Recompense [Fólkvangr End, Book 1] [Loki Fanfiction]

Chapter Ten

Author's Note: I didn't plan on posting this quite yet, but as I am going to be away through Monday and not going to be able to post until probably Tuesday at the earliest, and at the behest of a great fan, I am posting this special chapter right now. I can't believe it's already Chapter Ten of this madness, and it's truly only just beginning! But as always, I love each and every one of you! Also, the reason I'm going away this weekend is to audition for colleges, as I'm going as a Musical Theatre major! Wish me luck! See you in a few days! And give me the greatest present you can by commenting and voting, loves!

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“Well, if it isn’t Valkyrie Sutton. Your name suits you ill, as I am sure you are quite aware,” Loki says without even turning around. I keep my hand on the door behind me, hesitant to take this step into the cage. I am an idiot. I am a total idiot. Locking yourself in here is not what a sane person would do, Val!

The door clicks shut behind me, “Hello, again, my friend.”

“You are no friend of mine,” Loki laughs emptily.

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot. Because you don’t have any friends.”

Loki spins around to face me, his face looking more gaunt than usual. “Is this really what you deem wisest? To continue to taunt me with your juvenile games? I’ll none of it, child.”

“You look like shit,” I comment noncommittally and he grins at me, getting suddenly much closer to me now.

“You look good enough to eat, and I must say, I am famished,” he sneers. I sniff, looking away from him, refusing to give into his taunting. If this is how plans to conquer me, he’s got another thing coming to him.

 I meet his piercing green gaze with my own, not backing down now, “You know what I’ve figured out about you? You are nothing but a depraved, power hungry little prince who fancies himself worthy to rule. But you could never, now could you? Not only because you are mad, but because your very blood betrays you.”

"You believe you know so much, when you know so little," his lips press into a firm line.

"Mhmm," I nod, leering back at him. "Oh, of course. You're right. You're allowed to wallow in self pity and loathe yourself because you are a terribly misunderstood, brooding god with daddy issues."

I can see his spine visibly straighten and he lurches towards me. I hold up a finger and waggle it in his face. His body quivers with the anger pulsing through him. "How dare you insult me, you insolent quim!"

I break down on the antagonizing a bit. As much pleasure as it gives me, it simultaneously terrifies me to push his buttons. At least I'm beginning to grasp a sense of what precisely makes him tick. Or explode. "Loki, you seem to think you're the only one who has ever been wronged or felt betrayed in the history of...forever. Your father lied to you all your life, hid who you truly are from you."

"Who informed you thus, mortal?"

"I've told you, it's Val." I grit my teeth a bit, frustrated. He appears just as impassive as ever. "Well, I'm basically just trying to say...I understand." He scoffs and turns away but I press on with my revelation. "My parents lied to me. Hell, all parents lie. That's beside the point. Up until a few days ago, I thought I was just another normal girl. Then a Norse freaking god drops in for a visit and I end up here. Only to find out that my parents, naturally, are not who I believed them to be. Christ, not even the names I've heard over and over since infancy are true. Everything is a lie. So I understand."

"Hardly," Loki mutters. I don't let it phase me much.

I sigh, closing in on him. "And that's the last thing. You and I, Loki Laufeyson, we are even more similar than you know."

"I fail to perceive what you and I have in common, mortal," he sniffs as though the very idea of it insults him.

"My father," I cross my arms over my chest, "is Gymir."

Loki glances my way and I nod firmly. "My mother is Astrild."

He waits for it. I close my eyes and breathe deeply, as I realize the feelings it brings up within me. I have to push them away--I can't get through to Loki if I let him know how unstable I am.

"I am Jotun...Frost Giant, like you. And I am Asgardian, like you. We are so very similar, you see."

He licks his lips absently before twisting his torso about so his whole body is facing towards me, "What do you want from me, fool?"

"I am not a fool! Would your brother have come to the shamed child of disgraced parents if I was merely a fool?" The question is rhetorical, but a peculiar expression dances right through his eyes.

He sniffs, "Thor is a fool, child."

"Maybe," I shrug noncommittally. "But you're not. I am here for one thing and one thing only--to save Asgard. And that means I have to save your sorry ass too. But I know you for what you are, and understand more than you will ever admit. I believe you may prove to be more valuable than I realized, Loki."

I turn to go and suddenly he grabs me by the wrist. I turn to look at him, trying to get free. The icy touch draws my very breath away.

"Loki, let me go," I bite the words and a wicked smile crosses his lips. His eyes are locked onto mine, never straying. I can feel him peering into my soul--and it rattles me to the core.

"What? You want to know how similar we are? Do you truly desire to see?"

There is a tingling and he yanks my wrist so abruptly I hear a muffled pop. I look down and where his fingers meet my skin, a shade of light blue bleeds into my skin and spreads out, trailing up through my arm. I can feel the sensation all over--at once both unpleasant and wonderful. I look up and realize the blue has enveloped Loki as well. I look into his eyes and they are a bloody red color. Intricate patterns decorate his skin in the form of raised designs. It's almost beautiful and repulsive.

I reach up to touch his face out of pure curiosity and he swats my hand away and drops my wrist. His blue fades away, but I look down and remain blue. "Does it not go away?"

"Oh, it does. If you have control of it. And you do not. I've marked you for all of Asgard to see, and you shall stay this way until I so see fit to release you from it, mutt." He snaps. I back away slowly and out the door, assuring it is closed behind me before I dart off to find someone...anyone to help. I peer over my shoulder and the broad smile on his lips is ingrained into my mind.

"Mother! Father! Thor!" I run back into the gilded halls, pausing momentarily as my blue skin is reflected in a golden door. Suddenly, my body crashes to the ground hard, my cheek pulling against the friction of the marble floor. I get flipped onto my back and I am staring into the beard of Volstagg.

"Ow," I groan under his weight. I try to sit up but he presses the cold metal blade of his sword to my throat. "Get off of me, Volstagg!"

"Who let you in here? What do you want from us?" He demands, kneeing me in the stomach. The air rushes from my lungs and I can no longer breathe.

I try to squirm but his girth has literally all of me pinned down. "Halt!"

"Why should I halt, I have captured the Frost Giant loose in the palace!" Volstagg argues. My head feels light and my vision is blurring. I'm sure my lips would be noticeably blue...if they weren't already blue like the rest of my body.

"This is not a Frost Giant, fool! That is Valkyrie! Let her go!" Fandral pulls Volstagg off of me and I gasp as the air rushes into my lungs again. I cough and Fandral helps me to sit up and he gruffly pats my back.

"I'm fine...I'm okay!" I sputter.

Volstagg roars an apology, "Lady Valkyrie I have harmed you most foul!"

I try to indicate that I'm fine but both men are fawning over me. Fandral more noticeably, but he is all about the chivalry.

"What curse has befallen you?" Fandral asks as he helps me to my feet and looks me over.

I groan, looking at my blue hands before they stretch up to my face. "I'm so blue." I gasp. "I swear I will kill Loki with my own bloody blue hands!"

"What madness is this?" I hear Thor's low rumbling voice as he rushes towards us. I turn to him and point at myself. "Val...Lady Valkyrie?"

As an explanation I merely mutter, "Loki."

"How...?"

"I don't know," I grumble. "I think he thinks this is funny. I won't change back until he decides he wants me to."

A guttural sound comes from Thor's throat. "I think we shall see my brother now."

I reach out and grab Thor's arm and his eyes trail down to my blue fingers, wrapped part way around his tanned arm, and he flinches ever so slightly. "I want to see my parents."

"But Loki must return you to your normal state, friend," Thor argues and for some reason, I don't like it. I pull away from him.

"Is not this my normal state?" I bite, angered and bitter. "My parents deserve to see me like this. After all, this is what they kept from me for 22 years."

"My lady..." Fandral tries to reason with me but I hold up a blue hand to silence him. 

"None of you shall change my mind, I am going and I am going now," I state firmly before turning on my heel and heading towards my parents' chambers.