Return From The Past

“Sweetheart,” Laura said, “I know these dreams have been coming in bits and pieces over the years.” Holly nodded. “What made all the pieces come together?” “You remember the trip to Europe that my friends and I got back from yesterday?” she asked. Laura nodded. “Well, we had been all over the place, to where everyone else wanted to go. They asked me where I wanted to go, and I said I wanted to go to Norway. We all got plane tickets and flew to the capital. Then my friends just followed me while I tried to figure out which way to go next. I just let my instincts lead me and after a few days we wound up in this small town in the northern part of the country. We were talking to some of the locals and they told us about some professor from England who was leading a dig about 20 miles away. An ancient forgotten village had been found and sometimes the public was allowed to participate. They gave us the directions and we decided to check it out. “The next day we went to the site and, lucky for us, it was a day that the public was allowed in. The professor leading the dig was a Dr. Elliot Randolph, an expert in Norse history. We wandered around for a while looking at the longhouse that was being excavated and the few other buildings that had already been excavated. My feet stopped and I picked up a shovel that was on the ground and started digging. Dr. Randolph noticed and came over to see if I had found something. When he realized I had, he called some members of the dig team over to help. Nobody said anything; we just dug for quite a while. When we were done, four more buildings had been uncovered. The one I had been working on was my room from my dreams. “Dr. Randolph thanked me for the help and asked how I had known those buildings were there. I just shrugged and started walking around some more. After a while, my feet started carrying me towards the forest, which apparently hadn’t changed much in a thousand years. My friends were following me and I went into the forest, slowly picking my way around trees that had fallen and new shrubs that had grown up. Before too long, I found the clearing from my dreams. I walked towards the center of it, but stopped before I got there and sat on the grass. Then I laid down and looked up at the sky. That’s when all the pieces fell into place.” Holly was leaning back against her headboard when she suddenly cocked her head and looked toward her bedroom door. After a minute, she shook her head and looked back at her mom and Fury. “So,” she asked, “who do you think is right, me or the shrinks?” Laura and Nick looked at each other, smiled and said, in unison, “You are.” Fury leaned further forward and clasped his hands. “Holly,” he said, looking very seriously at her with his one good eye, “there are some things you need to know about the battle that nearly destroyed New York City last year.” He was talking about an failed alien invasion of Manhattan that had led to the agency he worked for being disclosed to the public the year before. “When the aliens were coming out of that portal in the sky?” Holly asked. He nodded. “Are you going to tell me that Loki was leading that army of aliens?” He nodded again. “Do you know why he did it?” She looked at him, a little sadly. “He said something about wanting to free us from freedom, that it would bring us peace.” Fury had a disgusted look on his face. “He almost succeeded in not only destroying Manhattan, but taking over the planet.” “But your team, the one you were wanting to put together, they stopped him?” Fury nodded. “Can I meet them?” “I think I can arrange that,” he replied. Holly was quiet for few minutes, thinking about what she had just been told. Laura looked over at the bedroom door. Nick noticed her gaze and gave her a barely perceptible shake of his head. On the other side of the door, sitting on the floor with his back against the wall and his knees hugged to his chest, sat the God of Mischief himself. His brother was standing next to him, watching him. They had followed Fury up the stairs and waited in the hall while he went in to talk to Holly. Loki had heard her voice and had used his magic to make the door so they could see into the room but those inside wouldn’t notice any change. He and Thor had watched and listened as she had talked. The longer she spoke, the lower down the wall Loki had slid until he was sitting on the floor, hugging his knees, tears falling, unnoticed, onto his green leather armor. As Fury told Holly about Loki’s involvement in the Battle of New York, Thor placed his hand on Loki’s shoulder. He glanced up at his older brother and, in a voice just above a whisper, said, “What have I done, Brother? How can I face her now, after…” He trailed off and looked back through the door at Holly, thinking on her bed. Thor didn’t know what to say to his younger brother. Everything they had been through, all the fights they had been in, both on the same and opposite sides, and he had only twice seen Loki this broken. The first time had been a millennium ago, when he had held Gersemi in his arms. To see her now, a thousand years later, reborn to a new family, was mind-boggling. The second time was after their mother had been killed protecting Thor's girlfriend, Jane Foster, from a Dark Elf named Malekith who had tried to destroy the universe a few months ago during an alignment, or Convergence, of realms. Thor knew there was only one chance to truly convince his brother to let go of his vengeance and it was sitting in the next room trying to decide what she was going to do with the information Fury had given her. Laura and Nick watched Holly as she stood up from her bed and went to the window overlooking the large pool in the backyard. After what Loki thought was the longest silence in history, she finally turned around and said, “It doesn’t change anything, you know.” “What do you mean, dear?” Laura asked her. Holly set her face and directed her statement more at the S.H.I.E.L.D. director than at her mom. “I mean, I know it was another life, and I know that he has done some really horrible stuff, but it doesn’t change anything. I still love him and I’m going to give him a chance to explain himself, the real reasons behind his actions, and to stop being the bad guy.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest, as if daring her mom and Fury to contradict her. “From what I’ve seen, it’s too late. I don’t think you can save him,” Fury told her. Holly’s green eyes flashed and she placed her hands on her hips. “Too late?” she repeated, as she slowly advanced on him. “Too late? How many people told you that about Agent Romanov or Agent Barton? Weren’t they once enemies, a master KGB assassin and the best sniper on the planet? But you gave them, and countless others, a chance to change and plenty of room to prove themselves, and you’re telling me that he doesn’t count? That he doesn't deserve that same chance? When I know, with every fiber of my being, that he will do the same thing they did?” Her voice rose and her eyes were now blazing as she railed at the director, who seemed to shrink a little in his chair. “Holly,” Laura broke in, trying to calm her daughter down, “take a breath. I’m sure there are other things that your uncle is taking into consideration…” Holly whirled around and was about to say something when the bedroom door burst open and Loki strode in, worry evident on his face, his brother a few steps behind him. “Ulfrid, Ulfrid,” he coaxed, in as calm a voice as he could manage, “my dearest Ulfrid, please, please look at me. Please.” Holly froze. “Please stop. They have reason to be angry with me, to hate me even. Please look at me.” His voice broke as he pleaded with her. Holly slowly turned around, the fury on her face changing first to shock and then to joy as she saw him. In what seemed like a blink, she had thrown herself over her bed and wrapped her arms around Loki’s waist. She buried her face in his chest as best she could and sobbed. “It’s not fair!” she cried. “All the others who have been enemies but were given a chance to start over but you won’t be given the same chance! It’s not FAIR!” she screamed the last word as she sobbed. “Shh, Ulfrid, shhh,” Loki said, stroking her hair. He kissed the top of her head, ignoring the looks he was getting from Fury. Nothing mattered to him but his mortal. Thor walked around his brother to speak with the director and Holly’s mother. “Please Director,” he glanced at where Loki stood holding Holly, trying to calm her down. “If there is a chance that my brother is still capable of giving up his vengeful schemes, you see it before you. If any can get through to him, it is she. I beg you to do as she asks.” “You saying you trust him? After everything he’s done?” Fury asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically. “As long as she is by his side, yes. He will never harm or lie to her. He promised her that before their first year together was through,” Thor replied. “If any can save him from himself, it is she.” He looked wistfully at his brother. “Had she not perished when and how she did, perhaps he would not have pulled away from us, into his sorcery and tricks.” Fury nodded. “Alright, Thor,” he said, reluctantly. “I hope you two are right about this.” “As am I.” Thor nodded his thanks and walked over to his brother. Loki glanced up as Thor approached. “And what is the decision?” he asked, sarcastically, sure of the answer. His left hand hadn’t stopped stroking Holly’s hair. Her sobs had quieted but she was still crying. Thor couldn’t help himself; he smiled as he said, “The director has agreed to her request.” Loki was so shocked by the answer that he stopped stroking her hair. Holly looked up, wondering what had made him stop, as she was finally calming down. “It seems your speech had an effect, my dearest,” he told her, with a small smile. “I appear to have been given that chance at redemption you spoke so eloquently of.” He gently brushed her tears away. “Now, no more tears, my Ulfrid. Or should I call you Holly, as that is now your name?” Holly smiled up at him. “You can use whichever name you like,” she told him. Laura had been watching the whole affair quietly from her seat on the end of Holly’s bed. She stood up and walked over to Loki. “It’s a pleasure to meet the man from my little girl’s dreams,” she said, with a glance at Holly. “Oh, I know you’re not a little girl anymore sweetie, but I can’t help it.” She looked back at Loki, who seemed a little wary of her. “Look, I know all about what you tried to do here but if my daughter thinks you can come around, I believe her and am willing to give it a try. How about you?” “I will do my best to make up for my past actions, if only to not lose her again,” Loki replied, dipping his head to Laura. “And I thank you for granting me this chance.” “Well, now that that’s settled, how about we all go downstairs and get something to eat?” Laura looked around, changing the subject. Thor started to laugh. “How well you lighten the mood,” he said, his blue eyes sparkling. He held out his hand to her and they headed for the kitchen. Fury followed them but stopped just outside the bedroom door. Loki rolled his eyes and then squeezed Holly a little tighter. “Shall we?” he asked. Holly nodded and unwound her arms from his waist. She took his hand and they followed the others down the stairs and into the kitchen.

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