Uniting Asgard [Book Two]

Chapter Twenty-Two

That morning, Eir heard Loki enter her office to find him still in his nightclothes with the baby boy crying on the top of its lungs.

"He's hungry." Loki spoke.

Eir nodded her head and took the boy into her arms.

"Um, his name is Loki."

"He looks enough like you to warrant it." Eir scoffed.

The two walked out into healing rooms and before anything could happen, Loki and Eir spotted Thor and Brunhilde in the doorway.

"Loki, do you have a moment?" Thor asked.

Loki looked back at Eir and the boy and she smiled up at him.

"Go. I got him." Eir spoke softly.

Before he left, he ran his hand over the crying boy's face and laid a kiss to his head. Loki then followed Thor and Brunhilde down the halls. They stopped at a door and Loki swallowed the lump in his throat knowing the room it led to. Thor opened the door and allowed Loki to walk in first. There, Loki saw Alice's body laid out on a charred, stone table. Beside the table was a smaller one with a bowl on top of it. Inside the bowl were ashes.

"We know that this may be hard for you but we thought you should be the one to do it." Brunhilde stated, closing the door behind them.

"What about the children? Has anyone told them?" Loki asked.

"Pepper and Tony are doing it as we speak." Thor replied.

"Do they know about what I'm about to do?"

"We let them know and they agree that it must be done now." Brunhilde told him.

"You know what this means once it's done, right?" Loki turned around to face the two of them.

"Yes. She'll be lost forever." Thor replied softly.

"But if it means Thanos won't be able to use her powers... it must be worth it."

"We'll leave you to it." Brunhilde nodded her head.

She and Thor exited the room, leaving Loki all alone with Alice. He walked over to the side of the table and laid his hand against her face.

"You have made me so happy, Alice. You have given me the best nine years of my entire life. You went from being someone I did not like to someone I love and cherish and admire. You were so brave through all of this. I still don't know how you did it. And in the end, you sacrificed yourself for our son. I still have yet to figure you out, apparently. That's one of the many, many, things I love about you. You always seem to surprise me. I'll never forget the night we shared together in your bedroom. I had never felt more comfortable around another person in my whole life than when I sat next to you explaining everything that happened to me. You sat there, you listened, and you understood me... and you loved me nonetheless. I love you, Alice. I'll always love you. I'm afraid I'll never stop. Well, afraid isn't the right word to use. I'm not afraid to stop loving you. I'm afraid the love I bear for you is so great... I may never love the people in my life as much as you. No matter. I'm sure they can understand. And I hope, wherever you are right now, that you can understand what I am going to do. This is for all of our safety but in doing so, we will never be able to meet each other again. I know you'd want me to do this and knowing that is helping me a bit to get over my nerves. So, I guess, this is it. This is goodbye, Alice. I love you more than words can describe."

Loki took a deep breath as he leaned forward and placed a kiss to her lips for the last time. As he walked over to the smaller table, he saw the special oil beside the bowl of ashes. He had heard about this practice and knew what it was for. Loki took the small bottle of oil and began to spread it on the stone table, outlining Alice's body in it. He then set the bottle down on the floor and couldn't not help but tear up as he walked towards the back wall, taking a torch. For a few moments, he stood in place, holding the torch as he stared at Alice. Loki inhaled shakily as he began to walk over to Alice. He stood at the side of the stone table and began to speak a small prayer that Frigga had taught him as a child. It had been a prayer for the dead.