Spiderman Oneshots

Loophole (1)

For BreKitten_Meow .  Contains NWH spoilers.

Thor was the King of Asgard (temporarily, anyway, whilst he gathered enough mortal alcohol to convince Valkyrie to take the throne) which meant that the regular rules didn't apply to him, and he had access to all the resources of the Ancient Ones. Including the Forbidden Magiks. And whilst the Eternal Law forbade the reanimation of the dead, it said nothing about snatching them across time and space from the moment before they died and instantly healing them.

Look, Thor had only just got his brother back and he wasn't about to let him go that easily. Having an entire planet of people look to you is tough, and Loki had always been the one better with words - and at taking him down a peg or three. So Thor had maybe just a little bent the rules a tad. In other news, Loki was back in New Asgard, alive and well, and things were going about as smoothly as could be expected.

Loki, for one, was glad of the circumstances. Whilst he had been prepared to die at Thanos's hand to save his people, it wasn't the ideal ending and altogether far too heroic for his tastes. At least this way he had a chance to tip the scales back to chaotic neutral before he died for real.

Plus, if he hadn't been alive, his oaf of a brother wouldn't have noticed the spell.

Loki was in the royal garden (currently a few wheelbarrows full of sacred plants in a barren patch of icy land near a shed, he was working on it) when he felt the spell sneak into his mind and try to take ahold of something. Loki hissed out a laugh. A mere spell thought it could fool him, the master of trickery? He was a god, and the thought that a mortal could dare attempt to confine him to their whims was ludicrous. Besides, he had spent centuries refining his mental barriers, and the spell simply scrabbled uselessly at their edges, so easily defeated. He plucked it into his mind's eye with mental fingers to examine its intent. It was a targeted forgetting spell, but for what exact memory remained unclear. Intriguing - who would go to such lengths to make him forget something, and what?

Then he looked a little closer, and was admittedly surprised to see that this was not an independent spell, but a mere tendril of a much larger incantation. How many people had it been intended for?

Loki put down his gardening tools and hurried towards the log-cabin palace in search of his brother. Every Asgardian he passed carried the distinct scent of the spell in the air around them, fading fast. None of them seemed to be acting differently, but Loki was anxious to find Thor nonetheless. Had everyone been affected?

"Loki! I thought you were tending the gardens today?"

"I was, until the spell struck. Someone dared-"

"A spell? Are you alright?"

Loki huffed at the show of worry. "It was a pathetic spell, easily crushed. Did you not detect it?"

"No, brother. You have always been the one more talented with the seidr."

Typical. Loki opened his inner eye and quickly spotted the spell buried in Thor's mind, burrowed deep and coiled protectively around a bundle of memories. It was doing nothing worse than disguising them from Thor's attention, which was a relief. The memories were intact and recoverable, just hidden with a simple glamour. Loki was an expert of illusion, and destroying them was even easier than creating. Without delay, he strode up to his brother and knocked the god across the head, causing a wisp of golden light to come shooting out of the opposite ear. Loki caught the squirming spell and held it firm, then looked expectantly at Thor.

"The Spiderling," Thor said instantly, mind cradling the revealed memories.  "Peter. I forgot Peter."

"Peter?" Loki repeated, frowning down at the spell as he recalled meeting the young man in question. Why would somebody want the whole world to forget Peter? Thor and Loki had met the Spider-child on an impromptu trip to visit Thor's Avenger friends, and as most of the 'heroes' were understandably wary of him, Loki had spent must of his time there with the boy, listening to his mindlessly joyful babbling. It was the most protective Loki had felt of a child since... well, forever. He could imagine no reason to erase his existence.