Nico di Angelo and the Avengers

Chapter Twelve: All About Loki('s Numerous Betrayals)

Nico popped out of the shadows near the edge of the forest. It was silent, more so than usual, and Nico would wager a certain angry thunder-god had something to do with it. After all, who (or what) would want to risk accidentally drawing Thor's wrath unto them? 

Unfortunately, that silence made it harder for Nico to figure out where, exactly, Thor was... at least by conventional means. Nico sighed, and closed his eyes, expanding his senses. It wasn't his favorite thing to do (it often got too overwhelming too fast), but sensing out someone's Life Aura had gotten easier in the past few years, ever since the Second Titan War, and the fact that Thor's aura was godly, powerful, would likely help Nico pin down his location.

And help it did; a few seconds later, and Nico sensed the god; his Aura was crackling with electricity, vibrant and brilliant, and very, very angry. Nico sighed again, opened his eyes, and tentatively made his way towards Zeus' Fist.

He was greeted with the sight of Thor sat solidly on the ground, one knee up and supporting his right arm, Mjolnir by his side. The god's gaze was fixed steadily on Zeus' fist, and, feet away, monster dust crackled with the same electricity electricity that danced between the god's fingers, though he didn't seem aware of the latter. Tentatively, Nico walked up from behind him, before sitting to Thor's side, the hammer between them.

"Hey," he greeted tentatively.

"Loki." Thor said, not looking at Nico. "What has become of him?"

"He's in the Big House now. I made him swear on the Styx he wouldn't harm the campers, nor us, at least until we all went our separate ways."

Thor sighed, and hunched his shoulders. His hair, much of which had separated from the small braid holding the sides back, fell in his face, obscuring his expression from Nico. "I suppose that is good. And I suppose he was destined to join us, after all."

There was silence between them. It wasn't tense, but neither was it particularly companionable. Nico... didn't know what to say. Or, rather, he didn't know where to start, or how to say it, because there was oh so much to say in the first place, and all of those things were deeply, deeply confusing. Sorry would probably be the best place to start, but sorry didn't exactly cut it, nor did Nico really feel sorry.  They couldn't afford not to have Loki join them, after all. So Nico said nothing.

"I thought him dead," Thor said softly, after a long silence. "I suppose that makes me a fool. After all, it is not the first time my bro-- Loki has tricked me in such a way."

"You're not a fool, Thor," Nico said softly. At the god's disbelieving huff of laughter, Nico went on. "Really. You're not. Loki's your brother, after all. You're always going to care about him, and unfortunately that means you're going to hope for the best from him."

"Yes," Thor said, "Loki is my brother. Which means I should have known it was a trick."

"No," Nico said firmly, "No. You told me about Svartalfheim. Loki's a master of deception, and he tricked you. That's no one's fault but his. Besides, if I recall correctly, you were pretty busy with that whole 'trying to save the world' business."

A dry chuckle left the god at that, and, as Thor brushed his hair back, Nico was pleased to see the god smiling, if only ever so slightly. "Yes," Thor said, "That was a confounding factor." He sighed again, though, and the smile left his face. "Still. I was a fool to not realize sooner. I thought my father proud of me, and changed enough to let me go to Midgard even though he had urged me to loosen my ties to it for so long. I thought he... " Thor sighed bitterly. "But all along, it was Loki."

Nico shrugged. "You love your father," he said plainly. "Of course you'd want to believe that he'd changed for the better." He did his best to avoid his personal opinion of Odin, forged into pretty solidly negative fashion by the stories he'd heard. Mentioning his... dislike for the Norse god-king probably wasn't the best thing to do in this situation.

Thor shrugged. "Perhaps. Still, I must be more cautious around Loki now than I have been in the past. I will not be fooled again."

There was silence again, though this one felt lighter, somehow. It was clear to Nico that Thor wasn't going to forgive himself for a while, but at least he wasn't actively beating himself up over it.

"Thor," Nico said after a while, "do you know what happened to Loki after he fell from the bridge?"

"No," Thor replied. "He never told us, even when brought back to Asgard. Why?"

Nico hummed in thought. "It's just... When I brought up the mind-control, Loki seemed... panicked, almost."

Thor frowned in thought. "On Asgard, Loki never fell subject to influences on the mind; Our-- my mother taught him to combat such magic. Nor did my father pry into his mind when he was held prisoner; I suppose he thought Loki to not be worth the effort. No, never on Asgard did he suffer from mind control."

"I don't like what his reaction might mean, then," Nico said darkly. "Because clearly in the time between his fall and your Battle of New York, he did fall subject to such magic. And anyone who could control-- or even influence-- Loki's mind... Well. I don't like to imagine what powerful being might be behind that."

Thor looked like he had an idea, but he revealed nothing of his suspicions, instead of suppressing them, a frown on his face. "Still," Thor said, "his actions weren't entirely someone else's. Though we should uncover the truth, it will not be a truth that exonerates him. Not fully. I..." He sighed again, standing. "I thank you for finding me, Nico, and for your support. But I think it is time I talked to my brother."

Nico nodded. "Alright," he said. "And... Thor? You can talk to me, you know. You don't have to keep everything bottled up."

Thor smiled thinly. "I thank you again."

And with that, Thor summoned Mjolnir to his hand. With a winding swing, Thor took into the air, leaving lightning crackling in his wake.

With nothing else to do, Nico stared at Zeus's fist, and thought of Will. 

~*~

oh my god, the hammer pulled him off!

alfkjasldkfjsdf. I always thot it was funny that they had the Dark Elves be. You know. Elves. Because, uh. I... I don't really know how to tell MARVEL writers this, but, uh... "Dark Elves" are.... just another term for DWARVES in norse mythology. Svartalfheim (aka Nidavellir) is. You know. The land of DWARVES. So uh. Hm.

Anyway sry this chapter is so so short compared to some of the others, but I didn't really wanna stretch this out. Nor could I, really. But i WANTED to have this chap, and i wanted to have it now. I thought it was important to build Nico's relationship w/ thor, and also throw in a uhhhh JUST BC LOKI WAS INFLUENCED BY THANOS DOESN'T MEAN HIS ACTIONS ARE EXONERATED!!! He still did that, and he never showed any real regret for his actions (at MOST just for the consequences).  You can like a character and acknowledge their actions are shitty you know (i mean. to an extent at least. And it depends on WHY u like the character. but that's a whole 'nother rant lmao). 

Also this is a little off topic, but jsyk, the only valid loki is Thor Ragnarok Loki. I say this as a lesbian and as a Loki stan lmao. 

anYWAY next update should be soooooonishhhh. The next chapter is done & sad but i want to write (more of, at least) the chapter AFTER that to make sure i don't want to add anything lol. 

<3