Chapter Text
New Asgard was different. Quiet.
Well, quieter then the boisterous kingdom it once was. The Asgard I remember.
We, being Peter and I, Loki, walked down a long narrow road down to New Asgard.
“Why didn’t you just stop us in Asgard, instead of making us walk?” Peter groaned.
“We aren’t even that far away, you’re not going to die.” I reply in short.
“Are you scared?” Is that what this is?” Pete asked, “You don’t have to be afraid of your family. We could go to any other thousands of Thors. Not to mention, you’ve been dragging this trip out for a while. I feel like it’s at least been a month we’ve been going places.”
I stopped a couple feet away from what is New asgard. Short enough of a way to walk in. Far enough away that nobody sees me.
“It… It has to be this Thor.” I kick a rock.
“Why?” We looks at me, with a respectful yet questioning gaze.
“I- I need to apologize. To this specific Thor. Well, this time period’s Thor. There’s some things I want to clear up. Give closure to.”
Silence. Again, stagnant air that would’ve never been found in my old home. The feeling of victory was lost. All that’s left is… suffering loss.
I breath in deep. I guess I am a little stressed. My brother has been fooled one too many times. Most of it, done by me. And I would laugh. I don’t feel that kind of mischief in me now. Just guilt.
I guess i’ve changed.
Pete gives me a pat on the back.
“Come on. Time to face your fears.” He smiles.
“I wish you never found out what idioms were.” I reply stubbornly.
Yet I continue to walk forward.
The smell of fish and sadness is apparent. Grey Stone walls built contrast the gold joyous homes my people used to live in.
This place is a ghost town for the most part. Boats come in from the sea into the port; a storm’s coming. Cooked seafood and sewage water steeped in beer wafts out the restaurant nearby. The scent of pure sadness.
A small house atop a hill that overlooks the entire town. A small castle for a hollow king.
Peter looks around new Asgard with a newfound enjoyment. Being safe and free does that to you I guess. A smile on his face but it was shy.
Deep breath. Why is this so hard for me?
The house was built with the same grey stone the folk lived in. It had a dark bronze stained hatch. I knew why it was that way. Even if it was prebuilt, He didn’t feel he deserved anything of higher standard. I knew my brother; as egotistical as he was in my time, he was unfair to himself. It was taught. By Odin. By the avengers. By me.
Especially me.
This is why I’m here.
A small shake in my hand, I managed the courage to knock on that door. I dreaded an answer.
“Welp, he’s not here, oh well-“ I started to turn around and Peter grabbed me by the collar.
“If you don’t do this, I’ll never hear the end of it.” He smiled in a kind, snark of his. What that translated to was ‘If you dont do this, you will regret it for the rest of your life.’
There was a groan from inside the abode.
The door swung open.
“I said, in your little driver directions for you to leave them at the door-“ Thor slurred out.
Both of us, quite shocked at the sight of each other. For one, he had a stained vest top on, white and wrinkled. He’d worn a robe, untied and hanging loose around his, well in layman’s terms- fat bod. His hair was long, longer then it was but definitely better than the last time we saw him. His hair and beard, almost a reminder of what he used to have, a constant haunting of ghosts.
He was shocked to see me because I was dead.
“No.” He breathed out, looking to the ground. Tired. Done. Not Thor.
“What do you mean, no? Aren’t you a little shocked to see me? Not going to welcome me in with open arms?-“
“No. No as in, I can’t do this anymore. You can’t call this mischief. Its been, what, four years? What were you doing then? Messing around, taking longer to show up and ruin things again just so it hurts a little more every time!?” His rough voice reminded me of faðir. Worn. Torn.
I felt like an asshole. My little stunts have left him with trust issues. “Listen, let me explain myself, probably not the best way to open, but-“
“Get. Out.”
Hurt stung. He hasn’t seen any of his family members in years, his family all dead. Friends departed, separated or dead. And he would rather have me gone then in person in front of him.
Thor stepped forward, in such a way it made me take a step back in turn.
Peter gets in the way of us, showing that he’s there and not just the wind.
“Hey, I know how this might look to you-“
“Look to me?! Who are you, some kid he picked up along the way of hurting people he supposedly loves?” He turned to me, “You know I waited, for the moment you’d come back with a shit eating grin on your face, ready to come live in New Asgard with what’s left of our people. Every noise. Every sound. I’d look to see you and you were never there. You left me. When I needed you. You never look out for anyone other than yourself. This is exactly why you can never redeem yourself. You are beyond repair. You are beyond reparations.” Thor choked out.
My eyes hurt. Sun’s too bright, always watering my eyes. What he said stung because every bit of it was true. I was never the god of mischief, I learned that from Sylvie.
“No, Thor. You were right. As always. I am dead. I am not actually here.” I tried to show what Peter’s eyes did naturally: kindness.
Thor looked puzzled. “Is this another trick?” He was offended.
“No. Thor. You know in your heart, deep down, you saw I died. No trick could show what you felt in your hands.” Although, I could make a trick that made a cold fake body, but that wouldn’t help. “I am not your Loki. I’m from another timeline, almost like a universe separate to ours, but aligned.”
“Technically you’re just from a deleted timeline, not another dimension, but sure.” Peter added, needlessly.
Thor didnt know what to make of this. So I kept talking.
“I tried to explain when I got you, but I couldn’t really interrupt your little rant there. You really needed that I guess. Anyways, I’ve gone on this, really crazy adventure, first, in 2012, my timeline, Ironman and Captain America tried to steal the tesseract, they were from the future, and so when the hulk took down Tony (in disguise) I took the time to steal it, use it and get captured by the time variance authority, you with me?”
Thor was confused, like he didn’t really expect something like this, but there was a tinge of distrust to it.
Peter butt in with the tva info, “The time variance authority is really a fake time police? Fake as in they were controlled by not the time keepers, but this guy named Kang the conqueror-“
“Wait, Kang didn’t come in till later, while I was at the TVA, I was getting tried for my “time crimes”, basically how they control the people by getting them to follow the “one true timeline” this crazy concept created by Kang’s other clone kinda-“
“He’s like this crazy smart guy who discovered the other timelines. That’s how we got here. Using this little machine.” Peter takes out the tempad and shakes it around.
“Anyways I met a female version of myself named sylvie… we fought Kang and i dont know how but I ended up in.. another timeline? Or universe? Things were much different. I met this guy, he’s Peter by the way,”
“Hi” Peter shook his hand, leaving Thor confused.
“We killed Kang, who killed the old sylvie, but we also met a different Sylvie? And she’s with Tony stark now, like half a year in the future from now. This probably isn’t even that timeline… I will say, this multiverse thing’s very confusing. So much has happened, I’m basically a new person.” I say, using my arms to show myself off.
Thor stood there in silence.
“I don’t believe a word you just said.”
I frowned, “Fair enough.”
“Definitely seems like the kind of prank you would pull.” Peter unhelpfully suggested.
I turned to him, “betrayed”. He shrugged.
I huffed, “This isn’t even a funny joke, you really think I would come up with this lame of an excuse if I lied about being dead for 4 years-“
“Yes. Yes you would.” Thor gruffed.
The tall grass shuddered and the wind was brisk, brought tears to your eyes.
“Can’t we just go inside? Even if you don’t believe me and want to disown me later?” I compromised.
The half drunken, war torn, fat god walked inside.
“I’ll… take that as a yes.”
Peter and I walked into the alcoholic’s fermenting room. It smelled like beer and sadness. Two other life forms I did not know were playing video games on their flatscreen.
“Oh. You’re not dead.” The stone golem said looking at me. “Do you see that, Miek?” They exclaimed.
The worm didn’t reply.
“You can grab a beer over there.”
“No he can’t, Korg. we’re all out.” Thor grumbled, sitting on the decaying couch.
This is just… sad.
——————————————————
Loki was standing, watching the scene play out in front of us.
I didn’t really know what to think of it. I was sure they were gonna hug it out and forgive each other for whatever happened between them, but this just seems like Thor thinks he… faked his death? Loki looks.. tense. Thor doesn’t seem to recognize me on “the plus side.” It’s very embarrassing that I’m not as smart as I seem. It’s just that there’s so many idioms and I’m not really familiar with them. All though as you can see, I’m learning.
I guess Thor and I never met before my spider self dissipated. That makes sense.
The stone walls and the flat screen seem to be playing some sort of show. The smell is… definitely not something I’ve ever smelled before. The decor contains one fake plant… and that’s all.
“So, uh, Kork..” I started.
“It’s Korg, yeh.”
“Uhmm… What’s uh, what’s going on. What show is that?” I asked.
“Oh, it’s not a show. It’s a video game.”
“What game is it?”
“It’s a game called Fortnite.”
“Oh.”
We had games in the tva. But like… old board games.
I’m really sick of feeling stupid.
Loki took a seat next to the worm.
“I think you’re getting the wrong idea. I’m not faking my own death, again, I really died.” Loki reiterated.
Thor furrowed his brow. There was no light in his eyes. He was not the Thor I saw before. He wasn’t the Thor I heard in stories either. He was a shell.
I wonder what the look on my face is. One of confused sadness probably. Disappointment? I don’t know.
“He really isn’t lying. I saw most of it happen.” I tried adding.
“Hurff.” He grunted.
Silence except for the small “pew pew”’s from the screen.
“Brother. I’m sorry. I didn’t know… well, it’s more like I didn’t care that it would hurt you. I did it without thinking. But I’ve changed. I’m sorry I’ve hurt you like this. Truly. I watched it happen, my death. My real death. You cried over my body. And I hate that you could never know for sure if I really died. I met one of the only lokis that survived that night. The only Loki to get to grow old. He used his magic to conceal his presence and leave to a faraway planet.” Loki was cut off.
“And I’m sure he enjoyed every single moment of his vacation, WHILE I THOUGHT HE WAS DEAD.” Thor burst. The video game paused.
It was silent till Loki spoke once more.
“He hated it. Every single second. He knew you would move on with your life, but he couldn’t. He felt remorse. He was lonesome. And just as he decided he’d come to see you, instead of live out his life on that miserable planet, the TVA took him and killed him. But they couldn’t really. You see the tasers they use, don’t erase them, they send them to another place. A near void full of everything that broke their perfect vision. And he kept going. In every dimension until he died or got out. Just so he could see you again. I know you won’t believe me now. I’m not here to try and make you believe me. I- I’m here to apologize dammit!” Loki ranted.
Thor looked him in the eyes.
“Look, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it out this time, or anytime. I’m sorry I made it so you’d never know if I was ever truly dead, you couldn’t get closure. I’m sorry for messing up your life. I… I didn’t do anything truly mischievous, I was just an arsehole. I regret it and I’ve been proven to regret it. Every version of me. I didn’t want to move on without telling you this. I hate the tva for what they did to me and others… but without them you would have to stay without closure. So… this is it. This is my apology.” Loki was being as sincere as his soul could manage. So much so that tears were forming in both their eyes.
Thor stood up, and for a moment I thought he was about to initiate a brawl, but instead he took Loki’s arm and pulled him into a strong hug.
Thor was starting to sob. This is awkward. I shouldn’t be here for this.
“T-Thats the nicest thing I’ve ever heard. Definitely not something my Loki would’ve ever said. And that’s why I believe you.” He pulled away from the hug but kept his arms on his shoulders. “I don’t know what you’ve been through to become this way, but I’m glad you came. I feel like I can finally start to get on with my life.” He smiled.
Loki used his two fingers to pull off his arm like he didn’t want his full hand to touch it. “Yeah, maybe you should start with a bath? And maybe some dumbells?” He said jokingly.
Thor’s face stayed with the same content look in his eyes. He really missed his brother.
“Even if you were lying, I’d probably forgiven you eventually. You were pretty good near the end, almost redeemable.”
We left the stone house, wind with less bite this time and more of a cooling effect.
“That ended pretty okay.” I said feeling good about the future.
Loki had tears falling down his face.
“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” I ask worried.
“Oh, uh what? I’m not crying. My eyes are just tearing up, from the wind you know. It’s freezing out here let’s get going. I’m thinking the bahamas somewhere in 2015? Maybe the 80s? I don’t want another crazy thing to happen anywhere in the near future. We need a break.” He took the tempad from my hand.
“Uh… Okay-“
BOOM!
In an instant something hovering over crashed into us! Dragging us a couple feet over, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach.
My eyes shut themselves for over a minute at least. I slowly opened them and came to.
“Aghhhhhhhh!” I cried in pain, breathing in sharply.
Something had stabbed me. I look around.
We were not in New Asgard anymore.
“What the hell… are we in New York City?”