Not just a Voice
Perimeter breach forgotten, Loki whirled on her feet, racing back the way she had come, back to where the outrider swarm was the thickest, where she could-even from this distance- see flashes of a crimson cape and golden hair.
Any outrider foolish enough to try and get in her way found itself impaled on Chaosmaker as Loki tore a bloody path through the creatures. Loki needed to see for herself. Thor was here. Thor was here!
The vision of Knowhere from her time in the Tesseract's thrall had not yet faded from her mind completely and she needed to see for herself that Thor was alive. That he was whole and well and still alive. The tapestries she had seen in the Weaver's Hall were also fresh in her mind. All the countless futures where only one of them had survived. Mother had promised this future to be one where they may yet both make it alive but the future was never set in stone. What if, simply the act of speaking with Frigga and viewing all those futures had altered their path? What if, Loki's own actions had sealed her brother's fate?
Loki wasn't yet ready to forgive Thor for everything he had put her through. Oh no, Thor had a long, long, way to go before Loki could even consider the idea of forgiveness. But… the oaf had to be alive to earn said forgiveness. Odin had always been a lost cause, Loki had finally come to realize. A few pretty words right before his death were not exactly what Loki had needed but then again, when had the All-Father ever cared about Loki's needs? Mother had been… difficult. A part of Loki was still furious with her but after her little trip to the past, Loki understood why she had done it. Wholehearted forgiveness for mother would come with the passage of time. But Thor… No. Loki refused to lose the chance to have that idiot grovel at her feet and beg for her forgiveness.
Loki froze as she caught sight of a crimson cape and golden hair disappear beneath a writhing mass of black claws and snapping jaws.
"No…" Loki gasped, breathless, waiting for her idiot brother to re-emerge but seconds ticked by as more and more of the Outriders piled on. Seidr, burning and freezing at the same time flooded her veins, rising to the surface with a crackle of power. Unseen to her, it formed a halo of green fire around her body, shooting off towards any creature foolish enough to attempt an assault. The seidr took on a mind of its own, leaping out in fiery arcs of green that shot from one mindless beast to the next, leaving behind charred husks that turned to ash.
One of the Outriders reached the top of the pile with a torn piece of crimson cloth and Loki felt her heart leap to her throat. A yaka arrow shot past her, towards the outriders but it wasn't fast enough to destroy the nesting hoard.
The beasts were spawning!
"Thor!" Loki screamed, the sound raw and animalistic. Seidr burned at the tips of her fingers as she lobbed fireballs at the mound before tearing the screeching creature off the mass. Crimson lightning crackled from inside the mound and Loki paused, traitorous hope taking root in her heart.
He was alive. Thor was alive!
She began ripping away the creatures in earnest. She had to get to him. The oaf couldn't die yet. Not yet. The mound bulged outwards before exploding in a dome of blinding red light. Loki flew through the air and struck her head. Spots of darkness flared across her vision momentarily as she sat up with a groan but a muttered healing spell dealt with the worst of the damage. Holding out a hand, she summoned Chaosmaker back to her side which had reverted to its original spear form.
Red lightning crackled as a hammer flew back to Thor and Loki shook her head. She must have hit it harder than she had thought because that couldn't have been Mjolnir, the hammer that Hela destroyed with barely any effort. But no, even as Loki stood up, she could spot a figure holding up that hammer in the air to call down lightning from the skies. It hit the Mjolnir and then arced outwards to reach every single outrider within sight, leaving behind burning husks.
Loki's breath rushed out her lungs as she stood frozen in mounting horror, realizing that it wasn't Thor who wielded Mjolnir.
"No," Loki gasped.
With a scream that could encompass a part of the fury, the rage and the utter sense of loss Loki felt at that very moment, she shot towards the imposter that dared pretend to be Thor.
She threw Chaosmaker at the imposter, growling in rage when they dodged at the last possible second. Not letting that deter her, Loki withdrew her daggers and fell upon that mockery of her brother.
"Imposter! What did you do to him?" Loki snarled as she slammed her knife through the imposter's shoulder.
The imposter cried out in pain, blue eyes wide behind the silver helmet hiding half their face as Mjolnir slipped from nerveless fingers and crashed to the ground. Loki bared her teeth, digging the knife deeper into the imposter's nerve cluster.
"What did you do with Thor?" She demanded.
"I-I didn't— Argh!" the imposter cried out when Loki gave the knife a vicious twist.
"I will not have your lies!" Loki snarled.
Crimson energy erupted from the hammer lying uselessly beside the imposter and sent Loki flying. Loki twisted in midair, landing in a crouch though her feet dragged through the dirt till she came to a halt.
An Outrider tried to attack her but Loki held out her hand for Chaosmaker that flew through the air, tearing right through the creature's chest as it reach Loki.
Green fire erupted around her, leaping out at the dying creature, immolating it where it stood. It leapt further out seeking out its brethren, and the sound of Outriders screeching filled the air. Uncaring of their demise, Loki advanced on the imposter, frowning when she realized that the fake was hiding under an energy dome.
Loki lobbed a fireball after fireball at the shield as she walked, growing angrier when none of them even scratched the dome.
"You think you can hide under there?" Loki snarled as she slammed Chaosmaker into the barrier. It shuddered beneath the assault but held.
"NO!" She screamed, turning Chaosmaker into a war hammer and using it to smash at the dome. "Coward! Come out here and face me!"
Loki had never experienced berserker rage in her life. She had never allowed herself to lose control of her emotions to that extent but now, she gladly embraced the blood haze, attacking the dome with all her might. Fire erupted around her, charring the ground. Somehow, spikes made of ice, erupted from the dirt, smashing into the dome in tandem with Chaosmaker.
Blood pounded in her ears, her world narrowing to focus on the imposter cowering inside the dome. Loki would destroy her.
Seidr burned in her veins, she could feel it tearing her apart from the inside but Loki did not care enough to stop. If this was to be the end of House Odin, Loki would, at the very least, die trying to avenge the oaf that would have been their king.
"Loki!" She could hear him now, calling her name. "Loki! Stop!"
Stop? No, she wasn't going to stop until this imposter was destroyed. Even if she had to sacrifice this entire realm to do so, Loki refused to stop.
"Loki!"
Strong arms caught her from behind and reality slammed to a halt around her.
"It's okay, sister. I'm here." Thor whispered in her ear. Loki felt her body go slack in his grip. Relief unlike any she had ever felt before surged in her chest though she dared not turn around. "I'm fine. You needn't avenge me."
"Thor?" She gasped. Her brother cautiously loosened his grip on her and she slowly turned around to find the oaf grinning at her like an idiot.
"You went berserker for me? I'm touched, sister."
And there he went ruining everything.
Loki switched Chaosmaker for a knife and stabbed him.
"You're an idiot," she growled. Thor pulled out the knife, still grinning like a loon as he handed it back to her. To thank him for his consideration, Loki stabbed him again.
"And here I thought you were all torn up over my supposed demise."
Heat rose to her cheeks. "Shut up."
"As you command, sister."
"I am not your sister."
"Am I still your brother?"
"...That remains to be seen." Loki looked past him to realize that her display had captured quite the audience.
And in her rage, she appeared to have taken care of the entirety of the nesting hoard. There wasn't a single outrider in sight and the surviving sorcerers were gathered at the edge of the thirty foot wide circle that Loki's Seidr had charred into the ground.
Thor's new friends were interspersed among them, along with the Hulk and the second-rate sorcerer. Was that a flora colossus next to a gun wielding raccoon? That was Thanos's daughter, the one who had defected to that stupidly named team; protectors of the galaxy or something.
"Thor?" The imposter asked hesitantly and Loki tensed. Thor smoothly stepped between her and the imposter with a grin.
"It's alright sister. The Lady Jane means us no harm," he announced and Loki took a closer look at the imposter. Or rather the imposter's hammer to be precise. Mjolnir carried an unnatural, crimson glow and Loki realized that it was the reality stone. "Lady Jane, this is my sister, Lady Lo—"
"Loptr, I'm Lady Loptr," Loki cut in quickly. Thor frowned but went along with her lie.
"You never mentioned a sister before," Jane frowned and Thor gave her a helpless shrug.
"I actually had two," Thor corrected with a crooked grin as he began directing his lady away from Loki. "Hela was the goddess of Death. Our father had her imprisoned in Helheim for the entirety of our lives for crimes against the nine realms. She escaped recently and then Loki and I had to destroy Asgard via Surtur to stop her. "
"Loki? We saw him die in Svartalfheim. Did he fake his death a second time?" Jane asked, her tone unimpressed. Thor must have told her about Loki's earlier 'fake' death as well.
"Yes, turns out he got better." Thor answered with a sheepish grin and Loki resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She wondered momentarily if the two might try to give their courtship another chance.
“-oki! Are you fucking listening to me?” Stark’s voice crackled through her earpiece and Loki marveled at the man's ingenuity. Technology rarely could survive bearing the brunt of her seidr unless it was specifically shielded beforehand with seals of protection. The fact that a Midgardian had succeeded at creating something that was resistant to the destructive effects of seidr, without utilizing seidr itself was, impressive and maybe just a little unsettling. “Vision is hurt. Bad. Maximoff and I managed to take down one of the uglies but the other one seems to have gone crazy. We're pinned down and Wanda can't hold the bitch back long enough to let us retreat. We need your help!”
Loki allowed herself just one moment, only one to look up and drink in the sight of her brother, standing there, watching her in concern as the world fell away. One moment, only as long as a heartbeat lasted to admit to herself that despite everything that he had put her through, she definitely did not want him dead. No matter what happened, Loki would do everything in her power to keep the oaf alive. He was the final tether that connected her to her accursed past and though she had every reason to hate the lies and the deception, she could admit to herself that there were a few good things as well. And she would be damned if she allowed Thanos to be the one who took that away from her again.
Loki blinked and the moment passed.
Standing tall, Loki turned fully to address Thor.
"We've managed to contain the nesting hoard here but quite a few of those beasts escaped into the city. Direct your shield brethren in taking care of them before they form another nest,” Loki instructed as she pushed past Thor. There was a reason why Thanos liked to use the hoard in his invasions, after all. Usually for planets that he wanted to make an example of.
"Where are you going?"
"Stark is in need of my assistance,” she said, casting a quick spell to locate where the man of iron was holed up. “I suggest you move as well. I would hate to see you lose your precious realm to those creatures."
Thor paled at the implications. With a quick nod, he turned to the impost— his Lady Jane and the ragtag group he had brought along with him and began explaining the situation to them.
“Oh and Thor?” Loki said in an offhand manner. “Try not to die while I’m gone.”
Thor grinned in a way that sent warmth skittering across Loki’s ribs though she did her best to ignore the feeling. “Your concern for my health is touching, sister.”
Without another word, Loki took a step appearing next to where Stark was crouched beneath the Scarlet Witch’s shield with his construct as Proxima Midnight’s spear did its best to tear through the defense. The witch had begun to cry tears of blood as more blood dribbled from her nose and ears and Loki had no doubt it was taking everything the witch had to maintain the shield. Loki cast a net of sigils to reinforce the crimson structure and turned to Stark and the construct, only now noticing the gaping hole in the construct’s skull.
“Where is the stone?” Loki demanded.
“Where do you think?” Stark hissed.
Loki had to actively restrain herself from snapping back with a venomous retort. Bickering with the useless mortal would serve no purpose. She needed to retrieve the Mind Stone. Which happened to be outside the shield. “I’ll take care of Proxima Midnight. If you wish to escape, I suggest you do so while she is distracted.”
With those words, she stepped outside, appearing behind Proxima. Thanos’s daughter whirled around upon sensing Loki’s presence, recalling the spear to her hand.
“I believe you have something of mine,” Loki gave her a cutting smile, “I would very much like it back.”
Proxima frowned as though struggling to identify Loki before her expression cleared, “If it isn’t the trickster prince. Father would be most pleased when I bring him your severed head alongside the Mind Stone.”
Loki continued to smile, splitting Chaosmaker into the dual swords.
“You’re welcome to try, though the only head getting severed will be yours!” Loki snarled, letting the illusion standing before Proxima dispel, who sensed the real Loki’s presence behind her almost a little too late. Proxima’s hair fell to the ground as she barely managed to dodge out of the Chaosmaker’s range. If the pained expression on her face was any indication, though, Loki’s blades had still scored flesh alongside the hair.
“You will pay for that, Trickster!” Proxima snarled as she threw her spear.
“Promises, promises. I have yet to see you make good on your word.”
Loki avoided getting impaled only by stepping aside. She used Chaosmaker to deflect the weapon when it switched directions in midair to come back at Loki. A telekinetically controlled weapon? Loki bared her teeth and summoned her seidr to the fore, ignoring the wave of exhaustion that came with the action. Loki refused to let Thanos get another stone. Especially the Mind Stone…
Loki deflected the spear with Chaosmaker, smirking as Proxima’s eyes narrowed in rage. Clearly she had not been expecting Loki to adapt to Proxima’s style of fighting that quickly. If Loki was being honest with herself, while exceedingly rare, a weapon like Proxima’s wasn’t impossible to fight against. Besides, Loki had dealt with far worse.
Proxima summoned her spear back to hand before throwing it once again. The tip glowed bright as a star as it pierced the air and Loki summoned a shield to stop the weapon.
Theoretically, it should have worked. Loki’s seidr was a hundred times stronger than the little Midgardian Witch’s. It should have worked perfectly to stop the telepathically controlled spear. Unfortunately, Loki had just taken out a nesting hoard of outriders and gone up against the Reality Stone while in a Berserker rage. So her seidr was close to spent and perhaps that was why it all happened the way it did.
The spear tore through her shields like shards of glass and Loki gasped as the spear tore through her side. Her ears rang from the suddenness of the blow, her world narrowing to that single moment in time as she pressed a hand to her side and it came away crimson with blood. Fire burned in her veins, eating away at her strength.
Thanos’s daughter bared her teeth, satisfaction glinting in her eyes as she summoned the spear back to her hand. “My spear has the power of a star trapped within it. Your weak magic has no hope of altering its aim, Trickster.”
Loki answered by splitting into a circle of illusions surrounding Proxima before summoning fireballs in her hand and hurtling them at Thanos’s daughter. Under the cover of her spell, Loki cloaked herself in invisibility and stepped behind Proxima. Switching Chaosmaker out for her favorite set of daggers- they had been a gift from Frigga- Loki stabbed Proxima Midnight in the same spot that her spear had torn through Loki’s side.
“I don’t need to deflect that spear to kill you,” Loki hissed as she switched places with an illusion in the circle.
Proxima snarled as she spun in a wide circle, her spear destroying the illusion behind her. Loki cackled and split the destroyed illusion into two more. With every illusion that Proxima destroyed, Loki replaced it with two more copies until Proxima stood in a sea of cackling Lokis. Switching places with another illusion behind Proxima, Loki scored a cut across the woman’s thigh before retreating to the outer edge of the circle.
“I will enjoy tearing your head off.”
“You will have to find me first.”
Proxima threw her spear then, a wave of pale black energy spreading outwards in a spiral that destroyed the illusions before Loki could replace them. Forced to abandon her spot amongst the illusions, Loki cloaked herself in invisibility and stepped back to Proxima’s side. A wave of exhaustion rolled over Loki and she knew she had to finish the fight. Repositioning the dagger, she prepared to slice the woman’s throat only to have her hand caught inches from Proxima's neck. The touch dispelled her invisibility and try as she might, Loki could not break free of her grip.
“You forgot to account for your blood, Trickster,” Proxima spat, as she turned and punched Loki in her injured side.
The world turned white. Loki doubled over with a gasp, struggling to breathe. Her ears rang. Electric shards of pain radiated along her injured side as everything swayed around her. Proxima fisted a handful of Loki’s hair and wrenched a knife free from her hand. Tightening her grasp in Loki’s hair, Proxima forced her head back.
“This is me, making good on my word,” Proxima hissed as she pressed the blade against Loki’s throat.
Loki knew she needed to break free. She knew she needed to escape before Proxima sliced through her neck but her limb felt paralyzed, frozen in place despite Loki’s best efforts to move.
A nerve agent? Loki wondered distantly as the poison spread through her blood. When had she even had the chance to infect Loki? The only time Proxima had even gotten close was—
“The spear was poisoned?” Loki croaked as the blade dug into her throat and broke the skin.
Proxima paused in the act of drawing the knife across Loki’s flesh in a slow agonizing motion. “All who are pierced by my spear yield to death’s embrace.”
I suppose you don’t get to live in this future after all, little sister, Hela crooned in her ear as Loki’s eyelids began to droop. On the bright side, our oaf of a brother gets to live. Speaking of oaf…
“Loki! No!” Thor cried from somewhere far away as Loki’s heartbeat began to slow.
Loki heard the dull thump of flesh hit the ground followed by Proxima pained cry as she let go of her. Loki tipped over to the side and hit the rubble with a bone-jarring thud. Her eyes flew open at the excruciating wave of agony that ripped a scream from her lips. Loki squinted up through watering eyes to find Proxima Midnight clutching to a bleeding stump where her left arm used to be, glowering at someone behind Loki.
"This isn't over, Trickster!" Proxima slammed her boot into Loki's side.
Loki almost blacked out, clinging on to consciousness through sheer stubbornness as she dug her claws in even though she knew she was fighting a losing battle.
The poison was spreading quickly, eating away at her strength. She could see Thor battling Proxima now but Thanos's daughter was matching him blow for blow, even without an arm. In the end, however, Proxima must have decided to cut her losses as she slammed her hand down onto a short range teleporter and vanished in a shimmer of black dust.
The Mind Stone...
“No,” Loki gasped, pushing off the ground as she summoned her seidr to follow the woman. Or, at least, she tried to. With the poison eating away at her, Loki only managed to twitch her arms. But she couldn't let Thanos get the Mind Stone. She needed to stop Proxima. She needed to—
“Loki!”
Warm hands grabbed her by the shoulders, half-lifting her off the ground and Loki wanted to scream. It hurt.
"No, no, no, not again," Thor's mismatched eyes stared down at her with naked fear, "Loki, hold on. We’ll get help.” The oaf desperately tried to assure her but Loki knew when a battle was lost.
Darkness encroached along the edges of her vision, drowning out the rapidly brightening sky behind Thor's big, tear-filled eyes. Something warm dribbled onto her face and she wondered if the idiot had begun to actually cry.
"Loki, you need to hold on, we'll get help," Thor repeated, his warm fingers gripping her rapidly numbing hands.
“‘m not.. doin’ get help…" Loki mumbled, her lips barely moving as the paralytic continued spreading through her body, "hate’t…”
Even though you've died so many times, he always cries like it's the first time. Hela observed dispassionately from where she stood behind Thor, forever burning in the eternal flame.
By now, she was the only thing Loki could see clearly anymore and suddenly the realization hit Loki like a stampeding bilgesnipe. Fear like she had only ever felt in Thanos's presence gripped her heart and she felt it skip a beat. Or maybe that was the poison.
"Hello, traitorous little brother." Hela grinned, the charred flesh on half her face pulling grotesquely with the action as she knelt to grab hold of Loki by her hair. "I was wondering when you'd realize that I wasn't just a voice in your head."
Hela began to drag Loki across the ruins of the Midgardian city and then suddenly, between one step and the next, they were in Helheim. Letting Loki drop on to the cold stone floor, Hela sauntered away. By the time Loki pushed off the ground, Hela was lounging upon a throne of bones, balancing a set of necroblades across the tips of her burning fingers with an air of boredom.
"I'm dead," Loki stated, realizing that she felt no pain. Looking down, she noticed that she had reverted to her male form, once more hale and uninjured.
Without a warning, Hela threw her necroblades at Loki, impaling his feet to the floor. A wave of her hand and a sword as big as Loki was tall slammed into his back and tore out from the front of chest, lifting him off the ground.
"It's so nice of you to join me," Hela drawled, vanishing the weapons with a twitch of her fingers.
Gasping for breath, Loki fell to the floor, realizing that although it hurt, his flesh was whole and uninjured still.
"If you ask me, though, I'm beginning to get tired of the whole, 'I'm dead' routine by now."
"I'm in Helheim." Loki gasped as a fact, that he had been trying to deny since Frigga's death, solidified into reality. Even though he had died in battle, a Frost Giant's fate was to be banished to the barren wastes of Helheim. He would never be able to enter Valhalla.
I will never see her again…
"And now you're thinking you will never see her again." Hela rolled her eyes and the wave of despair that had begun to drag Loki under was replaced by an inferno of rage and hatred.
"Shut up!" Loki snarled and Hela appeared taken aback for a moment.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I said you should keep your mouth shut, if you know what is good for you, sister."
Fury flashed in her eyes at his apparent impertinence but Loki was beyond caring. He was never going to Valhalla. He would never see mother again. He would never get a chance to make Thor atone for all that he had done. And all that he had failed to do. Loki would never—
A dozen swords shot out of the ground, pinning Loki in place.
"Do you have any idea who you are talking to, you insolent whelp?" Hela hissed as she stood up from her throne and marched up to where Loki was impaled on her necroswords.
Uncaring of the way the swords tore through his flesh, Loki summoned the blades that had been a gift from Frigga to his hands and lunged at Hela with a snarled, "Did I not tell you to shut up?"
Hela caught Loki in a skeletal hand coated in the eternal flames and batted his knives away with the other. Undeterred, Loki summoned another set and then another and another.
Hela grew increasingly amused with every attempted attack until she threw her head back and laughed a full bellied laugh. The sound of it echoed throughout the throne room and Loki froze.
"You remind me of Fenrir at your age. Oh, I'm so tempted to keep you." Hela pretended to wipe tears from her eyes as she let Loki drop to the floor. Not missing a moment, Loki threw another set of daggers, which Hela vanished with a flick of her fingers. "You are very tenacious, aren't you? Good. You will need that."
With that throwaway line, Hela turned on her heels and dramatically marched off. Halfway across the throne room, she paused to glance back at Loki. "Well? Aren't you coming?"
"I-I… what?"
"I thought you would be eager to return to the land of the living and your precious Thor."
"What?"
Hela peered closer at him in something almost like concern and frowned. "Did the poison damage your brain?"
"What?"
Concern shifted to amusement. "Is that all you can say?"
"No!"
"Good, now come along. There is much we have to discuss before I send you back."
" Loki hardly dared to breathe, afraid that it might turn out to be some cruel joke on Hela's part. "You would let me return?
Hela sighed as she returned to Loki's side. "Did you really think this is your first time in Helheim?"
"...Yes?"
Grasping him by the arm, Hela forcefully pulled him back to his feet and marched him alongside her, grumbling under her breath. "I still don't see what stepmother saw in you all this time."
Not knowing the answer himself, Loki decided to remain silent as she led the way into a hallway leading off the throne room and into a moderately sized reading room. Loki noted with interest that the room was modelled in a style that appeared to be a blend of both the All-Father and Frigga's.
Letting go of his arm at the doorway, Hela walked to the side of the room that was more reminiscent of Frigga and sat down. Taking in a breath, Loki steeled his nerves and masked just how unnerved he was by this strange turn of events as he came to sit across from Hela.
His adoptive sister watched him with a contemplative frown on her face.
Trying to project more confidence than he truly felt, Loki lounged back in his chair and summoned a dagger to imitate Hela's pose from the throne room. "I believe you said we had matters to discuss?"
"You really do sound like Odin."
"I would thank you not to compare me to the All-Father."
"Very well." Hela conceded magnanimously. "Now tell me, little brother, how far along are you in retrieving my Stone?"