Temptation

As time goes by....

"Happy Name Day, Prince Erik!" The cheers rang out across the hall. Erik stood and waved to everyone, smiling and bowing in the way expected of a prince of the realm.

Eva sat and watched her son, silently smiling. Thor watched Eva, silently wanting to take her and hug her and tell her, yet again, this would be the last Name Day without Loki. There had been so many.

Now, although she no longer had the flush of youth, she had matured into a warm, sensually beautiful woman. He loved her dearly. She was his little sister after all, but he wanted her to find love too.

Not the familial kind that he had wrapped her and her children in all these years, he wanted her to feel beautiful and cherished and wanted all over again. She shouldn't be lonely. After all, Loki wasn't coming back.

Fandral stood and raised his cup, looking at Eva. "To the mother of the most up and coming Prince in the realm. Her Royal Highness, Eva Baldursdottir!" he saluted her and drank deeply from the gilt edged goblet, his eyes glued to hers. It was no secret he loved Eva. Over the years, she had been a widow to the absence that tore her heart, and especially after Frigga's death, he had
become a source of strength.

Sadly for Fandral, his love was unrequited. She would never concede Loki was truly gone. Lying in bed at night, or beside the tree during the day, she spoke to him. Told him her thoughts and feelings. Told him news and gossip. The only thing she didn't - couldn't - discuss was Frigga.

Even now, many years later, she couldn't speak of the day her baby girl had been taken by fate. She'd never blamed anyone, least of all the horse, but she refused to talk about it.

On Blezan's return for the funeral, she had held him and sobbed. Kissed his cheek and told him how proud she was of him and how his father would be so proud. Even now, as an adult, Blezan referred to Loki as his father. He knew he always would.

Today, however, was Erik's day. Blezan had been granted leave to celebrate. He'd arrived the night before, and the two boys - now young men - had gone hunting then drinking with Uncle Thor, Fandral, and Volstagg. They laughed and joked and caroused until dawn. Volstagg crawled home to Gundrun and a rollicking for being out all night, Fandral Thor and the boys to the raised eyebrows of an amused Eva.

It warmed her heart to see her family like this. The only shadow was the one that Erik steadfastly insisted would one day be lifted. Blezan had come to a quiet acceptance that Loki may be gone forever, an acceptance that Erik just refused to contemplate.

It was the only subject the two boys ever fell out over. Drink and emotion had made this visit, no exception to that. Although now arms around each other's shoulder, the bruised cheeks and Blezan's black eye attesting to another 'robust' discussion.

When Thor had tried to intervene, he'd had to resort to pinning one prince down with Mjolnir while he spoke to the other.
They were nothing if not passionate young men.

Now, though? Now, it was all back to normal. Inseparable friends and mischievious brothers. Just like him and Loki, once upon a time... if only he was here, he would give him the biggest hug......

Loki looked at Mobius and Miss Minutes in turn. "If this fails, and we lose her..." he swallowed, "what happens to the loom?"

Mobius and Minutes looked at each other. "If the loom fails, if she destroys it, even if she simply overloads it, everything is lost. With the loom gone, there will be nothing to keep the strands of time in order. What Thanos did? Will look like a Sunday School Picnic." Mobius sighed, and both Lokis nodded.

"I see." They said in unison, a wry smile. "Don't worry, we won't let that happen." Classic Loki added with a side glance to his counterpart.

The three of them: Mobius, Loki, and Classic walked slowly back towards OB's workshop. "So, how do we get to her?" Classic and Mobius exchanged a look at Loki's question. It was probably the only and most pertinent question remaining.

Mobius didn't answer, merely reached under the desk. With a single swift movement, he turned and armed a pruning baton.

"What the hell, watch what you're...." OB began to object but simply disappeared in a glowing cloud of orange sparks.

Loki looked horror struck. He spun around to face the man he'd trusted most in the last few hundred years. "Wha.....?" He never finished his sentence as the world went black.

Waking, he looked above him. The sky was purple-grey and overcast. Where previously he'd been in an office, next to a desk, surrounded by bricks and mortar, now? Now he was in some outdoor wasteland, surrounded by derelict buildings and vehicles, with the faces of his newfound friends looking down at him.

He sat up, rubbing the back of his neck. He ached all over, the after effects of.... what exactly?

"I pruned you." Mobius said with a smile as if he could read his mind. "I pruned all of us!"

"What!" Loki got to his feet, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

"Why?!?"

"Because he needed to get you all here, you idiot." A female voice cut in from behind. Loki spun round, astonished. A small, blonde haired woman stood there defiantly. Dressed in black leather with gold accents and a black and green cloak, she wore gilded horns, one broken off at the root.

"Loki?" He asked, brow furrowed in confusion.

"Don't! Don't call me that!" She scowled.

"My name," she paused for emphasis, "Is Sylvie." She stood hands on hips, assessing him. "And if you think I'm going to let him manipulate free will any longer, you're a bigger fool than I took you for!"

Loki looked down at her, almost hissing at him like a wildcat. She was him, yet she wasn't.

She was...... bewitching......