The Visit

Trials: Part Three

When they got to the bottom of the staircase, it opened up to a cold and barren wasteland. Jagged rocks and ice littered the uneven ground and snow was falling onto them.

"Jotenheim," Loki said with a resigned expression.

"What happened here?"

"I figured out I wasn't Asgardian." Loki said as he started to walk forwards. "Come, the palace is this way. That's where the fight started."

Clint followed him out into the harsh landscape, shivering as the cold winds beat against him. Loki noticed and conjured a fur cloak for him to keep him warm.

When they arrived at the palace, the only sound was the snow and wind beating against everything they touched. Loki scrutinized every nook and cranny, but there was nothing, no one. "I don't understand, this is where I found out."

Clint shrugged. "Maybe it's something different?"

"Nothing else that would be significant enough to warrant the stone's attention," Loki said, furrowing his brow.

After a few seconds of the silence, they heard something in the distance. And then they heard it again. "It's coming from over there." Clint pointed to a Temple-like structure off to the side.

The walked towards the sound and as they got closer they could clearly recognize the sound as one of a baby crying.

When they reached the entrance to the temple, Loki froze in his tracks. There was a beautiful woman with pale skin that had a tint of blue to it. She had pointed ears and long black hair that framed her face. She was holding a bundle in her arms, which was clearly where the sound was coming from.

"Shhhh, it's alright my darling. Amma will be alright. I'm just going somewhere else. We'll see each other again, I promise. Your father will come for you when it is safe and you will have a beautiful life." That was when they noticed that she had a blood stain on her abdomen that was slowly spreading. "You are going to be a great little sorcerer one day, and a great person as well. You are so special and wonderful and I want you to never forget that alright?"

The baby cooed in her arms and reached up to her face. She smiled and gently put down the bundle into the basin in front of her. She kissed the baby on the forhead and said "I love you my little Loptr" and slowly backed away, clutching her stomach as she did so. She passed Loki and Clint through the entrance and kept walking. They watched as she clutched a rock off the side of the road they walked up on and collapsed. When she took her last breath, her body started to disintegrate into golden flakes that rose up and up until they became one with the stars.

Loki and Clint looked at each other and then looked at the bundle, which started to cry again. Loki slowly made his way over to it and paused to look at it. He quickly realized...

"This is me." He looked out over to where the woman had died. "And if this is me, then that's... my mother." Loki looked down at his baby-self. His thoughts started racing, remembering the vault, Jotunheim, the void. He looked further at the walls and saw runes of protection

"I wasn't abandoned... or suffering... or left to die. She was trying to protect me." He turned to Clint and grabbed his shoulders. "I wasn't small, I was only part Jotun! My mother was an elf not a Jotun, that's why I was small! And she said my father would come for me. Laufey accepted me!" His face became happier and happier as he spoke.

"I was wanted and loved. Clint, I'm not a mistake!" Loki exclaimed with a smile on his face and tears in his eyes.

Clint smiled and nodded. Loki let out a huff of a laugh that was filled with pure joy.

As the two stood there, the temple started to glow an orange color and morph. When it was finished, they were back at the temple from the beginning of the Soulworld. Now, in the middle, was a sword with a green jewled hilt and a black blade that glowed softly with magic. Loki and Clint walked over to it.

"Do we... touch it?" Clint asked Loki.

"I don't know? You came in here to get me."

"Yeah, but the wizard dude didn't exactly leave instructions, just said to be back here within two hours."

"Wizard dude?"

"Oh ya, there's a wizard dude who told us that you don't have a soul in your body right now. That's why you don't remember him."

"Oh."

...

Loki turned to Clint. "Let's just touch it."

"Alright, at the same time though. K? On 3. 1...2...3!"

They grabbed the hilt together and fell through space and time.

When they finally landed, they landed hard. Loki groaned as he pushed himself off of the stone floor. He ran a hand over his face. "Let's never do that again." He looked over at Clint, who was splayed on the floor with a grimace on his face.

"Agreed."

Loki looked up to see the rest of the avengers and what he supposed was the 'wizard dude' looking at them. He felt the hilt of the sword in his hand and looked down to see that it had indeed passed through with them.

Tony snorted at the two groaning from the impact.

"Cool sword."