To Be Reborn The Butterfly

“Spare my life oh Prince, and I shall grant you a boon.” The Sprite said like liquid water as her leg bled within Loki’s trap. He’d snared her, intent on killing her for that precious blood which is so rare and so useful in powerful spells. But Loki is only 14 years old and has never killed another living thing beyond the elk he hunts with his father and elder brother Thor in the Dark Forrest. He had not expected her to look like a person. They are ethereal spirits prone to taking any number of shapes. It is what makes them so hard to spot and capture. They are most famous for appearing in the form of a white stag, or in this case, as a beautiful woman. She appears both young and yet eternal, her willowy almost albino skin and big blue eyes give her an innocent look which pierces his heart.

Loki already knows that he doesn’t have it in him to kill her. If ever any of the elk could have begged for their lives, Loki is pretty certain he would have spared them too. He doesn’t want to look weak. He is a prince after all, and even though there are no other witnesses, Loki knows SHE will remember this moment and wants to make a lasting impression. Loki doesn’t answer her right away. Instead he pulls an empty vial out of his pocket and starts collecting the blood that is running out of the wound in her leg. This way he gets a little bit of the precious magical blood AND a boon. When the tiny bottle is full, he puts the cork in it and speaks to her.

“I could be satisfied with this little bit if your boon is enticing enough.” Loki says shrewdly. “Pray tell me my lady; what could you offer that is worth so much?” The Sprite’s eyes seem to cloud over and Loki knows that though she is looking at him, she no longer sees him.

“You are intelligent, patient, and calculating young prince. But a day will come when your mistakes will mount beyond your reckoning and consume you. So it is an escape I offer you, like the escape that you will give me now that you may begin anew and be washed clean of your failures. Do you accept this offer?” She asks, her face impassive as stone. Loki grins wickedly. This is great. Loki thinks back to some of his practice spells that went horribly wrong, like changing Sif’s hair color. His father had not been amused. He hadn’t meant to make the color change permanent.

Loki leans down over the trap and releases her leg from the spell enchanted upon it. “How will I summon you when I need you?” Loki asks.

“You won’t young prince. Know that I will always be watching and will come to you in your moment of greatest peril.” In a flash of pink wispy smoke she is gone. Greatest peril? She must mean to save him on the battlefield. Knowing that he has someone looking over him to protect him, gives Loki a sense of confidence he has never had before. Not to the point of carelessness mind you, but now, Loki can feel more at ease within his own abilities and not so intimated by his big brother. Perhaps the time has come for Loki to take up weapons training. He has always been rather fond of daggers.

Many, Many years later……

“It is my birthright!”

“YOUR BIRTHRIGHT! WAS TO DIE! CAST OUT ON A FROZEN ROCK! If I had not picked you up, you would not be here now to hate me.” Odin’s voice booms throughout the throne room.
The room is packed full of Asgard’s nobles, the council and of course Prince Thor and Queen Frigga. They have come to hear what Prince Loki’s sentence shall be. Odin stands and the hall goes quiet.

“I, Odin the Allfather, hereby sentence you Loki…. To death.” Frigga lets out a great and terrible sob as Thor’s arms encircle her to comfort and support her. The crowd mutters their approval and as the guards gather to encircle Loki to take him to the gallows a bright and blinding light fills the room. The guards are knocked some distance away from Loki, and before them appears the Sprite.

“Who are you spirit? What business do you have here!?” Odin shouts at the ethereal creature. She looks at the Allfather briefly but does not address him.

“Hello Loki.”

Loki looks upon her and the memory comes rushing back like a tidal wave. He’d forgotten about her. It had happened so many years ago and Loki had faced so many perilous situations without her intervention he thought he’d never see her again, believing she’d lied to him and would never keep her promise. Loki smiles his first genuine and broad smile since falling from the BiFrost. She is here to set him free.

“It’s about time you showed up. Finally come to repay your debt to me?” Loki says smiling.

“Yes Loki. I have come to free you. Just…not in the way that you want.” She says. Loki’s smile falters.

“What do you mean?” He hisses at her. Odin listens quietly to their exchange. He doesn’t bother sicking the guards on her, he knows they lack the skills to capture her. Unlike Loki, who must have succeeded at some point to reap a boon from her.

“Your father has passed a sentence of death and so death is what you shall have, but you shall not stay that way. My gift to you Loki is the gift of rebirth. To start over and begin anew, for your crimes and your sins are too many and too great to be absolved in this life.”

Loki swallows audibly as the pink mist starts to engulf him. When his entire body is obscured from view he screams a blood curdling cry that makes Frigga’s heart clench in terror. The pink spherical mass lifts off the ground holding Loki at its center. The screams continue. Loki’s chains fall out of the pink mist and land on the ground. Next Loki clothes. Finally, as Loki screams reach their crescendo, blood, skin, and meat plop to the ground.

All is quiet. The mist turns from pink to white and the shredded flesh that lay only a moment upon the floor floats back up into the floating orb. The mist disappears to reveal a cocoon of sorts, like a giant floating womb. There is lightening inside it as well as movement. Several minutes pass as the contents inside the opaque structure swirl and writhe. The sound a heartbeat is heard. A palm presses against the inside. Odin gawks at it in shock.

What is Loki turning into?

The great womb bursts. A rush of water follows a blue form to the ground. It lays there still and in a heap. No one moves. No one breathes….until… “aaaaaaaaaaaaaa.” SHE does. Everyone looks upon the naked blue woman sputtering and gasping for air. Her ruby eyes are round like a frighten newborn, for that is what she is. Frigga rips Thor’s great red cape from off his shoulders and runs to her. There are tears in the Queen’s eyes as she looks beseechingly at her husband. The Sprite finally addresses the King.

“The Loki you knew is gone. His memories are gone. HE is now a SHE, and SHE is as a newborn. Innocent and clean. You will have to reteach her everything. SHE is still the same age as HE was, but her knowledge of the world has been wiped away. This is her second chance, and yours Allfather. I implore you, do not repeat your mistakes.” With a flick of the wrist the Sprite is gone. Frigga looks upon her new daughter with tears in her eyes.

“Oh my baby girl.”

Loki is wrapped in Thor’s cape and Thor carries her to the healers for a thorough examination. The Royal Family stands and waits as Lady Eir conducts her inspection. Thor looks upon his new sister with curiosity and concern. Loki is in her natural Jotunn form. It occurs to Thor that is the first time he has ever seen this skin color on Loki before. It makes him feel sad and much aggrieved. Loki had been so ashamed of this body, this look. The girl sitting on the table before them now looks around the room with open curiosity. She has a little smile upon her face. She still looks very much like Loki, and yet nothing like Loki. She looks the way Loki would look if he tried to disguise himself as a woman….with blue skin and red eyes. It’s the hair, the common link. The long raven silk flowing from her head is so familiar and comforting. Loki looks at Thor and smiles.

She starts to kick and swing her legs much like a five year old would do when bored and sitting in a doctor’s office. Odin looks upon her and feels pensive. He worries if this is all a trick, but more importantly, he worries that this is all real. Frigga mourns her son as she dots upon her daughter.

“Ma Ma…..Can you say Maaaaa Ma? Frigga baby babbles. Loki smiles as she furrows her brow, trying to understand the words coming out of Frigga’s mouth.

“Frigga wife, you and I need to discuss this in private. Thor, watch your…eh…um…sister until we return.” Odin and Frigga shuffle into an adjoining room for what promises to be a very lively discussion. Thor wonders absently how many vases and other breakable trinkets are in the room. Lady Eir finishes her examination as the Royal couple carry out an epic fight next door. She informs Thor that Loki is in good health, and is as the Sprite said, without memory. She will have to relearn the most basic of skills.

“My name is Thor.” He gestures grandly to himself for emphasis. “Thor. THOOOORRR.” Pointing at himself. “You are Loki. Loki. LOOOOOKIII.” Loki doesn’t speak but she smiles broadly at him, and it melts Thor’s heart. In that second Thor already knows that he’d die to defend her, this helpless child. He hopes his mother is able to talk enough sense into his father and treat her like the innocent that she is. The yelling in the next room drags on. Thor and the healers find themselves sharing an awkward sort of silence, unsure of what to do with themselves, and Loki. Loki starts to frown and bite her bottom lip. She squirms in her seat and lets out whimper.

“Lady Eir, Loki appears distressed.”

“Yes My Prince. I think it would be prudent to have Loki bathed, dressed, and fed. We will see to her needs. You should go join your parents in their….discussion.” Thor grimaces. Thor slowly opens the door and ducks just in time to avoid a vase smashing against the wall. Frigga’s got one hell of a throwing arm.

“…and what will we tell her when she asks about her former life? She’ll learn about all the horrible things she did. She’ll learn that she used to be a man! It is not a secret we can keep from her Frigga. She is bound to find out eventually!”

“Don’t you think I know that! We failed Loki by keeping the truth from him, we will NOT repeat that mistake again! When the day comes and Loki asks us we shall tell her what she wants to know. We will not camouflage her this time. She will be raised knowing she is different, but she will know that she is loved. We have been given a second chance and we are NOT going to waste it!”

“Eh-hem.” Thor clears his throat. Odin and Frigga whip their gazes to their only remaining son. They both look a little embarrassed.

“The healers are taking Loki for a bath, and then they are going to dress her and feed her. She also looks tired and it occurred to me that having her sleep in her chambers alone would be unwise.” Thor says more to his mother than his father.

“Of course dear. I will sleep with Loki in her room tonight.” Frigga says as she gives her husband a meaningful glare. This must be the Royal Asgardian version of making Odin sleep on the couch. Frigga walks out of the room to go see to her new baby, leaving the men in her family alone. Thor and Odin share a look as they both move to sit next to each other on a bench against the wall.

“Your mother wants to raise Loki again, but I fear my son that she will turn out the same as before. In spite of what happened today, in spite of everyone seeing Loki be ripped to shreds and then remade, there will be many that will doubt its authenticity. Some will believe it is another ruse. Others will continue to carry old vendettas against Loki from his former life. Loki cannot have a truly fresh start here my son. The sins of the past will catch up with her if she remains here.”

“But where would you send her? Whom would you send her to-to raise as a child when she is already a fully formed woman? I cannot trust a stranger with her care.”

“I know not my son, which is why your mother won the argument….for now. If Loki is to truly have a fresh start, she cannot have it here. Eventually, we will have to send her elsewhere.”

Notes

So how do you like it so far? Interesting or Eh?