Chapter 1
Her name was Alice.
She isn't expecting to die. Its several days after her high school graduation and she's coming back from the shore with friends. The drive back is a bit longer because of traffic and its sundown when they get into their neighborhood. Her friend parks her car in the driveway and she gets her things.
She lives right across the street.
She never makes it home.
A car is careening down the street at twice the speed limit. It doesn't slow or stop. The impact is instant and devastating.
She feels pain for a split second before its gone.
That's how I died. By a fucking drunkdriver.
Loki doesn't remember when he noticed the presence inside of him. He just knows it protects him. It is protective of him. It reminds him of a cat. Not like his mother's handmaiden which is dull and lazy. No. It reminds him of the wild feral cats that slink along the shadows of his mother's garden. They do not hesitate to tear into anyone who ventures to close, even Thor, bright and wild, is weary of them.
It makes him feel safe.
It also makes him feel afraid.
He is not yet a man but it shows him things. Flashes of terrible deeds and of dishonorable warriors. Are these the actions of asgard? Or are these the actions he will one day commit?
He doesn't know. Has he gained the sight like his mother? Is this why she never speaks of what she sees? If so, he cannot blame her. These visions plague him and invade his dreams. But there are other things, good things, that make him squirm in excitement. Those are the visions he most wants to see because they are impossible but beautiful. Who has ever heard of Midgardians having such magic to conjure dragons? Or perhaps one day they will?
Loki hopes they are visions from the Norns and that the being he can feel watching him, sharing moments with him as he studies is just an overly curious Norn. Even if he knows better, he doesn't say anything. Not even when it starts to whisper to him. It is indistinct for a time, like too many words carried by the wind, but over time he picks up a word or two.
They are always warnings.
To be wary of this servant or this guard. To not be alone with this noble or that teacher. He doesn't understand why, not at first, but he listens and tries to learn why. Loki has always been a quick study and an even faster learner. He notes the difference between the actions of the servants, between those who like, are indifferent, or dislike him. He discovers the dark glance some guard or noble turn his way is either contempt or greed or lust. Sometimes all at once.
Loki learns to be wary.
Although he is not sure if he shouldn't be wary of the voice as well. Is he seeing what the voice wants him to? Is he seeing what is really there? He doesn't know. He doubts the being. He doubts himself...until he doesn't.
He makes his way to his teacher in the library and stops just outside the doors. There is a guard on each side but his brother, Thor, is not there. This is one teacher he is told to be especially cautious of and the man does make him nervous for reasons he not sure of. Father has brushed aside his worries every time he brings it before him. Still, Thor had promised to come with him when his one personal guard was ordered not to attend. He turns to one of the guards.
"Where is my brother?"
"Prince Thor was ordered away by the King." The guard says nothing but his eyes are cold. Uncaring almost.
Thor is father's favorite and so he is Asgard's favorite. Loki doesn't understand it. Doesn't understand why. Is he not his brother's equal? Is he not a prince of Asgard?
(Brace yourself)
The being's voice, clear for the first time in years, startles him out of his thoughts. But it is not just how clear it is but its intent. He can feel this being, strong and hot. A raging fire contained and ready to be unleashed. Something was going to happen.
He raises his chin and walks in.
When the doors close behind him, he quickly learns what it means to fear.
The Queen of Asgard worried. Despite her best attempts Loki becomes more and more distant.
That day, when she held the Jotunn babe in her arms, she felt his strength, and knew he would become a mage of unparalleled power. He would be without equal.
But as he grew so did her visions of the future grow ever more dire. She tried to curb any rumors that his presence was an ill omen to the realms and soon found it beyond her control to stop. Still, she is Queen and the maiden who broke her Queen's confidence found herself equally shunned by all the nobility in the realms.
That does not excuse her failure to protect her son. She sees the way he looks at all who come to him. The fear and mistrust. The actions of her husband have not helped matters. Now, he has become secretive and even Thor and the All-Father he has grown distrustful of. A chasm is forming in the House of Odin and it will not be long before this too becomes the talk of all the realms. As both a mother and as Queen she must do what she can to repair the damage.
When she arrives at the library she knows something is wrong. There is a barrier on the doors which have remained closed. The guards salute her and stand at attention.
"Why are the doors closed?" She demands.
"The All-Father-"
She hears nothing else. She refuses to. After this matter is settled there will be words exchanged with her husband. She cuts her hand across the air and the barrier breaks. The moment it does her ears and the entire hall is filled with her son's screams.
Frigga rushed inside, seidr rising to her call and ready for battle. But she knows down to her very bones, she is too late. She arrives to see Loki, his shirt missing and a rune carved into his belly, struggling to crawl out of the ritual circle. The tutor, stabbed in the gut, struggles to finish his chantation. Frigga does not hesitate to end his life and purging his foul magic from the ritual.
Loki stops screaming but the harsh wheezing sounds he makes, frightens her more. Loki had smudged several of the runes so regardless of the mage's intent, his spell would have failed with no means to enforce its purpose.
The one on his belly is a different matter.
Frigga is already casting a counter before she consciously is aware she is at his side, on her knees, blood and dirt staining her dress. He doesn't acknowledge her or that she is even there. She pulls him into her arms and turns his head so that his eyes meet her own.
There is no recognition.
Blank green eyes stare back at her, unresponsive. Dull. Was he gone? Was all that was left an empty husk, a shell to remind her of yet another failure?
The rune is a cruel and abominable creation. Its purpose twisted from those shared in the bedroom and in the birthing chamber. It would have first made him susceptible to those who sought his bed and made those encounters painful no matter the partner. The second would have ensured that his very bedding ensured pregnancy and at the birth, prove nearly fatal and each child twisted beyond comprehension.
With the ritual mangled, the castor dying, and the spell interrupted, there is little chance that the spell would have taken. That does not mean someone else would not notice and attempt to finish what was started. Even if it seems like Loki is unaffected, Frigga takes no chance.
She unwinds the spell, the rune, and purges that putrid seidr from her son. Only then does she call to her son.
"Loki? My son you are safe now. Speak to me."
Never has he looked so small and fragile, not even as an infant. He was so bright and curious. Loki does not move in her arms.
So still. Listless.
"The Healing Halls await you and the prince, my Queen."
She had forgotten the guards were there. She had forgotten there was anyone besides her son. Slowly, she rises to her feet, Loki cradled in her arms. Another presence comes to her. It is familiar.
"My Queen." She turns to him, coldly she stares him down.
"All-Father."
Before she can say anything. Before she can cut into him with words sharper than all the daggers in the Nine Realms, Loki moves. She turns to him, hopeful and guilty.
When her eyes meet her son's she feels her heart seize. For his gaze was not the bright green she is so used to. No. They were a vibrant gold. And his voice when he spoke, was his voice and another, one feminine, judging and knowing.
Her son is not alone. Not unlike when she is visited by a vision from the Norns.
The words they speak echo, ominous and unforgiving.
"I have heard the languages of apocalypse and now I shall embrace the silence."
Frigga does not dare breath until those eyes close and her Loki falls into a deep sleep. Only than does she dare let her legs give out and weep over the injustice they have wrought upon her son.