Sparks In The Forge

(Summary: Hello everyone! It’s chelseaagain here to give you something new! I decided to make a hodgepodge of works that are set within the universe of the first work in this series, starting with a few scenes that didn’t make the main story line from “Forged by Lightning, Rescued by Love” in order to break things up a bit. This will hopefully keep me from being overwhelmed with how long the plot runs for my story so that I get less writers block. This work here, “Sparks In The Forge” is a conglomeration of out of order oneshot pieces that will be spattered throughout the timeline of my works in my Forge Fire Verse. Sparks In The Forge will contain random little scenes that occurred behind the scenes of the main story plot. I’ll try my best to put Chapter summaries in to explain what is gonna occur in each oneshot. I might take requests if I see one I’m interested in, but NO SMUT ALLOWED! I don’t do lemon! Or lime! Or any other sex related fruit! Also I don’t ship Thorki or Starker so don’t ask about that either!!!! Dang that sounds weird. Oh well. Hope you like it!)

(Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or anything in it. This was written for free entertainment purposes, not monetary gain.)

Sparks In the Forge

(Chapter Summary: The day of Loki’s return to Asgard from Frigga’s and Odin’s perspectives, plus an extended look at the reactions of Eir, Sif, and the Warriors three)

Story 2: The Vertigo of Asgard 

———

The day Loki returned to Asgard was much more dramatic behind the scenes than anyone on Earth and many on Asgard would ever know. There were thoughts and moments playing out among the people that Loki interacted with which the youngest prince never knew occurred that day. Now it is time for those tales to be told, because for just a moment, this is THEIR story.

It all started not with Loki’s arrival at the bifrost that sunny morning, but in the palace shortly before Sif encountered Loki and Heimdall at the gates. Odin and Frigga were in the larger throne room. The Asgardian king was sitting on his ornate golden seat with his spear in hand while his wife was standing to his right hand side. They were discussing the state of their nation, as many good rulers do. 

“I simply do not know what else to do.” Stated Odin. “Our best mages have tried their best to stabilize the magic surges that the fairies have been causing in the eastern region, but none of them have been able to achieve any viable results! The situation is beginning to agitate the wolf population! If this keeps up than the wolves and fairies may actually go to war with each other! If only-….” Odin temporarily cut himself off, which allowed grief to enter his voice replacing his frustration. 

“If only our sons were still here. Thor could have been able to help pacify the wolves or at least defend the fairies and any Asgardians caught in the crossfire if a fight broke out, and Loki would have done everything he possibly could to help ease the magical tension of the fairies so that they would be able to control the surges they’ve been experiencing.” Frigga placed her hand on her husband’s shoulder.

“I know Odin. Ever since the moment our sons were declared dead, I have seen so much of Asgard’s life leave it’s eyes. I know we have seen that same light dying in our own eyes as well. Our precious sons, the pride and joy of our realm and our family, were taken from us. Every day I ache because I too miss our children with all my heart. I will forever regret allowing Loki to ever be placed in that cell, especially in his last days on Asgard. And I will also regret not being honest with our children about Loki’s heritage. Lady Sif once told me that the news had broken Thor’s heart when she told him about it. If only we hadn’t let him stay on Earth before Loki’s trial. Then perhaps they could have both been spared.” Odin looked up at his wife with a sad and tired look upon his face.

“Thor felt an obligation to repay the people of Earth after he contributed to the mess the destroyer made of that town. I supported him in that gesture. We never could have predicted that the humans he had just defended would ever…. would ever betray him like that. One day we will find out who killed our sons Frigga. And when we do, they will feel our wrath a thousand fold!” Frigga nodded in agreement, then she sighed in despair.

“Oh Odin. I have prayed every day that by some miracle our sons would be returned to us, despite the fact that almost the whole of Asgard has given up hope. I know that there isn’t much of that hope left for Thor, but Loki…. no one ever found his body. Perhaps one day we will learn of his fate as well, and bring him home so we can honor him as he should be.” The rulers were silent for a few moments, then suddenly the doors to the throne room were thrust open with no warning. However what happened next eliminated all thought of questioning this sudden disruption away from their minds in an instant.

Coming into the hall were Sif and Heimdal, but it was the unsteady person they were supporting between themselves that had the Queen nearly stumbling backwards and the King standing up in shock while his spear nearly fell out of his hands.

No way. No WAY were they seeing this! Was that.... was that LOKI!? 

Frigga barely restrained herself from making a choked sobbing sound. Odin had to remind himself to breath. The king and queen had no idea how it was possible, but their youngest child was actually right in front of them, and… and he was MOVING!

Heimdal was calling out to the king and queen in a panicked voice while Sif looked as if she had just witnessed a spirt rise up from a Midgardian grave, or however that human phrase went. It was disquieting to say the least, but the monarchs had all of their attention on the form of what could only be their son Loki.

Odin and Frigga looked at the figure of the young prince closely. He was pale and thin, he appeared so unstable they were pretty sure that a stiff breeze could probably knock him over, and he looked as if he was covered in bruises, cuts, and what they feared to be dried blood. However, if there was one thing they noticed about Loki, it was that he was AWAKE, though just barely. Loki was ALIVE!? Could it actually be true!?

The moment Loki responded aloud to Heimdall’s worried shouting Odin and Frigga’s eyes teared up, and some of that lost light returned to their gaze. That confirmed it. This was REAL! THEIR SON HAD COME HOME! Frigga shot straight for Loki like a rocket ship on steroids. Odin dropped his spear and darted after her immediately afterwards. A moment later Odin and Frigga, but ESPECIALLY Odin, were wrenching their boy out of Heimdall and Sif’s grasp and burying the visibly roughed up and ragged prince into the safety of their own arms. Loki was alive! He was actually ALIVE, and he was actually HERE! The king and queen quickly began publicly crying for joy without caring who saw as they hugged their child tightly. Their little boy… their baby that they had thought lost to them forever had returned to them ALIVE! Their hearts broke a little when they felt their son (their SON!) momentarily tense up as they hugged him, but the king and queen were primarily overjoyed that their child was finally back safe with his mother and father. Then Loki spoke again, and at the sound of his nervous and exhausted voice the two parents held him even tighter and cried all the more. Frigga tried her absolute hardest to keep her voice calm and steady, though her emotions were bleeding through as she spoke.

When the young prince suddenly yelped in pain from their squeezing Odin gasped and began searching Loki for injuries. He hadn’t realized that Loki might be hurt from more than a few visible bruises and cuts. The king was feeling highly distressed at the idea that his son had  come back to him after having just been harmed. Whoever had hurt his beautiful, amazing, miraculously living child in such a way would pay dearly for this transgression. When Loki whimpered again from being touched around his ribs Odin became worried enough that he called for the healers. When Loki tried to protest and stand up by himself he stumbled, and the king and queen had to catch him as he fell. The boy was disturbingly lighter than he used to be. King Odin was getting quite scared now, but all he could do was try to calm down his hurt and frightened child and convince him that everything would be ok. However, the hint of pure love combined with absolute devastation in Loki’s eyes as he disagreed with his father caused Odin to wonder if Loki’s words were truly some sort of ominous warning. The king and queen had no time to process this though, because their son was fainting in their arms. And though they screamed in terror and horror and begged Loki to keep his eyes open, it was to no avail.

As soon as Loki slipped into unconsciousness, that’s when the pandemonium truly began. Odin was cradling Loki in his arms while Frigga desperately tried to wake their son up again.

“LOKI! LOKI WAKE UP! PLEASE DON’T LEAVE US AGAIN!” Odin tried his best to reassure his distressed wife.

“Frigga Frigga calm down! Loki is still alive! I can feel his breath against my neck. He’s only unconscious is all. The poor boy was probably completely exhausted and overwhelmed on top of his injuries. Eir probably wouldn’t be completely surprised that he passed out.” Frigga looked at Odin with tears falling from her eyes.

“But Odin, WHY is he injured and exhausted in the first place!? What happened to Loki!? Who hurt our boy!?” Odin was only half successful in choking back his own tears as he responded.

“I don’t know Frigga, but once Loki is healed we’re going to find the cretans who did this and eliminate them so that Loki can be kept safe from now on!” Frigga could only nod and place her hand on Loki’s pale face, and use what little healing magic she knew to try to mend anything she could for her ailing son. A moment later Eir and her assistants rushed into the room. The moment Eir saw Loki she gasped in shock and ran over to him in a surprisingly informal and worried manner.

“My goodness! It’s actually true! The youngest prince has returned to Asgard alive! Prince Loki, can you hear me!?” Odin shook his head.

“It’s no good Lady Eir. Loki is out cold. We need to get him under the soul forge so we can see what we’re dealing with here!” Eir quickly slipped back into professional mode at the king’s words.

“Of course my king! Someone bring a stretcher!” While the healers were setting up the stretcher Eir took a preliminary look at Loki. She hummed in dissatisfaction.

“Loki is entirely too pale and clammy, and he looks thinner than he should. I’ve never seen him like this before! Do we have any idea what put Loki in this state!?” Heimdall cleared his throat and took a step forward to speak.

“I found Loki first. He essentially fell into the observatory from the entrance of a secret pathway and collapsed right in front of me, panting and sweating from exertion. Loki managed to tell Sif and I that he didn’t eat this morning and that he was most likely dealing with a case of magical exhaustion. I don’t think he slept at all last night either.” Eir quickly gestured to her apprentice to make a note of that information before nodding curtly at Heimdal.

“Thank you Heimdall. That helps immensely! Now I know where to start looking when investigating the causes of his fainting spell in addition to any injuries. My king, would you mind carefully leaning Loki up against you so that I can remove that bag from his shoulders?” Odin seemed to look a little paler now.

“Hold on! Why is Loki even carrying a bag in the first place!? What about his pocket dimensions!? Has his Seider been blocked off!?” This time it was Frigga’s turn to reassure Odin.

“I don’t think so husband. Though Loki does seem to be dealing with magical exhaustion, his Seider in and of itself still feel healthy as far as I can tell. Also, the bag has Loki’s magical energy running through the fabric. He placed a temporary protective spell on the contents. I suspect that he wanted to make sure that should something happen to him that the contents of that bag were not lost permanently inside of his pocket dimensions, though I dread to imagine why he would take that precaution.” Odin let out the smallest breath of relief when his wife concluded that Loki’s magic was unharmed. The king would have never forgiven himself if his only known living son had been damaged in such a way. As Odin inwardly vowed to pay more attention to his child’s magical health from now on, Eir spoke up once again.

“We can always find out later my queen. Your majesties, please be gentle with him.” Loki was carefully sat up against his father and his backpack cautiously removed from his shoulders. It was surprisingly bulky. A healer took the bag to carry while the others were tasked with carrying the stretcher. Eir looked directly at Odin.

“My king, I know it’s difficult but you need to let go of Loki now so we can take him to he healed.” Odin stopped listening after Eir said he had to let go of Loki. Not thinking clearly, Odin tightened his hold on his son out of panic and spoke in a frightened voice.

“No! I’m never letting go of my child ever again! I’ll not abandon him another time! I never should have given up on Loki! I should have searched harder! Maybe then I would have known that he was alive and I could have brought him home before he was stolen away and hurt! No one will ever take my son from me again!” Eir smiled sadly.

“Your majesty, we all agree with you on that! No one here is going to steal the prince. I only meant that you needed to release your grip so that we can lay Loki down on the stretcher and bring him to the healer’s rooms.” Odin blinked in confusion and embarrassment for himself.

“Oh.... ok. I understand.” The queen gave her husband a grim and teary smile and slowly reached for Loki’s horns.

“Here. Let’s get this off of him.” Frigga carefully detached Loki’s helmet from his head and gave  it to Lady Sif. The queen then sobbed again as she carded her fingers through Loki’s sweaty and tousled hair as soon as she caught sight of all of the portions the helmet had been hiding. Sif, who had been observing everything from the sidelines, felt an ache in her heart at seeing Loki’s family in such pain. She held the somewhat dirty golden helm reverently.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll have this cleaned up for him your highnesses. Loki will likely want it back.” Frigga tried her best to smile in appreciation.

“Thank you Sif. You may return to the Warriors Three now if you wish.” Sif stood up a little straighter.

“Thank you ma’am. I will do as you suggest. May I explain the situation to them please? I feel as though the Warriors Three should learn about this from a first hand witness before they start hearing about it through rumors and gossip.” This time Odin spoke to Sif.

“That is wise. You may do as you have requested. Once you are finished with your talk tell the Warriors Three to meet the Queen and I in the dining hall for further discussion.” Sif gave the royals a heartfelt salute.

“As you command Allfather. I pray that Loki will be healed quickly.” Sif decided to make it appear as though she had already left, but she was actually hiding in the room’s shadows so she could watch Loki’s departure. Once the healers took Loki to the healing hall Sif unnoticeably disappeared from the throne room with Loki’s golden helm in hand. That helmet was indeed cleaned. It was cleaned so well that Loki would later be able to see his own reflection in it. 

As soon as Sif had stepped back into the shadows. Odin shifted Loki’s weight with his own and carefully laid the boy down on the stretcher. Frigga took a moment to kiss Loki’s forehead and say that she loved him before the stretcher was lifted up from the ground. A few moments later the monarchs and Heimdall were chasing after Eir and the healers all the way to the healing chambers. Frigga called out to Eir right before the doors to the healing halls closed.

“Please tell us what you find!” Eir confirmed that she would before closing the doors for real. 

——— 

As soon as the doors closed Eir put a serious look on her face and turned to face the assistant healers. 

“This is an all hands on deck situation! Unless another patient is in actual peril all of you will be working to heal his majesty! Get Loki onto the table and activate the soul forge! We need to search as thoroughly as possible in this situation! We will NOT loose the prince again because we missed something!” 

“Yes ma’am!” echoed all of the assistant healers as they set to work. Eir watched as her personal apprentice worked to operate the soul forge and bring up the results. Everyone started taking notes as soon as the almost holographic like image appeared above Loki’s body. Eir was also looking at the scan results intensely, however Eir’s eyebrows raised in confusion when she looked towards Loki’s lower limbs.

“Is something wrong with the forge? Why can’t I see that whole leg?” The apprentice approached the table from the other side. He appeared to be baffled with the results.

“I.... I don’t know what happened Lady Eir! Perhaps I did something incorrectly while adjusting the settings on the Forge?” Eir decided to reconduct the scan herself. Eir started getting a sick feeling in her stomach when the results came up exactly the same. Eir looked at the others around her.

“You’re ALL seeing this correct? We’re not the only ones that can’t see the lower portion of Loki’s left leg?” Everyone warily nodded in confirmation. Eir narrowed her eyes.

“Something must be seriously wrong if we cannot even see the entire limb! Get Loki to the treatment area NOW! We’re gonna have to remove his clothes and look at him the old fashioned way!” The stretcher was once again loaded and used to transfer Loki to another table, this time in a different portion of the healer’s rooms. Eir ordered her assistants to cut Loki’s clothes off. They started with his shirt... and that’s when they saw the scars for the first time. The assistants all gasped in horror. 

“OH MY WORD!”

“What are we seeing here!?”

“This is HORRIBLE!”

“There’s no way this happened by accident!”

“I may not like him, but even I wouldn’t be cruel enough to cause THIS disaster for Loki!”

“He’s suffered... SO much!”

“Who could have DONE this to prince Loki!?” Eir’s heart broke for the young prince.

“Oh Loki, you poor child. Even after everything that you’ve done, you shouldn’t have had to endure this.” Eir turned serious again. “Finish stripping him. Leave his shoes intact if you can. I don’t want to cut too close to his feet by mistake if something is truly wrong with that left leg! Be EXTREMELY CAREFUL cutting through his pants! Leave his underwear intact and on him!” The healers decided to remove the clothes and shoes at the same time. They removed the right shoe and pant leg with no problem. However when they got to the left side Eir’s apprentice was startled when he went to brush his fingers over Loki’s left ankle in an attempt to assess for a broken bone before removing the shoe.

“Lady Eir! Loki’s left leg appears to be covered in some kind of foreign metal!” Eir’s expression turned to one of optimism and surprise.

“Metal? Maybe that’s the reason why the forge couldn’t see it! Well hurry up and let us see what’s going on!” The scissors snipped and snipped as Loki’s left shoe was carefully pulled off. The final cut was made just as the apprentice was removing Loki’s socks. The moment the material fell away, the healing hall went dead silent.

It was as if there were a daze over everyone that was slowly lifted away as everyone came back to themselves. Eir’s apprentice regained his voice first.

“What.... what are we seeing here?” A female assistant with dark strawberry blonde hair was the next to speak.

“I don’t.... I don’t think Prince Loki’s leg is covered in this metal.” A different assistant, a man with bleach blonde hair, was the next one to respond.

“What do you mean? Can’t you see the metal with your own eyes!? Are you saying it’s not there!?” A third assistant with black hair jumped in next.

“We can all see the metal, but I don’t think that’s what she’s saying. And I think I agree with her thought.” The bleach blonde scoffed before responding.

“And what would that be?” The strawberry blonde spoke again.

“Loki’s leg isn’t COVERED in metal, it’s MADE of metal! Loki’s real leg is GONE!” The bleach blonde paled in silent horror. A fourth assistant, a brunette who was still in her first year of her mastery course was next to speak.

“GONE!? You mean it’s MISSING!?” The fifth assistant, who’s hair had long turned grey, was quick to chime in.

“Not missing you fool! It was REMOVED! PERMANENTLY I’m assuming!” The assistants continued to provide commentary as the debate carried on.

“Who in their right mind would remove Prince Loki’s leg!?”

“I don’t think they WERE in their right mind! Look at the scaring around the base of that metal surrogate limb!”

“I see what you mean! The removal sight looks like it was cut through in a very specialized manner! This metal leg was clearly CUSTOM MADE specifically to fit the proportions of the removal zone!”

“It’s not possible for a prosthetic to be attached that seamlessly if Prince Loki’s leg had been roughly ripped off, bitten through, dissolved, or crushed. It’s too smooth for that! No. Prince Loki’s leg could only have been CUT! DELIBERATELY!”

“But that would mean Prince Loki underwent AMPUTATION SURGERY!”

“So now the prince is an AMPUTEE!?”

“Wait! Are we ABSOLUTELY SURE that it wasn’t an accident that caused the prince to loose a leg!? I mean, someone could have designed the prosthetic leg AFTER he lost it in order to fit it for him properly! They could have done a surgery to smooth out the amputation zone into something more workable after the bulk of the leg was lost!”

“I wish that were the case, but that’s not so. The soul forge didn’t show evidence of a previous injury to the area directly above the cut off point that separates the prosthetic from the living tissues and bones! There isn’t even any discoloration or anything to visibly indicate the opposite! Also, look at the edges of the metal! You can only just barely see it, but they’re partly fused into what’s left of the limb at the attachment zone! Someone made this so that the limb would absorb the attachment portion of the prosthetic into his body as the amputation zone healed! The attachment sight may even be fused to the bone and muscles inside the remainder of the living part of the leg as well! No one can design a prosthetic like this in less than a day! This is something that would have had to be PLANNED OUT in order to work. Someone did this ON PURPOSE!”

“NO!”

“That is absolutely HORRIFIC!”

“It’s DISGUSTING!”

“Who would do something like that to a living being!?” Finally Eir’s personal apprentice reapproached the group, which parted to let the man come closer to Loki. The apprentice’s eyes widened a bit as he came to a realization.

“Hey! I think this thing is voluntarily detachable!” The strawberry blonde assistant then looked towards Eir.

“Lady Eir! What do we do!?” The whole group turned towards the master healer, but Eir wasn’t talking. Instead Eir’s voice was caught in her throat and her mouth was hanging open out of heartbreak, shock, and bewilderment. She couldn’t speak out of disbelief. Eventually her apprentice walked over to Eir and snapped her out of it by putting his hand on her shoulder amd speaking to her.

“Lady Eir. We need your orders.” Eir blinked a few times before managing to release a few instructions to the group.

“If you can remove and examine the prosthetic limb without breaking it, then do it quickly. Do not damage or modify ANYTHING, and make sure that you keep the limb close to Loki so that he can reattach it to himself when he wakes up should he wish! Do not do anything or touch ANYTHING else until I say so! Once you’ve got it off I’m going to fetch the king and queen. We can’t keep this a secret from them. They have to know!” Eir solemnly walked out of the room and straight over to the King and Queen.

“Y-Your majesties.... you need to see this.”

———

Meanwhile outside the healing halls while waiting for news about Loki, the king and queen took a moment to stare at the doors as they closed. Not even a minute after the latch clicked in place Odin rounded on Heimdal and spoke in a clipped and enraged voice while a fire of parental fury burned behind his eyes. The king gripped Heimdall’s shoulders. Odin wanted nothing more than to tear apart whoever had hurt his child, and Heimdal was unfortunate enough to be in proximity of Odin’s anger.

“Heimdall! What! Happened!?” Heimdal, knowing that Odin wasn’t actually angry at him but at whoever had injured the prince, responded with as much professionalism as he could muster while giving his report.

“As I said earlier, I found Loki because he fell onto the floor of the bifrost bridge observatory after tumbling out of a secret path. I was actually too shocked to move at first, but after a few moments I ran over to help him up. At first Loki flinched away from me when I tried to reach out to him. It was clear that for whatever reason, Loki was scared. However I eventually got Loki to accept my hand to help him stand, then Loki finally spoke to me. The basic summary of the conversation was that he apologized for being gone so long and admitted that he wasn’t attempting to hide himself from my vision on purpose. He had no idea why I wouldn’t have been able to see him. After that I noticed that he wasn’t completely stable, so I slung his arm over my shoulder and helped him walk to the palace. Once we reached the palace gates we ran into Sif, who almost immediately took up supporting Loki from his other side and asked Loki what had happened to him. That’s when Loki admitted all of the symptoms I mentioned earlier, as well as admitting that he was tired and that he had only located the secret path leading back to Asgard just this morning. He also said that he was actually stuck on Midgard this entire time. After that Sif and I immediately brought Loki to the throne room, and you were there for the rest.” Odin took a few deep breaths to try and regain his composure as he let the gate keeper go.

“Thank you Heimdall. As soon as we receive our first word of Loki’s status you may return to your post.” A few minutes later a grim faced Eir came out of the healer’s rooms.

“Y-Your majesties.... You need to see this.” 

———

Odin would never forget Frigga’s heartbroken scream of devastation when she saw Loki’s missing leg for as long as he lived.

———

Heimdal stood up straighter as soon as the devastated king and queen emerged from the healing rooms. Heimdal’s voice was filled with worry as he addressed the slumped shouldered Odin and sobbing Frigga.

“Your highnesses, is Loki alright!?” At the gatekeeper’s voice Odin finally regained use of his own tongue, but the sound of his words was littered with grief.

“His leg is gone.” Heimdal’s eyebrows shot up faster than the peg of a high striker bell at a carnival. 

“What!?” Odin allowed his tears to finally fall.

“His LEG is GONE Heimdall! Someone CUT OFF my son’s lower LEG! OUR CHILD’S LEG WAS AMPUTATED!” The king could not stop his sobs from being set free. The queen wasn’t exactly doing any better at that either. The bifrost watchman was legitimately devastated. He couldn’t imagine how much this was crushing the spirits of the king and queen.

“Oh goodness... Loki. My king, is there anything I can do to help!?” Odin tried his best to straighten himself up again.

“Return to your post and search all of Midgard for anyone who might be tracking Loki! Whoever did this could very well come after him again! We need you to find them first so that we can protect Loki from falling into the hands of his attackers a second time!” Heimdal bowed to the king and queen.

“As you command Allfather.” Heimdal looked to the door once more before he left the palace and returned to the bifrost observatory. It was time to start hunting down the monsters that had mutilated his prince.

———

As Loki was being examined under the soul Forge, a very shocked Sif had finally managed to find her way back to the place where the Warriors three had gathered. She said not a word as she entered the room, but that didn’t stop the three Warriors from noticing what Sif was guarding in her hands. Soon a cacophony of questions began as Sif tried to calmly garner their attention towards what she was attempting to say. The first one to speak was Fandral.

“Sif, why are you carrying one of Loki’s old helmets?” Sif attempted to respond, but she could only manage to produce a single quiet word.

“Guys.” The next person to question Sif was Hogan.

“Are you alright? You look a bit out of sorts.” This time Sif’s response was a few degrees louder.

“Guys!” Next to chime in was Volstagg.

“Is it leftover grief from the anniversary of Loki and Thor’s disappearances? I know that was recently.” Getting a teeny bit frustrated, Sif spoke a little louder and even managed an extra syllable.

“Um guys!?” Fandral, not noticing Sif’s increasing agitation, quickly commented once again.

“We’re always here to talk to you about it if you need it.” Sif could no longer stand being talked over and decided to shout to get her friends to finally shut up.

“GUYS!” They all went quiet now. Sif spoke again when the Warriors Three turned their full focus back to her. “Loki is alive. He returned to Asgard while wearing this helm not even an hour ago.” A second later the Warriors three reacted to the unexpected news.

“WHAT!?” Cried Hogan.

“IMPOSSIBLE!” Yelled Volstagg.

“BUT HOW!?” Yelped Fandral.

“I.... I’m not entirely sure!” Said Sif. “It happened so fast! I can still hardly believe what I saw! I’ve never seen him like that before! I’m honestly concerned about him!” Fandral raised an eyebrow and voiced his confusion.

“What are you talking about Sif?” Sif explained her words with discernible distress in her voice.

“Loki! He returned to Asgard pale, exhausted, and injured!” Hogan chimed in one more time.

“Injured!? Is he alright!?” Sif barely kept the waver out of her words as she spoke again.

“I hope so! He collapsed in the throne room after Heimdall and I brought him in there! The healers took Loki away just as I left.” Volstagg put his hands up.

“Wow wow wow hold on! We’re going about this all wrong! Sif, why don’t you sit down and explain the whole thing from the beginning. Let’s start with Heimdall. Why don’t you tell us what Heimdall was doing there?” Volstagg guided Sif over to a chair and gave her a glass of water to drink before she spoke.

“Well from what I heard Heimdall actually found Loki first. Where do I even begin?.....”

———

After what felt like hours, and what may actually have been hours, a tired looking Lady Eir finally emerged from the bowels of the healer’s rooms and carefully approached Loki’s parents, who were sitting on a backless bench placed longways against a wall nearby. Eir kept her tone of voice calm and steady so as not to display any sort of tension. She did not want the king and queen to become even more stressed than they already were.

“My lieges, we are done with the treatment. Prince Loki is in no danger and shall heal quite well.” Frigga stood up from the bench and faced Eir in full.

“What of his leg Lady Eir? Is there any chance that magic can be used to regenerate it?” Eir shook her head.

“I’m sorry your highness, but we cannot do anything for it other than make sure he does not gain an infection or something or other from the prosthetic. As far as we can tell it was healed in a healthy manner whenever the injury occurred, but we can’t determine the reason why and it is nonreversible. Not even Loki’s own Seider can fix it. He can still live a full life, but Loki’s natural leg is permanently lost.” Frigga’s tears once again leaked out of her eyes. Odin wrapped an arm around his wife and softly kissed her temple in an attempt to sooth her aching heart.

“Do not worry my queen. We will do everything we can to support Loki and keep him healthy and safe, even if he must live with a prosthetic leg. Our son is a fighter. He will become strong again. I just know it.” Frigga nuzzled her head into the crock of Odin’s neck. Lady Eir stepped backwards just a tad.

“Your majesties, would you like to see him now? He’s still fast asleep, but we’ve cleaned the prince up and treated whatever injuries we were able to. I wondered if you might wish for one more look at Loki before you left to discuss these events with Lady Sif and the Warriors Three?” Frigga lifted her head once again.

“Yes Eir. Thank you.”

Eir opened the doors of the hall and lead the worried parents on through. Once inside the room, the king and queen had to stop for a moment at the sight of Loki before running straight to his bedside.

Loki already looked SO much better than he had before. He was no longer dirty and sweaty, his slightly curly hair was clean and shiny, a noticeable amount of color had returned to his skin, he was covered from the chest down in a very soft looking baby blue blanket with his arms folded overtop, he wore a new shirt and likely new pants as well under the blanket, and all of Loki’s cuts and bruises had been bandaged or otherwise treated. His breathing even sounded stronger and easier than it had before. If it weren’t for the bandages, the weight loss, the stubborn remaining bits of pallor, and the bruises and cuts running over Loki’s skin, it could have appeared as if the dark haired prince were simply taking a nap instead of laying there completely unconscious. The queen sat down in one of the bedside chairs and gently took Loki’s closest hand into her own. She noticed that Loki’s whole pinkie finger on that hand was wrapped in a stretchy looking almost transparent bandage. Frigga looked to Eir in a silent questioning of why it was like that.

“Loki’s finger was very badly sprained. I almost thought it broken at first. We thought it best to use a bandage to prevent swelling and to keep him from bending it too often. Once he wakes up fully someone will need to notify Loki not to keep that bandage on his finger while he is sleeping. Most of Loki’s injuries seem to be compiled of cuts and deep bruising, some of the bruising going all the way down to the bone. However none of that damage should become permanent. We have already injected Loki with a solution meant to ease the pain and inflammation. We would never allow him to suffer through this recovery.” 

Frigga was still crying, but Eir had no knowledge that the Queen’s tears were a mix of solemnity, gratitude, and intense relief.

“Oh Eir. This is…” Eir slightly bowed her head and spoke with sadness in her voice.

“I know my lady. I am so sorry that there wasn’t more we could do. We tried everything we could think of, but Loki’s scars will not vanish. We could only make sure that they healed healthily and were not a source of pain or disability for him. We were only just barely able to prevent the fresh wounds from scarring by utilizing a special balm I’ve been working on. And of course we disinfected everything we could reach. We determined that the worst problem was that Loki’s ribs were severely bruised and two of them even had small partial fractures, but thankfully there was nothing fully broken. We wrapped them as best we could just to make sure they were stable. Those injuries are going to take a few days to fully heal due to how drained he is of Seider. In addition to that he is likely still a little dehydrated, so I would like for Prince Loki to stay in this room overnight tonight at minimum. We also washed him up, scrubbed and brushed his hair, gave him fresh comfortable clothes, and gave him the softest clean bedding we could find. There is so little else we are capable of doing. I can only hope that-” Eir was surprisingly cut off by Odin, who suddenly faced Eir with a teary smile on his face.

“Lady Eir, we give you our gratitude for the excellent care you’ve given to Loki. You and your assistants have done very well. We know that you could not give Loki his leg back, but your group did spectacularly when it came to all of our boy’s other injuries. We have no doubt that your work has been greatly beneficial to our son’s healing, and may have even speed up the process. Loki looks so much better now than we were expecting. We could never thank you enough.” Eir smiled softly at the two rulers.

“It was our privilege and our honor to be trusted with such a detrimental task my lieges. We will continue to do right by Loki until he is as healthy as possible after what was surely a dramatic ordeal. Now you may of course stay as long as you wish, but I must caution you to remember not to be late for your agreed meeting with the Warriors Three.” Odin nodded.

“Many thanks Eir. We shall keep track of the time.” The king and queen stayed there for quite a long while before leaving for the dining hall. Odin and Frigga did not realize that Loki would regain consciousness a mere 15 minutes after they left, otherwise they would have been there at his bedside as he awakened. 

———

As Eir and her attendants were going through Loki’s medical treatment, Sif was wrapping up her retelling of the events of Loki’s return to the Warriors Three.

“And that’s the whole story. Or at least that’s everything I personally know about the story.  Now Loki is resting in the healing halls, and I still have no idea how he wound up injured or even how he’s actually still alive! We never should have left Loki to go on his mission alone! It’s our fault that the princes ever went missing! If we hadn’t betrayed Loki... no, if we had tried harder to stop Thor from bringing us to Jotunheim in the first place after Loki’s prank, then perhaps none of this would have ever happened! Loki would never have tried to send the destroyer to Earth and Thor would have never been banished! Then the princes would never have gone missing in the first place! We were such horrible friends to them! Thor would be so ashamed of us, and he would be so devastated for Loki! We should have protected them better!” Fandral attempted to give her words of comfort.

“Sif-“

“I agree with you Sif.” Fandral looked to the person who had suddenly and surprisingly cut him off when he had barely begun to speak.

“Hogan?” The usually quietest member of the Warrior trio then began to give one of the longest speeches he had ever made.

“We should have been better friends. The day we followed Thor to Jotunheim we acted self centeredly. Instead of considering how dangerous and foolish it was to follow Thor’s wish, we allowed our pride to rule our actions. We should have convinced Thor that going to Jotunheim wouldn’t help him feel better about himself no matter how much glory he thought he could have brought for Asgard. And if we had been more considerate and trusting of Loki then perhaps he would have come and talked with us instead of using a prank to get someone’s attention for the problem he was trying to get the Allfather and the citizens of Asgard to notice.” Volstagg straightened his posture before making his own heartfelt speech.

“Hogan is right. We acted on our pride instead of considering the consequences of our actions as well as the consequences of Thor’s actions. We also didn’t properly support Loki as we should have. If we had given Loki a reason to trust us he might have confided in us, and we could have tried to reassure him that we would protect him and treat him as our friend whether he was a Frost Giant or an Asgardian. Instead we all turned our backs on Loki and ran after Thor because we were too short sighted to see that Loki needed us too. Loki was scared and in desperate need of a friend, but instead we left him to act on his fear all alone because we were too blinded by our prejudice and greed to realize that we were doing Loki wrong. Thor loved Loki, and Loki loved Thor more than we ever could. If we were ever true friends to Thor, and to Loki, then we should all know what we need to do.” Fandral picked up on what Volstagg was saying.

“We need to protect Loki.” Volstagg nodded.

“Yes. We do. When we lost Loki, had it been permanent, then we also would have lost our last chance to honor Thor’s memory and protect his home by making sure that Loki, someone who loved his family and Asgard very deeply, would still be here to help keep it safe. When Loki disappeared, we d@mned ourselves to never being able to reconcile for our slights against him. But now Loki has been returned to us! Our chance to earn his forgiveness and become the friends he deserved from the start has been given back! This is a gift that we cannot EVER take for granted! The last thing Thor ever asked of us was to keep Loki safe until he could come home to defend Loki’s decisions at Loki’s trial, because Thor still believed that there was hope for his brother. We need to honor that hope, and try our hardest to see the truth of it for ourselves! It is up to us to defend Loki in Thor’s place!”

“RIGHT!” shouted everyone in unison before Hogan spoke once again.

“But where do we even start?” After a short pause, Fandral chimed in with a good idea.

“Perhaps we should simply check up on Loki. We know so little about the extent of his wounds that it’s hard not to imagine the worst!” Volstagg hummed in agreement with the archer.

“Yes I think we should check on him, but we also shouldn’t go overboard. Loki won’t appreciate if we treat him like a defenseless child. Whoever checks on him should try to do it secretly, while no one is there and Loki is still sleeping.” Sif decided to speak up in order to volunteer herself.

“I’ll do it, but we should hold off for awhile before checking on Loki. The healers may still be working on him. We’ll wait a few hours, then we’ll go to talk with the king and queen.” Volstagg smiled at his friend.

“Alright. That seems reasonable. Perhaps while we wait we can do something with that helm?” Fandral returned to the conversation enthusiastically.

“Loki did always prefer to keep his helmets clean instead of leaving the battle signs. We’ll help you clean it!” Sif gave her three friends a genuine hopeful grin.

“Thank you my friends. I appreciate that.” That helm was cleaned and polished until it shined. Once that task was done the Warriors three headed for the dining hall while Sif headed towards the healing rooms with no warning of the scene she was about to walk in on.

———

Eventually the moment came when the Warriors Three entered the dining hall and bowed in unified greeting of the King and Queen. Once their spines were unbent Volstagg became the first member of the trio to address the tired looking monarchs.

“Your majesties! Sif told us the news! Loki has truly returned to Asgard alive and well!?” Frigga shook her head before responding.

“You’re almost correct. Our youngest child has come home alive, but not well.” Hogan nodded his head before adding his own commentary.

“Yes we heard he was wounded. How badly does he fare?” This time Odin was the one to respond.

“Loki has almost never been in that bad a condition before. He was dirty and pale and has lost more weight than is considered healthy. None of his injuries were life threatening or even overly extensive, but if it were anyone but Loki they would be in horrible suffering. Loki is definitely malnourished and he came in with an awful case of magical exhaustion, not to mention physical exhaustion from stress and a lack of food and sleep. He has expressed fear and tension to being touched unexpectedly that he has not displayed before. We suspect some sort of mental trauma may be present.” Fandral looked saddened as he responded.

“Poor Loki. He’s clearly had it rough.” Odin nodded tiredly before continuing.

“That isn’t even covering Loki’s actual injuries. Frigga and I have never been more horrified to hear Loki whimper in pain. Loki is covered in scars. He has so many cuts and bruises, two cracked ribs, and a sprained finger. However, the absolute worst injury is-“ 

Suddenly the doors to the dinning hall opened to reveal Sif walking in with none other then Loki clutched to her side. The Warriors Three could see that Loki’s clothes had been changed into a more comfortable outfit than he used to walk about in before his disappearance. The set involved capri style pants and a three quarter sleeves green top, but the outfit that had been chosen was revealing Loki’s prosthetic leg in full. Frigga and Odin were relieved to see Loki awake again, and looking much more stable on his feet than earlier, but they were also very worried about how hale their son truly was. He had fainted mere hours ago after all, plus Loki still looked a bit pale and nervous. A moment later Loki spoke in a quiet nervous voice that hurt his parents’ hearts even more. They HATED having to watch their child suffer. 

Volstagg couldn’t stop himself from worriedly asking what happened to Loki’s leg. The pain that Odin and Frigga felt only increased when Loki confirmed what the healers had already determined... Loki’s leg had been cut off on purpose.

A moment later though the group was distracted by the prince requesting a seat and some food to eat. Loki was asking them for something! Everyone in the room rushed to grab Loki the food that he needed.

Loki’s reaction to his first bite of the food was as heartbreaking as it was endearing. Here was Loki eating at their table again looking so happy to enjoy a tasty meal, but he was also admitting that he had not been well feed in recent days. The conflicting emotions were exhausting to everyone. The whole room could easily feel Loki’s grief.

Soon enough however the grief entwined within the youngest prince’s situation increased tenfold when Loki started explaining why his memory was skewed, as he had put it. The group was in a horrific level of shock and disbelief. No! No WAY could it be true! And yet it was. Loki had been tortured, and his brother killed by the ones who had harmed him. The king and queen wanted to cry. In fact Frigga did just that as she held Loki to her chest and let him sob.

Not everything Loki admitted during lunch was decimating their hearts however. As the conversation progressed the dining hall occupants slowly grew a little more hopeful. Loki had new friends! Not only that, but these friends had accepted Loki as one of their own and had given him a way to fight back against his former tormentors! That meant that Loki wasn’t alone on his quest anymore! The group was ecstatic.

Soon enough however Loki grew tired and was escorted by Sif back to the healing halls. As the rest of the group left the dining hall, they all had one thing on their minds: HYDRA would NEVER lay a hand on Loki again so long as they still drew breath.

(Ok well I wasn’t exactly planning on making this particular one shot the second one in the Sparks conglomeration, in fact it was supposed to be the fourth one, but I was inspired with this one and I was still stuck on the other one I intended to finish first. Soooo you all got this. I apologize again for the rather high level of emotional intensity. I hope to give you all something more lighthearted soon so that I don’t give anybody a bout of depression or something, because that would suck. Anyway, see you l8er!)