To Roam Into the Unknown

"How long have you been here on Asgard?" Aurora asked. She and Jane were strolling through the palace gardens. It had been two days since she'd woken up, and she struggled to find activities to occupy her mind while Loki was gone.

Jane smiled, tucking her brown hair behind her ear. "I really think I've lost count. Time just seems to stop here...for them at least."

"Who is 'them'?" Aurora asked, brushing her fingers over a bright red blossom.

"The Æsir-erm..Asgardians. They're immortals."

Aurora chuckled, pulling her silk shaw tighter around her shoulders. "I can't say that surprises me." Then she stopped and turned to Jane. "What about us? We're going to grow old and they will still look like the gods that they undoubtedly are." The thought disturbed her.

"But Loki will love you nonetheless." Jane replied, laying a hand on her shoulder.

She forced a tight lipped smile. "Yeah..." She took in a deep breath, her hand resting gently on her stomach and smiled. "I don't know if I'll ever get used to feeling the baby move. It feels so...weird." The two women rounded a corner and came to a sitting area.

"Let's sit. If you're anything like me, you've got a ton of questions."

Aurora sat on the stone bench. "Is it that obvious?"

Jane shrugged. "Yeah. So ask. I'll answer truthfully, to the best of my knowledge."

She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Jane once more. "But first, what happened between you and Loki? You said the two of you fought before you were taken?"

Aurora nodded. "I...had just found out that I was pregnant. When I came home, I found him-" she swallowed hard. "With another woman." Jane stared at her intently, and when she didn't speak, she continued. "I didn't know what to do so I locked myself in my room. I know that my uncle Max wasn't entirely fond of Loki and I know he attacked Loki when he found out."

"I can't blame him. That is one of the worst things a man can do to a woman he loves." Jane said.

Aurora nodded. "But it was so hard to digest. Maybe it wouldn't have been if I'd not been pregnant? I don't know. But I tried to move on and it was hard. It was like trying to go on living without a beating heart. I felt completely empty. Uncle Max tried to convince me to terminate the pregnancy. I thought about it but when it came time to do it, I couldn't bring myself to. And somehow, Loki found out that I had been to the clinic. He confronted me and out of spite, I told him I'd done it." Aurora got choked up and fought to control herself. "I wanted him to hurt like I did. I wanted to make him feel the same as me. It wasn't fair. And then he was at my window screaming at me as if he had any right." She focused on the flowers in front of her, zoning out as she recanted the events. "Then he and Max began to fight and I tried to break it up because I knew Max would kill him. Then Max had Loki pinned and the next thing I knew there was a flash of light and Max was thrown across the yard. And Loki-" tears were streaming down her face. "He was dressed in this outfit with this horned helmet...and I knew who he was then."

Jane nodded as she too knew well what Aurora was going to say. "The attack on New York." She said quietly.

Aurora nodded, wiping her face with her hands. "He killed so many people, my mother included." She turned to look at Jane, her face twisted with grief. "But I love him. I love the man who killed my mother and hundreds of other people. How fucked up is that? To say I want a little conflicted is the understatement of the century."

"But you didn't know him as that man. You knew him as the broken, lonely man that you saved that night. The heart wants what the heart wants. There isn't much fighting it." Jane replied, squeezing her hand. It wasn't easy defending the man who had terrorized earth and used her friend in his scheme, but the last few days had shown her just how tortured and desperate he had been. "I am in no way condoning what he did, because both attacks that he was responsible for were personal to me, but he was not in his right mind when any of this went down."

Aurora sniffed. "What do you mean?"

"Well, they don't talk about it much but Loki was adopted. That's all I really know. But the shock from finding that out and combined with other things was too much for him. Thor told me he basically jumped from the Bifrost into oblivion. And wherever he landed, I'm willing to bet had something to do with his state of mind prior to the attack. He really isn't the same guy who destroyed Manhattan."

"How did you come to this assumption?" Aurora asked.

"Because despite what we think we know, when he came to and found out about your condition, there wasn't a corner in the palace where his screams and cries for you couldn't be heard. That and Thor still trusts him, and I trust Thor." Jane said.

"What do you mean, my condition?" Aurora asked.

Jane paused, unable to hide her shock. "Um...the extent of your injuries-"

"Jane please..spare me the bullshit." Aurora pleaded.

Jane ran a hand through her hair nervously. "Aurora the baby...is part Æsir. The reason you've been feeling like shit is because your body can't compensate."a

Aurora stared at her as if she'd gone insane. "What are you saying?"

A look of despair twisted Jane's features momentarily. "Pregnancy in humans is already deviating enough. The body has to work twice as hard to support the mother and the fetus. You are carrying a fetus that is part Æsir. The delivery will kill you, if your heart doesn't give out first."

Aurora stood abruptly, unsure of what to do or where to go, her hands flying to her head.

"Aurora-"

"I...can't do this right now!" She cried. She turned on her heel and ran off in the direction they'd been heading before they say down. Her mind was running a million miles an hour. Jane's words rand in her ears like a deafening alarm. Suddenly, the large breakfast she'd eaten earlier violently made its way back up. She fell to her knees, heaving in the nearby bushes.

Several nearby Æsir stared at her in disgust, whispering to one another. Aurora was barely aware of a pair of hands helping her up.

"Come on. Let's get you back to your room." Jane said.

OoOoOo

Aurora sat on the lounge chair on the balcony, starting blankly out at the Bifrost. "So Loki knows?" She asked quietly.

Frigga sat next to her, her brow creased with worry as she watched her. "Yes."

"Then where is he?"

"He and Thor are searching for a cure." Jane answered.

"How long do I have?" She asked, watching the waves as they splashed on the rocks of the shore.

"According to Eir's calculations, you are 20 weeks along by Midgardian standards." Frigga replied.

Aurora felt her heart skip. "And how long has Loki been gone?"

"Three weeks now." The queen said.

"Jane said the baby is part Æsir." She said.

"Actually, the baby is part Jotun." Frigga answered.

"What does that even mean?" She asked, growing inpatient.

"Loki is my son, though I didn't give birth to him. He is Jotun, a frost giant."

"Odin left that little piece of info out when we spoke." Aurora snapped. "When I was held captive, Fury had mentioned something about frost giants. So what exactly is a frost giant? Loki is tall, but he's no giant." She rambled.

"The Jotuns were a proud race of warriors. They were very strong, and brutal in their ways of life. Cruel, even. A millennia ago, the Jotuns sought to overthrow Asgard. This started the Great Ice War, which the Jotuns ultimately lost. When my husband met with the Jotun king at the time of his surrender, he found a baby."

"Loki?" Aurora asked. Jane too a seat next to her, completely focused on the queen.

Frigga nodded. "He was very small to be the offspring of Laufey, and so he was left for dead."

"Laufey?" Jane asked.

"The Jotun king." Frigga replied.

Aurora felt tears burn her eyes. "They...abandoned him?"

"Yes. They did not accept weakness of any kind. They were very animalistic in nature. And so, Odin brought him home and we raised him alongside Thor. We loved him no les than if he had been born of our blood."

Aurora sat in silence as everything began to sink in. Loki had been abandoned by those who should have loved him, and lied to by those who owed him the truth. "Why do you keep referring to the Jotuns in past tense?" She asked.

Frigga swallowed and turned her gaze away. "Because Loki killed them all."

"What?" Aurora and Jane asked.

"The night Thor returned," she glanced at Jane. "He and Loki fought. They used to fight all the time, but this time was different. So much so that it brought my husband out of his sleep prematurely." She looked at Aurora. "In his anger and hatred towards the Jotuns, he unleashed the full power of the Bifrost on them, destroying the already thinning race. He would have destroyed Jotunheim entirely, if Thor hadn't destroyed the bridge. And then, for reasons I'll never understand, Loki let go of the grip he had on Thor." Tears glimmered in her blue eyes. "He was lost for so long, we were certain he was dead." She reached out and took Aurora's hand in hers. "Loki is a good person, despite his past misgivings. I have never seen him so alive as when he talks to me about you. He loves you. And love is a very potent medicine when it comes to healing the soul." She kissed Aurora's hand and smiled.

"For the longest time, the only Loki I knew was the Loki who was gentle and incredibly smart and kind. And in the blink of an eye, I was introduced to the one person in the entire world I should hate. But..." Aurora grimaced as the baby moved, causing her to feel slightly nauseous. "No matter how hard I try...my heart doesn't associate the Loki I know to the one who attacked New York. To me, they are two completely separate people." She hiccuped as thoughts of her mother forced their way into her mind. "And maybe that makes me the most horrible person, daughter, ever..." She looked to Jane, and then to Frigga. "But the heart wants what the heart wants, right?"

Frigga opened her arms and embraced Aurora, and together they cried.

OoOoOo

Loki sat across from Hel before the giant fireplace, the two starting at one another.

"What do you require?" He asked.

Hel took a sip of wine. "Whatever are you talking about?" She asked innocently.

Loki slammed his fists down on the table. "You know damn well what I'm talking about! Name your price!" He yelled angrily.

Hel was unfazed by his outburst and set her glass down gently. "A life for a life." She answered simply.

"What?"

"A life for a life. That is the price. Þjazi's life, for the life of another. It's very simple, Loki."

Loki gritted his teeth. He was used to being the condescending, not the condescended. "Whose life would you have in return?" He asked, his thoughts immediately going to Una.

Hel smiled and finished her wine. "The life of your unborn child."

Loki felt the blood rush from his face. He would gladly have traded Una. "No."

"Then Þjazi stays. And without him, no apples. And without the apples...well, I'm sure you see where this is headed. Without the apples, your dear heart will die, along with the child. I suppose that is actually better. I would get them both." She said with a malicious grin.

Loki shook his head. "I would gladly give myself. Leave the child alone and take me instead." He whispered.

She tapped her chin in mock thought. "Very tempting..."

"I will give myself freely! But I cannot give up my child." He cried.

"You really are no fun. Fine. I accept your most gracious offer. But first, a drink." She snapped her fingers and before Loki, appeared a glass of wine so dark it appeared nearly black.

"What is this?" He asked.

"Your atonement." She replied.

Loki stared at her with distrust. "Will I at least get to see my child once before you claim me?"

"I said I acceptyour offer, not when I would collect. Now drink." She demanded.

Narrowing his eyes, he brought the cup to his lips and drank deeply. The liquid tasted like sweet, rotted fruit. Moments later, the room began to spin. The last thing he heard before he lost consciousness was Hel's dark, triumphant laughter.