loki of the void

[mekachu04]

before and through Thor ragnarok. takes place in the missing scenes. should be COMPLETELY CANON COMPLIANT - that's at least the goal

His time as Odin gave him unrestricted access to Asgard's libraries the way his status of prince could not. And now - he looked through each volume with a purpose he'd never truly had before.

 

As a child the place had always held wonder to him. But now, with so much on the horizon, he worked with fervor; looked to stop a storm. to delay it. divert it. withstand it.

It was a spell he started weaving the moment he stole the All-Fathers face. His mother's council would have been ideal - and that was the wound that ached the worst. And while he mourned in private - there was little time or energy he could spare for more.

To be fair - he delighted in his reign. There were questions in the beginning, of course. He heard the rumors. But while some did wonder about the king's mood change - few complained. It was an odd change of heart that was soothing and peaceful to his subjects for once.

Actually, no one really complained. Commented sure - but what Loki didn't truly realize - is that his people were quite happy with the focus on peace within Asgard while it was rebuilt. The plays were amusing, and although odd, did boister the court. The warriors still trained - but Odin did not seem like he had any plans of outside conquest. Didn't seem like he wanted the off realm any longer than strictly needed. Asgard had all it needed at the moment - why exploit the other realms?

It would lead to unrest in time, of course, but it would also take decades for the novelty to wear off. So Odin held court, and security meetings, and dinners, and then retired to the libraries at night.

Outside of the feasts- it was wholly unlike him. And even the feasts - open to all of Asgard, regardless of rank- had more greens and breads than one of Odin typical affairs.

When the statue of his second son was commissioned - the wiser ones of Asgard chuckled, looked at the peace of their city, the rebuilt majesty of their homes after the dark elf attacks, and smiled. Loki would be an... interesting monarch, his last short attempt set out of mind for the time. And it would be a nice change up from the warmongers for a little bit. 

They did try to tell Thor as much once the jig was up - but it was not their place to interfere with the crown prince and the second son.

But as the Rightful Ruler and their Mischievous Dethroned King marched down the rainbow bridge to recover their all-father, they did not crowd the streets to shun - but to see the two brothers off with truly well wishes for them both and an amused solidarity over the entire upstaging.

Then - there was Hela.

*****

Sakaar was an unusual place - and Loki felt his heart race in the excitement over the chaos that bled off of it.

((looking for thor - never arrived, must have fallen somewhere else. subtle self loathing over sakaar being the realm of lost, so of course, thor would never fall here. being so far from the world tree was like being submerged in water - his magic slow to summon, and slower to recover))

Needless to say - he was thrilled to be included in the Grandmaster's court, and he thrived in a manner he'd never had a chance to before, even in his long life. His climb to the top court had been a challenge, but one he relished in every victory. He only wished his brother could see him - fighting a battle with victory forged with not a drop of blood split.

It was also home to the most eclectic mash of knowledge and stories, unlike anything he'd ever seen on his many travels. If he was a quieter sort, he could have spent a lifetime just listening to the lost lore thriving there in the Grandmaster's halls.

*****

The warlock -  a Voidwalker, she'd said - claimed herself from another time entirely. Anywhere else, he'd of rolled his eyes at the absurdity of the notion - but here on Sakaar, it was no more out of place than anything else. He could also sense a powerful magic from her that was unlike any other form he'd encountered before. And in a would of bright colours and loud extremes - she was quiet, withdrawn, and dressed in muted grey and browns. She was the fly on the wall he would have cast himself as.

And outside the grand tower and sprawling city, she combed the waste lands in a horned helmet of her own. And while it was drab and matte - he could see in it her good tastes.

It made him smile slightly. She looked good in horns.

it made him miss his own - but it wouldn;t quite look right here. at least not yet

The Voidwalker - while distant - was also not shy. She would linger at the feasts - but seemed more keen on eavesdropping on the gossip than the reveling in the decadence of food and wine and a good time.

She approached him in court, one that the Grandmaster was not at, he instead attended to his contest of champions. "Not a lot of spell-work on Sakaar."

He stiffened, before giving the woman he'd been speaking with a weak smile before excusing himself from her company, and turning to the Voidwalker, "While I'm sure you're right - I'm afraid I don't quite catch your insinuation"

She could have been human, albeit a bit tall for the female midgard variety, with skin as black as the night. Unlike the subjects of earth though - her eyes and hair were the faintest of blue, like a cold winter's morning. To compliment it, she wore heavy blue makeup - like warpaint - from temple to temple, with a hint of blue painted on her lips and fingernails. Her hair was short and eternally windswept, and she wore no other adornments aside from the ones decorating her robes.

But she looked at him with the unbreakable gaze of someone many times his elder - seconded only on this trash pile by the Grandmaster himself.  (new para or same? )) 

That was what worried him - that this Voidwalker might be his elder in every way. He did not appreciate a gaze that made him feel once more like a child, and none more so by someone to whom which that might very well be true. It was one thing to tolerate it from the Grandmaster - for he was the master of this world. But from a no-one in his court? ((where was i going this the thought? ))

"Why hide it?" she asked finally, "Here of all places - why wear a second skin?"

An elder that could read a shift that he himself would have never realized if not for his body's need to protect itself at any means - even one that would condemn his heart and soul for the rest of his long, weary life. 

He debated on rebuking her call-out, but she simply suggested, "You should recast - you're leaking cold," before leaving.

****  ((might actually not need to flush this break out ))

They didn't speak again for two days. But she was right; once pointed out, Loki realized that Odin's death seemed to have weakened his hold on the Æsir form Loki still subconsciously wore as his own skin.

"Still hiding?"

"I'm far from the only one; some people like their secrets to remain their own."

She cocked her head at him, but conceded with a smile of her own, "fair enough."

The grandmaster was at his contest again; Loki had little interest in blood-lust for blood-lust's sake, and had been speaking with one of Sakaar's court members on ...something trivial. He was hoping to turn the conversation back to a magic of the person's origin world, but they didn't seem too knowledgeable as compared with what he already knew. Running into the Voidwalker again was not his plan - but her words continued to still his heart and demand his attention each time she approached him, this time with a casual, "I'm not familiar with your spells - but the weaving feels like home."

((some internal comment about her reference to weaving and frigga's tapestries? ))

"And where is home for a Voidwalker?"

"No point in this time"

"Yes, I had heard whispers that your 'void-walking' involved time travel of some kind."

She sat casual, sniffing at a drink in hand, "The void is my dearest friend, my one true companion outside my stubborn ghost; but it was a machine with ill intents that sent us here - not a tear from any light of our Traveler."

"So could not your machine send you back?" he questioned, filing the 'us' and 'traveler' away for further inquiry.

She traded glasses with one of the attendants, and found this one more to her liking, "Sure - if we wanted to inform the whole of vex hierarchy of a completely unguarded and ripe-for-conquering point in time."

"Yay conquest," he deadpanned. At least could understand that much, if not the conquerors she spoke of.

She rolled her eyes, sipping her drink as the distant echoes of the gladiator's crowds filled the brief silence between them, "If whispers hold any truth, we come from rather close circles. I'm not sure how travel in your 'nine realms' works, because it is long gone before my time begins, but I do believe the planet so inspirationally creatively called 'earth' is at least familiar to you?"

"What do you mean gone?" earth was not a thing he was striving to protect exactly, but it would fall in the finges of his planes, so to 

"Millennia from now. ages to ages against each other - long after humanity's golden age has come and crumbled. Some ruins still stand against time - but only glorified refugees still live, and their history is lost in archives none can read. We are Risen, quite literally from their ashes, of a system wide apocalypse, fighting invaders from no less than four different systems. You fill the air with the chill of Mar's hive, by the way, but you are far too individual thinking to be one of their wizards."

"Mar's hive?" he wasn't aware of anything living on mars, nothing that would be advanced enough for hive mentality yet at least.

"Cold Removed and frozen, but oozing with a magic far removed from our Traveler." She seemed in a sharing mood, and her feeling for spells could be useful, so he prodded, testing the waters carefully, "You've mentioned a traveler twice now - who is he?"

"Not A traveler, but The Traveler. Though - of machine or god would depend on who you ask. Regardless, our Traveler is beyond our comprehension. So perhaps, both? Or something we've never imagined before entirely."

She sipped her second drink as he mulled the vague and odd description, tumbling it over as similar to what Midgard already thought of some of Asgard's advancements, "Magic or machine, but you don't know which. And you say this is on Mars?"

Nothing was said for a moment, not until the drink was done, "No - but that is where first contact was made. Rasputin, and Hive, are on Mars' poles now, with Cabal and Vex fighting on its deserts." A drink was handed to him, before she took a new, third one for herself, clicking the glasses together in a mock toast, "But Earth likely has centuries before our Traveler ushers in the golden age, must less a lifetime after that before the darkness collapses upon us. Still not not even sure where in this time Our Traveler even is."

He shrugged, he could offer no hints on something he knew not even a hint of until now. He mulled over the idea of a looming Earthen golden age - one apparently without the companionship on the other realms by the time the Voidwalker roamed. "You share... so much," So freely; to what means?

"Because something crawls around your sanity the way Ghaul hunted mine. I beat my demons, but yours still linger within you. And I fear that it will involve my world in my own distant past. My worry is - do I help you save my past; or is it meant to be, and the course must be stayed? Do I watch a genocide from the sidelines, because to intervene might erase me from existence?"

His jaw tightens, and she leans close. Outwardly, it would look to be an intimate gesture, one not out of place in the Grandmaster's courts, and she whispers softly, "You flinch at my title - you've been in the void, been embraced by the cold and the nothing within. Something, there in the nonspace, haunts you. And it hungers to tear you apart. The fate of the nine realms you fear so much for? Disappearing before the onset of my golden age? Might. Just. Be. Your. Fault."

He stiffened, and while he didn't jerk back, he was swift to move away, so busy himself setting the empty glass aside.

"Gotcha." The word was a breath, quick with no power behind it. But it twisted in his gut. He smoothed out his tunic, before giving her an uneasy look. He hated company that he couldn't read, hated not knowing how to play the field he was carefully stepping though, hated having to ask, "What /do/ you want?" because he hadn't already puzzled it out. Not completely.

"I want to know what is about to befall earth," her not-lie was at least easy to see, but then she was /bleeding/ void. And in this quite removed corner of court that they sequestered themselves in, his stomach dropped and he froze. It was freeze or flee, both unbecoming of his status. More than anything he wanted to flee; wanted to vanish - for him as easy as a thought - but to do so was a weakness he could not show here. Not to the court, where rumors could bring it to the Grandmaster's attention, or to her, who might still have something he needed, he just hadn't been able to pin down yet. 

then he was in the void again. He was falling., and falling. It was cold and weightless. lifeless. nothing at all. and he was so far from home, with his magic leaching out, spells unraveling and broken faster then he could hold them.  he summoned his seidr to  mend them, and found nothing responding to him, even his lungs seizing as air refused to allow itself to be pulled with in him. his glamour waovored, and he could feel the spell holding this pale skin in place dissolve like wet tissue on his blueing hands. juten blue, with blackened nails being lost into the backdrop of the void around him. 

Strange's magic crackled orange around him. it burned; too hot in this body. burning. red and yellow and scordinching.

no. purple. cold and heavy.

too hot

too cold.

he burned away, his flesh melted off his bones. his breath froze in his lungs and his limbs fell away brittle and black.

to feel agony after nothing was a glory as much as it was pain. a blessing and a curse in the same breath.

the hand that pulled him from the /too much/ and the /nothing at all/ grip of everlasting deprivation. Thanos' impassive face staring down at him as he was ripped apart. continue to suffer under the mad titan or be cast out into nothing once again. a willing slave to a ((megalomaniac? faux-god?)) or an eternal fall in a suffocating void. two options where neither would grant him the mercy of at least a final death.

His face was cupped by another, warmed leather firm against his frozen cheeks. A cool forehead pressing against his feverted head, "Breathe, child."

It was as much as an order as a suggestion. A command and a request, and air filled his frozen lungs, and seidr once again weaved itself into his being. The garish halls of Sakaar coloured in the nothing walls of his once prison.

The Voidwalker's hands were gloved today, but the maybe-human flesh of her face was bare and unblemished where it rested against his forehead. She was the void, already colder than his frost giant skin, so cold it stole warmth from him instead. She'd destroyed his ability to shift, and broken into his mind like he was once again a child, a babe laid out as a sacrifice for her curiosity.

He quaked, but unlike the last invader, this one soothed instead of burned. It still stole his thoughts, but instead of twisting his betrayal and grief into a weapon, it was a balm to his fraying edges. She wrapped up his traitors intrusive thoughts tightly from where they split apart unheeded, and instead smoothed over the cracks of his mind, filling in years of failure like his mother once again tucking his younger self in for the night; blankets pulled tight against the monsters of wild childhood dreams.

He could feel her picking though thoughts of Asgard, and Midgard, and Jutenheim, but it was only to smooth over rough edges; her focus adsorbing every errant thought he had on Thanos, soaking up his torture at the Titan's hand like a starving woman at her first feast in months. As fast as he could recall it, she eased it out of his mind; leaving years of his life in a hazy distant focus - like watching a far off play, neither in focus and whose voices reached you so faintly the words could not be understood.

"Can He be stopped?"

/No. / Every half formed plan he'd toyed with came to mind, each abandoned with too many what-if left unanswered. even Asgard's library completely at arms reach had left him with nothing concreted, no sure victory ever found.

"Can He be trapped again?'

Once he held each infinity stone, there would be no force in the cosmos that would not bend to his whim. He'd be master of - 

"What about outside this cosmos?"

She sat back then, letting him go - her connection thready, but still there. She looked like she was pondering her own words, so he waited for her to continue, "You have the start of a few traps woven - if we used these infinity stones' power to trigger one..."

****** ((mimics in the courts when he wanted to talk shop with voidwalker; or vise versa, if he was actually physically needed in the court, and all that implies. work in sex based magic while not having to be blunt? ))

"You do understand what is needed to lay this trap, yes?"

Yet another week  was coming to a close on his time on Sakaar, and the end of yet another strange meeting with the strange warlock. warmage.

in a lighter moment, she'd laughed at his title for her - Voidwalker still something uneasy in his heart. And while she'd admitted to the court her class as a warlock, she thought it funny coming from him. "You are the more the 'warlock' that am, at least in this realm. I'm more a Warmage, compared to your magic and silver-tongue."  ((does it break the mood to much?))

His glamour held tight the aesir form the court was used to, but he walked in his juten form with her; the two using every form of magic at their combined fingers to weave a spell of increasing complexity between them. Her void and gifted light, forming a tapestry with his asgardian skills and juten life source, with colours and textures borrowed from every learned outside-spell they'd mastered. It lined a fold in reality bent by his pocket space and stretched by her nova bomb to act as a catch all, a net to be cast for a macabre purpose.

It was a web meant to catch souls moving into the afterlife, a forced purgatory to harvest the power of the newly departed to power a trap meant to contain the inextinguishable.

The power it would take to cast out such a net was more than either could provide, even if they drained themselves out of existence. It would take a piece of the very universe to complete, less it would tear, and all efforts be lost. And it would have to be done in Thanos' presence, or it wouldn't know by whose hands to accept souls from. Ideally, it would have to be the last thing cast before Thanos touched the stone used, else Thanos' soul gem steal them away instead (unless they could get a hold of the soul gem itself, but Loki and Voidwalker both acknowledged the chances were unlikely in their favour)

To recover any souls lost this way, a separate casting of equal power would be needed. 

Voidwalker was the anchor to the spell, she already had something imprisoned in the void from before his chance meeting with her - something that resonated so closely with her own light that one end would always and forever be attached to herself. Once cast, the net would spread from her to Thanos, and catch all those slaughtered by his power that fell between.

It was beyond risky, and had too many what-ifs for Loki to place much confidence in. But if his miserable luck held true as it had the last decade or so, Loki had a plan. A plan that would allow him a chance to cast the spells needed. But the last one would have to be swift and was absolutely going to get him killed. It was just a matter of how fast he could cast, and to hope beyond all that was left in the cosmos that Thanos would only kill him for it once.

Because the titan was a mad bastard like that, and Loki knew from experience that even Lady Death gave back when Thanos asked.

*****(( first meeting with Thor, trying to rush the last bit of spells, but realizing they need a lot more time. loki shifting back to aesir after his illusion spoke to thor, glamour still on to hide his growing stress and exhaustion at the late hours they'd been working ))

"When you die - " the Voidwalker warned him, as he left shaken and uneasy from the Grandmaster's side - his brother being removed lifelessly from the crater the Hulk had left him in (how are they BOTH here?) still replaying his mind - "Be wary of the Stormcaller. I fear she will seek you out in my void. Her words will tempt you, maybe even more than I could have realized. She will promise you a great many things if you free her once your soul is pardoned. She has a smooth way with words as you believe yourself to have, and my lifespan and more to have perfected it. When she were given a chance to be more than just the eternal Risen, and to be Guardians of fragile mortality, she chose instead to murder those willing to protect others besides themselves, and she did it out of nothing more than sport.

"She held their very souls in her hands, and let them live only to torture them. She would side with Thanos because he's methods  would amuse her - and her bloodlust would rival his enamouration with Death.

"She is the anchor your trap was built into. The foundation hidden in its depths."

Sirens blared out across the city - the Lord of Thunder had stolen the Grandmaster's Champain. Voidwalker, conjured her helmet, a small ball with sharp edges flouting the space at her side as her smile was hidden behind blank metal plating, "Her light will be the seal. Once the balance of souls tips against thaon's power, he will be consumed by the void. The Stormcaller must remain. Her light is the only thing I can offer you, a sacrifice guaranteed to hold at least a eon. ((her light is ONLY gluing closed the seal, nothing more, the walls are powered by the infinity stones. ))

**** ((without being blatant; work into that turning Thor in was to give him more time for casting. world tree, ayda ydada yada. he knew thor'd be fine,and then they'd leave once he was better rested))

He did not see the Voidwalker again in the revolt. She did not come to his aid as he lay locked in place on the floor of the Grandmaster's hanger.

When he took command of his new ship and crew, he gave no mind to her either.  Perhaps - she was even in one of the ships firing wildly at them as they followed tho's made dash though the Einstein-Rosen bridge .

Maybe she powered their launch into the great folds of space. Perhaps her void ate away at their pursuers.

Then it was a race home - how odd to call it that so fondly after all that had unfolded. A race to save the people of Asgard from Hela -  and to slip in during the chaos in may be what was his only pening to secure the tesseract and slink off into hiding again

And then there was Thor - ignorant to his schemes, yet entrusting the God of Mischief with the destruction of it all.

****

As he watched his home engulfed in flames, ravaged by a monster set loose by his own hand, his heart gripped tight the tesseract as he stood on the bridge of thor's tiny borrowed ship. He almost wished he could of let the stone burn with it - he hated the pull it still had on him, the lingering grasp of thonas had on his mind, even across space and time.

But he needed it, and now would be no more of a perfect time he would ever get. This spell was supposed to include the Voidwalker - it was too much to cast alone, but he refused to be so cold-hearted to let the universe burn, just to catch thoans. he was aware it would burn in turn either way, but at least, right now, he had a chance to undo everything thonas worked for, and to undermine the titan was the more glorious purpose Loki could pledge to right now.

Ragnarok would unleash a wave of power no single entity - not even thonas - could harness is one sweep. and when his realm finally crumbled - as it exploded out of existence - Loki was the conduit. he used the stone to pull asgards death into himself, through himself,  and to weave the outpouring of energy into the tapestry lining the nonspace stretching from him to the Voidwalker.

It ate away his very self, devouring his seidr compely, before turning to feast on his blood and flesh and bones, as it was funneled through him. The very magic that strengthened Hela was now forced though his tiny form in space, woven into a space that did not exist in this realm. Too much, and even he was too young and small in the scale of the cosmos to remain.

and once again, Loki died. 

*****

The ship was frozen when he awoke. literally. The engine had stopped, and any moisture in the air had crsyiced, ice clung to the cold metal surfaces. on the cockpit floor, his hair coiled and curled around his cold flesh under its own power, short horns ripping from his skull in a cruel mock up of his battle helmet. too many magics coiled inside him, all fighting to devour him, and in thier unwillingness to share with each other, the void was left to rebuild him in the image of its own choosing. It was like the warmage's spell work, but also like the void that still haunted his own dreams, that held him too long in its embrace, that still came to mind with every trip or jump, no matter how small the distance.

It took too long to control it, and even the stone lost its luster in his hands, as it became just another warring force in his being. He wanted to go back to death, and be free of this, but the void never did let him rest.

"little blue man"

the slow drawl came over the ships speakers. it was a question, and a statement all in one, and Loki forces himself aware again as he tripped frankicle to place to voice. the net was in place, the void ready, and he was exhausted. he had needed weeks to prepare for this, and he'd needed at least the voidwalker to ground him. but he had cast with neither, and now his mind was a scattered as his magic - his body broken and crumbling, with the nothing trying to fill in the holes. If he didn't focus, he'd dissolve, and that real fear, was what he clinged to, trying to force himself to the material plane again.

arms still only partially formed, he pushed himself into a sitting position, the voice that brought him awareness needling at his mind to be placed. the fact he was not alone demanded to be acknowledged.

sure enough, a vidscreen was open, linked between his small craft, and another - no. still linked. linked to his original stolen ship from before hE left. and Banner's other looked back at him with a mix of childish curiosity, and boredom.

wonderful.

"little blue man tired." and accusatory. "Sleeping instead of flying, " bored, curious. and accusatory. Again, wonderful.

the hulk didn't seem to recognize him like this - loki wasn't sure he recognized himself, still too much void than flesh. changing forms now would alert the great angry one to who he was; and while banner and loki had shared come strained civility earlier, loki knew no such restraint would be extended to him by the Hulk. and loki was unsure he could shift right now even if hulk was not watching

but Thor was likely suss him out, and this form would raise too many questions, and Loki had not the clarity of mind or the energy right now to answer any. norns - he just wanted to die.

"Maybe, blue man can't fly?"

or sleep at least. It was the most Loki's ever heard the Hulk say in one go, and he was not going to run away from a verbal sparring match by the hulk, no matter what he would rather no, "I can fly. shut up."

he couldn't even stand - only his left leg had finished reconstructing itself to flesh. and he was so very tired. still, not to be bested by hulk, loki dragged himself back into the pilot's chair. he wanted to shut off the video - but he knew realistically, he was unlikely to stay awake without the need not to be shown up. the pure need not to look weak in front of a beast that once smashed him like a ragdoll was all he needed to force himself into navigating to cold ship back to where thor's larger vessel was drifting. how he was going to land the thing he was still struggling to plan.

Hulk's simple short statements kept him on task. not necessarily helping, just mild chirps to keep his attention from drifting.

"little blue man comes inside now."

how had he come to receive such concern from the Grandmaster's Champain? where he more alert, he would have recoiled from the worry rhe massive beast sent his way. This was the monstrosity that had tossed both him and Thor like children's toys. the man that had stopped him from completing the task thonas had conspired him into. the man who had prevented Thanos from receiving the tesseract.

the man who'd unknowingly prevented the execution of the universe, and was likely to never know it. Banner may be at odds with his other half, but the cosmos were in his debt, and only Loki was left to acknowledge that.

it was risky to teleport in moving space -and riskier to do so to a place he did not know. he pulled his bleeding magic into him again - almost solid now, and /moved/ to the only place he could see. he half hoped it would kill him - but he also knew there was still too much to do before he could allow himself be faded from the living world. when he appeared on the larger ship - it took every bit of his power to remain solid. there was nothing left to keep him awake.

****

"oh, hey man. you okay?" he was still on the floor, the metal tile a soothing cold under his cheek. stone fingers too gently turned him on his back, straightening his limbs from their lax ascument in his fall. he didn't want to be awake yet, but he couldn't 

"Wake up." deeper voice now, but this one did not touch him.

"little blue man," the deeper voice wasn't addressing him, so much as explaining him.

Korg and Hulk. How delightful.

to be fair though, Loki actually did not mind Korg so much, simple creature as he was. The rock man was sincere and kind, and for some reason (or maybe just for being slow witted) he seemed to not mind Loki's strange, but brief rule over him.

He was helping Loki sit up now, not seeming to mind if Loki pitched over a bit to rest on the rough skin for support. at least the cold of his flesh didn't seem to bother the other alien.

"Blue man too cold. like ice." Well, apparently, it bothered hulk. The green man must have tried to move him. How much could the hulk take before frostbite set in?

"yeah man, are you sick?" korg asked, as the two stood, hulk actually hovering on his other side,

he shook his head"Just.... very tired."

"you want a healer? we have some - they - "

"NO!.. no.. I just need to rest."

"Yeah, okay man."

They continued in silence, navigating the great ark ship, and Korg found a room not already occupied. it was small, not much bigger than the cot - and loki expected it was a supply closet more than a real room. but he was collapsing into the stiff mattress without complaint -

"before you sleep, "

loki struggled awake again, forcing his head up to look at korg who was looking rather concerned

"There was another man out there - maybe you saw him. he's call loki-"

"puny god" hulk corrected

"-uh yeah - did you see him when you -"

"He's fine," Loki assured the man, oddly touched by the rockman's concern for his well being, "he'll catch up in his own time."

the war korg's face lit up was staggering, "you saw him!" and even more awkward was that hulk seems... less tense.

"hmm.." he was so tired, "He said you're own your own for a bit. you can be in charge if you want."

korg and hulk wander away sometime after, but that did not mean he woke (after??  - what did i write? XD))

At some point after,  one of the surviving healers of Asgard entered, drawing him awake again. she wore extra blankets around her -someone had blocked the heater vents to the tiny room sometime while he slept.

At first, he wasn't sure what - if anything - he should say to her. He made a move to sit up, but she responded by gently placing a gloved hand on his arm, "king Loki, you /are/ better, but still recovering. You must rest a little longer."

he must be feverish - delusional.

"We haven't told your brother yet - and I don't think your other two guests reliezed it was you. so , please, for the time being, rest a while."

the healer soothed his wild hair from where it was tangling on his forehead, wrapping around the devolving horn. A monster he must look right now. but the aesir woman's face was one of kindness and peace.  "You were a strange king to be sure, your first reign one of heartache, we know now. but even when you tried to hide it from us, we knew - and you were very much a lovely ruler. you were good to us. rest, and then join your brother - in any form you like - when you next rise."

He chose the skin his brother knew best - later, surprising Thor in the new king's quarters. Thor surprised him back by embracing him so tightly, he thought he was coming undone again.

it was an uneasy peace

    it would not last

      loki would like to try it for a spell anyway

he really thought he would have more time