and pounded on the door of the Maid's Quarters. "Vizh, open up!"

When there was no answer, Wanda summoned her power without thinking, blowing the door open. The bed was slightly disturbed, the Mind Stone on the bedside table.. But no Vision.

Wanda felt sick. Not now.. Not when she'd just..

"Princess Wanda?" Heimdall spoke, snapping her out of her unpleasant thoughts.

"I-It's Vision" Wanda told him. "My Protector. Rumlow called him Puppy.. They've taken Vision." --

An emergency meeting was called. King Odin, both Princes, and many of Asgard's military leaders were attending, along with Princess Wanda, Doctor Strange, and the Avengers.

Everyone spoke with raised, frantic voices. It was not a good look for Asgard the Princess's Protector had been snatched from under their noses. Tony ran into the meeting late, in a state of deep panic.

"I can't find Peter either.. he's gone."

"How did this happen?" Doctor Strange snapped. "We brought Princess Wanda and her people here on the promise that they would be safe.."

"We will make this right!" Thor declared. "We will find this Rumlow and his men and.."

"Wait, Thor" King Odin cut him off. "I am, of course, sorry that this happened, and the matter will definitely be investigated. But we cannot initiate a military operation in the name of a single peasant boy.."

At Odin's words, Wanda stood.

"He is not just a boy" Scarlet energy crackled around the tips of her fingers, the same energy transforming her eyes from their usual soft green to an unsettling shade of red. She clutched the Mind Stone tightly in one hand. The Stone was Vision's, and she would not let anyone else near it.

"Princess Wanda.." Odin began, but she instantly cut him off.

"No, you will all listen to me.. For once, everyone will listen" Wanda paused, her now red eyes sweeping over the room, as though they were waiting for someone to object. No-one did.

"You have our full attention, Princess Wanda" Loki bowed slightly.

"Vision is not just a boy. He freed me from Ultron. He was with me, protecting me, long before anyone else was bothered. He suffered through arrow wounds for me, trained with me when I struggled. Vision taught me how to fly. He protected me through our first battle at the Sanctum. He rode with me, even though he had never been on a horse before, to make sure I reached Asgard safely.."

"The boy is clearly a loyal, valuable servant" Odin interrupted once again. "But to go to War for.."

"With all due respect, King Odin" Wanda turned to speak to him directly, "Sokovia is my Country. This fight against Ultron.. It is my fight. My war. It is for me to decide who and what I fight for.. Now, I choose to fight for Vision as he would fight for me." Wanda looked over to the Avengers, all standing, hanging on her words, Doctor Strange looking proud, "I have people who will fight with me. We would very much like Asgard to fight with us.. but we will fight, with or without your help."

Odin looked at the Princess, considering.

"If I may cut in, Father" said Thor, "I must agree with the Princess. Vision is not just any boy. He lifted Mjolnir.. You know how rare a feat that is. I wish to fight with Princess Wanda. To help him, if possible."

"I will fight too, Father" Loki agreed with his brother. "The commitment we made to the Princess should extend to her people, too."

"I will fight with the Princess!" Lady Sif raised her sword.

"The Warriors Three stand with Princess Wanda!" Volstagg roared, raising his battle axe, as Fandral and Hogun raised their own weapons. More voices soon joined theirs.

Wanda felt her spirits lift. Now, for a moment, she almost felt like a real Queen.

"Very well" Odin relented. "Asgard will help. But we need to know where we are going, what we are facing.."

"We will" said Wanda quickly, determined. "We will find out.. Clint, Natasha, go look for any clues to where Vision might have been taken."

"Of course" Natasha nodded.

"Right away, Princess" Clint bowed, before both of them rushed off.

Thankfully, it did not take long for the search to bear fruit. Clint returned the next Morning with a battered Peter Parker in tow.

"Peter!" Tony rushed over as Clint helped the boy through the gates. "Don't you ever frighten.. Your Aunt like that again. She would have been beside herself.. Peter? Answer me, kid.."

"I-It's my fault.." He mumbled. The boy bore quite a few bruises, but had otherwise come through relatively unscathed.

Tony didn't have time to press him further, as Wanda was running out to question him too.

"Peter!" Their was a new air of authority around the Princess now. She had made herself someone to be listened to, someone to be taken seriously. "Peter, can you tell us what happened?"

"My fault.." Peter mumbled again. "Vision was only out there because he followed me.."

For the briefest moment, Wanda almost wanted to blame him.. But Peter was just a boy. No one could blame him for this.

"You couldn't have known" Wanda told him. "But Peter, you need to tell us everything. Do you know where they've taken Vision?"

"St-Stanville, I think.. that's all I heard."

"That's near the Sokovia/Asgard border" said Doctor Strange, joining the group. "We bypassed it on the way here to help keep our destination secret."

"Spread the word then" said Wanda. "We're heading for Stanville."

"Spoken like a Queen" Doctor Strange smiled, rather proudly, then headed off to follow her orders. --

Vision was tossed unceremoniously into a cell, groaning, his body wracked with pain. He had been brutally whipped and beaten before the people of Stanville, dizziness from his earlier head wound kept him from fighting back.

Rumlow intended to make an example of him. Here was the Princess's protector, the great hero. Look how easily he was broken. How could he protect the Princess when he couldn't protect himself?

He couldn't help the Princess, and the Princess couldn't help them. Best put their faith back in King Ultron.

"Not such a good guard dog now, are you?" Rumlow laughed wickedly as Vision was tossed inside. "Weakling.. you really are just a puppy. The Princess won't come for you."

"Good" Vision spat, startling Rumlow for a moment. "I hope she doesn't.. But you think she will, or why take me? You think I'm bait.."

Rumlow scowled.

"It doesn't matter to me if the Princess comes or not" He lied, slamming the cell door behind him and stalking off. "I'll just keep beating you until you stop gettin' back up.."

Vision slumped to the floor. Winced as he drew a sharp breath. He may have broken a rib. And yet, as much pain as he was in, he couldn't help thinking of Wanda, worrying for her.

This was clearly a trap. He hoped she didn't fall for it.. hoped she stayed away.

The Asgardians wouldn't think a lowly thief like him wasa worth rescuing.. and He definitely wasn't worth Wanda risking her safety. --

Back in Asgard, Wanda was mounting her horse, sat between Thor and Loki. The Avengers, Doctor Strange and his wizards, and a good chunk of the Asgardian army at her back.

She looked at the Mind Stone for a moment, then tucked it safely inside her pocket.

"Hang on, Vizh.." She whispered as they set off. "I'm coming to get you."

[monsterquill]

spoilers for Endgame!

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So I finally watched Infinity War last night and Endgame today. Regarding the latter, I liked more of it than I thought I would. Some aspects I reject, but overall I can probably live with it.

Things I liked:

Tony being weird friends with Nebula

Thor’s long hair

Carol’s short hair

Natasha’s two-color grown-out hair

Steve swearing

Tony being a dad

Tony’s relationship with Peter

time heist shenanigans

the bits in 2012

Loki playing Steve

Valkyrie!

Sif!

Natasha and Clint getting to have that intense relationship with each other they had in 2012 Avengers

Thor getting to talk to his mother and say goodbye to her and hug her

Steve and Tony reconciling

Steve getting his shield back

Thor getting to wield Mjolnir again (and double wielding!)

Steve wielding Mjolnir!!

Pepper having her own armor!

Everyone coming back

other things I’m sure I’m forgetting!

Things I didn’t like:

fridging of Natasha

Thor and especially his depression and weight gain being played for laughs the whole movie

Thor was fucked up in large part because of losing Loki, especially after everything else, so why did he barely glance at alive-and-whole Loki when he snuck past him in Asgard’s prison?? He mooned over Jane and had a whole thing with Frigga, but he barely even reacted to Loki. What the fuck was up with that?

After Thor’s big development of deciding to be king in Ragnarok, why is he switching back again now? In Thor 1 he wanted to, in Thor 2 he didn’t, in Thor 3 he did, and now he doesn’t again?? Come on.

Bring back Loki! His death was so pointless and awful and a terrible way to wrap up his arc given all the beautiful possibilities, and there are so many loose threads that seem like they should point to a resurrection. (Also, what happened with Loki disappearing with the Tesseract???)

Honestly, I’m Team Resurrect Everyone. All the Asgardians and Heimdall and Vision and Natasha and Gamora and everyone. There are plenty of ways that could be done, and I do not care even a little bit about ~~stakes~~ and ~~realism~~ and ~~impact~~

Steve barely seemed to care about Bucky. Why did old!Steve not interact with him at all?

This is the big one. Steve’s ending was absolute bullshit on every level. Made no sense in terms of timeline; there’s no way him growing old with Peggy wouldn’t have changed the timeline (and the only way time travel in this movie makes any sense is with branching timelines), so by taking the long way he wouldn’t end up in the same timeline he started in. And if we’re supposed to somehow believe otherwise (what, did Peggy somehow not know he was Steve??? Was she able to keep that secret even when she had Alzheimers??? What about the people around her, her friends and family and children???), that would require Steve to just sit idly by while Hydra infiltrates Shield and Bucky is being tortured and brainwashed and all manner of atrocities take place that he knows about and has the power to stop, and he just??? Does nothing??? Please. Makes no sense with his characterization. Also makes no sense for his arc. His story is supposed to be about moving forward, not going backward. And he’s been in the 21st century at that point for what, twelve years?? He’s made a life in this time. He’s known his friends in the present for longer than he ever knew Peggy. And he just abandons Sam and Bucky and everyone to live in the past? What happened to “till the end of the line”?? That’s a terrible ending to his story. Yes, he deserves to rest and heal and love, but not like this.

Here’s my fix-it headcanon: Steve goes to the past to return the infinity stones and findsPeggy. He tells her about his past/the future, what he's doing there, what happened. He tells her about Hydra in Shield, Hydra having Bucky, and himself in ice and his location. They spend some time together, have their dance and closure, and he leaves. The only way the time travel in the movie makes sense is with branching timelines, so: Peggy roots out Hydra, digs out her time's Steve, and rescues Bucky, and they live happily ever after. Our Steve travels back to his/our present—maybe he uses the quantum tech, maybe someone uses the time stone for him, doesn't really matter, there are all kinds of ways to make that happen. He lands a little late, maybe by hours, maybe by weeks. He finds Sam and Bucky, and they live happily ever after. As for Old!Steve—maybe he's from another timeline, maybe he's our Steve decades later somehow time traveling just to troll them, maybe something else—also doesn't really matter to me. Done.

And finally I guess this goes in its own category—the way Tony goes out is okay, but I am absolutely headcanoning that he engineers a way to communicate with the living from the afterlife, because if anyone could find a way he could, and he regularly death-skypes with all his loved ones. You will tear this headcanon from my cold dead hands.

[royal-loki]

The Ship Scene on Svartalfheim - A Thorki Perspective 

Thor: The Dark World has very few scenes containing Loki but the ones that we do get are very memorable. One that sticks out in particular is the scene in which Thor and Loki arrive on Svartalfheim on the Asgardian ship. There is a deep sense of tension in this scene. I’ll attempt to break it down for you and help you get a clearer understanding of their cryptic dialogue.

Loki: [on Jane] Say goodbye. Thor: Not this day! Loki: This day, the next, a hundred years, it's nothing! It's a heartbeat. You'll never be ready. The only woman whose love you’ve prized will be snatched from you. Thor: And will that satisfy you? Loki: Satisfaction is not in my nature! Thor: Surrender is not in mine!

This is the first time in the movie where Thor and Loki finally have a moment alone to have a heart to heart. Jane is asleep on the ship and her presence disappears the moment the two brothers start talking. We don’t even get a view of Jane as they have this very poignant conversation concerning her. 

Let’s first summarize what led up to this point in the movie. Loki was sentenced by Odin to rot away in the dungeons. Thor goes to Midgard to visit Jane only after Heimdall tells him that there’s something wrong with her. Jane is then brought to Asgard to receive treatment for her mysterious condition but Odin wasn’t too keen on Thor helping his Midgardian girlfriend. Frigga uses her magic to visit Loki in his cell and says, “You’re always so perceptive about everyone but yourself.” Frigga is implying that Loki is not in touch with his true feelings. The Dark Elves discover that Jane possesses the Aether, and infiltrate Asgard to retrieve it. Frigga is killed in battle against Malekith. Afterward, Odin is an emotional mess and refuses to let Jane leave Asgard even if it means risking the life of every Asgardian. Thor realizes that he has to go behind the Allfather’s back and free Loki from prison so that they may bring Jane to Svartalheim to avoid risking further destruction of their kingdom. Sif and the Warriors Three warn Thor that Loki will attempt to betray him but Thor never stopped trusting Loki even after the events that transpired in the first Thor movie and The Avengers. During the climax of this film, Loki redeems himself by sacrificing his life so that Thor may save the Nine Realms from the Dark Elves.

Now that we’re all caught up, I wanted to explain a metaphor that is very overlooked in Thor: The Dark World. Once I explain it, you will be able to watch this movie with a fresh perspective and a greater appreciation for the writing. The Convergence is symbolic of Thor and Jane’s relationship. It is used as a metaphor to show that Thor and Jane only have a fleeting love and that when their small moment together is over, they will never see each other again. The: The Dark World’s plot and dialogue indicate that Thor and Jane will go their separate ways by the end of the movie. 

*Side note - After reshoots, this ending was not applied until the beginning of Thor: Ragnarok but I will touch on that part later.

Thor: [to Jane] The Nine Realms travel within Yggdrasil. Orbiting Midgard much the way your planets orbit the sun, and every 5,000 years, the worlds align perfectly. And we call this The Convergence. During this time, the borders between worlds become blurred. It's possible you found one of these points. We are lucky that it remained open. Once the worlds pass out of alignment then that connection is lost.

When we first see Jane, she attempts to move on with her life by relocating to a new city and becoming open to finding love again. She is on a date with a new man. Jane seems distraught about never seeing Thor again but she has begun to accept that they won’t be together. Although Thor claims that he was busy saving the Nine Realms from marauders, there is no doubt that he could have spent a few hours on Earth to visit Jane, especially with the Bifrost repaired. Before that, Thor did not bother to even contact her, let alone visit her on Midgard. We see that Thor is sulking but he only goes to see Jane when he learns that she might be in danger. 

Throughout the movie we get subtle hints about what his closest friends and family think of Thor’s love life. Odin wants Thor to marry an Asgardian, preferably Sif, and became the next King. Frigga just wants Thor to be happy and will support anyone he chooses to be with. Sif is shown to harbor hidden romantic feelings for Thor and a jealousy towards Jane. Loki shares Odin’s sentiment that being with a mortal is a waste of time because they don’t have long lifespans. Loki also tells Thor that he is better off breaking up with her now so as not to deal with the heartache later. Ultimately, Thor and Jane do break up by Thor: Ragnarok so it’s a strong possibility that the ending of Thor: The Dark World would have included that original plot line but Marvel Studios did not want to have such a melancholy superhero movie that would have contained Loki’s death and Thor breaking up with Jane. 

Thor: The Dark World began to suffer from an identity crisis and the reshoots were a sign that there were big problems happening behind the scenes. For example, we know that Chris Hemsworth’s wife, Elsa, had to come in last minute for reshoots to do the end credit scene of Thor and Jane kissing on the roof. The movie also changed Loki’s death from permanent to a deception after test screenings showed the audience would not accept Loki dying. Even more surprisingly, the director, Alan Taylor, openly criticized his own film. Taylor stated that he hopes that one day there will be a director’s cut released so that he can show the audience the movie he wanted to make without interference from Marvel Studios. 

Thor seems to be at conflict about whether or not he wants to be with Jane. He feels an obligation to rescue her because she helped him when he was stuck on Midgard during the events of the first Thor movie but it seems that he doesn’t have as strong feelings towards her as he thought he did. In all of the movies, Thor is shown to have a deep fondness for mortals but at the same time he treats them more like his pets rather than his equals. 

During their exchange on the ship, Loki states a very perceptive line about how Thor truly feels about Jane.

Interestingly, Loki doesn’t say Thor loves Jane because he can see that Thor does not truly love her. Instead he uses the word “prized” which indicates that Thor only viewed Jane’s love as a mere triumph of attaining a Midgardian’s affection. Thor doesn’t love Jane, he just likes that she loves him. Jane is the first mortal that Thor meets on Midgard. It would seem he developed a soft spot for her because her actions helped him get Mjolnir and his powers back. However, after he returned to Asgard, he did not visit her like he promised. He also did not go see her after the battle in New York City despite the throwaway line that she is kept safe by S.H.I.E.L.D. Thor loves the people of Earth and wants to protect them. Loki has come to realize that Thor just wants mortals to love him, and this comes into play with Thor’s character flaw in the first movie, his hubris. 

Thor gets upset by Loki’s truthful statement and responds back with a line that is very open to interpretation.

The vagueness of his response is deliberate. Is he implying that Loki would be happier if Jane were dead or is he saying that him being single would satisfy his brother? We can see that the movie is trying to insinuate that Thor is contemplating his love life. He realized that Loki is in love with him after the battle in New York City. Ever since Thor brought his brother back to Asgard, he has been in conflict about whether he loves Jane or Loki. 

I want to interject at this point to say that the first Thor movie implies that Loki was taken from Jotunheim so he could help foster peace between the two kingdoms. It’s possible that Odin originally planned for Loki to be in an arranged marriage to Thor but then changed his mind and raised them as brothers. Thor may have come to understand this after he found out Loki’s true parentage. They have always cared deeply for each other and now that Loki has taken actions to redeem himself, Thor is torn between being more attentive to Midgard and keeping Jane’s affection or sharing a long life with Loki ruling Asgard together. 

Loki also has a nuanced response that can be interpreted in multiple ways.

Let’s define “satisfaction” 

Loki has felt like a monster since he found out that he was a Frost Giant. He feels that he has transgressed when he attacked Midgard even though Thanos was threatening him with death if he failed to bring him the Infinity Stones. Satisfaction is a very nuanced word and obviously the writers intended it to have a duel meaning. The most obvious one would be a “fulfillment of a need or want” but the first definition is striking in that it shows why Loki later sacrifices himself for his brother - “the payment through penance of the temporal punishment incurred by a sin” and “reparation for sin that meets the demand of divine justice”.

By Loki saying that satisfaction is not in his nature, he is telling a half truth. It’s true that Loki’s desires are always out of reach - a throne, being Thor’s equal, and gaining his father’s approval. However, he does seek satisfaction even it alludes him. Loki saves Thor and Jane from being killed and by doing so he will receive his “satisfaction” by paying penance for his sins and meeting divine justice - not Odin’s justice. Loki feels that he has wronged many people, and most of all, he has wronged Thor. When he killed Kursed, he tells him that he will see him in Hel. Loki does not believe that he will go to Valhalla to be with Frigga but to a place of punishment where all monsters are sent.

Odin sentenced Loki to live the rest of his life alone in a cell. He only saw Frigga because she used her magic behind Odin’s back to keep her son company. Before Thor broke Loki out of his prison sentence, Loki felt doomed to die there, rotting away for thousands of years and slowly going mad in the process. He knew that if they survived their fight against the Dark Elves that he would be forced to go back into the dungeons. Loki chose an honorable death rather than live the rest of his days not being able to be with the one he loved, Thor. 

After Thor replies to Loki, “surrender is not in mine.” We get a very sentimental exchange between the brothers.

Thor: [about Frigga] You had her tricks, but I had her trust! Loki: Trust? Was that her last expression, trust? While you let her die? Thor: What good were you in your cell? Loki: Who put me there? WHO PUT ME THERE? Thor: YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHO! YOU KNOW DAMN WELL! [pins Loki] Thor: [lets go of Loki] She wouldn't want us to fight. Loki: Well, she wouldn't exactly be shocked. Thor: [smiles] I wish I could trust you. Loki: [whispers] Trust my rage.

Just take a moment and notice how they look at each other. Thor is frustrated with Loki but empathizes with his anger of not being able to save their mother. Thor stares passionately into Loki’s eyes and then his gaze drifts to Loki’s lips. Loki has a very sexual charged expression on his face as Thor is grabbing him by the neck. Thor places his hand on Loki’s neck throughout the movies when he wants his brother to give him undivided attention or when he is showing Loki affection. Loki doesn’t break eye contact with Thor the whole time, not even for a moment. He doesn’t even try to fight off Thor’s grasp or block Thor’s fist. Loki knows that Thor would never physically hurt him. For the second time in this movie, Thor pins Loki against a wall.

When Thor states that he wishes he could trust Loki, he doesn’t really mean it. He wouldn’t have risked such an important mission if he thought Loki would actually betray him. Once again, the brothers can’t seem to communicate their true feelings for each other. The only reply that Loki could muster at that moment is “trust my rage.” On the ship,  Loki brings up that Thor will never be ready to lose a loved one and in the battle that follows, Loki sacrifices his life to save Thor.

In the climax of the movie that follows shortly after this exchange, Loki rescues  Jane because he thinks that it would make Thor happy. Loki then saves Thor from Kursed but then is stabbed through the chest. When Loki’s death scene was filmed, it was acted out by Tom Hiddleston and Chris Hemsworth as if Loki had truly died. We see Loki begins to apologize to Thor as Thor holds him in his arms. Then we have Loki finally confessing his true feelings before he dies.

Thor: I will tell Father you died with honor. Loki: I didn't do it for him.

A trick that writers like to employ when creating strong character bonds in their work is to write them as if they were lovers. That is why Thor and Loki seem to always have a lot of sexual tension. The way Tom Hiddleston and Chris Hemsworth portray their characters also adds to this romantic attraction between them. The constant physical touching, long eye contact, and gazes at each other’s lips are signals that people send when they are sexually attracted to each other. All the Thor movies have contained a strong chemistry between Thor and Loki but Thor: The Dark World really explores Thor’s conflict about whether to follow his mind or his heart. 

Seeing Loki die in his arms pushed Thor to give up on his romantic involvement with Jane. For the rest of the movie after Loki’s death, Thor and Jane are never shown to be intimate again. Jane and her friends help Thor defeat the Dark Elves and the movie ends with Thor speaking to Loki disguised as Odin. The reshoots added the end credit scene where Thor and Jane kiss on the roof. It seemed almost trivial because Thor and Jane area have already ended their relationship by the beginning of Thor: Ragnarok

In summary, Thor: The Dark World is really about Thor trying to find out what kind of man he wants to be and what love interest he should pursue. The Convergence not only serves as the plot device for the entire movie but also the symbolism for Thor’s relationship with Jane. It is a fleeting romance that won’t serve him or Asgard in the long run. Thor only showed interest to Jane because she was the first human he met on Midgard and she helped him when he lost his powers. He did not visit her once until he found out she was in danger, and this is significant because Thor is always willing to help mortals who are in trouble but he did not go out of his way to see her before she was possessed by the Aether. Loki is Thor’s written love interest and Thor pines for Loki the whole movie. Thor finally realizes that he returns Loki’s feelings but it was too late as he thought Loki had been killed in battle. In Thor: Ragnarok, Thor wears a lovelock with Loki’s hair braided into his own to show that he will be forever devoted to his lost love.

[unofferable-fic]

UNOFFERABLE: 25 - ESCAPE

Summary: The unexpected arrival of an injured Midgardian child clinging to life causes a ruckus on Asgard. The princes, Thor and Loki, are somewhat intrigued by this unusual guest, unsure as to how and why she ended up in such a state. What they did not expect, however, was the turn of events her appearance would inevitably cause.

Originally posted by iceybooks

————

Set Pre-Thor 1

Pairing: Loki x OFC

Inspired by this imagine

Warnings: Language, angst, graphic violence, attempted rape, death, referenced kidnapping/slavery, fluff.

Word Count: 6,561 (laaaawl)

Previous Chapter     Next Chapter

Playlist: “All of Them!” — Hans Zimmer

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A/N: Also available on AO3  and FanFiction.net. If anyone wants to be added to the taglist just let me know. This is one of the longest chapters of this fic, and I hope it lives up to expectations! Also, be forewarned, there are some serious trigger warnings for this chapter for graphic violence and non-con, so be cautious while reading if needs be. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the next instalment! Feel free to let me know what y’all thought. Happy reading!

The Bifröst left the Asgardians in a dense section of forest on Alfheim. Thankfully, it was completely deserted, so the noise of the rainbow bridge went unnoticed. As soon as Loki landed, he took the lead, gathering himself and getting the attention of the group.

“Alright,” he began. “Heimdall said he would show us the way to this structure.”

“Allow me to communicate with him,” Thor suggested, then shut his eyes and focused. A moment passed before he opened them again and pointed into the distance. “To the east, which is that way, until we come to that ridge. Then we follow the mountain face around until we come to a clearing. The structure is being disguised as a cave of sorts, but there is a guard stationed outside.”

“A guard? Would that not rouse suspicions for the cave’s legitimacy?”

“He is apparently dressed as a simple huntsman to avoid such a response.”

Loki peered through the foliage and saw the ridge his brother was referring to. “That looks to be some distance away.”

Thor nodded in agreement. “Heimdall said it would take a few hours, but it was best he left us in the middle of nowhere to avoid detection.”

“If it prevents a risk to Ellie’s life, then he’s right. We will simply move as swift as possible on foot. Keep your heads down and stay quiet. I know it may not be your forte, but we must approach this with stealth in mind.”

“Of course,” Lady Sif agreed, and drew closer to them both. “If it is stealth that will ensure the little one’s safety, then stealth it is.”

“Do not worry, Trickster,” Volstagg cut in with a positive smile, excessively large battle axe in hand. “I know it does not look like it, but we can be stealth experts when the occasion calls for it!”

Loki looked the massive bearded man up and down. “Yes, evidently.”

“Well,” Fandral announced cheerily. “Considering it is your handmaiden we are rescuing, I think it is fair that you lead the way.”

“An excellent idea!” Thor cheered and clapped his brother on the shoulder. “And along the way, we can discuss our plan of attack. You are a master of illusions and stealth, so you can instruct us on what to do.”

Loki nodded in agreement, as Hogun spoke up. “We should get moving.”

“We do not know how much time we have,” Sif agreed. “Lead the way, Prince Loki.”

“Right,” Loki began, and turned to face the distant ridge. “Then let us get going.”

The group headed off together, following Loki’s lead as they went. If he wasn’t so preoccupied with getting to Ellie as fast as possible, he probably would have taken a moment to relish in this change of dynamic. For once, he was at the forefront of Thor and his companions. But, as of right now, he didn’t care. For once, he also wasn’t affected by their attention because his mind was focused elsewhere.

As Heimdall had promised, no one in the group spotted any light elves along the way. The forest they were dropped in was well and truly deserted, so it was safe to assume they were some distance from Ljosalfgard or any of the other cities in Alfheim. Hopefully Odin and Frigga would keep Frey and Freyja occupied long enough so that they could rescue Ellie.

They weren’t walking for long when Loki spoke up again. “It may not be a bad idea then if we dress more inconspicuously. If we are to infiltrate the brothel, we may pass as…customers.”

Thor cringed at the thought, but nodded in agreement. “I suppose that is our best bet.”

“It certainly would be less conspicuous that two princes and a group of warriors showing up for no apparent reason,” Fandral said. “Other than, you know, liberating a prisoner.”

“If this is an illegal brothel,” Lady Sif explained. “Is it possible that there are other prisoners?”

Volstagg raised his brow. “Are you insinuating that Frey and Freyja may be running an illegal sex ring made up of prisoners from different realms?”

“It sounds even more ridiculous when you say it aloud, but yes.”

“That is quite the insinuation,” Hogun said. “Especially given those involved.”

“Hogun is right,” Loki murmured, looking at his feet. “But if Frey and Freyja are involved, they did orchestrate the abduction of a royal handmaiden from within the palace itself after placing a spy within the staff. So the idea of them abducting others is not exactly outside the realm of possibility.”

Thor shrugged. “When you put it that way, it actually sounds quite reasonable.”

Sif replied. “Then we will deal with it when we come to it. It was just a thought, but we should focus our attention on the task at hand.”

“Which is Ellie,” Loki added firmly. “As you said, Sif, if there are others there, we will figure that out when it happens. For now…” He snapped his fingers and instantly the group were each shroud with a dark cloak. “It is best to hide the armour and look like paying customers.”

“Delightful,” Thor muttered, wrapping the cloak tightly around his massive frame. “I cannot wait to look like a patron for an illegal whorehouse.”

“It is certainly a better disguise than a Jötunn’s blushing bride,” Fandral snorted earning a scowl from the older prince.

“Now is not the time for jesting, boys,” Sif said dryly. “We have a young woman to find.”

* * *

Ellie had no clue whether Heimdall had seen her when the structure’s barrier fell. Judging by the sun’s change of position in the sky, about an hour had passed since she sent her signal, and all she had done since then was slowly pace around the room. Frey had said just before he left that he and his sister would return in due time, but she had no idea how far she was from the castle in which they resided. While she knew there was a lot of responsibility in her friends’ hands, she couldn’t sit idle and let her life be their sole burden. Surely she could do something, even if she was locked in this room wherever the hell she was…

The rattle of the lock in the door broke through her thoughts, and she froze in the spot as it opened to reveal Frey and Freyja, back sooner than she expected.

“So… your council fell through?” she asked dryly.

“It did, actually,” Freyja replied. “Not that it is any of your concern.”

“But it does mean,” Frey drawled, slamming the door behind them. “That our schedule for the rest of the afternoon has been blown open.”

As the god and goddess stared at her, a shiver ran up Ellie’s spine. It wasn’t in the same way Loki looked at her — this was purely predatory and aggressive. Against her better judgement, she took a sly step away from them.

“Would you look at that, brother,” Freyja said with a menacing grin. “Suddenly her sarcasm is nowhere to be seen.”

“That is a shame,” Frey mused, rolling up his sleeves. “I was hoping you would hold on to that attitude while we had our way with you.”

He took a swing at her, and Ellie dodged it swiftly. She hadn’t, however, expected Freyja to grab at her as well. The hostile goddess wrapped her hand around her hair and pulled hard. Ellie’s scalp burned.

“Scream, please,” Freyja hissed, and roughly grabbed her chin with her free hand. “Scream all you want. No one will help you, little mortal.”

“On the table,” Frey demanded and grabbed her by the waist. “Let’s go.”

As soon as he grabbed her, Ellie fought back. She managed to swiftly elbow him in the face, which brought her immense satisfaction, but Freyja was quick to grab her arms, effectively subduing her. The young woman thrashed as much as she could, despite the two gods exerting very little strength to hold her.

“Keep fighting, you little bitch,” Frey hissed as she slammed her down on to the table. “I love it when they struggle!”

Ellie’s back smashed into the cold wooden surface of the table and she yelped, pain shooting through her hip and spine. She kicked out violently, making contact with Freyja’s shoulder. The woman growled, but simply grabbed both her ankles and tied them together  with a rope connected to the table. Before she could fight back, Frey grabbed her hands, tying her wrists to each side of the table. As the gods stood back to inspect their handiwork, Ellie struggled against her bindings, the rope burning into her bare skin as she furiously pulled against them. She tried to channel some seiðr to gain some extra strength, but she was worn out from the whole ordeal. Her chest pumped as her body slumped against the table. Her eyes darted around for a weapon while the pair began to laugh.

“This is half the entertainment,” Frey chuckled, hands on his hips. “You can see the panic starting to set in.”

“I think that is because she has realised how hopeless her situation is. How would you like to go first, dear brother?”

“Why, sister, that is very kind of you to offer.” Frey kissed her post-haste before moving around to the end of the table, while she took her place at the other end behind Ellie’s head. Unable to see Freyja without stretching her head backwards, Ellie began to visibly panic, watching Frey undo the belt buckle of his tunic.

“Please, don’t,” she pled without thinking. “Frey—”

“Beg all you like,” he chuckled, shoving his pants down. “It will not change your fate. Come now, you are no longer pure after your relations with the prince anyway. You may as well enjoy yourself.”

“I am sure you will,” Freyja added, lightly touching Ellie’s cheek. “I can guarantee he will leave you far more satisfied than Loki ever could.”

Trying her best to steady out her breathing, Ellie glared back at Frey. If this was to be her fate, and she could do nothing to change it, then let it be swift. However, she would simply have to remind them both of what she would do to them when she got the chance.

“I just wanted to let you know,” she began, hands shaking in their restraints. “To let both of you know, that I’m goin’ to kill you — the pair of you — unless Loki gets to you’s first. And God fuckin’ help you’s if he does.”

Frey looked back at her in mild amusement. “Your threats are empty, mortal. Far more empty than you are about to be.”

There was an unexpected knock at the door.

Everyone in the room froze. Frey and Freyja shared a look.

“Who the fuck is that?” Freyja demanded.

“I don’t know,” Frey insisted, just as the door swung open.

In walked the doorman Ellie had seen earlier. He seemed completely unfazed by the scene before him. “My Lords, sincerest apologies for my intrusion—”

“It best be for good reason,” Freyja spat. “What is is?”

“The Allfather and Allmother have arrived at the castle in Ljosalfgard,” he explained, a slight quiver in his voice. “They are asking to see you both.”

There was a deafening silence in the room, during which, the siblings looked at each other in confusion. Ellie’s eyes grew wide at the mention of Odin and Frigga, and a small amount of hope bloomed within her chest.

I knew it! I knew someone would be lookin’ for me! Surely they know where I am? Does this mean Heimdall got my signal?

“Why are they here?” Freyja demanded as Frey pulled his trousers back up.

The doorman shrugged. “They said they wished to speak with you about their victory on Vanaheim with regards the Marauders.”

Frey growled as he fixed his belt. “Oh, for fuck sake…”

“Do they know?” Freyja asked, gesturing to their prisoner. “Could they know?”

“There is no way,” he replied surely. “This place is completely hidden from their eyes. How would they ever see it? You would have to know of its existence first to even reveal it.”

So they have no idea about my magic abilities? Ellie realised. This is the lifeline I’ve been waitin’ for. I can use this to my advantage if things go my way.

Frey grumbled and readjusted his clothing. “Well then, I suppose we must keep up appearances.”

“What about her?” Freyja demanded, grabbing Ellie by the hair so hard that she winced again.

“What about her?” Frey shrugged his shoulders. “They could not find this place even if they tried.”

“The fact they have come here at all is still risky. At least move her to the basement.”

“Would you be more comfortable if I did?”

“Yes!” she insisted and clicked her fingers at the doorman. “You! Move the mortal to the basement and guard the door until we come back.”

“Of course, My Lady,” was his reply, accompanied by a small nod, as he quickly approached Ellie.

“I really do not see the need,” Frey said, shaking his head. “But if it would ease your mind then fine.”

Ellie watched the pair as they began to walk out the door, bickering impatiently as they went. The doorman promptly untied her right arm and she let out a small sigh as the rope strangling her wrist fell to the ground. The burn on her skin relaxed somewhat, but she longed to rub it and soothe the pain. As the siblings disappeared from the room, the doorman halted in his movements. Ellie awkwardly turned her head to look at him in confusion as he scurried to the door. He peered up and down the hallway outside before he quickly shut the door to the room. The look he gave her as he locked the door from the inside did nothing to settle her nerves. All she could do was stare back him as he slowly approached the table, a smirk growing as he studied her. Another shiver ran up her spine as she noticed her skirts had bunched above her thighs in the earlier struggle, so she tried to kick her restricted legs and cover herself.

“There’ll be no need for that, girlie,” the doorman snickered. “No need for modesty in this whorehouse.”

“Girlie?” she repeated, laughing slightly to hide any worry she felt over what he may do.  “Who the fuck actually calls people that?”

“You better watch you mouth,” he growled and grabbed her face in his meaty hand.

“Or what? Is this kip the only place you can get off? Because I sincerely doubt the performance of any man who uses the term ‘girlie’.”

“Shut your fucking mouth or I’ll have to fill it to shut you up.”

She wasn’t expecting his hand to connect with her cheek with a ear-splitting crack. It knocked the wind out of her as her other cheek smacked into the table’s cold wooden surface from the sudden force. This sensation was previously known to her.

It had been a long time since she felt the familiar sting of a hand striking her face, but she would never forget it. She could hear the screaming in her head.

“Look at the fuckin’ mess of this place!”

“They will be gone a long time,” the doorman explained, clambering up on to the table on his knees, forcing himself between her legs. “And I’ve always wanted to take a crack at a mortal.”

“I can’t go to fuckin’ work for one day without you’s fuckin ruinin’ the house!”

Her hazy mind struggled to focus on what was happening as she felt a hand close around her neck and squeeze. Her attacker’s mouth was moving, but all she could hear was her father and her own screaming.

“I’m sick of this! All I do is try t’look after this family and pay the bills and this is the thanks I get from you? I’ll fuckin’ kill you, I swear to God—!”

She struggled to breathe, the pressure on her neck growing. Above her, the doorman grinned in delight, revealing a set of yellow teeth.

“Don’t you dare lay a hand on either of them!”

The panic in her chest welled, as did anger. Her feet struggled against their restraints,  rope cutting into skin, knees trying to shove him off the table.

“Dad, leave her alone! Stop!”

Suddenly, the rage Ellie felt outweighed the panic. Hazy memories of seeing her mother being strangled, of feeling the brutal kicks from her father, of seeing Shane’s still body on the living room floor next to her.

“Get off her!”

Whatever energy that remained within her body exploded, her chest burning with exertion. She screamed in anger.

Her lungs burned.

Her ears rang.

Within her free hand, something solid formed and her fingers wrapped around it automatically. Without knowing what it was, Ellie swung her arm with all the strength she had left at the man above her.

The dagger in her grasp plunged into his neck.

The retaliation surprised him, but not Ellie, who took the moment to tear the dagger out only to stab him again in the chest. And again.

And again.

And again.

An inhuman scream tore from her already raw throat as she ripped the dagger through his gut and his intestines spilled from the gapping wound. With a harsh shove, he fell to the floor with a tremendous bang, eyes bulging and hands shaking as the blood poured from his various wounds and pooled on the floor. In the time it took Ellie to cut through her restraints, he had bled out and ceased moving. With shaking arms, she slid off the table and tried to stand. Slowly, she got to her feet and noticed that her clothes were now soaked with blood; even her feet were stained red from the puddle building on the floor. As a bit of the adrenaline left her, she stared down at the corpse in surprise and looked at the dagger in her hand. She had conjured it. Finally, she had managed to do it, and now it had left her completely drained. Realising she had no time to admire what she had created, she grabbed the keys from the dead man’s belt loop, unlocked the door, and shakily tiptoed out of the room.

There’s no time to panic. No time to mess around or think ’bout how I just killed a man. I need’ta get out of here before they kill me.

Dagger in hand, she slunk into the empty hallway, curious as to whether the earlier commotion and screams would draw attention. That was of course dismissed when she heard the sounds coming from different rooms along the hall. The place was nothing to look at, that was for sure, in terms of decoration. It was dilapidated in places, but still held on to some sense of liveability with severely lazy decoration and a stained carpet. She didn’t know where she had been dropped in this apparent brothel at first, or even whether it was an actual functioning house of prostitution. The moans and screams coming from the other rooms were enough to confirm her suspicions of its legitimacy. At least that meant she had some time before anyone came to check on her.

Keeping close to the wall, she snuck along the hall and around the corner, carefully seeing if there was anyone waiting ahead of her. She spotted another man — presumably a guard, leaning against the wall and facing away from her. By the looks of things, he was happily counting some gold coins. Ellie didn’t think twice about sneaking behind him and slitting his throat. He gurgled as she shoved her hand over his mouth and helped to lower his body down to the ground. The coins fell crashing down as well, but thankfully the noise didn’t seem to draw any attention. Finding a nearby deserted room, she quickly dragged the body and loose coins inside and left him in there for whoever to find. Wiping her dagger on her skirts, she sighed, turned, and snuck down the hall. Rounding another corner and seeing no one, she pressed on and quickly came to a door, one from which no sounds came. Peaking through the keyhole, she saw nothing. Considering her options, she took a deep breath and turned the knob, finding the door unlocked. She pushed it forward slowly and peered around the opening. When she looked at the sight before her, she opened the door fully and stared in shock.

“Oh, my God…”

* * *

As Heimdall promised, they had some distance to walk to get to the structure in which Ellie was being kept.

“There it is,” Loki said, pointing in the distance to a cave that came into view. “That’s the brothel, disguised as Heimdall said.”

“Right,” Thor exhaled, surveying the scene from their hiding spot. “I am still surprised there is only one guard outside.”

“With a magical barrier like that one,” Sif began. “There is no need for more guards. They would only draw unwanted attention.”

Loki nodded his head and made sure his weapons were hidden under his cloak. “She is right. And we do not have time to dawdle. It is time we went undercover, as it were. Thor and I shall approach to enquire after their services. You four will wait here until we dispose of the guard.”

“Delightful,” Fandral groaned.

Volstagg mirrored his displeasure. “I too am not looking forward to this, but if it is to save the Midgardian then let us be off.”

The group followed Loki and Thor’s lead and hid in the brush as the brothers set off and casually approached the man at the mouth of the cave. Upon their arrival, he looked them up and down from his seat on a tree stump and spat. “Can I help you?”

“We wish to avail of your goods,” Loki replied simply, as if it were obvious.

“What goods?” the man asked, playing dumb.

“The ones Lord Frey informed us of. We have heard much of their…quality from him. He said we must see it to believe it.”

For once, thank the Norns, Thor kept his mouth shut and let Loki’s silver tongue do the trick. He was half expecting some sort of outburst, but it seemed that Thor trusted him to do it without his help.

The guard eyed them for a moment, eyes flitting between them as he assessed their legitimacy. He didn’t seem to recognise either of them, which was already a good sign. As he squinted at them, he slowly nodded his head, seemingly accepting Loki’s explanation. He got to his feet and stood with his hands on his hips.

“Coin,” he demanded, hand open expectantly.

Without flinching, Loki reached into his pocket and conjured a convincing illusion of a small but heavy sack of coin and then handed it to the guard. “Will this suffice?”

“It’ll do fine,” he grumbled, judging its weight in his hand. “You may both enter. When you do, head straight down the hall and you will be greeted and allowed to select whatever product you wish to pay for.”

“Fantastic,” Loki said delightedly and clapped his hands together. “Thank you, my good man.”

Loki swiftly stepped around the man and headed towards the entrance to the cave, but felt a hand grab his arm.

“I must search you before you enter,” the guard explained, his tone already short. “It is protocol.”

The God of Lies looked at him in mock dismay, frowning deeply. “Really? Come now, there is no need to search me.”

“I would beg to dif—”

Quite swiftly, Thor drew Mjölnir from under his cloak and, with the guards back turned, smashed the hammer down on to the back of his head. He was killed instantly and dropped towards the ground, but Loki caught his body before it could cause any more  unwanted noise. He shared a look with his brother, whose face now wore speckles of blood and brain. The sack of money quickly faded from existence.

“Did you really need to do that?” Loki snapped, lifting the man from under the arms. “I could have slit his throat, or something else less…messy.”

Thor shrugged casually and picked up his legs. “I saw an opportunity and I took it.”

The Trickster merely rolled his eyes and chose not to argue further as they quickly carried the man’s body towards the brush and hid it from plan sight. At that moment, the Warriors Three and Lady Sif appeared from their hiding places.

Sif shook her head. “You two cannot go in there covered in blood.”

“Done,” Loki answered and, with a snap of his fingers, he and Thor were clean again. “Now, when we enter, we go in two groups. Thor and I will go first, then the four of you shall enter after five minutes. That should give us enough time to subdue the guards involved in the ‘selection of goods’. Then we split into twos and search every inch of that place for Ellie. Subdue any guards you see — how, I care not — but do not harm any of the workers; we do not know yet as to whether they are here of their own free will. Everyone ready?”

With unanimous agreement, the Odinsons hurried inside, leaving the others to wait before they entered. The pair went through a wooden door and, as soon as they crossed the threshold, the illusion of the cave faded away and they found themselves standing in an empty lobby of some kind. It was certainly not a fancy place by any means, but its carpeted floors gave way to some small amount of sophistication.

“Straight down the end?” Thor asked, repeated the guard’s instructions.

Loki nodded, gazing down the long hallway that led to a set of unguarded double doors. “Straight down the end.”

As they began to walk, Thor spoke up again. “What is our plan when we get inside?”

Loki shrugged. “To subdue the guards.”

“Yes, but how exactly?”

“However you want, I do not particularly care.”

There was a short pause before Thor looked at his brother hopefully. “Why don’t we do Get Help?”

“No.”

“But, brother—”

“Why in the Nine Realms would we ever do that?”

“Because it works every time, and it is fun!”

“It is not fun.”

“Yes it is.”

“It’s humiliating.”

“Do you have a better plan?”

“No.”

“Let’s do it.”

The pair arrived at the door and Loki turned to point his finger at his brother. “We are not doing Get Help.”

“Yes, we are,” Thor said, grinning back at him as he quickly grabbed him and kicked the doors open. “Get help!”

“Oh for the love of…” Loki was quick to play dead once he got a look of the room before them. There were three armed guards, each standing at a corner of the room, but they came barrelling towards the pair as they burst into the place quite unceremoniously.

“Please!” Thor rambled on. “My brother; he’s dying! Get help! Help him!”

All Loki could do as he was flung across the room was go limp. Thankfully, Thor’s throw was precise and he flew into the guards, knocking them all out as he landed on the floor with a painful thud. He muttered a number of profanities as he got back to his feet.

“I told you it would work!” Thor declared with delight.

“It is still humiliating,” Loki growled and finally noticed the other inhabitants in the room. On the far side of the room on a couch sat three women and one man, dressed in clothes that barely left their bodies covered at all. They didn’t scream out at the sudden intrusion, but merely stared at the two gods in complete surprise, mouths open and eyes wide.

“Perhaps they have seen Ellie?” Thor suggested and waved awkwardly. “Hello.”

“Are you workers in this establishment?” Loki asked and squatted down in front of them.

One woman nodded her head slowly. “W-who are you?”

“I am Prince Loki of Asgard,” he explained as his brother got down next to him.

“And I am Prince Thor of Asgard, God of Thunder. Son of Odin, the Allfather.”

“Thor?” the man exclaimed, his eyes darting between them. “And Loki?”

“Oh, thank the Norns!” another woman, a light elf, nearly wept.

“Are you here to help us?” the first woman asked, gazing at them in disbelief.

“You are not here of your own freewill?” Loki asked carefully.

She shook her head. “No! None of us are. We were all taken from our old lives and forced to work in this squalor and service these rats.”

“I fucking knew it,” Thor hissed, gritting his teeth.

Loki’s tone remained gentle as he spoke with the victims. “Who took you? Who did this to you?”

“Those bastards up in the castle! Frey and his whore, Freyja!”

“Well, I’ll be damned.” The Trickster looked at his brother and shook his head. “It would seem Sif’s theory was right. We will help you get out of this place, but first, we are looking for a woman.”

“You are going to have to be more specific than that, Prince Loki.”

“She is young, mousy haired, slim build, about this tall. She has a scar on both her lip and brow. She is a Midgardian, you might have heard guards discussing her mortality—”

“The young woman?” the man suddenly asked, eyes large with realisation. “Yes, I saw her. She was brought her yesterday. Frey and Freyja seemed to delight in her arrival.”

“Brother, she is here!” Thor cheered, a smile nearly splitting his face.

Loki had for force himself not to breakdown. She was here. They might have made it in time. “Where was she taken?”

“Upstairs,” he said urgently. “That door there will bring you to the staircase. I do not know what floor, but the twins like to keep their most prized product on the top floor.”

“She is important to you?” the elf asked Loki, as he swung around to look at the door to the staircase.

The God simply nodded in response and Thor answered. “She is his handmaiden, but also our dear friend.”

Before anyone could reply, their companions rushed in through the broken double doors. Fandral noticed the unconscious guards and immediately began to tie them up with Hogun’s assistance.

“What is the plan?” Sif asked the brothers, carefully looking over the prisoners.

Loki pointed to the far door. “Thor and I will go upstairs where Ellie is apparently being kept. I want Volstagg to remain here and protect the prisoners from any more of Frey and Freyja’s men that may arrive.”

“Prisoners?” Sif repeated, looking grim.

He nodded. “You were right, they are not working here of their own accord. I want you, Fandral, and Hogun to search this whole floor before following us up each floor at a time. We will work from the top downwards and meet you in the middle. All of the prisoners are to be brought back to this room alive.”

Sif nodded firmly and then gave Thor’s arm a squeeze. “Of course. Stay safe, you two.”

“And you, my friends,” Thor answered before he took off after his brother. “We will see you soon.”

Together they ascended the stairs as quickly but also as quietly as possible. On any other occasion, Loki would feel anxious about ignoring the two middle floors and whatever people may be held captive on them, but he needed to get to Ellie first. She was his priority, and nothing was about to change that. As they reached the top floor, the hallway went off in opposite directions.

“Well?” Thor asked, surprising him. “What would you like to do?”

Loki blanked for a moment, needing to shake his head to gather his thoughts. He was in no way used to this side of Thor, the one that was asking his opinion and acknowledging his ability, but he could not spend his time thinking about it with so many lives at stake. “I say we split up. You go that way, I go this way. When we have the floor covered, return here. If we find Ellie, keep her safe, clear the floor, and find the other as quickly as possible.”

“Right.” He nodded and quickly grabbed the back of his younger sibling’s neck in a surprisingly gentle manner, even for him. “Stay safe, alright? Make sure nothing happens and that you get out of here alive.”

Momentarily moved by the gesture, Loki sent a smile in return. “Trust me, I have made no plans to die here today.”

“Good. Now, let us find the little one.” With that, Thor snuck down the hallway and left Loki alone.

He didn’t delay and hurried off in the opposite direction. As he crept along, he carefully avoided any squeaky floorboards or unstable side tables. The first few rooms he found were dingy and empty. He wasn’t sure whether finding them unoccupied was a relief or a worry, but he pressed on. The further he explored, the more occupied rooms he found. Some contained prisoners, who he told to run down to the selection room if they didn’t need to be first cut from restraints. He killed several guards who were otherwise occupied assaulting the workers, distracting them with duplicates or slitting their throats before they had even realised he was in the room. He felt no shame in it, for once he saw the horror and the faces of the captives, he knew they deserved little mercy. And yet, as he searched the rooms, he saw no sign of Ellie, until he found a dead man in one of the empty spaces. The sight surprised him. Had Thor come this way? Upon closer inspection of the bled-out corpse, the stab wounds lay waste to that theory. His mouth went dry and he quickly left the room. When searching another room, he found yet another body with its throat cut. Growing more anxious and impatient, he rushed his search along until he rounded a corner and came to what seemed like the last room on the floor. He listened and heard muffled voices on the other side. With a deep breath and a dagger in hand, he gripped the handle and pushed open the door. What he found knocked the wind from him.

“Loki!”

There was his Ellie, sat on the rag on the floor with two men — captives by the dirt on their faces, skimpy clothes, and cut restraints lying on the floor — staring up at him with wide wet eyes. Beside the door lay another dead guard, his throat cleanly slit.

He couldn’t help himself. The relief poured from him before he could even attempt to stop it. “Ellie…”

She stumbled to her feet, breathing heavily as she threw herself into his arms. The feel of her in his arms once more was the most joy he had felt in years. Here she was, his little Midgardian, alive and mostly well. He locked her in his grasp, burying his face in the crook of her neck as she sobbed into his chest. “You found me! I didn’t know if you were coming. I didn’t know—”

“Shh, all is well,” he reassured her, even through he felt his own tears soaking his cheeks. “Of course I would come. I could not leave you.” He reluctantly pulled her back a tad, cupping her face to check her over and noting the blood stains on her dress. “What is…? Are you alright? Did they hurt you?”

“Nothin’ that won’t heal,” she assured him. “It’s not my blood. Just some cuts and bruises, and I’m knackered, but I’m fine, I promise. Are you okay?”

“Yes, yes, I am fine. I am just so relieved that you are alright, by the Norns.” He hugged her again, clutching her as tightly as he could without doing her any harm. “I missed you so much, Ellie. I am so sorry this happened.”

“No, stop. It’s not your fault. I missed you too.”

“All is well now, I promise you.” He embraced her, feeling comfort at finally being able to hold her again.

“Loki, the workers,” she spoke suddenly, looking at him in desperation. “The people in this brothel — or whatever the fuck it is — they’ve all been taken from their homes like I was! None of this is legal. Frey and Freyja — they’re monsters. They took all these people here and forced them to work—”

“I know, my love,” he whispered gently. “Thor and I encountered some of them downstairs. They are leaving this place with us too.”

“Thor is here?”

“And the Warriors Three and Lady Sif. We all came to help.”

“I take it this is the prince you told us about?” one of the men spoke up as he stood up and then helped the other up as well. “Your employer?”

“It is an honour to meet you, My Prince,” his friend said, an Asgardian by the sounds of his accent. “Are you here to help us?”

“Yes,” he replied, hands still holding on to Ellie firmly. He knew he wouldn’t be able to embrace her like this once they were in the other’s company again, so he would savour the closeness for now. “Today we are all leaving this place and you will all return to your rightful homes.”

The men looked completely shocked by his admission, but thanked him profusely as he began to herd them out of the room. At that moment, Thor appeared from around the far corner of the hall, followed closely by six prisoners. Upon seeing his brother and Ellie, he nearly shouted out, but still ran to meet them and squeezed Ellie in his arms.

“He found you! Are you well? They did not hurt you, did they?” He made a show of checking her over, noticing the cuts on her wrists and ankles, as well as the blood all over her garments.

“I am fine, Thor, now that you guys are here.” She smiled at him in delight, eyes still spilling with silent tears.

“Then we best leave now,” Thor said, unable to wipe the thankful grin from his face. “Today, no one is getting left behind in this place. Follow me.”

For once, Loki was glad to let Thor take the lead as they retreated down the stairs to meet their companions. This was because his attention was solely focused on the woman at his side. He couldn’t take his eyes off her and stared unabashedly at her dirty, swollen, and bruised face. This emotion was new to him, but he refused to hide the happiness he felt knowing that she was alive and well. The anger would certainly come later. Once he had a moment to sit and find out what they had done to her, he knew he would see red. But, for now, he simply held her close. She was finally safe again.

Loki kept Ellie firmly by his side as they descended the stairs, although she too had her  bruised arm locked around his waist, and it didn't seem as though anything could tear her away.

Taglist: @jonsaiscomiing @wrappedinlokisarms @unseelie1963 @talinalani @fightmelight @spookass @myinnerkemono @tumbler-bumblr @jclements919 @ao3-hipster-fangirl-trash @proactiveturtles @iamthered @tlbrooks-68

[imagine-loki]

Beauty and the Beast

TITLE: Beauty and the Beast CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: 9/? AUTHOR: nekoamamori ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki is under a spell that will return him to his Aesir one if he learns to accept himself for who he is RATING: T (so far)  NOTES/WARNINGS: Also on AO3 here

Loki’s brows furrowed.  He knew Morgan was seeing Asgard and he knew she saw his mother in danger.  He prayed her vision was wrong, but he knew instinctively that it wasn’t. She was trapped in a magical vision.  And her words would come true if they didn’t stop it.  

They had to stop it, had to stop Frigga from being in danger. 

“What else do you see, darling?” Loki asked her gently, keeping his voice soothing and calm so he wouldn’t startle her out of the visions, but would encourage her to keep speaking what she saw. He needed to help her focus through the pain of this first vision so he could rescue his mother.  He hated seeing Morgan in pain and he hated asking her to stay in the visions and work through the pain to save his mother.  

Morgan’s eyes were still glowing bright gold and her voice held an ethereal quality to it when she started speaking again. “She’s alone in the throne room.  Alarms are blaring.  She wields a long dagger, armor shimmers over her dress.  Men enter.  They’re too tall with blue skin and crimson eyes.  Mjolnir flies by.  The men demand something. I can’t hear.  They defeat the woman, one throws her over his shoulder, and they leave while she screams,” she said and sagged with a whimper, her eyes returning to their normal white as the power faded from her. 

Loki’s hands were on her shoulders, steadying her as she sagged from the drain of such advanced magic that she couldn’t control.  He helped her lie down on the couch.  “Breathe, darling.  You did wonderfully,” he told her gently. She closed her eyes and focused on breathing and trying to calm after whatever the hell just happened. Loki glared up at the ceiling when she was settled safely.  “Computer, contact Thor. Now,” he snarled at it. His mother was in danger.  There was no telling when Morgan’s vision would happen.  He had to move, now.  

“Brother, what is it?” came Thor’s voice a moment later.  

Loki would have sighed in relief to hear from him, except that he was panicking too much. “Mother is in danger. I will explain later.  Inform Stark that I will be taking his daughter with me to Asgard to keep her safe. Meet me on Asgard when you can,” Loki gave the orders without thinking about the fact that it was Thor he was bossing around.  The two of them had worked together for centuries and Thor trusted Loki’s battle tactics, which is how he was treating this emergency.  

“I will meet you in the Bifrost chamber,” Thor replied and ended the call to inform Stark that his daughter would be traveling to Asgard.  It was the best place for her so she wouldn’t be alone in the tower while Loki dealt with the emergency back home and the team was halfway across the world on a mission.  It was also faster and easier for Heimdall to pick them up from two different locations than for Thor to get back to the tower first. 

Loki sighed and shook Morgan a little.  “Come on, darling.  We need to go,” he told her gently and helped her to her feet, despite that she was dazed from the vision and massive use of magic to have it. “Lean on me,” he added gently.

“Go?” she asked confused, but let him help her to her feet, let him support her as she leaned heavily on him, both of her arms around his waist.  Loki would have just tucked her into bed, but he had to bring her along to Asgard.  It wasn’t safe here and he wouldn’t leave her alone.  

“Your vision, darling. You just saw my mother in danger. We must get to Asgard immediately,” he explained.  He knew that most oracles couldn’t recall the images they saw after the fact, especially such a new mage as Morgan.  She nodded her understanding and let him lead her to the Bifrost circle outside of the tower.  “Hold on tightly to me. The first time on the Bifrost is always an experience,” Loki told her gently. Her arms tightened around him and he held her securely in his arms.  When he was sure she would be safe, he looked to the sky and asked Heimdall for a lift home.  Morgan’s arms tightened even further around him at the strange feeling of flying upward and she cringed, hiding her sensitive eyes against his chest. Even blind, she could sense light and the bright rainbow lights hurt her.  

A minute later they stepped into the bifrost chamber.  Thor was there waiting for them as promised. Loki loosened his grip on Morgan slightly when they were safe.  She still leaned heavily on him.  Thor looked understandably confused at both the development and at what was going on.  Loki hadn’t given him much information. Loki didn’t enlighten him yet either.  He would explain the situation to Thor and Frigga at the same time, provided his mother wasn’t already being attacked by the frost giants. However, Thor was understandably concerned.  “Lady? Are you alright?” he asked gently.

Morgan blinked and tried to focus. “M’m ok,” she murmured.  Thor didn’t believe her, but she was upright and relatively ok.  That was enough right now.  His mother was in more immediately danger. 

Loki gave Thor a serious look that left no room for arguing.  “I am going to teleport us straight to Mother. Put your hand on my shoulder, brother.” Thor nodded and did as he was told.  He’d teleported before and knew that physical contact was necessary.  He also didn’t fault Loki for his short tone.  Loki was a mama’s boy and panicked at the idea that his beloved mama was in danger. 

“Hold tight, Lady Morgan,” Loki told the girl in his arms.  He needed to get her somewhere safe and in a bed soon.  

In seconds, the three disappeared, reappearing just as quickly in the healing wing.

Frigga was there and looked up from her work, concerned when her boys appeared in the healing wing with weapons drawn looking panicked.  “Darlings?  What are you doing home?” she asked them, her concern evident in her voice.  She was even more concerned and confused when she saw the disoriented, drained blind girl with them. 

The boys relaxed when they realized they were in the healing wing, not the throne room.  Morgan’s vision hadn’t come true.  Yet.  They weren’t out of the woods yet, but at least the danger wasn’t immediate.  “We need to talk, mother. It’s urgent,” Loki told her.  His panic wouldn’t ebb until after Morgan’s vision was thwarted.

“Alright, darlings.  Come, my office is clear of eavesdroppers,” she glared at the healers, who quickly pretend they were working on other things and not eavesdropping on the queen and her sons.   Frigga led the trio into her office where they could speak in privacy.  

Loki followed her and gently sat Morgan down in one of the chairs. She sank into the chair gratefully.  “Mother, may I introduce Lady Morgan Stark, daughter of your best friend Lady Brunhilde,” 

Morgan offered a smile in Frigga’s general direction.  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma'am,” she replied politely.  She didn’t notice Thor and Frigga staring at her in shock. 

“Hilda’s daughter?” she asked Loki, confused while Thor just stared in shock. “But… Hilda died decades ago,” Frigga said in shock.  

Thor looked confused too as he missed the whole ‘she must be asgardian’ revelation. “Lady Morgana is half-Asgardian?” he asked dumbly.  Morgan huffed and rolled her eyes at Thor’s insistence on always using her full name.

Loki nodded.  “I found out just recently,” he told Thor. He didn’t tell Morgan what he was doing, he didn’t want to hurt her, but he summoned a copy of the picture Morgan had shown him and passed it over to Frigga, who gasped in surprise.  “That is not why we came home.  There is a more pressing issue,” Loki started.  He paused before he just told her the news. There was no use in being coy or beating around the bush about it.  “Mother, you are in grave danger. The frost giants are coming for you.”

“The frost giants?  But why?” she asked, shocked.

“That we don’t know.  Lady Morgana had a vision.  I felt the magic in the images she saw and I believe that future will come true,” Loki told her.  Morgan rolled her eyes harder, great, now Loki was using her full name.  She would never break him of it either.  

“What vision, darling?” Frigga asked Loki gently even as she summoned a servant to warn Heimdall and Odin of the threat of intruders.  She knew Loki was panicking if she was in danger and she had to get him back on track.  Loki sighed and collected himself before she recited all of the images Morgan had given him.  It only took him a couple minutes to explain everything to her and Thor.  Frigga nodded with her eternal calm when Loki was finished speaking.  “Don’t fret, darling.  We have warning now, so we can be prepared,” she reassured him gently.

Loki nodded, but wasn’t entirely convinced.  His beloved mama was in danger and he disliked it more than anything.  

They all looked up when one of the messengers returned with a summons for the three of them to come to the throne room to discuss the potential threat with Odin.  Morgan was excluded from the summons and Loki breathed a sigh in relief that he wouldn’t have to bring her before the Allfather, at least not yet.  “Darling, how much warning did you say we had?” Frigga asked softly.  She didn’t like the feel of this.  Her unease put her boys on edge.

Loki shook his head.  “I don’t know. The vision wasn’t clear enough. Morgan wasn’t able to decipher enough through the pain,” he looked at her before she could start apologizing.  “Don’t fret, darling. You did wonderfully to give us the warning you did,” Loki reassured her gently, placing his hand over one of hers to comfort her.  Frigga was quick to agree and Morgan relaxed. 

Frigga sighed and stood.  “Well, we best tell your father,” she told her sons. She glances over at Morgan.  She didn’t want to bring the girl before Odin, but she also didn’t want to leave a blind foreigner alone.  Especially when she was only half-Asgardian. 

“Lady Morgana need rest.  You know her magic is so new and untrained,” Loki reminded Frigga while he stood and helped Morgan to her feet. He was frankly impressed that she was still awake and coherent.  “Would it be safe to have her stay in one of the private rooms in the healing wing while we go speak with the Allfather?” he asked Frigga while he supported Morgan and kept her on her feet.  Frigga and Thor both gave him a look at how caring he was being with the girl.  

Frigga nodded. “There’s one open and she will be safe here,” she reassured Loki and pointed him in the right direction.  

Loki nodded his thanks and kept and arm wrapped around Morgan as he led her to the private room.  He could feel that she was nervous, confused, disoriented, and beyond exhausted.  She was only remaining quiet so she didn’t start spewing apologies for everything.  Loki was determined they’d make it up to her when things were calmer. Morgan’s arms remained locked around his waist as Loki led her to the quiet room.  He helped her over to the bed and helped her lie down on it.  He realized she hadn’t put on shoes and was in her pajamas.  Of course she was, they’d been lounging around the tower when the vision hit.  He pulled the covers over her gently, tucking her in.  “Rest, darling. I will return for you when our business with the Allfather is over. You’re safe here,” he reassured her. 

“I’m sorry,” she murmured, even as she was crashing hard.  “I didn’t see well enough-” 

“You have nothing to apologize for. It is amazing you saw anything at all, and we are all beyond grateful.  Now rest,” he told her, trying to sound stern.  

It came out lovingly exasperated instead.  

Her eyes closed and she crashed.  Hard.  It was too much excitement for one untrained witchling.  Loki kissed her forehead. “Thank you, little one.  You don’t know how much you have helped us.  None of us will forget it,” he told her softly, noting the soft, fond smile she had. 

Loki left her then, closing the door to the private room, shielding it so none of the ninnies who worked in the healing wing could interrupt Morgan’s desperately needed nap. He made his way to the entrance to the healing wing where Thor and Frigga were waiting for him.  Frigga cupped Loki’s cheek, concerned.  “Are you alright, my darling?” she asked.  She was asking about more that about his worry over the vision.  She knew he didn’t want to appear in front of anyone on Asgard in this form, but especially not Odin.  

Loki leaned into her touch as he always did. Since he was cursed, he’d become more touch-starved than ever.  “Not really, but there isn’t anything I can do to fix it,” he admitted.  He wouldn’t admit that to anyone besides his beloved Mama.  

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out, darling,” she tried to reassure him, knowing he was worried about the curse, about appearing as a Jotun on Asgard.  She hated seeing him so broken and lost, but she saw that he has at least some care for the girl.  Maybe… maybe something would come to fruition.  Frigga had a feeling it would be good for him if it did.

However, Frigga could see in Loki’s eyes that he didn’t believe it.  He’d been stuck in this form, without his illusion, for so long that he doubted he would ever find anything to fix it.  Frigga kept her hand on his cheek for a moment longer to comfort him before she took his arm to head to the throne room with her sons. She felt Loki stiffen as he steeled himself to leave the healing wing, but he pressed a kiss to her cheek to reassure her that he was alright.  

The guards let them straight into the throne room and the trio approached the throne.  Odin was on his throne as usual, waiting for them.  He actually stood from his throne and came down the steps to the three of them, to Frigga in particular to kiss her softly, to reassure himself that she was alright. “What is this about intruders?” he asked without preamble.  The safety of the realm left no time for pleasantries, especially if his wife was in danger.  Despite all of his faults, Odin loved Frigga more than anything. 

“There is a half-Asgardian woman I’ve been watching over on Midgard.  She had a vision of Frost Giants invading the palace and taking mother,” Loki explained quickly.

“You trust this vision?” Odin demanded.  He trusted Loki’s magical capabilities if nothing else.  He also trusted Loki’s desire to keep Frigga safe if there was danger. 

“Yes. Lady Morgana may be new to her magic but I trust her vision to be accurate,” Loki replied immediately.  He had no doubts that her vision would come true. 

Odin nodded, accepting that.  “Thor, with me to the bifrost to secure the realm.  Loki, defend your mother,” he ordered and swept from the room, expecting to be obeyed.  

Loki rolled his eyes when Odin and Thor were gone. “Like he even had to ask…” he grumbled.

Frigga laughed.  “Of course he didn’t, my darling, but you know how your father is…” he was notoriously overprotective of his wife.  That’s why it was beyond suicidal that the frost giants were after the queen. Odin would kill every single person he came into contact with in order to keep her safe.

And not feel bad about it at all.

Loki smiled warmly. It was the one thing he and Odin could agree on.  “That I do,”

“And don’t fret, I set the einherjar to guard the healing wing in our absence.  Your lady is safe,” Frigga reassured him with a hint of a smirk.  She was taking a small liberty with the term 'your lady’ and they both knew it. 

Loki gave her a pointed look, though he couldn’t be upset with his mother.  “Don’t start making assumptions, Mother. The only reason she gives me the time of day is because she can’t see what I really look like…”

Frigga gave him a far too innocent smile. “My apologies, darling.  I must have been mistaken,” she said much, much too innocently. Loki’s eyes narrowed and he grumbled under his breath. Frigga laughed and cupped his cheek again.  “Perhaps you give her less credit than she deserves, darling.  Or more accurately give yourself less credit,”

He raised an eyebrow.  “What is that supposed to mean, Mother?” he asked her warily, confused by her words or the implication.

She smiled fondly. “You’ll understand when you’re older,” she teased him as she had his entire life and kissed his cheek.  

Loki groaned.  “I am over a thousand years old,” he grumbled at her, reminding her more of a petulant child than the master magician of Asgard.

Frigga laughed.  “And will always be my son,” she told him warmly.  

Loki surprised her by pulling her into a hug.  “I’ve missed you, mother.  I’m so sorry I shut you out when I left Asgard.”  He’d been so affected by the curse that he’d pushed everyone and everything away so he didn’t get more hurt and so he didn’t hurt anyone.  He was a monster, undeserving of his loved ones.  Or so he’d thought until the little blind girl had started breaking through his defenses.  

Frigga hugged him tightly in return.  “And I have missed you as well, my darling,” she told him warmly. He sighed and tucked his face into the crook of her neck, as he’d done frequently as a child. Frigga smiled fondly and stroked his hair soothingly, as she’d always done for him. 

“I feel so alone, Mother,” he whimpered softly, tears welling in his eyes as he admitted the feelings he’d been trying to hide since he’d been cursed.

Frigga continued stroking his hair.  “I know, my darling, I know.  You’re not alone, my son.  Your family has not abandoned you.  Neither have your friends.  Thor has told me of your soldier friend and your student.  They still care for you. And little lady Morgana,”

He sighed heavily.  “I wish I could break this damn curse. I hate what I am. I always have,” he growled in frustration.  All of his research on how to break it had gotten him nowhere. 

“I know, darling,” she soothed.  “But it is a part of who you are,” she reminded him gently.  He needed to learn that, needed to come to accept his heritage.

“But it doesn’t feel like me!” he protested. “I have always been an Asgardian. That’s how I’ve always seen myself. This is just the monster underneath,”

“You are not a monster,” Frigga told him firmly.  “You are both Jotun and Asgardian,” she paused to make sure she had his attention.  “And you are my son.”  He hugged her even tighter at that, beyond grateful for her unconditional love and her constant acceptance. “If you refuse to believe if of yourself, then believe that I am incapable of raising a monster,”

That earned her a small smile.  “Yes, Mother,” he replied obediently.

Frigga smiled and kissed his cheek.  “See? Things are not so dire, my darling,” she told him warmly.

It was then that the alarms started to go off in the palace.  

“Perhaps I spoke too soon,” Frigga said dryly

[larrykins]

MYTHS, LEGENDS, LIES AND STORIES: An Attempt to a Loki-centric Fanfic

AUTHOR’S NOTES:

The last fan fiction I wrote was Absolution (for Broadchurch) which was two years ago. I haven’t returned into creative writing in years. To be honest, I’m just too tired to think sometimes and moreo ften than not, I find myself lost in my thoughts. Most of the story ideas I have remains as ideas because I am just too damn lazy to write these days. Now, confined at home for almost two weeks due to chicken pox, I I have the time to sit and write down these story ideas in my head.

This is my first attempt to write a fan fiction that is Loki-centric. I have so many feels after watching Thor; Ragnarok last November and frankly I got hooked in so many fanfictions about Loki. I am putting aside my fear of writing a fan fiction about Loki and decided to let go much like what I did when I wrote “After Life” (a Soujiro-centric fan fiction under Rurouni Kenshin). I do not know whether I’d be able to get Loki’s characterization correct but I am using his MCU incarnation and will reference a few materials from Loki: Journey Into Mystery and Loki: Agent of Asgard comic books. I do hope you enjoy this work. This is me and my imagination running wild.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Loki or any other Marvel Characters that appears in this fan fiction. All characters belong to MARVEL. All original characters that will appear in this fan fiction is min though.

gifs and pictures are not mine. Credit goes to the photographer(s) and creator(s). 

MYTHS, LEGENDS, LIES AND STORIES

Only one of you can ascend to the throne. But both of you were born to be kings.

  Loki opened his eyes. His fitful slumber was interrupted by a gentle ray of sunlight peeking through the windows. He groaned in frustration as a realization dawned on him. It was another boring day in this hel hole in Midgard. Closing his eyes as if to muster the courage to get up, Loki consoled himself with the thought that at least this time he had a room and he was not confined in some glass prison.

Midgard was on high alert after Thor and the rest of the surviving Asgardians arrived in the Grand Master’s ark. Migardians, while fond of Thor, was not overly keen on welcoming a few hundred survivors from Asgard who could potentially be as powerful as he or Thor. Heimdall and Valkyrie were surely powerful Asgardians but they are far too loyal to Thor to even think of conquering Midgard.

He was a different case however. As Loki got up, he smiled at the memory of seeing Midgard’s welcoming party for him. High-powered artillery fit to incapacitate an “alien” (as what Midgardians call those who come from space) were on stand-by. A replica of the handcuffs and muzzle he wore when he was captured in New York was immediately placed on him. Thor pleaded with the Midgardians and tried to regal them with the story of his heroic rescue of the Asgardians but apparently it was not enough to vouch for his “change of heart”. In the end, it was Midgard’s Sorcerer and master of the New York Sanctum, Doctor Stephen Vincent Strange who took the responsibility to be his keeper. 

Which brings us to Loki’s present situation. As he got up from his bed in his appointed room in 177A Bleecker Street, Loki opened the curtains of his window to allow the soft morning light to enter the room. He raised his hands and observed his wrists as a thin band of light briefly shined before it disappeared. 

As Doctor Strange took over the responsibility of watching him (since according to the sorcerer, he was among the top 10 of his most dangerous beings watch list), Doctor Strange installed a power dampening spell which limits his powers to mere party tricks. It was only Doctor Strange who can adjust or remove the spell on him. 

The god of mischief and lies has been reduced to an almost mortal existence. His adopted older brother on the other hand, the god of thunder and king of Asgard was busy rebuilding Asgard on the place where they had last seen Odin (and encountered their older sister Hela). Norway and the European Union was kind enough to allow the Asgardians refuge on that place.

I am the better diplomat. Came the bitter thought as he slammed his fist against the window. Thankfully it did not break (because he will never hear the end of it from the second rate sorcerer) and the same time, it was a bitter reminder of how weak he has become.

 But both of you were born to be kings.

 Odin’s words from a distant memory. Loki smiled and his reflection on the window smiled back at him. Yes, he and Thor were born as heirs to the throne but one of them was the unwanted heir. He was neither welcomed in Jotunheim and Hel would freeze before Asgard sees a frost giant ascend its golden throne. 

Odin’s words were neither truth nor lies; they were not empty promises too.

He was king of nothing. His entire existence was built on a lie.

”WOOONNGG!!!” The loud shrieking outside his room was enough to cut any more thoughs from Loki’s morning musings. Pushing himself away from the window, Loki decided to prepare and join the rest of the occupants of the Sanctum for breakfast.

 ----OoO----

 “I swear you are trying to kill me.” Zelma Stanton said as Wong served a cup of tea to the energetic librarian and apprentice of Doctor Strange. She was about to make another remark but she was rendered speechless as Loki waltzed inside the open-spaced breakfast area. Doctor Strange and Wong eyed him warily and followed his every motion. It was a daily dance routine that he has gotten accustomed to since becoming a “guest” in the New York sanctum. 

Loki took the seat opposite Zelma. Carefully placing the napkin on his lap, Loki chose to have the freshly baked bagel and cream cheese for breakfast. As he was spreading the cream cheese on his bagel, Doctor Strange spoke. “Your brother sends word that he will come and visit you this week. Seems like the Asgardians are settling well in Norway.”

“Visit? He is more likely to check if I am up to something here.” Loki responded.

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Strange agrees. “So be good won’t you.” Loki rolled his eyes in response to Strange.

“Tea?” Wong offered.

“Early Gray with milk.”

“How come you ask him and he gets to choose his tea?” Zelma complained. “And here you give me another tentacle tea with lemon squeeze. Talk about bias Wong.”

Wong was about to respond to Zelma when a portal opened in the breakfast room. A young woman with dark brown hair messily tied in a pony tail appeared from the portal. Wisps of hair beautifully framed her face as her amber eyes seem to sparkle in amusement.

“Looks like I am in time for breakfast.” She cheerfully announced as the portal closed behind her.

“And the prodigal apprentice returns.” Wong teased. Setting down the teapot, Wong opened his arms as the young woman ran towards him and embraced him.

“I am not a prodigal apprentice. Doctor Strange ‘loaned’ me to Thor to teach Asgardian scholars about Midgard.” The woman responded as she glared at Strange. Strange just smiled at her.

“Good to have you back though.” Zelma declares as she stood from her chair to give the young woman a welcome hug. As soon as Zelma released the young woman from her embrace, she turned to Loki.

“Good Morning Prince Loki. Your brother says he misses you and that he looks forward to visit you this week.”

“Doctor Strange have relayed that message to me already.” Loki retorts gently. “And welcome back Lady Brielle.” Loki offers.

“Please, Brielle is just fine. I’ve had enough of the ‘lady’ title to last me a lifetime! Asgardians and their Victorian sensibilities.” She counters as she takes the seat beside Loki.

The breakfast table was then filled with lively chatter and friendly banter. Loki mused as he carefully observes Brielle how her presence easily changed the atmosphere of the room and the dynamics of its occupants. In the months he had spent in the sanctum, he had several interactions with Doctor Strange’s valet and guardian, Wong, his librarian and apprentice Zelma and his other apprentice Brielle Aine McKenzie.

Strange as his sworn keeper has always been guarded around him despite disguising it under intellectual conversations. Wong have always regarded him with careful measure of caution while Zelma occasionally converses with him but he realized that his mere presence unnerves the woman. Brielle was Zelma’s complete opposite however. While he knows that he intimidates her, the woman has never took a step back whenever they discuss and debate. She possesses the cool and calm intellectual facade of Strange but underneath it all is a fiery and fierce creature prepared to tackle any obstacle before her.

“Brielle Aine. Your name suits you perfectly.” Loki commented as he smiled. They were in the middle of a heated argument about the true meaning of freedom when Brielle lost her temper and pushed him in the mirror dimension.

“Your compliments won’t save you from this argument Loki, Prince of Asgard.” She chides. She was in her battle stance.

“God’s bravest and brilliant woman. Whoever gave you that name must have seen into your future.” He quips. He raises his arm as if surrendering already.

“My name has nothing to do with what we were discussing. Freedom is not something you derive from fear and subjugation. Freedom is the choice to follow what you believe in.”

“And from that argument darling, I do have the freedom to conquer Midgard since I believe that to be its benevolent leader would mean to give freedom to Midgardians.” Loki argued.

“Where is freedom if we fear you and fear for our very life. That is not freedom, that is a prison.”

“And so you are prepared to fight me to prove your point then?” He inquires. “Punching me in the face to make me agree with you is not freedom at all.”

“No it won’t.” Brielle answers confidently. “But it will give me one hell of a satisfaction that I punched the would-be conqueror of New York in the face.”

‘A warrior indeed’ Loki muses as he listened to Brielle’s story about her ‘classes’ with the Asgardian scholars. ‘And brilliant as the sun, it warms and burns at the same time’.

 ----OoO----

 Loki was not really allowed to leave the Sanctum. Not that he blames Strange for that. New Yorkers were still recovering from the trauma his failed invasion has caused and he knew that walking around New York would provoke people to attack him just for vengeance. Loki values his life and his keen sense of self-preservation has always kept him out of sticky situations. The last thing he would want was to die in Midgard from an attack by the Midgardians because he is ‘almost’ mortal.

And so, he has found a quiet reprieve in the sanctum’s library. Zelma was quiet enough to allow him to read in peace. He was in no mood to spar today despite the fact the Wong generously offered to spar with him. Loki preferred the quiet of the library especially now that too many unwanted thoughts have plagued him since he woke up.

 Your mother calls me.

I love you my sons.

 A moment of sentiment creeped into Loki’s being as he heard and remembered Odin’s last words to him and Thor. Did the mighty king of Asgard truly loved him as a son? Was it sentiment that moved Odin to bring Laufey’s unwanted child to Asgard?

 “What am I?” Loki asks.

“You are my son.” Odin answers.

 He never really was his son. The thing about Odin is that his words were never plain. He’d lead you to thinking that he was speaking of a fact but underneath that lies more meaning and more messages. Odin’s words were like a cipher, you have to decode it in order to truly understand it. Odin was never a man of simplicity when it comes to his words. He was a wordsmith.

 A silver tongue just like him.

The truth about mortality is that it leads you to questions everything about yourself. So many things to do with so little time. So many dreams to plan but none really turn out as you envision it. Loki, being almost mortal, have come to a moment in his long existence that causing mischief had become tiresome and evaluating what he knows about himself has become more excruciating. The god of mischief and lies’ life has been founded on an intricately woven lie. It would have been better if he was abandoned in Jotunheim or have died in the void.

 The   Void. Another moment in his life that blurred everything he knew about himself. The Void and The Other made him question what is real and what is not. It tormented him in so many ways that made him fear beyond logic. And his failure to conquer Midgard had already sealed his fate. It was only a matter of time. Not even the sanctum can protect him from his fate. This, everything that he experiences now, were just a momentary reprieve. The inevitable would be coming.

 And he chooses to use this momentary reprieve to ponder on his existence. 

I have grown soft. He thinks.

 “Just in case you haven’t noticed, you haven’t really turned a page in that book you are reading. I wonder if you even understood that page or you were merely projecting an image that you are reading.”

 Loki looked up and saw Brielle leaning against the library’s doors. Her sling bag was around her and she was holding her coat. Loki cleared his throat as he closed the book, doing his best to regain his composure. Brielle laughed softly at him.

“Are you heading out?” He inquired. “You just got back from Norway.”

“I have to get a few things from my office in the university.” She responded. “Would you like to come?”

It took Loki five seconds to register and comprehend what he had just heard. He had a surprised look on his face while she looked at him determinedly.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I said, do you want to come?” She repeated. Her eyes locked on his piercing green eyes that were full of questions.

“Strange won’t...”

“I already asked permission from Doctor Strange. He is confident that you will be under control since he has cast a limiting spell on you. I may not be as strong as the sanctum’s master but I am also confident in my own abilities that I can take-on a de-poweered demigod.” She explained. Loki looked at her incredulously. She smiled at him warmly. “Since you still have a little magic in you, you think you can cast a glamour or disguise? I wouldn’t want the Prince of Asgard to be mobbed by angry New Yorkers.”

 ----OoO----

 It was his first time out of the sanctum since he arrived six months ago. He was seeing New York from a different perspective. He saw it before atop Stark’s Tower but seeing the city from the ground was a far more different experience. He walked closely behind Brielle. The last thing he needed was to get lost since he doesn’t have enough magic to transport him back to the sanctum.

New York is indeed a concrete jungle, Loki concluded.

“Jeez, you could have chosen a more subtle disguise?” Brielle admonishes.

“I believe I have chosen the perfect disguise. Polished, sophisticated and commanding. It is very appropriate for this city.” Loki retorts proudly as he examined his reflection from the cart of the train they had ridden.

(In case you are wondering, this what I had in mind when I imagined Loki’s disguise.)

“And I look like your trashy personal assistant. Feels like I am walking with that famous British actor that every female student I have is going nuts over with.” She rants as her companion offered her a smug smile. Loki examined their reflections and he could not help but agree to her analogy. She was after all wearing a baggy coat, faded jeans and worn-out chucks. Her scarf was hastily wrapped around her neck. Whereas he, he wore a three-piece suit and a trench coat to compliment his polished look. He changed his hair color from black to blonde and wore a pair of eye glasses that made his green eyes look like deep blue instead.

“Thank you for your compliment.” He teased and she rolled her eyes.

“A little cliche with the eyeglasses for a disguise though.” She smirked at him but Loki was lost as to how the eyeglasses made his disguise a cliche.

“I believe my dear Lady Brielle, you are just jealous of how I look.”

A few minutes later, they emerged from the subway to an expansive university grounds. Loki took on the scenery while keeping Brielle in sight. She knew the place like it was the back of her hand and he followed her around. They entered one of the buildings that Brielle called a hall. Taking several flights of stairs, they stopped by the third door on the third floor’s corridor. She opened the door and they were greeted by a cheerful middle-aged woman sitting by the reception desk.

“Doctor McKenzie! Welcome back. I hope you had good trip.” She greeted.

“It wasn’t vacation Betsy. It was work. Thank you though.” She responded as she removed her scarf and coat. The woman called Betsy carefully studied Loki then. He nodded at her as his way of greeting and acknowledging her.

“Quite a handsome fellow you have here. Are you sure you didn’t go for a vacation?” Betsy quips as she raises a brow to her.

“Oh he is an Asgardian envoy who flew back with me. Part of the culture and history exchange program we have agreed with Neo-Asgard.” Brielle explained without looking at Betsy. She quickly rummaged her desk for various documents and stacks of papers.

“Is he now? I hope Doctor McKenzie is not giving you a hard time?”

“Doctor McKenzie is an excellent guide.” Loki answers. “I have learned much about Midgard, I mean Earth’s history and culture from her.”

“As long as she isn’t grading your paper son. You don’t know how many students have come to me begging to have an appointment with her.” Betsy recalls.

“In my defense, their papers were poorly conceptualized and poorly written.” Brielle said from behind the desk. “Found it! I knew I left it here.” She triumphantly raised two worn out books and was grinning like a child.

“And here I thought you were here to get the papers your students have submitted for their final paper.” Betsy shook her head in disapproval.

“Oh I am getting those too. Time to raise some merry hell on them.”

After shoving her worn out books and a stack of papers in her sling bag, Loki and Brielle left Betsy and began their trek back to the subway. Brielle asked if he wanted to look around for a bit which Loki agreed to. She pointed various halls that house the university’s colleges and schools. She showed him one of the university’s libraries (which he found impressive) and brought him to a park that students would usually use a hang-out place. Brielle then took him to a small cafe within the campus. Since she has been a regular customer, the cafe attendant was quick to give them a quiet yet cozy spot by the windows.

“Thank you.” Loki said as they were waiting for their orders to be served.

“You are welcome. I hope you are enjoying your field trip.”

“For once its nice to be out and about.” He reveals.

“You look like you needed fresh air anyways.” She counters. “You were so deep in thought earlier I wasn’t so sure whether you were musing about something or just plain depressed.”

Loki smiles sardonically. “No time to be depressed. No time to mourn.”

“Says the god of mischief and lies. For once you do not sound convincing.” Brielle informs him. Loki was not surprised because he didn’t believe himself either.

“Tell me Doctor McKenzie, what makes history fascinating to you? For all we know, history is just a big lie.” He challenges.

“As an old saying goes, history is written down by the victors;” she begins “however, it doesn’t mean that those on the other side of history have no story to tell. Every experience, every account is a truth that is truer to the person who experienced it.” She looks outside the window, her eyes were thoughtful and warm. “You learn history not to become a bitter person. You learn history because you want to understand how things were before, how they came to be and how they can be better. Learning history changes you because you value more what you have right now and work hard to be better than the ones who have come before you.”

“It could be lies. Evidences can be falsified and accounts can be twisted to serve a specific intent and purpose.” Loki asserts.

“Could be. Could not. It is always a search for understanding and truth. Every story fabricated or not is tied to another story. There is always a bigger picture.” Brielle answers. The waiter finally came and served their meal. There was a brief interlude in their discussion and Loki welcomed it.

 Every story fabricated or not is tied to another picture. There is always a bigger picture.

 ‘So what is my history then? What is the bigger picture?’ He asks himself.

 ----OoO----

 ‘So why did he lie?” Loki asks. He was in Odin’s bedside as the king had fallen to another Odinsleep.

“He kept the truth from you so you would never feel different.” Frigga answered. “You are our son Loki and we are your family.”

 Sleep eluded Loki that evening. What was the bigger story of his life then? He kept asking himself and yet he seems nowhere near the answers he seeks. The more he looks back, the more he realizes that there was nothing about himself that was true.

 “Am I not real and true my son?”

 Loki snaps out of his reverie. It was surely his tired senses playing on him but he thought he heard Frigga. Frigga, his adoptive mother who treated him like he was a child that came out of her own flesh and blood. Frigga who stood by him but never condoned his wrong doings. Frigga who probably was the only one whom he can truly acknowledge as someone who cared for him.

 Always so perceptive of everyone but yourself.

 What is the point of looking inside when people around you are busy pointing out who you are in the first place? Loki was a prince, a god, an heir, a silvertongue, a son, a brother, a deceiver, a usurper, a traitor, a villain. He was all of that and none of that at the same time. He was no one, and his only birth right was death.

 His birth right would be fulfilled very soon.

 Can a person be someone and no one at the same time?

 His self-reflection was interrupted by a knock on his door. Getting up from his bed, Loki openned his door and was surprised to see Brielle with her hair disheveled standing in front of him.

 “Sorry to disturb you but I really have to ask you something. I’ve been meaning to ask this to you before but I got shipped away to Norway.” She says while catching her breath.

“Did you run from your room to here? Whatever it is you will ask, it must be of grave importance.” Loki concludes.

“Not really but I have to ask you this before it slips my mind again. Is it true that you are the father of Hela and Jormundgrd? And did you really give birth to an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir?” She asked.

“What?” was all Loki could say because of the absurdity of the question. If only he could resurrect Volstagg and Frandal and kill them again with his own hands.

“I said...”

“I know what you said” Loki interrupts. “But I fail to see how important those were that you had to run here looking disheveled.” He points out. “The answer is no. It was a rumor that Volstagg and Frandal started spreading after Sigyn turned down my proposal.”

“Since you had your heart broken, you turned yourself to a horse and had sex with another horse? What a strange rebound practice.” Brielle joked and she was doing her best not to laugh out loud.

“And Hela is apparently Odin’s oldest born. The rightful heir to Asgard’s throne. Since she became megalomaniac, Odin had to cast her out somewhere.” He leaned on his door frame and began massaging the bridge of his nose. “Since Hela draws her power from Asgard, Thor and I decided to destroy Asgard. I went to Odin’s vault, took Surtur’s crown and placed it in the eternal flame therefor summoning Surtur in Asgard that led to its destruction and fulfilling the prophecy about Ragnarok. It’s the reason why we ended up here in Midgard.” He explained.

“I know about the last part but the one about Hela...well...” Brielle cleared her throat. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Just in case you are wondering, I was never married and am still unmarried. I know your Midgardian myth says I was married to Sigyn and we had sons named Vali and Narvi. Fact, we were never married. She turned me down. Your myth also states that I was chained to a rock while snake drips his poisonous venom on my face and Sigyn collects the venom in a bowl. That never happened as well. Thor and I were both punished by Odin because we played a prank on an Alfaheim princess who was supposed to be Thor’s fiance.” Loki explained.

“So King Thor is a mischievous little child too. Something I can use to tease him when I see him again.” Brielle excitedly announced and Loki just sighed.

“I told you, history is a lie. Look at how they twisted our stories.” He proclaimed.

“First and foremost, Asgard shut us out after the Jotuns attacked us during the ancient times. Second, myths and legends came into existence to explain things that does not make sense to us. They were created as a source of learning and to teach morality.” Brielle then let out a laugh. “Too bad but it seems like you are the Norse Mythology’s Hades, painted as perpetually evil but for all intents and reasons, a perfectly misunderstood being.” Loki refused to comment further on what Brielle said. Brielle smiled as she walked away from Loki’s door. She bid him goodnight and proceeded to return to her room.

Loki closed the door and leaned on it for a couple of seconds. He was catching his breath. His mind was raising and his carefully structured thinking was destroyed in mere seconds.

...painted as perpetually evil but for all intents and reasons, a perfectly misunderstood being.

He closed his eyes willing every fiber of his being from clinging into something he had no right to ever have.

----OoO----

[fromdirectorlanawachowski]

Honest and Unmerciful Infinity War Thoughts

TL;DR: it was absurdly bad and marvel should be ashamed of putting this out.

I’m going to preface this by saying I freely admit I’ve had no love for the MCU ever since Iron Man 3. Their casting leaves a lot to be desired, their writing leaves a lot to be desired, their directors choices leaves a lot to be desired. Their story elements are picked up and cast aside almost immediately, like a four year old trying to play with all his Hot Wheels at once.

That said, after Homecoming, Ragnarok, and Black Panther, I felt like the series was on its way back to, if not greatness, then certainly a point where I could enjoy it again, rather than see the glaring holes where a better story could have been told by better hands.

And then Infinity War happened.

Right away the opening was a shambles. Completely renders the hope spot ending of Ragnarok moot by killing off the Asgardians, save Thor. A casual reference is made later to “Thanos killed half my people and my brother”, but unless he took prisoners, I don’t think you can survive your space ship being blown up.

Also Heimdall went out like a bitch. We’ve known for years now that they had no idea what to do with the guy who could see everything, but pinning him down so he can be stabbed five minutes in was callous.

Loki’s death was a long time coming. I enjoyed that. I’m grateful.

The Children of Thanos mumble half their lines, but they also exposit half the plot, which is an unfortunate combination. They’re also the pinnacle of locking out the casual moviegoer. If you don’t know who these people are from the comics, you won’t be told. You’ll spend two and a half hours wondering where these people came from and why we haven’t seen them sooner

Thanos ends the opening two gems up, so tension is immediately drained from the rest of the movie. We know every fight is going to be a curb stomp battle with him winning.

Another element from Ragnarok cast aside: Hulk is able to apparently turn back into Bruce, which he does immediately after falling into the Sanctum.

Wong was the best character and he was in it for five minutes (everyone else was in it for five minutes too, but his were the most memorable). I was still laughing at “I have 200 rupees so…. A buck fifty” on the car ride home.

As is par for the course with Marvel lately, no reference is made to any local heroes who might be able to help. Marvel pumps millions into its Netflix shows only to pretend they don’t exist. If I was working on them, to say I’d be insulted is an understatement.

Tony’s new nanotech suit looks like it’s made of cheap plastic, like it was a replica Iron Man suit you’d see at your local comic con.

They knew no one would see Dr. Strange, so they spent a good amount of time forcing the fact that Strange had the Time Stone into your head.

Thanos’ goons escape with Strange’s unconscious body on their flying Ringolo, with Tony in hot pursuit and Peter stuck to the side. (Peter’s sole purpose in this movie, by the way, is to parrot pop culture references because the writers can’t write women or teenagers.)

Wanda and Vision (don’t even get me started on that relationship) are hiding out in Scotland, having crazy romance and giving the audience mood whiplash since we just saw New York under fire. After they get beaten up by another pair of Thanos’ goons (or possibly the same pair, none of them are especially distinct), Steve, Nat, and Sam swoop in and rescue them, jetting off for “home”.

Which is the Avengers facility in New York, where Rhodey’s only real purpose in this movie is to remind everyone about the Accords so that Steve can march in and tell Ross the Accords don’t matter, they’ll do what’s right when the going gets tough. If he’d had the balls to do that in Civil War, we wouldn’t have had the infamous Tesco Parking Lot Fight.

The Guardians pick up Thor and we get five minutes of jokes about Rocket that got old in the first GoTG movie, and jokes about Thor that got old in the first Avengers movie.

Back on the Ringolo, Peter makes another pop culture reference and they blast the dead elf looking goon out into space and get control of the ship. They’re bound for Titan. Is it a new planet? Is it Saturn’s moon? Who knows? The plot sure doesn’t.

Gamora’s tragic backstory is expanded on incredibly briefly. I don’t think Mrs Gamora’s mom ever told her not to talk to giant purple strangers committing mass murder.

Gamora makes Quill promise to kill her, in a bit of foreshadowing shaped not unlike a brick to the face. Drax does Drax things. Much as I love him, using Drax to defuse a tense scene between Quill and Gamora is old now. Please find another use for him.

Through the Reality Stone and Benicio Del Toro in a bad wig, Thanos captures Gamora and surprise! Quill couldn’t kill her.

Was this torture scene with Nebula really necessary? Or did someone at Marvel go “I don’t think they know how much we hate women, lets have Thanos torture Nebula and then reveal to Gamora that he knew the truth all along”?

Thor, Groot, and Rocket’s adventure to Nidavellir would have been better if they didn’t give the great Peter Dinklage and Thor the ungodly exchange of

“You can’t take the full blast of the star, you’ll be killed!” “You mean I might die!?” “.....yes, that’s what ‘you’ll be killed’ means.”

Also Red Skull is here, but he’s not played by Hugo Weaving and whoever they hired to replace him can’t do an accent, so the end result is less “Oh hey it’s that guy!” and more “Is this a new person?”

Gamora’s death was cruel and unnecessary and had been telegraphed from the moment we got her tragic backstory.

The Guardians, Tony, Strange, and Peter meet up on Titan (again, Saturn’s moon or what? Who knows.). Because no one is capable of talking to each other in this movie, they fight until Quill, Tony, and Peter realize they’re all human.

Quill isn’t from Earth, he’s from Missouri, because he’s an idiot now.

Thanos appears and it’s motivation time. After ten years, surely we have something great lined up. Is it Mistress Death? Is it to unite the universe under his control? A little good old fashioned megalomania? No it’s…. Overpopulation. He wants to save the universe… from overpopulation. I will henceforth be referring to him as Evil Al Gore.

The combined Guardvengers have Evil Al Gore subdued and the gauntlet is off. I REPEAT, the gauntlet is OFF. Then Nebula realizes Gamora is dead and Quill loses it, distracting Mantis from keeping him subdued and letting him get the gauntlet back on.

The battle, nay, the WAR, was literally won until they injected a little Man Pain into the script.

Strange decides to surrender because the script told him to, and surrenders the Time Stone just like that.

In Wakanda, Shuri (god bless her) is going to try and get the stone out of Vision without killing Vision while the rest of the Stevevengers plus Bucky, T’Challa, and the Wakandans try and hold off Evil Al Gore’s goons and their army of… alien attack dogs?

Shuri, after two lines in the movie, dives off screen literally never to be seen again. A tragic waste of the best character they’ve given us in at least five years.

Wanda agrees to destroy the stone in Vision’s head, and even succeeds, until Evil Al Gore, rewinds time and reassembles it. Voila, he has all six stones, like we knew would happen two minutes into the movie.

Thor beats him up but neglected to go for anywhere that might actually stop him, so Evil Al Gore clicks his fingers and vanishes and people start to disintegrate.

They try for a little tugging at the heartstrings with Peter vanishing, but all he’s done all movie is spout pop culture at me in a borderline insulting parody of teenagers, so I’m a little glad to see him go.

Evil Al Gore retires to his retirement planet to watch the sun set, but not before a vision of baby Gamore asks him what it cost. “Everything”, apparently.

Points of note:

The movie is so overstuffed with characters that everyone is barely in it. Characters literally trip over each other for screentime and lines.

There are seldom more than five main characters in a scene at once

Thanos is so overpowered right from the start that no fight scene involving him is tense at all.

What the fuck was that villain motivation

The plot has no cohesion. Things happen because the plot mandates them, not because they make sense.

The effects are good if it’s cg elements interacting with cg elements. Once a live actor or prop is introduced, it falls apart. It’s painfully clear the budget went to the cast. Just look at Bruce in the Hulkbuster at the end

The fact Marvel has no central story team is glaringly obvious.

Nobody in this movie is in character.

Overall? 2/10. Marvel really thought that was an acceptable movie to put out after ten years.

[lonelyghosts-stuff]

Avengers Infinity War-First Time Watching Reaction Play-by-Play (Pt. 1)

I’m about to cry... Loki... please no...

Thanks you wrinkly purple nut sack

“We have a hulk.” I’m gonna cry

“I assure you brother, the sun will shine on us again.” AGHHHHH

How on earth is Thanos able to beat up the hulk with only one infinity stone but when he has all of them, the hulk is able to put up a fight?

Oh bye hulk.

Neat trick Heimdall. How come you couldn’t do that with Thor and Loki?

HEIMDALL NO!!!!

No ones had the ability to wield two infinity stones at once? Lmao. Well, in the first avengers, Loki had the scepter AND the tesseract soooo

And the TVA laughs at you Thanos.

HE CALLED HIMSELF ODINSON AGHHHHH

I’m crying

Loki is dead now

Fortunately the existence of the show is helping to alleviate the pain, but we will never see THIS Loki again...

Thor has lost everything. I feel so bad for him. He’s lost his mom, his dad, his friends, his home and people, and his brother.

Good thing Heimdall knew to send Hulk directly into the sanctum. Poor Bruce.

Thanos, I will take great pleasure in your suffering in death. Know this. There is no quadrant in space that you can flee to where you can avoid my wrath. “You think you know pain?” I’ll make you beg “for something as sweet as pain.”

Is Tony like, able to predict the future or something? Morgan Stark?

No more surprises ever Stark? About that...

Science bros hug

Ben and Jerry’s product placement. Nice

Course Vision made himself go offline. Smoochie time with Wanda.

Would shoving the time stone down a garbage disposal even do anything lol? Like, I feel like it would destroy the whole building lol.

Call your boy Steve, Tony!

Suck up your pride.

Poor Bruce. Always getting filled in on all the details last minute.

Bruce has it probably one of the worst. Dudes getting chucked around the universe into places he has no ideas what’s going on in.

Flip phone time

CALL HIM

Oh no

Rumbling?

Ah cripes

Quick make a call on the run

Multitasking is a lifesaver Tony

Poor New York. Why would anyone want to live there in this universe?

Earth’s closed

Go away

Spider man, spider man,

Ned is my favorite avenger.

How did no one see Peter lmao

STAN LEE

EXCELSIOR

SPIDER MAN IS GOING TO SPACE

lmao Tony ain’t gonna be happy

Work it Stephen. Do your interpretive dance moves.

EARTH IS CLOSED

GO AWAY

HEY—my life isn’t that meaningless...

Savage, ratchet

He exhausts us too

Banner having performance issues.

Hulk is on hiatus apparently

Dude you’re embarrassing me in front of the wizards.

heck yea, CGI time

Ebony Maw got no chill.

Hey maybe don’t turn your back on the enemy

Stephen, you almost crushed Bruce under a taxi.

Eh I’ve fought this guy in Marvel Champions... he’s not that tough

Hey Peter

Bye Peter

Tony, master of summaries.

Hulk is in his feels.

It’s a simple spell but quite unbreakable

Meme time

Cmon Stephen you’re supposed to be powerful

Sleepy strange

Capey to the rescue!

I love how Peter doesn’t even question the existence of wizards.

CAPEY NO—

SAVE HIM CAPEY

BEAM ME UP SCOTTY SPIDEY

Wong really just sent that beast to attack poor Inuits huh?

Wong is invited to the wedding

“I can breathe.” *exposes face to space*

Okay that was pretty sick. I don’t particularly like the iron suit as it feels kinda lame since I loved that Peter made his own, but it works here.

Poor pepper

You just had to leave the phone tony

At least Bruce somehow found it

Hell yea it’s my favorite space group, the Guardians of the galaxy. Featuring dance daddy, sleeping invisible man, dance mom, sleepy rabbit, and angst plant.

Now I’m hungry for cheddar

Poor Gamora lmao

Oh and I can’t forget mantis

Mantis you got a killer mean face

Angsty teen plant

Huh they learned Grootish

Uh oh

Gamora knows something up

Oh hi thor

He is not a dude. This is a man.

Poor Peter quill lmao

Heyyyyy Chris Pratt worked out hard to get into shape for this role lmao

Poor Thor...

He literally lost EVERYTHING

Peter is jellyyyy

Drax has a man crush

ASGARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Thanos isn’t that smart. Just like, double the resources.

Oh thank you thor for being sympathetic

Peter, stop it. It’s not a competition of who has the worst life.

Gosh I love Chris Pratt so friggin much. He’s a national treasure lmaoo. I love him so much.

Peter grow up

Both of you

Children

Oh there’s an actual place called Knowhere

Oh yea Tivan the collector. Didn’t he die?

Half of the Asgardians? I didn’t see them

Kevin bacon is an avenger

Oh Gamora... how did she know where the soul stone is?

Nidavellir? Axe time

Lmao I love the rabbit

HAHAHAHA I LOVE THIS

Thor and rocket rabbit are my favorite duo now

I love rocket so much lmao

I like this thor much better than the one we saw in Ragnarök. (Again, I love that movie as just a movie, but not as a Thor movie)

Good bye morons

Oh hey Paul Bettany

SO CUTE

Love you guys

Wanda vision

Don’t get too attached tho

“I just feel you” oh no... I know where that line comes back around

Promises to go back? To who? For what?

Robot lover

Robosexuality (futurama anyone)

I SHIP IT SO MUCH

Poor Vision lol

Convenient TV News exposition is convenient

Go with him wanda

You just messed up

Poor vision

WRECK EM WANDA

SHOW THEM THE POWER

No more phasing? Oh no.

Cmon Wanda MESS EM UP

No more phasing? Vision should be friends with ghost

It sure is lucky that no one seems to be out and about in Scotland huh?

IMAGINE if Wanda had the powers she had at the end of wandavision right here. Thanos and everyone else would be no match

BOSS GIRL MOMENT

OH HELL YA

THAT IS HOW YOU MAKE AN ENTRANCE CAPTAIN AMERICA ROGERS!!!

AND THE FUTURE CAPTAIN AMERICA SAM TOO!

AND BLACK WIDOW

You aliens are no match

I wanna kill them

Cowards

Gosh Nat is such a badass

Wow Steve looks great with a beard

Digging the suit too, more subtle

Poor Gamora oh my gosh

I wonder why Thanos chose to keep Gamora? She didn’t really display a fighting spirit here

I’m confused. Gamora was described as the last of her kind but the flashback showed only half of them being killed which is more accurate to what Thanos wanted?

Cmon quill, take things seriously...

Oh dear

Quill, be serious...

PETER BE SERIOUS

Swear it

KISS KISS KISS YEA

Dangit drax

Lmao poor drax

I got a bad feeling about Knowhere

I thought Tivan died? Like in the explosion of the power stone?

Drax don’t

Drax be patient

DRAX NOT YET

Drax you couldn’t even take on Ronan... don’t do it ya lovable dummy

Gosh poor Drax

Poor Peter quill

Nice hits Gamora!!!

Just kill him

If someone shot him in the head right here it’d all be over

Oh my gosh I feel so bad for Gamora

Phenomenal acting from Zoe Saldana

He’s not dead... sooooo what’s his play?

Ah

Illusion

Copy cat for Loki

Oh my

Oh so he planned this

OP bastard

Already has the reality stone

Soooo Tivan is dead then?

Oh my that’s horrifying

Grimace lmao

Peter

Cmon

Peter

The emotion

Chills

I hate you Thanos

I really do

OH MY GOSH THEY SAID I LOVE YOU

Thanos you BASTARD

Copying Loki’s move set

Poor quill

This is the last time they see each other huh?

Wait wait wait wait wait, I remember that another Gamora from another timeline comes in and helps. How come she isn’t arrested by the TVA? She’s a variant just like Loki???

You tell em Rhodes

They have nothing to be forgiven

Hell yea baddie Steve

Oh do they think Tony is dead?

Love you Rhodes

Get Steve looks great

BANNER AND NAT

Awkward tensionnnnn

Quick kiss before it’s too late

Lmao poor Sam and his crush on Nat

Lmao Ant-Man and Spider-Man

How long is vision unable to phase?

Poor Wanda... if only they could get it out in Wakanda (I hate how much I know about this without watching).

Isn’t white vision with this visions memories now? Like, can him and Wanda get back together?

WAKANDA

Rest In Peace KING T’CHALLA, Chadwick Boseman! Wakanda forever!

White wolf baby. Lesssgettttittttt

BUCKY BABY LOOKING LIKE JESUS

Poor baby, one fight to another. His only calm in wakanda...

Precarious needle positioning is precarious

Ouch

Ouch

Ouch

Ouch

Ouch

Ouch

Ouch

Ouch

Ouch

Ouch

CMON TONY SAVE HIM

Oh peter

Lmao

Oop

Fault?

Love peter. Perfect awkward teen

“You can’t be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man if there’s no neighborhood.” That worked out perfectly.

Omg peter you’re making even me feel old asking about the “old” movie Aliens.

CAPEY TO THE RESCUE AGAIN

Soooo is ebony maw dead now? He didn’t last long

Cmon you cocky cuckoos

“I’m peter by the way.” “Doctor strange.” “Oh we’re using our made up names... um-I’m spider man then.” Gosh I love peter so much lmao

Yayyyyy PTSD we love that. Poor Tony. He needs therapy. They all do, really.

Man I know how this ends...

Harsh strange... harsh. You’ll learn that the universe also depends on these guys.

Peter is an avenger. Lmao he’s so perfect at being awkward.

Oh no. Poor Gamora. Quick, kill him with the soup.

Thanos, just DOUBLE THE RESOURCES. For cripes sake man. You don’t gotta be a genocidal maniac.

Gamora is only in here 20s? Or I guess maybe 30s now.

Thanos, you don’t understand. Wanna know why you can still see people in poverty happy? Because they see the hope. They value family. You could have given them resources. Not killed them.

Part 2

[forgcdstrength]

Frigga

FACE-CLAIM: Rene  Russo

STATUS: semi-active

ORIENTATION: panromantic bisexual

MAIN VERSE: canon; post-Avengers

BIOGRAPHY:

PRE-THOR:

Frigga was born the daughter of a relatively inconsequential Vanir nobleman, and a well-respected witch who had turned her focus towards healing – all the better to be accepted by the Vanir. The youngest of a half-dozen children, she spent much of her younger years three steps behind her mother, watching her heal others, and going on to learn the basics of the art for herself. It was her brothers who ensured she knew how to defend herself, how to wield a sword and daggers, and in time she learned how to use her magic defensively as well.

A fact which she was later grateful for, as her people fell into war with the Aesir. The war was trying for the Vanir, and distasteful to them; soon they began to desire peace, and a truce. Bor, at least, wasn’t a totally unreasonable man, and a truce was soon reached – though it came at an unexpected price for Frigga. Bor’s favored son, Odin, the heir to his throne, had taken note of her – or at least of her beauty – in the council rooms while the truce was being outlined. Part of the price of peace was that Frigga moved to Asgard to become Odin’s wife and eventual queen, and for the sake of her beloved people, Frigga agreed.

It was a difficult transition, though not, at least a difficult beginning to a marriage. She came to care for, and eventually love, Odin, but she struggles with Asgardian culture. The violence that was seeped into every aspect of their lives hurt Frigga’s heart, and though her opinions slowly began to change parts of Odin’s outlook, one woman couldn’t change a whole culture.

In time, she turned her thoughts toward more personal things – hers and Odin’s growing desire to have children. However, it was not something that came easily to them – specifically to Frigga, and healers had never yet been able to heal their own bodies.

It was a painful irony, Frigga thought, that her title became that of the “All-Mother” when Odin took the throne, but it became something that she embraced. If she couldn’t have children of her own, why shouldn’t she “adopt” and look out for all of Asgard? That was her title, after all, and from that angle, it was one she was able to embrace. Her unbreakable love for the Vanir remaining, the notion of it made her feel like a fully-integrated Asgardian at long last.

Yet a miracle was waiting just around the corner for the couple. Frigga became pregnant and gave Odin a perfectly healthy miracle son they named Thor. The miracle even happened a second time; she became pregnant again… but it was not to be. This time, the child, a daughter, was born lifeless.

Amid a chaotic time of war with Jotunheim was not the time to grieve, but Frigga couldn’t help it. She took to her bed, she was so inconsolable with grief for her child and a growing hatred for her own body. Odin’s frequent presence in the warfront – and absence from her – did not help, and Thor was the only reason she was kept from abject depression most days.

Then the war with Jotunheim was over and won, and Odin returned to her – bringing much more home than she had ever anticipated. She was sitting in Thor’s nursery, minding her son – as she’d had energy to do little else since the stillbirth – when Odin came in, traces of the battle still on his armor, and placed a blue-eyed baby boy in her arms. An orphan misplaced in the war, he said, their son now, if she desired it so.

She didn’t question it until that night when they lay together in the darkness, unable to see one another’s expression. How had he found an Asgardian infant on Jotunheim? He hadn’t; the child was a Jotun, but well-disguised of the babe’s own accord, and he need never know his true heritage. He could be their second child, and if the time ever came, revealing that a Jotun had been raised in the Asgardian palace might help bring about true peace and partnership with Jotunheim.

After that night, it was never mentioned again, and the boys became equal in Frigga’s heart… though as the years wore on, she noticed that they were not viewed as equals by their peers. So, she took Loki into her personal tutelage; he had shown signs of proficiency in magic even if he didn’t know how much so, and she taught him how to capitalize upon it. How to use his size as a strength all it’s own, more spells than were perhaps necessary – but he was good at it, and she enjoyed the private time spent with boy… even as he became a man.

Even as she and Odin began to disagree more and more on things, as Thor’s childish character flaws remained despite his age, as Loki began to maintain friendships with fewer people than ever. The flaws in her family were beginning to show, and despite being the All-Mother, Frigga didn’t know how to help her three men. So, she loved them all as fiercely as she could, but it didn’t really help, and she felt increasingly powerless against it all.

THOR:

Especially when Odin banished Thor to Midgard, of all places, with none of his powers or any real context of the culture he was entering. She didn’t like to yell at her husband, but she did then – and he ignored her pleas, regardless.

But as bad as the incident with Thor was, he at least returned home changed for the better.

It was Loki whose issues were more difficult to resolve. In going to Jotunheim, he’d met Laufey, and come home and touched the Casket, discovering his true heritage. Odin, she believed, had done his best to answer Loki’s questions, but clearly, they hadn’t been sufficient answers, because Loki had come to her with his questions while they were at Odin’s bedside. Her heart stuttered in her chest as he explained what he’d discovered, she did her best to answer his questions and ease his obvious disquiet. She knew by the look on his face she hadn’t said enough, even as guards came and presented him with Gungnir, making him king until Odin awoke.

She told herself she’d done her best in the moment, but in the end her best clearly wasn’t enough. Loki fell from the Bifrost, and she grieved, swearing to do better – by Thor, by Odin, by her people.

THE AVENGERS:

And she tried to do better… only to have that wound of her grief ripped back open when Loki reappeared, warped and evil, on Midgard.

She tried to tell them – Thor, Odin, Heimdall, all of them – that something wasn’t right with Loki, but again she was ignored, and the second prince of Asgard was brought home in chains and a muzzle. She spent years visiting him periodically, trying to get him to talk about what had happened, what had changed her boy.

THOR: THE DARK WORLD:

In the end, her presence was once again for naught – on all counts. When it mattered, Odin ordered even her from the room and sentenced her son to a life in solitary confinement. Once again, she felt all but helpless to do anything about it.

Feeling increasing trapped and useless, Frigga felt her life shrinking down to visiting Loki via her magic, trying to keep Thor content in a life without the presence of his Midgardian love, Dr. Jane Foster, and distressingly, trying to avoid an increasingly unpredictable Odin. Then, Dr. Foster was on Asgard, and under Frigga’s protection, and a terrible, unprecedented opportunity – a chance to rest, and then do some good.

She used her magic to create the necessary glamours, fighting Kurse with a double until he wrung its neck. She left the double where it was, for Thor, Odin, and Jane to find, going so far as to make it appear that she had stopped breathing. It had taken an enormous effort from her magic so suddenly, but so far as Asgard and her family knew, she was dead. She stayed on Asgard to maintain the double until it was sent up in a funeral pier, while simultaneously keeping the glamour of a peasant woman over herself. With the double gone, she allowed herself to rest from draining her magic, then used a bag from the royal treasury to buy a small spaceship.

POST-THOR: THE DARK WORLD:

No one ever discovered where the missing money had gone, so that she knew, and so long as she kept up a glamour, Frigga found herself blissfully free to travel wherever she wanted. She healed wherever she went, giving passage and safekeeping sometimes to those who needed it. She felt useful and happy and good again.

POST-THOR: RAGNAROK:

But she had never meant for her absence from Asgard to be permanent, only a long vacation, and she would deal with the repercussions of her hasty actions when she returned. After two years, though, she suddenly heard rumors of a new… dictator, a queen, taking over Asgard. Violently. Frigga returned to her ship, and to Asgard, as quickly as possible.

But Asgard was going up in smoke, and she was barely able to find radio waves claiming to be coming from Asgardian refugees. Yet again, she was just too late. Horrified, still shrouded in a glamour, she rescued the few floating, live stragglers that she could and rendezvoused with them under the care of the last remaining Valkyrie. Staying quietly to the sidelines and always disguised, she helped them rebuild on Midgard, hoping that here, calling herself a healer named Gitte, she could find a way to be useful to the downtrodden people who had no idea she was their queen.

VERSES:

FROM THIS MOMENT ON: follows canon MCU and Norse Mythology

ROAD LESS TRAVELED: any other AU threads

AUS:

SO MANY WAYS TO BE: (Descendants) queen of a country near, but not brought into, the US of Auradon

EVER EVER AFTER: (Fairytale) queen

BORROWED BABIES: (Foster Care) foster mother

I SOLEMNLY SWEAR THAT I’M UP TO NO GOOD: (Harry Potter) Ravenclaw seventh-year

ALL THAT GLEAMS AND GLITTERS: (Modern) an orthopedic surgeon

ALTERNATIVELY 1902: (Victorian) disguises herself as a nurse whenever she feels like interacting with the Midgardians

GROW UP WITH THE LAND: (Wild West) disguises herself as a nurse whenever she feels like interacting with the Midgardians

FORWARD TO VICTORY: (World War II) a disguises herself as a nurse whenever she feels like interacting with the Midgardians

BOLDLY GO: (Star Trek) Star Fleet counselor 

Starter Call

[fandomirregular]

I just got back from Avengers Infinity War...

and I have a lot of thoughts about what happened/will happen. So, watch out for spoilers under the cut!

First of all, I have to say that while I expected the movie to end with Thanos technically winning, or at least gathering all the Stones, I went in the cinema expecting specific deaths. 

Most people I was talking to agreed or at least understood my reasoning when I said that Iron Man, Cap, Loki and Heimdall were at the top of my list. Cap and Iron Man were both the team leaders of the group, they were the main focus of Civil War, they had multiple movies in their own franchises, etc... Loki had been killed/resurrected multiple times at this point, and his death saving/trying to save what was left of Asgard was always going to be the culminating point of his redemption arc in the latest movies. Heimdall had risen to fan favourite really fast, and it would have certainly added to the gut punch that Thor was already going to receive by Loki’s death. 

After the first ten minutes, when two of these predictions came true, I started to feel confident that I knew how the movie was going to play out.

Boy, was I wrong.

I sort of suspected how the plot would move forward from clips and trailers

Thanos on the Asgardian’s ship, 

Hulk/Banner to Earth (even if I thought more about Tesseract shenanigans than Heimdall last standing) with the warning about Thanos’ imminent arrival,

the Guardians rescuing Thor

big plans: Thor, Rocket and Groot together, Gamora and the rest of the Guardians to the Collector, Tony, Spidey and Strange somewhere but together, Steve and the Secret Avengers to Vision and Wanda’s rescue.

Losing all the stones (except Mind) to Thanos

Everybody converging to Wakanda because it is the most fortified and defendable place.

Thanos gets the Mind Stone

The snap

And while the general plot happened that way, there is a lot I did not see coming or that I was expecting and did not happen. 

I acknlowedge that having ALL the characters of previous movies be in the same scene would have been crazy, but I have to say that I was a bit disappointed that we did not get to see a Steve-Tony reunion, not even via phone call. I mean, yes we got the “The best defender” line from Steve to Ross, but I still think we got cheated. I’m fully expecting the reunion in Avengers 4 (if Tony can make it back to Earth, that is). 

Spiderman scenes were always on point, Tom Holland really shone with his performance, and that scene was amazing and powerful. The father/son relationship between Tom Holland and RDJ’s characters really shone in the movie, and I’m not even going to get in the whole Tony just got his biggest fear become reality in front of his eyes and in the worse way possible! Particularly now that he wants children (and we totally know that he is ready now to be a father thanks to little Peter, don’t we?)

Even if they were a bit under-used (Drax and Mantis in particular) I really liked all the scenes involving the Guardians, particularly all the interactions with Thor. Also, even if he kinda screwed up the plan (more on that later) I totally understood when Peter kinda lost it once he realized that Gamora was gone. He lost his mother, his biological father was a douche, Yondu died to save him and now he couldn’t even save the love of his life or not even grant her last request.

Dr Strange was amazing as usual, and it was hysterical to see his scenes with Tony Stark, after all the talk of how the characters are pretty similar, not even 5 minutes together and they couldn’t stand each other. But the biggest plot point I took from their story was “There is no other way”. Steven looked into a lot of possible futures and he said there was only one way they were going to win. He did not say nobody was going to die or get dusted, he did not say they were going to win there, on Titan. He was almost certainly looking at the big picture, at the universe survival. He gave up the Time Stone to spare Tony’s life because Tony is probably going to be instrumental in getting the universe back on track. Steven just did not explain everything because he knew there was no way in hell that Tony would allow Peter’s sacrifice, even for the greater good.

About Gamora... Zoe Saldana really killed it with her performance, we obviously were meant to understand that her secret was how to get to the Soul Gem, and all her reactions from crying when she thought Thanos was dead (they have history, he chose to save her...) to her defiance in every scene they had together was on point. I was screaming in the cinema when Thanos used her as a sacrifice of someone he loved. Even if in his eyes he loved her, she was right in contradicting him even with her last breath. I was totally surprised when she died (I though that between the two daughters of Thanos, Nebula was the one to not make it at the end of the movie). I have no idea if they will bring her back or if her death will be permanent.

I was pleasently surprised by all Sam/Rhodey scenes we got in the movie. The only other movie they were both in was Civil War, so... It was nice to see them interact and look out for each other, and heartbreaking when Sam was one of those disappearing at the end, while Rhodey was calling him.

One major surprise of the movie: Red skull cameo! I know it was not Hugo Weaving (I was a bit disappointed), but I still did not see it coming! It was a nice throwback (and we got loads of those, starting with We have a Hulk ;) ) and it felt like a sort if conclusion for the character, which a lot of people believed was going to come back one way or another.

I have to say that the MVP of this movie, for me at least, is Thor. The guy can never catch a break. He was just out of the all situation with his sister, just managing to save his people that half of it got destroyed because of Thanos and his stupid quest. He watched his brother die, he crawled towards him in what he thought were going to be his last moments. Then he wakes up, meet new strange - but friendly - people, and he realizes he still has a chance of making it right, avenging his brother, and saving the only family he has left, on Earth. The way he talked to Rocket, trying to deal with his own grief with humour, while actively not caring if he was going to survive (between the strenght of a star and the whole fight with Thanos, it’s safe to say Thor was a bit suicidal in this movie). Also, there’s the big parallel with Rocket, who is the only Guardian left standing at the end of the movie. 

I also would like to give my respect to the soundtrack department and whoever chose to not have music both with the opening logos and at the end when people started disappearing, That was really ominous.

As for the many questions left unanswered:

WhereTF is Clint Barton? My boy better be centre for next movie or I’m done with Marvel. For the same reason, where is Scott Lang? (even if we are going to get that answer a lot sooner with the movie coming out this summer). How is Tony going to be back on Earth? Should I trust Nebula with him? How many of these deaths are actually permanent? Doeas the fact that they are part robotics explain why Tony, Nebula and Rocket were left unaffected or were they just in the lucky half of the population that was spared?

I’m pretty sure I’m forgetting a lot of stuff, but right now, the rant is over.