#hmtod

“You can’t be serious. Leave our Queen alone with a prisoner? The King would have our heads,” Tori, the youngest and most junior of Thor’s personal guard, balks. 

“She could have been sent here to assassinate you or his Majesty!” Aevar adds, and Loki casts an unimpressed eye over the pair.

“Thor, were he here today and not off negotiating peace with the leaders of the Nine Realms, would trust and respect my judgment.” Drumming his fingers over his swollen stomach irritably, Loki again waves a hand in dismissal, this time accentuating his point with a flick of the wrist. “Now, shoo.”

Aevar and Tori look to each other, have a momentary conversation consisting of the raising of eyebrows and shrugging of shoulders, before they deem this argument a lost cause and turn to exit the throne room. Clasping his hands behind his back, Loki calls one of his favorite daggers to his fist, studying the young girl before him.

Since she’s entered the room, her eyes have not left Loki’s face. Their brilliant green is now obscured by a mist of tears, and her lips are slightly parted, lower lip quavering with an emotion that looks strangely akin to grief.

“What is your name, young one?”

Surprised at being addressed, the girl seems to snap out of her reverie, lifting her eyes to meet Loki’s. A singular tear slides down her pale cheek. “My name is Brynhild, mo–your majesty.”

Brynhild. Loki’s always been particularly fond of that name. “And why have you come here today, Brynhild?” The girl’s fists clench and unclench in their bindings, and Loki frowns. “Did someone put you up to this? If you tell us of their plan, you will not be–”

“Brynhild Lokidottir.”

Blinking harshly, Loki’s hands tighten on the hilt of the dagger behind his back. “I’m sorry?”

“You asked for my name,” Brynhild says quietly, face full of such sorrow that Loki’s heart gives an odd lurch in his chest. “My name is Brynhild Lokidottir.”

The cogs in Loki’s brain, usually swift and efficient, seem to have been doused in a vat of grease. His thoughts grind to a halt for a moment, and all Loki can do is blink dumbly at the young woman who stands before him. Now that he thinks of it, she does look strikingly similar to himself. The hair, the eyes, the moonlit-pale skin…but there’s no way he’d have a child without his knowledge. The babe that gestates within him now, made of his and Thor’s finally-recognized love, is without a doubt Loki’s first-born.

“I don’t know if this is some kind of jest–” Loki begins, but the girl interrupts him again. Brave little thing, having the gall to interrupt the All-Mother not once, but twice.

“It’s not a joke. I know this is probably hard to believe, but…” And Brynhild shifts from foot-to-foot uncomfortably. “Unchain me and I can prove it.”

Loki’s self-preservation instincts and curiosity have a short-lived battle before his need to know more comes out the victor, and he speaks a spell that unlocks the manacles around Brynhild’s wrists. She rubs them appreciatively before slowly approaching, palms out and open in a show of benign intentions.

“I’m going to reach into my back pocket, now,” She says, and Loki’s eyes track her hands as she slowly does so, retrieving what looks like a small square of paper. 

Taking a careful step forward, Loki accepts the shape from Brynhild’s outstretched hands. It takes a moment for his mind to register what he’s seeing, but, as soon as it does, Loki’s heart stops for a moment.

He’s holding a picture in his hands, one that seems a little dulled by age and torn at the edges by loving fingers. Depicted on the surface is a family, seemingly at some sort of celebration. But it’s not just any family–Loki’s own visage smiles back at him from the snapshot. Thor sits next to him, one arm around Loki’s shoulders, beaming his signature sunny grin. Cradled in Loki’s arms is a bundled babe with dark hair, fast asleep against his chest, and three other children seem to be climbing over Thor’s shoulders and arms: two boys, one dark-headed and one light-headed, and a blonde little girl perched in Thor’s lap.

“What’s this?” Loki chokes out after he regains some semblance of voice.

“This is my family,” Brynhild responds softly. 

When Loki looks back up, Brynhild is in tears, face buried in her hands and shoulders shaking something fierce. Moving as quickly as he can, Loki descends the stairs from the throne and gathers her close, letting her bury her face in his neck and cry.

“Why the tears, little one?” He asks when Brynhild looks up again, eyes rimmed red. 

“I-I…I come from the future,” Brynhild explains, hands still fisted in Loki’s robes like if she lets go, he’ll disappear. “But not exactly your future, as it seems. In my reality, this place was destroyed long ago. I’d only ever heard of it in tales you or Papa told me. Noma must have executed the spell wrong…” 

“Asgard was destroyed?” Loki asks incredulously, and Brynhild sniffles, nods.

“It’s a long story. It involves your sister, Hela.”

Stiffening at the mention of the Queen of Hel, Loki’s hand goes protectively to his bump. Hela had nearly killed them all, not so long ago. She claimed it her right, after apparently defeating some being called “Thanos” that no-one had ever heard of. It had taken all of Asgard’s combined power, but Thor and Loki had managed to seal her back in the realm from whence she came.

“In my reality…” And Brynhild’s hands tighten in Loki’s robes. “In my reality, you die two years after my birth.”

Loki freezes, chest constricting painfully. His alternate-world daughter looks up at him with wide, sad eyes, carefully bringing a palm up to touch Loki’s cheek.

“I couldn’t remember,” She says weakly. “Noma and Audun and Jari could remember, but I couldn’t. It wasn’t fair. They told me stories of you, and Papa told me stories of you, but it wasn’t enough. I–I didn’t mean to get caught. I just wanted to see you in person, if even from afar. I wanted to know…” And her lower lip trembles again. Loki gathers her up against his chest, rests his chin on her forehead.

“Sh, little one,” He murmurs. “All will be okay.”

Interested in the universe Brynhild comes from? ;)