Timeless

◈ 11 ◈

My shaky grip on the hammer tightened as my eyes darted between the weapon and my brother.

Thor held his hand out, calling for Mjölnir. I felt the tug as it tried to answer to his calling, but I couldn't seem to let go.

My muscles moved on autopilot, and I found myself walking toward Thor and pressing Mjölnir against his chest.

"We are going back to the ship. Now."

"What do you think you're doing?!"

I didn't respond. I just turned away from him and headed back to the ship, hoping that he couldn't see how badly my hands were shaking. Every muscle in my body felt like it was on fire, but I pushed forward until the ship came into view.

I jumped back in and sat down, closing my eyes and wondering if this was all a dream.

Mjölnir didn't feel right in my hand, but at the same time, it did. I'd spent my whole life thinking that nothing like this was possible. The hammer had been Thor's birthright. Not mine. Not anyone else's.

Now here it was in my hand, carrying with it the heavy realization that I was worthy.

Loki Odinson was not worthy. There was no sane explanation for it.

Thor sat down next to me with a huff.

"Loki?"

"Hm?"

He sighed.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that to you. Not after you tried so hard to come back to me. I mean, you could've had everything. Valhalla must've been perfect. We heard stories about it when we were children. If I were you, I never would have left. Yet you did. For me. And try as I might, I can't wrap my head around that sort of raw desperation. You could've had it all."

I shook my head slowly.

"The best kind of prison is one you never want to leave," I muttered quietly.

"What?"

I opened my eyes and sat up, setting Mjölnir down next to me.

"Hela took over Valhalla a while ago, but she hid in the shadows on an invisible throne. It was easier to rule that way. I would know. I never revealed my true identity when I ruled Asgard under the guise of Odin."

Thor's breath hitched as I mentioned Hela.

"Is she still there?"

"Yes. She won't let anyone leave. I had to fight with everything I had just to make it out. She was hoping that no one would want to leave since they had so many luxuries. Not many saw through her lies. But I did. And so did Mother. She told me that I needed to escape, and I did. To get back to you. It wasn't sacrifice. If anything, it was selfish. I left her there under Hela's rule."

I fought back tears as I remembered how dejected she looked when I left.

"I was so worried about getting back to a life that I don't even want to live that I completely ignored how Valhalla would suffer Hela's wrath soon. I shouldn't have left. It might even be in vain if I can't figure out what I'm supposed to do here. Now we have to go repeat a plan to destroy an Infinity Stone that never worked in the first place. I should've known that the Reality Stone is indestructible. Well, unless it came into contact with another stone and their powers were turned against each other. That would equalize them and cause a reaction that could either rip a hole through the universe or destroy them both...." I trailed off as the pieces began to connect in my mind.

"Thor, we have two stones that we can access. The Tesseract and the Aether. If you follow exactly what you did last time to get the Aether, then I could go and get a weapon to wield the Space Stone against one of its counterparts."

Thor raised his eyebrows.

"What are you saying?"

I picked Mjölnir up and handed it to him.

"We're going to do exactly what we did last time, only I won't be faking my death. I'm going to Nidavellir."