Mischief on Midgard

Waking up

"Your Highness!" shouted a dark-haired, smiling warrior maiden who was running his way flanked by the Warriors Three. "You're awake! This is good news!"

She came to a halt near him, the other three coming to a halt and panting for breath. She was... beaming at him. Genuinely beaming. Her eyes were bright with light and jow at just... seeing him. Loki blinked at her in confusion. How strange. She'd never looked at him like that before, with respect and joy and relief.

"I... yes. I am," Loki said with another blink.

"I do hope that you rested well, your Highness," Sif said with a bow of her head as she lowered to one knee, hand over her chest.

The other three mimicked her, and Loki jerked back an inch before stopping himself. He stared at them with wide eyes. True, the lot of them had bowed to him before. They'd had to, given that he was a Prince of Asgard. However, it had always felt like they had been reluctant in their genuflection. Something that they did only because they must do so, or else show insult to Odin. Not... not like now. Like they wanted to show respect.

The four stood, and their eyes were filled with pride. They flocked around Loki, and he had to again control the urge to pull back. Better that he had not contained the urge, really. Before he could react, the four wrapped him up in a massive group hug, literally lifting him into the air and squishing the air from his lungs. A choked grunt of confusion escaped his throat as Volstagg shouted.

"Haha! All hail Prince Loki, the Pride of Asgard!" the large man shouted with a booming laugh. The other three echoed him and finally let Loki go, though they did not move from their circle around him.

"I-I beg your pardon?" Loki asked with a small cough.

"No, no!" Fandral shouted with a laugh, spreading his arms out theatrically. "It is we who should beg your pardon, Loki the Titan Slayer!"

"Champion of Midgard and Asgard!" Hogun continued with a grin.

"Loki the Defiant!" Sif added with her own grin.

"I..." Loki looked at each of them, blinking in confusion. "I'm sorry, but what?"

"Haha! Why do you seem surprised, Prince Loki?" Volstagg asked with a grin. "They are already writing songs about your adventure! Singing of your defiance! Your Victory! They sing, 'Awe filled the army as they watched our Prince raise the spear Glacignis defiantly toward the Mad Titan. Brave word he spoke, of Challenge and Contempt, to the Nightmare of the Realms. 'You have gone too far!' said our Clever Prince, "and have played with that which you cannot control! You are a Tyrant and a Fool, and your reign ends this day!' And it did! It did!"

Loki once more reached up to pinch at the bridge of his nose. His head felt like it was spinning. The memories filled his mind, real memories he knew now, but... it still didn't quite seem real to him. He'd spent so long with that fear pulsing in the back of his mind that... that...

"Come on, my Prince," Sif said with a kind and warm smile, taking his hand and pulling him along behind her. "You are going to love this."

Loki wasn't sure he believed her, but he was still running on autopilot. So much so that he hadn't realized how far they'd walked. He came back to himself with a startled blink, looking around the large and long hallways known to all as the Great Halls of History. Grand, magical illustrations lined these halls. Each image moving on its own. Each one depicted a great battle of not only the Kings of Asgard but of Asgards greatest heroes during their finest moments.

There was a mural of Bor, Odin's Father, defeating the once-mighty Dark Elves. A mural of Bor's father and mother, Loki's great-grandparents. Even murals of his great-great-grandparents and even his great-great-great-grandparents. Loki and Thor had grown up in awe of these illustrations. They had both yearned with all their beings of one day being worth enough to have their own mural placed along these halls. Sif patted his arm and tugged him further down the halls, and came to a stop in front of a mural that Loki had never seen. He froze, eyes wide, breath locking in his throat.