Sinbound: Variants

Part 9

Loki and I casually stroll through the Palace of Asgard. we decided that blending in was better than hiding out, then we quickly found out that that wasn't the best plan. Plenty of Asgardians are welcoming us back, telling us we 'must go to Thor, he would be delighted to see his brother and his new wife." We say we will, then give each other weary looks. We don't want Thor to know we are here.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" I ask him as we turn a corner and are about to descend the stairs into the weapons vault.

"I assure you, it's here."

"I thought it was a replica." I say, referring to the Infinity Gauntlet with the collection of stones in them.

"Brother!" We hear a whole-hearted call from behind us. 

"Fuck." I mumble under my breath. We both turn around to see Thor coming towards us, his arms stretched out. He embraces Loki who just stands there, then embraces me. Of course I hug him back, I'm not jerk like Loki is when it comes to his brother.

"What occasion am I unaware of that grants your visit? I'm sorry I did not come welcome you sooner." He says happily.

"Loki missed you." I say in a cheerful voice, knowing it would piss him off.

"Brother, did you really?" He asks, confused but still happy.

"I was getting tired of Midgard."

"No... he missed you." I repeated myself, and he shoves me playfully. 

"Come, we must catch up. I want to hear all about Midgard. I hear you have a new mission on your hands!" Loki's eyes widen in shock, not expecting Thor to know about the variant.

"What have you heard?" I asked him, suddenly becoming serious.

"I do not know, no one's informed me of anything. This is why we must sit down, chat, drink, have a good time! Come, please!"

Loki gives me a look, cocking his head as his eyes look at me through his eyebrows. He sighs, and I hold his hand, smiling brightly at Thor. "We would love to catch up with you, Thor."

"Wonderful! Always good to see you, Lady Ayca." He says, and we follow him to the balcony where there is a set up of chairs surrounded by beautiful flowers, and a bench with a small floral canopy over it. Loki and I sit there while Thor moves a chair to sit in front of us.

Loki leans over to me and whispers something in my ear. "I hate you right now."

"Did I make you mad?" I whisper back, winking at him. He flusters, shifting in his seat and adjusts his clothes. He clears his throat and looks at his brother, who is watching us intently with a joyful smile on his face. It's adorable how highly he thinks of his brother, even after all they've been through... after all Loki's put him through. He still thinks the world of him.

"Thor, did you see anything weird the day of the battle with Hela in New York?" I start off.

"Nothing I haven't seen before when it comes to war, why do you ask, Lady Ayca?" He says, furrowing his brow to concentrate.

"Well, apparently when I died here, a bit of my magic survived and became it's own entity. No one is entirely sure how it happened, but she's off the rails and very dangerous."

"This is your new mission, I assume? Why was I not called in to help? I am an Avenger, after all."

"We thought we had her under control, but we looked over the fact that our lifelines or... magic lines are connected. If she gets hurt, so do I and vice versa."

Thor thinks for a moment, looking at Loki who won't make eye contact now. "What happened?" He asks his brother, now serious too.

"It's unfortunately all in the past now." Is all he says.