Above All Shadows [Loki Timetravel fic - Completed]

Part I - 2. Frigga

'I think I know where I went wrong,' he said instead.

'Still, I would rather you weren't alone if you attempt the spell again. If these are the side effects, you're playing with something dangerous.'

If you knew exactly what, mother, you'd be aghast.

'There was nothing dangerous about it until I skipped two steps in the instructions.'

Frigga shook her head — the familiar gesture that over the years had come to embody Frigga's repeated admonitions that he needed to be careful when it came to magic.

'Let us finish breakfast then,' she said, resting her hand on Loki's shoulder.

He flinched. She hadn't touched him since Odin had thrown him in a cell for his attempted invasion of Midgard. That had been the tell-tale sign to her projections. She had always been quick to draw him into her arms, to smooth his hair or to brush away a stray speck of dust on his jacket. But not after Loki had disgraced himself.

I can 't. This is too much.

'I've had as much food as I can stomach right now.' He tried to still the quiver in his voice. 'Forgive me. I will see you later, mother.'

Not waiting for Frigga's response, he fled.

Loki all but ran down the short corridor from his mother's quarters to the wing he shared with Thor. Paying little attention to what was around him, he nearly knocked over a pair of maids. Loki threw out a hurried apology to the two women and flung open the door to his own quarters. Suddenly, the manic energy that had propelled him away from his mother dissipated. He slid the door shut and leant against it.

It was all as he remembered it. The oak wood furnishings, the slightly faded tapestries, the burn mark in the rug by the door. Even the smell — a peculiar mix of leather from the sparring clothes he always neglected to put away, the herbs kept in his workroom and the scent of jasmine drifting through the open windows - was unmistakably familiar.

Yet Loki crept through his rooms as if he were an interloper. Or rather, he supposed he was. This space belonged to his younger self.

He doesn't exist anymore. The spell annihilated his mind and I stole his body.

Loki had changed little about the rooms in decades so there was nothing that could give him a clue as to the date the spell had brought him to until he entered the bedroom. The servants, knowing that he preferred to dress himself, had set out his clothes for him. The inner garments were carefully laid out on the bed, while the outer layer of armour and the accompanying cape had been placed onto a specially constructed valet stand in the corner of the room. Even in this disassembled state, he recognised the clothing immediately.

Loki seized the undershirt and studied the cuffs. He had accidentally dripped a corrosive potion across a sleeve the second time he had worn it, burning several small holes through the fabric. But the cuffs on this undershirt carried no damage. Loki strode over to the armour. He searched the surface for scratches and examined the leather straps for any marks of wear. None. This entire outfit was brand new.

Frigga had implied there was something out of the ordinary occurring today. Now he knew - Thor's coronation.

His suspicions confirmed, Loki swore. He had set out to kill Thanos, but here he was a decade into the past and half a universe away from where he wanted to be. In fact, Loki wasn't even sure where Thanos had been this early on. What was Loki supposed to do now? Play along like a puppet, re-treading the same old paths until he could get to Thanos? Living through all of that had been bad enough once, he had absolutely no desire to repeat the experience.

Except, he didn't have to follow along. If he planned to change the future later on and prevent the Snap, why not go back further? Here his mother still lived, so did his father and brother. Asgard too stood in its full summer glory. Why should he stand back when this was the chance to prevent all the death and destruction the next decade would bring?

'This time everyone gets to live,' Loki muttered.

A giddiness he hadn't felt since he was a child overtook him as he imagined a future where Ragnarok was only a bad dream and the works of the Infinity Gauntlet only a figment of a morbid imagination. Magic was a fickle mistress, but sometimes the gifts it offered were unparalleled.

A wide grin on his face, Loki drummed his fingers against his thigh. What now? He had to begin somewhere after all and since the spell had brought him to this particular morning, there had to have been a reason for it.

Loki pursed his lips as realisation struck him — his ploy to disturb Thor's coronation.

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4- Nov-19 -- Author's Note:

Hey, if you are enjoying this story, I would really appreciate it if you could throw in a nomination for the story in the Wings of Excellence Awards (nominations close 15 Dec 19). The more nominations the story gets, the better its chances:https://www.wattpad.com/793762892-the-wings-of-excellence-award-open-entry-form