Soul Healer (Loki x Reader)

45

*** Several years after ***

After all, you have seen, lived, enjoyed, suffered, mourned, and survived together, you were pleasantly amazed by the way Loki was still able to surprise you. In the good and the bad sense, of course.

With such an important ceremony set for the day after, the entire Asgard setting for a celebration, and the council fretting around, anyone was wondering where did Loki go, for him being nowhere to be found for half of a day. In the end, you had to bribe Heimdall to make him tell you where your husband had sneaked on.

The rainbow Bifrost made you land on a place you didn't recognize in the first instance, but it took you half of a second to know where the Gatekeeper had just sent you.

It was a place of beautiful, undisturbed, wild nature: a meadow of vivid green grass surrounded by breathtaking hills ending directly into a marvelous coastline, overcast by a sky light up with the morning light.

You closed your eyes for a moment, took a deep breath in, smelling the sea breeze and the clean air, listening to the ocean crashing below the cliff's edge.

You could feel the mystery beauty intrinsic of that place. The Allfather had faded away into stardust on that very same cliff, some years before, choosing his last moments to finally reconcile with both his sons. Yes, plural. Loki included, for once and last time.

Queen Frigga had majestically ruled the Nine Realms since then, but she had become too old, tired, and weak to carry on more. So, after a long, stressful, and extenuating year of council meetings, travels, truces renewal with the other Kings of the Realms the decision was finally taken. The whole Asgard was holding its breath, looking forward and preparing for the crowning ceremony.

Once you reopened your eyes again, you moved a couple of strands ruffled by the wind out of your face and behind your ear and sighed at the saw of the lone figure sitting on a rock at the other side of the meadow, right at the cliff's edge.

"Loki?"

The man's shoulders tensed for a moment but relaxed immediately afterward recognizing your calm and soft voice. Thus, he didn't turn but simply await for you to reach out.

The frosty grass crunched under your feet as you walked across the meadow, lifting your long gown just enough to not trip into its hem, your heavy cape shifting at your calves and whipping lightly in the chilly breeze.

"I was sure to have found you here."

You told him warmly, brushing lightly your palm across his shoulders and draping them with your arm, coming to sit quietly right at his side.

"You left without a word, nor a note, I was worried for you..."

The years hadn't succeeded in aging him. There were more lines of time and stress on his handsome face, but also more laugh lines around his eyes, lines that deepened a bit as he turned and looked over at you. You were still surprised about the effect his gaze had on you, after all that time: it was still so easy to lose yourself in his eyes, each vein of golden and green able to tell an entire story.

He breathed a chuckle and moved to wrap your waist, holding you closer at his side, his temple gently pressing on yours for a moment.

"Despite all I have survived, you still worry over me, uh?"

You left a light kiss on his jawline and nuzzled into his hug, shifting in it just enough to look up at him, your gaze flicking on his marvelous traits searching for answers.

"It's only because I worry over you that you have survived..."

You exchanged a meaningful, lovely small smile with each other. You had picked up the words from his parents as your personal, secret way to ironize on things, especially the bad ones.

"This please is beautiful, Loki, but you can't disappear like that... Sigyn was looking for his uncly this morning at breakfast, you know."

Thor and Jane had broken up a few years after your vows-exchanging and that let the pathway open for him and Sif to discover a weak point for each other. Some years later, they had a beautiful baby girl.

The image of Loki holding that little bundle of joy in his arms was still one of your most joyful memories, together with the day when she, grown just a toddler, zapped Loki with her first thunder right in his lower back, strong enough to sting and make him yell of pain and surprise. She was growing up with an impressive similarity to his father, the same eyes, the same cheerful laugh, the same... thunderhead.

Loki had always been a second father for her, the both of you pouring the love for the children you had never had. Oh, fae magic was great, and Idun's apples had been a boon for your long-lasting life, but there is always a price to pay, and most probably that had an influence on your fertility.

You hadn't lost the hope, though, loving each other in the exact same way and still looking forward to your family to grow. In the meantime, Loki had redirected his paternal instincts to his niece and the court's children, especially the ones with a hint of magic to whom he had become the sweetest teacher.

Loki sighed, and you held onto him for a long moment, landing your head on the top of his shoulder as he stared back at the ocean, his eyes trailing off the horizon, his mind carried away by a train of thoughts you could not listen, by surely guessing.

"Anxious?"

Loki reached to take your hand with the so familiar cold and gentle touch that he had carried unchanged over the times.

"Oh, Y/N... I craved to sit on the throne for half of my life and now that is going to happen for real..."

"You're scared."

You shifted a bit, turned to look at him, and stroked gently his long, corvine hairs, tucking a loose strand behind his ear, discovering his concerned eyes staring in front of him.

Frigga had of course to chosen Thor as her successor, because of the heritage line, but with great surprise of everyone, he had refused, leaving his mother, his brother, his family, and most probably the whole Nine Realms speechless.

The uncountable number of space travels he had had with Quill and his crew, and more recently the fight against Ragnarok, in which he had succeeded in saving Asgard but left him with an eye missing and a very bruised soul, had changed him in a way no one could have reasonably foreseen.

Yet, it took a lot of convincing and the threat to depart from the Realms forever, to make him finally succeed in carrying on his desire, make Loki the rightful kind of Asgard, and eagerly accepting to become the Lead of the Royal Guard and King Councilman rather than being crowned himself.

Loki fiddled with his wedding ring, absent-minded, and suddenly yours became more evident on your ring finger.

"After all this time, you still see through me... Yes, I am scared."

You sighed and gave him a warm small smile.

"Our people need a king, Loki, and you are a leader, you had always been. It's time for Thor to be who he is, rather than who he is supposed to be. You will do great, my love, I am sure you will. Trust me."

He looked at you in that lovely way it always made your knees go weak, your stomach turn knots, and your whole skin gave goosebumps.

"I guess that I remain with nothing else to do that trust you, my dearest..."

He felt silent for a long moment, then leaned forward, brushed his knuckles over your cheek, and let them land to cup your chin, pulling you closer to him.

"What is more than sure, my sweetheart, is that I will have at my side the best queen I could ever have dreamed for..."

He placed a light, warm kiss on your forehead and shifted enough to meet your gaze again.

"I love you."

"I love too... Always."

Despite all the ages passed by, Loki's minted scent, and his cold, soft lips meeting yours were the one and only place in the entire Universe you would have always named Home.

THE END.

For now.

***