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Return From The Past

The Truth

Loki didn’t stop to speak to Heimdall. He decided to use his magic to teleport them both straight to the healers. Without a word, he placed her on the table of the soul forge and stepped back, allowing the healers to do their work. After a few minutes, he said, “Her head. She said something is in her head, before she lost consciousness.” The healers nodded at him and concentrated their attentions on her head. Thor and the others came in and he went right over to where Loki sat, putting a hand on his shoulder. “She will be alright, Brother,” he said. “The healers will find what is wrong and help her.” “And if they can’t?” Loki asked, a trace of cynicism in his voice and fear in his eyes. Thor was about to answer when one of the healers said, “There is a parasite in her head. It is in the process of creating a nest within her brain. If we remove it now she will survive, as there has not been too much damage to repair. If it is allowed to remain, she will not survive much longer.” Thor told them to remove it as quickly as they could. Loki refused to leave her side, showing the Avengers a side of him very different from the mad ruler he had been when trying to take over Earth. After about an hour, the healers presented Thor with a container holding the parasite. His eyes widened as he took it, before he stormed out without a word. The healers took Holly to another room, with Loki shadowing their every move. “You will be able to take her to another room soon,” they told him. “However, she is to be kept under close watch for several days. Travel is not to be undertaken until we are sure that she is fully healed.” Loki nodded silently at them. Laura thanked them for helping Holly and sat down next to him at her bedside. He just stared at her, ignoring the Avengers talking amongst themselves about what had been going on and how the parasite had looked like a centipede. Several hours later, the healers returned to check on her and told Loki he could take her somewhere else if he wanted to. He stood up and took her in his arms, cradling her head against his shoulder, and left, heading for his chambers in the palace. Laura and the Avengers followed him. When he got to his chambers, the doors swung open on their own, revealing a large room with a desk that was covered in papers, full bookcases on every available wall, a window leading to a balcony with an impressive view of the city, and a large four-poster bed with forest green silk sheets. While the others gazed around the room in wonder, he walked straight to the bed and gently laid her down and used his magic to tuck the sheets around her. Then he went to the other side of the bed, removing some of his armor as he did, and sat on the bed next to her. Thor hadn’t returned yet and exhaustion started taking over Loki’s body. He slid down the bed until he was lying next to Holly. She started to toss and turn so, before letting his tiredness claim him, he put a protective arm around her and tried to pull her close. He whispered in her ear and her sleep quieted, and she relaxed into his hold. Sure that she was as safe as she could be, he allowed himself to fall asleep. Loki awoke to raised voices outside his room. He carefully propped himself up on one arm so he wouldn’t wake Holly and noticed that the sun was low on the horizon and the only other person in the room was Agent Romanov. She didn’t say anything but, when she saw he was awake, she stood up and left the room. The noise in the hall got a little bit quieter and Laura came in and sat next to the bed. “I’m sorry we woke you up,” she told him. “Captain Rogers and I have been trying to get them to keep it down, but we didn’t do a very good job, I afraid.” “Thank you for trying, at least,” Loki replied, running a hand tiredly over his eyes. “May I ask what the… discussion is about?” “Thor is upset about that parasite that was taken out of Holly’s head,” she said, looking back at the chamber doors. “He and your father were arguing about it when they walked up about ten minutes ago and they haven’t stopped.” As if on cue, the volume outside the room increased and Holly squirmed in Loki’s arms, a small whine escaping her still sleeping lips. “Shall I tell them to bring it in here?” she asked. Loki nodded and turned his attention to Holly as Laura went back into the hall. “Ulfrid.” She squirmed again. “Wake up, Ulfrid.” “Why?” she asked, without opening her eyes. “I believe Thor discovered something and we should hear what it is.” “Is that what all that noise outside is?” “Yes.” “Fine,” Holly grumbled. She was warm, comfortable and, until the noise outside started, her head had stopped hurting. Loki sat up in the bed and helped her do the same. He waved his hand at the doors, making them open to the surprise of those in the hall. Thor was the first one in the room, followed closely by Laura and Odin with Fury, the Avengers, Sif, and the Warriors Three (Thor’s best friends) bringing up the rear. When they were all in the room, Loki waved his hand again and the doors closed. “These mortals do not belong here.” Odin began, obviously angry. “They have their own places of healing. They should return to Midgard immediately.” Thor tried, for apparently the millionth time, to explain to his father that no one on Midgard (Earth) would have been able to help Holly and, knowing that, he wasn’t going to stand by and just let her die. Odin wasn’t having any of it and soon the loud argument from outside had started up again. Thor was also trying to talk to his father about the parasite. He had placed the container on the small table by Loki’s bed and Holly’s eyes became as round as saucers as she saw what had been making her head hurt. She looked at Loki in shock and he gave her a rueful smile before looking back at the group. Five minutes went by, the voices of Thor and Odin now joined by most of the others in the room. Only Laura, Steve, Hogun (one of the Warriors Three), and Loki hadn’t said anything. Laura sat in a chair on Holly’s side of the bed while Steve stood at the foot of the bed with his arms crossed over his chest and Hogun stood by the window. The volume in the room had steadily risen and Holly was starting to wince as her head began pounding again. She let herself slide down until her head was in Loki’s lap and she grabbed one of the pillows and placed it over her head. Loki looked down at her and rubbed her back when she wouldn’t let his hands under the pillow to stroke her hair. Steve noticed and tried to get the group to quiet down and stop the argument but his voice was lost in the din. Holly started whimpering again so Laura put her fingers in her mouth and whistled. The high-pitched sound was loud enough to cut through the noise and a tense silence fell over the room. Loki gave both Laura and Steve grateful looks as Laura stood up from her seat and walked slowly over to the All-Father. “What. Is. That. Thing.” she asked, each word a sentence on its own. Her hand was pointing at the container on Loki’s bedside table. “And. Why. Was. It. In. My Daughter’s. Head.” “It is called a Neurotetroxin Worm,” Thor said, watching her carefully. “It was once found in many of the Nine Realms, but it is now confined to Muspelheim, the realm of fire. I do not know how she came in contact with it as this is her first trip outside her own realm.” He looked pointedly at his father, who didn’t respond. “There was a spell upon this creature.” Everyone looked in the direction of Loki’s voice and saw he was holding the container, scrutinizing the creature inside. His long fingers seemed to be absently moving around the glass of the container, but Thor knew he was unraveling the spell, trying to get at its source. Holly peeked out from under the pillow. Her head wasn’t hurting so much anymore now that the yelling had stopped. “Do you need to get up?” she asked him, quietly. He smiled softly at her and nodded his head so she sat up and put the pillow behind her back. Loki stood up and walked over to his desk, still looking at the creature. He put the container down and went to one of the bookshelves, eyes scanning the titles. He found the one he wanted and went back to the desk, flipping through the book until he came to the right page. He picked the container back up, moving his fingers along the glass and muttering under his breath. After a few minutes, he slowly turned around, his green eyes bright and dancing with fury. He looked around the room and then turned to Odin. Everyone noticed the sly, wicked smile that crossed his features. Thor and Fury especially noticed the madness that had consumed him during the Battle of New York beginning to show. “Loki…” Thor said, resisting the urge to reach for his hammer and use it to hold his brother to the wall. “What has your spell revealed?” Loki didn’t answer. He just took a few steps closer to his father. “Loki?” Holly asked, her whisper clearly audible in the dead silence. Everyone found themselves hoping, if not praying, that Holly’s voice would distract the god who was clearly losing his fragile grip on sanity. Loki stopped directly in front of Odin and thrust the container into his hands. “Why don’t you tell them, All-Father?” he hissed, venom dripping from his voice. He closed his eyes and forced himself to turn around, away from the man he had always thought was his father and whose love and acceptance he had desperately craved his entire life. He took a deep breath, trying to push the rage at what he had discovered to the back of his mind so he could concentrate on the mortal he loved more than life itself. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Holly was laying down again and she had a worried, almost frightened, look on her face. He realized that his reaction to what his spell had revealed was the main reason for her fright. He crossed the room in three long strides, sat down on the bed, and pulled her into his arms. “I’m sorry, dearest,” he told her as he stroked her hair, “I did not mean for you to see that side of me, the monster that I have become.” “You’re not a monster, Loki,” Holly admonished him, weakly. “Just upset.” “There is something else I must tell you,” he replied, a sad look on his face. “Then you may change your mind about that thought. But that conversation will come later.” “So what did you find out?” she asked as she snuggled deeper into his lap. “Something I desperately wish was not true.” “Tell me.” Loki was quiet for several minutes, eyes closed, head gently resting on Holly’s. Finally, he took a deep breath, turned his face so everyone could hear, and said, “The worm was waiting for you when you found the clearing again after all these years. A spell had been placed upon it so it would not react to anyone but you. As you lay on the grass, it crawled into your ear and made its way to your brain where it finished incubating. It had just reached maturity and was beginning to make its nest to continue its lifecycle when your head began to hurt. Had neither Thor nor I been with you, it would have killed you in two hours’ time.” He buried his face in her blond hair, angry tears pouring down his face. He couldn’t bring himself to reveal who had placed the Neurotetroxin Worm in the clearing in the first place or exactly when it had been put there. The betrayal was too painful to put into words. Realization dawned in Thor’s eyes and his face began to turn red as he turned to his father. “Tell me it is not true,” he pleaded, his fist clenching and unclenching around the handle of his hammer. Odin didn’t answer. “Please, Father, tell me you did not do this.” There was still no response from the All-Father, who suddenly found himself in a room full of people whose anger was directed at him, instead of at Loki. “I need to go for a walk,” Dr. Banner suddenly spoke up. Loki’s head snapped up, a terrified look in his eyes. He wasn’t bothering to hide anything from anyone like he usually did. He waved a hand and the doors opened, allowing Bruce to leave before turning into something big and green and smashing everything in sight. As soon as he was gone, Loki waved his hand again, closing the door. “What about Magni?” Holly whispered sleepily into Loki’s arm. She was starting to fall asleep again now that there wasn’t so much noise. “Who’s Magni?” Agent Barton, Tony, and Steve all asked in unison. Loki buried his head in Holly’s hair again, trying to hide the tears that just wouldn’t stop flowing. I haven’t cried like this since I was informed of Mother’s death, he thought. He had been able, and had wanted, to hide it then since he had been in the dungeons and surrounded by Asgard’s enemies at the time. “Magni was the mortal responsible for Loki losing Holly in the first place,” Thor replied, never taking his eyes off his father. “It’s a long story that we will tell you later,” Laura said. “Did you send the ravens to him?” Thor asked, desperately hoping the answer would be no. This got a reaction out of Odin. He turned and placed the container on Loki’s desk then carefully moved around the room until he wasn’t quite as surrounded. “I could not stand by and let a choice be made that would ruin the plans I had for him,” he said. “I was unaware to what lengths the mortal would go.” “Did you order Heimdall to keep the Bifrost closed to us?” “I did.” “And now?” Thor pressed. “You knew she would arrive at the clearing; that she would remember everything, and you had the Worm there waiting for her, knowing that in a few hours or days she would die?” Odin lifted his head a little higher as he addressed his son. “Yes.” The room fell silent again as the revelation sunk in. “Why?” Laura asked after a few minutes. She was trying very hard not to just walk over to him and hit him as hard as she could. Odin looked at her but refused to answer. Loki hugged Holly tighter, his tears becoming sobs that shook his suddenly frail-looking form. “She asked you a question.” Odin turned to look at the owner of the voice. Agent Romanov was standing behind him, arms crossed over her chest and a dangerous look in her eyes. He studied her, trying to figure out how she had gotten behind him without his sensing it. When he didn’t answer the question, she said, “Alright. Tell me if I’m wrong. You want to punish Loki more than the rest of us for the things he has done but, for some reason, you can’t bring yourself to just kill him. That’d be too easy for him. You want him to suffer. You also don’t want to have to admit that maybe things could have gone differently or that he could still come back from it all. The only way to both make him suffer and prevent his turning things around is to take her away from him in one of the worst ways imaginable. You make sure she remembers and he knows it, and then you let her die in his arms, permanently destroying any hope he has at a fresh start.” Odin didn’t say anything and for several minutes the only sound was that of Loki trying to control his sobs. “You’re afraid of her,” Natasha finished. “Afraid?” Odin countered, his eyebrows arching. “Why would I be afraid of a lowly mortal?” The last two words were spit out like he had just taken a bite of something disgusting. Loki’s sobs turned into a growl as he raised his head just enough to see his father over Holly’s hair. All the times he had been told by his family over the past year that mortals were to be respected as a race and protected, and here was Odin, revealing what he really thought about them: that they were nothing to him. “Because she has managed to do something that no one else here, or anywhere else for that matter, could do,” Fury said, irritated at being called lowly. “And what is that?” “Save him,” Steve joined in. “From himself. You saw how quickly his face changed when he heard her voice. I really think the only thing that kept him from trying to kill you right then and there was that he didn’t want her to see that.” He turned to Loki, who nodded, before hugging Holly tighter. She squirmed, whining. “Too tight,” she said. “I’m sorry, my pet, my Ulfrid,” he said as he loosened his grip. “Is that better?” Holly nodded. “So,” Tony chimed in, “why don’t you just kill him?” “Because, even now, I am a political tool, a stolen relic,” Loki answered bitterly. “What do you mean?” Sif asked. “Did Thor not tell you?” he replied with a smirk. “Tell us what, Loki?” Fandral, another of the Warriors Three, asked, becoming more confused. Loki snorted. “You didn’t tell them,” he said, looking at Thor. “They are your best friends and you didn’t tell them.” “Because it does not matter, Brother,” Thor replied, emphasizing the last word. “It does not define who you are.” “Doesn’t it?” Loki retorted, pain obvious in his voice, the madness creeping back into his eyes. “Is it not why he has favored you all these years? Why I have never been able to please him, no matter what I did or how hard I tried? Why he…” Loki broke off, unable to continue. “Loki?” He looked to see Holly’s emerald green eyes staring up at him. His voice and face softened considerably as he said, “Yes, my dearest?” “Is this the conversation you think will make me change my mind about you being a monster?” Loki squeezed his eyes tightly shut, trying to keep the tears from starting up again. “Yes.” “Then tell me and let me decide for myself, okay?” She sat up so she could look at him better. He nodded and took a few steadying breaths. “What you see, what you have always seen, is nothing but a spell, a glamour, placed upon me when I was but an infant. It hides what I truly am,” he finally told her. “And what are you?” she asked, gently. Loki didn’t answer for a long time. He looked up at Thor for some kind of help. Thor nodded his head, as if trying to tell his younger brother that he could do this. He took another deep breath. “I’m a Frost Giant.” There was a gasp from Sif and the Warriors Three. “What’s a Frost Giant?” Agent Barton asked. Thor answered. “They are a giant race from a realm called Jotunheim and are one of Asgard’s greatest enemies. Many centuries ago, they entered your realm and attempted to make it a part of their own. Our armies prevailed and they were pushed back to their icy realm. The source of their power, the Casket of Ancient Winter, was taken from them, stranding them on their own world. “Loki was found abandoned by his true father in the temple and Father brought him here. We were raised together. He found out shortly before his attempt to invade your realm.” He looked directly at Loki. “He is my brother.” “Can you lift the glamour?” Holly asked. “As powerful as I am, I cannot,” Loki replied, truthfully. “Even if I could, what reason do I have for desiring to?” “Because,” Holly said, looking directly into his eyes, a determined look on her face. “I want to see.” Thor looked at his friends, hoping that the truth of Loki’s parentage wouldn’t prejudice them further against him. Sif, Volstag, Fandral, and Hogun nodded at him. “I will return in a few moments,” he said, walking towards the door. Loki allowed the doors to open and his brother to leave but no one else. The room was quiet until Thor returned. He knocked on the large golden doors and Loki opened them. To everyone’s surprise, Dr. Banner was waiting on the other side as well. “What’d I miss?” he asked, walking into the room and stopping by Hogun at the window. “Not much,” Tony answered, the smirk on his face not reaching his eyes. “Odin set up Holly, twice apparently, to get killed because he didn’t want Loki hanging out with her, and Loki was ditched by one group of homicidal maniacs and adopted by another group of homicidal maniacs.” “Everything makes sense now,” Bruce mused. “No wonder his mind is a bag full of cats.” Thor walked over to Loki’s side of the bed and placed something heavy next to him. “Perhaps this will lift the glamour long enough for her to see,” he said, taking a few steps away. Everyone turned to see what Thor had given to Loki, and Odin took the smallest of steps backwards towards the doors. Without looking up from the object next to him on the bed, Loki told him, “You cannot escape this room that easily, Father.” Turning his gaze to Thor, he asked, “Are you sure you wish to trust me with this?” Thor nodded, a small smile playing at his lips. Loki took a deep breath, remembering what had happened the last time he had handled the Casket of Ancient Winter. He carefully took the relic in both hands and lifted it onto his lap. He left his hands on it as the glamour faded, first changing the color of his hands, then creeping over the rest of his body until his normal Asgardian appearance was gone. His skin was now an icy blue and there were lines and ridges along his hands and face with a circular shaped ridge in the center of his forehead. His eyes were closed tight. Holly studied his new look. She honestly didn’t see anything wrong with it. She patted his arm but he didn’t respond. “Loki…” she tried, but he squeezed his eyes tighter together and shamefully turned his head away from her. She changed her position on the bed so she could reach his head better. She tried to take his face in her hands and make him look at her, but his superior strength made it impossible. Finally she sat back on her knees, grabbed a handful of his long black hair, and tugged with all her might. His head whipped around, his eyes snapping open. Holly’s eyes widened when she saw them; they were a bright blood-red color. They stood out sharply from the surrounding blue features. As she looked at them, she saw fear, shame, and the expectation of rejection. The others were watching her closely, especially Thor. He knew that this was the moment when Loki would either be brought back from the brink of madness or pushed permanently over the edge. Everything rested with Holly. He mentally crossed his fingers that she would accept what she saw without any reservations. “Now you see,” Loki told her sharply, bracing himself for her horrified rejection of his true form, “the monster I truly am.” “I’m not seeing it,” she said after a few minutes, squinting her eyes as she tried to find this monster he was talking about. “All I see are pretty shades of red and blue, with interesting designs.” She shrugged, trying not to smile at him because she knew he would take it the wrong way. He started to object but she put her finger over his lips. His drastically lower body temperature made her shiver. “No, let me finish,” she continued. “So your biological family aren’t very nice and your adoptive father is a bastard. And so you were raised to think that no Frost Giant could ever be anything other than evil, and you’ve been treated like crap your whole life for being different. I understand that and I understand, probably better than you, why you really tried to take over Earth: to finally prove to Odin that you are just as capable as Thor of leading and ruling a realm. “Now, that said, that doesn’t mean I approve of what you did. However, everyone deserves a second chance, if they really want it, to turn their life around and stop being the bad guy. And I am very happy to say that, even if no one here in Asgard will give you that chance, I am not the only one on Earth who will.” She cupped his face in her hands, shivering again but never taking her green eyes off his red ones. “Do you really want a second chance?” Tears started to slip down Loki’s face again as he studied her, trying to determine if she was telling him the truth. She brushed her thumb across his cheek, wiping some of the tears away. He finally decided to believe her. He nodded his head, not trusting his voice. “I can’t hear you,” she prompted, softly. “Yes,” he told her. “I do want that chance. If only…” She cut him off again with a smile. “I think, of all the decisions you have made recently, this is the best one. Now, stop talking and kiss me, silly.” Loki’s eyes widened in surprise but he was too stunned to move. The others in the room were watching and, with the exception of Odin, trying to hide their smiles. Many of them released breaths they hadn’t realized they had been holding. Holly rolled her eyes and decided to take matters into her own hands. She gently wrapped her arms around Loki’s neck and placed her lips on his. At first, nothing happened and she thought she was kissing a statue. Just when she was beginning to feel ridiculous because he was so still, there was a thump of something heavy hitting the floor and she felt his arms wrap around her, pulling her closer, and he finally started kissing her back. This is more like what I had in mind, she thought as his lips crushed hers, all the emotion he had bottled up over the centuries flowing out through them. They finally came up for air and heard Thor’s hearty laugh. They looked around themselves, remembering for the first time that they were not alone. They weren’t sitting on the bed anymore; instead they were laying sideways on it with Loki looking down at Holly. She realized what the thump was because she wasn’t looking into a pair of red eyes anymore, but green. The Casket of Ancient Winter had fallen to the floor when Loki had finally responded to her kisses, causing the glamour to settle over him again. His hair was brushing her nose, making her want to sneeze, but she noticed it framed his face nicely. She started giggling as she realized that they had come very close to going farther than just kissing and that no one in the room had bothered to stop them. Loki cocked his head, trying to figure out what was so funny. That just fueled her giggles, forcing her to roll over on her side. Loki moved off of her so she could sit up, still unsure why she was laughing so hard. She shook her head at him, trying to stop laughing, but the look on his face, combined with Thor’s laughter and the smiling faces of everyone else in the room, sent her doubling over with tears streaming down her cheeks. “What is so funny?” Loki asked, his patience starting to fray. He looked at Thor, who managed to stop laughing long enough to explain. “The two of you were so preoccupied that you failed to take notice of your surroundings. That is not like you, Brother.” Thor couldn’t stop smiling. “I’m not used to having company in my chambers,” Loki replied with a huff. He glared at his brother as he leaned against his headboard, but his eyes showed he was actually quite happy. “It pleases me to see you at peace again,” Thor told him. “I truly hope it will last.” Holly finally stopped laughing, but she couldn’t stop smiling. She sat up and leaned against the headboard, before deciding she would be more comfortable in Loki’s arms. She slid under his right arm and laid her head on his chest. His body temperature was still cooler than hers but not as cool as in his Jotun form. She thought it felt nice. He looked down at her, still surprised that she had so readily accepted him after everything he had done and after seeing what he really looked like. He gently kissed her head and tightened his grip. She murmured something incoherently, making him smile, before drifting off to sleep. Tony, still completely ignoring the fact that he wasn’t talking to people he could boss around or who cared that he was richer than most countries on Earth, walked up to Odin. “What do you say, Pops?” he asked, aware that all eyes in the room were now on him. “Why don’t we all agree to give him another shot?” Odin raised his eyebrows. “I’m not too fond of him either,” Tony continued, “but I think I have a better reason for that than you do. If I’m willing to try this, for the girl’s sake…” His voice trailed off, but the look he gave Odin said that whatever the All-Father chose to do would determine if he would lose what was left of his family or not. “Please, Father,” Thor said. “I beg you, for Mother's sake, if not for his, give him this opportunity to make things right, just as you have given me countless opportunities in the past. If not, he may truly be lost to us forever.” Odin was quiet as he thought about what he had seen and what Tony and Thor had said. His eyes were on the girl sleeping in his adopted son's arms. Loki was listening but was concentrating on stroking Holly’s hair and watching her sleep. He couldn’t bring himself to look at anyone else. Finally, after studying the scene before him for so long the others in the room thought he would never speak, Odin shifted his weight and opened his mouth. "Loki," he said. Loki raised his head, fear outweighing the anger that was still clearly visible in his eyes. "Because of your actions concerning Malekith and the Aether during the Convergence and your actions while I was indisposed following the outcome of that event, as well as the passionate pleas of those who have been your enemies, I will grant you this: a full pardon and the opportunity to make restitution to those you have wronged, both here and on Midgard. I truly hope that you will make wise use of this chance you have been given." Loki's eyes widened in shock. He had hoped for, but had not expected, a second chance so he could be with Holly. He had never dreamed Odin would grant him even a partial pardon, much less a full one. This meant he had the freedom to go where he wanted when he wanted without being followed everywhere as he had been since his ruse as the All-Father had been discovered. "Will you really give him a chance?" Laura asked, staring Odin directly in the eyes. "Or are you still going to be expecting him to fail because he is biologically someone else's child?" Odin raised his eyebrows at her. "Are you telling me that, had you been in my position when I found him, you would have done things differently?" he asked her. "Only one thing," she replied. "And what is that?" "I wouldn't have treated him as different or expected him to be like me. Instead I would have seen, really seen, what he was good at and made sure that he knew it was just as important as what I'm good at, even if they were different areas." She leaned back in the chair she was sitting in by the bed and crossed her arms. "I suggest you think about that going forward if you really want him to succeed." Odin was quiet for a moment before nodding his head at her. "This is not the first time I have heard this advice," he said. "Maybe you'll listen to it this time," she replied. Loki looked over at Laura as she stood up from her seat. She had sounded just like his late mother, Frigga, just then. Could there really be more people like Mother in the universe, he asked himself. "I think we should let these two have some time alone," Laura said, smiling at Loki and her sleeping daughter. "I think they are both worn out. Why don't we go find somewhere else we can talk or maybe get something to eat." As the group started to trickle out of the room, Loki asked Laura and Thor to stay behind for a minute. Once the others were gone and the doors were closed, he looked at Laura and said, "I wish to thank you for your kindness towards me, Lady Webster. I must admit I did not expect such from someone to whose realm I caused such destruction." Laura smiled at him and put her hand on his free one. "I think I know what Holly sees in you and why she wants this chance for you. You never really got one, and no one should have to grow up that way." She leaned down and placed a kiss on Holly's forehead. As she lifted her head, she caught his eyes and surprised him even more by kissing him on the forehead too. "Now, don't spend too much time talking, dear. You need rest just as much as she does." She lifted her hand off his, turned around and left the room, leaving him with his brother. Thor brought the chair from Loki's desk over to his side of the bed and sat down, waiting for his little brother to speak. He knew their relationship was still rocky but he wanted more than anything to be able to say that he truly trusted Loki again. He began thinking of ways to try to prolong Holly's life so that Loki wouldn't go off the deep end again. Maybe, he thought, I can talk to the Norns... Loki's voice broke through his thoughts. "And where are you now, Brother?" he asked. "Thinking of your mortal?' "No, Loki," Thor replied, a small smile showing on his face. "I was thinking how we might keep this mortal by your side for the longest period of time. In fact, when I leave here, I plan to visit the Norns and ask them if there is any way that they can see. I do not wish to lose you again." Loki was quiet. "I'm sorry, Loki," Thor continued. "What was it you wished to speak with me about?" "Can this truly be happening?" Loki asked him, looking down at Holly. "Has she truly been returned to me, after all this time and all I have done?" "It appears so," Thor said. "What if she is taken from me again, or I do something worse than I already have and force her to leave me herself? What will I do then? You know how I am." Loki unconsciously tightened his grip on the sleeping girl. "I know you enjoy pranks and mischief, Brother, and that will never change. But there is a difference, as I am sure you know, between the mischief from our youth and your actions on Earth. I do not believe she would allow more than your playful mischief so you need not worry yourself about causing her to leave you," Thor told him. "As for your other worry, it is mine as well and why I am going to speak with the Norns to see if there is anything we can do to keep her with you as long as possible." Loki's eyelids started to droop so Thor stood up and put the chair back at the desk. He walked back over to Loki's side of the bed only to see that his little brother had slid down in the bed and was fast asleep. Without another word, he turned and left the room, heading for the three women who were known to be able to see the futures of every living soul in the universe.

Notes

Comments

This is one of the best story's I ever read love it ^_^

meggy24357 meggy24357
10/1/14