Chapter 25

Boda stealthily led the possessed Vanar by the hand from his bedchamber through the short corridor to Loki's own, though as Thor had informed the disguised Dario, the trickster had yet to spend a night in it. Entering the room, kept dimly lit by sources of light along the base of the stone walls, the cauldron not yet lit, Boda took stock of the room which was arranged as it had been in his previous chambers and as Boda recalled it.

Still gripping Vanar's hand, Vanar holding the idol in the other, Boda and the boy crossed to a tall object resting under a velvet cover at the far side of Loki's bed near the wall on a stand. Reaching out with her free hand, Boda took hold of the velvet, sliding it off the ornate gold frame of the tall and wide full sized mirror, tossing the protective fabric aside.

"He's rather vain…he also enjoys–" Boda said with a cynical smirk before cutting herself off as she caught sight of Vanar's diminutive body reflected in the mirror, unsure whether the boy retained any awareness of his surroundings,"Never mind."

Closing her eyes with an expression of deep concentration, Boda stood still and silent for a moment before placing the tips of her fingers onto the glass. A ripple effect originated from the center of the mirror, as if the glass had become a pond in which a pebble had been thrown as Boda drew her hand back, the mirror now converted into a portal that looked to be filled with a gold glowing mist into which Boda and Vanar entered, the mirror returning to its previous state, reflecting Loki's as yet unused and empty bedchambers.

The coal black glass of the slightly smaller mirror on its stand placed along the wall at the far end of Odin's vault displayed the same golden fog before Boda and Vanar stepped through its rune carved frame, entering the subterranean warehouse of relics…Boda freezing in place at the sight of Loki standing a few feet in front of them, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Shit…" Boda reacted to the sight of the trickster god.

"Well done. Second time's the charm it seems," Loki greeted her sarcastically.

"What isss it?" Erebus asked in Vanar's voice, looking up at Boda from the boy's body he inhabited, Boda realizing that Erebus/Vanar was unaware of the God of Mischief's presence, quickly reasoning out why.

"It's nothing," Boda answered Erebus/Vanar, glaring at Loki, "I just need a moment...I'm a bit disoriented. I've only done that once before," Boda said aloud before speaking to Loki telepathically, "And found myself in the throne room surrounded by an entire battalion of einherjar."

"You're exaggerating, as usual. It was more like a squad. That's how many einherjar it took to move the mirror there," Loki responded as Boda led Erebus/Vanar forward, passing through the image of Loki, he turning before disappearing and reappearing beside Boda, "It was quite a historic event, actually. It was the first and will likely be the last time a relic has left the vault once placed there."

"I should have kept my mouth shut as you'd advised me so often in the past," Boda said within her mind to Loki.

"If you had, you'd be dead."

"I would have been better off."

"You don't mean that. What about Vanar? He wouldn't exist," asked Loki.

"Maybe that would have been better too. A child of two worlds who will never belong in either," Boda said as she stopped, Erebus/Vanar still gripping her hand, halting beside her as she scanned the relics on their pedestals.

"Why are you doing this? Revenge? I respect that...however, your grievance is with me, not the entire universe."

"Maybe it is. It's not as if it treated me any better before you came along. It's not about revenge. It's not about you. It's not about us," Boda replied.

"So what is it about?" Loki inquired.

"I have to set things right."

"I don't understand," responded Loki, confused.

"You never have. Maybe you never will. You said it yourself. If I had followed your advice I'd be dead."

"You're not making sense, though I suppose that's 'par for the course' as they say in Midgard. Why did you bring Vanar with you?" Loki asked.

"He isn't Vanar… he is…he's him too. He's in him…Erebus," Boda explained.

"How?" Loki asked, stunned.

"Your brother's attention was elsewhere," Boda informed him.

"He'll destroy us all! Make an excuse to go back! You're nearly as skilled at deception as I."

"I consider that high praise coming from you," Boda replied sarcastically.

"My father will sense your presence here! You know what will happen!" Loki exclaimed anxiously.

"I'm counting on it," Boda replied to a confounded Loki as she spied the goblet on its pedestal near where the Warlock's Eye rested before speaking aloud to Erebus/Vanar, "There it is."

"He can't be destroyed but you and Vanar most certainly can be! You will be!"

Boda and Erebus/Vanar reached the pedestal, Loki's image following behind. Boda magically produced a wine bottle. Uncorking it, she proceeded to pour wine from it into the goblet, the bottle vanishing from her hand.

"Ssssomething else is necessssssary…" Erebus/Vanar said in Vanar's voice but with serpentine S'es.

"What else?" asked Boda.

"The blood of a god," Erebus/Vanar responded.

"Boda… don't...please...I'm begging you," Loki pleaded desperately as Boda magically produced one of Loki's daggers in her left hand.

"You're begging me?" Boda chuckled within her brain, "Speaking of a historic event...how does it feel for the shoe to be on the other foot?"

"You said this wasn't about me."

"It's not. Very little is, despite what you may believe."

Freeing her right hand from Erebus/Vanar's grip, Boda used the dagger to slice her palm before dropping it to the floor, making a fist with her wounded hand and holding it over the goblet as crimson blood dripped into it, mixing with the wine. Erebus/Vanar dropped the idol in his hand to the floor.

"He said to trust you!" Loki exclaimed.

"Who?" Boda asked, confused.

"Will. I spoke with him only minutes ago, in a vision."

"That's not possible. You never met him. I enchanted you to relive your own memories, altered to incorporate one of my own," Boda explained.

"It's true! I swear to you! You kept it...the chocolate…it's in a box under the bar, below the register."

"How did you know that?" Boda asked in wonder.

"He wanted to surprise you. He hid something in it. He never left you…unlike myself," Loki said, his last words heavy with regret and shame, emotions rare for Loki to experience and far rarer for him to express.

"Wait," Boda said aloud to Erebus/Vannar, grabbing his wrist as he reached for the goblet, "You will fulfill your end of the bargain?"

"I give you my word. You and your ssssson and he will live forever, never to be parted," Erebus/Vanar assured Boda.

Loki watched in helpless horror as Erebus/Vanar took the goblet from the pedestal, looking down into it with a sneer of satisfaction before lifting it in both of Vanar's small hands to his lips, downing its contents.

Erebus/Vanar slowly lowered the goblet, the expression of smug victory on his face transitioning to one of confusion that then morphed into shock and fear. As he stood as if frozen in place, an inky black smoky substance began to escape from Erebus/Vanar's eyes into the goblet.

"You vile witch! Nooooo!" Erebus cried in devastation as his mouth fell open, the same black smoke pouring from it as he was forced from Vanar's body as Loki looked on in awe.

Erebus now entrapped within the vessel, the cursed replica of the goblet dropped from Vanar's hands onto the floor at his feet beside the idol. A moment later Vanar's blank, staring eyes rolled into his head as his small body crumpled to the floor, Boda frantically kneeling beside him.

"Vanar?!" Boda cried out, taking his limp body in her arms, shaking him,"Vanar!"

"Is he all right?" Loki asked, his expression changing from relief to concern and then to frantic worry as Boda failed to answer, "Is he alive?!"

"My baby…no…" Boda said softly to the small lifeless boy cradled in her arms, pulling him close to her as rivers of tears rolled down her cheeks.

Standing with Vanar clutched against her, moving him into one arm, his head resting on her shoulder as if he were once again a sleeping infant, Boda stepped over to the pedestal on which the Warlock's Eye rested.

"What the hell are you doing?! Boda! No!" Loki exclaimed as the sound of heavy, metallic steps approached from behind him as he faced her, "Take him and go! Now!" Loki cried out.

Wrapping her free hand around the base of the Warlock's Eye, Boda lifted it from its pedestal, turning to face Loki, locking eyes with him.

"Boda!" Loki called desperately as the Destroyer drew nearer, coming to halt a few feet behind Loki's projected image as he realized it was too late, his expression now hopeless and mournful, "I love you."

"Though we never thought that we could lose, there's no regrets. If I had to do the same again–" Boda said with a sad smile to Loki before a white hot blast of fire shot from the Destroyer's head, passing through Loki's image which vanished as Boda's and Vanar's bodies were incinerated, the Warlock's eye dropping to the floor of the now empty vault.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As night fell over Asgard, Loki stood alongside Odin, Frigga, and Thor dressed formally for the occasion, he, his brother and father having donned their helmets, as they and other mourners looked on as the small skiffs holding the bodies of Arvid, Stian, and the other victims of Dario and Erebus were launched, floating away towards the drop off into the cold darkness of space. As Odin gave the signal, archers notched flaming arrows into their bows that they then sent flying over the water, landing in each craft, the fire spreading and consuming the deceased Asgardians' corpses.

Once the skiffs were fully engulfed in flames, Loki turned, silently and swiftly walking away into the darkness. Frigga's grieved and concerned eyes met Thor's, he gleaning her unspoken message, after a moment also turning and following in his brother's footsteps.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Loki crossed the torch lit, empty plaza where Arvid on his last day had confronted Loki, the memory replaying in the God of Mischief's mind. He could almost again feel the sting of Arvid's assault. Though they'd had more than a few heated arguments in the past, it had been the first, and would ultimately be the only time that Arvid had the gumption to strike the Prince of Asgard. Though Loki would never have voiced it to him or anyone, he had felt a sort of pride in and respect for Arvid in that moment.

"Brother…where are you going?" Thor said just as Loki heard his footsteps approaching on the stone, Loki coming to a halt but remaining with his back to the God of Thunder.

"Away."

"Away…where?" asked Thor, concerned.

"To the cottage. Only for a time. I have things to attend to. By the time I return I trust that my orders to return my possessions to my chambers, my previous chambers, will have been carried out. If it's not too much to ask, I'd like to be alone."

"Are you certain? I'm not sure that's–" Thor began as he reached out, placing his hand gently on Loki's shoulder who remained with his back to him.

"If you wish to retain your hand, you will remove it from me," Loki said darkly, Thor quickly drawing his hand back.

"I share your grief, brother. Asgard and the universe owe them a debt that can never be repaid."

"No, it can't be, seeing as they're dead," replied Loki, his voice hard as granite.

"I'm sorry....I know my words are but cold comfort. I know how you loved her…both of them."

"Those are words no one will ever again hear from me nor do I have any interest in hearing them from another. Tell mother there's no need to worry over me," Loki replied before starting forward once again across the plaza.