Ad Infinitum

He was cold. Somehow that surprised him, though he did not know why. He hadn't known warmth for... far too long. Long enough that he could barely remember having known it at all.

Perhaps it was that physical cold didn't normally bother him. Maybe that's why he was surprised. It had always been that way, to some degree, though he hadn't known why. Not for... far too long.

This cold was different, somehow. Different but familiar.

Green swirled at the edge of his vision, and he found himself sitting up to face... himself.

Memories returned - The Aether, Thor's mortal, the Kursed, the fight, ... his death.

No. Not himself, but his not-sister/ mentor/ guardian... What do you call a personification of Death who watches out for you? Who claims to have been once almost-related to you. Who refuses to let you die. (and how he'd hated her for that while under Thanos' thumb)

She smiled at him through the swirling dust of the barren planet. "My favorite Trickster. We meet again."

"Queen Hela." He sketched a shallow bow in her direction. "I can't say it's a pleasure. Though I am in considerably less pain than most of our recent meetings."

She smiled, apparently in genuine delight. "You are a survivor, Loki. It will not be long now that I will stand aside for you, I promise. Odin weakens and the walls of my prison waver. Would you care to help give him a little push? You have the chance to play a grand trick on all of Asgard, if you are willing." Her smile sharpened into one of wicked delight.

How could he help but to mirror it? "Tell me more."

It had gone smoothly. Hela had Healed him and given him extra strength before he slipped back to Asgard. Odin had been taken by surprise, his powers bound as he had once bound Thor's, and an amnesiac old man had been found wandering downtown Helsinki the next day. (Loki made sure not to send him within SHIELD's grasp. Too much chance of someone putting pieces together. Too much chance of Thor finding out.) He couldn't kill the old man outright - the magic of Asgard would react and there were things to set in place before that happened. Having been once declared Regent gave Loki the access to Asgard's magic to do so. (How convenient) Besides, it seemed fitting to let Odin waste away in a shadow existence, not knowing who or what he was. Poetic justice, in a way, for Loki's life.

Loki wasn't sure he actually liked ruling Asgard - at least, not as Odin - but Hela had been right. It was a once in a lifetime chance to fool all of Asgard, and Thor as well. It had been interesting to hear Thor's account to 'Odin' of their fight on Svartalfheim. He'd even dared to admit to breaking Loki out of prison, though he downplayed Loki's aid as usual. Loki decided an appropriate punishment for breaking the law (for refusing to give him his due) was putting Thor through an accelerated course of Inter-Realm diplomacy. He'd only have a few years at most to absorb the lessons, rather than the centuries he could have had. (That he'd wasted - the overbearing oaf)

That he couldn't stand to spend much time around his not-brother, and was thus spared his unwelcome company was only a bonus.