Two Blades, One Dagger

Family Reunions Suck

An icy wind blasted Loki in the face as he stepped through the portal.

Loki remembered Sweden. Although he never bothered to familiarize himself with Midgardian geography, Sweden had always held a special spot in his heart. He remembered visiting the region hundreds of years ago. The natives there worshiped him, and he had spent at least a century ruling over the primitive people. Of course, Odin had to ruin that fun, forcing him to give up his kingdom and return to Asgard, where he would be lectured about proper ruling etiquette for at least another century after that. Odin seemed to have no problem whenever Thor travelled to Midgard, and the people there would worship him, but he took offense at Loki's attempts to govern the people. At the time, Loki could never understand why. Now he knew. 

In a response to the sudden cold, Strange summoned a heavy fur coat, and Wanda created a magical red bubble around herself, which Loki assumed was supposed to block out the cold. However, he didn't mind the cold at all. In fact, it was actually quite refreshing to him. Loki was always perpetually hot wherever he went, whether it was Asgard, Midgard, or most other planets. He supposed it had something to do with his Frost Giant heritage. The only place he had ever been where the weather had not felt sweltering to him was Jotunheim, and he could never go back there. While Sweden was certainly nowhere near the frigid climate of Jotunheim, the weather was still refreshing to Loki. 

He looked down at his hands, which had gradually begun to lose color and turn a light shade of blue. The blue crept up his arms as the heat left his body. It wasn't painful, but it had been a while since Loki's true Jotun colors had come out. He suspected it had something to do with the cold. While he wasn't necessarily ashamed of his heritage anymore, he figured explaining why he had changed colors to Wanda and Strange would be an unnecessary waste of time, so he cast an illusion over himself so that he would appear to have him normal skin tone. At the same time, he also changed clothes with the wave of a hand. The ridiculous dress was replaced by his typical black and green battle armor, and the makeup disappeared from his face. He sighed. This was much better.

Loki turned to Strange, who was still huddled in the large fur coat. "What now?" he yelled over the howling wind. Snow rigorously pelted the trio. 

"The second Kang," Strange began, struggling to shout through the storm, "is up there." He pointed to a snow clad mountain range that loomed over them. "He works in a top secret research facility owned by S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Where is it?" Wanda asked. All Loki could see were the mountains. They were standing in a clearing surrounded by tall pine trees. There was no sign of any human life.

"There's an invisibility field around. I cannot portal us there because I've never been there before. We'll have to hike it."

"In this?" Wanda yelled, gesturing to the snow pelting them from all angles.

"Do you have a better idea?" Strange replied.

Loki, Wanda, and Strange hiked through the snowy forest up the mountain. It was frustrating to Loki how long the journey was taking. His whole life, he had had access to the Bifrost or horses or some other magical form of transportation. In the moment, he cursed himself for not snatching the Tesseract from the TVA. While it was useless there, it would've been a lifesaver in his current scenario. 

The trio hiked in silence. Loki observed as Wanda and Strange's breath both made tiny white puffs in the frigid air. Loki's breathe didn't show. His body temperature had dropped to match that around him, and the cold only made him feel more energized. It was like he had gotten so used to living with weights tied around his ankles that he had almost forgotten what it felt like to be at his full Jotun glory. 

An hour had passed, and the trio had made minimal progress up the mountain. The scenery hadn't changed much- they were still surrounded by towering pine trees. However, something didn't feel right to Loki. He couldn't put a finger on it, but his gut told him they were being watched. He inhaled, then exhaled slowly. After that, he paused to look over his shoulder. Wanda and Strange continued walking for a couple of steps, but then they stopped and glanced back at Loki.