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“As Allfather and King of Asgard, I hereby pardon Prince Loki of all crimes and sentence you to a 50 year banishment to Midgard to reconcile with its people.”
Loki watched with wide eyes as the Allfathers slammed his staff against the ground, and as chaos erupted in the hall.
Pardoned?
Of all the outcomes of this trial, that had not been one he allowed himself to seriously consider. He had murdered… roughly 100,000 people on Midgard, probably more, almost destroyed both Jointenheim and Asgard, not to mention the deal with the elves.
Although, technically he wasn’t in a good state of mind for a majority of that.
Thor was looking at him from where he stood on the dias next to mo-the Queen. He was beaming at Loki and giving him a thumbs up.
This was not the appropriate time for that.
“You have one day to collect your belongings. Thor will accompany you across the Bifrost and will explain your situation to the Avengers.” Odin rose from his throne and crossed the throne room to his chambers. Frigga came up to Loki and held his face in her hands.
“The sun of Asgard will shine upon you again, my son. I will see you and Thor off tomorrow.” With a kiss to Loki’s forehead, she had gone.
Thor came behind him and clapped him on the back, almost knocking him over.
“I think that went well!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Loki had finally finished packing all of his things. His books alone had taken up almost a dozen trunks.
He sat back on his bed, sighing. There was no way this would go well. Did Odin seriously not remember the New York incident?
Loki could live with murdering a bunch of people. He had done worse. He could not, however, comprehend how he would be forgiven for it. Mortals were… picky that way. He had not been in full control of himself, yes, but they wouldn’t care about that.
His musings were cut off by a banging on his door.
“Brother! Come, we must be leaving. You will love New York! They do not hate you anymore!”
That's… reassuring.
With a wave of his hand, the trunks and bags he had packed overnight disappeared, to be resummoned with another wave later on. Magic was one of the only constants in his life, and he always got a rush from using it, even after millennia of honing it.
Thor and him walked through the halls of Asgard in silence. His brother seemed to have picked up on his mood, and it was one of those rare moments where he used his brain cell and didn’t push it.
“Brother?”
Evidently, he was not using the aforementioned brain cell today.
“Yes, Thor?”
“I know you must not be… pleased with how things are now. Midgard does not have good memories for you. But you are a good person, Loki, if not mischievous. They will learn, as I have, that you are as harmless as a snake.”
“In other words, something to not be provoked?”
“Exactly!”
Loki couldn’t help but smile. Thor was… Thor. He wasn’t the smartest, but he was Loki's brother. He knew what to say.
They finally arrived at the Bifrost gate. Heimdall gave his usual stoic stare and activated the bridge with a turn of his sword.
“I’ll be watching you, Loki.” he said.
“You always are.” Loki answered, before taking a step out towards fifty years of hell.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Bifrost dropped them on the roof of the Avengers building in Manhattan. Loki had to admit, while Asgard was quite literally a golden city, New York was beautiful in a way Asgard never could be. The city was built by mortal hands, and it was flawed.
It was chaos, it was unique, and it was different.
Asgard was made to be perfect. It never was, and it never could be.
But this? This was unrestrained. It felt like home.
Perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad.
Thor slapped him on the back with a grin. “You are going to love this, brother! The Avengers will be thrilled to see you again!”
Loki raised an eyebrow. “Need I remind you that the last time I saw them, I tried to kill them? And this entire city, let’s not forget that round of destruction. They will not be happy about this, brother.”
Thor shrugged, and pressed a button on the wall. A set of doors opened up and Loki followed him through. “Trust me, Loki. they will understand, as mother and I have. You were not in control of your actions.”
“ Welcome back, Thor.”
Loki will never admit that the disembodied voice startled him.
“Hello JARVIS! Would you take us down to where the others are?”
“ Of course. Mr. Stark, Captain Rogers, and Ms. Romanov are the only ones present currently, but they are in the 74th floor common room. Shall I inform them you are coming down?”
“No, thank you.” said Loki quickly.
“ I’m afraid I already have.”
Dritt, this was not going to end well.
“Calm yourself Loki, they will understand. Besides, if they do not,” he said, twirling his hammer, “I shall make them.”
The doors opened up, and Loki was pleased to say that while he did not particularly like the Avengers, they were vigilant.
Two handguns were currently being shoved in his face by the Romanov woman. Stark was wearing his suit which was armed and ready. The star-spangled mascot was tense and his shield raised.
“I told you they would not be happy Thor.”
“Hey, point-break. What the fuck?”
“Friend Stark, I have good news! My brother has come to live with us!”
“Thor, I think we have different definitions of good news.” said the Captain.
Loki sighed. “We should all sit. I suppose we should have a nice long talk, yes? Likely with alcohol. For everyone.”
“How about we just shoot you?” Romanov asked.
“Please do
not.
” Loki said, raising an eyebrow.
“I’ll get the booze.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All things considered, Loki was surprised he walked away from the following conversation without getting shot.
The Avengers had been skeptical at first, yes, but they eventually gathered that they had the resources to have him under proper surveillance until (and likely after) they figured out whether he still wanted to kill them.
Stark had given him the floor below Thor, which put him in between his brother and Romanov. The floor contained a bedroom, bathroom, several side rooms with space for a library and study room, a kitchen, and a sitting room. It was a very Midgardian setup, very modern, and Loki found himself liking it.
He summoned some of his belongings and began to unpack. The movements were monotonous, and it helped him think. The books could go into a seperate room, next door preferably, for easy access. A potions lab… could he set one up? Probably-
“So, you’re our new roomie. Fun.”
Loki turned to see a blond man leaning up against the doorway, arms crossed. The archer, Loki realised.
“Yes. I suppose I ought to apologize for our last interaction.”
“Yeah, I was filled in. Had to leave my sister's place early just to make sure I had a shot at you.”
“Is she well?”
“Is who well?”
“Your sister.” Loki said, summoning another trunk. Ah, his clothes, wonderful. Now where was the closet...
“Yeah. Niece and nephew have grown like weeds, and another is on the way.”
“Mmh.” With a wave of his hand the trunk with his clothes floated up and followed him over to a door next to the bed. He opened it and found what was likely a very large closet by Midgardian standards. Plenty of room.
Another wave of his hand and the clothes began to unpack and hang themselves. Which trunk had his journals in them?
He came out of the closet, finding the archer still there.
“It’s Barton, right?”
The man nodded, not taking his eyes off Loki. “What happened to you?”
Loki looked up at the man. “Excuse me?”
“You’re excused” Barton pushed off from the wall and moved over to Loki. “You’re not the man who tried to kill everyone in New York. What changed?”
Loki sighed. “Call it a change of heart.”
Barton nodded. “Alright then. I certainly don’t trust you, but at least here you’re in shooting range.”
The man jumped up on the table and pulled off the vent cover, hauling himself up into the air ducts and away from Loki.
This arrangement would definitely be interesting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It took Romanov a week to shoot him.
Evidently, the woman was protective of her cereal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Somehow, it became tradition that anyone present in the tower had to attend dinner as a group on Friday nights. Loki hadn’t thought he would be invited to these get togethers, however after being forcibly dragged by Thor the first few times, he started attending voluntarily.
His fourth group dinner was spent eating what Stark called “pizza”. It was actually very good and could be topped with many different Midgardian foods.
Tonight, the entire team was present for dinner. Stark, Romanov, Barton, Thor, and Banner were in the dining room with Loki, and the Captain, Barnes, and Wilson were in the living room.
“Shit”
Everyone looked up at Stark, who had been scrolling through information of some kind or another on one of his devices.
“What, your latest one-nighter ditch you?” joked Romanov, propping her feet on the table.
“Ha ha, funny joke. Some scientists I was going to hire for R&D got into a car crash. Richard and Mary Parker. Dead.”
For some reason, everyone in the room turned to look at Barnes. He held his hands up in surrender.
“Not my fault.”
“They have any family?” asked Rogers.
“Yeah. A kid. He’s being moved in with his aunt and uncle. Friday, keep an eye on him.”
“ Sure thing. But can I ask why?”
“If he’s anything like his parents I’d be curious about bringing him on. You know? I only surround myself with the best.”
Several voices yelled at Stark for various things. Mostly just mocking Stark for his ego. Loki got up and went to leave. He didn’t feel comfortable with all this bickering. It was like being around Thor and the warriors three on Asgard. They may tell him he is welcome, but he will never be. Not truely.
“Where do you think you’re going, Loki?”
He turned around to find Romanov looking at him.
“I… have things to see too.”
Romanov nodded. “Wanna help us make fun of Tony first?”
Loki grinned. “I can do that.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It took three months for Stark to wash the blue out of his hair, and only one for Loki to feel at home.