Loki
Chapter 1: Loki
Dr. Michaels took a deep breath. Today was the first day of the new organisation, focusing on people from throughout the multi-verse who have, what they have classified as, a strong amount of daddy issues. Soon, she will have her first client.
She looked through the file one more time.
"DR. Michaels," Came the voice of her secretary through the intercom. "Your client is here to see you."
"Tell him to come in." Dr. Michaels replied.
She sat behind her desk, the file in front of her.
Her office was neat, with a potted plant in one corner, a simple wooden desk, and a chair on either side of said desk, one for her and one for her patient.
Speaking of which, Dr. Michaels was concerned to hear what appeared to be a struggle from behind her door.
"Let me go, you great oaf!"
"You need, to do this!"
"I am fine!"
She winced, wondering if she had to call security before the appointment even began.
Thankfully, this was not the case.
The door flew open. A very large blond man entered, holding a struggling leaner man. The blond dumped the darker leaner man in the chair on the other side of her desk and promptly left the room. The lean man whom Dr. Michaels guessed was her patient attempted to get up and chase after him, but the blond man had already closed the door, which automatically locked. He banged on the door several times, before eventually giving up.
"Please, take a seat." Dr. Michaels began calmly.
Instantly, the man turned to her.
"Are you attempting to tell me what to do?" He said, angered.
"I meant you know offense." Dr. Michaels replied. "I am only offering you a seat. We may be here for a while."
The man examined her with narrowed eyes for a long time. Finally, he decided to sit down in the chair offered to him.
Dr. Michaels smiled.
"Well, good morning." She began.
The man grumbled something.
"So," The doctor continued. "I am Dr. Michaels. And you are..."
She looked down at the file.
"Loki... I'm sorry, it would appear that there is a little bit of scribbling where your last name should be."
She frowned.
"May I ask why?"
Loki scoffed.
"What am I to call myself. Odinson? Laufeyson? I do not know."
Dr. Michaels made a note on her note-pad.
"So, it would appear that you are... Confused as to who exactly your father is. Do you know what coursed this confusion?"
Loki scoffed.
"Oh, lets see," He tapped his finger on his chin. "One father left me to die as an infant because I was small, the other lied to me for my entire life."
"Oh," Dr. Michaels said, making another note. "So, you were adopted."
Loki only nodded, frowning.
"This is not an unusual situation." Dr. Michaels began. "Many children are adopted..."
"Oh, really?" Loki asked, raising an eyebrow. "And how many of these children are the monsters parents tell their children about at night?"
Dr. Michaels almost dropped her note-pad.
"I beg your pardon? Did you just call yourself a monster?"
Loki sneered.
"Yes. For you see, while I was raised to believe I was an Asgardian, I am in fact not that. I am a Frost Giant."
Dr. Michaels made another note and looked at her file.
"Yes, it does say this. It says here that you are... Prince of Asgard and... Rightful King of Jottenheim...?"
Loki sneered again.
"Oh yes, as it would turn out, my real father was Laufey, the king of Jottenheim. But, as I was too small for him, the only birthright I inherited was to die as a child cast out onto a frozen rock. Or at least, that is what my not-real father Odin said to me."
Dr. Michaels made another note.
"And how exactly did your adopted father reveal the truth of your heritage to you?"
Loki scoffed.
"Oh, he basically told me that he had taken me because he intended to use me as some sort of way to make a permanent peace between Asgard and Jottenheim, but that those plans no longer mattered. And when I started panicking and telling him how I felt, he decided that then was the best time to have a grandpa nap... Oh, sorry. He fell into the Odin sleep."
Loki scoffed.
"He really loved putting the consequences of his mistakes on others. Just before he died, he told Thor and I that we had a sister who was so dangerous that he had to imprison her and that she would be released as soon as he died. And before he could explain how we could, you know, defeat her, he just tells us that he loves us and vanishes into gold dust."
Loki scoffed.
"Or at least I think he loved us. He did say "Sons", but like I was going to believe him after all of the lies."
Dr. Michaels made a note.
"Well, it would appear that you have been heavily psychologically abused by your adopted father."
"Oh, you think?" Loki asked sarcastically.
Dr. Michaels cleared her throat and looked at her file.
"Do you have any other family who may have supported you? That man who, umm... Helped you in?"
Loki rolled his eyes.
"Oh, that was my idiot of a brother Thor."
He sneered.
"Father's little golden boy."
"And how is your relationship with your brother?"
Loki continued to sneer.
"It's complicated."
"How so?" Dr. Michaels asked.
Loki lent back in his chair.
"Oh, lets see... He claims that he loves me, but at the same time he continues to fight with me."
Dr. Michaels made a note.
"How did this conflict begin? Has it always existed, or is it a new development."
Loki sneered.
"Depends what you mean."
He then frowned.
"We did used to be close, when we were children."
He then smiled.
"I was always pulling tricks on him. One time, I turned myself into a snake, because Thor loves snakes. He picked me up and then I turned back into my normal form, said "Surprise", and then stabbed him."
"You stabbed him?" Dr. Michaels asked in shock.
Loki continued to smile.
"Oh yes, we were eight. It was just a bit of fun. Thor was perfectly fine."
Dr. Michaels cleared her throat.
"And so what changed?"
Loki frowned again.
"I got tired of being in his shadow."
He clenched his fists.
"Thor was always loved more than me, by Asgard and by father. Oh, no matter what I did it was always Thor this, and Thor that, and, oh isn't Thor just the most perfect and most worthy?"
Loki banged his fists on the desk.
"No one ever had time for poor little Loki. Well, except for... Mother..."
Loki's face instantly became sad and Dr. Michaels could have sworn she saw tears in his eyes.
"Yes, your Mother." Dr. Michaels prompted. "How was your relationship with her?"
Loki looked down.
"She was the only one who never treated me different to Thor. She was so kind and loving and... And she even taught me how to do magic."
Loki smiled, but his face quickly melted and his eyes filled with tears.
"Even after I was imprisoned in the dungeons of Asgard for attacking Midgard, she still loved me, gave me books to read and visited me. But I was to stupid to realise that she did love me. I was just so angry, with father, with Thor, with everything, and I lashed out at her."
Tears began to run down his face.
"The last time I saw her I basically told her that she wasn't my mother. I instantly regretted it of course, but by then she had left. And then... And then we were attacked by dark elves and... And she was killed and... And I basically directed them to her...! I told them to take the stairs to the left and... And..."
His hands began to shake again.
"I wasn't even allowed to go to her funeral."
He slammed his fists on the desk again.
"It's all Odin's fault! Him and Thor! They put me in that dam cell and I wasn't able to protect her!"
He threw out his hand.
"Dam it, why isn't my magic working?"
"This entire building has been enchanted to prevent any powers from being used." Dr. Michaels replied calmly.
Loki scoffed.
Dr. Michaels wrote down several more things in her note-pad.
"Loki," She began. "I am sure that, if your mother did love you, then she would have understood that you meant none of what you said."
Loki scoffed.
"You think?"
"Yes." Dr. Michaels replied. "And I am sure that Thor cares about you too."
"What gives you that idea?"
"He sent you here, didn't he?" Dr. Michaels asked.
Loki took on a thoughtful expression.
"Perhaps you are right." He conceded. "But what about father?"
"What about him?" Dr. Michaels retorted. "You have it in your mind that you need some sort of approval from a man who has clearly abused you."
"You clearly don't understand." Loki argued. "I need to prove that I am a worthy son and Thor's equal."
"Oh really?" Dr. Michaels asked, raising an eyebrow.
She looked down at her file.
"According to this, you attempted to take the throne of Asgard, several times."
"Yes, of course." Loki replied.
"Why do you desire to be king so badly?"
Loki sneered.
"To prove that I can be as good as Thor."
He scoffed.
"Honestly, Thor is not fit to be king. That oaf couldn't lead himself out of a paper bag, let alone an entire realm."
"Is that what this is about?" Dr. Michaels asked. "You want to be king so you can prove that you are as good as Thor?"
Loki nodded.
"Father seemed to think that, despite Thor's many floors, he would make a good king. But I know what he really is. He is reckless, and arrogant and unfit to be king... But did father see it? No. Because the only other option was me. And no matter, how much he claimed to love me, he could never have had a Frost Giant sitting on the throne of Asgard."
"And here we are back at the Frost Giants." Dr. Michaels said. "What exactly is the matter with Frost Giants?"
"They are monsters." Loki replied instantly.
"And what exactly makes them monsters?" Dr. Michaels asked.
"Well umm..." Loki began, but it seemed as if he did not have an answer.
Dr. Michaels looked through the file.
"It would appear that Asgard and Jottenheim had once been at war."
"Yes, and?" Loki asked.
"And, wouldn't it be reasonable that the idea of Frost Giants being monsters was spawned from war propaganda?"
Loki frowned in a thoughtful expression.
"Perhaps." He finally said slowly. "Are you saying that me being a Frost Giant doesn't make me a monster?"
"Exactly." Dr. Michaels replied, smiling.
Loki was still frowning.
"I am still finding it hard to believe."
Dr. Michaels looked at the clock on the wall.
"Well, I am sorry to say that that is all the time we have for today." She said. "I feel that this session was quite informative. We shall continue this discussion next week."
Loki instantly got up to leave.
"Wait," Dr. Michaels said, stopping him. "Before you go, I want you to practice some exercises."
"What?" Loki asked.
"Whenever you feel upset or angry," Dr. Michaels began. "I want you to think about happy memories with your brother or your mother. Only focus on the happy memories, not the sad ones."
"Fine." Loki replied, though Dr. Michaels could have sworn she saw a small smile.
Without another word, Loki opened the now unlocked door and left the office. She could have sworn she heard Loki yelling.
"Put me down you great oaf! I can walk on my own!"
Dr. Michaels sat back in her chair and rubbed her temples, sighing. She really hoped that the next few patients wouldn't be as difficult. Or as overdramatic.