What Comes Next?

chapter 8: Home

I smacked into the ground and laid there stunned, waiting on my body to report it's damage. My clothing was singed and I lay in a bed of shattered green glass..but was otherwise completely uninjured. I touched my thigh where my latest stab wound had been and found it smooth and perfect. My arms were also oddly scar free. I ran my fingers along my brow, the scar from an unfortunate run in with a Minuteman long ago was completely gone, new hair even filled in where the gap had been.

"What?" I wondered outloud. I stood as the fog in my mind began to clear and looked around. I was on a rocky hill surrounded by scrappy, leafless vegetation. There was no sign of the garden, palace or any Loki.

A shrill scream sounded from the ledge above my head as I instinctively  reached for my weapons. Instead of pulling the daggers Loki Prime had given me I felt my hand wrap around the familiar hilt of my own lost sword.

I readied for battle with a confidence I hadn't felt since I'd arrived. A small brown feline with tuffed ears poked it's head over the edge of the rocky out crop and screamed at me again, all pointy white teeth. 

I relaxed, more disappointed then relieved at the lack of violence as the little cat bounded away, glaring at me the entire time. I was absolutely buzzing with pent up energy.

I lifted my hand and called my power like I had with the serpent.  It instantly flared to life with little effort, the wave of power started at my shoulder and rolled down my arm, building until it exploded from my palm. The burst slammed into the mountain side, a booming green ripple swallowed the area of impact and then stopped. I held my breath as it floated there slowly rotating. It dragged hunks of massive debris with it and...waited.

"What the fuck. What the fuck??" I chanted as it started to spin faster.

"Wait. Ok. I'm a god. Stop," I commanded as it began to slow.
"I'm a god," I repeated as I slowed my breathing. I focused on the center of the emerald cyclone and watched in awe as it collapsed inward, everything it touched disappearing with it.

"I'm a God," I whispered to the massive crater left in front of me, the mountain side now appeared to have a giant eye cut into it.

"What the fuck." I leaned over to catch my breath, watching the tiny stones at my feet vibrate. I watched them dance for a moment and then sucked in a breath, eyes going wide as the sound of rumbling increased.

I stood, realizing the entire cliff face was tilting towards me. My sword vanished, feet pounding the ground as the first slabs of rock crumbled from the mountain.

A slab exploded just behind me when I realized there was no where to go. I was trapped in the bottom of a canyon, alone. I turned to face the avalanche, deciding in that split second to attempt shielding myself like Loki did on Lemetis.

I planted my feet, crossed my arms in front of my face and directed a wave of energy towards it, mentally picturing a giant shield. I threw my arms out to my sides as I released the energy. The stone kept falling, completely unhindered. I was mentally saying my goodbyes when my feet fell through the ground.

I landed on my back on a bank of soft white snow.  I took a moment to just look at the stars in the clear night sky before muttering, "where the hell am I now."

The cold wind blew across my face, carrying the sound of my name. I was fairly certain I had completely lost my mind but I stood anyway. On a not so distant slope a tall, slender figure stood silhouetted against a background of glowing green light.

I pulled my sword and waved, I hoped it was My Loki but I knew my luck made another death threat far more likely.

He waved back and shouted, "STAY THERE!" before disappearing into the light behind him. It went out and for a moment I was alone again.

The green glow appeared high in the air above my head, all I saw was his slender white hand reaching out and feeling around before disappearing again.

The portals continued to pop up around me, none closer then the first. Occasionally a hand would pop out, sometimes I'd see his face and once he yelled, "WAIT A MOMENT MORE! I THINK I'VE GOT IT!!" before he dissapeared and tried dozens more times.

I sat cross legged in the snow and waited, enjoying the show. Finally a portal opened almost directly in front of me, his two hands reaching out and clumsily patting at my head and face.

I leaned back laughing as his face came though. "Ahh, there you are." He declared in triumph shoving my shoulder down to the ground as he crawled out over me. He rested his elbows on either side of my head, his long legs wedging between mine. His eyes sparkled impishly as the snow began to fall, decorating his dark curls with delicate white flakes.

"Well this has all been quite the experience," he declared kissing me on the tip of my nose.

"So we make portals now," I said as he nodded "and we can blast things." He nodded again.

"I think I time traveled and got my sword back from the TVA. Well just my hand did. So we can time travel? I think." I continued uncertainly.

He smiled and shook his head in disbelief. "I didn't know we could do that."

"Me either." I admitted brushing his dark hair behind his ear. "The snow suits you."

"Ahhh." His eyes flickered back and forth in thought for a moment before he took a breath, looked at me and said, "I'm actually a frost giant."

His eyes changed to scarlet and his skin blue. He stayed very still as he allowed me to study him, his face open and accepting.

I pushed his hair back again, stubbornly insisting it behave for a moment and smiled. "Well that explains it then."

For a split second his face registered shock before it split into a wide grin. He rolled onto his back, gathering me to his chest and sighed contentedly. I laced my fingers through his and just rested feeling the rhythm of his warm breathing body.

In unison we called our power to our our laced hand and allowed it to mingle. Tiny electric sparks rained off, sizzling and melting the snow below us.

"So what if you could take us to any location and I could take us to any time?" I asked sitting up and looking into his once again blue eyes.

"Well that would mean we could go anywhere, anywhen under our own power" He said looking at me expectantly.

I felt my eyes grow wide as I considered all the possibilities. "I have one demand that must be met before I consider any further adventures with you, Loki God of Mischief."

His sat up and tilted his head, reminding me a curious bird, and said without hesitation, "anything."

"No apocalypses." I demanded pulling him up by his tie.

"Done."

********Epilogue*******

"When she sings, she sings come hoooome," We belted out the last line, each of the twelve of us going red in the face as we dragged out the ooooo in home. I dropped my head as I gasped in a great mouthful of air first.

Loki laughed triumphantly as he slammed another drink down in front of me. "You are quite terrible at this you know." He managed to say, still laughing.

I downed the drink in one gulp. "Ok my turn!" I said throwing my glass to shatter on the floor. The rest of the bar threw theirs down too yelling various versions of "SKOL!!"

I wrapped my arms around his neck and felt his hands drop to my hips, pulling me close. We swayed a bit from our drinks as I suggested, "Let's go watch a star form."

"Anything." He breathed into my lips as we kissed.

*Authors Note*
If you made it this far, THANK YOU FOR READING!!! Your support the past week has been incredible. This story was a stray 2am fantasy that I thought I could type out that night and be done. Instead it took on a life of it's own, insisting to be written. It was a lot of words in a very short time so please hang with me as edits and corrections are on going. A cover is in the works too! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. Until next time. 😉 Updated 7/6/21