Endlessly

Crimson Tears and Mysterious Crystals

"You." Laufey announces once again, eyes locked onto yours. "Come with me."

"Absolutely not." Loki stands from his plate.

"Please, my son- trust me." The queen steps to Loki's side, removing a dainty piece of jewelry from around her neck, and shoving it into his hands. "Until I return with her."

Loki inspects the object in his palm with a look that could only be described as utter disbelief, before looking to you, just in time to mouth the words "It's going to be okay." Before Laufey drags you out of the dining room by your arm.

Your heart leaps into your throat as Laufey pulls you down the dimly lit halls of the castle. You're practically paralyzed with fear at the thought of where she could be dragging you, but somehow your feet manage to keep up with her hurried pace.

Oh gods, this is it.

This is how I die.

She rounds a corner leading down a hallway even darker than the rest, and when you can hardly make out the shape of her in front of you, she stops.

"This is the only one I have left, but you will need it- when you return." She pulls a crystal from her pocket and shoves it into your hands.

"Wh- I don't understand." You begin to open your palm to inspect the object, but the queen squeezes a large, chilly hand over top of yours, directing you to place the item into your pocket.

"You will understand when the time is right." She gives your hands a little reassuring shake.

"Laufey?" You hardly recognize your own voice when you hear it echo back at you. The queen's eyes search your face, the ghost of a smile just barely visible on her lips at your casual use of her first name. "Do you have any other children?"

"My duty to Jotunheim has eclipsed my desire to have more children." Her warm expression remains, but the light in her eyes fades away. Her hands, still resting over top of yours, give you a little squeeze.

"You really are his mother, aren't you?" Your chest tightens at the realization- yet you're not entirely sure why. You don't feel remotely upset knowing that this woman is the mother of the man you love.

"I really am." Her subtle smirk spreads a bit wider. "But I'm unsure he will ever be willing to accept that."

You give her a melancholy nod. "Why did you give me this?" You pat your pocket with your free hand where the crystal lies. It is so small you can hardly feel it there, but the weight of possessing something so mysterious, and possibly incredibly powerful feels like a ton of lead pulling at your side.

"I think you may need it before I do." Her face takes a more somber form. "You are a very special woman to have won the heart of my son."

A single laugh escapes you before you can stop it.

"I know, I know." She continues. "How utterly cliché of me to say after meeting you for the very first time- but it's true. I've kept watch over Loki all these years, from a distance- a detail I'd really rather you didn't share with him; There have been a small handful of fleeting romances, but absolutely nothing resembling what the two of you share." She removes her hands from yours to very quickly brush away a single tear before it can make the descent down her cheek. One that you assume she'd prefer you hadn't seen. "He loves you, my dear- very much. Please do not hurt him. He's suffered more heartbreak than most men or gods could bear already."

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You and Laufey make your way back into the dining room, and she takes her seat at the table once again like nothing at all has happened.

Like she didn't just crush the life out of a mouse and then bring it back to life. Like she didn't just drag you away to the darkest corner of the palace to give you a strange gift and to be more candid with you than she's been-

"The Casket of Ancient Winters houses the arcana of Jotunheim. While all Jotnar possess a baseline of seidr upon birth, within The Casket there resides a virtually unlimited amount of power. An unlimited amount of power that can only be accessed by our people." She takes a deep breath, the weight of her next words already heavy on her shoulders. "Those of us who survived, possess magic powerful enough to tap into the Casket still- even at this great distance. We are extremely limited in what we can do, but between the few survivors there were after it was stolen, it was enough for us to create a warm shelter, grow a limited supply of food and to begin the process of trying to save our race." She begins to speak, her words catching in her throat. "The- The few hundred of us that are here- it's taken over a thousand years of work, pain, and death to get to the point we are at now. The meal sitting in front of you right now is my next three months' worth of rations."

You look down at your barely touched plate of various gray foods, the pang of guilt in your gut making you feel sick to your stomach. How could she possibly survive off of this? How will she survive now?

"It means everything to me to be able to greet my family with the very best welcome I could manage- but how could I have possibly kept you here, like this? Her watery crimson eyes lock with Loki's. "Even if you had survived in the beginning, somehow- you would have spent your entire youth starving." Her voice cracks on the final word.

"I never had any intention of holding you hostage here. Not then, and not now." She eases her eyes over both of you. "Take what I've told you, the things you've seen here, the things you've learned, and decide what each of you wishes to do with that."

You and Loki lock eyes for the first time in what feels like forever, both of you speechless at the information you've just been given, and who's just given it to you.

"But please, my son, before you go, let me see you." She rests a gentle hand on Loki's wrist at her request, his skin beginning to transform into a shade strikingly similar to hers underneath her touch.

He rips his hand away, his skin quickly returning to its usual ivory state. "No."

She pleads, "Why do you resist the truth so-"

"Enough!" He shouts, causing you to jump from the surprise, knocking your fork against your plate with an embarrassing clang. "For a woman who gave birth to the God of Lies- you certainly do like to prattle on about the truth a dizzying amount."

Once again, the queen reacts in an entirely odd and unexpected way, smiling at his words.

You can feel the irritation radiating off of Loki, and you wonder for a moment if that is the exact reason Laufey has been behaving so calmly that it's nearly condescending. It's getting under Loki's skin.

Perhaps she knows him even better than you've given her credit for.

"We'd like to return to our room now." Loki reaches for your arm and lifts you out of your chair. "We will be departing for Vanaheim first thing in the morning."

"Yes, of course." Laufey quickly rises to her feet to see the two of you off, the glint of another, single tear glistening in the corner of her crimson eyes.