King Loki

Chapter 41
Loki looming over Stark was not the best way to make the man feel comfortable, but Loki didn't care. The need to change things were too great. The challenge of surviving what was coming was something Loki didn't look forward to.
The door to the room opened and Loki knew it could only be Cephera. He should have enchanted this place to lock her out, but it was far too late for that now.
She stopped dead when viewing them all. Tony and pepper sitting down working themselves as fast as they could while Loki stood over them. "What's going on? Haven't you seen outside?" She asked, confused.
"I have seen outside. The Tesseracts been stolen and the fools have found a way to open a new portal. It's just a matter of time now before someone comes through from the other side." Loki replied in a matter-of-fact way.
"Then why are you in here? Shouldn't you be out there trying to get the Tesseract back. To use the men at your disposal and stop this." Her tone was bewildered, her eyes wide.
"What men at my disposal? I have no men that could withstand the might of those that would come through. There is no stopping this." Loki growled.
"Almost done..., I hope," Tony said ignoring the argument.
"Done what? You have a plan?" Cephera asked a hopeful look replacing her previous.
For once Tony didn't reply with his fast witty tongue, nor did he seem to take pleasure in the fight that would most likely come of the truth. He looked up at Loki as if passing the torch to him to light the fuse.
"With my knowledge of ruins and magic, and Stark's half successful jump back in time I've had him commission his device once more so that I can change the course of this history." Loki tried to remain serious even as her expression faltered into several changes before settling on anger.
"Are you crazy?" She growled. "You can't know for sure he went to the past. You can't possibly know what this will do? You'll take this chance and leave us here to face the war you started. We'll all die!" Her voice had turned to shocked panic.
"A chance I am willing to take." His snapped, harsh words made her step back.
"You can't mean that." She shook her head.
"Did you really think this could have ended any other way?" Loki chided. "I tried doing it your way after my own seemed futile and still we find ourselves right back at the beginning." Loki looked away from her. The hurt on her face made his chest contract in regret and he simply couldn't afford to feel such sentiment now.
"Pepper?" She changed her attention to her friend.
"This isn't any kind of life Cephera. As much as I hate to agree..., I just want my old life back." The red head couldn't meet her friends gaze.
"Stark," Loki barked growing impatient as an explosion sounded in the near distance.
"I'm....," his words were cut short as the tower suddenly shook from a hit to the outside. Tony's head snapped back down to focus on his task rather than argue.
Loki looked out the window. Already the sky was dotted with space crafts. The rune's on the tower wouldn't last forever. For each one that was destroyed the tower would become vulnerable and so would those inside it.
"It's over," Krystoff's voice turned everyone's heads. He stood just passed the doorway where he could not cross the threshold of the magically enchanted area. Stark's room providing them all with protected from anyone inside the Spire that would decide to revolt.
A revolt was exactly how it looked. Behind Krystoff was the men Loki once employed to protect the Spire. The men who came with Dr. Whitehalls so-called loyalty.
"Cephera," Krystoff reached out his hand to her. Loki wanted to stop her, to tell her to come to him, but what was the point. Soon none of this would exist, provided this plan was even successful.
"No," Cephera shook her head taking a step away from the door.
Krystoff scowled and hissed in anger. "Break it down." He ordered those behind him who looked eager to retrieve Loki. If Thanos was behind the ships outside, Loki would make a nice peace offering to save Earth from destruction.
"I can't guarantee it'll work, buts it's done." Tony held the timekey device to Loki. When Loki took hold of it Stark wouldn't let go. "The note we agreed on is inside, if you happen to remember this don't forget your promises."
Stark was smart enough to realize that he couldn't go back himself. It had to be Loki. His alien body and magic combined would hopefully help him survive the transition. Tony let the key go.
It fit large enough to fill his palm with only one button to push to activate the device and the rune's Loki had helped attach to it.
"Loki...," Cephera's voice was small, sad almost. He couldn't look at her.
"What are you doing?!" Krystoff demanded, realizing something was amiss. No one answered him.
Loki clutched the key, his thumb hovering over the button. "Loki," Cephera had come closer to him, her voice softened. "If this works..., you know where I'll be." He didn't have to look at Stark to know he was probably given him a reminder look.
Though Loki had lied about leaving Cephera alone, he still felt this might be the last he'd see her and the thought was distracting.
"If it does not work go back to your homeland with Krystoff. Your sister will want you home." Loki ordered her, unwilling to make this some sentimental goodbye.
She kissed him, though he tried to turn from her. She kissed him hard and meaningful. "I love you," she murmured against his lips. He didn't respond to those words. Instead he gently detached her and stepped away from them all.
XxX
Her heart clinched hard, contracting in spasms of what felt like she might be dying. Tears stung her eyes as she struggled to hold them back.
This is not how she imagined life would be for her. She didn't want to go back with Krystoff and she didn't share the same confidence that this time travel would work.
Behind her she heard the door being attacked. If they managed to destroy all the rune it would give way and those beyond would infiltrate the room.
She didn't care. Her body felt numb. Nothing mattered at the moment. She watched Loki finally press his thumb to the button. She felt a sudden uptake of air from seemingly nowhere. The runes etched into the floor turned black. Little by little Loki began to vanish.
She was crying wholeheartedly now. She couldn't hold it back any longer. She sobbed and fell to her knees as the last of the man she'd fallen in love with disappeared.
After an awful few minutes the doors behind them came crashing down, bits of debris hitting the floor. Tony held Pepper in his arms and just when Cephera expected to be pulled to her feet nothing happened.
She turned her head and saw Krystoff only feet from her. He'd stopped, they'd all stopped.
Looking down Cephera saw her hands were fading, becoming translucent, everyone's were.
Pepper smiled for the first time in forever. "I'll be damned." Tony said to her.
If time travel had worked, she'd never know. In seconds Cephera and the rest of that world were gone. Disappeared, vanished from reality.
XxX
Loki woke with a pounding headache. He'd been dreaming, of what, he could not recall.
He sat up in the comfort of his Asgardian bed and was disappointed te realize he'd woken far too early as daylight had not yet come. Flopping back down to his pillows he couldn't help but feel awkward. Out of place.
He also felt his hand gripped tightly around a hard object. Bits and pieces of something at the edge of his memory began to push forth. His headache increased but he fought it off for a chance to look at what he was holding.
In his hand he found a round device the likes of which he'd never seen before. A single button adorned it. On the side was a clasp holding the casing shut.
Without question he opened the seal and inside sat several papers folded together. Before he could touch it his head wracked with so much pain he dropped the device into the floor.
He grabbed the sides of his head as image after image began to hit him like a fist. He cried out, pushing himself hard against his headboard. The pain made him curl his toes and his muscles to spasm. He'd never experienced anything like it before.
When the pain subsided he was finally able to relax but now his mind was full of utter confusion. Memories of his dream came flooding in. He could remember everything.
He'd have been content to think such a pathetic life such as his dream depicted had truly been just that of a dream, but the device still laying on the floor told him otherwise.
He picked it up and before even reading the note inside he knew what it would say.
When he unfolded it he seen the scrawls of his own writing. A different note than the one he'd written while Stark had been watching. His final trick in an old life. This note contained information that only Loki would understand and would know to be the truth.
"To my former self,
Congratulations, it looks as though we have a second chance. I strongly doubt you remember nothing of our ordeal, as the rune I used to inscribe this device with should have allowed you to retain them, at least I can only hope it worked through the transition of time.
I know not what time we might awaken, but I do know that not long after Thor's 950th nameday it will be announced that he shall succeed to the throne. During this time you will hatch a plan. If you have my memories you know what path this shall lead us. Do not take this path, find another."
Loki continued to read. Three pages depicted the long story of the life he once led and the woman who would become the object of his obsession. But the time he finished reading daylight had spawned.
Loki stared at the papers for quite some time even after finishing them. Everything his memory said was mirrored by the note and yet it almost hurt to think of it as a reality.
How he should proceed, he did not know. All he knew was that this 950th nameday had already passed and the coronation was only days away and he'd already partially set in motion the plan he'd been told to abandon.

Notes