Loki woke up slowly, feeling decidedly dazed and weary as he took in the familiar scents of his room and the spring breeze wafting in from outside. He felt as if he had been dreaming for a long time. Dreaming of an ungodly long journey that had started with his wrists and ankles being bound as he found himself trapped on a tiny world before then traveling the stars seeking to stop... something. That he had been struggling uselessly against those bonds for nearly the entire journey.
Through the sleep-induced haze, he knew that he'd refused the aid of others even as they offered to help him remove those restricting bindings. He'd been left on his own... no, he had gone off on his own. He had wandered for ages until finally asking, terrified of rejection, for help. A request for aid in not only removing those shackles but also help in stopping a mighty Titan who was, in part, responsible for those chains being placed upon Loki in the first place.
Loki sat up slowly, wincing and closing his eyes as the images flashed through his mind's eye. It was almost like watching a play. His... his dream self? He had all but given up hope and yet was lifted from his despair by kind hands. His shackles were shattered, and he glowed with internal power where once there had been darkness. Nothingness. He'd then gone on to join a battle fit for a Historic Epic. One of those tales told to children through the ages to come.
His lips curled up into a faint grin as he opened his eyes to see the very familiar sight of his own bed-curtains drawn in around him. Loki frowned and looked over everything slowly. It was strange. He knew his room like the back of his hand. How could he not, after having spent centuries waking up this way? The rays of sunlight drifting in through the mostly drawn silk curtains covering the windows. The small marks pocking the beams along the raised ceiling. Marks that existed only because of his own antics as a child. The distant sounds of people moving about their daily lives in the palace and the even fainter sounds of the surrounding city.
Was he really awake? Was this the dream instead?
Nothing felt real...
Loki slowly sat up and pushed the blanket from his form. His mind was wrapped in a haze as he stood up. Everything felt off. He stared at his hands and frowned. Today was the day of Thor's coronation... wasn't it? Strange that it felt like those events had occurred ages ago. Loki walked over toward his dresser, his thoughts still dazed as he instinctively dressed in familiar garb of deep greens and gold. The clothing was light as air against his skin, well-suited for an advisor and sorcerer such as he. It certainly helped that it was comfortable and of fine make.
He moved toward the mirror and looked himself over. He frowned. He looked... strange. It didn't feel quite like he was looking at himself. Had he always looked so pale? Had his eyes always looked so... experienced? Haunted? Older?
Partially shaking off the fog wrapped around his mind, he turned and walked toward the door. He was so out of it, so very much on auto-pilot, that he didn't register opening the door and starting down the hall. Had his... dream... been real? Had all of that actually happened? Had he been banished to Midgard? Met the team of Toomes Salvaging Company? Saved Bucky from H.Y.D.R.A.? Joined the Avengers... been caught by Ebony Maw... escaped from that same being? And the Guardians? Getting to know them? Returning home and... feeling so alone and helpless... hopeless. Asking... begging for help... and being believed. People rising up, readying for war at his prompting. Being worthy of his power and having it restored.
Winning the war.
They had won!
Loki paused, one hand reaching to brace against the wall and the other rising to rub at his forehead. Had that... A shout sounded from down the hall. His head jerked up, and he had to blink away spots from his vision.
"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.
These new illustrations depicted a figure dressed in green and gold, holding a shining blue spear defiantly toward the familiar purple visage of the Mad Titan. There was an almost unworldly aura of strength and defiance around the green-and-gold-clad figure. Behind him stood a veritable army of warriors.
A familiar blonde warrior wearing silvery armor and wearing a red cape wielded a hammer. A man decked out in red-and-gold armor, flying in the air above them. A man with a shield of red, white, and blue. A woman in black armor. A giant green beast of a man. A blonde archer with an arrow drawn. A man in black, panther-like armor with an army of dark-skinned warriors wielding spears at his back. A floating Mystic with a red cape and dark hair, save for a single strip of white hair running back from the temple, with an army of mystics at his back. Asgardian warriors were depicted alongside the other warriors, fighting at their sides.
It was beautiful... and it was strange, for it was the warrior wearing green and gold at the front of this army. Not the one in red and silver.
But that was only the first of the new murals. Above it, Loki could see the Mad Titan brought low and on his knees. Above him floated two figures, the figure in green and gold and the figure in red and silver. Both warriors had their respective weapons pointing down toward the Mad Titan, and the magic of the murals brought the scene to life as ice and thunder coalesced and shot toward the Titan, striking the fiend and ending with Thanos a burned and frozen corpse with the pair of warriors landing nearby, standing proud and united in their victory.
It was beautiful. Very nearly a living image. And it was one of the best illustrations in the hall.
And yet... Loki didn't know what to feel as he looked over the murals. He knew what it was. What it represented. He just didn't know what to think about it. He almost jumped a foot in the air as yet another voice boomed and echoed across the hall.
"Brother!" a very easily recognized voice shouted. "You're awake!"
Without further warning, the larger form of his brother, the God of Thunder, slammed into him, and once more, Loki found himself hefted into the air and unable to breathe. Loki let out another choked noise. Truly, it was an Æsir trait to be so ruddy physical all the time.
"I... suppose I am," Loki said in a ragged voice as Thor finally set him down.
"Truly?" Thor asked with a playful whine as he turned to his four friends with a pout. "I wanted to be the one to show him the new murals."
"Sorry, my Prince," Sif responded with a shrug and a smile that said she wasn't sorry in the slightest.
"It... he hasn't had that much of a reaction to them, though," Fandral said with a worried frown.
Thor blinked in surprise and turned to look at Loki. Loki had turned back to the murals, staring at them with empty eyes. Thor moved over and placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Is... is it alright?" Thor asked gently. "Do you not like it?"
"I... am not sure. It's," Loki paused and tilted his head as he looked the murals over. He was trying to find the right words, but... "It's a bit... gaudy?"
"Well," Thor blinked and looked at the mural. "I... suppose."
"Well," Sif started with a small snort of laughter. "Out of everyone, I had thought you would love this. I always imagined that, if you became king yourself, that the first thing you would do would be to make a statue of yourself."
"Well," Loki's eyes remained locked on the illustration as he spoke, "it rather removes the point if no one is bothered by it..."
"Wait," Sif blinked at him in confusion. "You want people to be bothered by your image?"
"It's about proving a point. Rebelling against authority, you know?" Loki responded, crossing his arms and turning to face the others. "If you're not rebelling against authority, then it's just no fun."
"I..." Sif looked at him, confusion still marring her expression. The others looked just as confused. "I honestly have a hard time following your line of thinking."
"Well, we are different people," Loki said pointedly with a shrug.
"Brother, are... are you alright?" Thor asked.
"I... yes," Loki said with a sigh and a nod. "I suppose I am just... as they say on Midgard, there is a lot to digest here, Thor. And yet, I feel rather content with things. Do not worry."
Loki offered Thor a small smile and received one in turn.
Later that evening, there was a large feast held to celebrate Loki's triumph. As it turned out, Volstagg had not been joking. There were already a ton of songs about the war. As alcohol was shared and the mood rose higher and higher still, Loki felt himself settle back into his own skin. He felt more like his old, boastful self once more. He downed his latest drink and then stood up proudly, eager to bask in the praise and admiration of those around him.
"It's all true, my friends! I was indeed Thanos' prisoner. And I escaped! How you ask? How when I had no magic. No greater strength?" he pointed at his head with a grin. "Why I did so with only my wits! My mind! I was clever, and I escaped! Who else here thinks that they could do such a thing as I?"
People gaped at him in surprise, and then after a long moment, the crowd burst into cheers and laughter. Thor stood with a booming laugh and clapped Loki on the shoulder.
"My Brother! Loki the Clever!" he shouted to everyone, priding ringing in his voice. Pride and awe. "He is amazing, is he not? Can you believe it?!"
Loki blushed and looked down at his empty glass. A glass that was rapidly refilled by Fandral. He nodded his thanks and then took a big gulp of the drink, avoiding meeting anyone's eyes. It hadn't been lost to him that several of the women were looking in his direction and not Thor's. Strange that they had seemingly forgotten about his boisterous brother in favor of him.
Asgardian tradition meant that the party kept on going until the break of dawn. Many an Asgardian fell asleep where they sat at their tables or had fallen into a slumbering stupor against the walls or on the ground. Many murmured proudly to each other, happy that they had been honored with being made a part of a legend. That they had fought side-by-side with such warriors for such an honorable goal. That said story would be told for ages to come. Something that was nearly every Asgardian's dream.
Loki had never been a fan of falling asleep drunk on the floor. Once things began to wind down, he moved outside to get some fresh air. Getting an idea, he turned back around and went upstairs to one of the balconies that would face the rising sun. He stepped out onto the balcony just in time to witness the glory of the two suns slowly rising to paint Asgard in warm and beautiful colors. It was a breathtaking sight. The light dancing over the water, shining through the green and gold and red leaves, the birds taking flight to hunt for their morning food. He smiled at the sight and braced his arms against the railing, gazing down at the wakening world around him.
Footsteps sounded from behind him.
He could easily recognize those heavy steps. How could he not, familiar as he was with Thor's confidant gait? He turned to look at his brother and smiled lightly before looking back out to the view. Thor joined him and let out a pleased hum at the sight.
"I honestly do not remember the last time I took the time just to look at a sunrise," Thor admitted softly.
"Me either," Loki responded. "May I ask how it is going back on Earth? I assume I've been out for a few days now, but you've been keeping an eye on them, no?"
"Aye, you're right, Brother," Thor said with a nod of his head and a proud smile. "They are doing well. Losses were as minimal as we could make them given the circumstances. They are asking about you as well, hoping that you are doing well."
"Ah," Loki's smile widened a bit. "How things change..."
"Tony is still demanding that we go to his wedding," Thor said with an answering grin.
"Only Tony would have the gall to make demands of the gods," Loki said with a chuckle. "Well, I suppose we'll just have to be there, no?Before I move on."
"You do not wish to stay here?" Thor asked with a blink, turning to look at Loki with a small frown.
"I fear that... It is not within my nature to..." Loki looked down and let out a frustrated noise as he sought the words he wanted. He looked back up at Thor a moment later. "I have found that I do not do well when I am confined to a single place. I seem to be more myself when I am on the move. Even now, I long to travel once more. To explore and discover the secrets of our Universe. Not only that, but... I wish to place a stick into the cogs of any horrid powers that be on the worlds I might encounter. Shake things up and cause a bit of mischief."
"I see," Thor said after a long moment of silence. He nodded his head and looked down at the wakening city below. "When we were growing up, it was always my wish, my greatest desire, that you would remain at my side forever. To be there to guide my way and advise me and... Ah, but that was foolish of me. That would be asking you to remain in my shadow. To be confined, as you might say. Such a selfish desire, especially when I did not once consider what you might want. Your nature demands that you have your freedom to do as you please and... I see that now, Brother. I want you to have that freedom, I truly do, but it saddens me to know that you will not be nearby..."
"Thor," Loki started, only to fall silent for a moment and look at his earnest-hearted brother. He let out a sigh and reached out to place a hand on Thor's shoulder, giving the blonde a small shake. "I intend to wander. To find worlds that neither of us has ever heard of. To seek the edges of the Universe and see what is there. But I would say this to ease your worries, no matter how far I may go or how long I am gone, Asgard will always be my home. And you... you are my brother, and if you truly need my aid, call. I will be there for you, I swear it."
"Thank you, Brother," Thor responded with a gentle smile, his eyes glistening. He placed his own hand on Loki's shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze. "Loki, know this as well. Should you grow weary on your travels and need a place to rest, Asgard will be here waiting with open arms."
"I believe you, and I thank you," Loki said with a grin. A contented aura seemed to emanate from his very being. His expression turned serious. "However, before I leave, there is one thing that must be done."
"And that is?" Thor asked, his expression turning concerned.
"It is Odin," Loki said in a firm voice. "I fear that he is still keeping secrets from us. Secrets that may affect us in the future. He needs to tell us what it is that he is hiding."
"He..." Thor glanced down and then nodded his head before looking back up at Loki, his eyes narrowing. "Aye, you are right."
"You must know, Brother, that whatever these secrets of his are, they are likely to be of a gruesome nature," Loki said firmly. "Something that he didn't want us to know about has to be horrid in nature. Especially if Valkyrie is displeased with him."
"I am aware," Thor replied with a sigh. "We need to know the truth, especially since Asgard will be our responsibility in the future. We have to know what might threaten our home."
The brothers shared a resolute look and walked off. An hour later, they stood in front of Odin, their expressions serious after explaining why they were there. Odin looked them over carefully and then nodded his head.
"Aye, you are no longer boys but men," Odin said with a firm nod of his head. "It is time."
Thor and Loki relaxed slightly, having the older man admit that he was willing to tell them the truth had been the main battle before them. Odin looked them over again and then let out a long, heavy sigh. As he did so, it was as if he was suddenly just a regular old man and not the wise elderly king he usually presented himself as. They shared a concerned look, as they had never seen him look like this before, even when injured.
"I have many secrets to tell you two," Odin said softly. "One, however, casts a shadow over all the rest. This secret, above all others, is the one you should know of first."
Thor swallowed roughly, feeling the tension rise in the air almost palatably. Loki remained still as stone, eyes narrowed on Odin. Odin took another deep breath and rubbed at his face briefly.
"There is a goddess, locked far, far away from all the known realms," Odin started, his tone almost... soft. "She is the Goddess of Death, for killing is in her very nature. She cannot stop herself. Battle is in her blood. If there is no war, she will start one. If there is peace, she will end it. No matter how many times I had ordered her to stop, she did not do so. I even pleaded for her to curb her battle lust, but she would not stop. It was for that reason that I had to lock her away. For the safety of all..."
"So, let me make sure I understand things," Loki started with a frown. "There is a murderous Goddess of Death locked away somewhere because she refused your order to stand down. I... how is that such a terrible secret? It sounds as if you have done the realms a service!"
"Because," Odin began with a shake of his head and a sad, bitter smile, "The Goddess' name, my son, is Hela Odinsdottir. She is your elder sister."
A stunned silence filled the air, and the brothers shared a look of confusion and trepidation. Neither of them knew what to say to such a revelation. A sister? Not only that but one that had gone insane? Loki turned back to Odin after a moment.
"Go on..." he said slowly.
"Very well, Loki, Thor, come with me," Odin said, standing up and starting toward the halls of history. "I shall show the two of you the true and bloody history of my past."