Of Numbers and Strange Friendships

Chapter 71

Loki burst into the morons' lair with Peter at his heels. It had been the perfect place for Thor to have his Midgardian friends wait for them. There was plenty of seating, always food and drink, and the morons three and Lady Sif would entertain the Avengers until Frigga came to tell them all the story. The warriors would trade stories with the team and they'd all keep each other out of trouble, especially if Lady Sif was in charge. She could keep the boys in line. And Nat could keep the Avengers in line.

All eyes turned to Loki and Peter as they entered. All of the Avengers, the warriors three, Lady Sif, Sigyn, and Frigga. Loki was a bit surprised that Sig was there. He expected that Frigga would have left her in the healing wing to babysit Loki, but apparently she'd decided that Peter was a good enough babysitter.

She hadn't counted on Peter's loyalty being to Loki first. He wouldn't' fight Loki to stay in bed and miss this meeting unless it was life or death. And Loki was doing fine in Peter's opinion.

Frigga looked concerned and took a step toward the pair as Loki strode confidently into the room. It wasn't his patented murder strut, but it was close. He showed no sign of his former weariness, or weakness. "Darling? Are you sure you should be out of bed?" Frigga asked Loki, a mother's concern in her voice.

As she was speaking, Wanda got up from her place and nonchalantly rushed over to Peter. She at least attempted to be nonchalant. She'd been terrified when Peter had been kidnapped and it was worse when none of the adults had let her help get him back. It had been too dangerous. Especially for her to face Hydra again. That didn't mean she'd liked it. She'd pretended not to be affected, to be stronger than she was, but her boyfriend had been kidnapped by those who had tortured her.

She was a lot more affected than she'd wanted to admit.

And had learned from Loki's actions that emotions weren't a hinderance. They didn't make her weak. No one who escaped Hydra came out unscathed, especially the vulnerable 15 year old. She'd learned to hide her emotions, to focus on the mission at hand. She'd had it beaten into her. It was taking awhile for her to learn otherwise. Now, though? Now she'd seen Loki's rage, had seen how he could use his emotions and how they didn't hinder him or his magic.

She still had a lot to learn from her adopted older brother and her magical tutor.

Loki didn't want her to learn how to hate. He prayed it was a lesson she never needed.

Wanda hugged Peter tightly and Loki saw how she was trying to convince herself that he was alive and well. Sig had had that same look when Loki had been brought back to Asgard after the battle of New York, after she'd thought him dead for over a year.

Loki gave the pair a small smile before he turned his attention back to his mother, letting Wanda fret over the spider child in peace. He inclined his head to answer her question. "I'm alright, mother, and I would like to hear this explanation," he added and moved further into the room. He took his usual couch, where Sig was already sitting and pulled her into his arms, cuddling his fiancé close.

The Avengers all stared at Loki and his love. They'd heard about Sigyn from Peter, of course, but they hadn't officially met her yet and hadn't seen how adorable she and Loki were together.

"Very well, darling," Frigga relented, especially since Loki was currently cuddling his adorable fiancé and looked happy for the moment. Peter and Wanda took the last open seats and everyone watched Frigga with rapt attention for her to begin the explanation of what had just happened and who exactly Hela was. She looked between Thor and Loki before she began. Understandably, those two were the most interested in her words. "Your father kept many secrets, as you both know," she started.

Loki fought back a scoff. That was the understatement of the century. Odin had kept his entire heritage secret from him for his entire life, which caused so much trouble for all of them.

"He claimed all of them were for the good of the realm, but as you know, that is not the case. One of those secrets was Hela," pain filled Frigga's eyes as she spoke. She clearly hadn't agreed with Odin's actions, but hadn't had the power to fight him. "Odin sent our armies to conquer the nine realms to bring them under Asgard's control millennia ago," she started. "Once the realms were conquered, he softened his stance to rule them benevolently. However, our daughter, Hela, had been brought up to be a conquerer. She was and remains the goddess of death and was trained to be vicious in and out of combat. She followed too far in her father's footsteps. Instead of correcting her behavior, instead of fixing the problem he created, he banished her to Helheim to rule the land of the dead,"

"Why have we never heard this before?" Thor asked when Frigga paused for a moment. Loki's mind was reeling with the information as he thought through all the implications of Frigga's words, as well as the parts of the story she may have left out to preserve the family name. He knew there were multiple sides of every story, no matter how well-meaning the story teller.

"Odin also removed all memory and evidence of her existence from the realms, except for the pair of us and Heimdall," Frigga said sadly. She'd had to live with the mistakes she'd made too and her inability to keep Odin from banishing her daughter. She'd fought. She'd fought hard against Hela's banishment, but even she could only do so much against the king.

Thor paled. "Then... is she the rightful heir?" He asked softly. The oaf didn't know what to do or say, but he didn't like the idea of Hela being on the throne, not with how Frigga had described her.

The boys, the group really, were all still processing the story and processing how big of a dick Odin had been to his own daughter.

Frigga shook her head. "No, she rules Helheim now. Either you or Loki will take the throne one day. In the meanwhile, I will rule," the boys had both been told their entire lives that the throne went to the son who was the best fit for Asgard and ruling, not necessarily the eldest. They always assumed that Thor would take the throne with Loki as his advisor, since Odin always favored Thor so much all those years.

With Odin dead, though... things had changed.

And the future was more uncertain than ever.