Chapter Text
Loki stood before the pedestal on which sat the Casket of Ancient Winters. He was afraid. He wanted it not to be true, he wanted what happened on Jotunheim to have been some Frost Giant trick. He swallowed and slowly reach out, picking up the Casket.
“Stop!!” shouted Odin. He stood halfway down the steps, unsure if his should get closer.
“Am I cursed?” asked Loki, unwilling to turn around.
“No” Odin replied.
“What am I?”
“You are my son.”
Loki puts the Casket back and turns to face the Allfather. Loki's skin was now deep blue, raised marks running all over and his eyes were blood red. Now he wasn’t holding the Casket, his normal image began to return but there was no denying the truth any longer. Loki was Jotun.
“What more than that?” Loki growled.
Odin refused to meet Loki’s eye. He shoulder dropped as if suddenly being weighted by a great burden. Loki watched him and more truth dawned on him for the first time. He slowly advanced to Odin.
“The Casket wasn't the only thing you took from Jotunheim that day, was it?” asked Loki, glaring at his ‘Father’, his betrayer. This man was worse than Thor in every way possible, Thor was at least honest in his hated on the Jotun.
Odin sighed. Frigga had warned him that one day the truth would come out in a way he wouldn’t expect. His wife was always right in the end.
“No.” Odin paused for a second, as if readying himself. “In the aftermath of the battle, I went into the Temple, and I found a baby. Small for a giant's offspring………abandoned, suffering, left to die. Laufey's son.”
Loki was nearly floored by the revelation. “Laufey's son?”
“Yes” Odin said sadly, knowing that it would hurt Loki just a little more.
“Why? You were knee-deep in Jotun blood. Why would you take me?” asked Loki struggling to keep the tears from his eyes
“You were an innocent child.” Said Odin hoping it would be enough. It wasn’t.
“No, you took me for a purpose, what was it?” Loki demanded. He was no fool, Odin always had plans within plans. When Odin remained silent he screamed “Tell me!”
“I thought we could unite our kingdoms one day, bring about an alliance, bring about a permanent peace... through you. But those plans no longer matter.”
Loki tried not to think about the ways that that peace could have been achieved. He felt a little sick of what could have been asked of him.
“So I am no more than another stolen relic, locked up here until you might have use of me.” Rambled Loki a little unsure of what he was saying.
“Why do you twist my words?” asked Odin with pain in his voice. Loki didn’t care right now for Odin’s pain.
“You could have told me what I was from the beginning. Why didn't you?” Loki demanded again.
“You are my son. I wanted only to protect you from the truth.” Replied Odin, desperate for Loki to believe him.
“What, because I am the monster parents tell their children about at night?” Loki voice was full sorrow and hurt.
“No, no...” Odin pleaded.
“It all makes sense now. Why you favoured Thor all these years.” Loki was now being driven solely by his grief. It so completed consumed him, he failed to notice how weak Odin was becoming. He had advanced on the Allfather. Odin sat back on the steps and Loki loomed over him. “Because no matter how much you claim to "love" me, you could never have a Frost Giant sitting on the Throne of Asgard!”
Loki watched as the Allfather fell into the Odinsleep. His mind swayed from a desire to kill his betrayer, to a need to help his father. The need won out. Loki reached out and took Odin’s hand.
“Guards! Guards, please help.” Loki shouted.
Loki watched as the guards lifted Odin gently from the floor. He would be taken to his chambers where Frigga would watch over him. This was not a normal Odinsleep, Loki could tell. Odin and Frigga had always know of its approach and had prepared beforehand. This time there had been no warning.
Loki was confused. His Father and Mother had lied to him all his life. There were only a few people that he trusted and because of two of them, the world he knew was gone. The only other person in his life that mattered was Thor who was banished on Midgard, possibly forever and Loki wasn’t sure that he didn’t know the truth too.
Suddenly Loki didn’t want to be there anymore. He wanted to get away from those who hurt him. To be free from his captors. That was what he truly was, a Prisoner of War, a blood prize. The only problem was, where he could go so as not to be discovered? There were only 2 realms that would not recognise him on sight. Svartalfheim was a wasteland and would offer him little or no protection. There was then only Midgard, Earth as the mortals called it. Only there, he could hide. All he had to do was stay away from his brother.
Loki teleported away from the Palace and landed in a meadow as far away as his magic would take him. He cast a cloaking spell around himself, to hide from Heimdall. Only then did he open the doorway he needed. The doorway to Earth.