A War Is Won By Soldiers Not Sentimentality

Chapter 4

Loki stirred his aching body confusing him momentarily before his mind caught up with everything that had happened. A spell had been placed on him, rendering him completely at someone's mercy as pain tore through his body. As painful as that spell had been, it was nothing on what happened next. Two powerful forces battling inside his mind, he'd been unable to do anything but feel the agonising pain of his mind being ripped apart by Thanatos and another powerful magic at play who had been gentle, his magic warming and welcoming despite the fact he felt chilled all over, this powerful magic was trying to remove Thanatos' magic, which became apparent only when the powerful force had taken his own magic and combined them to remove Thanatos' presence. For the first time in a long time he was truly free, no voices at the back of his mind, no orders, just his own feelings which were still mixed up - worse than before because he hadn't had a chance to process everything, the betrayal, the anger and hurt.

His magic had began to repair the damage done to him, but not as quickly as he would have liked. His magic was severely depleted, which he had only ever known to happen when someone's magic had been bound for a long time. His eyes had opened when he felt the same powerful magic coursing through the air, not only was it enticing but strange, he'd never felt magic like it before, but it had the same taste as Thanatos' magic, something about it was familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. When he saw one of the ants aiming for the presence he owed a life debt to, he hadn't thought twice. He managed to stumble to his feet and deal with the threat, demanding the figure to consider it repaid.

What happened next…well Loki hadn't been prepared for it, the male had indeed relinquished the life debt and bowed to him in respect. Genuine respect, not something Loki was familiar with, he'd always been seen as a weakling on Asgard for his use of magic rather than participating in hand to hand combat, not that he was weak willed at hand to hand combat, he could hold his own, even against Thor. They had given him the minimal amount of respect one could for a Prince of Asgard, knowing the consequences of upsetting Odin. Loki felt disgust and anger thrum through him just thinking of the Allfather. Then to his embarrassment he had passed out after indignantly revealing that he had been a king, it was unseemly…no humiliating for them to pass out.

It took Loki all of a few seconds to realize he wasn't alone, the powerful figure was still with him, he could sense his overwhelming presence almost choking the room actually. Was it his magic or just how he felt? Loki couldn't deny that he was curious, it wasn't possible that this being was a Migardian could he? Migardians were weak, pathetic creatures. "Who are you?" Loki demanded, as he sat up, refusing to lie down in the presence of this being, he wasn't like any god he'd ever felt before. Green eyes bored into green, both of them hardened and jaded. Dizziness swept through him, and he slumped back against the wall.

"I am how you would say, Harry son of James," Harry replied, his green eyes glimmering mysteriously and mischievously. He placed the iPad one of the soldiers had given him down, he now knew everything there was to know, especially about Steve Rogers, immortality, a Muggle had managed to come up with a way of making someone's lifespan exceedingly long or immortal, Merlin if wizards knew, it would have been a punch in the gut for them. Admittedly a wizard had found out an answer for immortality, but it took a stone and its continued use to work, Steve Rogers needed no such thing. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Loki insisted impetuously, angrily, hating that a Migardian was asking him how he felt when his own family did not.

"I seriously doubt it, it's going to take you weeks to recover, mentally at least, physically you'll probably feel better after a few more hours of rest." Harry corrected him, shrugging his shoulders, his curiosity as vanishing with each word spoken by Loki with derision. Why bother forcing his presence upon someone who obviously didn't want him here? He wasn't curious enough to put up with it, he'd endured enough of that during his childhood thank you very much.

"What are you?" Loki demanded unable to curb his curiosity fully.

"What is it with you and your brother demanding things they have no right demanding?" Harry sharply retorted, "You might be able to speak like that in Asgard without a problem but here it just makes you conceded and rude. You are not the King or Prince here on Earth…Migard as you call it."

Loki narrowed his eyes, "Do you know who I am?"

"Yes, you are Loki, the god of Mischief, master manipulator, deceiver, tactician and strategist, brother, son," Harry replied, "You are able to create illusions, you can shapeshift, teleport, you're also a telepath and have the ability to blast people or objects with magic. You have super human strength and have an elongated lifespan, you seem to have a resentment or just downright disgust for humans which I'm assuming is prejudice because you think you're better than them, I cannot see how any human could cause you harm enough for the disgust to be aimed genuinely at anyone."

"Very good, but you've forgotten one fundamental thing about me," Loki replied darkly, impressed despite himself. "I am a frost giant, the discarded son of Laufey, I was adopted by Odin and my true nature was hidden, until I discovered it myself."

"You aren't exactly tall, all the giants I've met are like four times the size of you," Harry commented, watching Loki's jaw drop at his nonchalance. Everyone feared the frost giants, even he had grown up to fear them.

"This is not my true form," Loki admitted bitterly.

"Interesting, you shape shifted into that look when you were a child I assume? I knew someone who had the ability to shapeshift, she was constantly changing her looks, I often wondered if she even knew what her true shape was, unfortunately I didn't get a chance to ask or know her better. Her son received her abilities though, not fully, but enough he can disguise himself if he wishes." Harry said thoughtfully, "It doesn't matter what your true form is, what matters is what you choose to do with the knowledge, prove Odin right in keeping it from you…or prove him wrong and accept your heritage with grace…"

"You knew," Loki stated sharply.

"No, I am still not sure what exactly a frost giant is, all I know is that you were adopted, Thor told me what happened before you fell into the abyss. You know he doesn't care about what you are, to him you are still his brother, he loves you." Harry said, an odd crackle entering his voice as he said it. "You are very lucky I think, to have had the life you did."

"Lucky is being lied to?" Loki scoffed derisively.

"Tell me Loki…did you have someone to tuck you in every night?" Harry asked, his intense gaze never leaving Loki's. Loki's eyes glazed over slightly as he thought of Frigga, his adopted mother, as angered as he was, he knew she had loved him as much as she loved her biological son, Thor. She hadn't been angry at his deception when she found out, and he often wondered if she had mourned him. "Someone to sing to you? Read to you? Hug you? Stay with you when you were sick? Heal you when you were hurt as a child? To teach you what it was like to be accepted? Someone who loved you for just exactly who you were? If you had that then you're the luckiest person in the universe."

Loki did not answer, his mind were overflowing with images he had suppressed when he learned the truth. Believing them to be false, half-truths and deceptions for when they needed him to seal a truce between the frost giants and Asgardian's.

"I would have killed for someone like that in my life, instead I grew up rejected, feared, scorned and ignored." Harry informed him, "Have it out with your parents for not telling you, listen to their answers, you know them best, I'm pretty sure you could tell if they were lying. They made you king, however brief a time it was, that should show you that they don't care who you were born as, but the man you became."

Loki undeniably felt something shift within him at the truth this son of James spoke. While he was positive Odin would rather die than see him sitting on the throne as King of Asgard, Frigga he knew would not, since she had proven herself to him. If he was being truthful about Thor…perhaps he didn't care either.

"Would you tell me more about Asgard and the other worlds you know?" Harry queried, standing up and moving over to the bed beside Loki, genuine curiosity and a powerful desire to know showing clearly in his gaze. His world had expanded so much within the last day or so, it wasn't just Earth, there were other words, who had different names for Earth too - Migard, he wondered if he'd ever get used to it.

Loki's gaze sharpened, "Only if you tell me what you are," seeing a way to get what he wanted.

Harry cocked his head to the side before grudgingly nodding, conceding the point, he was asking Loki for information so really it wouldn't be fair to not give information back in kind. Oh he knew Loki was being manipulative, it wasn't out of petulance, although he may have a genuine desire to know. "I was once a wizard, still am to a certain extent, I was born with magical powers, when I was seventeen I became something more, it wasn't an inheritance but something unexpected…it was due to the fact I held three extremely powerful magical instruments in my possession that granted me a title that nobody else could hold, they were meant to mine…it was predestined if you will." his lip curling at the word, predestined, welcome to his entire life. "My title is Master of Death, now it's your turn, tell me," using the same tone Loki did in demand.

Loki wasn't aware of the title, he had no understanding of it, he did understand that Harry was a Seidr, but had become something much more powerful, wizard, it must be the title the Migardians had come up with for someone who could harness the power of magic. Loki waved his hand, and immediately an illusion sprang to life, it was a large tree.

"A tree?" Harry questioned, glancing at Loki before turning back to the illusion in front of him, and was that a rainbow? "Are you sure you should be using magic? You're drained as it is." his green eyes filled with concern. Predictably Loki didn't answer that but began talking nonetheless.

"It's Yggdrasill, the tree of life, the world tree, where the nine realms are connected," Loki said, his voice becoming softer, and Harry was almost certain it was awe in his voice. "At the top is Asgard, home of the gods, directly below it is Migard, nobody goes further down, the Norns and blow that is the realm of the lost souls, Helheim, where the goddess of the dead Hel oversees all who come to her."

"And the rainbow?" Harry queried curious about it, wondering what a rainbow could have to do with Yggdrasill the tree of life, he'd always assumed that the rainbow was just a reflect of prisms.

"That is the Bifrost, its power allows Asgardian's to travel to and from any of the nine realms, it was broken and it is were I fell into the abyss. Everyone else uses various portals and dimensional rifts." Loki informed him, and oddly enough it wasn't infuriating having to explain it to him. He seemed to understand what he was saying, and had only asked two questions, he was…tolerable. "This realm is the realm of the light elves, Alfheim," an image of one such elf appearing along with what the realm looked like from afar. Just as quickly as it was there, it disappeared, and another took its place, the tree of life remained behind and glowed briefly every time he mentioned a new realm. "This is Vanaheim, home of the fertility gods, Vanir. They are considered sister gods to Asgardian's."

Harry watched everything Loki was showing him with reverence, there truly was a whole universe out there that he knew nothing about. It was little wonder Mort was still not bored of life, there was so much to see, to do. "This is the realm of Muspelheim, home of the fire demons, directly below it is the realm of Jotunheim, home of the giants," a look of utter disgust on his face.

"Savartalfheim, home to the dark elves, and Nidavellir, realm of the dwarves," Loki continued to use his magic to demonstrate, an odd feeling of contentment flowing through him, he'd never had anyone to talk to, not about magic, not even the females of Asgard could tolerate speaking of magic with him.

"Do all frost giants have your abilities?" Harry asked after a few moments of silence, correctly assuming he was done due to the fact he had mentioned all 'nine realms'.

"No," Loki managed to get out feeling insulted at the thought of those disgusting things being on par with him. "They have no special powers, they're vulnerable to heat, it causes them to shrink in size, it makes them less powerful, less threatening, its why they remain in Jotunheim it is where they are most powerful, none can do what I can, they have no powers except strength."

"So you were different, I wonder where you got your abilities from, they had to have come from your family tree somewhere," Harry said curiously, green eyes gleaming. "You can't be a full frost giant, it could be why you remained oblivious about who you were, never accidentally shifting into your other form, it seems to me that my giants and your giants aren't all that different…mine aren't all that intelligent, I would bet yours are the same, and I'm not saying yours to insult you, we come from two completely different worlds, but it seems no matter which world we live in, there's always something similar to compare it too. It would be amazing to see the things you've seen, to go to the places you've been, the world just got a great deal bigger…" Harry had added when he saw the darkening look on Loki's face. He was extremely touchy, but then again going centuries believing you were one thing then to find out you were something else altogether was bound to be earth shattering.

"New York is under attack! How do you stop the cube!" Fury demanded as he barged into the room suddenly, the images disappeared leaving them with only Fury's scowling face.

"You can't, there is no stopping it," Loki answered, "The Tesseract is an unlimited energy source, it has been built to prevent the cube from collapsing upon itself as it did before."

"There are people dying all over New York! You must know something on how to shut it down!" Fury cried out in exasperation and desperation.

Loki just stared at Fury, not gracing him with another reply, what was the point? He had told him already that there was no way to stop it, he wasn't about to repeat himself not for an ant like him.

"If he knew he would have told you," Harry stated curtly, at least he hoped so, but considering there was nothing he could get from it, lying seemed pointless, "I'm pretty sure he would considering he probably wants his own back. It's definitely something I would do." a small smirk appearing on his face.

"Director Fury, the council demand your presence." came in through the headpiece.

"Have you tried the sceptre? It might be able to interact with this cube…maybe even shut it down?" Harry suggested thoughtfully, he knew nothing of this 'cube' they spoke of, but considering he'd never heard of it and it was the same colour and alien magic he would be willing to put it to the test. Well not him, he didn't relish the thought of touching it, it was sentient to a degree, and made him recoil whenever he felt its presence.

"I am not letting the thing that turned my two best men into his personal flying monkeys out of my sight! Not on a guess!" Fury shouted, before turning swiftly and leaving the room, making his way back up to the conference room where the council were waiting on him. He knew nothing good could come out of it.

"You have the power to obliterate them, why do you let him speak to you that way?" Loki asked disgusted, to him it made Harry seem weak.

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." Harry said sombrely, "He's under a lot of pressure, he just wants to protect his world from the people coming out of the woodworks, can't blame him for that…is there anything you wouldn't do for Asgard?" he pointed out. "Don't get me wrong I don't like him, but men in his position are rarely liked, and I doubt it even bothers him." he added wryly.

Loki just stared at him as if he had grown an additional head, utterly perplexed by this being in front of him. He had powers that rivalled the titan Thanatos, not just rivalled, overpowered, yet he would let those ants walk all over him. A speculative look overcame his face, "Do they even know you could wipe the floor of them?" Loki said vindictively, he had felt the true extent of this son of James' power, his raw power that didn't even come close to the feel of it even now. This wizard was probably just as depleted as him, probably even more so. The prospect of hanging around to see what became of it at its strongest was very enticing, unfortunately he knew that would not happen. No matter what happened in New York, his brother would be returning him home - to Asgard to face punishment for his actions that day he'd fallen from the bifrost.

Mischievous green eyes glanced at Loki, "No, they don't." and they still didn't, and never would. The camera they had up in this room was no longer working, he had ensured that. They actually wouldn't work again, they'd been completely destroyed, they would need to install new ones.

I'm not too sure about this chapter if i'm totally honest, I did want them to talk and Loki to get a little curious over Harry enough so that he would wish to speak to him again dont know if it worked :D but as the story continues i guess we will find out :D I honestly don't want to make Loki out of character...but we only get to see the angry manipulative side of him in the movies so anything i write could be considered OOC :D anyway will Loki get to see more of 'Migard' before he's sent back up? Will Thor ask Harry to go with them due to the prophecy? Will he know more than he's let on? and just when will Loki find out? Afterwards? or will he know before Thor comes back for him? R&R please