Chapter Text
Several Thousand Years Ago
There was screaming and blood. He had never seen this much blood before. It tainted the streets, ran down the pillars, painted the faces of his warriors. Gods, he didn't recognize this place anymore there was so much blood. Someone grabbed his shoulder and he raised his knife to defend himself. "My king! It's me. It's Vasad." He lowered his knife slowly. "My king, they've destroyed everything. We've lost so many of our warriors. The queen has fallen. What are we to do?"
"Vasad, stay calm." The King told him quietly. "We'll go get my son, give them what they're demanding, and then we will gather the remaining people, and leave this wretched place." Vasad nodded slowly.
"I saw so many killed before my eyes, my king. I wish this war would just end." Vasad told him.
"It will end." The King answered. "One way or another, this war will end." The King and Vasad began to head off in search of the King's son. The two headed off down a secret passage that twisted beneath the palace.
"You're bleeding." Vasad commented. "it's getting darker."
"I'll heal." The King replied. "It's always dark before the dawn." A small blue light appeared in his hand and brightened up the dark passageway. They stayed quiet as they heard footsteps above them and continued to move silently.
"Quick! Go that way!" The voices above them ordered.
"The Casket of Winters is ours!" Another yelled back.
Vasad's eyes widen and he turned toward the King. "Sire-"
"Let them take it." The King responded as he pulled open a door. The two of them stepped into the room and looked around. "He's gone." The King whispered, still looking around the room. "They took him! They took my son!"
Vasad stood quietly, looking at the floor. "Sire..." The king looked to Vasad who was pointing toward the floor. He followed Vasad's gaze and saw blood on the floor.
The King clenched his jaw. "They've killed him. They killed my son." He turned and stormed out off the room. "They will pay for what they have done!" He yelled and Vasad followed him quickly. The King attacked the men who ran at him, impaled them with his sword. A catch of gold caught Vasad's eyes and he quickly jumped in front of the blast that was meant for the King. Vasad went scattering into tiny pieces of ash and the King turned toward Vasad's attacker.
"Your source of power has been taken from you." Red eyes glared at blue eyes. A weapon was pointed at the throat of Laufey. Laufey's arm turned to ice slowly. "We can reach a truce. There can be peace between our lands. Your people won't have to suffer anymore."
467 Years Ago
Loki stood on his tiptoes to try to grab a book off the shelf above him. He struggled as his fingers caould barely touch the shelf, let alone reach for the book upon it. He jumped but the book slipped from his grasp. He was about to jump for it again when a hand grabbed the book and handed it to him. Loki looked up at the hand's owner.
"Thank you, Queen Frigga." Loki said politely, bowing before her. His long hair covered up half of his face as he did so.
Frigga gave a small chuckle. "You're quite welcome, little Loki." Loki smiled and felt his cheeks grow a tad warmer than usual. He stood up straight before her upon her request. "What are you reading about today?" She asked him.
"Dwarves." Loki answered quietly. "They're fantastic workers. They combine magic with the objects they create. I read about a dwarf named Andvari the other day. He created a ring that can make its own gold. He calls it Andvaranaut, or Andvari's Gift."
"That is quite fascinating." Frigga smiled back at him.
"There are a lot of fascinating subjects in these books. I spend hours here just reading about a small part of one subject alone." Loki told her as he ran his hand over the cover of the book in his hand.
She sat down in one of the chairs close by. "How are you faring? You haven't looked too well these past couple of days."
"I always get sick in the summer." Loki mumbled. Frigga gestured to the chair beside her and Loki sat down in the chair. "Eir calls it the Heat Sickness. There are a few Asgardians that get it but not as often as I do." Frigga pushed back his hair so it was out of his face and pressed the back of her hand to his forehead. Loki stared at her.
"You are unusually warm but an hour or two spent in the pool should make you feel much better. You're welcome to use it anytime you'd like." She told him before removing her hand.
"Thank you." Loki murmured. "However, Prince Thor and Princess Sif are always occupying the pool. It's best that I stay away. I wouldn't want them to catch my Heat Sickness."
"I think they'll be perfectly fine if you played with them." Frigga told him. "I don't see you playing with others at all."
"No one asks me to play with them." Loki whispered.'
"Why don't you ask them?" Frigga suggested.
Loki began to trace the patterns on the book cover, his hair fell back in front of his face. "I have and they all run away."
"I can talk to Thor and Sif-" Frigga began to say but Loki shook his head.
"No! I- I mean, no. It's not necessary. I don't want to play with them either." He interrupted her. "My Heat Sickness is getting worse. I wouldn't want them to catch anything. I've got new symptoms that Eir has been trying to figure out." He rolled up his sleeve and showed her the blue markings that curled about his skin in strange patterns. "They've spread from my feet to my torso to my arms. They appear during Summer and are gone by Yule." Loki explained.
Frigga stared at the markings until Loki covered them up beneath his sleeve. "Loki-"
"They don't itch or bother me much." Loki continued as he rolled his sleeve down. "I just thought I should cover them so that the others won't stare and whisper at me more. I've seen some of the warriors staring at me too. Eir says that they knew my parents during the war."
"Can I tell you something?" Frigga asked Loki and he nodded. "If Odin wasn't such a stubborn fool, you wouldn't be an orphan. I would take in you and raise you as my son." Frigga told him.
Loki lifted his head and looked over at her. "You would?"
"I would." Frigga confirmed. "I think you would be the best son that I have ever had. Just don't tell that to Thor." Frigga said with a small smile and a wink.
"What's it like?" Loki asked her. "To belong somewhere. To have a family, I mean. What does it feel like?"
Frigga laid a hand upon Loki's shoulder. "You will find out soon enough. Just be patient." She stood up. "I will see you again, little one." Frigga turned and began to walk away but stopped and looked back at him. "You have very nice eyes. You shouldn't hide them behind your hair." She said before walking out of the library.
"Yes, Queen Frigga." Loki reached up and pushed all his hair away from his face. He looked to his book before staring at the door and whispering under his breath, "Yes, Mother."
. . . . . . . . . . . .
"Eir! He fainted!" Dagny screamed at the top of her lungs. Eir lifted her head and looked over at Dagny sprinting into the healing chambers. "Loki fainted again!" The poor boy was in her arms and she set him down carefully onto one of the examining tables.
Eir hurried over to the both of them and placed her hand upon Loki's head. "Heat Sickness." Eir murmured to herself. She looked up at Dagny. "Fetch me a pitcher of cold water. The poor boy is overheated." She smoothed back his hair as she spoke. Dagny ran off to grab the water and quickly returned. Eir took the pitcher from her and looked to Loki. "I'm sorry." She said before dumping the pitcher of water on his face. Loki awoke promptly sitting up, coughing, and spitting out water. When the water cleared out of his lungs, he took several deep breaths of air. "You fainted again." Eir told him. Loki began to climb off the table but Eir stopped him. "It's getting worse, Loki."
"I'll stick to the shade and stay out the sun." Loki mumbled.
Eir shook her head. "It's not just that. Your markings have spread."
"All the markings are covered. No one can see them." Loki assured her.
Eir grabbed his hands. "They've spread to your hands, Loki. Then, they'll be upon your face. You have to find other ways to hide them."
Loki looked at the markings on his hands. "Why can't you cure me?" Eir released his hands slowly. "Why can't you make them go away forever?"
"It's complicated-" Eir began.
"How? Why? What are they? Why am I the only one with them?" Loki questioned.
"We don't know what they are. It was just something you were born with. I wish I could get rid of them for you." Eir said softly. "I truly mean that but it looks like there's nothing we can do for now."
Loki curled his hands into a ball of fists. "I don't want to hide them. I want to play with the others. I want to have friends. I don't want to be alone anymore."
"I know it's hard to have to hide, Loki, but you won't always be alone. Everything happens for a reason." Eir told him.
"I don't care!" Loki yelled, slamming his fists down on the table. "I want to be normal!" I want to be like them! I can be like them if you would just let me!" Eir stared with worried wide eyes at his hands. They simply rested upon the table but what was happening beneath them was an entirely different matter. One that was far from simple. Loki followed her gaze and clenched his jaw immediately. Ice had begun forming and spreading to the table beneath his hands. He pulled them away from the table but the ice remained.
"Loki-" Eir was about to say something but Loki stopped her quickly.
"Another symptom." He snapped, "Followed by another symptom and another. This will never end until I am cured!"
"It's not that bad-" Eir began, pity and worry framing her face.
"Don't pity me!" Loki exclaimed, jumping off the table. "I don't want or need your pity! I need a cure! I will spend every single day in the library, searching for a cure to my condition until one is found. I will make a cure if I have to!" He yelled as he stormed out of the room angrily.
Present Day:
"YOU DID WHAT?!" Sif yelled at the top of her lungs.
Frigga gave her a pitied-filled look. "Darling, I understand that it may be hard to accept, even difficult to fully understand-"
"I understand perfectly!" Sif snapped back. "How could you ever think it was a good idea!? Why can't it be Thor?! Why me!?"
"Sif, please." Frigga said as Sif began to pace about the room. Every step of her foot was an angry stomp against the decision that her mother had made for her. ""Your father and I think this is the best thing to for Asgard. It's best for all the Nine Realms."
"Don't give me that 'It's best for the Nine Realms' lecture!" Sif growled, crossing her arms as she still paced back and forth. "I should have been a part of this decision! I am a grown woman! I can make my own choices!"
"Like that little happenstance on Nidavellir?!" Frigga asked with a raised eyebrow.
"That was not my fault! It was Loki's! How was I supposed to know that he was going to start a civil war?!" Sif asked rhetorically and Frigga sighed. "I was only focused on getting back Thor and the Warriors Three before that stupid court jester could cause a war between Asgard and Nidavellir!"
"Sif! What have I said about calling him that?" Frigga scolded her.
"He's a nightmare! He has no friends whatsoever. He has no practical mind. He spends all his time alone in the library, pouring over countless books and studying about useless seidr!" Sif ranted on until Frigga stepped froward. She grabbed Sif by her ear. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Let go. Please let go. Mother please." Sif whined pathetically as Frigga pinched her ear between her thumb and forefinger.
"Our decision is final. Do you understand?" Frigga asked her daughter. Sif nodded slowly. "Good. Because of your behavior, you are now grounded from the training grounds for a week-" Sif opened her mouth to protest but Frigga pinched her ear tighter. "-and during this time, you will be in the library, studying about seidr. I expect a paper from you by the end of the week on how seidr is useful." Sif let out a small whimper as she tried to pull herself away from the awful pinching. "Do I make myself clear?"
"Very. Very clear." Sif answered, still trying to pull herself away.
"You better or you will have an even worse punishment." Frigga warned, letting go of her ear.
Sif sighed in relief, stepping away from her mother, and rubbed her aching ear. "My god, how does that still bring so much pain after all these years?"
"Because that is what it is supposed to do." Frigga answered.
Sif gave her mother a pointed look, "It's not fair."
"It isn't supposed to be." Frigga walked back to her vanity and sat down in the chair.
"I mean the Arrangement. Thor could do it just as easily as I could. He's almost of age." Sif pointed out.
"Darling, everything will be alright. An arranged marriage isn't the end of the world." Frigga argued. "My marriage was arranged and I came to love your father over time. You will too."
"You were being married off to the future king of Asgard. I, on the other hand, am being married off to some mysterious Prince of Jotunheim." Sif countered quickly. "One that I never heard of or have even seen during my visits there..." Frigga gave Sif a look. "...not that I've been there. It's as if he doesn't exist."
"He exists, Sif." Frigga assured her. "He exists."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
She was angry. She was very very angry. Loki could see it from a mile away how angry she was. It showed in the way she stood, in the emotions on her face, the way she fought, etc. Loki had once sat on the sidelines of the training yard in secret and watched her take down opponent after opponent in an attempt to release all of her anger. He could tell the others were not trying their hardest and he could clearly see why. Sif was intimidating herself but the fact that she was a Warrior as well as a Princess, only made her more intimidating. The fact that she was pissed beyond all reason didn't help.
And now, a very very pissed off Sif was walking toward him. She was here in the library, in what he secretly liked to call his personal sanctuary from all the intense warrior training and what not. She sat herself down with a loud thump in the chair that was across from him. The chair creaked as she pulled it forward and set her hands upon the desk that separated them.
"Here's the deal, Loki-" She spat his name out as if it was a horrible curse word, "-you are going to write a paper for my mother with details on how seidr is useful-" Loki slowly looked up at her from over his book, "-and in return, I will never come back to this vile place that you seem to thoroughly enjoy being in. As a bonus, I will not burn all the books in this room."
Loki looked back down at the pages of his book, "Your mother already approached me. She said I was not allowed to write your paper. She pinched my ear and made me promise not to. If I don't keep my promise, she threatened to sew my lips together with golden thread."
Sif sighed angrily and sat back in her chair. Loki pushed the pile of books toward her across the desk. The books had small pieces of paper coming out of the pages.
"However, your mother never said anything about giving you all the information you need or having that information listed in order so that the paper basically writes itself." Loki continued and Sif stared at Loki with an unreadable expression. Loki glanced up at her and then returned his eyes to his book. "You're welcome. Think of it as a wedding gift. Your mother told me about that as well."
Sif groaned and let her head fall against the desk with a loud thump. "My mother is ruining my life."
"That's what it looks like, Princess." Loki commented and turned the page of his book.
"Can someone just kill me now?" Sif murmured to herself but Loki heard her.
"I'm sure the two of you will make quite the couple with your matching murderous glares." Loki responded.
Sif lifted her head to shoot him a glare. "If looks could kill, you would be first."
"Quite the icy demeanor you have today. I'm sure your fiance will love it." Loki asked her with a smirk.
"Aha. Very funny." Sif said in a monotone voice.
"You'll probably just give him the cold shoulder." Loki continued. "That is if you don't get cold feet on your wedding day."
Sif's eyes narrowed further at him. "I hate you so much."
"I'm just trying to break the ice, Princess." Loki replied nonchalantly. "Instead, it appears as if I'm skating on thin ice."
"Keep it up, court jester." Sif mockingly encouraged. "I can start burning books anytime I like."
"They're not my books." Loki responded, placing a bookmark in his book and closing it. He set it upon the table and stared at Sif. "Think of it as a service to the realm. You're uniting two kingdoms, bringing about eternal peace. You barely even have to spend time with this Prince you're marrying. You'll be here in Asgard and he'll be there in Jotunheim."
"I don't want to marry him. I don't want to be married to a monster. I'm fine as I am." Sif snapped at him. "I want out of this arrangement that my parents have set up for me."
"Do you truly mean that?" Loki asked her, leaning forward across the desk. "What would you do to get out of it?"
"I would do anything. If it wouldn't cause a war, I'd go to Jotunheim, find him, and kill him before I would even warm up to the ridiculous idea of marrying a Frost Giant." Sif answered.
"Well, we don't have to kill him but we can try to talk him about maybe convincing his father not to go through with the arrangement." Loki pointed out, leaning back in his chair to relax.
Sif crossed her arms across her chest. "A journey to Jotunheim. You're kidding. My parents would see the Bifrost's activation and then we would be forced to come home."
Loki opened up the book that Sif had grabbed from the pile and opened up to a specific page that was marked. "Who said anything about using the Bifrost?" Loki asked with a smirk.
Sif tilted her head forward and read the title of the chapter he had opened to. "The paths between Yggdrasil and how to navigate them." Sif read out loud. She looked up at Loki. "What of Heimdall? He sees everything."
"My magic keeps us from his sight right now and will for the entire our quest on Jotunheim." Loki answered, rolling his eyes. "You really need to read these books, Princess. Seidr is very useful." Sif raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief. "How soon can you pack for Jotunheim?"
"I can be ready to go in an hour." Sif answered.
"Start packing, Princess." Loki stood up and closed the book as he did so. "We leave at sunset after supper."
"Just you and me on a mission to Jotunheim..." Sif said to him with a look.
"I think it would be best. Besides, the last time we went somewhere with your brother and his friends, they started a civil war." Loki commented and it was Sif's turn to roll her eyes. "We'll just keep this little mission between you and me."
"What do you get out of this little mission?" Sif asked Loki as he started heading towards the door. Loki stopped at the doorway and looked back at her. "What? Am I not allowed to ask?"
"You'll just have to wait and see, Princess." Loki told her softly before turning and leaving Sif alone in the library.