#like let’s be clear his magic as it stands absolutely is the strongest in Asgard

[musclesandhammering]

A Concept: Loki gets in a situation where his magic is bound or he’s facing someone with stronger magic than him or something and everyone expects him to just be screwed, but instead he simply starts drawing runes and reciting spells and proceeds to wreck their shit.

“I’m not the most powerful sorcerer in Asgard because my magic is the strongest, I’m the most powerful sorcerer in Asgard because I know how to use magic the best.”

[jeichanhaka]

The Robbed That Smiles

Chapter Five

Noticing who was there and that the Sanctum door was still wide open, Lokki fell quiet; behind her Reyda hurried forward, concerned greatly by how agitated the frost giantess was. The mischief goddess’ sea-colored eyes roamed over her surroundings and the faces of the Avengers in the Sanctum foyer, the room suddenly struck so quiet a pin drop would sound like a sharp clap.

Just as suddenly the quiet vanished when Thor let go of Strange and instead hurried to Lokki, absolutely beaming. “You’re with child, sister?” The thunder god asked, ecstatic. Out of all the Avengers, he had been the first, aside from Loki himself, to truly view Lokki as who she said she was. And as such, he fully viewed her as family, like some recently rediscovered lost sibling. A much more welcomed surprise compared to Odin’s reveal of Hela.

“I….” Lokki fidgeted while smoothing out her blouse, spreading the soft material so that it once more fully covered her abdomen. Until that moment, most of her middle and lower abdomen had been bare. And despite her previous unabashed display of nudity in front of Stark, she felt more exposed now than a week ago. She nodded. “I am.”

Thor grinned forgetting all about why he and Rogers had come, and instead started asking various questions of the frost giantess. Things like: How far along was she? Did she know what she’d name the baby? Or even what gender it was to be? Who was the father? His exuberance was so great, he barely paused for the frost giantess to respond.

“Ahem.” Reyda interrupted the thunder god’s parade of questions, and whispered something in Lokki’s ear after noticing that the frost giantess’ demeanor had flipped. Where she had been blistering angry, Lokki was now subdued and reticent. Even more so after Thor asked about the father of her child. The obstetrician gave Lokki a reassuring look and gestured towards the room they’d been in mere moments before. After Lokki nodded in reply to the Asgardian healer’s wordless question, Reyda turned to Thor. “I was just giving Lady Lokki a check up, so please save all inquiries for later. And if possible, could you take this disagreement or whatever you’re in the midst of somewhere else?”

“Of course.” Strange immediately answered recognizing the concern in Reyda’s eyes and interrupting Thor who seemed childishly reluctant to do as the healer asked. Before the thunder god could protest, he continued. “We have a misunderstanding to clear up and should focus on it first and foremost. Unless Thor doesn’t mind his brother being blamed for something he did not do?”

“Of course I mind!” Thor bristled, the next moment following Strange and Rogers on their way out of the Sanctum. Only pausing to halt Loki from following. “You should stay here. Some of the Midgardian leaders are chomping at the bit to lock you up, brother. I believe a few won’t even care if you are innocent this time.”

“I…” Loki started to protest, but then thought better of it. If the Midgardian leaders wanted to lock him up for simply existing, he wasn’t going to just walk into their laps. Maybe if he came up with a trick that would royally fuck with them, but at the moment he preferred to not. “I’ll just relax with a book in the library.”

“All right, brother.” Thor nodded, about to resume his way out, but hesitated and glanced towards the office door; Lokki and Reyda having just returned to the tiny room. There was reluctance in his eyes, not wanting to leave his pseudo-sister alone - mostly from excitedly wanting to celebrate the news and glean all he could about his newest family member, but also from a wary dread. He didn’t know why, exactly, but hearing Lokki was pregnant filled him with concern.

“Brother? Shouldn’t you be on your way?” Loki gazed at Thor, scrutinizing the thunder god. His tone having a terse underbite to it - in an unlikely to happen again turn of events, Strange had left the Sanctum without reactivating the higher defenses of the library. An oversight the mischief god was salivating to turn to his advantage. All those old tomes waiting for his peruse on their shelves.

“Loki...the stories father used to tell us as children...you remember the ones dealing with the female frost giants, right?” Asked Thor, missing the excitedly knavish look of his brother’s due to the mischief god standing closer to his blind-side. As such he also missed Loki’s swift change in emotion as the younger man realized what Thor meant.

According to Odin’s stories, (the few that concerned female Jotunn), pregnancy and childbirth were among the most dangerous occurrences in Jotunn women's lives. The mortality rates amid both infants and mothers were so high, that one of the earliest truces between Jotunheim and Asgard was brought about when an Asgardian helped safely deliver a Jotunn baby that even the mother had given up hope in delivering alive. (That Jotunn mother was the head-consort of the strongest clan-father in Jotunheim during that time period, hence the truce.)

“Brother?”

“It’s nothing to be concerned about.” Loki lied, implicitly understanding that his doppelganger wouldn’t want the concern that would result in Thor learning the truth. That her chance of a successful pregnancy was horribly low. Furthermore, Lokki would have both Dr. Strange and Lady Reyda observing her and her child’s health, she wouldn’t need anyone else knowing. “I’m sure father’s stories were just stories - at least those ones. After all, he himself was told those stories by his father. And Female Jotunn ceased fighting in wars completely long before father’s first battle. It’s highly guaranteed he never met one.”

“....” Thor listened to his brother, whose tone was much smoother and believable than when he lied about Lokki sleeping in. But that was the same for so many other of Loki’s lies. His brother was so adept at persuasion and deceit that it was impossible for the thunder god to discern when the mischief god was truthful and when he was not. Thor only managed it when he began assuming that everything his brother said was a lie, especially if it fucked him over or benefited Loki some other way.

“Are you really going to do this now? Disbelieving me about something private concerning, well, myself of sorts, while the Midgardian government is deciding whether or not to imprison me for a prank I didn’t actually do?” Loki rolled his eyes and gave a heavy exhale, his next words scoffing. “Do you really think any version of me wouldn’t prioritize my own safety over your or anyone’s feelings? How much do you think I’ve actually changed?”

Thor opened his mouth to reply, before giving into the other’s argument. It was valid and not self-serving as far as the thunder god could tell. As he started to leave, Stephen Strange suddenly reentered and waved his hand towards the library, magically securing it. Loki’s eyes bulged, his teeth clenching as his rare chance to delve unhindered in the Sanctum library was robbed from his grasp.

“I nearly forgot.” Said Strange, though Loki wondered silently if that was true. It could’ve been, but the mischief god doubted the Midgardian wizard forgot or overlooked much of anything. It certainly hadn’t taken him long to realize Lokki’s condition or to realize Loki knew it before aiming his dagger at his double’s abdomen. More likely, the wizard had wanted to fuck with him by presenting Loki with an opportunity to access the library, before ripping it away. Probably hoping to do so at the very moment Loki picked up a book. Thor delaying the mischief god had likely interfered with that part. “Library is off limits. As are my and Wong’s private spaces. Also, try not to destroy anything while I’m away or I may just personally escort you to your Antarctic prison regardless.”

With that, Strange left again, not bothering to gauge Thor’s or Loki’s reactions to his threat. Unsurprisingly, the mischief god’s reaction was furious, simmering rage and quiet plotting on how to get back at the wizard. Thor’s was shock mixed with rethinking of Loki’s argument to get him to back off of his concern about his brother’s female double.

“Just go.” Loki snapped, recognizing the beginnings of distrust in his brother’s face. It incensed him. “If you think I’d mislead you about Selfie’s health and the safety of her child just to get you out of the Sanctum so I can pilfer through the library, then fuck off. Go suck up to your little Avenger buddies and their government. Have the Midgardians lock me up in that arctic prison, or banish me, whatever. I don’t bloody care.”

“Loki, I….” Thor trailed off and watched as his brother stalked off, realizing that it was pointless to argue. He had without realizing it crossed a line, ticking off Loki in a way he hadn’t in years. Not since they’d arrived in Midgard 3 years ago with the Asgardian refugees fleeing Ragnarok.

That time he managed to royally piss off his brother by doubting Loki’s claim that he’d left behind the Tesseract in Asgard. At first Thor had believed his brother’s claim completely, but had faltered due to the distrust every one of his fellow Avengers felt towards Loki. Eventually the mischief god’s claim that he passed by the Tesseract in Asgard’s vault, and though sorely tempted, had decided simply not to take it just seemed false.

Even after three years with no sign of the Tesseract or any hint that Loki had it stashed away somewhere, the other Avengers still suspected the mischief god had it. That saying he left it alone in Asgard during Ragnarok was a lie. That disbelief had even spread through New Asgard, and was the real reason Loki had been unofficially exiled from the settlement after one week. (It was an unofficial exile because Thor, as leader of New Asgard, refused to exile his brother. He had instead suggested Loki travel around Midgard for a while.)

That suggestion and the reason for it had peeved his brother, who had then proceeded to comply by traveling country to country, all under the radar. No one even knew where Loki had gone or was doing for about 3 months following his exile from New Asgard. It wasn’t until his official exile from Norway that anyone heard any news of him, and when Thor questioned him later, Loki practically admitted to purposely getting exiled from the Midgardian country so his big brother wouldn’t have to ever worry about him returning to New Asgard.

Thor had never felt more like an ass.

But by then Loki had gotten over it, similar to when they were children. Once his brother felt he’d gotten full revenge, he stopped focusing on the particular slight. It wasn’t until they grew older that the mischief god started nursing grudges longer and despite getting payback. (Or at least that was Thor’s observation which, since he’d never noticed his brother’s increasing envy and enmity until it culminated in the mischief god trying to destroy all of Jotunheim to prove himself worthy of the throne, didn’t say much.)

‘Loki.’ Thor gazed after his brother, before turning and leaving the Sanctum. Nothing he could say at that moment would help, and he felt whatever he did say, would simply exacerbate the situation. And that was just with his brother, he had no clue how his brother’s female doppelganger would react. He sighed.

As Thor exited the Sanctum and headed to where Rogers and Strange waited, ready to head to the meeting between S.H.I.E.L.D and the country’s government concerning Loki, someone peeked out of the window of a house across the street. Not an action suspicious in itself, but the furtive way they did so combined with the fact that the house in question had none of the usual signs it was inhabited - curtains, parked car, furnishing or lights of any sort - got the thunder god’s attention.

He nearly started to head towards the house, only to be stopped by Rogers and Strange, the latter muttering ‘don’t’ while the former grabbed his arm. “What? Who’s…”

“U.S military, judging by the weapons and uniform.” Rogers replied, keeping his voice down and making sure not to peek incessantly at the house or an innocuous looking car parked down the street. “Doctor and I noticed them while waiting for you. They seem to be waiting for us to leave the vicinity.”

“What? Why?” Thor watched Rogers, while instinctively trying to turn back towards the uninhabited house. It was from habit that he turned his blinded eye towards the Midgardians watching the Sanctum, keeping them unaware of his knowledge of their presence.

“Likely to attempt capture of Loki.” Strange drawled and prodded the thunder god towards the van Thor and Rogers had arrived in. “Rogers just finished telling me that the meeting about the Statue of Liberty didn’t go well. At all. And that you practically stormed out of the meeting, adamant that you wouldn’t allow your brother to be imprisoned. Or interrogated.”

Thor’s face lit with anger. “Just let them try.” He growled, determined more than ever to confront the people watching the Sanctum. Strange sighed and simply portalled the thunder god away, stepping through another portal after gesturing to Rogers. The other Avenger quickly got into the van, shutting the door, before being portalled away himself to a lookout point overlooking the Sanctum. Moments later the van started to drive off, remotely driven by Stark, to convince those watching that Strange and the Avengers had all left.

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Gray eyes peered into piercing sea-green ones as Reyda waited, her physical exam of Lokki concluded although it wasn’t as thorough as the Asgardian doctor would’ve preferred. It was as thorough as she was comfortable being, at least until the female Jotunn answered some questions. The hyper-active frost was troublesome enough and warranted caution, but the moment Reyda touched the mischief goddess’s abdomen, she’d paled. Warranting caution was an understatement.

“Please answer completely and truthfully.” Said Reyda, keeping her tone steady and neutral; her gaze sweeping over Lokki’s suddenly inexpressive face. The frost giantess’ demeanor, though still poised, had shifted with the doctor’s first question. A question that still hung in the air, palpable and needing no repeat.

How many times had she, Lokki, miscarried?

After about a minute of silence, her patient refusing to answer, Reyda sighed. “Milady, I cannot give you the best care if you don’t….”

“Four.” Lokki cut across the Asgardian doctor, finally getting out the answer, her throat hoarse as she swallowed back her emotions. The seidr cuffs around her wrists prevented her from hiding such behind an illusion, prevented her from hiding the paleness of her cheeks at Reyda’s question and the redness around her eyes. “Four times.”

“Four?” Reyda drew in a breath, her lips parting in horror as her thoughts filled with everything she knew about Jotunn pregnancy. Female frost giants became more tender around the womb area the more unsuccessful pregnancies they had and their frost more active. Having touched Lokki’s abdomen, noting how sensitive it was and tender as well as how active was the goddess’ frost, she had expected to hear an answer of two. Maybe three. No more than that, as a Jotunn’s fertility cycles generally ceased if more than three pregnancies were lost. “This is your fifth pregnancy?”

Lokki nodded.

Reyda swallowed, shaking internally. Every part of her wanting to express her trepidation and horror. Not just from empathy for the Jotunn, but from the knowledge that her ‘expertise’ in Frost giant pregnancy wasn’t near enough to deal with this. The more times a Jotunn miscarried, the harder it would be to carry to the minimum weeks needed for a successful birth. “Have you ever carried to term?”

“...” Lokki glanced at the doctor, her sea-colored irises having been focused on the paintings adorning the wall across from her. “By term do you mean minimum weeks or maximum?”

“Either.” Reyda replied, chiding herself for foolishness the next second. The mischief goddess’ size, although tall and decent by Asgardian standards, was runty by Jotunn. There was zero possibility that Lokki had carried to the max gestation week limit for Jotunn. Doing so would’ve meant death for the goddess during labor. Unlike Asgardians or Midgardians, Jotunn females had a range in which it was possible to give birth to a healthy baby with an over 90 percent survival rate. This was on top of a gestational period over double the length of a Midgardian - 90 weeks instead of 40. Carrying for longer than the minimum gestational time simply resulted in larger births rather than runty ones. “I meant the minimum 50 weeks.”

Seeing the Asgardian flustered, Lokki grinned, although subduedly. “I know. I wouldn’t be able to carry to 90 weeks or anywhere beyond 62 without severely risking my health.” She paused, chewing on her bottom lip. Standing before her, Reyda held her breath waiting for Lokki’s answer. The frost giantess shook her head. “No. I’ve only ever reached 46 weeks.”

“I am so sorry.” Reyda blurted, noticing the watery film over the mischief goddess’ eyes; something Lokki tried to mask, refusing to let the Asgardian see her emotions. After a few moments and a series of calming breaths from both women, the doctor asked her next question. “Do you know how far along you are?” She paused. “I know it’s part of my job to determine that, but…It is difficult to gauge precisely without scans or further tests.”

Caressing her abdomen protectively, Lokki glanced down at her hands, her expression unreadable. “...between 26 to 32 weeks.”

Reyda’s eyes widened and scrutinized the frost giantess’ abdomen. “26…? But...you barely look more than 14 weeks…You…” The Asgardian doctor covered her mouth and shook her head, staring at the mischief goddess dumbfounded. Although Jotunn pregnancies developed much slower than Asgardian or Midgardian ones, they still gained significant weight by the 20th week. Lokki barely looked pregnant. “I’m sorry, but...you don’t look...if you’re serious, you haven’t gained enough weight, I….”

“I gained.” Lokki countered, bristling at the doctor’s remark; her sea-hued eyes glaring annoyed at Reyda. Her jaw clenched and she peered with an angry, pale face at the Asgardian; at the same time her frost started to act up. Ice soon lined part of the seidr cuffs around her wrists. “My weight prior just wasn’t....” She took a deep inhale, a steadying breath or two, while her frost calmed a bit. “I didn’t get with child under the most, shall we say, ideal conditions…” The goddess closed her eyes, her demeanor turning more taciturn. “I thought it impossible, actually, you…” Lokki swallowed, opening her eyes to gazed at Reyda eye-to-eye. “The you of my universe said it was impossible, that after my last…that any Jotunn who’s miscarried as much as I…you said it was impossible.”

Reyda blinked, briefly thrown by the reference to a parallel universe’s version of her, and she bristled slightly at the accusatory edge in the frost giantess’ voice. An edge meant for the version of her from Lokki’s universe. “...Your current pregnancy was unexpected?”

Lokki’s mouth twitched, her gaze grown cold. “Very. If I’d known…” Shaking her head, she frowned, muttering the rest of her sentence under her breath. The next moment she shrugged and asked if they were done, muttering that she was hungry while already walking to the door.

“Almost. Just one more question.” Reyda replied, while Lokki shrugged and stopped just before opening the door, her hand on the handle. “The father of your baby…”

“No.” Lokki spat, her body suddenly completely tense. “I will truthfully answer any questions you deem important to ensure I have a successful pregnancy. But I will not answer that.”

“You didn’t even hear my full question.”

The frost giantess spun around and scowled at Reyda, vehemence coloring her irises. “The only thing relevant about him to you as my obstetrician is he isn’t Jotunn. Nothing else is relevant. And I will answer nothing else about that...about him.”

Reyda swallowed, shivering at Lokki’s glare and at the Jotunn’s spite-filled, venomous tone. Her breath caught in her throat and she closed her eyes to settle her trembling. As she opened them she realized Lokki had left the room, and she exhaled.

After a few moments standing there alone in the room, a loud crash drew her attention, followed by cursing and sucking in of breath, the sound similar to a hiss of pain.

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“Norns!” Loki hissed and wrenched back his hand from the door handle, his fingertips blistered. After perusing the library, rereading a few of the safe books that Strange didn’t mind the mischief god reading, he had quickly grown bored. Not even peeking into Strange and Wong’s rooms to see what tricks he could play assuaged the tedium. For a moment he considered peeking in his doppelganger’s room, and perhaps glean just how alike they were, but decided against it. Instead he decided to leave.

His first clue that something was up should’ve been being unable to simply teleport out of the Sanctum. Ordinarily no one aside from Sanctum wizards could portal in or out, but Strange had bent the protection spell to allow Loki to leave by magic. Just as long as the god took nothing belonging to the Sanctum with him. Allowing this saved them the hassle of escorting Loki out after every visit, which sometimes occurred multiple times a day. (He was marked as a potential threat by the Sanctum itself, thus he wasn’t allowed to simply leave unsearched.)

His second clue...well, that was the strong magical protection brimming from the front door itself. That should’ve given him pause, but instead he ignored it and tried leaving the Sanctum. Only to be welcomed by pain as he grabbed the knob. The strength of its magical protection was enough to blister his skin, burning him despite his Frost Giant heritage.

“What the fuck!” The mischief god cussed, glaring at his fingers then at the door knob; his sea-colored irises brimming with irritation. It increased when he heard Reyda hurrying towards him.

“Is everything okay?” Asked the Asgardian lady, her gray eyes locking on Loki’s blistered fingertips. She quickly approached, only pausing briefly to think about how it could even be possible to burn a Jotunn. It must have been through whatever seidr or magic the Midgardian sorcerers used - flame alone wouldn’t be enough. “Are you…”

“I’m fine.” The mischief god swiped his hand away from Reyda’s reach, not feeling like dealing with the healer’s concern. Although he enjoyed such attention normally, having received it so rarely growing up and usually only after manipulating the other party, Loki was focused on the protective magic that had scathed him. Was it possible that the Midgardian wizard wanted to keep him prisoner? That despite what Strange said about explaining the misunderstanding to the government, they were going to lock him up anyway? He glared hatefully at the door.

“Hm? What…” Reyda gazed up at Loki, absently reaching for the door handle herself. Before she touched it, Wong called out from upstairs.

“Don’t!” The monk warned while descending the stairs, using a minor magic of his own to prevent the Asgardian healer from accidentally touching the doorknob. “Strange activated the Sanctum’s Sanctuary Protection spell before he left. No one but Sanctum cleared wizards or those escorted by them can enter or leave.”

“Oh.” Muttered Reyda, while the mischief god beside her turned to face the monk.

“....” Loki glowered at Wong, while using his seidr to alleviate the pain from his fingers as well as mask the damage. “You could’ve warned me before I tried leaving. I passed by you on my way down. You could’ve said something.”

Wong simply shrugged, amused by the mischief god’s frustration. The thought to warn the trickster had crossed his mind, but a part of him that disliked the god had argued that thought down. And he didn’t regret it.

“I see.” Loki seethed, before shifting his frown into a calm smirk; one identical to any he wore during his captivity in Asgard’s dungeon. That expression much more sinister. Vehement. Wong felt a shiver go up his back, something that made the mischief god’s smirk widen. “Where’s Selfie, by the way?”

“Selfie…?” Reyda queried, gazing up at the mischief god before glancing at Wong; the Midgardian’s face filled with worry.

“My female double.” Replied Loki, his smirk spreading at Wong’s horrified demeanor - the look on the Midgardian wizard’s face revealing he knew about Lokki’s condition; something Loki had been unsure about, considering the monk had gone upstairs before the mischief god had blurted the fact out earlier. “She at least should be warned, no? It would be dreadful if something happened to her pregnancy because Wiz here decided to be spiteful.”

Reyda gasped and nodded vigorously, turning towards the Midgardian. Before she could demand Wong help warn Lokki, a shout and loud banging caused them to jump. The shout belonging to the female Jotunn. Face drained, Reyda hurried towards the sound along with Wong.