Lesser Gods

The battle raged on for what seemed like hours, but outside the doors Raeyn sat gagged and hands bound with Agent peering down at her curiously. It was not until things grew quiet, and the other agents began to mill around the partially destroyed floor twenty two that he said anything.

“You make it difficult to hate you, Ramona.”

Raeyn stared up at him with her uncaring eyes. All around her, her world fell to pieces. The dream of raising a baby as a family was murdered before her eyes as her home was ransacked by these mortals. For the first time, she shared the utter contempt Loki felt for them… but none of this was evident on her face. All her emotions she kept locked away, deep within herself and her expression she held perfectly blank. She knew she was slipping into the same trap that held her husband, but now she truly understood him. She did not care any longer. All she wished for was revenge on those who stole her life from her. Were these the imagined slights Thor spoke of? No, because the evidence of these “slights” were everywhere she looked, from the broken floors to the dead Chitauri and mortals — from the “security” tearing their baby’s room to shreds looking for “evidence” to the painfully cold metal cutting into her skin so unlike her Loki’s loving caress.

“You became our friend, but turned us in. Then, a year later I find you tied to that monster with his child in your belly? Your story is a sad one.” It was evident that he was attempting to get a reaction out of her, but she continued to stare straight through him. My story did not become such a sad one until today.

“They’re deciding his punishment in there, right now,” Agent said, nodding to the closed doors. His attempts to break her shell were becoming quite pathetic. As if she needed to be told that. As if she couldn’t imagine Rogers strutting out of the throne room, parading Loki’s old golden helmet as his spoils of war. And then she would be next… not only taking her life, but the life of the only living creature that held her love after her fallen husband. She closed her eyes briefly, taking a moment to compose herself once more.

Agent’s attention was suddenly drawn to a point beyond Raeyn, and he nodded sharply as if someone were speaking to him; Raeyn, though, heard nothing. But a moment later, Agent was behind Raeyn and untying the piece of cloth previous used as her gag. Even with it gone, she said nothing, and he moved to face her once more.

“They have also decided what they’re going to do with you,” he said softly, looking into her jade eyes as if he cared. Of course he didn’t care. “And if you wanted to know, my name’s Phil Coulson.”

Raeyn simply blinked. “I thought Phil Coulson was dead,” she said blandly.

He smiled sadly. “My death was faked, Ramona.”

“Raeyn.”

He nodded slowly before standing and motioning for her to stand as well. “Raeyn.”

But before she could turn around to head into the old throne room, a heavy hand fell on her shoulder. She swung the opposite direction towards the new threat, but when her eyes landed on Thor, she returned to her dull state.

He opened his mouth to say something, but when he got a good look at her, his face fell. He turned to Agent with confusion in his eyes and anger in his voice. “What is wrong with her?”

Agent shrugged. “I’m not a psychologist, but if you asked me then I’d say that she’s simply lost the will to live.”

Only in her mind, Raeyn was smirking. Quite the opposite. The only thing willing me to live is to make sure that you do not.

Thor gave a great sigh, not removing his hand as he gazed into her dead eyes. “Very well, then. If you could come with me, sister, we have decided upon your sentencing.”

Raeyn blinked in response, but followed nonetheless as he guided her through the double doors. “Have you moved his body?” she whispered, needing to know whether to look away or not.

“There is no body to move. Loki has been pardoned of his crimes for the most part because his title as Prince of Asgard. He will serve quite a few years in prison, but that is for the Allfather to decide.”

Raeyn did not respond but wonder filled her. Just after she had accepted him as dead… there was the possibility of seeing him once more? Even still, she kept her eyes glued to the floor ahead of her and her chin raised high as Thor guided her to a circle of men. Simply based off the shoes gathered around her, she could make out the masked man called “Parker,” Rogers, of course, Spangly as ever, Bruce who was shuffling around, and a few of the agents standing around her. Thor stopped walking, and finally Agent took his place next to Rogers.

She stood there for several moments, not raising her gaze to any of the people around her, and no one spoke.

“You will see that this is done?” a woman asked — her voice caused a pang of nostalgia in the pit of Raeyn’s stomach. It was Colina, Cayenne’s old friend. She doubted she even recognized Raeyn, but surely Agent would tell the other woman of Raeyn’s other identity once this was all taken care of.

Surprisingly, it was Thor that answered. “You have my word.” Raeyn swallowed — Thor would be her executioner? And it seemed that the others would be leaving before it took place. “I will need Steve Rogers to help,” he said, and out of the corner of Raeyn’s eye she could see her brother nod to Spangly. And while Mr. Red White And Blue stuck around, all the other pairs of feet shuffled out. There was a moment of stillness and silence before Rogers came from behind her and wrapped a blindfold over her eyes — Thor’s relaxed grip still remained on her cuffed hands. Rogers left through another door, and when he came back there was another pair of feet walking beside him. A witness? Is that how this was going to work? Raeyn sighed, almost wishing that they would get on with it already. Rogers stopped about ten feet away from where Raeyn was facing, and then one of Thor’s strong hands was undoing the knot in her blindfold.

“It was only so you did not try to escape,” Thor said gruffly as the cloth fell. What in the nine realms would make Raeyn want to escape more in those few moments than she did now? But once she opened her eyes of jade and they adjusted to the sudden brightness, she knew that the execution was over. She was long dead, Thor and Rogers were not truly here but part of her imagination, and she was in Valhalla where she and her happiness could continue — standing ten feet away from her was Loki, his hands cuffed quite a bit more intricately than Raeyn’s and a muzzle covering the lower part of his defined jaw. Her lips fell open, her body relaxed as she melted under the intense raven gaze. Guilt, longing, and pain flashed in his eyes as they met Raeyn’s own wide jade eyes and they simply stared at one another. With a snap, Thor had yanked apart Raeyn’s cuffs and let go of her, but she did not yet have the strength to tell herself to move towards Loki. It was only when Thor gave her a little push that she realized she was free to walk to him — but that was when she no longer wished to.

“We have discussed your punishment with Loki and come to an agreement. We decided that it would be easier for all of us for him to explain it to you.”

And just like that, her heaven crashed around her. This was not Valhalla, or even some form of purgatory. This was the brutally unforgiving mortal world, where even gods and goddesses could be torn apart and destroyed from the inside out. Her eyes suddenly filled with fear, and when Thor gave her another nudge she ran to Loki, wrapping her arms around him and nuzzling her way into his chest. Though he could not return her embrace, he took her golden head under his chin, trying in this small way to hold the girl and comfort her.

“Don’t let them take me away, Loki, please don’t let them do it,” she whispered, tears beginning to leak out of her eyes. Rogers stepped towards the god, and Raeyn instinctively flinched away, but all the mortal did was unlock the muzzle restraining Loki’s words. As soon as it was gone, Loki leaned down to Raeyn’s level and looked her in the eye.

“Love, we don’t have long so let me speak quickly,” he said in a hushed tone, leaning closer so their foreheads touched. Raeyn’s eyes watered at the words, and she pressed her hands against him, balling into tiny fists holding onto Loki’s robes but she did not interrupt him. “They have given you two options — the mortals wanted you to go through their justice system since you are originally from Midgard, but Thor pulled many strings to not let that happen. They would have killed you in a heartbeat, and we both knew it. At the same time, you cannot get the same pardons as me because you have no official title in Asgard.” He looked into her eyes earnestly, making sure she was hearing every word of it. “Your first option, of course, is execution. Since we both know you are not choosing that, let me explain the second choice.” Loki swallowed, and for the first time he looked away from Raeyn. It was obvious that this was quite a bit more painful for him to bear than it was for her — she was his responsibility, his battle to win. And he lost. “Your second option is to start a new life in Asgard. All crimes forgotten, and you would be welcomed under the story that your husband died under my rule. However… it would be an entirely new life. You will have to have your memory erased. You will not remember me, or your encounters with Thor, or anything in this past year and a half. Since I am the only one with means capable to do such a thing, they had to make sure I would agree. You will live in the palace with my family as a widow, and you will have every need taken care of, I promise. It is what is best for you.”

Raeyn’s eyes widened and her delicate lips parted. Her breath caught in her throat and she staggered away from Loki, nearly tripping and falling, causing Loki to make a sad attempt at catching her though his hands were cuffed. But she caught herself, and biting her lip she made more distance between herself and Loki. “H-how could you suggest such a thing?” she demanded, her voice desperate and breaking. “I will not! You will not put me through that!”

Loki’s eyes softened, the pain etched on his face heartbreaking. “You won’t remember the pain, though, love. You won’t remember me to know the pain I caused.” As he spoke, the tears began to softly make their paths down his weary face and he moved through the space that separated them.

“Stop it!” she shrieked; these were the first words audible to Thor and Rogers. She stumbled away, this time crashing to the ground with Loki’s helpless attempts to catch her naturally failing. “Stop saying that! I won’t do it! I won’t live without you!”

“Think about the baby…”

“The baby that won’t have a father! She would grow up with half a family!”

A shadow loomed over Raeyn, and suddenly Thor’s strong arms were around her and gingerly lifting her back up to her feet. Once she touched back to the ground, she turned to look up at him wildly. He was looking down at her sadly, pointedly not meeting his brother’s desperate gaze.

“I will take care of the babe,” he said lowly, his deep voice husky with emotion. “As more than her uncle, but her father as well. You have my word.”

Raeyn stared up at him blindly, trying desperately to wrap her mind around what was happening. She did not see Loki’s face crumple to defeat before he finally spoke.

“Then it is settled.”

She whipped around and out of Thor’s strong embrace to face him. “You cannot decide that for me!” she said dangerously low.

“Actually, I can,” he said sadly as she stepped towards him. Once again their conversation became too quiet for anyone else to hear. “They won’t execute you and the child unless there’s no other option: if I had not agreed to take your memories. And I did, so all of that is over and please just come here.”

And as soon as the words came from him, she was clutching his robes and her lips were desperately pressed to his. It only lasted a moment, because then Roger’s hand was laid heavily on her shoulder.

“Listen... You may fall for my brother. And I will not discourage it. He was once a great man, and he would not treat you or any of your children in the fashion he treated me. He has learned his lesson, and then you can be in a true family.”

But with a desperate, animal-like cry that neither Raeyn nor Loki thought possible of her, Roger’s had lifted her off her feet and started carrying her back towards Thor.

She was sobbing heavily, clawing at the super soldiers enhanced arms. “No, put me down! Loki, please! Stop!” The ever-familiar cloth was tied around her lips, silencing her from that point on. Rogers held her while Thor unlocked Loki’s chains briefly, and gave him the scepter. He said something lowly to his brother that neither Rogers nor Raeyn could hear, but it was presumably a threat on Raeyn’s life to keep Loki from using the scepter against Thor and Rogers. After a moment, Thor was on the other side of Raeyn, holding her still.

She took a ragged breath, watching as Loki swallowed harshly before raising the scepter to point directly at Raeyn’s heart. Her trembling became so much that Thor had to wrap his other arm around her waist to hold her still, and she began whimpering out of fear and anticipation.

The last thing Loki saw of Raeyn was her wide eyes of jade, staring into him fiercely before the jet of blue light overcame her; her eyelids fluttered closed and she collapsed into Thor’s strong, waiting arms.