#have you SEEN how he LOOKS at THOR? there's one part in the vault where Thor looks around the room

[lady-rose-moon]

I have you | Chapter One |

A/N: welcome back, I do hope that you enjoyed the first part (even if it was small), this chapter delves into Thor 2011 and I really hope you like it!

Prologue | Masterlist | Chapter Two |

Years after Sleipnir was taken, Loki had closed himself off from everyone around him apart from his darling, you saw his grief and his growing disdain for the Odin family. A decade ago, Odin had announced to all Asgard that Thor was to become their next King. That day, Loki hid away in his room and didn’t leave unless he was accompanied by you. His soulmate was forever trying to find a way to get into the Royal Stables and set Sleipnir free, but he was bound to Odin, he couldn’t leave without him. News found you and informed you that a giant wolf had appeared on one of the distant islands north of Asgard. Loki had elected to completely ignore any mention of his children to save himself the heartache of going through their kidnapping again. 

Now though, Loki had become the respectable Prince that Odin wanted him to be. Cunning and manipulative, Loki had made his way up the ladder of hate. Many, like Lady Sif, hated him for personal reasons but some Aesir just hated him for his research into seiðr and other ranges of literature from different realms. Loki was okay with their opinions; they didn’t matter to him if it meant that he could remain in Odin’s good graces. Over the years, Loki had stored away all the hate for the old man deep inside him and never voiced them outside of the privacy of his own room with you. 

Awakening on the day of Thor’s coronation, Loki grumbled and rolled over onto his side and wrapped an arm around your waist. He didn’t want to get up and face Thor becoming King of Asgard when he clearly wasn’t ready. Sensing his turmoil, you opened your eyes and smiled at the man in front of you. 

“Something bothering you, my prince?” you mumbled, shifting your weight on the bed so you could sit up and wrap your arms around him. He settled into your embrace and kissed your head.

“Today is the day of triumph for Thor Odinson,” Loki mumbled, his hand snaking up your back under one of the tunics you had stolen, “He is not ready, not even mother thinks he is, but Odin is so ready to give him the Throne.”

You hummed in agreement and pecked his lips before slipping out of bed to go stand under the waterfall shower Loki had put in when he came back from his research trip to Vanaheim. The waterfall was freshwater and seemingly fell from nowhere at all. 

When he was alone, Loki sighed and flopped gracelessly onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling as he allowed himself to think. He dived into his mind and started to organise his thoughts and lock away any jealousy. He thinks about the plan, about letting some Jötnar into Asgard’s vault to distract Odin from crowning his idiot brother as King of not only Asgard but of all the Nine. It was curious, in a way, how the Jötnar had agreed to his plans so willingly and how not even Heimdall had seen what he was doing in Jötunheim. The monsters were desperate to have their beloved Casket back and he could tell why. Their home was falling to pieces. Loki couldn’t help but feel sorry for the Frost Giants and how decimated their world was. Despite this, Odin wouldn’t take action and he doubted that he ever would. Thor wouldn’t understand either and so he would wilfully ignore their pleas or wage war on them just to shut them up. Thor was like that; he was always acting before thinking which led to many lectures by Odin and Frigga. There was this time where…

“Don’t let hatred consume you, Lok, it isn’t a very good look on you. Frigga always says that those thoughts will corrupt you,” came a voice from by his side. He jumped up and turned to look at you, your hair wet and a towel covering your body. You were the epitome of beauty, in his eyes. You had always been there for him. Always showed him that despite everyone else hating him, you would always love him. 

“Today will be the day to start Asgard’s doom, pet,” Loki grumbled as he stepped up and green shimmered around him, changing his green tunic into his ceremonial garb, golden horns gleaming as the Asgardian sun slowly emerged in the East. Noticing the attention he was getting, he chuckled, “you’re staring, my love.”

Finally coming to your senses, you  giggled and snapped your fingers, your towel changing into a deep green dress that showed your loyalty to Loki over Odin, even if it was subtle. Loki stared you down, seeing the symbolism behind your colour of choice and he wrapped an arm around your waist, conjuring a tiara onto your forehead with little horns on the front. It would’ve been Angrboða’s crown, but she always refused to wear them.

“You know, sweet girl, I can wear less,” Loki whispered in your ear and you shivered as his deep voice rolled through you but instead of acting on your desires, you turned in his arms and wrapped your own around his neck before pecking his lips.

“You know we cannot, Loki, you must go speak with Prince Thor before he departs to make his grand entrance,” you mumbled, your eyes dropping from his emerald eyes to his lips more than once and you bit your lip, “as much as I hate denying you, today is a busy day for Asgard.” 

Loki hummed and his appearance darkened slightly as his mind roamed back to his plan, “you’re right again. Today will be a big day for Thor and Odin.” 

With that, he kissed your cheek and marched out of their room, his boots clacking on the golden marble flooring. You watched him go with a frown, you knew something was going on with your Loki, but you had no evidence, so you stayed to yourself in hopes that you were just overreacting. Loki was a good man, always so polite and concise in meeting and on their dates through Alfheim, Vanaheim and sometimes even your home planet, Midgard. Recently, you noticed a change in Loki, he always frowned when he thought you weren’t looking, he was always commenting on Odin’s choices for Thor being King and on more than one occasion, he claimed that he should be King over Thor, but you knew deep down that all Loki wanted was to be accepted and equal to Thor.

As Loki walked down the golden halls as he had for centuries, he considered the lifetime he had spent in Thor’s shadow. He had never known love from Odin when Thor was there. When he was little, Loki cried for hours for his father, wanting to know why Thor was always taken away to study as a warrior or why he was being allowed behind the big golden doors that lead to a meeting chamber. He didn’t understand at all, he wanted to know why he wasn’t treated the same as Thor. He wanted to be equal to his brother, but he couldn’t be, he would’ve known Odin better if he was loved by the man. 

“Well, a glorious day it is for a coronation, wouldn’t you think brother?” he spoke as he walked up to his brother’s side and smiled the most convincing grin he could, “I’d hate for it to be raining on your big day.” 

“Loki! Brother how are you this sweet morning? Is Lady Y/N not on your arm this day?” Thor turned to his brother and clapped him on the back with a grin, “it is a joy that you are here today brother, without you I wouldn’t have made it here,” as Thor spoke, he did not notice Loki’s smile drop into a small one where he looked hopeful since it quickly disappeared when he continued, “even if it were with your silly tricks!”

Loki moved away from his brother and nodded numbly, regaining himself and groaning as he realised, he had just allowed himself to break down his barriers for a moment and he got hurt. “I would never let you die, brother, you have my sincere word.” 

“Sincere? Sincere? You?” Thor turned to look at Loki with a dropped jaw and a look of incredulity. “You, my brother, are incapable of sincerity.” 

“Am I?” Loki turned to look at Thor as he noticed a servant bring over two jugs of Asgardian mead and he smirked as he twisted his wrist, shimmers of green surrounding the cups as the servant looked down and screamed, dropping the tray to reveal snakes in the mugs rather than mead and Loki smirked to himself. 

“Loki,” Thor sighed as he looked down at the mugs on the floor and the traumatised servant, “that is such a waste of good wine.” He turned to look at his brother and saw him smiling, smiling himself when he realised Loki was merely playing.

“Oh it was just a bit of fun,”  Loki commented as he watched the servant on the floor with a smirk, twisting his wrist again and the snakes disappeared in a green glow and he looked at the servant innocently as he scrambled to his feet, “right, my friend?” Loki asked and the servant nodded before scampering off and he let out a breathy laugh before the horns sounded in the distance. He turned to Thor and smiled, “I know we’ve had our rough spots throughout the years but do not doubt that I love you, even if you do ruin your image with that bloody hammer.”

Thor laughed and held his neck at the side gently, observing his brother for what felt like the first time in a long century, “and do not doubt, Loki, that I am always here if you are struggling. I miss her too.” He watched Loki freeze and his smile fall into a grimace and he knew he said the wrong thing, but he couldn’t bring himself to care, “when I am King, you’ll understand why your children were taken.”

Loki rolled his eyes as he looked away and he patted Thor on the back before walking away and into the throne room, meeting Frigga at the door and he bowed to her before offering her his arm and when she took it, he felt relief in his heart that she chose to walk with him and not Thor. He nodded to her and started walking along the gold of the spacious throne room, stopping at the steps leading up to Odin’s throne. He bowed to Odin and Frigga dipped into a curtsy before he guided her up to where she was to stand, and he stood a step below her. 

No sooner than the moment Loki had stepped into his place had the song of Mjolnir sounded behind the crowds. They all cheered for their heir. Prince Thor was to become King. King Thor, Loki snickered as he watched his egocentric brother strut down the golden floor to Odin on the throne. Loki looked out into the crowd and easily spotted you beside your sister at the front. You weren't cheering, you were mumbling to Serenity and laughing. He smirked slightly as he realised, you were probably talking about Thor in the way he was thinking. You were too much like him for your own good, his girl. 

Any moment now, the frost giants would be headed straight to the Casket and will successfully distract Odin. Loki watched as Odin stood from his throne when Thor knelt on the floor before him and he banged Gungnir on the ground, silencing the crowd almost immediately. 

Thor was smiling. He, of course, thought he knew what was coming. Unfortunately, he would not have his gracious day. 

“Thor…Odinson. My son, my heir, my firstborn,” Odin started, and Frigga glanced at Thor lovingly and Loki scowled subtly before schooling his features to indifference, “you stand here today before all of Asgard to proclaim yourself their King. So long entrusted with this mighty hammer, Mjolnir. Forged in the heart of a dying star, from the sacred metal of Uru. Only one may lift it. Only one is worthy. Who wields this hammer commands the lightning and the storm. Its power has no equal -- as a weapon, to destroy, or as a tool, to build. It is a fit companion for a King,” Odin chuckled breathily at the statement and Thor beamed. 

As Odin and Thor went through the vows, Loki bit his bottom lip in anticipation. They were here. He felt it and so did Odin. The look on his face spoke wonders. 

“Then I, Odin Allfather, do so name you…” Odin became distant for a moment and Loki’s heart leapt and he had to hold back the pleased grin when Odin mumbled, “frost giants…” 

Odin banged Gungnir again and Loki knew that the monsters had perished at the deadly beam of the Destroyer. When Odin started to march down to the vaults, Loki and Thor followed silently. 

When they reached the Casket, Thor looked around before turning to Odin and growling out, “they should pay for what they have done, this day.” Loki stayed silent, watching Thor now start to explode and he didn’t even need to do anything.

“They have paid, with their lives,” Odin replied, studying the condition of the Casket of Ancient Winters. Loki had never been allowed near it, nor had Thor. It was a battle prize but without it, Jötunheim would die. Odin didn’t care but Loki did, he didn’t know why but he did, “the destroyer did its job and the Casket is safe. All is well.”

“All is well?!” Thor boomed, raising Mjolnir as he took a step closer to Odin and the Casket. He really was angry and it excited Loki that his plan to prove Thor wasn’t ready was actually working! Thor rolled his eyes and continued, “They broke into the Weapons Vault! If the Frost Giants had stolen even one of these relics...”

“But they didn’t,” Odin mumbled, still staring down at the Casket, half-listening to Thor’s tantrum.

“Well I want to know why!” Loki looked at his brother with a raised eyebrow, what was he? Five hundred? 

Odin sighed and spoke again, “the Casket of Ancient Winters belongs to the Frost Giants. They believe it is their birthright.”  

Thor fought back with strength but not as Loki would’ve, “And if you hadn't taken it from them, they would have laid waste to all the Nine Realms!”

The Allfather was starting to look tired and Loki suspected that the planning of the coronation was never a very enjoyable event so that must be the reason. 

“I had a truce with the Jötnar King, Laufey.” Odin breathed and Thor huffed in annoyance. 

“They just broke your truce!” He yelled at the old man and Loki just watched in surprise.

“What action would you take?” Odin questioned and Loki knew it was rhetorical, but Thor didn’t, so he continued.

“March into Jötunheim as you once did, teach them a lesson, break their spirits so they’ll know never to step over our borders again!” Thor answered quickly, not using his oafish brain. 

“You’re thinking as a warrior!” Odin exclaimed, glaring at Thor in anger. 

“This was an act of war!” Thor replied.

“This was an act of but a few, perhaps rogues.” Odin sighed and eyed Loki carefully before turning back to the Casket, “Hoping to take back the Casket and free one of three monsters.”

Loki did not respond to the bait; he stayed still and raised an eyebrow curiously at Odin’s choice of words. 

“As King of Asgard,” Thor began, only to be immediately cut off by Odin.

“But you’re not King! Not yet.” He seethed and Thor froze, Loki eying them carefully with reigned in amusement. 

Loki took that as a hint to leave and he hurriedly pulled Thor out of the Vaults and up to the banquet rooms. 

One behind the safety of the banquet hall's doors, Thor stormed away from Loki and upturned a table, the food laid across it dropping to the floor as a result of his fit of anger. He seethed and sat down on the steps a bit away from the overturned table and he fiddled with his hands with irritation.

Loki slowly approached Thor and sat down beside him.

“It is unwise to be in my company right now, brother.” Loki turned his head to look at his brother with a fake sympathy, “this was to be my day of triumph.” 

Loki looked down at the golden floor before turning to face his brother, “It’ll come, in time. If it’s any consolation, I think you’re right. About the frost giants, about Laufey… everything. If a few could penetrate Asgard’s defences then who’s to say they won’t try again? This time with an army.” Loki fed Thor’s burning fire with an eager grin, hoping that his brother would take the bait as usual. 

Thor sighed and turned to look at Loki, “yes, exactly what I mean!” he exclaimed and stopped short when Loki spoke again. 

“But there’s nothing we can do without defying father…” Loki trails off as Thor glances at Mjolnir and now he knows that Thor has fully taken the bait, “no, no, no I know that look, Thor no.”

“It’s the only way to ensure our borders.” Thor glared at Loki as he gripped Mjolnir in his hand tight. 

“Thor, it’s madness.” Loki leaned forward, trying to keep his brother’s attention.

“Madness? What’s madness?” Volstagg spoke up from the other side of the table, stopping from his attack on the boar leg to look at Loki and Thor carefully.

“Nothing, Thor was merely jesting,” Loki started before Thor cut him off by walking forward. 

“The safety of our realm is no jest. We are going to Jötunheim.” Thor announced and the Warriors Three burst out laughing.

It was at that moment that you walked in, your dress shimmering and disappearing into comfy leather leggings and a green tunic of Loki’s. “Is something wrong? Why are we all gathered here and not meeting the King and Queen to discuss the interruption today? Serenity is already chin height up in conversation with the Allfather and she doesn’t want to be alone,” you walked over to Loki and sat down beside him.

“Thor proposes we march into Jötunheim just like father did and demand they keep their distance. That is no way a king should behave, and it will damage their views even more of the future of Asgard. We cannot have an oversensitive King,” Loki drawled, holding your hand as a reminder that he was doing this for you. 

But still, despite Loki’s one-sided effort to stop his brother from visiting Jötunheim, they were already on their way to the frozen planet, dressed up warm and covered by their cloaks. Heimdall gave them little to no resistance and easily opened the Bifrost to them. Once on Jötunheim, Loki looked around the wasteland with a suspicious feeling of safety. 

“What a waste. No wonder they want to escape, this place is falling apart.” Fandral commented as they walked on the uneven rocks towards the palace that looked as deteriorated as anything else in this world. 

Loki watched their surroundings carefully and saw a few Jötnar following them from behind and he summoned a dagger into his hand, his seiðr on the ready as well if he needed it. When they arrived in the melting throne room, Thor stepped forward.

“Laufey. King of the Frost Giants. I am Thor Odinson and I demand that you explain yourself for your attack on Asgard this morning.” Thor spoke with venom in his voice and Loki noticed how Laufey’s eyes narrowed when hearing ‘Odinson.’ 

“It was the work of but a few, little prince. It was not my intention to attack your kingdom on the day that you would become King. It may seem like it to your mind but I assure you, I was not aware of this attempt on your coronation,” Laufey spoke to Thor and since Loki was the God of Lies, he knew immediately that the Jotun was lying to his brothers face but he didn’t dare comment on it in fear of his treachery being revealed to everyone. 

“And yet you sit here, completely calm when you should be on your knees apologising to Odin about how you betrayed his treaty.” Thor snapped back.

Loki stared at his brother in shock before stepping forward and holding his bicep, “Thor look around you, we are heavily outnumbered here. Think, please…” He begged but Thor pushed him away.

When Loki stared at Thor in surprise, Thor turned to him and growled out, “know your place, brother.” That sentence was one he had grown used to, but it still broke his spirits every time it was said to him. It showed that Thor never saw him as his equal, he saw him as everyone else did, the spare. Loki stepped back and remained silent.

“I will let you leave now if you follow this gift then Asgard will not have to face Jötunheim in battle again. Fail to accept this chance and I will show you no mercy.” Laufey growled out and Loki saw his chance, stepping in front of Thor to look at Laufey and again, his body filled with the feeling of love and safety. He was confused but refused to let it bother him.

Taking a moment to consider everything before inclining his head, Loki spoke to Laufey, “we will accept your most gracious offer.” 

Thor glares at Laufey a moment longer before relenting and walking away but a nearby Jotun mumbles, “run along home, little princess.” 

Loki goes pale and he realises that his plan is all but nothing now, this wasn’t meant to happen, “damn.” He mumbled before Thor chuckled and threw Mjolnir into the frost giant and he did not get back up afterwards.

A battle ensued, one full of rage and hatred. Loki fought with his seiðr and daggers to save himself but when Volstagg yelled out, “don’t let them touch you!!” he got distracted and one of the Jötnar grabbed his wrist, intending to freeze him but instead, his skin shifted blue and he stared down at his hand as a feeling of home and safe flowed through him again. He stared down at his hand and watched as it turned blue with markings appearing on the back of his hand and he stared at it in horror and he met eyes with Laufey before pulling out a dagger and forcing it through the Jotun’s chest and he watches his hand shift back to his normal pale. 

“Thor!” Loki called, backing away from the fight as the Warriors three and Sif did, “we must go!!”

“So, go!!” Was Thor’s reply but that’s all it took for Loki to give up on waiting for his brother and to sprint back to the Bifrost site. 

“Heimdall open the Bifrost!” one of them called but no rainbow appeared, and Loki’s heart sank. Heimdall had warned them and they hadn’t been careful.

A beast appeared in front of them, a protector of the realm and Loki froze. He knew this was his last moment. But then Mjolnir flew by him right through the beast. It fell back and Loki almost sighed in relief before the Bifrost opened and Odin appeared riding his war horse.

“Father! Let’s finish this together!!” Thor called, holding up Mjolnir in delight. Odin turned his gaze over to Thor and hissed.

“Silence!” was all he spoke. Laufey then joined Odin but Loki couldn’t care less. 

He saw Sleipnir staring at him, he knew that look in his eye, it was longing, and he felt it too, he missed all of his children so much but he could not go to them without Odin finding out. Even now, even looking at Sleipnir felt wrong and he missed his little boy. 

Laufey declared war and then the Bifrost brought them all back, he watched a servant walk Sleipnir outside so that Odin could freely speak to Loki and Thor. 

An argument ensued between Odin and Thor and Loki watched them again and when he did try to step up, Odin yelled at him and he stepped back and looked at the ground. 

“Thor Odinson... You have disobeyed the express command of your King. Through your arrogance and stupidity, you have opened these peaceful Realms and innocent lives to the horrors of war!” Odin plunged Gungnir into the Bifrost controls and it roared to life behind Thor and Loki watched from a bit away, “you are unworthy of this realm, unworthy of your title! ...Unworthy of the loved ones you've betrayed. I hereby take from you your powers.” Odin summons Mjolnir and Thor watches in horror, “in the name of my father and his father before, I Odin Allfather, CAST YOU OUT!” he yells and Mjolnir blasts lightning into Thor, pushing him into the Bifrost. He then brought Mjolnir to his lips and whispered, “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.” 

Loki watched as Odin threw Mjolnir into the Bifrost and then closed it and he sighed softly. He teleported away and into his chambers where you were waiting on his bed with a book and you looked at him with a bright smile. “Loki!” you got up and ran over to him, hugging him tight and nuzzling your head into his neck, “you came back!” 

“Of course, I did. Not all of us made it past Odin, though… Thor has been banished. If anything happens to Odin… I’m King.” Loki mumbled sadly and gripped onto his soulmate, allowing himself to break in front of you, “I think I might be one of them, Isabella… I think I might be Jotun…”

“What makes you think that, Lok?” you mumbled, running your black nails through his hair with a gentle smile.

“One of them touched me but I didn’t freeze. I went blue!” He mumbled back and sobbed even harder, you holding him as close as possible as he let go.

“Shall we go see?” was all you replied with, but Loki knew you meant the Casket and he nodded numbly. He took your hand and walked down to the vaults, his nerves becoming an all-time high as he walked inside with you. 

Approaching the Casket, you stood behind him and he reached out, gently taking a handle into his hand and he shook his head desperately when he saw that he was slowly turning blue. 

“Stop!” came a call from the top of the stairs and you froze, turning to look at Odin with a smirk on your face.

“Am I cursed?” Loki asked as he gripped the Casket and his breath heaved as he felt the Casket reach out to him and tie herself around his seiðr. He gasped in pain but also in surprise at how right it felt for that to happen. 

“no…” came Odin’s response and Loki let out a breathy chuckle.

“Then what am I?” He asked as he glared down at the Casket with hatred but the feeling inside him wasn’t hate, it was confusion and betrayal.

“You’re my son,” Odin replied, breathlessly and Loki shook his head, turning to face the Allfather for the first time in their conversation.

“What more than that?” He seethed and watched Odin’s reaction carefully, seeing how solemn he had become, he realised the truth, “the Casket wasn’t the only thing you took from Jötunheim that day, was it?”

“No,” came Odin’s breathless reply and Loki narrowed his eyes before putting the Casket down, ignoring the sadness in the back of his mind coming from the parasite that was the Casket’s consciousness. “In the aftermath of the battle, I went into the Temple, and I found a baby. Small for a giant's offspring -- abandoned, suffering, left to die. Laufey's son.”

Loki is sent reeling from the news and he mumbles it back to himself, ignoring how you stood beside him and held his hand comfortingly. “Laufey’s son?” he turned to look at Odin again and he whispered a soft ‘yes’ to which Loki looked around the room and tried to find any reason why Odin would’ve taken him from his home. This was why he had felt so right on Jötunheim, why when he looked at Laufey, he felt so safe. He was his son! His heir! 

“Why?” he whispered, feeling so small now under his father’s gaze and your sympathetic hugs. “you were knee deep in Jötnar blood, why did you take me?!”

“You were an innocent child,” Odin began but Loki would have none of it.

“No, you took me for a purpose, what was it?” He waited moments before he snapped and screamed, “TELL ME”

Odin sighed, defeated and he looked at his adopted son sadly before starting to explain, “I thought we could unite our kingdoms one day, bring about an alliance, bring about a permanent peace... through you. But those plans no longer matter.”

Loki looked up at Odin, heartbroken as he mumbles a quiet “What…?” Before going on a rant, tears brimming in his eyes as he let go of you, “so I am no more than another stolen relic, locked up, here, until you might have use of me?” 

“Why do you twist my words?” Odin mumbled, starting to feel faint.

“You could’ve told me what I was from the beginning, why didn’t you?” 

“You are my son. My blood. I only wanted to protect you from the truth,” Odin replied quickly.

“What? Because I-I-I am the monster that parents tell their children about at night?!” Loki yelled, tears dripping down his cheeks as he walked up the stairs, “It all makes sense now, why you favoured Thor all these years because no matter HOW MUCH YOU CLAIM TO LOVE ME, you couldn’t have a FROST GIANT sitting on the throne of Asgard.” Loki then froze, seeing his father on the floor reaching for him and he quickly got on his knees and started to shake as he observed his father, “guards! Guards, help!”

The guards ran in and gently lifted Odin, carrying him off to where he will sleep for as long as need be. Loki, however, stayed behind and hugged his legs.

You sat beside him and rested your head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry,” you gently whispered into his ear and Loki shook his head and turned to look at you.

“None of this is on your shoulders, my princess, the blame is all on Odin.” He growled slowly and accepted your hug with a sad smile, “I’m a monster, after all…”

“Stop, stop that. You’re no monster. You’re my love, you’re loved, Loki! Monsters aren’t loved, they are feared, and I do not fear you! Nor does Serenity!” you stroked his cheek and smiled lovingly at him, standing up and pulling him to his feet, “Now let’s go find Queen Frigga and sort this out, shall we?” 

Loki weakly nodded and headed out the door with you, happily accepting that you loved him and that he wasn’t a monster. As they walked to Frigga’s room, he noticed that people were staring at him and saluting him in the Asgardian way. He felt confused before he realised that he is now King Regent, unofficially, but still King. 

“It’ll take some getting used to all of this,” you mumbled as a maid curtsied to you, knowing that when Loki takes Gungnir, she will be Queen Regent of Asgard.

When they walked into Odin’s bed chambers, Loki gravitated toward his side. He had seen an Odinsleep before but not one so drastic as this. He looked pale and so very aged, and Loki could not help but blame himself for doing this to his father, adopted or not. 

“You know, then?” Frigga spoke up and Loki’s eyes darted to her before he nodded in admission. “We wanted to tell you, Loki, but we never had the time to. You were always with Thor, going off on adventures and we couldn’t stop you. Odin wanted you to know but he could never find the right words to say. After what happened with your children, he made me swear that we would never tell you about your Jotun blood.”

“It wasn’t his right to hide something so important from me, mother.” Loki bit back, watching Frigga hold her breath and then nod sadly, “It wasn’t a burden. You couldn’t have just told me from the beginning? Couldn’t have raised me in my native skin?”

“But then everyone would’ve found out and another war would have waged for you to return to Jötunheim, you don’t belong there…” Frigga countered, meeting her sons’ eyes sadly and Loki sighed.

“Laufey didn’t want me. Odin made that quite clear.” Loki sighed and looked at the sleeping man, glaring hatefully at the man who had stolen his true life.

“But was he telling the truth?” you spoke up, your arms crossed, and you were leaning against the bedpost with an indifferent look on your face, “what if he is still using you now? Manipulating your perception of the Jötnar for his own gain so that you will hate them more?” 

“You raise a good point, darling, that does sound like Odin Allfather. Passing on dirty bias onto his children so that they will do his bidding when the time is right. He would expect them to trust him. Even the Jotun runt he took in.” Loki mulled over the thoughts before his head was whipped to the side and he held his cheek in surprise, “Y/N?” 

“You… are not a monster nor are you a runt!” you seethed and Loki stared at you in shock as his cheek started to sting from the slap, “am I clear?”

“Crystal!” Loki whimpered and you backed off, satisfied. “But there’s still the issue of the throne. Mother? Will you be stepping up as regent?” he asked hopefully.

Frigga shook her head and held Odin’s hand, “this Odinsleep is not like the others, I fear the worst and so I must implore you to take the throne, Loki. It is what we have trained you for. Thor is banished…” 

As she spoke, the doors to the Odinsleep chambers opened and a lord walked in holding Gungnir and Loki stared at it in shock.

“Until Odin awakens, you are King. Do us and all of Asgard proud, Loki, my King.” Frigga bows her head and Loki turns to the Lord and hesitantly reaches out, taking Gungnir from him and holding it in his hand, feeling the power that swamped through him. He was powerful before but now that he held Gungnir, his seiðr increased and he revelled in the warmth it gave him.

Loki bowed his head to Frigga before offering his arm to you, who immediately took his arm, and he walked out of the room. Holding Gungnir, he focused on the seiðr levels in the core of Asgard and found them to be weakening since Odin had announced that seiðr was a meagre set of skills and that only women were to use them. He would need to rectify that but not right now. Now, he headed back down into the Vaults with you and stood before the Casket.

“Take it home, Lok, that’ll end the war instantly.” you offered, holding onto Loki’s arm, and smiling softly at him. 

“And risk them taking over all of the realms again? Not a chance. If we limit the use of the Casket, then… perhaps.” Loki replied and watched you sit on the marble floor; your feet dipped in the water in front of it.

“Meet with Laufey, then.” you suggested, gazing up at him as you leant back against the marble. 

“I could but the only leverage I have is his Casket,” Loki mumbled, pulling the Casket off its podium, and staring down at it. 

“Maybe it’s not? What if Laufey misses his child? What if he is worrying for the child stolen from his temple. Think, Lok. Why would someone abandon their baby in a temple?”

“Oh, I know, Y/N!” Loki snapped before sighing. You frowned and stood up, holding his shoulder, and smiling at him with understanding.

 “I know this is hard for you, Loki,” you mumbled, your eyes filled with the you felt for him and he glanced away, not feeling worthy of such appreciation. 

“It’s not just hard, I’m King now! There’s so many things that I’m not ready for that are now going to be expected of me,” Loki sobbed, holding onto your hands now in a desperate attempt to ground himself, “the Casket recognises me as one of the Jötnar and it scares me because if it recognises me then so does Laufey and…” 

Loki was interrupted by a guard walking into the Vaults and kneeling before him, one hand over his heart in a fist, “Your Royal Highness, the King of the Jötnar has requested your council.” 

Loki’s heart stopped, he didn’t think Laufey would come so soon but he turned to look at you and you nodded gently so he took a deep breath, grabbed the Casket of Ancient Winters, and nodded to the guard, allowing the man to guide him to the throne room. As he walked, he knew the Jötnar were there because the walls were now lined with ice and his breath showed when he exhaled. Before arriving in the throne room, he cast an illusion that would hide his true form from Laufey. 

Sitting down on Hliðskjálf, Loki peered down at Laufey and his group, “you requested to see me, Laufey-King? I assume this is on the threat of war?” 

Laufey regarded him with a careful gaze before stepping forward, noticing how the guards immediately raised their swords to him in defence of the regent king, “I come to discuss the Casket of Ancient Winters, Odinson. Since my treaty with Odin is no longer in effect, I would like to request that you give it back. Jötunheim is dying without its life force and I see no reason why Asgard should host it any longer.” 

“You make a strikingly good argument, King Laufey but I suggest you work on your bargaining skills a bit better before speaking to me. I, Loki, King Regent of Asgard in Odin’s place. Why would you think I would so easily hand over the Casket to someone who knows how to lay waste to lands by merely lifting up that box?” Loki asked with a smirk as he leaned to the side of the Hliðskjálf to allow you to sit beside him and he held your hand behind your back so that Laufey could not see that he needed you for strength.

Laufey let out a growl and glared at the youngest son of Odin, “Odin dared give you the name of my son. Odin murdered my first-born son after the war as a warning and then took our Casket. Why should I trust you to do anything different from what he did?” 

“Because I am not the senile old King that once sat here. I am Loki. I was born just as the war ended to Queen Frigga. She raised me more than my father and so I have compassion where Odin or my big brother do not. I see your realm for what it is, Laufey, I see it for how it used to be before Odin declared war. I apologise for the wrongdoings of the Aesir that took you away from the protection of the realms. Odin may not realise it, but I do, we need Jötunheim for the Yggdrasil to stay balanced. Without Jötunheim on the Yggdrasil, things will fall into ruin and I do not wish that to happen. With that in mind, I propose a truce,” Loki gave pause, studying Laufey’s expressions thoroughly with a raised eyebrow of false boredom.

“Another bargain for the peace of your world?” A general behind Laufey huffed out and Laufey held out his hand to stop the general.

“If it is a truce the false King requests then he shall get it. On what demands, your majesty?” Laufey asked, a sinister smile spreading across his face.

Loki stilled and made eye contact with his birth father and then he chuckled, “on the demands that you leave Asgard alone, patrol your subjects more thoroughly and in return we shall give you back your Casket.” Loki hesitated for a moment before smirking and standing up, “and perhaps your son when he is ready.”

Laufey also paused, observing the false king for a proper amount of time before speaking up, bravely keeping his sorrow out of his mind, “my son? My son died when your father waged war on my kingdom. He was slaughtered, made an example of. I had no hope of saving my boy. Now you sit here, Loki Odinson, with my son’s name and I ask... why? Why would Odin agree to give the throne to his spare and then also allow him to make decisions so rash as these are?”

“As I said before, I am not the old man who wanted to keep peace. I have a level mind, that is true but if you wish for a war then that is what Loki Odinson will give you,” Loki spoke and watched as Laufey took in his words and he chuckled deeply, “has rumour of my lies spread to even the most abandoned Realm? Do you know what I am, King Laufey?”

Laufey chuckled deeply and shook his head as he watched Loki, “you are a Silvertongue, you lie and manipulate, and you are the dark son of Odin for practising seiðr without Odin’s consent. You grew from a boy that knew no boundaries of trickery into a perfect Prince. That is all you ever will be. A prince of Asgard.”

“I am more than just a meagre Prince, King Laufey. You stand before King Loki of Asgard and you will show some respect. Actually, I tire of this conversation. You may leave now; we will discuss this later.” Loki dismissed Laufey and watched as the guards pulled him away from the throne room, hearing the monster growl and try to fight.

You stood from the Hliðskjálf and stood beside Loki, your hand resting on his shoulder gently and you helped him slow his breathing to one of calm, “you worry too much, my King. Asgard is prospering under your rule and everyone knows you will always be a great King. Offering to exchange peace for their Casket was a brave idea. Give Laufey a few days and see how he thinks about it when those days are done.” 

Loki looked at you and nodded softly, grateful that you were there to keep him balanced. You had him and he had you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@lokisgoodgirl @lokisninerealms @evelyn-kingsley @slpnbty2001 @jennyggggrrr @hahaha12123445 @ozymdias @holdmytesseract @itsybitchylittlewitchy @lovingchoices14 @xorpsbane @huntress-artemiss @muddyorbs @nerdy-fangirl-65 @lonadane

#loki x reader #loki laufeyson #loki #loki x you #loki (marvel) #loki fluff #tom hiddleston #loki smut #loki fanfic #loki god of mischief #loki laufeyson x female reader #loki laufeyson x reader #loki laufesyon x reader #loki laufeyson x y/n #loki odinson x reader

[puckwritesstuff]

Love and Thunder - Chapter 2 Preview

The God Butcher has taken the children of New Asgard, Lord Freyr of Vanaheim is dead, and tensions are high as Sigyn calls in her court to discuss their next moves. Despite the lack of information they have, plans and decisions are made, and Sigyn picks up a cry for help.

New chapter on 3/8

---

Sigyn sat low in her throne, her mouth resting against her fist, the sleepless night of anxiety and anger clear in her face. Loki had a hand on her shoulder but stood out of her line of sight. Fandral stood in the corner, glowering at anyone that tried to approach him. The only one allowed to be close was Theoric, whose shoulders and head hung with the weight of his father’s title. Thor and Jane were as far apart as the room would allow. Brunnhilde spoke quietly to Iðunn, and the rest of the court stood waiting for someone to say something.

Sigyn sat up, taking a deep breath.

“What’s Sif’s prognosis?” she asked.

“She’s going to be fine,” Iðunn said. “You were correct in your assessment in the field—there was no way to reattach the arm. I’ve reached out to Wakanda’s Minister of Health for a consult on a prosthetic.”

“Nidavellir would be happy to make one as well,” Volstagg said. “It’s good to have options.”

“Thank you,” Sigyn said. “Skaði, Hogun, how did this happen?”

“We don’t have the magical defenses we did on Asgard,” Skaði said. “And if I might speak freely…”

Sigyn nodded.

“We do not have a proper Guardian of the Bifrost,” she said. “Your father was not king, your majesty.”

“I’m all too aware of that,” Sigyn said. “One person was never meant to hold both positions. Once the crisis is over, I will look for someone to train for the role. Hogun?”

“There’s nothing that remains as evidence for where the children were taken, or what it was that took them,” Hogun said. “Same with the creatures that attacked. We are not even certain that the children are still alive.”

“Nari is alive,” Sigyn said. “I can still sense the piece of the Bifrost with which he was born. And even without that— this God Butcher is cruel. He had ample opportunity to kill me on Vanaheim and he chose instead to lord his victory over me, allowing Lord Freyr an opening. No, he took them with a purpose. I just don’t know what that purpose is.”

“We need to kill him,” Fandral said. “We need to find him and force him to tell us where they are and then he needs to die.”

Loki’s grip on Sigyn’s shoulder tightened. She put her hand on his.

“I agree,” Thor said. “If this is war, the objective must be to destroy our enemy and make it so that his weapon cannot be used against anyone ever again.”

“I do not have Odin’s vault,” Sigyn said. “Nor is there a place in all the known realms that would be safe to keep such a weapon.”

“Then it has to be destroyed,” Jane said.

“I’m not certain it can be,” Loki said. “This is a weapon of legend. And none can touch it without being possessed by its mission and becoming a God Butcher themselves.”

“Every weapon has its weakness,” Volstagg said. “Mjolnir was shattered by Hela. Laeveteinn was thought lost to time. Even Gungnir could be broken. I’ve no doubt the Necrosword is the same.”

“Then we must find it,” Sigyn said. “Loki, whatever we have on that sword, give it to Volstagg.”

“Of course, darling,” Loki said.

Theoric looked around the room.

“I know I’m not truly a part of this court, and cannot say this with any real authority,” he said. “But if this is war, Vanaheim stands with Asgard. I’ll make certain of it.”

“We will need more than Vanaheim,” Hogun said. “The armies of the Seven Lords are soldiers. Well trained and well-armed, but individually nowhere near strong enough. We would be sending them to slaughter.”

“Then we send the Lords,” Theoric said. “Your mother is the most powerful sorceress Vanaheim has ever seen. Lady Freyja fights better than most of the Einherjar. We can help.”

Sigyn finally stood and walked over to Theoric. She put a hand on his bad arm.

“I know,” Sigyn said. “And it is always an honor to fight by your side. But you have a different duty now, and Hogun is not wrong. The strength of Vanaheim, while no less than it was when it brought King Bor himself to his knees, will not be enough.”

Theoric breathed deeply and nodded.

“As you wish, my king,” he said.

“So what are you thinking?” Hogun asked.

“Omnipotence City,” Loki said.

“Exactly,” Sigyn said.

“What’s Omnipotence City?” Jane asked.

“We are not the only gods,” Thor said. “Omnipotence City is where the gods go to ask for aid from other gods.”

“Zeus will be holding court there,” Sigyn said. “Given that this is a God Butcher, everyone should have a reason to help.”

Sigyn went to take Gungnir from its case when she noticed the tattoos on her wrist were glowing with blue magic.

“That’s new,” Thor said.

“Not exactly…” Sigyn said. “Nari?”

The hearth at the center of the room sprung to life with the iridescent flames of the Bifrost. It grew brighter as a voice came through the other side.

“Good job, Cousin,” Axl’s voice said from it. “Your majesty? King Sigyn, are you there?”

“I’m right here Axl,” Sigyn said.

“We all are,” Thor said. “Where has he taken you to?”

“Mama? Papa?” Nari’s voice was small and scared. Loki grasped at Sigyn’s hand, and she held on tight to him.

“We’re right here, Nari,” Sigyn said, holding her other hand out to the flame. “Your father and I are coming for you, it’s going to be just fine. Are any of you hurt?”

“We’re all okay, your majesty,” Axl said. “But we’re in this sort-of cage thing with legs and spikes on the outside.”

“What can you see?” Thor asked. “Do either of you know where you are?”

“There’s not a lot of light,” Axl said. “And no color. The Bifrost is the only thing with color.”

Thor and Loki exchanged a look.

“Where are they?” Sigyn asked.

“A place we’ve been before,” Loki said.

“A long time ago,” Thor said. “We barely escaped with our lives.”

“Wonderful,” Brunnhilde said.

“There’s really bad thunder here,” Nari said. “Not like Uncle Thor’s.”

Nari sniffed and Sigyn was visibly fighting back tears. Loki put his arm around her shoulders and held her close.

“We are coming to get you,” Thor said. “All of you. We have a plan, we’re going to get some help, but we are coming for you. I know it’s scary right now. It’s okay to be scared. But hold on just a little bit longer.”

“Okay,” Nari said, his voice very quiet.

“Axl?” Thor said.

“Right here,” Axl said.

“Keep them safe,” Thor said.

“Of course, your highness,” he said.

The flame disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Loki held on tight to Sigyn to keep her upright.

#prose #fanfiction #sigyn #loki #thor #jane foster #nari #axl heimdallson #logyn #loki x sigyn #Love Duty and Glorious Purpose fic

[worstloki]

the thing is alot of the 'heros' genuinly did some bad stuff but its all glossed over because they were sad and became 'heros' but loki didnt even do anything as bad as the heros and literally was the reason hela was stopped (without loki nobody would of been there to revive surtur) and yet his reputation is still evil and literally the only reason why is because thor screwed with everybody's opinion of loki before they had a chance to see for themselves. if in avengers 1 thor had actually stopped and said 'to be honest this really is out of character for loki' and hadnt just accepted what was happening and been like 'yeah lets crush my brother' then maybe the avengers would of actually figured out the very obvious fact that it wasnt lokis fault. if thor 1 had been focusing on lokis pov instead of thors we would of seen the humane side of him and not the villainous act he put on (the act he put on because he had just found out that in asgardian culture he was supposedly a monster and had no idea what the fuck to do) and we would of seen loki go through the same redemption ark through the movies that thor supposedly went through in thor 1 (although the only fucking difference you can notice in other movies is that he doesn't throw mugs at the floor anymore where as loki actually develops somewhat of an acceptance towards himself and a more forgiving nature than anybody he actually forgave deserved)

the only part i think could be disputed is “if Thor 1 had been focusing on Lokis pov instead of Thors’ we would’ve seen the humane side of him and not the villainous act he put on“ because while the film was focused on Thor we do get to see that Loki is, relatively to everyone around him, a “good person” at the beginning, and even later in the film he’s clearly conflicted and feeling as if he has no other way to prove himself, and it shows, much more than any of Thor’s words or actions in the film because even though Loki gets half the screentime more of his characterisation is explored simply because for Loki the first Thor film is a time of crisis and he’s incredibly proactive about responding to the new information of being adopted which is trying to shift his entire worldview. 

#Loki WAS relatively compassionate through Thor 1 but this may be because I'm comparing him to Thor and Odin #but Loki openly shows he cares through the entire start of Thor 1 #have you SEEN how he LOOKS at THOR? there's one part in the vault where Thor looks around the room #and his eyes pass over Loki for a second and he doesn't even acknowledge him but the second he's looking around you know what loki does?? #he turns his full attention to Thor just in case Thor decides to address him and when Thor stops looking around he sulks #its not even a proper sulk its more like he's just resigned and used to being looked over #but he's still showing he cares #not to mention even without the deleted scenes Loki demonstrates the most emotions in the film... which is how you see how conflicted he is #he doesn't enjoy fighting and killing for fun like thor does #he doesn't want to slay all the frost giants like thor does #he doesn't want to have to put himself against thor to prove he's got worth #he does all that because he feels its the only way to gain even a semblance of acceptance or sense of purpose and it SHOWS #more screentime of loki would've been great but loki's side of the story was done pretty well in thor 1 #other than deleting the openning scene the audience gets to see the major points of loki's emotional changes and his plan coming into play #its thor's pov that ends up less interesting because he's oblivious and needs to learn some humility and humanity in my opinion #Loki puts on a show in Thor 1 and the best part of that is the audience can tell

[lucianalight]

This is more of a question for fanfiction, but I've noticed that there is a trend in making Loki an "absolutely lovely father" to whatever children or children figures he has in fics or headcanons. And I'm pretty sure this is more based of Tom Hiddleston's charm then anything else. While I enjoy them sometimes, I have a suspicion that MCU Loki would be a far less perfect father if he was based in canon. especially since his model of parenting would be Odin and Frigga. In fact his model of family is dysfunctional as hell, So I'm willing to bet cash he'd be a slightly dysfunctional father/mother.

If Thor1 Loki had been a father, what do you think his parenting style would be, in comparison to Dark World Loki?

This is an interesting question and I have to say I am one of those who headcanon Loki as an absolutely lovely father :D But you mentioned an interesting point too.

First let's talk about where this headcanon might have come from. Tom is a lovely human being, but imo for the most part his personality isn't the reason for this particular headcanon. I think this headcanon firstly is rooted in Norse mythology. Loki has many kids in myth. Sleipnir the eight legged horse, Fenrir the wolf, Jormunganrd the giant serpant, Hel, Narfi and Vali. In Lokasenna Odin also mentions that Loki once spent 8 winters on Earth as a woman and bore children. There is also a story in which Loki saves a child from a troll. I particularly like this take in regards to Loki and children in Norse mythology. There are also instances of Loki as a father in comics.

But can Loki be a good father based on MCU canon and his dysfunctional family history? It is true that people might repeat the style of parenting they experienced and continue the cycle of abuse. But it is not necessarily predetermined that you end up parent your children like your own parents. The key is having self-awareness and reflecting on your actions and also being aware of what your parents did to you.

What Loki experienced with his parents, was neglect and abuse from a narcissistic father who lied to him and favored his brother. Frigga was kind and cared about Loki and was close to him but she was an enabler for Odin. And Loki is aware of what's been done to him. He knows he's been neglected and disregarded by Odin. It's just that until knowing about his race, he thought Odin's behavior was his fault, that he's been doing sth wrong that he was never seen and accepted like Thor. That's why he said "It's all make sense now. Why you favored Thor all these years...". He has realized it wasn't about what he was doing wrong, it was about what he is. Even Frigga's usual excuses for Odin doesn't convince him. We also see in TDW how he stands up for himself against Frigga who is hypocritically guilt tripping him and defending Odin.

This awareness about Odin's brand of abuse and neglect won't let Loki do the same to his children. And if you look at his interactions with the people he loves, neglect is simply not sth Loki does. He loves people deeply and cares a lot, express his love for them, pays attention and care about their emotions. So imo he won't ever neglect his children or imitate anything Odin has done to him.

I think Loki's parenting style would be more like Frigga since he was close to his mother. He would be kind, understanding and praise his children's abilities. His flaws could probably be over-protectiveness and a tendency to hide things from them not to worry or hurt them. But I don't think he would hide things as important as their race like what Odin did. Because he says in the vault scene "You could have told me from the beginning. Why didn't you?". It shows that Loki knows that's the right thing to do, to not hide sth as important from a child.

There can be another flaw in his parenting before the events of Thor 1, and that imo is excusing Odin's actions like Frigga. Remember that Thor and Loki both regard Odin as their idol and want to be worthy in his opinion. So Loki might excuse Odin's actions if he does anything that upsets Loki's children. I also think it would have been really interesting if Loki had children in Thor 1. Because he wouldn't have so easily called or seen Jotuns as monsters. There is no way that Loki sees his children as monsters. So everything would be more confusing for him, or even slightly better? Because if his children who are Jotuns aren't monsters then other Jotuns can't be monsters as well.

This flaw, excusing Odin's actions, would be absent in TDW as Loki has fully realized Odin's hypocrisy and won't fall for any manipulation from him or Frigga again. On the other hand, he now tends to be more secretive about what has happened to him and might hide his emotions or his pain from his children more.

All in all, I'm in favor of the headcanon that Loki would be an absolutely lovely parent but imo he will have some flaws as well, since no one is flawless. But it will never be anything to the extend of what his parents has done to him.

#loki #loki meta #parent loki #loki headcanon #odin #frigga #odin's a+ parenting #thor1 #tdw #narcissistic parent #enabler parent #odin's family dynamic #threeeyesslitthroat #messages #sry for answering late

[iamanartichoke]

Another totally unprompted ask, on the assumption that you are definitely no longer in need of them… another thing I’m trying to work out about Loki characterisation in preparation for perpetrating fic torture on him is how suicidal the poor sod is most of the time. This is another thing I’ve seen referred to a lot but only in passing. Though obviously this is a pretty triggery topic, so ignore if you want.

I am always in need of totally unprompted asks, otherwise I just assume no one wants to talk to me lmao

So, hoo boy. I have been mulling over this for, apparently, three days now bc there's just ... there's a lot to unpack here. Putting under a cut for obviously triggery content and also for length bc fml.

In my opinion, the response to "how suicidal is Loki most of the time" is "very, but whether or not he wants to do anything about it varies from moment to moment" (see what I did there? I'll see myself out). In other words, I have always had a headcanon that Loki is consistently, passively suicidal. This is a headcanon that comes straight from TDW, bc I'm certain that Loki never had any intention of surviving their mission. And that could be a whole other post, really, but the point is that even though this is a TDW-centric headcanon, I have come to adopt it as applying to Loki in general as well, not just in those specific circumstances.

When I say passively suicidal, I mean that Loki is just sort of ambivalent about the value of his own life. He feels like he doesn't deserve to be alive, and feels like there's little point in being alive. Which - I don't mean to sound all gloom and doom, like, poor uwu emo Loki (and I kinda hate that I have to pause to disclaim that, no, I don't just have a fixation on Loki being depressed for funsies/the aesthetic/whatever); I think that this mindset stems from really complicated places that I'm not sure I can articulate, but I will try.

I view Loki as someone who suffers from a severe inferiority complex, and I feel like it stems from being abandoned as an infant. Loki's life started with a traumatic event and, even if he doesn't remember the event itself, the feelings he experienced stayed in his subconscious. Feelings of loss, of fear, of despair and abandonment, of suffering - these are all feelings that burrowed into his bones and lived there for his entire life, feelings that colored how Loki viewed himself as a person as well as how he compared to the people around him.

Keep in mind that Loki didn't know he was abandoned until the events of Thor 1, obviously. We don't really know how old Loki is, in human years, but I have always assumed that he and Thor were at least adults (not teenagers), maybe the equivalent of early twenties - and the reason I bring that up is because it means Loki made it all the way to adulthood carrying the weight of a trauma that he did not remember or even knew had happened, so to him, there was no real reason for how wrong he felt. There was no explanation for the feelings of loss, of neglect, of fear. So on top of struggling with those feelings, Loki was also burdened with the alienation that comes with wondering why one can't just be like everyone else, why one can't just "snap out" of depression, why one's sense of self-worth has always been lacking.

So imagine what it's like to grow up as Loki. He was traumatized as an infant. The trauma has been with him his entire life, along with the confusion/alienation of not understanding why he feels the way that he does, and then on top of that, his basic personality lends itself toward introspection and isolation, so he likely felt even further removed from Thor and from his peers. Loki's too smart for his own good, and he's got an enormous capacity to feel and I feel like this is a combination that works against him as much as it does for him, bc it probably means he spent a lot of time examining himself and identifying all of his perceived flaws - and then berating himself for said flaws.

People with depression are probably pretty familiar with the bully that lives in your head, the one who is always there to remind you that you're stupid, or ugly, or that nobody likes you, or that you have nothing of value to contribute to anyone, etc. Loki's no different; he's got that bully in his head, too. Add onto this the fact that his brother is literally perfect, that he feels his father doesn't love him (or love him as much), that his interests in things like magic are looked down on in his culture, and that he's a prince (meaning that along with the privilege comes pressure, and being in the public eye, knowing that everyone around him is comparing him to Thor as much as he compares himself to Thor, well.) and you have a total clusterfuck of a mindset, and Loki's been existing inside of that clusterfuck for nearly all of his life.

I always go back to the quote where, when filming I think the vault scene, Kenneth Branagh directs Tom by saying, "This is the moment where the thin steel rod holding your brain together snaps." And it's such a significant moment for Loki bc this is where it all crumbles for him, learning the truth, but I also fixate on the "thin steel rod" part of the quote bc that's not how one would describe a healthy, stable person's mind. The implication, to me, has always been that Loki wasn't that stable to start with due to his general upbringing, his internal struggles, and his personality, so of course the devastation of learning he's adopted, and Jotun, would send him over the edge. One doesn't go from zero to 60; one doesn't fall over the edge unless they were balancing fairly close to it in the first place. And to me, the "thin steel rod" basically equals the aforementioned clusterfuck of a mindset.

THE POINT IS. (Holy shit, I ramble.) This is the foundation on which I'm basing my headcanon that Loki neither values his life nor feels as if he even deserves to live it - bc his default mindset is one of inferiority, of loss, of pain. And I think that going from being a general unstable person pre-canon to being passively suicidal post-canon is a thing that happened because, somewhere between the vault in Thor 1 and the dungeons in TDW, Loki just stopped caring.

Life is exhausting for everyone, but even moreso when your mental load becomes more than you can carry. Loki is exhausted. His experience is that things just keep getting worse and worse for him - he's never been valued, he's always been found wanting. He discovers that he was literally thrown away as an infant, unwanted and left to die, and things haven't gotten much better for him since then. Everything that can go wrong, does go wrong. His plans spin out of control. He's unable to prove his worth and his value and when he is, in fact, rejected, he literally tries to kill himself (only to survive and end up in an even worse situation).

It all just continually goes downhill, and Loki is fucking exhausted. He's done. He has no hope that anything is ever going to change - he will never be valued or even seen, he's unable to connect to anyone, he has no family (aside from Thor, but their relationship is so fraught with pain). As far as he's concerned, his life has been nothing but a waste since he was born and if no one else values it, why should he?

So - passively suicidal. He places no value on his life, and doesn't shy away from situations that could cost him his life. It's possible that the only reason he's not actively suicidal is bc his previous attempt not only failed but led to such a horrible situation that he's probably too afraid to intentionally seek out death again. He doesn't want to fail and end up worse off for it.

And - not that you asked this in particular, but - my biggest disappointment in the series is that none of what I've just written is addressed in a satisfying way (to me). That is, we don't get any real explicit acknowledgement of the trauma of Loki's abandonment as a baby or how that affected his mental health growing up; we don't get to explore how devastated he was to learn of his adoption; we don't ever see him reconcile his ingrained belief that jotuns are monstrous savages with the fact that he is jotun. He says "I betrayed everyone I loved, but I'm different now" and we're supposed to infer what he means without Loki actually articulating why he feels that he's the only one who should be held responsible for all these things that had happened or what "I've changed" even means to him (aside from not betraying Sylvie).

I would have liked to see these things addressed for a lot of reasons, but one of those reasons is that I would want to see how Loki comes to terms with all of his issues and his pain enough that he stops being passively suicidal. We never get to see that; after TDW, the time that passes allows for Loki to kinda chill, resulting in the Ragnarok version, but if there was any real healing or recovering going on, it was happening off-screen, with the audience expected to just go with "yeah Loki was going through it for awhile but he's kinda better now."

Furthermore, much of what I've written here is based on prime Loki's development through TDW, but doesn't account for series Loki's split from that timeline nor the theme of "Lokis survive" that's so prevalent in the series. So I don't think the "passively suicidal" headcanon is really appropriate for series Loki but, at the same time, I'd like to have seen why. I'd like to have seen Loki learning to value his life, or where the "we survive" mindset comes from, since that's not really been a thing before now. (Out of universe, I suspect it comes from the context of Loki just not dying whenever he tries to, but since TDW and IW haven't happened, and Loki didn't intend to survive his fall from the bifrost, framing Loki as an innate survivor doesn't really make sense, but to be fair, I'm just being picky.)

So, yeah. I'm not saying Loki doesn't experience growth or development in the series, I'm just saying that his arc left much unsaid and, furthermore, framing his growth as "wanting a throne to not wanting a throne" without addressing that Loki doesn't actually want the power of the throne, he wants the value and self-worth he associates with the throne, is - well, again, unsatisfying. Not bad, but it leaves viewers like me wanting bc we're cognizant of how much more could have been done.

I ... am going to end this now. This is probably nonsensical and all over the place, so I'm very sorry, and I'm sure this is why I don't get meta-starter asks lmfao bc no one's out here trying to read my dissertation submission for a Ph.D in Loki, but well, sometimes it just be like that.

Thank you for the ask and the opportunity to ramble.

#asks #charlotte replies #loki pokey artichokey #loki series #loki series criticism #loki meta #tw suicidal ideation #tw suicide attempt #tw suicide #tw mental health #tw depression #i spent two fucking hours on this yet i still feel like it's rambly nonsense #i hit stream-of-consciousness at some point and just went with it #and now i'm too lazy to revise #so i'm sorry #this'll probably only get like 10 notes anyway bc that's how it be on tumblr #put effort in and get little validation; put no effort in and everyone loses their minds

[haileyofmischief]

I Just Want To Help - Part 1

Pairing: Loki X Reader

Warnings: Angst. But I promise part 2 will be much longer and it will have a happy ending.

Summary: Y/N and Loki have always been inseperable. She was always there for him when he was sad or angry because of others and she never put anyone above him. When Loki was frustrated after learning about his true heritage, he let the anger get the best of him and yelled at her, breaking her heart. How is he going to make it right?

Requested by: @scorpionchild81 💚

Read part 2 here

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Loki and you have always been unseperable. Like saying you were best friends would be an understatement. So when he started acting cold all of a sudden, needless to say, it came as a shock to you. It all started before Thor's coronation. Loki looked more mischievous than usual. He was smug and seemed as if he was expecting something to happen at any moment. Of course, the others didn't realize that. Maybe because they were too excited for their new king or maybe they weren't paying any attention to Loki. Probably both, you thought.

Right before Odin was about to declare Thor the new king of Asgard, the frost giants invaded the palace and it was all chaos. Odin and his two sons went to the vault and after they came out of there, Thor looked furious. While his friends were trying to calm him down, you sat with Loki on the stairs trying to figure out what was happening. He wouldn't tell you. All you understood was that Thor wanted revenge and his father would not let that happen. While Loki was trying reason with him, telling him that going to Jotunheim behind his father's back was madness, you also realized that he manipulated him into thinking that it was the right thing to do.

Now, Loki manipulating others was nothing new to you but this was too much.

So you went up to him and touched his arm, saying:

"Loki, please stop this right now. If your father finds out about this, and he will, all of you will be in great trouble. Especially Thor." He shook his head, "You know how Thor is, when he is determined to do something, there is no stopping him."

You whisper yelled, scared that Thor will hear you. "But you can change his mind! There is no way you guys can defeat the Jotuns all by yourself. You're gonna get yourselves killed!" Loki sighed and held your hand. "Alright, I'll try to stop him and if it doesn't work, I want you to tell my father where we went after we leave. Okay?" You nodded your head and kept on waiting.

An hour passed and Thor was still trying to convince his friends to go with him, and they finally agreed. While they were leaving, Loki was looking at you intensely; after getting on his horse, he winked at you and turned to go with the others. You started running towards the throne room, everyone was looking at you but you didn't care. All you could think was Loki could be in danger. When you got to the door, two guards blocked your way. You spoke, still out of breath, "Please, I have to talk to the king!" One of them spoke up, "The king is busy right now, my lady." You sighed and gave him the puppy eyes. "It's about his sons! It's an emergency! Please..."

He thought about what you said for a moment then they got out of your way. You pushed open the doors. Odin and a man who was most likely a peasant turned their heads to you. Odin looked angry. "What do you think you're doing here, child?! Don't you see I am busy?"

"My king, it's about your sons and the warriors three. They've gone to Jotunheim. Thor persuaded them to get revenge. They might be in danger!" He immediately got up and yelled at the guards. "Prepare my horse immediately! We're going after them." You were not sure if he was worried about his children or just furious because his beloved favorite son did not take his words seriously but it didn't matter. They left and all you could do was wait.

When they came back, Thor was nowhere to be found and Loki looked paler than usual. You tried to talk to him but he was cold and brushed you off saying that he was too exhausted to explain anything. While that hurt your feelings a little bit, you also understood. No one would tell you what happened to Thor, the warriors three didn't like you anyway, and Loki had gone to the vault and stayed there for hours. So you decided to go to his room and wait for him to come back.

You were pacing around his room impatiently when the door opened and a furious looking Loki came inside. He slammed the door and looked at you. There were tears in his eyes. "What are you doing here?" He sounded angry. You looked at him shocked, you have never seen Loki cry before. "I- I just wanted to talk... Loki, are you okay?" You tried to touch his arm but he backed away. "Don't touch me."

You looked at him in the eyes. "Loki, whatever it is, you can talk to me about it. I just want to help-"

He cut you off angrily, "I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP! I DON'T NEED ANY OF YOU! WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M SOME KIND OF PATHETIC CHILD? I DIDN'T ASK ANYONE TO DO ANYTING FOR ME!"

You were shocked and hurt. He had never raised his voice at you before and he knew you hated when people yelled at you. Your eyes teared up and you just looked at him sadly. "I didn't say you were pathetic. I just wanted to help you as a friend." He already regretted yelling at you but was too subborn to admit it. "Well, I don't want your help, Y/N." You turned around and left without saying anything. He sat down in front of his bed and started crying. He was all alone, heartbroken and hopeless.

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A/N: Thank you for reading guys! I'm really tired today so I decided to write 2 parts instead of just waiting until tomorrow. Part 2 will come very soon. I hope you enjoyed it. Please send more requests guys! 💚🖤

#loki x reader fanfic #loki x reader #loki x y/n #loki angst #loki fluff #loki imagine #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #tom hiddleston #tom hiddleston x reader #tom hiddleston imagine #loki fanfic #marvel #loki #thor #marvel imagine #loki series

[otterskin]

Dumb Details From the Loki Trailer I noticed but then got too serious about

First - apparently it’s not a trailer, so I guess we’ll get ‘Trailer 1′ later? ‘Exclusive Clip’ hardly seems accurate, but hey, I’m not Disney’s marketing division. I wouldn’t live in a shoebox if I was.

Dumb detail no. 1:

Owen Wilson’s jacket is...weird. Look closely.

And another shot:

Yeah...his jacket has a ‘reversed collar’. It’s a cut-out rather than cloth folding on top. Huh. What a strange design choice. What could it mean?

I’ve no idea, but that I watched the trailer enough times to notice this should concern you.

Detail No. 2

In this scene, we see what we can presume to be President Loki’s ‘Throne’. Notice the candy-canes. This is a Santa Claus throne, presumably from some mall Santa. This whole place might be in a mall, judging by the stuff in it.

But the Loki in this shot is not President Loki. Notice that he’s wearing brown pants, a thin brown tie, and the beige shirt he’s seen wearing in other parts of the trailer after he's apparently joined the TVA. President Loki wears black pants, a green vest and a wide green tie with a golden clip that resembles Loki’s little chevron he always has (more on that later).

So it would seem that Loki might meet President Loki here. President Loki might even be addressing him at the end of the trailer. It’s possible that his minions turn on him because there’s two Lokis and they don’t know which is the ‘imposter’. 

Speaking of, there’s a minion with bicycle handlebars grafted to a football helmet here, likely meant to resemble Loki. I dig it. There’s also cans of food scattered among the rubbish here. Makes sense that food production is non-existent since everyone has resorted to wearing license plates and spoons. Love how tattered the whole aesthetic is.

This reminds me of the opening Michael Waldron’s script ‘Worst Guy of All Time’, which featured a similar post-apocalyptic setting after the ‘worst guy’ ruins everything and makes himself king of the ashes. That’s likely what’s happened here, but I hope that Loki isn’t anything like Logan Paul, who was the inspiration for that title character.

Ah, the mysterious female character watching a meteor shower WAY TOO CLOSE UP. But my eyes are drawn to one thing...

What is that oblong object with a shiny handle? Could it be...

A sword? I do love swords. Did you know there’s a bunch of pictures of me in the stock photos for ‘Fencing?’ That’s my cred for loving swords.

I suspect that this female character will be an amalgamation of Amora (shudder) and Sylvie and an alternate Loki of some kind. This sword is currently in her possession, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it or another timeline version of it becomes the Loki Show’s Loki′s weapon. 

Loki has lacked a ‘weapon of his own’ in the MCU for quite some time. I mean, yes, he has his little knives, but they are many and disposable and something he chose for himself, rather than the two legendary weapons wielded by Odin and Thor, Gungnir and Mjolnir. In fact, throughout his appearances, Loki has seemed to want such a thing of his own - he briefly had Gungnir, and then the Gungnir-like scepter, and even tried to lift Mjolnir.

One might ask why Odin would’ve overlooked such an obvious show of favouritism. Why give Thor a storied weapon and leave Loki empty-handed? Heck, even Hela had the Necroblade.

In Thor 1, we might’ve assumed that the Casket of Ancient Winters was perhaps intended one day to be given to Loki, as it is shown with Mjolnir in the Vault and thus connected to it and the children who would inherit it.  But in the comics, Odin did have another weapon of storied history put away for his second son: Gram the Sword.

It was locked for eons by Odin in a special vault which required five keys to be opened, and it was meant to be for Loki if he be worthy.[2] The five keys were infused by Odin with the powers of "journeys", "endurance", "secrets", "new beginnings", and "brotherhood", respectively.[3]

The sword, like everything else in comics, has a complicated history full of take-backs and twists, but let’s just leave it at ‘it’s a representation of Loki’s worthiness and belonging in the trifecta with Odin and Thor as a King of Asgard’. It gives him ‘equality’.

In the original mythology, it’s wielded by Sigurd to kill the dragon Fafnir, and the only relation it has to Loki is that Loki is partially responsible for Fafnir existing in the first place (my username is nod to this myth by the by. Sorry Ottär.) But hey, maybe that means we’re getting a dragon? The Fafnir would be very cool.

Or it could just be a bit of rebar in this mining quarry.

Then again...it appears somewhere else...

It’s easier to see in motion, but that’s a sword swinging on this person’s back.

So the hooded figure is this lady...shall we call her Amylkie? Does that mean she’s the antagonist of this show? Well...maybe, but I suspect the true antagonist is foreshadowed here  -

So, what’s going on here? A young girl (Young Amylkie? Some other TVA prisoner that the guard is watching over? An oracle, A Norn, or a kid who wandered off from the tour group in a basilica somewhere?) She’s giving Mobius M. Mobius a...piece of chocolate. Maybe he saw a Dementor, I dunno. I suspect it’ll be a MacGuffin of some kind later. He looks pretty concerned here, which contrasts with his ‘another day at the office’ blaséness when dealing with Loki. But of course this is the eye-catcher:

So, Norse Mythology. It’s been Christiannized. You can thank Snorri Sturluson for that, but you can google all about him later. Let’s just say that he made many Norse figures into equivalents for Christian ones. Baldur is Jesus, pure and a sacrificial lamb who dies for a greater good. And the devil is...Loki. Something the Marvel comics and the MCU have continued.

Here we have a devil, dressed in green and with a distinct shape on his chest:

Hmmm...wait...I know that weird horny shape...

Ah. I’d say that cinches it. This is meant to be Loki. If you look at the devil’s hair, it also resembles Loki’s, being shoulder-length and black.

So, what’s devil-Loki doing? Laying an egg? Trying out a foot massager? For a second I thought it was a moon, but we see the moon over his left shoulder, amongst the stars. Which means this is - probably the Earth.

...Dammit; I live there.

So Earth is barren and being devoured by flames, likely caused by this Loki sitting atop of it (in a throne, no less). Aw gee, things look pretty bad, don’t they?

But wait - what’s that? Under the Earth (and, possibly, under the earth)?

It’s a plant. A shoot, to be exact.

Back to Ragnarok for a second. Ragnarok isn’t the apocalypse (something we see a lot of in this trailer - all of it seems to be exploring the end of days). Ragnarok is the fire meant to wipe out the old and fertilize the ground for the new. And after the gods have died, what happens? Well, Baldur emerges from Hel, one of the only surviving gods (hmm, seems him dying worked out, didn’t it?). He’s joined by Líf and Lífþrasir, who are the new first man and woman, who’s names mean ‘Life’ and who are pictured, usually, with plants and new life. It is they who are tasked who growing a new Yggdrasil after the destruction of the old. The previous first man and woman are Ask and Embla, meaning Ash Tree and Vine/Elm tree, so there’s a theme there. 

So a new sprout, possibly a tree, growing out of the destruction of the old.

This fits with Loki’s role as understood in mythology. He checks the arrogance of the gods, including when they tried to achieve immortality (sorry, Baldur, nothing personal), and that keeps the gods at their best. After Loki is imprisoned, the gods become weak, unhelpful and foolish, and Yggdrasil starts to rot. Eventually Loki escapes and returns along with Surtur (who also resembles this figure) to burn it all to the ground. This is also referenced in Thor:Ragnarok, with Loki releasing Surtur in the Vault, a place of thematic importance to Loki and one that represents the hidden secrets and sins of Asgard). You could say Ragnarok continued into Infinity War, where Loki played an important part in aiding Thanos’ destruction, giving up the stone to protect his brother and essentially dooming the rest of the universe - but also ultimately leading to its salvation, even if, like Myth Loki, he wasn’t around to see it.

So, we see Amylkie literally start a fire in the trailer -

- in fact, this whole trailer is awash in flame -

It’s fire, fire everywhere and she’s setting them!

It’s possible Amylkie’s our big bad, but I think there’s a chance she’s either a red herring, or, much like how Loki ‘worked’ with Thanos in The Avengers, she is the pawn of a greater foe -

  - a Loki bent on destruction, for some reason or other. The TVA is obviously aware that this is the case, and it seems like they might be trying to ‘fight fire with fire’ by enlisting one Loki to combat another. The villain could be President Loki, since there's evidence of 2 Lokis in that scene - or maybe that's one of many Lokis, and the Big Bad Loki is being played by Hugh Grant as Old Loki. In any case, it would appear that Loki will be coming face-to-face with the worst versions of himself, and many of them. And, if I’m right about this scene:

...Loki will likely eventually discover that even his ‘good’ timeline ended in the destruction of his people and home, plus his own gruesome and torturous death. Although I think the TVA will keep that from him, and just show him the happy parts in an effort to inspire ‘good behaviour’. Until Loki inevitably discovers the rest of how that timeline played out and realize he’s been lied to. I don’t imagine he’ll take that very well...

Damn, even our ‘hero’ Loki is burning stuff down! Does this mean that Loki is doomed, always meant to be an avatar of death and toasty destruction?

Well...let’s go back to that stained glass.

Hmmm...wait...I know that weird horny shape...

And there’s something else...the bottom of the Earth is being lit up, and not by fire. Light appears to be coming off this little plant.

What colour is this plant again? That’s right, green. Green is the colour of new life and growth and change and...hang on, I’ve heard that before, too...

Hang on hang on HANG ON... let me have a look at the shape again.

That’s...a letter. An L? For Loki? Like in the title sequence?

Wait...no, a different letter. An older letter. After all, Loki is old Norse. How do you spell his name in that again?

ᛚᛟᚲ ᛁ -

And ENHANCE on that third letter!

This, my friends, is a Kenaz/Kaunaz, or what would become 'K' in our alphabet. It is also known as the 'Loki Rune' (and the Ulcer Rune, for some reason. I suspect Odin understands why). It’s used to spell his name, but is also used on his own to represent him. Heck, it's even his Superman 'S' in the comics:

Runes are more than letters - they are symbols for concepts. So what else does it mean?

Primarly, it means ‘torch’.

And also ‘knowledge’ (ken). As well as ‘growth, change, the search for truth, decay, arrogance, elitism, feminine, kinship and creativity.’

...Okay, that’s a lot, but you have to admit it fits.

More specifically, it means ‘Mastery of the Fire’. As in, someone who has learned to tame fire so that it is helpful, not harmful. To bring light and, symbolically, knowledge.

There’s another way Loki’s been associated with fire - in the Wagner Ring Cycle, Das Rheingold, the opera that inspired much the Thor films’ aesthetic and certainly their helmets, Loki is called ‘Loge’, which means ‘Fire’. He’s usually dressed to match, too -

Many trickster figures are associated with fire. They are usually called ‘Fire-bringers’ - See: Raven, Lucifer, Prometheus, etc. They are often complex figures with a foot in different worlds, but who nonetheless help mankind with the gift of ‘fire’ - although they usually pay for it, and tend to be self-destructive.

(Side note. Lucifer means light-bringer, which is what luciferase is named after. Because it glows. Which is helpful in labs. In case someone needed to know that.)

Moving from a destructive fire-starter to a fire-bringer seems like a great character arc for Loki to take, especially given his rehabilitation in pop culture, the comics, and even wider culture. Loki has gone from being seen as an evil, deviant, destructive character to one who’s seen as a patron of the arts and creativity, of stories rather than lies. Heck, some scholars of Norse Mythology even posit that he’s the closet thing to a protagonist Norse Mythology has, so I guess that backfired, Snorri!). Being dressed in green and with the sprout clearly also being stylized after his Kaunaz, there’s foreshadowing that he’ll be capable of growing good things even out of ashes.

So, to sum up: Being ‘Satan’ sounds pretty bad, but with a little letter re-arranging like we see in the title sequence, you can be...

...practically a saint. Maybe even a saviour.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

#loki #trailer #details #meta #theories #theory #explanation #thor #tva #santa #devil #snorri sturluson whinging #christmas #fire #kaunaz #loki trailer

[nikkoliferous]

Phase One: Avengers (Part Two)

Apparently I had so much to comment on this crappy book that I had to break this up into two parts (you can read part one here). No, I have nothing to say for myself. Lol

Let’s continue.

Clint Barton and Loki’s hand-picked strike team were in a stolen Quinjet with a faked S.H.I.E.L.D. call sign, 26-Bravo. That got them close enough that by the time the air-traffic officer on the Helicarrier knew something was wrong, it was already too late.

Whoa whoa whoa. I thought you said Loki didn’t care about the details. I thought you said such things were beneath him. Make up your mind.

With a last heave and twist, she freed herself from the fallen beam and ran. At that moment, the Hulk turned and saw her. She vaulted up a stairway and onto the next level. The Hulk swiped at the stairway and shredded it into scrap metal. Loki had gotten what he wanted. He must have been trying to time it so he could manipulate Bruce into becoming the Hulk right as his soldiers came to attack the Helicarrier. The Hulk would do at least as much damage from the inside as the rogue Quinjet could do from the outside.

Yes. Yes, he did. Lol

Natasha kept running, and the Hulk came right behind her. For a moment, she thought she’d lost him, but then he came at her out of the shadows, roaring. He was like walking rage, a single-minded engine of destruction. She shot a hole in the pipe over his head. Steam shot out of it into the Hulk’s eyes, stopping him for just the moment she needed to get a head start. She ran as fast as she could, but she knew she wasn’t going to stay away from him for long. He came after her, smashing through bulkheads and doorways like they weren’t even there and roaring the whole time.

Mood, though.

Steve got to the edge of the turbine mount about the same time as Tony. “I’m here!” he called out.

“Good,” Tony said, dropping into view and hovering in the Iron Man armor to survey the wreckage. He had the suit on, and Steve could hear his voice through the earbud microphone all S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel wore. At least that channel was still intact; if they lost communications, they’d be done for.

Convenient. Clint would absolutely know this, which means either 1) he's incompetent, 2) he's not as mind-controlled as we think, or 3) Loki allowed/arranged for his own team's semi-failure.Take your pick.

“What’s it look like in there?” Tony asked.

“It seems to run on some form of electricity,” Steve said.

Tony was shoving loose huge pieces of debris that prevented the turbine blades from rotating. “Well, you’re not wrong,” he said.

Steve fumed. He wasn’t here for technical support. But that was all he could do at the moment.

Ironic for Steve to call out Tony for being useless without his suit when Steve is apparently useless at anything other than beating people up. Lol

Tony stood inside the turbine housing, looking at the blades. He’d cleared most of the debris jamming the rotors. “Even if I clear the rotors,” he said, “this thing won’t reengage without a jump. I’m going to have to get in there and push.”

“If that thing gets up to speed, you’ll get shredded,” Steve said.

Hey hey hey now, I thought Tony wasn't the type of guy to sacrifice himself??

The Hulk stomped around the flight deck, roaring. He saw Thor and swung a fist twice the size of Thor’s head. Thor caught it in both hands, straining to hold both the Hulk’s arm and his attention. “We are not your enemies, Banner,” he grunted. “Try to think!”

Now, where have I heard that before...?

In answer, the Hulk punched him through the wall.

Jealous.

Thor got up and watched the Hulk coming after him. Now this was a fight! He held out a hand, waiting for Mjolnir to return to him. Mjolnir smashed through another wall and reached Thor’s hand just as the charging Hulk came within striking distance.

What's a little bloodlust between friends, amirite?

The Hulk caught the hammer, and a fierce grin spread over his face… then he toppled backward and Mjolnir pinned him to the floor of the hangar.

None but I can lift Mjolnir, Thor thought. Not even this giant.

Yes, yes. You're very special, Thor. We're all super impressed, promise.

“You like this?” Coulson asked, meaning the gun. “We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don’t know what it does.” He powered it up, and rings along its barrel glowed bright orange. “Want to find out?”

But Loki wasn’t there in front of him. Thor saw it too late to do anything. That Loki was an illusion… and the real Loki was behind Coulson.

Lokiception.

“You lack conviction,” Coulson said. He did not move from where he sat against the wall. Blood trickled at the corner of his mouth, and the enormous gun lay uselessly across his lap.

Of all the things Coulson might have said, this was perhaps the one Loki expected least. I have moved worlds out of conviction, he thought. Made bargains with beings who snuff out planets as an afterthought. “I don’t think I…”

"bargains"

“Tasha,” he said. “How many agents did I—?”

“Don’t,” she said. “Don’t do that to yourself, Clint. This is Loki. This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for.” Better than maybe anyone on the Helicarrier, Natasha Romanoff knew you couldn’t blame yourself for things you did while you were brainwashed. All you could do was try to heal and get things right the next time.

OH? DO TELL.

“Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I’ll give you that one,” Tony said. “But let’s do a head count here. Your brother the demigod, a Super-Soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend, a man with breathtaking anger-management issues, a couple of master assassins… and you, big fella, you’ve managed to piss off every single one of them.”

“That was the plan,” Loki said with a grin.

“Not a great plan,” Tony said.

YOU'RE RIGHT, TONY. IT'S AN OBJECTIVELY TERRIBLE PLAN. NOW ASK YOURSELF WHY HE WOULD DO THAT ON PURPOSE.

“You’re missing the point!” he said, and his tone got sharper. “There’s no throne, there is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it’s too much for us… but it’s all on you. Because if we can’t protect the Earth, you can be sure we’ll avenge it.”

Weeeeeell...

With those last words, he tapped Tony on the chest with his scepter, just has he had Hawkeye and Dr. Selvig. Nothing happened. The Arc Reactor in Tony’s chest countered the scepter’s effect.

Loki tried it again. “This usually works.…”

“Well,” Tony said, “best-laid plans. You know the saying.”

Uncomfortable with mild swear words and dick jokes, I see. Lol

Look at this!” Thor shouted, holding Loki and forcing him to gaze out over the destruction in the city. “You think this madness will end with your rule?”

“It’s too late,” Loki said. Thor thought he was beginning to understand what he had done. “It’s too late to stop it.”

“No,” Thor said. “We can. Together.”

Loki looked him in the eye… and then betrayed Thor again, stabbing him in the side with a knife hidden in his sleeve. Thor dropped to the ground, clutching the wound. “Sentiment,” Loki said mockingly.

OH MY GOD. HE'S MOCKING HIMSELF, YOU ABSOLUTE KNUCKLEHEAD. I swear to god, this author sat down and went, "Hmm. How can I systematically erase any and all complexity this character possesses so he's as generic a villain as possible?"

CASE IN POINT:

On a bridge, Cap huddled behind a destroyed car with the Black Widow and Hawkeye. “Lots of civilians trapped up there,” Hawkeye said, indicating the nearby buildings. A flight of Chitauri went over, and Cap noticed something different about one of them.

“Loki,” he said. He was shooting at the civilians fleeing through the streets. “They’re fish in a barrel down there.”

It can be admittedly hard to tell because most shots of the Chitauri vehicles firing on people are from too far away to tell who's piloting... but I checked the clips from the Battle of NY and the only person Loki can definitively be seen firing at is Natasha. On another Chitauri whatever-you-call-them. Not even aiming for the street.

Thor was still watching the Chitauri zipping overhead. “I have unfinished business with Loki.”

“Yeah?” Hawkeye said. “Get in line.”

“Save it,” Steve said. “Loki’s going to keep this fight focused on us, and that’s what we need. Otherwise those things could run wild. We’ve got Stark up on top—”

Almost as if... according to plan...

Look, I have historically not bought into the full "Loki formed the Avengers so he could lose on purpose" theory because I feel that it contradicts the canon explanation that he was being influenced by the sceptre. But... you'd have to be an absolute moron to think he wasn't sabotaging himself, whether accidentally or on purpose. I suppose one could argue that just because it was amplifying his negative emotions, that doesn't necessarily mean it prevented him from working against his "allies". But if it wasn't affecting his actions at all, I don't know why they'd bother to confirm the theory as canon.

Also, like... according to this book, Loki is somehow targeting civilians and not targeting civilians at the same time ?? lmao

“Dr. Banner,” Steve said. “Now might be a really good time for you to get angry.”

Bruce was already walking toward the Leviathan. “That’s my secret, Captain,” he said over his shoulder. “I’m always angry.”

Same, tbh.

Thor reached the top of the Empire State Building and lifted Mjolnir. Storm clouds gathered and lightning struck down, hundreds of bolts reaching for Mjolnir. Thor turned the Empire State Building’s iconic spire into a lightning rod, gathering the force of the elements into it. Then he thrust Mjolnir in the direction of the portal. All the energy he had built up blazed out in a single forking bolt. It struck and destroyed every single Chitauri between the Empire State Building and the portal itself. Hundreds of them exploded and tumbled from the sky at once, including several of the Leviathans that tumbled down to smash into buildings below.

...so why didn't Thor just keep doing this for the rest of the battle? Too draining, or not exciting enough? Lol

Satisfied, Thor nodded and glanced over at the Hulk. Perhaps the scales were evened from their last fight against each other on the Helicarrier—

The Hulk shot out his left fist and smashed Thor all the way across the block-long gallery. Then it was his turn to look satisfied.

Jealous. Again.

Maybe that was just Loki, but Steve was starting to feel like the Chitauri were going to absorb every punch the Avengers could throw. They had to close that portal, or nothing was going to stop the invasion.

Well then. It sure is fortunate that Loki allowed Selvig to install a failsafe, huh?

Fury stood and listened to the World Security Council explain that they had decided to take the operation out of his hands. They were going to use a nuclear missile to destroy the Tesseract and close the portal—but at the cost of untold civilian lives. Fury protested as strongly as he could and one of the councilors cut him off. “Director Fury. The Council has made a decision.”

These crazy motherfuckers would have killed so many more people than Loki it's not even funny.

...and tbh, it probably wouldn't even have destroyed the Tesseract, so they would have killed them for literally no reason too.

The Hulk paused, confused.

“You are, all of you, beneath me!” Loki raged.

Not yet, sir, but I would very much like to be. 😏

She knelt next to him and said, “It’s not your fault. You didn’t know what you were doing.”

Selvig digested this for a moment and then said, “Actually I think I did. I built in a safety to cut the power source.”

Of note and as alluded to previously:

1) The mind control over Barton and Selvig was not absolute either; therefore, if they are not responsible for their actions over the course of this movie, Loki is not responsible for his either.

2) If The Other could hear everything Loki was up to, it's very likely that Loki could hear everything Barton and Selvig were up to as well. Meaning that, at a minimum, he knew about the failsafe and did nothing about it.

The missile had a lot of momentum built up, and Tony’s Mark 7 suit was not operating at full capacity after the amount of energy he’d expended in the battle already. It was no easy task to get the missile angled up sharply enough to clear the tallest buildings in Midtown—especially Stark Tower. That was where the missile seemed to want to go. So, Tony thought, the World Security Council is jealous of me, too.

Look, I get that he's mostly just being witty, but seriously... this dude is out here accusing Loki of being an egomaniac? Lol

He got underneath the missile and angled it upward, straining against its stabilizers, which tried to keep it on course. But slowly he forced it up, and once he got its warhead pointed at an angle, pushing it into a steeper climb got easier. A little.

Steve Rogers’s voice broke his concentration. “Stark, you know that’s a one-way trip?”

So... you're admitting you were wrong, then? 🙃

The Avengers looked up. On the roof of Stark Tower, Natasha said, “Come on, Stark.”

They saw the explosion through the portal, brilliant as a new sun. There was no way Tony could have survived that.

I was wrong about him, Steve thought. When the time came, he did make the sacrificial play.

Thanks, Steve. That's really all I wanted.

Loki had just gotten himself put back together enough to get out of the hole in the floor. Painfully he dragged himself toward the door. Never had a mortal damaged him as much as that green monster. He would be healing for a long time.

He's literally in better shape now than when he came through the portal. And the author made zero mention of his health there.

But heal he would, and then he would have his revenge. Even though the portal had collapsed and he had lost the Tesseract. Even though his Chitauri army was destroyed. Loki would show the so-called Avengers they never should have opposed him.

Raise your hand if you watched Avengers and thought Loki was thinking about revenge right after getting Hulk-smashed. Why aren't any of you raising your hands??

Seriously, there are two emotions I felt from Loki at the end of Avengers Assemble: relief and anxiety. I have no idea why Alex Irvine is so intent on turning him into a boring, one-dimensional villain, but it made this book absolutely insufferable to read.

Anyway, that's it! I hope you all found this as entertaining and cathartic as I did. Lol

↩️ Back to Part One

#loki meta #loki #thor #tony stark #steve rogers #bruce banner #natasha romanoff #clint barton #avengers assemble #mcu #phase one: avengers

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch36: I Bid You Farewell And Good Luck, Morons. Part 1- It’s Like A Pirate Had A Baby With An Angel.

Intro: Thor wakes up on a strange ship, surrounded by even stranger people, a talking tree and a rabbit. Meanwhile, back on Earth, the fight to save Vision is won and the group make their way back to the compound to understand what exactly it is that they’re facing. 

Warnings: Bad Language words.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: So I HAD to write Thor and Tony’s POV over the IW chapters too, because, frankly, they had some of THE best scenes in Infinity War, and I love that freaking Norse God Himbo and chaotic Stark chemistry so bad! I know this is Katie and Steve’s fic, but Steve had so little screen time in this film all things considered…we were so robbed!!! Once again, I can’t thank @angrybirdcr​ enough for her edits, they’re awesome!

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 35

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Thor wasn’t dead. But he felt like it. Every inch of his body ached and when he was jerked back to consciousness for a moment, just one split moment, he thought he saw Little Stark. Only it wasn’t her. The woman had dark hair, yes, but as he focussed he realised she looked nothing like the woman he loved dearly as a sister. This wench had huge eyes and antenna dangling from her forehead. And, whilst he knew it had been a while since he had seen his friend, she wouldn’t have changed that much.

Finding his feet he looked around, chest heaving, at the band of people stood in front of him; a woman with green skin and red hair, a man with grey/blue skin covered in red designs, a tree creature- a Flora Colossus unless he was mistaken- which was off to the side draped over a chair, some kind of furry, animal thing- a rabbit maybe- and finally a man who appeared to be a normal, human being. That was until he opened his mouth and Thor realised he was probably the most stupid human being he had ever encountered.

His rescuers had offered him soup, and then when he had explained about Thanos, the green skinned lady called Gamora had told Thor what the Titan wanted the stones for.  Which she knew, because she his daughter.

Thanos had a daughter. Interesting.

“Families can be tough,” Thor spoke wisely, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Before my father died, he told me that I had a half-sister that he imprisoned in Hell. Then she returned home, stabbed me in the eye so, I had to kill her.” He shrugged. “That’s life though isn’t it I guess? Round and round, but I feel your pain.”

The human, Peter Quill, pushed his way between Gamora and Thor, and looked at her “I feel your pain, as well, because, I mean it’s not a competition, but I’ve been through a lot. My father killed my mother, and then I had to kill my father. And that was hard. Probably even harder than having to kill a sister. Plus, I, came out with both of my eyes.”

Thor wasn’t paying attention. The man was clearly a moron, and he’d just noticed he had bent the spoon in the bowl of soup and was having a flashback to the time he had tried to bend the Captain’s shield. Little Stark had laughed so much at how annoyed he had gotten when he failed that she had cried. And then, to make it worse, a few days later the Captain had managed to move Mjolnir. Just a fraction, but it moved. No one had seen it, bar Little Stark of course, but there was something there, Thor was sure. Steve Rogers was a man worthy of a lot of things, but his hammer was complicated. You have to prove your worth. That had been explained to him by his Father the day he had given it to him. Of course, he hadn’t realised then that Eitri had actually made it for Hela first.

Eitri… Oh, yes!

“I need a hammer, not a spoon.” Thor mumbled, as the idea took hold and he looked at the pod at the back of the ship. “How do I open this thing?” He began pressing random buttons on the screen next to the door. “Is there some sort of a four-digit code? Maybe a birth date or something?”

"What are you doing?” the rabbit animal, Rocket asked.

“Taking your pod.” Thor replied nonchalantly.

And then there was an argument in which the moron Quill tried to imitate Thor’s deeper voice telling him he could not take the pod, but Thor was going to take the pod anyway because he was the God of Thunder after all, and then the lady Gamora cut them off quite rightly directing the focus back to Thanos by stating they needed to find out where he was going next.

But Thor had already thought of that. “Knowhere,” he answered as he brushed past Quill and over to the refrigerator he had seen Gamora get his soup from.

“He must be going somewhere.” Mantis argued innocently.

“No,” Quill shook his head and Thor noted his stupid voice was back to normal. “Knowhere? It’s a place. We’ve been there. It sucks. Excuse me, that’s our food.” He jabbed,  suddenly noticing what Thor was doing.

“Not anymore.” Thor shrugged, stuffing it into a backpack he found.

“Thor!” Gamora cut across the pair of them again. “Why would he go to Knowhere?”

“Because for years, the Reality Stone has been safely stored there with a man called the Collector.” Thor stated.

“If it’s with the Collector, then it’s not safe.” Quill snorted. “Only an idiot would give that man a stone.”

“Or a genius.” Thor shrugged.

“How do you know he’s not going for one of the other stones?” Gamora asked.

“There’s six stones out there.” Thor began to explain, “Thanos already has the Power Stone because he stole it, last week, when he decimated Xandar.”

He didn’t missed the shocked and horrified look the group shared with one another.

“He stole the Space Stone from me, when he destroyed my ship and slaughtered half my people. The Time and Mind Stones, are safe on Earth. They’re with the Avengers.”

“The Avengers?” Quill asked.

“They’re Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.”

“Like Kevin Bacon?” Mantis called out.

“Errr he may be on the team now, I don’t know.” Thor shrugged, having no idea who the man named after a breakfast meat was. “I haven’t been there in a while. And as for the Soul Stone, well no one’s ever seen that. No one even knows where it is. Therefore, Thanos can’t get it. Therefore, he’s going to Knowhere. Hence, he’ll be getting the Reality Stone. You’re welcome.”

“Then we have to go to Knowhere, now.” Gamora stated, looking around.

“Wrong. Where we have to go is Nidavellir.” Thor picked up the backpack.

“That’s a made up word.” Drax, the blue man countered.

“All words are made up.” Thor smiled, slinging the backpack onto his back.

“Nidavellir is real?” The animal called Rocket’s eyes grew wide and he jumped up onto the table and looked at Thor. “Seriously? I mean, that place is a legend. They make the most powerful, horrific weapons to ever torment the Universe. I would very much like to go there, please.”

“The rabbit is correct.” Thor grinned at Rocket’s excitement. “And clearly the smartest among you. Only Eitri the Dwarf can make me the weapon I need.” He turned to the furry animal. “I assume you’re the captain, Sir?”

Rocket grinned and nodded, “You’re very perceptive.”

“You seem like a noble leader. Will you join me on my quest to Nidavellir?”

“Let me just ask the captain. Oh, wait a second, it’s me!”  Rocket grinned. “Yeah, I’ll go.”

“Wonderful.” Thor beamed.

“Uh except that I’m the captain,” Quill chipped in

“Quiet!” Thor was now beyond bored of the moron.

“And that’s my backpack.” Quill continued pointing to the bag that Thor was stealing.

“Quill, sit down.” Rocket tapped at the pad and keying in the digits to open the pod.

“Look, this is my ship. And I’m not going to - wait, what kind of weapon are we talking about here?” Quill looked round.

“The Thanos-killing kind.” Thor smiled.

Boy, was it going to be a big, fucking weapon like no one had ever seen before…

“Don’t you think that we should all have a weapon like that?” Quill frowned.

“You lack the strength to wield them. Your bodies would crumble as you minds collapsed into the madness.” Thor shook his head.

“Is it weird that I wanna do it even more now?” Rocket asked.

“Erm, a little bit weird. Yeah.” Thor looked down at him, frowning.

“If we don’t go to Knowhere and Thanos retrieves another stone, he’ll be too powerful to stop.” Gamora stepped forward.

"He already is.” Thor shrugged.

“Look, I got it figured out.” Rocket interrupted, looking at Gamora. “We got two ships, and a large assortment of morons.  Me and Groot will go with the Pirate Angel here, and the morons will go to Knowhere to try and stop Thanos. Cool? Cool.”

“So cool.” Thor grinned before he climbed into the pod.

“For the record,” Quill said leaning down to Rocket, “I know that you’re only going with them because it’s where Thanos isn’t.”

“You know, you really shouldn’t talk that way to your captain, Quill.” Rocket smirked, walking backwards and gesturing outwards with his arms. “Come on, Groot. Put that game down. You’ll rot your brain,”

As Rocket sat down Thor nodded out of the pod to the rest of the people on the ship. “I bid you farewell and good luck, morons. Bye.”

******

It wasn’t hard for the team to track Wanda, her red power flashing bright against the dark sky over Edinburgh City Centre, and as the jet followed her movements, the four friends saw her spiralling through the sky with Vision and crashing through the train station roof, just as Sam put the jet on the ground.

Within seconds the Ex-Avengers were sprinting off the jet.  

“Katie, Nat, take the side!” Steve yelled, as he vaulted over the railings at the edge of the road running down onto the bottom half of the concrete ramp which led to the station. “Sam, up high and remember, we protect Vision at all costs!”

“Got em.” Sam spoke over the coms. “Platform seven, near the café.” 

Steve vaulted over another set of barriers, the station now deserted thanks to the evacuation taking place by the local police. As he ran onto one of the walkways over the lines, he was just in time to see two of the aliens crash through the station roof. Weighing up his options, he realised it was going to be quicker for him to hop down onto the platform he was currently overheard, and jump across the lines to help. He swung his legs over the railings and landed easily, looking up. Across from him he could see Natasha and Katie emerging to the right, as Wanda stood and moved protectively in front of Vision, building power in her hands. An express train whizzed past him and he stood still, waiting and it wasn’t long before the taller, blue looking woman spotted him, and she launched her spear over the platform. Steve easily snapped his left shoulder back whilst leaning over his body with his right, catching the staff in his hand.

“Heads up.” Sam muttered, and as Wanda and Vision turned to see Steve step out from the shadows, fury lining his face, Sam swooped in and kicked one of the aliens across the platform and through a closed café’s security gate, causing tables and chairs to go flying, before he spun and started to fire on the other alien.

Steve launched the weapon he had caught across the tracks where Natasha caught it and stabbed the second assailant in the gut as Katie moved in to head off the other who was stalking back towards them. The weapon Natasha had been using flew back into the alien’s hands and Katie ducked as she swung, jabbing her in the back of the leg with an electric powered escrima stick. The alien let out a yell, stumbled slightly and Steve cleared the platform in an easy leap, rolling and scooping up the second assailant’s staff from the floor, holding it up to block the blow that the creature aimed at Katie. He grit his teeth, planting his legs to absorb the power of the hit, as Katie rolled to the side, jumped up and the two of them began to fight the alien, joined shortly by Natasha. Steve had to admit, the woman (if you could call her that) was a force to be reckoned with, but the three of them were just about getting the upper hand when they heard Sam yell.

“DUCK!”

The three of them did so and Sam flew in hard, kicking the woman backwards where she fell and scuttled over to her fallen friend. Sam landed next to Katie, drawing both his submachine pistols on the couple.

“Get up” The alien instructed to her fallen partner, her voice was deep.

“I can't.” His gravelly, robotic voice replied.

“We don’t wanna kill you.” Natasha spoke coolly “But we will”.

“You’ll never get the chance again.” The female levelled them, with a cold glare and with that a beam shot down from the hole in the station roof and the two were transported upwards. The weapon Steve was holding also shot out of his hand. He frowned in surprise for a moment, looking at his hand then upwards as the beam of light disappeared and the ship sped off.

“Can you stand?” Sam asked Vision as Katie replaced her sticks and walked towards Wanda and the android. When Vision shook his head, Sam moved forward to help him up.

Supported by Wanda and Sam, Vision looked over at Steve, Natasha and Katie, electricity shimmering over his surface. He’d been badly damaged in the fight, and as he spoke his voice distorted.

“Thank you, Captain.”

Steve took a deep breath and nodded. His face stern, but his eyes were much softer than his expression and Katie knew why. It had been a while since anyone other than Sam, Nat or Wanda had called him Captain.

Steve looked at the android, he might have been damaged but they had the stone, and that was the main thing. Nodding, he spoke. “Let’s get you on the jet.” His voice was soft and he moved to let Sam and Wanda support Vision on their way past him, Natasha following.

Katie hung back a little, trying to stop the light-headedness she was feeling from washing over her.

“You okay?” Steve turned to her as she blinked.

“Yeah, just took a whack that’s all. “I’m fine.” She assured him as they took up the rear of the group, her fingers lacing into his.

Once Vision was safely settled in a seat at the side, Sam dropped into the pilot’s seat. Katie hit the button to close the ramp as the Jet rose into the air.

“I thought we had a deal.” Natasha spun angrily to Wanda. ”Stay close, check in. Don’t take any chances.”

“I’m sorry. We just wanted time.” The younger woman said gently.

Katie glanced at Steve, he was stood up in the middle of the jet, hands on the buckle of his utility belt, staring seemingly at nothing but clearly contemplating something.

“Where to, Cap?” Sam asked.

Steve looked up, he glanced at Sam then locked eyes with Katie as he spoke one word, one simple word that they had all been waiting to hear for almost two years.

“Home”

*****

After a few hours, with the morning sky being the only thing in sight, Sam started to lower the jet through thick white clouds and Katie couldn’t help but inhale sharply when the compound began to take shape as she watched out of the front window. It looked the same. The buildings, the grounds…she wasn’t sure why she had expected anything to change, maybe because it felt like everything had changed for them, but either way, there it was. The exact same as the last time she had seen it.

Steve noticed her demeanour change slightly as they landed. She stood up straight, her shoulders squaring as if she was about to face an onslaught. And they were, in a way. On their way Steve had called Bruce to tell him that they had Vision and were heading back, but had had no idea what they were heading back to, nor did he care. Be it Ross, police, the army, whatever, Steve was done bowing to anyone’s will, he was over playing other people’s tunes. The two years they had spent hidden had shown them all that they could operate on their own if required, and he wasn’t afraid to fight anyone who got in his way.

They stepped off the ramp and strode over the lawn, Katie taking a deep breath as she looked around. So many emotions flooded her system, she couldn’t explain or identify half of them. Memories flashed in front of her eyes, visions of long summer nights spent outside in the garden and on the BBQ patio until sunrise. Laughs during team dinners. Sam and Wanda collaborating on pranks. Training sessions with the team and Vision reading Tolkien aloud to Wanda before asking questions about humanity’s love of fiction. Walks and picnics and other things in the ground, just her and Steve. Their wedding, God their wedding! Frequent visits from Tony, bringing in new ideas and improved gadgets. Getting back safe after being out on a long mission. Feeling relaxed and at ease.

Feeling at home.

Steve’s arm curled round his wife for a moment before he pressed a kiss to the side of her head as Vision opened the door.

“Still no word from Vision?”  

“Satellites lost him somewhere over Edinburgh.”

“On a stolen Quinjet with four of the world’s most wanted criminals.” “You know they’re only criminals because you’ve chosen to call them that, right, sir? “

“My God, Rhodes, your talent for horseshit rivals my own.”

The sound of the call between Ross and Rhodey echoed down the corridor reaching the group that were making their way through to the lab.

“If it weren’t for those Accords, Vision would’ve been right here.” Rhodey shot back and Katie glanced back at Vision as the sounds the voices grew louder as they neared their destination.

“I suspect it will be a Hollo Call.” Vision said gently, answering Katie’s unasked question.  His suspicions were proven correct as they rounded the corner and the lab came into view. Rhodey was stood across from where the holographic image of Secretary Ross was facing off against him.

"You have second thoughts?” Ross was challenging Rhodey, who smiled simply as his eyes shot sideways. Steve strode forward, his presence as intimidating as ever, and the first thing Rhodey noticed was just how dark he looked. Gone was the upstanding, All American Hero, and in its place was someone much harder, far rougher round the edges. Kiddo looked different too. Her hair was shorter and she looked slimmer.

“Not anymore.” He grinned.

The holographic Ross followed Rhodey’s gaze and his eyes fell on Steve who was stood next to Katie at the front of the group, Natasha, Wanda, Sam and Vision behind them. Steve raised his chin a little defiantly and moved to take his power stance, feet apart, hands on his belt, before he greeted Ross politely.

“Mr. Secretary" 

Katie couldn’t help the smirk on her face as she watched Ross attempting to cover up the shock he had clearly felt at the group of outlaws turning up again. She locked eyes with Rhodey who gave her the smallest of winks before he glanced back at Ross who was shaking his head slightly as he approached Steve, his holographic form almost trying to square up to him.  Steve simply raised his chin further and looked down from the steps he was stood on.

"You got some nerve.” Ross sniffed, staring up at him “I’ll give you that.”

“You could use some of that right now.” Katie shot back bluntly, Ross turned his head to face her for a second. She held his gaze and arched an eyebrow until he turned back to Steve.

“The world’s on fire.” Ross said incredulously. “And you think, you can just walk back in here and all is forgiven?”

Steve levelled the secretary with a firm gaze. “I’m not looking for forgiveness.” his voice took on a threatening tone as he spoke “And I’m way past asking for permission.”

At that point the smirk on Katie’s face grew even wider as she stole a glance up at her husband, pride swelling in her chest as he continued, stoic and unyielding. 

“Earth just lost her best defender, so we’re here to fight. And if you wanna stand in our way,” he stepped down to be at level with the hologram, and stared it square in the eyes “We’ll fight you, too.”

Ross was practically foaming at the mouth as his eyes went to Rhodey and he spat out his order, “Arrest them.”

“All over it.” Rhodey promised nonchalantly before shutting off the hologram, shortly after a beeping noise sounded from the computers.

“That’s a court-martial.” He informed the group as he slapped the back of his right hand into his left palm, though his tone said told Katie that he blatantly couldn’t have cared less for Ross’ demands. There was a short pause as the group glanced down at their friend, Steve smiling softly, before Rhodey’s face split into a huge smile of his own.

“It’s great to see you, Cap.” He stepped forward.

“You too, Rhodey.” Steve answered, taking the last two steps down before he shook Rhodey’s hand. Katie threw herself at her brother’s best friend and he gave her a huge bear hug before he looked down at her.

“You do something to your hair?” He teased.  Katie smiled, stepping back from his embrace while he looked the rest of the group over.

“Well. You guys really look like crap. Must’ve been a rough couple of years.”

Steve looked round, an amused smile on his face as he glanced at his wife then to the rest of the team.

“Yeah, well, the hotels weren’t exactly five star.” Sam quipped back cheekily, the banter flowing between them like no time at all had passed.

“Uh, I think you look great.”

Steve turned at the new voice to see Bruce inching his way into the room nervously wringing his hands together.

Steve and Katie remained silent, exchanging a glance. In the rush around and the fray of the fight, we’d forgotten to explain exactly who it was that called.

“Yeah. I’m back.”

Katie glanced over at Nat, she had her gaze fixed solely on the scientist as she spoke “Hi, Bruce.”

“Nat.” Bruce answered inclining his head towards her slightly as he fidgeted.

“This is awkward.” Sam piped up. Steve and Katie looked at one another, before they both smiled and looked back up at Sam.

“Any news on Tony?” Katie asked gently, interrupting the silence that had fallen.

“Not yet no.” Rhodey said. “FRIDAY lost him when he left the atmosphere. We got NASA running scans and we’re trying to track his trail but…” He shook his head. 

“Typical Tony.” Katie rolled her eyes “Always has to go one bigger and one better doesn’t he?”

Her blasé tone wasn’t fooling anyone.

“Banner.” Steve said gently, looking across the room at the scientist. “Can you fill us in on what we’re up against here?”

“Yeah sure,” Bruce said nodding hesitantly.

Without so much as another word, the group all started to make their way out of the room. As Katie turned to follow Natasha, Steve’s hand gently fell on her shoulder. Without looking at him, she reached up and gently wrapped her fingers round his, giving them a squeeze before she left.

Steve took a deep breath as he glanced around the room once more, before he too followed on, that sick feeling in his gut was getting worse.

**** Chapter 36 Part 2

#stark spangled banner #steve rogers #steve rogers fanfiction #Katie Stark #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character #steve rogers fic #mcu fanfic #mcu #chris evans #chris evans characters

[lokislittlesigyn]

OG616 : Thor: The Dark World - Pt.6 [Escape From Asgard]

[My masterlist, where all parts of this and my other fics can be found]

Pairing: Loki / Sigyn (basically an oc based off the marvel/myth namesake)

Warnings: Technically sort of nudity? Nothing is described, and the context is purely medical. It’s all at the end so if you’d like to skip that last bit, go right ahead.

Author’s Note: rewatching thor 1 tonight filled me with the itch to post more OG. I love seeing people enjoy this little story - and I hope it lives up to your expectations! <3

Taglist: @high-functioning-lokipath , @onaheroicmission To be added to the taglist, just ask me here or send a message! <3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, Sigyn stood in the throne room along with Fandral, Volstagg, Odin, and a handful of Einherjar. Everyone had to be caught up to speed: The Dark Elves had returned, after so many thousands of years, and attacked. Murdered Queen Frigga.

Worse, now they were gone without a trace.

"We are still unable to restore the palace shields. Our artillery cannot detect them, even Heimdall cannot see them." Fandral looked at Odin, "My King, we are all but defenseless."

Odin remained still, pondering, until Thor entered.

"She's your prisoner now?"

Sigyn glanced at Thor. They must have Jane. She clenched her jaw and looked to Odin, wondering if, perhaps, grief clouded his judgement.

Odin turned to Thor, who commanded, "Leave us."

The Einherjar, along with Fandral and Volstagg, bowed and left. Sigyn followed, giving Thor a meaningful glance as she passed.

Be wise, brother.

Sigyn left slowly, lingering a while in the shadows. Listening as Thor conveyed a plan, and Odin disregarded it.

"We will fight! Until the last Asgardian breath, the last drop of Asgardian blood." The king clutched his spear, leaning on it.

Haven't enough died already?

There was a pause before Thor spoke again. "Then how are you different from Malekith?"

Odin laughed. "The difference, my son, is that I will win." Then, beating Gungnir on the ground, he dismissed Thor.

Winning. As if victory would bring her back. As if it would change anything. Victory is nothing without the ones we love. Sigyn shook her head, storming out of the room.

~~~~

Odin soon commanded the Bifrost remain closed and established a war council.

As usual, Sigyn was not invited. She decided against barging in. If Odin was beyond reason, time would be wasted on him.

Besides, they had enough problems to deal with. Beyond the Dark Elves’ return, the Aether had infected Jane, and if they did not act soon, the universe itself could be lost.

Sigyn closed a tome she had been studying. Runes, depicting magical forcefields... And how to counteract them.

She made her way to a case off in the side of her room, grabbing one of Loki's lesser-used daggers - until now, it had been left exclusively on display. She placed it in a sheath on her thigh, which was concealed under her skirt. Then, walking over to the mirror, she studied herself.

Time changes us all, she mused, But how strange that it changed me so quickly. One year out of hundreds, and life has become so... Different. She gazed out the window.

Afternoon. Golden sun bathed all of Asgard in brilliant light, the sky so clear and cloudless that even now, stars shone a little in the distance.

If not for the fact the Dark Elves could attack at any time, it could be considered a perfect day.

Every passing minute was agony.

We must act - we can’t wait for Malekith to strike first. Thor had a plan.. He would know what to do. Sigyn straightened up. If I can be of service to him...

She quickly turned, throwing on her special black cloak before jogging off to find Thor.

~~~~

That night, Thor, Fandral, Sif, Heimdall, Volstagg - and for once, Sigyn, met in the dead of night. They sat around a candlelit table in the back room of a tavern, concealed by the darkness.

Thor was first to speak. "What I'm about to ask of you is treason of the highest order. Success will bring us exile and failure shall mean our death...

...Malekith knew the Aether was here, he can sense its power. If we do nothing he will come for it again, but this time lay waste to all of Asgard. We must move Jane off world."

"The Bifrost has been shut down and the Tesseract locked away in a vault," Sif noted, followed by Heimdall.

"There are other paths off Asgard, ways known only to a few."

Thor leaned over the table. "One, actually."

Sigyn's heart fluttered in her chest.

"No." Volstagg said, earning a warning glance from Sigyn. Their gazes met, then broke as they turned back to Thor.

Fandral sighed. "He will betray you."

"He will try." Thor responded.

"Of course he will," Sigyn leaned closer, "But if he has enough incentive to help you, then he will fight for you until his dying breath. If nothing else, Loki is useful to you. He's miserable in that cell..."

Thor looked at her intently. Fandral raised his brows, watching her.

Sigyn's face flushed as she realized her mistake. She cleared her throat.

".. I may have visited him."

"May?" Fandral smirked.

"How did you get past the guards?" Thor's eyes never wavered. Sigyn tilted her head at him and lifted her hood, disappearing from sight.

"Oh, Sigyn.." Volstagg sighed. "Loki's all but ruined her." He lamented as Sigyn dropped the hood again, unable to contain a mischievous smirk.

"Did you know?" Thor turned to Heimdall, who shook his head.

"No."

I fooled the gatekeeper? Sigyn glanced down at her cloak. You deserve a name, my tricky friend.

"Well, what then?” Fandral piped up, “Your lovely mortal is being guarded by a legion of our Einherjar who will see you coming from miles away."

Thor looked at Sif. "I won't be the one who comes for her."

Sif met Thor's gaze. "And what of the Allfather?"

Now Heimdall spoke. "It is my sworn duty to notify him of crimes against the throne."

"Assuming you can get Loki's help, and you can free this mortal - what good would it do?" Volstagg huffed, growing agitated, "We'd all be dead the minute we step one foot outside the palace."

"That, my friend, is where we won't be leaving by foot." Thor answered.

"It's settled, then. Each of you know what you must do." Sigyn looked at Thor, "But what of me? Even with this," she motioned to the cloak, "I'm still the trickster's wife. Not to be trusted."

"That is precisely why you are needed," Thor smirked slightly, "You will help guarantee Loki is on our side."

~~~~

Thor walked down to the dungeons, seemingly alone. Approached Loki's cell, where the ebony-haired god was waiting.

The inside of his cell was perfect.. Too perfect. Immaculately clean and put-together, like its lone tenant, who watched Thor with a critical gaze.

"Thor.." Loki walked up to the barrier. "After all this time and now you come to visit me." He stopped. "Why?” He sneered, “Have you come to gloat? To mock?"

"Loki, enough." Thor remained straight-faced. "No more illusions."

The trickster's eyes widened, then defeated, he disappeared.

The true Loki appeared in the far end of the cell - which was revealed to be a complete wreck, destroyed furniture strewn about it. He was sitting there against the far wall, just as disheveled as the messy room around him.

Ragged.

Heartbroken.

"Now you see me, brother."

Thor walked closer to him.

"Did she suffer?" Loki watched him. His eyes were tinted red - he'd been crying.

"I did not come here to share in our grief. Instead I offer you the chance of a far richer sacrament."

Loki's gaze darkened. "Go on."

Thor watched him intently. "I know you seek vengeance as much as I do. You help me escape Asgard and I will grant it to you, vengeance. And afterward, this cell."

Loki examined the cell, then looking back at Thor, chuckled. "You must be truly desperate to come to me for help."

Thor turned, slowly walking away.

"What makes you think you can trust me?"

"I don't." Thor stopped and faced him again. "Mother did. You should know that when we fought each other in the past, I did so with the glimmer of hope that my brother was still in there somewhere. That hope no longer exists to protect you -

You betray me, and I will kill you."

Loki paused a moment, then hummed. Smiled. "When do we start?"

Thor looked to his right and gave a single, firm nod.

Next to him, Sigyn appeared, the hood of her cloak now pulled down. Loki leaned forward from the wall, his eyes wide and trained on her, glancing over her tear stained cheeks. He gulped.

"Hello, my love." She cast a spell, holding the energy in her hands, "I believe we start now."

~~~~

Sigyn guided Loki to a small room where his armor was waiting. Remained quiet as she traced the frayed edges of his shirt - a physical reminder of the rage, the despair he felt from Frigga’s death.

He shifted his weight and they locked eyes. There was a distinct pain behind them. The very same pain she had seen before, when he was brought before Odin... Her hands made their way down his waist, eventually pulling off his shirt. She swallowed, almost afraid to touch him - it felt like ages since they’d been this close.

He watched her, quiet, and helped remove his other ragged clothes in turn. Finally, he broke the silence.

"That cloak, where did you get it?"

Sigyn looked at him. "I made it." She grabbed a healing stone and crushed it, forcing herself to remain steady as she healed a scrape on his exposed side. 

"You enchanted it yourself?"

She hummed an agreement.

Loki raised his brows, shifting his weight and cocking one hip. He grabbed his nearby dark green undershirt, pulling it on.

"It was.. It was Frigga’s idea. She showed me the right spells… Hold still," she now healed a wound on his leg, trying desperately to ignored the fact her face felt warm. "We have to do this quickly."

Loki obliged, craning his neck to see the spot she’d healed. “It’s just a bit sore.” He adjusted his shirt.

“I’m sorry..” She stood, helping him dress, wishing they could stay like this - her, tending to him, finally seeing him, finally close to him...

But they had to hurry.

“Don’t be, you did fine.” He still spoke gently. “I can handle this much,” he offered, and she grabbed a comb, urging him to sit while she set to untangling his messy locks.

"I’m sorry we don’t have more time," she murmured, trying to be gentle.

He adjusted his sleeves, pulling on his bracers. "Thor wouldn’t allow that. Though I’m sure you asked anyway."

"It was worth a try.." She ran her hands through his hair, tucking it back behind his ears. "I had hoped to at least see you, let you bathe, let you sleep properly.."

"I’m an enemy of Asgard, remember? We don’t have such luxuries." He pulled his boots on, then stood. 

Sigyn set the comb aside, stepping in front of him.

He was beautiful.

Clad in his colors, his body healed, he looked more like himself. And his eyes… Still shielded and colder than before, but now they looked at her intently, taking in the sight of her as long as they could.

"After all this, Odin will see you as a hero." She reached up to caress his cheek. "I’ll make sure of it.. Then we can be together again."

Loki was silent. He placed his hand over hers, keeping it close.

"I promise." She moved closer, their bodies touching, her lips hardly an inch from his, she could feel his soft breath on her skin-

Knock knock.

Thor. He was still waiting outside. Sigyn pulled away. "We have to go."

Loki’s shoulders dropped, and he nodded. "Well. Let’s not keep them waiting."

#loki x sigyn #loki fanfic #logyn #OG616 #thor: the dark world

[scribeofmorpheus]

Himmeløyne [21/?]

Pairing: Loki Odinson x Reader

Catch Up Here | Masterlist

Warnings: None

A/N: Nothin’ to report Cap’n

Taglist is open! Reblog, comment or leave a like please ☺

~Odin

The Allfather conjured old memory and returned himself to it; the last moment he ever conversed with his old counsel, Mímir.

“The boy must know of his lineage. He is the only one who can end this war. Bridge the sides. This rift was formed by lies, and lies will only pry it further.”

“Silence!” the younger Odin shouted, his stave burrowing into the floor from his surge of emotion. He was always quicker to temper before. Thor and Loki were still babies, Odin had yet to taste what truly came with fatherhood. Fatherhood would give him the burden of a different kind of love, of temperance, but in this moment, he was still ignorant to it.

"I know why you do this. You think by keeping this a secret, by refusing him his past, you will stop the inevitable, but not even you, old friend, can stop the Fate of the Gods.”

“I said silence!” Odin’s shout shattered the glass in the throne room. Mímir’s detached head simply blinked his outburst away. "You think yourself clever because you can see fate's web? Tell me, Mímir, can you see with only on eye?"

Odin loathed that condescending stare. It made him feel obsolete, limited. Without thought, rage bubbled to the surface, filling his vision with red. Then there was blood on his thumb, and  Mímir screamed. The fluid of an eye coating his thumb.

“You truly are your father’s son,” Mímir spat.

“Twilight will never be!”

“I know what you will do. I have seen it. This will be my final gift to you: the truth will crumble at the price of your father’s belt.”

Odin returned to his older form, now realising that the last words Mímir spoke had been misconstrued. He had sworn never to wear it, never to use his father’s belt even if he was to face a formidable foe. But Mímir had tricked him, manipulated him into locking it away. Locking it in the one place is was meant to be taken from, ironically.

A knock interrupted his thought.

“Who is it?”

“You sent for me, My Liege. It’s the Captain of the Guard.”

He sighed. As much as he yearned to see his son conscious again, to find where he’d hidden Frigga, he dreaded the outcome of such a success even more. No matter what, he had to get his father’s belt back, and stop Y/N at all costs. ���Enter.”

  ~Heimdall

He watched Y/N get drawn into the light. The mirror screamed, but Y/N did not react to its piercing shriek.

Sif folded hunkered low from the pain, hands pressed to her ears. A mangled scream poured into the room, but her mouth never opened. The sounds, the shrieks, they were a thousand disembodied voices, all coming from inside the mirror. He felt unease, a desire to pull Y/N away from the harrowing sounds in the light. Then she was gone, and everything turned as silent as a graveyard, the mirror shattering into dust.

“We should have stopped her,” Sif wiped the blood from her ears onto her trousers. “That was Jotun magic. Forbidden magic!”

“I know,” he stood upright.

“Fascinating,” The Collector clapped his hands as if he’d seen the most impressive performance yet. “I’ve never seen anyone survive entering the Mirror of Fate.”

“You’ve never what?” Heimdall’s actions were quick, his large hand finding the uncollared space of The Collector’s neck.

The Collector laughed, a streak of lunacy to the twitch of his lips, bearing his teeth as though it’d been aeons since he had found something amusing. “I’ll be honest, it was never the belt that I was interested in.” He turned to look at Y/N’s eye in the crystal skull.

Heimdall lifted The Collector off his feet, “Explain yourself!”

“Have you ever seen an empire built on the bones of lies crumble?”

“I will not ask you again!” Heimdall struck The Collector into a wall.

Sif grabbed his arm to try and calm him, “You won’t get anything from him if he’s unconscious.”

“Someone’s coming,” Hogun whispered before disappearing behind a column.

A shadow grew larger by the entrance. Sif followed after Hogun to try and counter manoeuvre whoever was closing in. Heimdall didn’t care, he wanted answers, his grip on The Collector’s neck growing stronger.

“Why is it, as of late, we’re always getting tangled in one misadventure or another?” Fandral asked, arms on his hips, a devilish smirk pulling his hideous moustache closer to his nose.

“Fandral,” Sif let out a sigh of relief, closing in for a hug. “Am I glad to see you.”

“Don’t be too happy just yet,” he straightened out, his tone turning for the graver. “Odin said you stole something from his vault?”

“It’s a long story,” Sif said.

“As I’m sure. You’re lucky I managed to convince him to let Volstagg and I get the lead, but we don’t have time. His guard will not be far behind. We must leave, get you back to Asgard before you are apprehended as prisoners, so you can plead your case to the Allfather.”

Hogun side-eyed Heimdall, “It’s not that simple.”

 “Speak,” Heimdall demanded, ignoring the commotion around him.

“All I did was keep a promise to an old friend,” The Collector revealed.

“Who?”

“The one who placed that amulet in my care,” he wormed around Heimdall’s grip. “She told me someone would come for it, and when they did, I’d finally get to see the fruits of her labours.”

Suddenly, the skull began to glow. Runes appearing all over. Heimdall recognised some. Y/N’s eye acted as refraction material, displaying a doorway built into a mountain into the space of the emporium. The ground was the sky and the mountain had no base. The peak glistened with ice, a beautiful sunset presenting itself in the orientation of a sunrise.

“How do I get her back?” he slammed The Collector into the wall a second time.

“Gahhh! Never took you for a man able to relinquish control, anger suits you.”

“I won’t lose her,” he could feel his heart racing, thrumming in his ears. “Tell me!”

The Collector glanced at the skull, “To enter Verdenspeil, a spell is required. A two-part spell. The first half is the sacrifice of sight. The second was to recite the words of the Giants. The entry is one way. Every other person that’s ever sought out the mirror has never managed to recite the words. Until now.”

A torrent of light, heavy with every streak of colour, poured in the streets outside. Heimdall could feel the magic of the bridge, someone had opened the Bi-frost.

“That’s not good,” Fandral stated.

Sif and the others moved into position as several of the Allfather’s guard came wielding weapons with shields drawn.

“Heimdall!” Sif warned. “We’re running out of time.”

“Then buy me what little you can,” An agitated growl left Heimdall, “How do I get her back?”

“There—” Hogun shouted, “—pull that lever!”

A loud thud echoed into the room. A large, golden gate descended as a barricade. A red dot grew larger around the barricade, melting the metal.

“Did Odin send The Destroyer too?” Fandral’s jaw dropped. “What in all the Nine did you steal?”

“What madness have you gotten us into?” Volstagg demanded.  

Heimdall was close enough to The Collector’s face to see that there was no fear in his eyes, only the dilation from oxygen starvation.

“If she makes it passed the maze, the doorway will open, there,” The Collector pointed to the apparition coming from Y/N’s eye in the skull.

“I’ve seen this peak before,” Hogun closed in on the apparition. “Recently.”

“The runes,” Sif pointed out, “They’re the same as the ones that were drawn on Y/N. Wait… Heimdall, that’s Gjallarhorn!”

“Gjallarhorn?” Fandral backed away, terror in his eyes. “Then… that means… this is connected to the Twilight of the Gods.”

Heimdall set The Collector down, the eccentric man laughed between coughs. He ignored him and walked closer to the doorway that Sif, Hogun and Fandral stared at. One rune, in particular, made Heimdall’s veins turn to ice.

“Jotunheim,” he said. “That doorway is in Jotunheim.”

“But there's no snow, the sky isn't darkened. It doesn't resemble Jotunheim in the least."

"Jotunheim wasn't always the desolate place you know today. The Great War took more than just lives."

"How can you be sure?” Sif asked.

“Because, only one other has ever possessed Gjallarhorn, and Odin tasked me with his imprisonment. That is where I hid Mímir’s head.”

Sif pieced everything together, “Mímir? Of course! This all makes sense now. Then the Mirror of Fate—”

“Is his invention, yes.”

The Destroyer had made it through the door, its face covered the hole and a second burst burned a scorch mark across the floor. The Collector rushed to a display case and pushed it aside, there was a hidden lever there. He pulled it revealing a false wall.

“In here, there’s a dais in the level below. Take the skull, it is the key to opening the portal.” The Collector ushered them closer.

Heimdall frowned, “Why should we trust you?”

“I don’t think you have much of a choice. Whatever that girl is connected to, it has cause to make Odin worry. And, it seems, it was designed to happen exactly as it has. I have fulfilled my promise, now I get to watch chaos unfold. For someone as old as I am, there are few things as joyous as seeing order fall to chaos.”

Sif grabbed the skull and the apparition dissolved into the air like steam.  

Heimdall waited for Sif and the others to head for the lower level first, then he turned to The Collector to ask one final question: “This old friend of yours, was it Mímir’s sister?”

The Collector smiled, warm and affectionately, an odd emotion to see on his face. “It was.”

  ~Y/N

Birth. A child’s first steps on steps of stone. Runes drawn into the snow. Blood on ice. A village on fire. Pieces of a home, blackened by soot and ash. Wings in the light. An arrow whistling through the air. Clear. Sweet. The rush was more than images layered over one another, morphing into one another, it was sensation too. The feel of the cold on the stone steps. The muscle memory from tracing the rune. The drip, drip, drip of blood streaming down a frost sword and splattering on ice. Heat from flames. Smell of ash on the throat. These moments were yours, animated and swishing around in this viridian green atmosphere. You had made it into the Mirror World.

You spun around, searching for a path or a marker of some sort. There was nothing but thick, green fog all around you.

“Hello?” you asked the expanse. It didn’t echo. No one replied. “Oracle?” you called out for the whisper that you conversed with in the emporium.

You shouted out again and again until you heard a reply.

Child of the Sky, welcome to Verdenspeil. 

You spread your fingers over the fog, the memories were torn like seams, visions dissipating and then reappearing. “What is all this?”

The Nexus of Fate. Your fate. Once you step out, you will be subjected to all fates intertwined with yours. 

“How do I know what to look for?”

Desire. Search your mind for desire. It will light the path to the answer you seek. 

 “And my desire will lead me to the answer I seek?”

Yes… and No. Nothing in this realm is as it appears. This world is not meant for the living. It will try to coerce you. Lead you away from the root of its power. 

“Root of its power?” you were distracted by a glimmer, then the memory of you and Loki’s first meeting by the balconies came to life. Then you thought of the kiss on that very same balcony, and suddenly the world reshaped itself to project that memory. You realised then that the world wasn’t just showing you fate, it was feeding off your memories too. A give and take. “This world isn’t real is it?”

Real is a matter of perception. But yes, this world is ancient, a thread within the fabrics of all the universes, tapped deep into Yggdrasil. 

“What is its purpose?”

Cause of effect. This world is a maze. I am the effect, but I cannot see beyond my bindings, see to its cause. I do not know what lies in the centre. All I can do is mark a path. Follow it to the source. Free me, and I will make this world show you what you seek.

You focused on what you desired. Flashes of Loki came to life I the fog, but so did images of your mother.

“We will see each other again,” your mother’s voice spoke through the fog.

The rune on your palm burst with red light. Glowing, iridescent like eels, it lit the path ahead of you. The second rune on your forehead rippled, almost as if it were an appendage. Trembling fingers reached for it and were greeted by the aqueous of an eye—a third eye. You gasped, shocked at how real the runic eye felt. You closed your one human eye and tried to see through the third.

Runic vision was strange, the Mirror World was all reflections and memory, and the expansion and contraction of matter. The rune on your palm acted as a torch in darkness, revealing the world that was previously magically concealed. Branches, stretching endlessly, all intertwined and meandering, were revealed. Each branch glowed with a different colour, some colours you’d never seen before. To your immediate left, a branch absorbed the colour of your hand’s rune. 

“Follow the path,” you reiterated.

With your human eye closed, you walked as if a blind woman, letting the magic guide you, letting it see for you. The walk was long. It felt like the seconds had rushed to hours and hours faded to days, but your muscles didn’t give in, they didn’t even feel like they were moving. Air raised your chest, but your lungs seemed as heavy as rocks.  

Yes, you are close. I can hear it. The beginning of my name. I can hear it! A little further!

Over the edge of the path, to the right, there was a branch that looked to be severed. The only singular branch untouched or intertwined with others. A coldness prickled at your skin.

“What is that place?” you shuddered. 

There was a brief pause, a small voice in your head told you to turn towards the edge and look over it.

I… I do not remember. 

“It’s calling to me…”

Child of the Sky! Do not stray from the path!

But it was too late. That same pull you felt to the light was drawing you towards that severed branch that led to a drop.

“I have to…” you took your first step away from the red of the path. The colour of the world began to leech away, all turning to that viridian green. The fog of the world covered the tree slowly, returning everything as it had been.

“Be careful!” a stranger’s voice shouted, her dialect foreign to you, yet you understood it.

“By the Gods!” you gasped in shock. Except, it wasn’t you. You hadn’t opened your mouth to speak. It was your voice, in the same dialect as the stranger’s, coming from the edge.

“Look at the size of him!” the stranger continued.

Then there was an animalistic cry, creature-like and deep. And the whoosh of rushing water. And a rumble in the earth.

“Stop! Don’t hurt him!”

“Hurt him? He displaced half the ocean!”

“Trust me!”

“I hope you know what you’re doing!”

“So do I…”

Your foot reached the end of the path, a whirlpool sucking up the air where you stood. The voices stopped too.

“That was my voice. What was that?” the real you asked the Oracle.

I suspect, something yet to be, or something never to be. 

A trance came over you. A need to step over the edge. Deep in your bones, you knew that stepping off the path needed to happen, that it was fate leading you to the whirlpool at the bottom of this universe.

“Y/N?” Loki called your name from below, but he did so in a manner a stranger would. "Never heard of you..."

“What happens if I stray from the path?” you peered into the spiralling clouds sparked with thunder and lightning. Watched the whirlpool tear those clouds apart like dandelions in the wind.

I… I do not know. The maze is endless. Getting lost could be a life sentence.

“Then it’s a good thing I’m mortal,” you took a controlled breath and dove off the edge. 

Half mortal.

The whirlpool opened, the crack at its centre allowed darkness to slither through. A tendril touched your skin. Then another. The darkness spread like the drench of rain. Soon, you and the darkness were one.

#loki #loki x reader #loki laufeyson x reader #loki x y/n #reader insert #loki marvel #tom hiddleston imagine #odin #fantasy #marvel fic

[worstloki]

please read the article 'How White Fandom is Colonizing "Character-Coding"' by Shafira Jordan and quit while you're ahead

Okay, so I read it and see the problem, and I’ll try to address all their points in order because I don’t wholly agree with the article. I know it’s a lot to read so I’ve put tldr; sections at the end of each :)

Misusing the Term Reinforces Negative Stereotypes for Marginalized People 

The article essentially argues that labeling characters which are villainous as POC-coded is bad because they’re not morally pure and doing so "reinforces the idea that people of color are naturally dangerous and not to be trusted.”

Which is fair as you don’t want all the representation to be of ‘bad’ characters, but I also don’t believe all representative characters have to be ‘good’ either as it would be equally racist to divide good/bad in such a way. Not that I would place Loki under ‘bad’ to begin with, but arguing that characters shouldn’t be labelled as POC-coded for reasons unrelated to what’s presented in the narrative or because they did bad things is :/ even if lack of good representation is a prevalent issue in current Western and influenced media. 

Ideally there should be a range of representative characters that fall into ‘good’, ‘bad’, and ‘anywhere in-between’ because variety and complexity in character types should, in theory, be treated as common practice (which can only happen with a multitude of representation!).

And a bit unrelated but... within the fictional context of Thor 1, all the Jotnar (sans Loki) are presented to the audience as ‘bad’ by default. They desperately want to get their Casket back to the point of attempting stealing it (from the ‘good’ characters), they fight the heroes and even when the gang and Thor (’good’ characters) are enjoying or going overboard with taking lives it’s inconsequential, Laufey wants to kill the opposing king (who just happens to be a ‘good’ character) and will resort to low-handed methods to do so, etc. The narrative itself is from the frame of reference of the ‘good’ and we only see warriors of Jotunheim though so we understand why it’s like this, because regardless of their race/experiences the narrative carries, even if it most definitely would be seen as racist from our real-life perspectives if the ‘monstrous’ race were presented by actual people of colour, even if it would make sense for the people on on different realms living in different environments to be different from each other, and realistic even for that to be the root of some conflict. 

tldr; not using a specific label to prevent negative presentations of the characters seems a bit strange to do when the coding would be based off the text, but with limited representation available I see why it would be done, even if I still believe minority-coding is free game to expand/interpret.

Improperly Labeling a Character as “POC-coded” Suggests the Experiences of All People of Color are the Same 

The article argues that labeling Loki as POC-coded “suggests that all people of color have the same experiences, when in reality, people of color come from different places, have different cultures, and have different traditions.” And while it’s true that the term doesn’t go into detail about which particular experiences (and these experiences can vary vastly due to diversity!) the appropriate measure would be to remove the umbrella term POC altogether as people of colour tend to also vary. But that’s also exactly why it’s an all-encompassing general term? It’s a way to denote anyone who isn’t “white” and has the associated cultural privilege that comes with the concept of white supremacy.  

And, obviously, in the fictional setting presented, the concept of white supremacy is not prodded at, but cultural supremacy is definitely one that makes recurring appearances, right next to the parts about Asgard being a realm built on imperialism with ongoing colonial practice. 

My take on this is that Loki’s narrative features a struggle with identity after finding out he’s of a different race and was being treated differently his entire life and being Jotun was presumably a part of the reasoning even if he didn’t know it. He’s basically treated as of less worth for inherently existing differently. I do believe that racism is a common-enough POC experience, but that while Loki was born with blue skin he passes/appears white which is why I don’t say that Loki is a POC, just that he has been coded/can be interpreted this way. 

There’s also the entire thing with Loki trying to fit in and prove he belongs by trying to fit the theory and be The Most Asgardian by committing genocide (which ultimately makes no difference as he’s still not the ‘acceptable’ version of Asgardian), and the denial/rejection of his birth culture in destructively lashing out towards them (which even Thor is confused by because Loki isn’t typically violent), and the fact his self worth plummets and he is passively suicidal upon finding out he’s Jotun (internalized racism? general drop in self-worth after finding out he’s adopted and has been lied to? Bit of both?), but what do I know, I’m sure none of those are, at their base, common experiences or relatable feelings for anyone or decent rep because we see such themes on-screen presented wonderfully in different lights all the time. 

tldr; every set of experiences could be different, some types of discrimination could overlap, if you limit an umbrella term to only very specific circumstances then it’s no longer an umbrella term.

Suggesting that White Characters are Meant to be Seen as People of Color Ignores the Actual Characters of Color that are Present in these Stories

I don’t agree with most of this section, but that may just be the way the arguments are put together, which I don’t blame the author for.

“ Implying that Loki is a person of color completely ignores Heimdall and Hogun, the only Black and Asian Asgardians who appear in the movie. ”

Characters such as Hogun and Heimdall which are played by actual people of colour have smaller roles in the films and any prejudice they could face for being POC in-universe isn’t made apparent, while Loki at the very least comes to the realization that something he couldn’t change (race, parentage,) was having him treated differently his whole life and had to come to terms with it. The Vanir/Aesir are also both treated similarly on-screen, and Heimdall having dark skin isn’t plot relevant, whereas Jotnar are treated as lesser consistently and are relevant through the movie (breaking into the vault, Thor and co. attack Jotunheim, Loki’s deal with Laufey, the attempted regicide (and the successful one XD), destroying jotunheim, Loki saying he’s not Thor’s brother,). 

I also see including characters as POC-coded as... more representation? In all canon-compliant interpretations of the characters Hogun being Vanir is always explicitly mentioned because it’s a fact that just is, up to the appearance and even the world-building of Vanaheim in some fanworks use particularly East Asian culture as inspiration. I have never come across a Marvel fandom Heimdall interpretation where he’s not Black... but because these characters are more minor/side-characters of course they get less attention! 

“ In Loki’s fandom, Heimdall’s name sometimes gets thrown in to suggest that it was he all along who was the real villain due to his “racism” against Loki and the rest of the Jotun. It is, of course, ironic to suggest that somehow the only Black Asgardian to appear in the movie can oppress the privileged white prince. “

I... don’t know where to start with this. But the example of theorizing given in the article wasn’t suggesting Heimdall was bad or trying to explain his actions in Thor 1 by saying he is Black... and just looking at a character’s actions shouldn’t be done less or more critically because of skin tone in my opinion. Heimdall may have been trying to do what was best and protect the realm but if the audience didn’t know that Loki was up to dodgy things then the coding would be switched around because he was trying to spy and committed treason and then tried to kill Loki. People... can hold feelings towards others... regardless of skin... and suspect them... for reasons other than skin... although I do still have questions about whether Heimdall knew Loki was Jotun or not. (Even if I personally don’t think it’d make a difference to how he’d treat Loki?)

Some Loki fans have also suggested that because Jotuns have blue skin that this alone makes him a person of color (even if the audience is only allowed to see Loki in his true Jotun form for mere seconds of screentime). This, again, shows a lack of understanding when it comes to race. It doesn’t matter what skin color the Jotuns have. 

Race can differentiate between physical and/or behavioural characteristics!! Not being blue all the time doesn’t make him any less Jotun!! He’s got internalized stuff to work through and is used to being Aesir!! At least 1 parent is Jotun so even if Loki was passing as Aesir he’s probably Jotun!! (I don’t know how magic space genetics work for sure but Loki being Jotun was an entire very important jump-starting point in Thor 1!!). It’s a fantasy text and typically things like having different coloured skin indicates a different race or is sometimes if a species has multiple then is just considered a skin colour. That’s how coding works!! The Jotnar are very specifically the only race we see in the movie with a skin-tone not within the ‘normal’ human range, which alienates them to the audience from the get-go!! They’re an “other” and on the opposite side to the ‘good’ characters.

Both Loki and his birth father, Laufey (Colm Feore), are played by white men, and it is impossible for a white man to successfully play a character of color. 

The specification of men here bothers me, but yes, you don’t get ‘white’ people to play characters of colour if it can be avoided. (And it can be avoided.)

This also connects with the previous point made that people of color come from various places. There is nothing specifically about the Jotun that could be traced to any specific person of color, and even if there were, there would be no way for white men to portray them without being disrespectful.

This is where arguments about the definition of coding and how specificity/generalizations and do/don’t come in. I know I’m subjective and lean towards the more rep the better, but while I agree ‘white’ people wouldn’t be able to respectfully play a POC I don’t think that rule should have to carry over into fantasy-based fiction. I know texts reflect on reality and reality can reflect within texts, but if contextually there is racial discrimination and there are similar ideas which resonate with the audience’s own experiences I’d say it’s coded well enough to allow that.

tldr; Thor 1′s narrative revolves mainly around Thor and Loki, of which race is kinda kinda a significant theme in Loki’s part of the story. Not so much explored with less-developed side characters such as Heimdall and Hogun, even though their actors are actual people of colour. 

How Much of this is Really Well-Intentioned?

In the fantasy space viking world Heimdall and Hogun don’t face any on-screen prejudice and their appearance is not mentioned (which is nice, for sure! good to have casual rep!) but adding on to the roles they play in the narrative the explicit fantasy-racism in the movie isn't aimed at Asian/Black characters, but towards the Humans -to a lesser extent- and the Jotnar, including Loki, who only just found out he comes under that bracket.

The article mentions how fandom space toxicity often “reaches the actors who portray the characters,“ which is true, and it’s shameful that people have to justify their roles or presences are harassed for the pettiest things like skin tone/cultural background, but I don’t see coding characters as removing the spotlight from interesting characters such as those which are actually POC, rather expressing a demand for more rep, since well-written complex characters which are diverse are often absent/minor enough in the media, and therefore can get easily brushed aside in both canon and fandom spaces.

tldr; It’s obviously not a replacement for actual representation, but, if a character is marginalized and can be interpreted as coded, even if they would only be considered so within the context of the textual landscape, I don’t see why spreading awareness through exploring the coding as a possibility for the character shouldn’t be done, even if the media is being presented by people who are ‘white’ or privileged or may not fall into the categories themselves, as long as it’s done respectfully to those it could explicitly represent.

#please don’t patronize me by asking to quit while i’m ahead #it doesn't help anyone #so anyway i've summarized my opinion on the coding thing here for the many anons whose answers could be answered in this ask alone #i think i covered everything? #the article started out okay but I found it kinda :/ in places even though there were valid concerns #I do believe that in-universe context and creators of the media should be taken into account #and that if marginalized themes can be touched on by non-marginalized groups then... great? fictional texts can help people understand #i do also think that rep being presented should if not on-screen have people working on the product to support and ensure it's done well #the world is cold and harsh and cruel and i just wanted a desi Loki AU but here we are #I've got to try and summarize how I think Thor 1 presents Loki's part of the narrative well with POC-coding there because of fantasy-racism #even if the POC-coding is ignored the themes of racism are far too apparent to ignore #loki spends the entire film being a multi-dimensional character and having an entire downfall fueled by grief and a desire to be loved #I don't think attaching a label to such a character would be a negative thing... but perhaps for casual watchers it'd be a bit :/ #apparently not everyone takes into account the 1000+ years of good behavior around that 1 year of betrayal/breakdown/identity crisis/torture #MetaAnalysisForTheWin #MAFTW #ThisPostIsLongerThanMyLifeSpan #TPILTMLS #AgreeToDisagreeOrNot #ATDON #poc-coding #yes i ignored everything not about loki in the article what about it #hmmm I know people are going to disagree with me with what should and shouldn't be allowed #I know some people are okay with it but some don't like the poc-coding thing #and that's fine #completely understandable #makes me uncomfy to talk about fictional space racism in comparison to real life but I do think that lack of rep is why coding is important #for some people coding is all that they get #but also!! @ifihadmypickofwishes suggested the term racial allegory and I do believe that is also suitable here!! so I’ll try using that too #rather than poc-coding even though I still believe it applies

[the-goddess-of-mischief-writing]

Liar’s dice {4}

Description; Loki is Laufey’s son and you are torn between head and heart at the haunting realisation. You run into him in your helpless state, but is the prince’s comforting words just the lies of a snake or is it perhaps those of a jealous king?

Pairing: Loki x reader

Rating: Mature

CHAPTER NO/ONESHOT: 4/5

Word count; 2.535

Warnings; Angst, triggering scene, tiniest bit of fluff if you squint

Author; @the-goddess-of-mischief-writing​

A/N: I’M SO SORRY FOR NOT POSTING THIS CHAPTER LAST WEEK, I had so much school stuff to catch up with that I simply forgot. Nevertheless, here is the  second to last chapter of my proud and joy series. Hope you’re ready for the upcoming angst!

SERIES MASTERLIST

He had mentioned a war between Asgardians and Jotuns, though you had seen fear more profound than just the one seen along war. Now you knew you had seen the war he battled with himself. You could not be sure, though your inclination told you the trip to Jotunheim caused Loki to start question something, there could not be any other cause he asudden sought for an answer. And now he had one, one which came in two mere words, Laufey's son.

Since you had managed to sneak out from the vault, the word had echoed in your mind, provoking something inside you. Yet, you could not call it fear nor anger, simply being lost. Your emotions could never be placed, as they whirled around like an autumn storm, yet at the same time, you came to understand things you would not have been able afore. Now you knew why he never felt like he belonged in the crowds of Asgardian's. This was not his home, it had had never been, though still, you felt the words that should not matter, reoccurring. Thus none knew what race he was off, none could use it as the reason why he was not approved or favoured. Though you knew it served as a reason for him.

"I have a thought why you are in this state of mind, my dear, though I do not like seeing you this way", the words of Frigga brought you back and not afore did you noticed your gaze had drifted to the golden floor. Feeling disrespectful for wanting to ignore the Allmother, you slowly, almost as if it pained, raised your eyes. Afore founding the Queen already studying you from the opposing side of the bed, your eyes trailed over of the Allfather resting in the restoration bed.

"I should be the one offering console", you managed a small smile. "It must pain you to see him like this", you tried to veer the attention away from you, something which did not work.

"It does pain me, whereas I am exhausted, you seem more torn", you could not but sigh, the Allmother always have had a keen eye on the well being of people.

"It seems so, does it not?" Even if you would've tried repressing the smile, it would have broken out anyway. The heart of Frigga reached far, even so, you were glad you had been one of those let into it. However, the matter of your shifting emotions, none but yourself could detangle, even though you believed the Queen could lend a knowing hand. "I am grateful for your worry, though you do not need to further do so, you have enough to think about".

"If that is what you wish", she closed her eyes as she nodded and if you had not known what disappointment looked on her, you would have believed that what was she felt. "Then I will only advise you to at least go and rest", her expression changed to a more sincere one as a warm smile conveyed her lips as she looked upon you.

"You should take your own advice, Frigga", her smile widened to your words and with a last a nod you departed from the chamber.

The second you stepped outside you noticed the hallway did not hold the same warmth as the restoration chamber, the reason plain, it lacked the sun which the Queen let flood into the room. Pressing out a heavy sigh, you slowly walked down the hallway towards your chamber. You understood how the only prince left in the realm could have been imprisoned in his thoughts, as so were the case for you. Although you were not left with them alone for long. Suddenly, you felt a grip on your upper arms, then you noticed the close proximity to another person.

"You should see of where you walk", looking up you met the gaze of Loki, only then understanding you had been close to walk into him.

"I should", he tilted his head at your terse answer, brows raising as he studied your face. You could not look away, so when his gaze settled to meet yours again, it was by no surprise.

"You look exhausted", he stated, a heavy sigh leaving you at hearing it once more.

"I am".

"You do not need to worry for the Allfather", you caught how he did not say his father.

"That is not the cause", he furrowed his brows.

"You can speak to me of the matter".

"Though will you stay long enough to answer?" This time, a sigh escaped him, gaze turning away at the same time his hands left your arms from where they had halted your movement.

"I beg for forgiveness for leaving you so suddenly, I hope it does not change anything?" He never mentioned the questioned you asked, neither did he give a reason for why he stormed off. The information you were not surprised was withheld, as he did not know you already knew of the answers. However, you were taken aback to the last part of the sentence. At that moment, the passive and newly found easy irritated side of your emotions were stoked away to a more extensive one you could not control. Something in his voice, in his question, brought memories of an old conversation. A warmth made a small smile you could not control form.

"It will not, my prince", a rare look passed his features, one you nevermore saw beside when the two of you were alone.

"I am glad to hear so, my lady".

His words did not clear your mind, though somehow it made a shimmer of light shine through them and in your lonesome, you come to understand why. He had assured you that his old self still was there. Perhaps that was why you had felt lost because you did not know if the prince you had gotten to know would be the same after discovering what both of you had. Now though, when you got to witness a side he never feigned, it reassured your heart, perhaps more so than your head.

Strolling through the halls, much less like a dire creature from the vast lands of Svartalfheim, your thoughts still lingered with the prince. You could not fully grasp the situation yet, though now somehow you knew your worry did not need to be heeded, therefore you were to change that.

Though the sun quickly descended, the markets were lively in the luminescent lanterns. The golden light reflected in the buildings and in the trifle stuff tradesman sold. You came to spend some coinage, though nothing had found your interested enough, aside from the conversing you had done. You knew a few merchants, as you had bought from them many times afore, and it had become routine to visit them when you were at the market. They were happy to see you, greeting you in a leisure way few inside the palace walls did, though you were glad to receive. You did not stay long by each stall, feeling bad for taking up their attention, which instead could be placed on selling. Thus soon you went along the main street of the market place again, yet the crowds thinned out the more leeway for the moon the sun gave. The sound from alehouses started to rise as vendors caroused there, raising a pint for their successes of the day. You knew it was your sign to head back, merely for safety. A drunken Thor could easily be handled thus his politeness as a prince, though a drunken tradesman had no such manners to follow.

Nevertheless, as you neared the castle gates, were guards stood on either side, something stopped you from fulfilling your course. Walking towards you, hushed conversation flowing between them, were The Warriors Three and Lady Sif.

"Why the sombre faces?" Upon hearing your voice, they silenced and looked forward with sullen looks. They did not utter a word at first, though they stopped once you met halfway. "Please tell me, my friends, I have not seen much of you these past days".

"So we could say as well, Lady Y/N", Fandral spoke with a smile, albeit it was strained, unlike his usual lenient one. "We hope you are well?"

"I am, though your caring thought can not sway mine from my query", they shared a look you understood none aside from them knew the true meaning of. It was not long, though when Lady Sif closed her eyes and huffed out some air, you understood they had come to a conclusion.

"Heimdall might have forecast we would search for Thor", she explained as she met your gaze.

"Why would the request of your presence from Heimdall put you in this dull mood?" You did not understand, the Allfather had only banished Thor, not forbid one to visit him.

"Loki forbid us to do so", the female warrior stated.

"Why is that his to decide?"

"So now you are king?" Your voice and steps echoed in unison and brought the heavy gaze of Loki to you. He sat upon the throne, Gungnir in his grip, as he silently watched you closing in. Waving his hand, the guards stationed before him bowed and then began walking the opposite way of you. You passed them, not long after stopping before Loki. You did not flinch, neither look over your shoulder, as you heard the gates to the immense hall open then close. You examined him, armoured as on the coronation though now a different smile sat upon his lips.

"Though it is due sorrowful measures, it seems that way", your smile had dropped when instead of answering the question, The Warriors Three and Lady Sif had passed you to continue heading for the Bifrost. Although now, it felt like your heart dropped. Though you had spoken to him mere hours ago and his words then had eased your worried mind, the way he now conversed, brought it up again.

"So it seems", you forced a smile and a nod of your head, trying to make it as believable as you could.

"Another thing that causes things to seem, is that you managed to enter", he did not ask, he stated.

"I merely said I had come to speak to the King".

"King...yes", he did not leave his place upon the throne to come and speak to you, instead, he only leaned forward while observing you. "You were one of Odin's most favourable council members, will such continue with me", his voice had changed. You could only etch the image to the time a snake invitingly had hissed at you to advance, so it then could strike.

"I serve the king", though the words before had brought pride, something inside you now recoiled to utter the phrase.

"Oh, but you should do more than so", your breath caught in your throat at his words. "You are not beneath the king, you are his equal". If the words had not sounded like those of possession or been said as he looked down on you from the throne, mayhap you would have been jovial.

"So it does not feel when I am looked on from above", you felt how you trembled, though your voice did not come out the same. Your steady and seemingly confident manner appeared to convey a challenge to Loki.

The sound of smoothened metal echoed as he placed the spear on its designated place to be held on the throne. However, his eyes never left yours as he stood up and then slowly prolonged each step when walking down the stairs. You followed him as he came closer, his gaze nor ever leaving you. As he stopped before you, you noticed that something twisted lured in his eyes. This was not your Loki.

"You have changed".

"Yes, now I am a King". Though a smirk twisted his lips, it was not of mischief.

"Then why can I trace your change, not since you became king, but since you got the answer of what conveyed your mind?" His grin ceased, yet his stoic expression withstood.

"What such are the answer you speak about?" He dared you and usually so a banter would begin, though what you voiced would bring anything but such.

"That you are Laufey's son, a Frost Giant", you had no chance to react, as his hand came to clutch under your jaw, fingers digging into your cheeks.

"Lies", he hissed close to your face, though, for anyone passing, it may as well looked like you did something much less innocent then just conversing. "You are lying", his tone and how he acted was far from what you knew he would, therefore you did not shy from proving him wrong.

"I followed you to the vault, though neither you nor your father..."

"He is not my father!"

"...sensed my presence", you did not let yourself get affected by his outburst, though so you became when continuing. "I was there when you got to know, I was there to hear your anguish, but what does it justify you doing this?" You gripped his hand and tore away from him, glaring at the person you did not know. He looked stunned, mouth opening slightly, just like when he not have been able to tell you the words he wanted the day before.

"You are to abandon me like everyone else, just because of what I am".

"It is not because I now know what you are, it is because you are not the prince I once got to know. The prince I got to know was clever and cunning, yet he did have a heart", he clenched his jaw, eyes close to slits, unlike the violent storm you before had seen. "The Loki I knew fit the title of king, but jealousy never does", he cracked, you visibly saw the difference. He took charge of his emotion, restraining it like a horse tamer, the shimmer of the vulnerability of which the mare would show when beginning to trust, reflecting in his stance. He knew your words had rung true.

"As your king, I commend you to go", his voice was not threatening, not overpowering, yet he tried so fruitlessly it would remain that way.

"I have already committed treason, my king, there is no reason to command me", you spat.

"Then can I beg you", he did no longer try to sustain his front, although he still did not watch you, as his eyes were set upon the balcony to the side. But you heard it, you heard something which urged you to take the step closer which was needed for you to place your hand on his cheek, to redirect the concentration to you and not the frenzy you once more saw build in his persona. Though you did not, as you knew as soon as your fingers brushed his skin, he would flinch away as if something holy had burned him. He had waded too deep into the raging water from a broken dam, thus he did not even look at you a last time before you left.

#Loki Laufeyson #marvel loki #loki #lok x reader #loki x reader fluff #loki x reader angst #loki x reader teasing #loki fanfic #loki fanfiction #loki fiction #loki x reader fanfic #loki angst #loki fluff #thor movies #Thor Odinson #the god of mischief #the god of thunder #MCU fanfiction #MCU loki #Marvel MCU #loki fandom #thor fanfic #thor fandom #Fandral #hogun #lady sif #Volstagg #frigga and loki #frigga #odin

[the--sad--hatter]

Mischief & Madness - Chapter 3 (Loki X Reader)

Fandom: Marvel

Pairing: Loki/Reader (No physical description of reader other than female presenting)

Warnings: LOKI, Angst, lots of violence, graphic gore, extreme cursing, anxiety attacks. 

Summary:

Living in New York has its ups and its downs. Upside - You have a cushy job at Stark Industries. Downside - You wind up getting yourself kidnapped by The God Of Mischief.

All you wanted was a decent cup of coffee, now you’re stuck on the otherside of the universe with a sociopath who has only begrudgingly not murdered you.

To get back home you’ll have to work with Loki, and probably stop trying to stab him.

To regain his power, he’ll have to work with you, and probably stop trying to slaughter you.

When Mischief and Madness collide, chaos ensues. Even if you survive this, the universe probably won’t…

Masterlist 

Chapter Three

As soon as the doors opened Natasha sauntered out of the elevator, leaving you to trail after her. The first person to notice and acknowledge you was Vision, who drifted over and held his fist out to you.

 “I have garnered from watching the interactions of the team that when a friend is victorious it is customary to offer them your fist so that they may bump it.” He explained, pleased with himself.

 You shifted your coffee to your non-dominant hand and accepted the proffered fist bump, cooing under your breath at his adorableness.

 “There she is, my favourite lil genius!” Sam crowed loudly, jogging over to sling his arm around your shoulders.

 “Excuse me? Is she the genius who pays for everything?” Tony squawked, offended.

 “Shush, let me have my moment.” You scolded.

“You did very well today.” Wanda said softly, and you had to look around for a moment before you spotted her on the couch, sandwiched between Clint and Steve.

 “Yeah, I had Friday pull the footage so I can watch it on repeat.” Clint sniggered ecstatically as Sam swept you over to the seating area.

 Something cold touched your wrist and you looked down at Bucky who was splayed across an armchair. He didn’t say anything, just caught your eye and gave you a firm nod of approval.

 “What kind of coffee is that?” Tony demanded, snatching the cup from your hand and taking a sip.

 “Gimme a break, I took an impromptu and unwilling flying lesson today.” You scoffed, snatching it back.

 “But I caught you!” Peter exclaimed, wiggling in his seat like a proud puppy who’d successfully performed a trick.

 “Yes, yes you did. Three cheers for Spiderinfant!” You scoffed, letting Sam push you onto the couch next to Steve.

 “I agree, congratulations are in order for the young ones and their part in todays battle. Were this Asgard, we would feast for days to honour them.”

 “Let’s go to Asgard then.” You stage whispered to Peter.  

 “Alas, I have just returned from Asgard and I have much news.” Thor admitted heavily.

 “Lay it on us, how much did Loki screw up Asgard?” Tony asked.

 “While masquerading as my father Loki ruled Asgard fairly and justly. He built monuments to himself of course but the people did not seem to mind. I suspect many of them knew it was Loki in disguise but choose to continue the charade. Indeed, Asgard is peaceful and prosperous.” Thor admitted, befuddled.

 “Huh. How about that? The would be King was actually fit for the job. Maybe we should have just given Loki the planet.” You sniggered.

 “Joking. Obviously.” You quickly added when you were subjected to numerous hard stares.

 “So what’s the bad news?” Steve asked, getting back on track.

 “The Enchantress Amora began causing havoc in Asgard, that is why Loki came here to find a weapon to stop her. She has been captured, though only barely. I believed Loki was acting in Asgards best interest until we went to the Vaults and the tesseract disappeared.”

 “Loki has the Tesseract?” Steve asked sharply.

 “I do not know. The Tesseract was in the vault. It disappeared before our very eyes and we know not where it has gone.”

 “Friday, where’s Loki?” Tony snapped out quickly.

 “He is on the balcony reading about childhood trauma and the effects it can have in later life.” Friday responded.

 “Who gave Loki a book?” Steve sighed.

 You sunk down in your seat guiltily, refusing to meet Natasha’s eye.

 “I did. Thought he might learn something.” The redheaded Russian said blithely, covering for you.

 You put your hand up nervously.

 “You can go to the bathroom, you don’t need to ask.” Clint whispered, shaking his head slightly at you.

 “Good to know, but… What do you mean The Tesseract disappeared. In all the years it was studied on Earth it never acted on it’s own. Someone had to have taken it, somehow. There’s only one person we know of who can do anything similar to that, and he knew where it was. It had to have been Loki.” You suggested.

 “Agreed. Friday, up the security on Loki and around the tower.” Tony instructed, taking your suggestion seriously.

 “I will guard Loki personally.” Thor said sagely, picking up his hammer.

 He didn’t really wait for an agreement, just stomped out onto the landing and stepped over the edge.

 “Love that guy. Knows how to make an entrance and an exit.” You snorted.

 “You’ll get used to it.” Steve assured, patting your shoulder.

 “Will I? Because as fun as today has been, I don’t really see myself hanging out with you in much of an Avenging capacity. Feel free to invite me to Pizza Parties though! And by feel free, I mean do it or I’ll subscribe you to every penis enlargement scam on the net.” You warned.

 “You wanna tell her?” Steve asked Tony.

 You looked between them, teetering between curious excitement and nervous fear.

 “Tell me what? Tell meeeeeeeeee!” You demanded.

 “Wanna hang out with us in an Avenging capacity? Pizza parties included.” Tony asked giddily, looking quite proud of himself.

 “All of our scientific minds are also out on the front, fighting. We think it would be beneficial if we had people working full time on tech, communications, weaponry etc… People we can trust. We already know you, we like you, we trust you and you’ve more than proven how capable you are.” Steve added.

 Proud of you, Tony was proud of you, not himself. You were being extended a coveted invitation to…

 “So you want me to be your ‘Q’?” You clarified.

 “Yes.” Steve agreed, rolling his eyes when you and Tony gaped at him in surprise.

 “I’ve seen James Bond.” He said flatly.

 “We’re offering you a job Princess. We want you to move into the compound upstate and work for The Avengers full time. You wouldn’t be in the public eye so you would be safe, and yes you will have your own lab. All the toys and funding you want.” Tony explained.

 “Barnes and I have worked out a training schedule for you, not that we’re expecting you to go on missions.” Natasha added, smiling over at you smugly.

 “We picked you out a room next to mine.” Wanda said excitedly.

  “I stopped Tony from making your room pink, but I couldn’t talk him out of the Canopy bed.” Sam snorted.

 “That beds awesome. If you don’t want it, I’ll have it!” Clint offered enthusiastically.

 “Banners at the compound now, setting up your lab equipment.” Steve added, explain the Doctors absence from the meeting.

 “Wait, you’re taking her upstate?” Peter piped up, near pouting.

 “Relax kid, we’re not locking her up, she’s not going from Sleeping Beauty to Rapunzel. You can still have playdates.” Tony assured.

 Throughout all the excitement you had remained uncharacteristically silent, something that started to dawn on everyone.

 “Uh, I… My coffee is cold. I’m going to make a fresh one.” You muttered, getting stiffly to your feet.

 “Princess?”

 “Just give me a minute, please. I’ll be back.” You said briskly, high-tailing it towards the elevator.

 “Well done guys, you scared her off.” Sam grouched as you slipped into the elevator, trying not to hyper-ventilate.

 It was a more than generous offer, it was a dream come true. But you couldn’t help but wander back to your lab in a daze, trying to untie the knot in your stomach. This was literally the biggest thing to ever happen to you, being invited to work with Earth’s Mightiest. You’d have access to resources and tech beyond your imagination, you could work directly with Tony and Banner not just for them. You could have a hand in saving the world, changing it, improving and saving lives.

 So why were you sat on a chair with your head in your hands and trying not to cry?

 “Princess, your heart rate is elevated and you are showing signs of distress. Is everything ok?” Friday asked, her volume lower than it normally was.

 “And there is your greatest fear, laid bare. You can’t stand the thought that your death will be as meaningless and unimportant as your life.”

 “I’m fine Friday.” You answered numbly.

 “The genius in a tower of people smarter than her, brushing shoulders with champions and knowing she will never be one, surrounded by greatness but unable to achieve it herself.”

 “Should I inform Mr Stark you need him?” She prodded.

 “You hate that you are insignificant, that you will never rise above the mediocrity that is so prevalent in your race.”

 “No. I don’t need Tony. I don’t need anyone.” You replied coldly.

 You knew what was wrong now. You were scared. Scared that you’d have the chance to be something more, to be important and that you would blow it. It was easy to hope for something but when that hope came to fruition it wasn’t easy to follow through.

 What if you weren’t as smart as they thought you were?

 What if you messed up and someone got hurt?

 What if you crumbled under the pressure?

 What if you let yourself down?

 What if you let Tony down?

 What if you got what you wanted and realised it wasn’t what you needed?

 What if you didn’t fit in?

 What if they realised the same thing everybody else always inevitably did, that you weren’t likeable?

 What if you got thrown out and lost everything?

 You were so consumed with what ifs that you didn’t notice that Friday hadn’t answered you. You only looked up when something you couldn’t quite put your finger on let you know something was wrong. You looked around the lab, on alert, searching for what was wrong, when you heard it.

 Or rather, you didn’t hear it. The lab was full of equipment and machines that were always on, humming and whirring, the white noise of machinery. It was silent now though, and now that you realised that you could see that all the blinking lights were off.

 “Friday?”

 There was no response, and a chill ran down your spine. You pulled your phone from your pocket and frowned at the black screen. You raced towards the elevator, knowing full well what you’d find and you were right. There was no electricity in the building, or anything in the building. Something had drained all the power.

 Which meant…

 “Hello Vænn.” He hissed, right behind you.

 Loki’s cell was useless.

 His fingers closed around your elbow and you were forcibly slammed into the nearest wall. His green eyes glinted in the darkness and something sharp and cold pressed into the tender flesh over your thrumming pulse.

 “Is that a dagger at my throat or are you happy to see me?” You laughed breathlessly, without humour.

 “You bested me once, I can not let the insult pass, nor risk you doing it again.” He explained almost amicably.

 He was so close you could see the flecks of gold and emerald in his eyes, and the regret as well. It almost distracted you from the sharp pain in your neck until you felt something damp drip down your skin. The dagger was so sharp it had started to slice through your skin even though he’d made no move to injure you yet. His gaze flickered down and he watched the thin rivulet of blood roll down your throat.

 “You’re hesitating.” You accused him.

 “Are you so eager to die?” He threw back.

 “Just wondering if that connection I felt we had was in my imagination, because after our moment on the balcony I thought we were friends. And friends don’t slit friends throats.” You told him, half joking-half imploring.

 His eyes darted across your face like he was searching for something, some kind of sign about what to do. Or maybe he was just relishing in your terror and you were projecting.

 “I was King. I had the throne and the power. The people adored me, even if they didn’t know it was me. I had everything and it’s lost because of you. You took everything from me and taking your pathetic life isn’t an even bargain but it is all you have, so it is what I will take in recompense.” He hissed, his eyes brimming over with darkness and hate.

 “Loki, don’t. Please don’t kill me.” You whispered softly.

 “For someone with so much pride, you do beg so prettily, sweet Vænn.” He whispered back, his tone hard where yours had been gentle.

 There it was again, that word. What it meant was still beyond the reaches of your knowledge but it hardly seemed pertinent right now, with the tower shrouded in darkness and your blood painting your skin.

 They had to know Loki would be free, The Avengers had to know. If you could just stall long enough, distract him, you could survive. You could beg some more, play up to the pathetic mortal gig, wait for someone stronger than you to come and rescue you.

 “You can try as hard as you like to lay the blame with me but we both know you were never really King, you were a bastard prince playing pretend.” You snarled.

 You didn’t want to die, but in the end you were still you, and you didn’t want to snivel and beg. There was no point in surviving if the price was being unable to look yourself in the mirror.

 Thunderous crashing above you made you flinch, unwittingly slicing your own skin a little more. The entire tower shook and for a moment you thought an Earthquake had struck New York, but everything soon became clear.

 “Loki! Stop this at once!” Thor roared, his booming voice reaching you a split second before he came crashing into the lab, the hammer swinging in his hand. When he saw you, half hidden behind Loki and blood beginning to stain your shirt, his eyes widened. Which begged the question, if he didn’t know Loki was about to kill you, what was he demanding that Loki stop?

 There was one final crash as the ceiling above your head collapsed, plaster and concrete raining down on your lab in a dusty explosion. Instinctively you hid behind Loki, using him as a shield and forgetting about the dagger that he thankfully pulled away in time. When the dust cleared you realised he wasn’t even paying attention to you, his eyes fixed on the centre of the lab. Out of the corner of your eye you saw Thor raise the hammer but you couldn’t care less.

 Levitating off the ground, smack in the middle of your lab, was the Tesseract. Blue light shone from it, casting a glow over everything it touched. It was… mesmerising. Utterly entranced by it you stepped forward in tandem with Loki, unaware you’d put yourself between him and Thor. Thor was yelling something but you couldn’t make it out, it was like you were underwater, separated from the world and drowning in blue light. The only thing you could clearly hear was your own heartbeat, slow and steady, calmly pulsating as you walked towards the Tesseract as the light got brighter and brighter.

 And then the floor dropped out from under your feet and swirling blue light was the only thing left.

A/N - Aaaaaaand we're off.

I think it's setting itself apart from MMYM. I feel like Princess and Kitten, while both sassy af, are quite different, and this Loki is a little bit different as well. I could be wrong though, so, thoughts?

Ngl though, I am already digging the Princess/Loki dynamics.

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[noodlecupcakeswritings]

Undercover - Chapter 17 (A LokixRaven AU)

Loki won the battle of New York and now rules over Earth after eliminating Thor and Hawkeye. The remaining Avengers have gone into hiding, waiting for a chance to take back their planet. Raven (OC) is their key to doing so.

This fic is pretty much porn and with this AU Raven and Loki have no previous history.

Please leave comments, kudos and reblogs if you like it. It really helps me out as a writer, lemme know if you wanna be on the taglist as well :)

Warnings: Violence, Threats, Threatening behaviour, Language, Angst, Feels

Chapter 17

Raven’s P.O.V

The lies were finally starting to eat away at me. And the fact that Loki loved me made it so much worse. And I reciprocated that love. This wasn’t supposed to happen, I was completely jeopardising the mission. Fury should have sent someone else in my place, another woman that wouldn’t be so quick to fall for Loki. I just felt so sorry for him, his entire life had been based on a lie and now the love he felt for me was also based on a lie. I really was a piece of shit. “Harper?” Fury’s voice came through the small speaker. His voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I dried my eyes, “yes sir, sorry, sir.” “I said, we’re ready to make our move. We just need you to get into the weapons vault. Find the tesseract and secure it. Find a way to get rid of the Chitauri. Without an army, Loki’s easy.”

“How soon will you arrive, sir?” I asked, I needed to know how much time I had. “By this evening, providing everything goes well your end.” Shit. That gave me about five hours to pluck up the courage to tell Loki and convince him to run. If he didn’t kill me first, however. Loki was currently seeing the other slaves off, giving them freedom now that he didn’t have use for them. A part of me felt bad that he was forcing them out back to their old lives without his protection or lavish lifestyle. But another part of me was eager for them to be gone, so I could have him all to myself. Even if it was just a few precious hours.

Swallowing my nerves and taking a deep breath I finally responded, “it’ll be good to get things back to normal sir.” “See you soon, Harper.” After that Fury signed off and the line went dead. Putting my head in my hands, I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. There was no good way out of this mess. Either way, I would end up betraying someone. I had already betrayed Loki, I just needed to decide if I wanted to continue doing so. If he ran Earth would be restored and Shield would be happy. I would have done my job and Loki would be safe. It was just hoping I could convince him to run.

But first I had to ensure my safety by carrying out Fury’s orders. The tesseract was kept in the weapons vault, I’m sure there was something else I could use in there to use on the Chitauri. It was unknown how much time I had left before Loki would come looking for me, so I needed to work fast. Hiding the communication device under my mattress, I left my quarters and traversed the many halls and corridors of the palace. Two Chitauri stood outside the door to the weapons vault, guarding it. Shit. The fight started here and now. Focusing, I felt the familiar tingle of heat up my spine and down my arms before hurling a fireball at the two guards.

It didn’t take them long to burn, their roars of pain echoing through the hall. Pulling open the doors, I headed inside the vault. There was only one walkway, both sides lined with many weapons. At the end sat the glowing tesseract and Loki’s sceptre. Not wanting to waste any more time, I ran and grabbed both. I was surprised no alarm had been sounded or gone off, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t on edge. When things started seeming too easy, it normally meant a trap or ambush was coming. Keeping my guard up, I cautiously exited the weapons vault and went further into Chitauri territory.

As I entered the barracks, I frowned only finding a handful. Maybe Loki had sent most of them back to Thanos as he no longer had use for them. Loki had gotten too comfortable with the lack of attacks. Using the sceptre, I fired a series of energy bolts at the Chitauri, watching as they fell one by one. Once the room was clear, I debated what to do with the sceptre and tesseract. If Loki saw me with these, he would instantly know that I’ve betrayed him and be on the offensive. I wanted to at least try to explain myself first. Heading back to my quarters, I opened the door only to find him inside, sat on the edge of my bed.

Both of us paused, looking at each other wide eyed and in shock. Loki rose from my bed cautiously, his face falling. “What are you doing with those?” He asked. How the fuck was I supposed to answer that question? “Answer quickly or I will take them from you,” he warned. “I wanted to tell you sooner. I was going to tell you today before it was too late, so you had the option to run.” “Tell me what? Speak!” Tears filled my eyes as he snapped at me, I took a deep breath to keep it together, “SHEILD sent me to bring you in.”

Loki paused at that information like he didn’t know how to process it. Hurt and anger flashed across his face before he grinned wolfishly. It was unnerving. “I should have known it was too good to be true. I should have seen something like this coming,” he spoke, amused. Taking a step back, I wanted to keep the distance between us. Dread filled my stomach at how ‘well’ he was taking this. “You can still go before they come. You can take the tesseract and you can leave; you can go anywhere you want, and they’ll never find you,” I bargained, desperation clear in my tone. “Oh no, my dear. You’ve done me a wonderful service. The remaining avengers are coming, and when they do, I’ll kill all of them. Then Earth will truly be mine. You’ve led them into the perfect trap, and they won’t make a move with you as my hostage.”

Recoiling in horror, I turned and attempted to run. Only I ran straight into a clone. Hitting with a blast from the sceptre, it quickly vanished. I continued running; I didn’t want to fight him, but I felt like soon I’d have no choice. More clones appeared blocking my path and there were too many for me to fight off. Soon they overpowered me, wrestling the sceptre and tesseract from me. The real Loki took them from the clones who forced me to kneel, holding me in place as I struggled against them. Loki tilted my chin with the point of the sceptre, smirking down at me. “You don’t have to do this, you can leave peacefully and still have your freedom,” I protested, still trying to bargain with him.

Loki pointed the sceptre lower, the tip hovering mere inches from my heart, “be grateful I don’t turn you against them. I could make you kill them for me and then release you for long enough after so you can see what you’ve done.” Tears rolled down my cheeks, and I lowered my gaze in defeat. I couldn’t bring myself to hurt him, I’d already done that. “Your tears won’t gain you any sympathy,” Loki sighed. Using his magic, he conjured a gold collar and chain, putting it around my neck so I was his slave once more. “There, much better don’t you think? Come along, pet.” Loki continued. He walked to the direction of the throne room; the chain going taunt as I refused to move. Spinning on his heel, he gave it a sharp tug. “Move before I drag you,” he threatened.

Reluctantly, I followed him on all fours to the throne room. Loki took a seat upon his throne with me, sat at his feet like a prized pet. “You don’t have to do this, Loki, please,” I pleaded with him. “You didn’t have to come here and lie to me. But you did. You made that conscious decision to come here, gain my trust so you could take me down. It’s not my fault you became sentimental.” Opening my mouth to protest, he cut me off as he used his magic once again to conjure a muzzle over my mouth. I glared up at him before he also used his magic to bind my wrists. “They’ll be here soon and then we’ll see where your loyalties really lie.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later Loki was growing impatient, and even I worried that they’d abandoned me. Loki released his grip on my chain as he rose from the throne, but I didn’t dare move. “You said they’d be here, or was it another one of your lies?” He growled at me. I offered him a shrug as I still could not speak. “If they don’t come for you, I’m sure your body will be a fine addition to my gates alongside Collins,” Loki threatened.

There was a smash from above the throne, shards of glass raining down. And through the opening that used to be a window flew Tony fucking Stark. The muzzle muffled my groan. He always had to insist on a dramatic entrance. Tony didn’t give Loki any time to react, picking him up and forcing him into the nearest wall hard. “Hey, Reindeer games,” Stark taunted him with those god-awful nicknames.

The throne room doors opened and in ran Natasha, pistols raised. Although with Loki busy with Stark she ran over to me instead, trying to free me from the magic bonds. Unable to do so, she instead helped me to my feet and attempted to lead me out of the room and to safety. Loki fought Stark off him for a few moments, using his sceptre to fire at Natasha and I. Natasha shoved us out of the way in time, only for Loki to conjure a clone. Natasha fired at it, the bullets doing nothing to stop its advance. I struggled against the bonds, desperate to get free so I could help instead of stand there uselessly.

In ran Steve, his signature shield at his side. Only that wasn’t the only thing he was carrying. In his free hand was Mjolnir, which he threw at the Loki clone. The clone vanished after it took the blow, and the hammer went back to Steve. I wasn’t the only person watching him wide eyed. The real Loki was too, which allowed Stark to get in a few well-placed punches. Loki threw Stark off and advanced on Steve. “That belongs to me!” He spat. “If that were true, you’d be worthy enough to lift it,” Steve sassed. Steve swung the hammer at Loki, knocking Loki off his feet and to the floor. Loki refused to stay down for long, and Steve hit him again. The assault continued until finally Loki put his hands up in surrender. It seemed the shock of seeing Steve wielding Mjolnir had made him sloppy.

Natasha stalked over to Loki, placing her boot over his throat threatingly. “Let Raven go. Now!” She demanded, pressing down. Loki growled in protest but gave in, freeing me from the bonds, muzzle and collar. Natasha produced a pair of Asgardian shackles, ones that would ensure Loki wouldn’t be able to use anymore magic, and cuffed his wrist together. Steve and Tony got him up and led him out of the palace whilst Natasha pulled me into a comforting hug. “You’re okay, it’s all over now,” she reassured me. Yeah, it was over for them. It wasn’t over for me yet.

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[otterskin]

The Devil in The Window

Apologies for low image quality. This is a repost with some reworking for an earlier, longer breakdown I did of the Loki trailer. Now that episode 1 is out - (YAY I WAS RIGHT, TAKE THAT MEPHISTO FANS! But also I do look forward to his eventual appearance, you think I don’t also have a huge interest in satanic mythology and the devil’s appearances in literature? Because I certainly do.) - I think it’s a good time to review.

Anyway, here’s a new shot of the window, apologies for using the older ones I drew on before from hereafter though. They updated the design for the episode, so some details have changed - however, I think that the old one had some details that were actually better to demonstrate with, the biggest being the change to the chest shape. Still, I think the intent remains, and I suppose it’s all to the good I used the design that shows it clearer.

So, Norse Mythology. It’s been Christiannized. You can thank Snorri Sturluson for that, but you can google all about him later. Let’s just say that he made many Norse figures into equivalents for Christian ones. Baldur is Jesus, pure and a sacrificial lamb who dies for a greater good. And the devil is...Loki. Something the Marvel comics and the MCU have continued.

Here we have a devil, dressed in green and with a distinct shape on his chest:

Hmmm...wait...I know that weird horny shape...(yes they changed this design in the episode, but it still has this basic shape, just with another layer of gold above it.)

Ah. I’d say that cinches it. This is meant to be Loki. If you look at the devil’s hair, it also resembles Loki’s, being shoulder-length and kinda curly.

So, what’s devil-Loki doing? Laying an egg? Trying out a foot massager? For a second I thought it was a moon, but we see the moon over his left shoulder, amongst the stars. Which means this is - probably the Earth.

...Dammit; I live there.

So Earth is barren and being devoured by flames, likely caused by this Loki sitting atop of it (in a throne, no less). Aw gee, things look pretty bad, don’t they?

But wait - what’s that? Under the Earth (and, possibly, under the earth)?

It’s a plant. A shoot, to be exact.

Back to Ragnarok for a second. Ragnarok isn’t the apocalypse (something we see a lot of in this trailer - all of it seems to be exploring the end of days). Ragnarok is the fire meant to wipe out the old and fertilize the ground for the new. And after the gods have died, what happens? Well, Baldur emerges from Hel, one of the only surviving gods (hmm, seems him dying worked out, didn’t it?). He’s joined by Líf and Lífþrasir, who are the new first man and woman, who’s names mean ‘Life’ and who are pictured, usually, with plants and new life. It is they who are tasked who growing a new Yggdrasil after the destruction of the old. The previous first man and woman are Ask and Embla, meaning Ash Tree and Vine/Elm tree, so there’s a theme there.

So a new sprout, possibly a tree, growing out of the destruction of the old.

This fits with Loki’s role as understood in mythology. He checks the arrogance of the gods, including when they tried to achieve immortality (sorry, Baldur, nothing personal), and that keeps the gods at their best. After Loki is imprisoned, the gods become weak, unhelpful and foolish, and Yggdrasil starts to rot. Eventually Loki escapes and returns along with Surtur (who also resembles this figure) to burn it all to the ground. This is also referenced in Thor:Ragnarok, with Loki releasing Surtur in the Vault, a place of thematic importance to Loki and one that represents the hidden secrets and sins of Asgard). You could say Ragnarok continued into Infinity War, where Loki played an important part in aiding Thanos’ destruction, giving up the stone to protect his brother and essentially dooming the rest of the universe - but also ultimately leading to its salvation, even if, like Myth Loki, he wasn’t around to see it.

So, we see the Variant literally start a fire in the trailer -

- in fact, this whole trailer is awash in flame -

It’s fire, fire everywhere and Variant Loki’s setting them!

Damn, even our ‘hero’ Loki is burning stuff down! Does this mean that Loki is doomed, always meant to be an avatar of death and toasty destruction?

Well...let’s go back to that stained glass. Hmmm...wait...I know that weird horny shape...

And there’s something else...the bottom of the Earth is being lit up, and not by fire. Light appears to be coming off this little plant.

What colour is this plant again? That’s right, green. Green is the colour of new life and growth and change and...hang on, I’ve heard that before, too..

.

Hang on hang on HANG ON... let me have a look at the shape again.

That’s...a letter. An L? For Loki? Like in the title sequence?

Wait...no, a different letter. An older letter. After all, Loki is old Norse. How do you spell his name in that again?

ᛚᛟᚲ ᛁ

And ENHANCE on that third letter!

This, my friends, is a Kenaz/Kaunaz, or what would become 'K' in our alphabet. It is also known as the 'Loki Rune' (and the Ulcer Rune, for some reason. I suspect Odin understands why). It’s used to spell his name, but is also used on his own to represent him. Heck, it's even his Superman 'S' in the comics:

Runes are more than letters - they are symbols for concepts. So what else does it mean?

Primarly, it means ‘torch’.

And also ‘knowledge’ (ken). As well as ‘growth, change, the search for truth, decay, arrogance, elitism, feminine, kinship and creativity.’

...Okay, that’s a lot, but you have to admit it fits.

More specifically, it means ‘Mastery of the Fire’. As in, someone who has learned to tame fire so that it is helpful, not harmful. To bring light and, symbolically, knowledge.

There’s another way Loki’s been associated with fire - in the Wagner Ring Cycle, Das Rheingold, the opera that inspired much the Thor films’ aesthetic and certainly their helmets, Loki is called ‘Loge’, which means ‘Fire’. He’s usually dressed to match, too -

Many trickster figures are associated with fire. They are usually called ‘Fire-bringers’ - See: Raven, Lucifer, Prometheus, etc. They are often complex figures with a foot in different worlds, but who nonetheless help mankind with the gift of ‘fire’ - although they usually pay for it, and tend to be self-destructive.

(Side note. Lucifer means light-bringer, which is what luciferase is named after. Because it glows. Which is helpful in labs. In case someone needed to know that.)

Moving from a destructive fire-starter to a fire-bringer seems like a great character arc for Loki to take, especially given his rehabilitation in pop culture, the comics, and even wider culture. Loki has gone from being seen as an evil, deviant, destructive character to one who’s seen as a patron of the arts and creativity, of stories rather than lies. Heck, some scholars of Norse Mythology even posit that he’s the closet thing to a protagonist Norse Mythology has, so I guess that backfired, Snorri!). Being dressed in green and with the sprout clearly also being stylized after his Kaunaz, there’s foreshadowing that he’ll be capable of growing good things even out of ashes.

So, to sum up: Being ‘Satan’ sounds pretty bad, but with a little letter re-arranging like we see in the title sequence, you can be...

...practically a saint. Maybe even a saviour.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

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