Illusions
You don’t remember much after arriving back on Asgard. You vaguely remember seeing a fuming Odin, and a disappointed Frigga. You remember bits and pieces of a yelling match between Thor and Odin, but aside from that everything else was blank until waking up in your bed this morning. A guard had informed you that you were asleep for 2 days and that Frigga wanted to see you in the garden. That’s where you were heading now. Thoughts rushed through your head, you worried you would be exiled, that you did something wrong. You bit your lip and clasped your hands in front of you to stop them from shaking. You paused as the garden entered your view. Frigga was kneeling towards the border of the garden, planting some flowers. You froze, unable to move further.
“How long are you going to stand in the shadows, sweetie?”
You flinched. Of course she knew you were there. You took a deep breath before walking over to her. She didn’t look up from her gardening.
“I’m sorry if I did anything wrong, I didn’t know what was going to happen, if I had known better I wouldn’t have done it, please don’t exile me-“
You stopped your rambling as Frigga turned to look at you. Her expression was soft, and a calmness washed over you. She slowly stood, wiping tears that you didn’t even realize were falling down your face.
“You did nothing wrong sweetie. I’m not going to punish you, or exile you for that matter.”
A wave of relief washes over you and you begin sobbing. Frigga holds you in her arms until you catch your breath and begin to calm down. You slowly pull away, wiping away your tears as Frigga pulls you over to a nearby bench. You both take a seat.
“Loki told me what you did, I was amazed you took out all those rock trolls.”
“It was all thanks to him.”
“He may have planned it, but it was your powers that ultimately stopped them.”
You felt a sense of pride fill you up, but it quickly vanished.
“But I still can’t control them. If anyone would have gotten in the way…”
Frigga took your hand and lifted your chin to meet your gaze.
“That’s why I’m here. We will learn how to control your powers together. I promise.”
You slowly nodded pulling your gaze back to the ground to stop you from crying again.
“But right now you need more rest, which is why I have something else planned for today.”
There was a playfulness in her voice that made you look up. She was wearing a grin on her face. You couldn’t tell what she was so excited about. She slowly turned to the direction of a big tree.
“If you are done eavesdropping my son, will you please come out?”
A figure moved out from behind the trees, you instantly recognized the green cloak.
“Loki! How long have you been there!?”
“Since about, the first bout of crying.”
You wanted to slap his grin off his face, Frigga seemed to sense your anger as she slowly grabbed your balled-up fist.
“In time sweetie.”
She gave your hand a slight pat before getting up and striding over to Loki.
“Today (Y/N) will be sitting in on your training.”
Loki’s face dropped as he turned towards his mother.
“You cannot be serious.”
“Oh, I am.”
You felt a smile stretch across your face as Loki looked more and more uncomfortable. The two of them had a stare-off. Loki broke away first, sighing.
“Fine.”
“Good.”
Frigga turned away waking back to you.
“This will be a lesson for both of you. Think of it as teamwork enhancement.”
Loki crossed his arms his eyes fixed on you. You gave him a smirk before standing up to meet Frigga.
“Loki told me you can’t tell him from his illusions.”
You gave her a quick nod.
“Then I’ll have to teach you.”
“How is this going to help me?”
Loki took a step closer, a hint of anger in his voice, but froze when Frigga turned back to him a hand raised.
“This will give you a chance to practice your illusions durability.”
You both turned to Frigga, then each other, eyebrows raised. You were the first to speak.
“I don’t understand my lady.”
Frigga nodded to Loki, who sighed before creating 3 perfect illusions. Frigga turned to you.
“Try and figure out which one is the real Loki.”
“How?”
“Loki’s illusions may seem perfect, but they aren’t.”
You heard a groan from one of the Loki’s.
“They cannot withstand too much force.”
You gave her a look of confusion. She sighed softly before placing a hand on her shoulder.
“I want you to go over there and hit the illusions with enough force to make them disappear.”
She turned to the Loki’s.
“And I want you to try and keep up the illusions for as long as possible.”
She looked between the two of you.
“Any questions?”
You slowly raised your hand.
“How do I know which ones are the illusions? They all look the same.”
“True, Loki has nearly mastered the art. They may all look identical, but they feel very different.”
You gave her a nod before walking over to the multiple Loki’s. You paused, turning back to Frigga.
“How much force exactly?”
“Usually a good punch or slap will do.”
You turned back to Loki a huge grin on your face. All the illusions shared the same look of discomfort. You slowly walked by each illusion, trying to identify the real Loki. Each of them looked exactly like the Loki you knew. How the hell do I tell them apart? You paced back and forth looking over his clothing, his hair, his face, but each one looked the same.
“You’ll never figure it out.”
All the Loki’s mocked you in the same tone. You stared each one down.
“Don’t underestimate me Loki.”
You went over them again, this time looking into their eyes. You got to the third Loki and paused. This one was different. When you looked into his eyes you felt emotion, fear, pride, unease and something else you couldn’t quite place. You took a step closer and felt the familiar cool air. Found you. You suppressed a smirk and continued on to the next Loki. You paused in front of him for a bit then turned back. But before you cleared range you swiftly turned, landing a solid punch in his stomach. The illusion doubled over slightly but quickly vanished. You smiled.
“1 down, 3 to go.”
“Don’t get overconfident.”
You turned to the first illusion who just spoke. Guess your next. You practically strut past the other 2 Loki’s and stepped in front of the first one.
“It’s not overconfidence if you’re right.”
You raised your hand swiftly. A loud smack echoed through the garden as your open palm made contact with his face. The illusion dissolved slightly but quickly regained its solidity.
“Very good Loki.”
All the illusions practically beamed with pride at Frigga’s words. You suppressed a smile. Mama’s boy.
“It seems like you are getting the hang of this as well. Good job (Y/N).”
You couldn’t suppress the smile now. You turned to her giving a swift nod, before turning back to the first Loki and finishing the job by round housing him in the ribcage. The illusion swiftly vanished.
“This is not fair, in a real fight I would be moving.”
Both Loki’s crossed their arms. Frigga spoke softly.
“We aren’t testing your fighting abilities, we are testing your illusion abilities.”
Both Loki’s turned to you glaring.
“Fine.”
You walked up facing the two Loki’s. You knew the one on the right was the real Loki and the one on the left was the illusion, but you still weren’t over the water incident from a few weeks ago. Time for revenge. You stepped to your right facing off with the real Loki. Time to make him pay. You moved a little closer and he gave you a small smirk. You swiftly brought your hand up, intending to smack the smirk off his face. His hand shot up quickly catching your hand before it made contact, pulling you slightly closer to him.
“Told you. You could never figure out.”
“This is for drenching me.”
You swiftly kicked his knee out from under him causing him to drop to the floor. You took the opportunity to pull the hand that was holding yours behind his back, possibly pulling a little harder than necessary. His other illusion slowly vanished and you heard a small laugh from behind you.
“I don’t know what you did to deserve that Loki, but I would suggest not doing it again.”
Loki sighed softly and you let him go. You flashed Frigga a smile before turning back to Loki and offering him a hand. He hesitated slightly before accepting it. You quickly pulled him up.
“How did you know?”
“You can’t hide your irritating attitude.”
His face contorted in annoyance which made you laugh. But his face slowly softened.
“Please, tell me.”
You stopped laughing and sighed. Always getting me with that pouty face.
“I could read the emotions in your eyes. Your illusions were lifeless, their eyes were almost glazed over.”
You looked him in the eyes, a soft blush appeared on his cheeks. He quickly dropped his gaze and began fidgeting his hands. Still not over that habit I see.
“So I need to conceal my emotions better.”
You sighed.
“Or give your illusions more emotion.”
Loki smirked before looking up at you.
“But then how would you beat me?”
You let out a small laugh.
“What are you two whispering about?”
Frigga’s voice was directly behind you, nearly making you jump into Loki’s arms.
“(Y/N) was just admitting in a fair fight I would win.”
Loki gave you a sly smirk as you tried to regain your composure.
“I wouldn’t be too overconfident my son. She may need some practice but I’m sure in a few years her strength could rival yours and Thor’s.”
You stared at Frigga in awe. Does she really believe that? Frigga gave you a soft smile. If she believes that then I can’t let her down.
“Can we practice to control my flames again?”
Loki gave you a side-long glance.
“You know this is my training time, right?”
You merely shrugged.
“Relax, I’m sure you both can train at the same time.”
“Best be prepared than.”
Loki flicked his wrist and a bucket of water appeared in his hands. He turned to you a grin on his face. You took a step back, raising a finger up to him.
“Don’t. You. Dare.”
He broke into a full smile as he launched the water at your face. You snapped your eyes shut preparing for the impact. It never came. You slowly opened one eye noticing the water frozen in the air.
“Really you two?”
You turned to Frigga who had a hand raised, a look of disappointment on her face.
“She started it.”
You turned to Loki who had an innocent smile on his face. Oh that’s it. You went charging after him only to pass through an illusion and nearly fall on your face.
“More emotion. Thanks for the tip.”
Loki was practically yelling from the other side of the garden.
“I swear when I get my hands on you!”
You turned towards him. Loki raised a finger.
“Ah you mean if.”
He broke into a smirk as he dashed across the garden towards the castle halls. You quickly chased after him, a smile appearing on your face. You heard Frigga mutter something under her breath as you passed by, but you didn’t catch it. The last thing you saw was the knowing smile that rested on her face before you turned intent on catching Loki.