Chapter Text
The Avengers gathered around the dining table, still processing the revelations from the memory viewing. The setting was informal—plates of Asgardian delicacies arranged alongside more familiar Midgardian fare, with goblets of mead and wine positioned nearby. Despite the comfortable surroundings, a thoughtful tension hung in the air.
"So," Tony began, reaching for a piece of bread, "just to clarify what we witnessed—Yggdrasil isn't just riding shotgun in Loki's body, she's actively trying to rekindle an ancient romance with Thor's... soul, I guess? And sometimes nearly murders people who flirt with him?"
Thor sighed, setting down his goblet. "It is more complex than that, but essentially correct. Her attachment to my soul's previous incarnation creates... complications."
"That's putting it mildly," Natasha observed. "She almost ripped someone's soul out over what looked like harmless diplomatic conversation."
"A momentary lapse in control," Loki said stiffly, his food largely untouched. "One that has not been repeated."
Bruce leaned forward, scientific curiosity evident in his expression. "The physical connection between you two seems to stabilize both Yggdrasil's influence and Loki's magical abilities. Is that why you eventually decided to share quarters?"
Thor and Loki exchanged a brief glance before Thor answered. "Partly. We discovered that proximity mitigates many of the... side effects of our condition."
"And the nightmares?" Steve asked quietly. "The memories Yggdrasil shares with you, Loki—how do you manage those?"
Loki's expression tightened. "Some things cannot be managed, only endured."
"That's not entirely true," Frigga interjected gently. "You have developed certain techniques for maintaining the boundaries between your consciousness and hers."
"With limited success," Loki countered, though without his usual bite.
Clint, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, finally spoke. "I think I understand better than most what it's like having someone else in your head." His gaze met Loki's directly. "It's a violation. Even when they're not actively controlling you, knowing they could..."
A flicker of surprise crossed Loki's features at this unexpected empathy from the archer. "Yes," he acknowledged simply. "Though in my case, the arrangement was... consensual, if poorly understood at the time."
"The memory showed some progress, though," Bruce noted optimistically. "Yggdrasil seemed to be learning to communicate without always taking control."
"Progress is not linear," Thor admitted. "There are good days and... challenging ones."
"And what about the romantic aspects?" Tony asked bluntly. "Because that seemed pretty complicated, even by dysfunctional family standards."
Loki's expression closed off immediately. "That is not relevant to combat functionality."
"Actually, it might be," Natasha countered. "If Yggdrasil's feelings toward Thor—or your feelings, or whatever the distinction is—affect battlefield decisions, we need to understand that dynamic."
"My judgment remains sound," Loki insisted with dangerous quietness.
"No one's questioning your judgment," Steve assured him. "We're just trying to understand the full picture so we can support you both effectively."
Thor placed a calming hand on his brother's arm. "They mean well, Loki. And they have a right to know what they're dealing with if we are to fight alongside them."
After a tense moment, Loki relaxed marginally. "The... emotional entanglement is manageable. Thor and I have established appropriate boundaries."
"Which Yggdrasil respects?" Bruce asked skeptically.
"Which she is learning to respect," Thor clarified. "It is an ongoing negotiation."
Odin, who had been observing silently, finally spoke. "There is more you should see to fully understand their situation. The memory fragments we shared earlier represent only part of the challenge they face."
"There have been... complications we did not anticipate," Frigga added, her gentle expression tinged with concern. "External threats drawn to Yggdrasil's essence."
The conversation shifted as servants cleared away the dinner plates. Soon the group relocated to the comfortable lounge area where their previous viewing had taken place. The golden mist began to form once more, swirling in intricate patterns that suggested both beauty and danger.
"This memory takes place several months after what you witnessed earlier," Frigga explained. "A time when they believed they had reached a relatively stable arrangement."
"Stable being a relative term," Loki muttered, though he positioned himself close to Thor as the memory began to take shape.
The mist coalesced to reveal Asgard's grand library—vaulted ceilings stretching upward to dizzying heights, shelves upon shelves of ancient tomes arranged in elegant rows. Loki stood alone among the stacks, his fingers tracing the spine of a particularly old volume as he searched for something specific.
"Prince Loki," a melodious voice called from nearby. "What a fortuitous encounter."
Loki turned, his expression carefully neutral as he regarded the speaker—a striking figure draped in elaborate robes of an unusual, shifting material that seemed to absorb and reflect light simultaneously. The visitor was tall and ethereally beautiful in an unsettling way, with features that appeared almost too perfect to be natural.
"Prince Tharivol," Loki acknowledged with a formal nod. "I was unaware you frequented Asgard's library."
"There are many things about me you are unaware of," the prince replied with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Though I find myself increasingly curious about you."
Loki's posture subtly tensed, though his diplomatic expression remained intact. "The Hidden Realm has always maintained its mysteries. We are honored by your rare presence in Asgard."
"Such formal courtesy," Tharivol observed, moving closer with fluid grace. "Yet I sense something far more... interesting beneath that carefully constructed facade."
"I'm afraid I have duties to attend to," Loki replied smoothly, attempting to step around the visitor. "If you'll excuse me—"
Tharivol moved with unexpected speed, blocking Loki's path. "Not yet, I think. We have much to discuss, you and I."
A flash of irritation crossed Loki's features. "Whatever diplomatic matters require attention can be addressed in the formal council meeting tomorrow."
"This is not a diplomatic matter," Tharivol countered, his voice dropping to a dangerous purr. "This is about what you carry within you. Or should I say, whom?"
Loki went perfectly still, his expression betraying nothing though his eyes narrowed slightly. "I don't know what you mean."
"No?" Tharivol laughed softly, the sound like crystal breaking. "Then allow me to be more direct."
Without warning, he placed a hand on Loki's chest, his fingers splaying over Loki's heart. The effect was immediate—Loki's expression contorted in shock and pain, his body going rigid as green light flared beneath Tharivol's palm.
"There you are," Tharivol whispered, addressing not Loki but something within him. "After all these eons, hiding in such an unexpected vessel. Did you think I wouldn't find you, beloved?"
Loki's features shifted subtly, Yggdrasil's presence emerging not in her usual fluid takeover but as if dragged forward against her will. "You," she hissed through Loki's lips, her voice layered with ancient hatred.
"Yes, me," Tharivol confirmed, his perfect features now alight with malicious satisfaction. "Though I wear a different form now, just as you do. Does your current host know who I am? What we were to each other?"
"We were nothing," Yggdrasil spat, struggling for complete control of Loki's body which seemed partially paralyzed by Tharivol's touch. "You destroyed everything we might have been when you murdered him."
"Ah yes, your precious lover," Tharivol said dismissively. "A trivial obstacle easily removed."
Inside their shared consciousness, Loki's awareness struggled to comprehend what was happening. "Who is he?" his thoughts demanded of Yggdrasil. "What does he want?"
"Danger," Yggdrasil's thoughts replied, uncharacteristically fragmented with what appeared to be genuine fear. "Ancient enemy. Killer. My destroyer."
Before Loki could process this, Tharivol's grip tightened, his fingers seeming to sink partially through physical matter. "How fitting that you chose to manifest as Yggdrasil after your loss," he taunted. "The great tree of life—when you couldn't even save the one life that mattered to you."
With a sudden, violent motion, Tharivol pushed Loki against the bookshelf, his hand now around Loki's throat. "Shall I show your host what happened? Shall I make him understand exactly what kind of entity he harbors?"
"Don't," Yggdrasil gasped, using Loki's voice but with a desperation entirely her own. "Leave him out of this. This is between us."
"But he is part of it now, isn't he?" Tharivol countered cruelly. "Just as his brother is the reincarnation of your precious lost love. How convenient that they found each other again. How... predictable."
His fingers tightened around Loki's throat as reality itself seemed to fracture around them. The library dissolved into swirling, chaotic energy, reforming into an ancient, primal landscape—a realm of raw power that predated the Nine Realms themselves.
"Watch," Tharivol commanded, forcing both Loki and Yggdrasil to witness what unfolded.
A man who bore an uncanny resemblance to Thor—though with subtle differences that marked him as a different incarnation—stood facing a being of terrible beauty that could only be Tharivol in his original form. Between them stood Yggdrasil in her true manifestation—a woman of extraordinary presence, her form radiating pure creative energy.
"He shall choose," past-Tharivol declared, his voice echoing across eons. "You or me, Yggdrasil. Let him decide which of us is truly worthy of eternity at your side."
"This is madness," past-Yggdrasil protested. "There is no choice to be made. I have chosen him freely, as he has chosen me."
"Then let him declare it," past-Tharivol insisted, turning to the Thor-like figure. "Speak, warrior. Claim her if you dare."
The ancient warrior stepped forward without hesitation. "She is not property to be claimed," he stated firmly. "But my heart is hers for as long as she wishes to hold it."
"How noble," past-Tharivol sneered. "How utterly predictable."
What happened next unfolded with horrifying speed—past-Tharivol lunged forward, a weapon of pure energy materializing in his hand. The ancient warrior moved to defend himself, but the attack was too swift, too unexpected. The energy blade pierced directly through his heart, golden blood spilling onto the primordial ground.
"No!" past-Yggdrasil screamed, rushing forward to catch her lover as he fell.
Present-Loki, forced to experience this memory through Yggdrasil's consciousness, felt her ancient grief as if it were his own. In that moment, the distinction between them blurred entirely—her pain became his pain, her memories his memories.
The dying warrior reached up to touch past-Yggdrasil's face with blood-stained fingers. "Find me," he whispered. "Across time... across realms... I will return to you."
"Stay with me," she begged, green energy flowing from her hands as she desperately tried to heal the fatal wound. "Please, stay with me."
But the wound was beyond even her immense power to heal—created by a weapon specifically designed to sever the life force of immortal beings. As the ancient warrior's eyes dimmed, past-Yggdrasil threw back her head and released a scream of such profound anguish that reality itself seemed to fracture around them.
"Such drama," past-Tharivol commented coldly. "He was unworthy of you. In time, you will see that I did you a favor."
Past-Yggdrasil looked up at him, her grief transforming into something terrible and cold. "I will never forgive this," she promised, her voice resonating with power. "For as long as existence continues, for as many incarnations as we both may take, I will never be yours."
"Eternity is a very long time," past-Tharivol replied with chilling confidence. "And I am very, very patient."
The memory shattered, returning Loki and Yggdrasil to the present moment in Asgard's library. Tharivol's hand remained at Loki's throat, though his grip had loosened slightly.
"Now you understand," he told Loki directly. "The entity you harbor has quite a history. One might say an obsession."
Inside their shared consciousness, Yggdrasil's presence was utterly distraught—not the controlled, ancient being Loki had grown accustomed to, but a raw wound of grief freshly reopened after eons of partial healing.
"Let me go," Loki managed to say, his own voice reasserting control as Yggdrasil retreated into their shared psyche, overwhelmed by the forced memory.
"In due time," Tharivol assured him. "Once you deliver a message for me."
"What message?" Loki demanded, his own anger rising to fill the void left by Yggdrasil's retreat.
"Tell her that I've found her again, as I always do," Tharivol instructed, his perfect face inches from Loki's. "Tell her that this time, I won't allow another separation. The cycle ends now."
With that cryptic statement, Tharivol abruptly released Loki, stepping back with casual elegance that belied the violence of moments before. "I look forward to our continued... discussions, Prince Loki. We have so much to talk about."
Before Loki could respond, the library doors opened and Thor entered, his expression brightening when he spotted his brother. "Loki! I've been looking for you. The council meeting has been moved forward and—" He stopped, noticing Tharivol's presence. "Prince Tharivol, I wasn't aware you were here."
"Just enjoying a scholarly conversation with your brother," Tharivol replied smoothly, his demeanor transforming into perfect diplomatic courtesy. "He has quite the fascinating mind."
Thor's gaze moved to Loki, clearly noting his brother's unusual pallor and the slight tremor in his normally steady hands. "Is everything all right?"
"Perfectly fine," Loki replied with practiced ease, though he couldn't quite meet Thor's eyes. "The prince and I were just finishing our discussion."
"Indeed we were," Tharivol confirmed with a courtly bow. "Until later, Princes of Asgard."
As he glided from the library, Thor moved quickly to Loki's side. "What happened? You look unwell."
"Nothing of consequence," Loki dismissed, though he unconsciously moved closer to Thor, the proximity visibly steadying him. "Diplomatic conversations can be... draining."
Thor clearly didn't believe this explanation, but didn't press further in that moment. "Come, the council awaits us."
As they walked from the library, the memory showed Thor placing a supportive hand on Loki's shoulder—a gesture that now carried deeper significance to the observers who understood its stabilizing effect. Loki leaned slightly into the contact, drawing strength from it while his mind was clearly elsewhere.
The memory shifted forward to that evening. In their shared chambers, Loki paced restlessly while Thor watched with growing concern.
"Will you tell me what truly happened with Prince Tharivol?" Thor finally asked. "You've been disturbed since I found you in the library."
"It was nothing," Loki insisted, though his continued agitation belied the claim.
"Loki," Thor said gently, "I know when you're hiding something. Especially now, with our connection."
Loki stopped pacing, his back to Thor as he stared out at the night sky. "Some things are better left undisturbed."
"Not when they cause you such distress," Thor countered, approaching slowly to stand behind his brother. "Is it Yggdrasil? Has she been troubling you?"
A laugh escaped Loki—bitter and hollow. "For once, she is not the source of the problem. Quite the opposite, in fact."
"Meaning?"
Loki turned to face Thor, conflict evident in his expression. "She has been unusually quiet since the encounter. Withdrawn in a way I've never experienced before."
"That doesn't sound like her," Thor observed with genuine concern. "Is she injured in some way?"
"Not physically," Loki replied after a moment's hesitation. "But... emotionally, perhaps. I didn't realize an entity like her could be wounded in such a way."
Thor's expression softened with understanding. "Even the most ancient beings can feel pain, brother. What happened to cause this?"
Loki looked away, clearly struggling with how much to reveal. "Tharivol... knows her. From before. From her original existence."
"And this knowledge disturbed her?" Thor prompted when Loki fell silent.
"It's more complicated than that," Loki admitted. "He showed us—showed me—a memory. Something she had experienced eons ago. Something... painful."
Before Thor could inquire further, Loki's expression suddenly shifted in that now-familiar way—but instead of Yggdrasil's usual confident takeover, this manifestation seemed broken, vulnerable. Without warning, she propelled Loki's body forward, throwing his arms around Thor with desperate intensity.
"You're here," she whispered, using Loki's voice but with an entirely different cadence. "You're really here. He didn't take you from me again."
Thor, clearly startled by this uncharacteristic behavior, instinctively returned the embrace. "Yggdrasil?" he asked carefully. "What troubles you?"
"I saw it again," she said brokenly. "He made me watch—made us both watch—as he killed you. As your blood spilled across the ground and I couldn't save you."
"I am not dead," Thor reminded her gently. "I am here, whole and unharmed."
"But you were," she insisted, clinging to him with uncommon desperation. "In our first life together. When he took you from me out of jealousy and spite."
Thor's expression reflected dawning understanding. "Tharivol... he was your suitor? From before?"
"He was my destroyer," she corrected, her grief momentarily transforming into something harder. "He wanted what I would not give him, so he took what I loved most."
Thor carefully guided Loki's body to sit on the edge of the bed, maintaining physical contact as he settled beside her/him. "Tell me what happened," he requested softly.
Through Loki's lips, Yggdrasil recounted the tragic history—how Tharivol had been an entity of similar power to herself, how he had desired union with her, how she had chosen another, and how his jealousy had led to murder.
"I became Yggdrasil—the world tree—after his death," she explained, using Loki's hands to gesture expressively. "I poured my essence into creation rather than destruction. I spread my branches across reality itself, hoping that somewhere, somehow, his soul would return to me."
"And it did," Thor surmised. "In me."
"Yes," she confirmed with Loki's voice. "Though not immediately. There were other incarnations, other lives where we found each other. Tharivol found us in those lives too, sometimes. The cycle repeated."
"And now he's found us again," Thor concluded grimly.
Yggdrasil nodded with Loki's head. "He will try to separate us. He always does."
"What does he want from you?" Thor asked, his protective instincts clearly engaged.
"What he has always wanted," she replied wearily. "Union. Possession. To claim what I would not freely give."
Thor's expression hardened with resolve. "That will not happen. I will not allow it."
A sad smile crossed Loki's features under Yggdrasil's control. "You said similar words in your first life, beloved. Before he drove his blade through your heart."
"I am not that man anymore," Thor reminded her gently. "And you are not alone as you were then. You have Loki now, and together, you possess power even Tharivol must respect."
This seemed to give Yggdrasil pause. Slowly, Loki's expression shifted again as control returned to him, though he remained within the circle of Thor's arms.
"She's terrified," Loki observed with uncharacteristic gentleness. "I've never felt her like this before."
"With good reason, it seems," Thor replied, making no move to create distance between them despite the return of Loki's consciousness. "Tharivol appears to be a significant threat."
"One she believes capable of killing you," Loki added, his own concern evident beneath his calmer exterior. "Again."
"He will not find me such easy prey this time," Thor asserted confidently.
The memory shifted forward to later that night. Thor slept peacefully while Loki remained awake beside him, staring at the ceiling. In the dim light, his reflection in a nearby mirror shimmered slightly—Yggdrasil communicating without taking full control.
"You're unusually respectful of boundaries tonight," Loki observed quietly.
"I am... not myself," her reflection admitted. "Seeing him again, remembering... it changes things."
"You mean it humbles you," Loki translated with surprising insight.
"Perhaps," she acknowledged. "Fear has that effect, even on beings like me."
Loki turned onto his side, facing the mirror. "He wasn't expecting both of us," he noted thoughtfully. "He knew you, but I caught him off guard."
"You are unlike my previous vessels," Yggdrasil agreed. "More integrated with me, yet still distinctly yourself. It confuses him."
"Good," Loki said simply. "Confusion creates opportunity."
A long silence stretched between them before Yggdrasil spoke again, her tone uncharacteristically vulnerable. "He may be more powerful than both of us combined, Loki. He was my equal in the beginning, and he has clearly grown in power since then."
"Power isn't everything," Loki countered. "Strategy matters more. And unlike you, I don't carry the burden of grief when facing him."
"Do you not?" Yggdrasil challenged softly. "Did you not feel my pain as your own when he forced that memory upon us? Did you not grieve as I grieved?"
Loki was silent for a moment, unable to deny this truth. "That was different. It was... imposed upon me."
"Yet the emotion was real," she insisted. "Just as your feelings for Thor are real, whether or not you acknowledge them as your own or attribute them to my influence."
Loki's expression tightened. "This isn't about Thor and me. This is about the threat Tharivol poses."
"They are connected," Yggdrasil replied. "He seeks to possess me by destroying what I love. What we both love, though you resist admitting it."
"What do you suggest we do?" Loki asked, deliberately changing the subject. "We can't simply avoid him while he's here on diplomatic business."
"No," she agreed. "But Thor cannot know the full truth about who Tharivol is. Knowledge would make him reckless, protective. He would confront Tharivol directly."
"And that would be dangerous," Loki inferred.
"Fatal," Yggdrasil corrected grimly. "Tharivol may be powerful, but so are you, Loki. So are we together. If he could kill my lover in our original existence, he could kill me as well. Could kill us both."
Loki absorbed this sobering reality. "So we bide our time. Learn his weaknesses. And keep Thor ignorant of the full danger for now."
"Yes," she confirmed. "Though it pains me to withhold the truth from him, even for his protection."
"Sometimes protection requires deception," Loki replied, his expression resolute as he glanced at Thor's sleeping form. "Even from those we... care about."
The golden mist reclaimed the memory, returning the observers to the present moment. A thoughtful silence fell over the group as they processed these new revelations.
"Well," Tony finally said, "that's a plot twist I didn't see coming. Ancient cosmic love triangle with murder and reincarnation."
"It's more serious than you make it sound, Stark," Thor admonished, though without real anger. "Tharivol represents a threat unlike any we have previously encountered."
"Did you really not know?" Steve asked. "About his true identity and intentions?"
"Not initially," Thor admitted. "Loki and Yggdrasil kept that information from me for... a time."
Loki's expression remained carefully neutral. "A necessary precaution, given your tendency toward reckless confrontation."
"Wait," Bruce interjected, his analytical mind focusing on a different aspect. "If Tharivol was Yggdrasil's equal in power originally, and he's only grown stronger since then..."
"Then we're dealing with an entity of almost unimaginable power," Natasha completed the thought. "One with a personal vendetta."
"And an apparent habit of murdering Thor's previous incarnations," Clint added grimly. "That's... concerning."
Odin stepped forward, his expression grave. "Now you begin to understand the true complexity of their situation. Tharivol's appearance marks only the beginning of the challenges they face."
"But why show us this now?" Tony questioned. "Is Tharivol currently an active threat? Is he here on Earth?"
"Not presently," Frigga replied carefully. "But understanding the nature of their bond—and the threats drawn to it—is crucial for your alliance moving forward."
"So what happened next?" Steve asked, his strategic mind clearly considering implications. "How did you handle the situation with Tharivol?"
Thor and Loki exchanged a weighted glance before Thor answered. "That," he said with uncharacteristic solemnity, "is a story for our next viewing. One that reveals even more about the nature of our... complicated existence."
As the group began to discuss the implications of what they had witnessed, the brothers moved slightly apart from the others, their voices lowered.
"They're taking this better than expected," Thor observed quietly.
"For now," Loki replied skeptically. "Wait until they see what comes next."
Thor's expression grew troubled. "Do you think it wise to show them everything? Some things perhaps should remain between us."
Loki's gaze met his brother's directly. "If they are to fight alongside us, they must understand what they're truly dealing with. All of it."
"Even the parts we ourselves struggle to accept?" Thor questioned softly.
Loki's response was barely audible, yet carried unmistakable resolution. "Especially those parts. For they are what truly define us now."
In the distance, Frigga watched her sons with knowing eyes, already preparing the next memory sequence that would reveal even deeper truths about the complicated bond they now shared—and the ancient enemy determined to destroy it.