Echoes in Time

Friends Reunited...

"Loki.... Loki...come on, wake up..."  The soft hand stroked his forehead, pushing the dark locks back and coming to rest on his cheek. He smiled without stirring himself.  He knew that hand.

"Just a couple more minutes, mother... please?" he snuggled into the blanket and screwed his eyes up.  It was a scene replayed a thousand times over his childhood.  This time, however, as the words sank in, his eyes snapped open, and he sat up.  

He wasn't a little boy, avoiding his lessons.  He wasn't a young man avoiding his hunting practice.  He wasn't even just avoiding having to get out of bed and do "adulting."  He was Loki of Asgard on the run from the TVA, and he was here. In Asgard. In Frigga's chambers. 

Frigga smiled and sat on the bed beside him. "Sleep well, darling?" she asked softly, smiling and holding his hand.

He nodded, unable for a moment to form actual words.  This was everything he'd dreamed of for so long. His eyes searched her face, memorising every line and curve. Her eyes twinkled with almost as much mischief as his.  Her mouth, equally capable of scolding or praising but always with a gentle smile.  Her hair, flaxen and long, flecked with tiny strands of silver from a lifetime of worry about a husband and two sons who seemed determined to do themselves harm at every turn. But most of all?  Her arms. The arms he'd craved in his darkest moments.  The arms that had made him feel safe in a sea of waking dreams.

"Hold me, mother? Hold me and tell me it's going to be ok?" he knew he sounded like a child, for in that moment, that's all he wanted to be.

"Oh Loki, only you can make it ok.  You and Mobius and OB...." she paused, and he looked up at her.  She smiled, waiting.

"Who?"  he sat up, puzzled, his fears for the moment allayed.

She wasn't disappointed.  Loki's curiosity always did cut through any situation.

"OB. Ouroboros." she smiled and stood. "Come on, let's have breakfast, and I'll tell you all about him..."

She led him out onto her private balcony.  A hawk came and landed as she did so, and she smiled, holding out her gloved hand.  It hopped on and looked at her intently.  She nodded, whispering a small thank you, and the hawk took to the sky again.  His harsh calls echoed across Asgard, announcing his presence and making a few small mammals .

"Haukon came to tell me that there has been a new arrival at the palace.  We don't have long.  Please, sit."

Loki looked at the rapidly shrinking raptor as it climbed into the blue sky above them.  He'd always known his mother had an affinity with them. He didn't realise it extended to actually talking to them.  Before he could say anything, she grabbed his hand and made him sit.

"I said sit Loki!" she laughed."Always the same.  Head full, eyes blind. " she passed him a bowl of fruit. "Here... eat."  He sniffed and scrunched his nose up.

"No thanks, you don't.... no, I don't suppose you do." he sighed and smiled wryly. Sometimes, he forgot that McDonalds was a very Midgardian and very 20th-century thing.  He'd kill for a breakfast muffin about now.  He took a piece of the most appealing looking fruit and bit into it, sighing.

"So, yes, we need to get you on the go.  It appears the TVA has indeed tracked you here.  I don't know how, and to be honest, it doesn't matter." she put the bowl down and lifted a cup of peppermint tea.  Sipping it carefully, she looked at him. "You don't know who OB is then?  Mobius never told you?"

"Nope." he finished the fruit and licked his fingers, then rubbed them on his trousers, eliciting a raised eyebrow and a scowl from his mother.  "Sorry!" he shrugged and winced.  Some things never changed.  A mother's disapproval of doubtful manners was just one of them.

Shaking her head, she continued. "Well, he works with Mobius, although according to Mobius, it was a lifetime ago they last met.  You have to find him.  He's as bright as any scholar on any of the realms, maybe even brighter than you, Loki!" she smiled, and it was his turn to scowl.

"Mother, you're mocking me." he crossed his arms over his chest and sulked.

Frigga laughed and took another sip of tea, looking at him as she did so. "Yes, I suppose I am.  I'm sorry, I just wanted to see if this you reacted any different to..." she looked down into the courtyard where now they could see young Thor and Jotun Loki in combat training. "And before you ask?  No, you didn't.  And no.  I don't have a favourite, even if I did, I wouldn't tell you!"

Loki looked back up to her, "So tell me. What do I need to do?" 

"Oh, I can't tell you what you need to do, my son, I can only tell you where to start looking.  OB, is that start.  But he's not the only person you need.  And before you ask, no, I am NOT coming with you." 

Loki closed his mouth. He'd been about to ask that very thing.  After a breath, he opened it again.

"Ok, so not you, but whom? Mobius? Someone I know?"

Frigga smiled thinly, hiding her racing pulse.  This was going to be awkward.  Mobius had explained all about the person he wanted to help Loki.  They had powerful magic, just like him.  They were from another timeline, just like him.  They'd arrived unexpectedly, just like him.  The only major difference?  A woman.  And one he knew. Intimately.

"She's waiting for you in the orchard.  I told her to wait there and I would send you. She knows what's expected of her. It seems Mobius has been a busy bee." she stood. "Well, if you're not going to eat any more, then you should go." she looked down into the courtyard again in time to see two figures in black body armour turn the corner.  "Now Loki."

Loki glanced down and retreated to the far side of the balcony. "Please, mother, please come with me. I miss you so much... " he held out his hands, and she walked over, glancing to the door as the sound of feet approached.

"No, my son, this is not my time to be with you.  You and your brother need me here.  This is MY timeline. We will meet again, I promise you. Just have faith." she held him close, and tears coursed down his cheeks. "Shhhhh, my son. I love you in every universe. Remember that.  I will ALWAYS love you. Now go, I'll send you.  She's waiting.  Take care, Loki, please.  Remember, we WILL see each other again."

Gently, she pushed him back, and he felt himself sucked into a vortex of blue swirling smoke.  His last sight of his mother was her blowing him a kiss.  "It will all be ok Loki...."   And she was gone.

"Dammit!" he thought for the briefest of milliseconds as he hurtled to reappear in the dappled shade of the orchard. "I never asked who I was meeting. I wonder if it's Sif...."

"No, Loki, it's not Sif." 

As he turned, his mouth dropped along with his stomach.  Standing in front of him was the one woman, other than his mother, that he'd ever let get close to him.  The one woman, other than Elli, that he'd ever given his heart to.  The last woman in the Cosmos he wanted to see now.

"Sygn." he growled flatly "What the FUCK are you doing here?"  

She was as tall as him, as slender and dressed in her Asgardian finery, as imposing.  She wore a long velvet dress worthy of a princess, a coronet of silver and jet and carried a silver dagger in the bejewelled belt at her waist. Her hair was loose and flowed down her back, reaching her waist in gentle curls.  Her mouth echoed those curls as her full lips curled into a smile.  A cold, heartless smile.  

The smile that had betrayed him so long ago.

"Well hello to you too, lover!" She stalked over and ran a finger down his cheek, making her smile and him swallow uncomfortably.  "Miss me?"