Legacy

Despair, Hope, and More Despair

"Heimdall informed me she was hurt," Thor said, bursting into Gladsheim's healing chamber. "What happened?"

Loki couldn't help but notice his son's instant captivation with the fabled Prince of Thunder, the boy enchanted by a figure he had spent his life reading about. Why couldn't Heimdall have left Ollerus in Glasir. These were not the circumstances Loki wished his son to be introduced to Asgard under. He'd rather Ollerus meet Thor once a reconciliation had been established between brothers, eliminating any chance at Thor confusing the boy with misunderstood events.

Loki exchanged only a brief, tense glance with Thor before focusing back on his lover's broken and unconscious form. Sif was laid out before him on Eir's table, illuminated by the network of images hovering over her. This unplanned tragedy demanded his full attention: this horrific misstep that was undoing everything he had recently gained, this error that would put him right back in chains should the truth come to light.

"She got beat up by trolls," Ollerus spoke up in a timid, shaken voice, taking it upon himself to answer Thor's question. Eir was too involved in slowing the venom's progression through Sif's body, and Loki had no desire to converse with his brother whom he hadn't spoken to since humiliating him in front of the Warriors. Leave it to Ollerus to step in. "Then, I guess," the boy paused as Thor stepped closer, "a witch poisoned her?"

"Poison!" Thor approached the table with heightened concern. He then looked across Sif's bloodied body to Loki who refused to meet his incriminating gaze. "How could this have happened? Is she going to be alright?" Loki ignored him.

With a gentle shove to Thor's silver-scaled arms, Eir urged him to step back. She hated being crowded when she worked. "She's in a coma but she does not have long." Her voice was weakened yet she kept strong through it all, paying no mind to the frost burns she had suffered from Angrboda's attack. Loki was ignoring his injuries as well, bruises and bleeding wounds trivial in comparison to everything else at hand. He needed to go and to wake up Odin, but he wasn't sure how he was going to do that, nor did he want to leave Sif's side. What if she awoke briefly only to find him absent?

"I'm Ollerus, by the way," the boy angled his neck to view the red cloaked King next to him. "Y-your highness." Loki narrowed his eyes at Thor.

"I know who you are, son," Thor said in a calming voice. He moved to place his hand on Ollerus's shoulder but Loki wedged between them, guiding the boy away from Thor.

Loki placed his hands on his son's shoulders. "Watch over her." The tall boy was still wearing the leather armor Sif had forced him to wear, the set he hated wearinng. "I'll try to make this quick." Loki then left the room urgently.

"Where are you going?" Thor followed, jogging to catch up to him. Loki picked up his pace, saying not a word, which was only making Thor more concerned. "Talk to me, Loki. Why were you attacked by trolls? Who is this witch your boy speaks of?"

Loki remained silent, flustered that he now had to approach Odin with this incessant badgering. As if this whole situation wasn't difficult enough without Thor at his heels. He rounded a corner, his frustration then compounding when he nearly ran into Volstagg's barrel chest. He and Fandral were making their way to healing room, no doubt informed by Heimdall of Sif's condition. Loki tried to push past the massive warrior but was halted by a meaty hand upon his chest.

"Not so fast," Volstagg said. He then looked to Thor. "What happened?"

"Sif has been poisoned," Thor supplied and Loki winced. "Eir says it is fatal." This was not going to go over well with these the two.

"Poisoned?" Fandral echoed. He then shoved past Volstagg and slammed Loki against wall, withdrawing his rapier. "What did you do?"

A temperamental burst of magic forced Fandral back, the invisible wave knocking the warrior to the floor and jarring Thor and Volstags's balance. "Do not touch me." Loki spat. He then turned and continued down the royal corridor, hearing the whine of strained leather as Thor was holding Volstagg back.