Chapter 3
As the world snapped back to the present, Loki and everyone else in the room, save for Hela and Odin, dropped to their knees under the weight of the revelation.
"What do you say now, boy? Are you still the firstborn?" Hela mocked, releasing her grip on the now pale and clammy king.
Odin barely managed to catch himself on Gungnir, wrapping both hands tightly around its shaft to keep his balance. Thor immediately tried to stand, only to end up sprawled out face down on the floor. The Warriors Three attempted to stumble/crawl over to their friend before collapsing themselves. Sif seeing the result of rushing ahead, would be planted one foot firmly on the floor and remained kneeling. On his hands and knees, Loki looked to be in a similar state as Odin. Frigga-
"Oh, oh, my girl." Frigga sobbed openly, clutching at her chest.
Hela cautiously moved to kneel by the queen's side but attempted to keep a short distance. "Mother?"
The moment she was close enough, the All-Mother shot forward to cup her daughter's face in her hands. "My darling girl, how could I forget you?" she grieved, stroking the forgotten princess's cheeks and jaw with her thumbs as her eyes darted across Hela's face like she was trying to soak in every detail.
So quietly that it would be imperceptible to everyone besides the mother and daughter, Hela whimpered.
"My Darling." Frigga cooed.
"Frigga," Odin hissed warningly to his wife as he attempted, and failed, to regain his footing.
"How could you?" The All-Mother snapped. "You took her from me and made me forget my child! Damn you, Odin, damn you and your secrets!"
"Speaking of secrets." Hela rose to her feet, focusing on the nearly hyperventilating man.
"Loki?"
"Brother?"
The queen and Thor called out to the false prince in unison. When Loki lifted his head, hair hanging in his pain-filled eyes, his attention was focused solely on the All-Father. The hurt and anger were written across his face in equal measure. He had so many questions. How could this be? Why hadn't they told him? How had he missed all of the signs? Why didn't they tell him? Why did they let him spend his whole life trying to be what he wasn't? How dare Odin berate and belittle him whenever he failed to conform? All of the questions and accusations that battled to be hurled forth from Loki's sharp tongue, only one eked its way past his clenched teeth. A soft broken, "Why?"
"My son-"
"Don't! Don't call me that!" Loki demanded. The mere thought of having to listen to yet another of the All-Father's lies seems unbearable to him. "You lied to me! My whole life has been nothing but a lie. Every time you called me son or said that we were brothers. Every time you said that Thor and I were equals, we had the same opportunity to be king!"
"Loki…"
"It all makes sense now. Why you have always favored Thor, your real son, for all these years,"
"No-"
"Because no matter how much you claim to love me, I would never be anything more than just another one of the monsters children are told about at night, and you would never allow a filthy Frost Giant to sit on Asgard's throne!"
"Brother-"
"I am not your brother." Loki sneered. "I am nothing more than another stolen relic, meant to be locked away until I might prove to be of use." His voice broke as he spat out his words towards the floor, unable to bear the sight of the looks of disgust or, worse, pity he knew would be on their faces. He wished he had never learned any of this.
No one dared move or speak. The chaos of the revelation and Loki's confrontation had given way to a silent and heavy atmosphere. It's like being pulled from a raging river only to have someone slings a frigid soaking wet blanket about your shoulder as it begins to smother you. The revelation that he was different and had always been so despite what his mother- no, the queen, said. Odin dangled his praise and affection just out of reach as if he wasn't worthy of it while smothering Thor with it. All the times, he was punished more harshly than Thor or any of his friends for lesser infractions. It all made too much sense.
"Perhaps, in the beginning, you were." Loki's head snapped up at Hela's words. When had she moved to stand over him? "But look at you now, the god of mischief and sorcerer powerful enough to travel between realms without using the Bifrost."
Loki's eyes widened in shock. How could she possibly know that? Heimdal, with his all-seeing eyes, didn't even know, and indeed, no one in the room knew, judging by their shocked and disbelieving cries that came forward all at once. "What!?" Demanded Odin. "How?" Sif questioned. "But that is impossible!" Shouted Thor. "Loki?" The queen pressed, wanting to know if Hela's words were true. But Loki was focused on Hela.
"How did you-"
"I know a great many things, boy, but more than that, I can feel the depths of your power. Come with me before the Einherjar arrives. Let me show you how to use it." Hela implored, extending her hand to the still kneeling prince.
Immediately the throne room was filled with cries of opposition.
"No!" From Thor and the Warriors Three. Who tried to launch themselves forward between the siblings, only for Thor to trip over his feet and the Warriors Three to trip over each other in their haste.
"Hela!" Odin shouted in a vain attempt to regain control.
"Loki, don't!" Sif pleaded, silently cursing her still too weak to move her legs. Her heart broke for her friend, and she understood how much the revelation hurt him and why he would even consider taking Hela's offer, but she did not know or trust the woman.
Loki ignored them all and stared at Hela's hand, patiently awaiting his choice. What could he do? If he stayed, there would be nothing left for him. If he believed that the people reviled him before, it would only be worse now that everyone would know the truth of his birth. But to go with Hela would be akin to diving blindly off a cliff. Either he would land hurt but safely with a renewed purpose and vigor, or he would crash into and be consumed by whatever lies beneath—either way, what bliss.
His train of thought was ended abruptly by the distant sounds of the Einherjar storming through the halls. Loki's panicked eyes snapped back to Hela's face, where she continued to gaze patiently at the prince, seemingly unaffected by the commotion. It wouldn't be long before they breached the throne room, so Loki seized the opportunity before him.
Loki clenched his eyes shut, ignoring the cries that erupted in the room again as he took Hela's hand, and the pair began to shift away. Traveling through the World's Tree branches to land on a distant world Hela had chosen.
For a brief moment, Loki was able to take in his new surroundings. There was nothing but an ocean of grass and a few sparse trees that swayed with the wind for as far as the eye could see. The distant stars and two large moons lit the aubergine night sky. The prince closed his eyes, enjoying the sense of calm that washed over him from the sound of the leaves rustling on the trees and the feeling of the breeze on his skin. The tension Loki had been carrying since before the coronation had even begun seemed to melt away until Hela's voice cut through the night air.
"Mother?"
Loki's neck cracked with the speed he lifted his head, eyes popping open to verify the princess's words. It didn't take long for the Jotun to lock eyes with the woman who had raised him. The All-Mother was crouched just off to his left. One hand planted firmly on the ground to keep her upright while the other had his cloak in a vice grip.
"What are you? Why-"
"Did you really think I would stand by and do nothing as my children were torn away from me?" The queen asked, moving closer to lovingly cradle his face in her hands just as she had Hela in the throne room. "Odin's actions have already taken one child from me. I could not allow him to do so again, especially now that you are hurting and your sister has just come back to me."
Loki turned his confused gaze from the queen, unable to process the fact that Frigga, All-Mother, and Queen of Asgard, was with them. More than that, she had chosen to go, not knowing where she would land or what would await her on the other side. No, instead, he turned to the woman who had changed everything and asked: "Why? Why would you want to help me?"
Hela pulled her attention away from her mother- her mother who was here, her mother who had never wanted her to go, her mother who chose to throw herself into the unknown rather than spend another moment without her daughter -to lock eyes with the prince before turning away from the pair and taking a deep breath.
"I spent years trapped in a cage stewing in my rage and planning my revenge against Odin and all of Asgard for what he did to me, not just that day on Jotunheim but my whole life up until that point. Eventually, I began to watch through the gaps in my prison, searching for anything that could be of use, and I found you. The child that he took as a consolation prize after he tossed me aside. I hated you. I couldn't wait for the moment I would be free and force him to watch as I made you suffer for every second of the life he stole from me." Hela spat at the prince, pointedly ignoring her mother's heartbroken expression.
The tension that had fled him earlier returned to Loki with a vengeance. "So that's it. You want to use me in your plan for retribution." He prodded, rising to his feet to stand between Hela and his-their mother.
"No, at least not anymore. As time passed and you grew, I watched as Odin filled your head with lies from the very beginning. Lies about your parentage, your birthright, your very existence. I watched as you were beaten, mocked, and belittled for your use of magic and hunger for knowledge. I watched as he and everyone else turned you into a tool to be ignored unless they needed your power or intelligence. I saw him treat you as lesser than. I watched as you stood for hours on the edge of the rainbow bridge, screaming into the void, asking what was wrong with you, why you weren't enough. I watched you, wondering if anyone would miss you if you just stepped off. If anyone other than our mother would even notice that you were gone. I watched Odin make false promises, push you away, and turn you into a pariah."
The power and control that the goddess of death had exuded since she first arrived had faded throughout her speech leaving only a resigned, almost scared woman in her place. The realization that no matter how much power Hela had at her disposal -enough power to end worlds, enough power that the All-Father had locked her seemingly forever out of fear- beneath it all was a girl who had never recovered from being used, mistreated, and forgotten by the people she loved most in the universe was unsettling.
"So what is it you seek now?" Loki managed to ask around the lump that formed in his throat.
"Now, all I seek is to strip away all the boundaries and restrictions that have been placed on you. So that you may be who you truly are, not what Odin and everyone else has forced you to be. Choose your fate. Become whoever you want to be."
"You are giving me the chance that you were never offered."
Hela gave Loki a watery smile. "One of Odin's forgotten children should have a happy ending, and it's much too late for me. I have been too broken for too long."
"No!" Frigga cried, moving to stand between her children. Her eyes bounced back and forth between the pair, begging them to believe her words. "You are not broken. Neither one of you are."
Hela shook her head. "Mother, my chance at peace died that day on Jotunheim."
"No, there is always hope. You both can find peace. Joy. Fulfillment. All you must do is believe, and if you can not, I have enough faith for all of us."
The conviction in Frigga's words was enough to break the last shreds of Hela's strength as she released a broken sob. "Mother,"
Frigga pulled her daughter into her arms, guiding her head to rest between her neck and shoulder, stroking her hair as she wept. Frigga tried to remain strong for her daughter, not fall apart in the face of her grief, and make up for all of those missed years in this one moment. Frigga extended a hand to Loki, drawing him into the embrace once she caught his eye from his position, standing awkwardly, arms wrapped around himself to the side.
"Oh, my children. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I love you both so much. We'll fix this. Together."