Chapter 12
MUSPELHEIM
With a flick of his wrist he set up a privacy wall at the entrance to the tunnel so they couldn’t hear him. Loki slumped back against the wall, staring at an undefined point. His face was expressionless but his mind kept turning. He was a fool a hundred times over and now he knew it. So focused on seeking his own end and giving the AEsir what they desired/deserved, he’d failed to see how Thanos could profit by this. But the reality that Surtur had been held by an infinity gem brought everything into focus. His minion would either sell the gem to the Titan…or had been working for Thanos this entire time and used Loki as a means to an end.
He pulled in a shuddering breath, his entire body trembling before he closed his eyes. How could I be so blind? Why didn’t I see this coming? Then he remembered his minion had been talking to Hela. Glancing up at the ceiling, not knowing if Hela would hear him or not. “You knew, didn’t you?”
His felt his lip twitch just a little. If he weren’t the one involved he would applaud her skillful manipulation. Asgard held the gauntlet and the Tesseract. Midgard had the Mind Gem. There were whispers that another of the gems was there as well. He knew where this would be heading, assuming Surtur didn’t destroy them all. A war that would have the universe converging on the mortals for the last of the gems. The Infinity Wars.
“Truly impressive.” Loki glanced to the left, hearing a familiar sarcastic voice, as an illusion of himself walked through the wall with his hands clapping. The illusion wasn’t dressed as he was now, but a Loki of a few years ago. His shortened hair was slicked back, wearing princely leathers over his light armor that still held a sheen to the gold. It was a Loki prior to going to Jötunheim, prior to Thor’s aborted coronation. “All that effort, those long months of planning and we practically hand Thanos the object of his desire wrapped with a bow.”
This was a fiction Loki had used many times before. Even before his fall. Since he was a child he found it was the best way to process a problem to find the correct solution. A magical sounding board. An illusion that wouldn’t lie to him, no matter how desperately Loki sometimes wished that would occur. Loki retorted to his double softly, “In a finite amount of time we will be in death’s embrace and that won’t matter.”
The illusion crossed his arms over his chest and nodded as if in agreement when it was quite obvious the exact opposite was true. “Ah, of course.”
Loki’s voice turned insistent. “We won’t care.” Loki remembered how it had felt being dead. The disconnect from the cares of the living that had washed away everything else. In a way he couldn’t wait to achieve it again.
With a tilt of his head, the fiction offered what they both knew was the truth, “Then, no. Now…yes, you care.”
Loki clenched both fists at his side and leaned forward to shout in denial, “I don’t! I don’t care! They deserve this.”
The illusion sounded almost bored as he glanced at his fingernails and asked, “Sif, Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg deserve this?”
Loki bared his teeth. “They didn’t save her.”
Now a small little smile stretched the fiction’s lips. “And Anya?”
Loki was more than just fond of Anya. In many ways that would never be expressed she was like family to him. Even his beloved mother had failed him at times. Frigga had withheld the truth from him and forced Anya to do so as well. His mother with her good intentions had at times put his best interests to the side, sometimes striving for family harmony at his expense. She would take Thor’s or Odin’s side over his own, even when she shouldn’t. No one was perfect and he didn’t blame her but it illustrated that Frigga was juggling loyalties between the three of them. Anya was his one constant. He would never understand why but he had her unflagging loyalty. So he’d done what he could to protect her.
Loosely with his left arm Loki gestured, arguing weakly, “I sent her away--…”
“For now.” The shadow pointed to himself. “This is the whole purpose of my existence. You can’t fool me and I won’t lie to you. Surtur will never be satisfied with just Asgard. With so many realms dead or dying the numbers no longer exist to stop him. Once the AEsir fall the fates of the rest of the nine are sealed. You know she will join AEsir fate soon enough. Sending her to Alfheim is merely a delay.”
Loki swallowed thickly. “Everyone dies.”
“But you don’t want her death to be the result of your actions.” Loki’s pain was reflected in his eyes. No, he would never want that. “And as much as you may not wish to admit it, you don’t want those four to die that way either.”
He turned his head so he wouldn’t have to look at the duplicate of himself. “They will die in glory. It’s everything an AEsir warrior wants.”
The shadow clasped his hands together in false pleasure and lifted himself onto the balls of his feet in a bounce. “Then you achieve your revenge and gain what you want. And Thanos also gains what he wants. At least the two of you are happy.”
Loki turned back to snarl, “You bastard.”
“I am you, if you recall, you moron. Or is that an insult to yourself?” Loki’s jaw ticked in irritation and frustration before he childishly stuck his tongue out and glanced away again in a subtle sulk. The shadow rolled his eyes. “And you have accused Thor of being immature.” Loki didn’t respond and after a moment of silence the illusion shook his head. “Your short-sighted planning left this quite unfixable.”
Loki narrowed his eyes. He had spent months planning the outcome. Perhaps not this specific portion of the outcome, but Surtur’s release and the eminent battle between the fire demon and the AEsir were progressing as expected. “It wasn’t short-sighted.”
“Hmm…then I will use a different descriptive. You tunneled your vision.” The shadow pointed at him and raised an eyebrow. “How many contingencies did you anticipate?” They both knew he wasn’t talking about the practicality of restoring Asgard. Loki had spent his time putting the AEsir back together until they were once again the golden realm of the nine. But for Surtur and the war that would follow, the lack of contingencies he’d planned for had been the evidence of his failing.
He couldn’t stop himself from wincing. “Three.” The illusion just looked at him.
On any given day he was constantly trying to find new and creative ways to solve problems. Plans within plans as it were. His short fight alongside Thor on Svartalfheim had twenty-eight contingencies based on the players involved and how they responded.
Loki’s tone turned insistent, trying to convince himself at this point. “That is merely an indication of a successful campaign.”
“Or the arrogance of a fool.” The retort was fired without anger or heat but Loki still flinched.
Slowly the trickster shook his head. He thought of all the effort he had made to be certain that this couldn’t be traced back to him. He had ensured no one had any idea what he was planning and hopefully they never would. A plan that had unfolded beautifully with no suspicion of what was truly occurring. Asking curiously, “When have I ever been so careful?”
The shadow ticked off each point on a finger. “So careful you didn’t even invest enough time in determining what the power source was that you were gifting to that idiot? So careful you did not even consider the possibility of a need for failure?” Loki huffed and sat back, re-crossing his arms in a sulk. “We know Thanos’ end game. We’ve done the work for him.” A wave of agitation swept through the illusion and he started pacing, self-hatred in his every step. “What do you think will happen when he gains all six and the infinity gauntlet?”
Loki acknowledged the truth of that. He wasn’t necessarily trying to protect the nine realms since his own goal was simply a cease of his own existence while taking the AEsir with him. Still, it was the fact that Thanos wanted it that made it unappealing. “The gauntlet is safely tucked away in the vault.”
“If they are slaughtered by Surtur--…”
“A fate they deserve.” Loki nodded firmly to himself as he completed the thought, though his voice didn’t hold the same vehemence it once had.
The shadow held out an appeasing hand. “I do not dispute that, Loki. You know this. This isn’t about their deserved penance. This is about not allowing Thanos even one victory.”
His expression turned thoughtful as Loki spoke his thoughts out loud and sighed in resignation, “The AEsir will simply have to win.” Surtur would not be easily defeated. He would simply have to be content that the lives lost in this battle to come would balance her loss.
The illusion paused in his pacing to speak. “Ah, of course. How? We are long past that point. The result is assured. If the AEsir fail then Thanos wins. If they succeed Asgard will be so weakened he won’t need an army. Thanos will walk in at his leisure and take what he wants.”
Loki’s brow furrowed. “He cannot enter the vault--…”
The illusion was glaring at him lowly and Loki was tempted to dismiss it. “One of the points of this was for us to gain a fitting end by Surtur’s hand. We have no heir and Thor gave up his right to the throne. The vault will be open and vulnerable with our death.”
“Thor will stop him.” What most would say with conviction Loki spoke weakly.
“And if he dies with the rest?”
Loki didn’t even attempt to hide the violent flinch as he broke out in a cold sweat. They had been rivals for years. He wanted his brother humbled, defeated…but not dead. The thought alone made him feel sick and instinctively he curved his arm around his middle. It was one of the reasons he hadn’t questioned the thunderer’s lack of presence at Odin’s funeral rites. He hadn’t wanted Thor involved because he knew he couldn’t keep the blond idiot out of the way.
“He won’t die.” The shadow’s expression still looked dubious but there was no denying the absolute conviction in Loki’s voice. No matter the cost he would make certain Thor lived.
“You’ve always known it would come to this.” The shadow wasn’t talking about the battle. It wasn’t so much a subject change as a slight detour. The illusion was talking about everything that had happened since Loki’s fall.
Hero or villain. Those were the only options for an AEsir. When he fell he’d turned away from the path of a hero, a path he was never any good at. But his choice was also the source of his own conflict. If Thor represented a hero and Thanos represented a villain then what did that make him? Loki hated the titan with every fiber of his being and wanted to be nothing like him, but he didn’t have the ability to be a hero. Why couldn’t there be a third option?
Loki slowly raised an eyebrow to himself, studying the far wall. “Of course I have. He’s the idiot that still hasn’t come to that conclusion.” Both on the Bi-frost and on Midgard they were on opposite sides. To secure victory one of them would have to die. Loki had always known he couldn’t win. Not because he was incapable of doing so, but because his victory would mean Thor’s death. Thor wouldn’t yield but Loki wouldn’t allow himself to win at that cost. He’d simply made matters easier to ensure that Thor could.
But time and again the man pulled his punches, creating this stalemate. It was as if Thor was just as conflicted. He didn’t approve of the man Loki had become, but loved him too much to kill him.
His thoughts shifted from the past to the very ugly present. He hadn’t thought this through. But then in his rage he hadn’t been all that concerned about anything beyond the desired result. He still wished for the result that would allow him to finally go to Valhalla, but for the rest he would somehow have to undo what he had started. As always, Thanos ruined everything and he snarled to himself. He now had to rethink this entire campaign. “Perhaps Odin was wiser than we believed.” Slowly Loki lifted a questioning eyebrow as the illusion finished the train of thought. “He never would have fallen into such a trap.”
Loki snorted dismissively before retorting. “Only because he was the one who trapped Surtur with the gem in the first place.” No doubt Odin knew the gem that he used. Until now Loki had only known it as an unnamed power source.
“Thor never would have fallen for such a trap.”
Loki growled softly, not liking his intelligence compared as less than his brother’s. “Are you truly going to argue with me over his intelligence?” Crossing his arms over his own chest protectively, even if there might have been a grain of truth to it. “Besides, as he has no desire to die so soon it is hardly a fair comparison.”
The illusion smirked. “When have we ever played fair?”
“Never.” Loki retorted automatically.
The illusion’s smirk faded, shoulders slumping just a little in resignation. “Two outcomes, and we the defeated fool in both.” There were varying degrees of those outcomes, but it came down to two. If the AEsir fought and won, their defeat against Thanos was assured. If the AEsir fought and lost, there wouldn’t be anyone left to stop the titan. Either way, Thanos would win.
Loki nodded slowly in agreement, his mind turning quickly. “Then we do what we always do.” The illusion frowned thoughtfully as a grim smirk pulled at Loki’s lips. His mind honed in on a solution. It wasn’t the most appealing solution to Loki but it certainly would be to Asgard. “When presented with two choices and neither appeals…we create a third option.”
The shadow was a part of him, after all. Information flowed back and forth without a word being expressed. After a long moment both tricksters smiled grimly and nodded, the illusion of the two of them fading.
They had all taken up positions, leaning against the rock wall of the cave and silently waiting. Yet even as looks were exchanged Thor slowly felt his brow furrow. Words were constantly swirling around his mind, trying to find purchase. Words from past conversations. Words that were better left unsaid and words that he wished he had said.
But right now he was hearing Loki’s words. It all felt so familiar. Then it occurred to him why it felt familiar. It had been one of Loki’s favorite games as a child. To leave clues hidden in the conversation even if no one ever discovered the answer. The words found him now.
“…I wasn’t there to fight you.”
A true statement as far as Thor knew. At the time he took it to mean Loki hadn’t anticipated Thor responding to his actions on Midgard. Now he wondered if perhaps he’d misunderstood.
“Indeed, I wanted Asgard’s response.”
Loki’s actions on Midgard had all but guaranteed that Asgard would respond. Not just as a threat to a world under Asgard’s protection. But that Loki had made his presence so blatantly known Odin had had no choice in sending a response. Thor’s brow furrowed. His brother wasn’t arrogantly, foolishly bold, not when it involved a battle. His fighting tactics were an artful display of cunning. The battle of New York were AEsir tactics to smite an enemy, but not Loki tactics. The approach had been a mistake as far as Thor was concerned unless it was as his brother said. He’d wanted Asgard’s response because he was trying to attract attention.
Which further contradicted his understanding of the first response because Loki wasn’t stupid. Loki had to know if Asgard responded, as the golden realm’s future king he would be the first to arrive. Then what did Loki truly mean? Loki wasn’t evil. Thor knew this; he believed it in his heart. But Loki was right, too often he assumed the worst when it came to his brother.
He had gone down to the dungeons with a quest to journey to Svartalfheim to save Jane and had convinced himself he was going to have to use threats to gain Loki’s cooperation. He was convinced his brother truly was gone and yet not even minutes after their quest had begun and Loki had returned as if he had never left. His annoying pest of a brother, full of bounce and sarcastic quips.
"Even if I had full control of my faculties, can you perhaps see why I didn’t even consider asking for your aid?”
That earlier question was what confused him the most. What did Loki mean by not having full control over himself? A question that Loki was quick to divert from, leaving it unanswered and unexplained. Thor wondered, not for the first time, if Loki’s thoughts and actions were be-spelled in some manner on Midgard.
Midgard. This was the source of his conflict. It left Thor questioning everything he thought he knew about the trickster. In one year Loki had shifted from a loyal though mischievous son of Asgard to a blood thirsty tyrant desiring dominion over a mortal world. He understood now Loki sending the Destroyer. But Loki calling down an army of death on people under Asgard’s protection and unable to fight back was far outside his character.
When Loki attacked, there was a reason behind it. He attacked someone who had wronged him. He attacked those that had harmed someone he loved. He attacked when he was ordered to by Asgard. He didn’t attack random people for no reason. Attacking the mortals just because Thor cared for them was too petty of an act and Loki was above such actions.
Then it all became clear to Thor. Unless someone had forced him to do so. That was the answer. Loki’s actions were not his own and his clever brother had done what he could to call for aid, perhaps by the only means at his disposal. He hadn’t been there to fight Thor, he’d been there needing Thor’s help. Loki hadn’t betrayed them. Thor’s eyes widened and he dropped his face in his hands in despair.
“He is more…temperamental as of late.” Eyes swung around to Fandral who was frowning at his hands.
Thoughtful looks were exchanged before Volstagg shook his head. “You are imagining things, my friend.”
Hogun looked at Fandral grimly and spoke in agreement. “No, you are not.”
“It is because I am here.” Thor let his hands fall loosely between his knees, staring at the ground. It hadn’t been intentional but he had betrayed his brother, not the other way around. Loki was never going to forgive him. Coming to Asgard had been a mistake. He should have remained on Midgard.
“No. That is not the reason.” Heads swung around to look at Sif, the warrioress stiffening her spine slightly. She pursed her lips before pulling in a slow breath but kept her gaze forward. “I have been on your adventures since I came of age. We have faced war and been victorious. We have faced some of the worst creatures in the nine realms and barely escaped with our lives intact.” She glanced at Thor and grinned. “You were at the front, encouraging us by example to show our might, to fight for glory. Loki was either at our side or right behind, watching our backs to ensure we survived.” There were nods all around in agreement. “Thousands of times we faced death…and never once was I afraid.” Her grin slipped, worry in her eyes. “I fear his rage and I am unashamed to admit it.”
Thor gestured to Fandral. “It is as you said, he has not been like this until now.”
Sif shook her head as she corrected him, watching understanding sweep across those present. “He has been like this since your exile, he just cannot seem to hide it in your presence.” That understanding became slight nods, Sif finally labelling what they had all instinctively felt but been unable to explain.
“Sif…that was over three years ago. No one can remain angered for that length of time.”
She just looked at him, and slowly Thor’s confidence waned. This was Loki, after all. The man who was obsessive about the placement of his books and would complain for weeks if they were placed in the wrong order on the shelves. The man who still hadn’t forgiven him for accidentally breaking one of his favorite quills…and this happened when Loki was seven seasons old, which roughly translated to 900 years ago.
Sif’s lips pursed slightly, expression thoughtful. “I am just unsure why he is so angry.” But the look on her face said she was fairly certain he would know. “It cannot all be because of our dishonorable actions.” Because she knew with certainty now Loki had been angry before it, she just wasn’t certain when it had started.
“The late queen.” Fandral looked pained as he said this. A pain that was echoed across Thor’s face at the reminder of his mother’s death. “He was denied his right.”
“He--…” Sif started to protest that Loki had been in the dungeons at the time. But then she realized Fandral’s point. Unless Loki was dead, he had a right to attend.
The blond warrior nodded slowly to her. “Aye. No man has the right to bar an acknowledged child from those rites.” Thor briefly closed his eyes as he felt his face flush with shame.
Sif frowned at Thor and asked, “Is there another reason?”
Thor pressed his lips together. He knew some of his brother’s anger came from that. And he was just as guilty as their father in not insisting Loki be permitted to say his goodbyes. He also suspected he knew at least another part of the reason had to do with Loki’s heritage being kept from him, but he would never out Loki like that. Slowly he shook his head. “I cannot say. It is a truth for Loki to tell for I shall not.” They all jumped up as Loki appeared and moved without seeing them. “Loki?”
Loki walked out of the side tunnel and through the main one for the exit, a plan slowly forming. He would call the AEsir here to clear a path to Surtur, but he would no longer be using them as fodder. There would still be a death toll, but he might be able to minimize it. Ordering the tertiary to Muspelheim only as a last resort so that the more seasoned men would take the front line would help. Other thoughts came and went. At the moment he had the vague workings of a plan. With a little more time it would solidify into a glorious victory.
He ignored Thor calling out to him, making it back to the surface. All this time there had been minor quakes rocking the world beneath their feet since this was a realm of fire and volcanic eruption. A tremor worked through the ground, deeper than the rest and Loki felt it jar him a little as he paused in his steps. Not in a physical sense, but as if something had just occurred to him. Three days.
The red haze of rage that had tunneled his vision lost its grip and Loki stood for a moment in clarity. He took another long look around at the world under his feet. The mountainous peaks in all directions, the heat overwhelming as fiery death oozed from every pore of this oppressive world. The fumes were not to be dismissed either but the heat was close to unbearable. Indeed were he not able to use his seidr to protect himself, thanks to his Jötunn physiology, he might have succumbed to the heat long before now.
He looked west and for just a moment an image of Asgard’s snow peaked mountains superimposed over what he saw. In less than a day this would be what Asgard had once been. The screaming, dying citizens would succumb under the violent heat for not even AEsir strength could combat molten lava. Not the warriors, for all the warriors would be coming here, but the innocents of the realm. The women and children who were not trained to fight.
They weren’t to blame.
On Midgard he’d stood for just a moment in panicked clarity, Thanos losing his control for just a moment. He had looked over the death and destruction that was being spread around New York. But deep in battle it had been far too late to change his course. There was time now and no one could alter his actions this time.
He shook himself and took a step forward, his mind racing as he spoke to the skies filled with ash and grey cloud banks. Heimdall could see the realms at his choosing, and Loki knew the gatekeeper of Asgard made it a habit even now of closely watching the actions of the trickster in command of the golden realm. “Heimdall, you now have three tasks. Inform Tyr to order the assembly of our primary and secondary forces and deliver them here. We have an enemy to smite.” His jaw tightened but for the first time in months it felt like the vice grip around his heart had loosened. He kept telling himself she would have wanted this. “Secondly, coordinate with Eir. Send the tertiary forces along with the denizens of Asgard to Vanaheim.” Loki’s jaw tightened just a little. “And third. Send missives to the other realms warning them to turn their eyes towards Muspelheim.” He glanced to the right, Thor sending him a curious look. Justifying softly. “In case we fail.”
HELHEIM
Hela tilted her head slightly. She was alone in the throne since not even the dead can watch the living forever. She had been focused on Loki for a while now. An excited feeling that started somewhere near her toes was slowly stretching upward. He was doing something she hadn’t expected and it thrilled her. With hunger in her eyes she was now riveted on the trickster’s every moment.
She could feel it within the fibers of Yggdrasil, the World Tree. A moment was approaching. Something delicate and important was dangling within reach. A choice. Life was full of such moments, but they were tiny, inconsequential diversions on the path with little impact. Choices that only effected the person making the decision. This choice was so much more than that.
Every living being was made up of the golden strands of life. Like the yarns that made up an enormous tapestry, or the silk that created a spider’s web. A strand would bend this way or that depending on their choices and interactions with others. The web would easily accommodate since the change in direction didn’t affect the overall shape of the web.
But Loki was unique and it was why she had always taken an interest in watching him. He didn’t conform. He wouldn’t allow himself to be bent in the direction that society dictated or that the web wished him to travel. By birth he was born to be a villain. The way that he was raised, the way that he was treated, all these little factors stacked against him to force him into that shape. To turn him away from the path of a hero to something twisted and dark. He was born to be Thor’s enemy and past events were supposed to send him firmly down that path.
Yet he was making a choice that would take him off that path. Not a choice of hero or villain, but something else. Something more. It was a choice that not just effected the one making the decision, but a moment that would vibrate through all the other golden strands of life. A choice that could reshape the web into something bigger…or shatter it.
The Queen of the Underworld lived for moments like this.
Author's Notes:
Now that a decision has been made, let's see what happens and who survives. :)
Next:
Eyes turn to Muspelheim; A deal with Lady Death