Where are you, Loki?
Your eyelids flutter open as you awaken, the bed beneath your body sinks as the weight of the comforter lays over your legs and a breeze brushes your left arm. The top of a four-poster bed comes into focus, draped in heavy, silky fabrics with golden inlays that sway slightly in time with the airflow from arched windows to your left.
A content sigh leaves your chest as you realize you're in Asgard, the place of the Norse gods, your friends, those you've had many stories and adventures with. Looking around the room is almost nauseating, though a collection of books on the nightstand steady your vision and your breathing. You read out the titles to yourself, finding ground in the familiar favorites of Loki and the small wooden carved hammer Thor insisted on leaving with you for aid in connecting to the realm. Small tokens of tethering, of a mutual want for your presence.
The thought of seeing Loki and Thor after such an extended time away makes you smile to yourself, rising from the bed. Aimed towards the window, you walk and take in the night sky that looks over the trees and flowers of the gardens below. The light from the moon floods the center path, surrounded by stone statues and benches; no space is taken up by a person in the dead of night. The only noises filling the air are the crickets sitting between the flowers, playing their favorite song, and the breeze passing in between the branches of three willows rooted in the park.
The thought of being in the garden, the place where so many peaceful memories are held, brings your body there. Your eyelids close in your overlook from the window and open in the center of the garden path as you stand under the white iron rod gazebo. The breeze excuses itself around you, your hair wanting to join it in the journey across the garden. Though your feet have a different plan as they guide you to the stone fence at the end of the tree and brush-lined path, the quieter side of the Asgardian town displayed below.
You smile to yourself in a memory of Loki pointing to the different areas, particularly the small market with the freshest fruit to the left of the bakery that is known for the softest bread, that all sit to the left of open fields.
Your eyes scan across the grasses, following trees and the small stream until you recognize the small house nearly out of sight from where you stand. To the right of the town, close enough to walk and far enough for a quiet peace, sits the single-level homestead where you and Loki have lived several lives in several worlds. In each place, Loki picks that small home regardless of the life lived in that universe. A ruler, a prisoner, a warrior, a king, a god, a magician, a fool, and many more, Loki picks the simple home each time, and each time you agree.
“Where are you, Loki?” You call Loki in your thoughts, having found it the easiest way of finding him in other universes. The thought stretches the expanse of the castle behind you, knowing the last time you were here Loki had insisted he would stay on the premises until you called. You wait for his response as you gaze across the landscape, taking in the clarity of the stars.
"What?" You hear the voice aloud instead of in your thoughts. You turn to see no one has joined you, and you ask again.
“Loki, where are you?”
The voice takes a moment to respond, again aloud, "Where are you? Who are you?" This time you recognize the voice.
You smile softly to yourself. “It's me, Thor. Who else can enter your head? Do you know where Loki is?” You turn back to the stone wall, leaning against it.
"Where are you?" Thor shouts his reply, "Who are you and how are you in my head?"
Confusion knots in your brow and instead of answering him in thought or aloud, you search for him in your mind’s eye.
You see him in his own chambers, standing at his desk in his own confusion and anger. Papers thrown on the floor in front of him; he looks as if he thought he'd find you hidden in the letters he had yet to read.
“There is no need to shout, or truly to talk at all. I can't imagine what your chamber guards must be thinking about this fit you're throwing.” Thor hears your accompanied giggle as well as the advice.
His face shifts in his anger as his thoughts are just as loud as his voice, “Where are you?”
You sigh, “Tell Loki I'm in the garden. Tell him I'm back.”
A few minutes fill the silence without any response causing you to try and reach for Loki again, beyond the palace grounds, in hopes he may be elsewhere. “Where are you, darling? I'm back, I'm in the garden.”
Another moment of nothing has you leaning onto the rail in contemplation. Maybe he isn't on world, maybe he had to journey to one of the other realms, maybe he is sleeping very heavily. If he was sleeping, though, you would be able to-
Your thoughts are cut short by the sound of boots approaching from your right. As your gaze lay low, your eyes sweep the ground before climbing the stature of the person in front of you.
With hands clasped behind his back, Loki stands several feet away. His eyes flicker in hesitation before he tilts his chin towards his chest, a small bow before straightening his spine. "I've been told there is a woman in the garden asking for me. I was unaware there were guests of the court who prefer to do their socializing improperly late at night."
Your head turns slightly to the side with more confusion as his distant greeting reaches you, though seeing him overrides the temporary anxiety as a smile replaces your features. "I'm so very happy to see you.” You relax, “I've missed you. How long have I been away this time? I hope it wasn't long, I've been trying to get my timelines in order I just-"
"I'm sorry," Loki interrupts after the steps you've taken towards him reach an arms length, "You've missed me?"
Your exhale leaves your chest hard with the fall of your shoulders and loss of words. "Of course I did, I always do." Your shoulders reset themselves in defense, "Did you not miss me?"
Loki is careful with his thoughts and words as he softens slightly, "I'm sorry, but I think you have my company mistaken for another's. We have never-"
"Sure, sure. We have never met, right? You've never, ever seen my face and have no idea who I am?" You shake your head and roll your eyes playfully, "You tried that one on me a few trips ago, God of Mischief. Try another one." You nod at him with a smirk, but Loki doesn't move.
"I'm sorry, miss, but I truly-"
"Loki, you're just being exhausting now. You're telling me you have no idea who I am?" You raise a brow at him.
Loki barely blinks at your words, scanning your face and the casual tone you've taken with him. His mask doesn't break, his shoulders don't move, and his laugh doesn't escape him as you'd expected. He parts his lips to respond, "I'm very sor-"
"There they are!" Thor's announcement is followed by the sound of several men running in your direction. Behind Loki is a wall of Asgardian palace guards led by Thor, looking just as disheveled as when you viewed him in search of Loki.
Thor and his men halt a few paces behind Loki, a defensive stance behind his silhouette. Loki had also turned towards the alarm of Thor's voice as it entered the garden, though he had now turned back to you. Loki's eyes find yours in a state of shock, hidden behind a deadpan face.
You look from Loki to Thor, realizing the truth of this world. Neither of these men have any idea who you are - what you are. These men are young, you notice their softer features and the body language they present. These gods are tempered, and they are afraid. The brothers watch you in silence, Thor waiting for you to run as Loki waits for you to speak.
"You have no idea who I am." It's no longer a question, it's the truth. Neither of the brothers respond as you search their faces. Silence follows as you slowly nod to yourself. You've made a mistake, you've traveled somewhere you did not intend to go. It's happened before, you'll just take these moments from their memory as you leave and disturb their lives no longer. That's alright, you'll just lay back down and sleep, wake up somewhere you intend to go.
"I apologize." Your defense melts away, " I seem to have strayed somewhere unintended. Do forgive me." Your speech matches the pattern of their comfort, your eyes connect with the indescribable emotion stirring in Loki's gaze before turning back to Thor and his cascading anger. "I didn't mean to scare you, I'll be going back now. I won't bother you anymore." A side smile and a curt nod are what you intend to leave the Asgardian gods with.
However, the step you take to start your departure is interrupted by Thor's voice once more. "You will not be leaving until we know how you were able to enter here with no invitation." Thor sets his feet heavy below him, "You will meet with the Allfather and explain yourself."
Your tongue presses itself to the back of your teeth, holding the immediate response in your own thoughts. "That will be unnecessary, as I intend to leave and not return. It'll be such a small interaction in the course of your life you may even forget about it." The casual shrug of your shoulders seems to be the breaker switch for Thor's temper, and all his lights come on.
His feet move slightly slower than his mouth over the course of the fifteen-pace distance between the two of you. He shouts at you as he moves around Loki, "You are not leaving, you cannot be trusted, you dark witch-"
Thor's shouting ends with his movements as your stare holds him in place, one foot extended in the air as his back leg balances on the ball of his foot in stride. His mouth is locked open and face scrunched in anger, arms out in front of him as they fill the space between your body and his. Thor is frozen in space, purely a moment in time just like Mjolnir, as you take a slight step forward in between his arms as you mock him. His insult is the switch to your temper, though you express yourself in something other than loud words.
You stay there for a moment, Thor suspended in air and you between his statue limbs, before Loki shifts and causes your gaze to stray from the picture in front of you. Loki walks to the side of Thor, glancing back and forth between you and his brother before devoting his attention to studying the position you've stopped Thor in.
You watch Loki as he circles Thor, his eyes finding the rise and fall of his brother's chest, the pulse underneath his skin, the life in his brother. Loki straightens himself and watches you again, saying nothing as a thousand thoughts and questions pull behind his eyes.
You tear your gaze from Loki, "I am no witch," your voice is low in the face of Thor, "I, small god, am no," you pause to take a step back and out of his arms, "witch." You bite the last word as you release Thor.
He falls as if he has tripped, catching himself with his hands. His head snaps back up to you, he starts to rise again with the same intention of gathering you as a prisoner. Thor rises, though not of his own accord.
A small motion in your fingers causes Thor to shoot up to stand in a perfectly straight soldier form. His arms remain to his sides, head straight forward, feet together, his face however is not locked in some annoying position in this frame. He takes advantage of this, "Stop- freezing me!" Thor stumbles in finding a word to describe his involuntary confinement.
"Do you plan on grabbing me, again?"
Thor huffs, "You must see Odin at once! Answer for your crimes." His face twitches in the only expression he's able to perform.
An amused smile curls on your lips, "Crimes?" You raise an eyebrow to Loki by habit of wanting his response to such a conversation, to see his equal amusement in Thor's temper. This Loki, however, stares blankly at you. You pause only to remember this is not your Loki. You do not know this Loki, you don't know this Thor or this world.
Loki stares at you, seemingly plotting, instead, on how he may overtake such magic if you choose to enchant him as well.
Your face smooths itself out, smirk and eyebrow dropping as you release Thor. "I simply wish to return home. I did not intend on coming here."
"You cannot simply find yourself in the palace of Odin by accident." Loki's voice joins the dispute followed by Thor's agreement. Loki cuts his brother's chorus of crimes off, “If you didn't intend on coming here, then you have much more elaborating to do. If you are of no threat, then you must discuss how you got here in order to better the security on Asgard. A disagreement would offer ill intentions."
Thor watches his brother and nods in support, looking at you for a response.
You feel you must see Odin, only to get home sooner. You must be able to lie down and sleep. Thor barging in on any peace would do nothing in aid of rest, and holding him in space would take all the energy needed to return home.
So, you nod in agreement and take the arm offered to you by the God of Mischief, following his brother to the court of the Allfather.