[Part 1 of 3] Destiny Still Arrives

[pirateangelbaby]

The Statesman quakes beneath Thor's boots, metal screeching and groaning like a beast dying from a messy kill, shuddering in its death throes. Another blast rocks the ship and he stumbles, rapidly searching for his footing as he makes his way toward the main hall, heart thundering in his chest. Screams echo through the corridors, panic and terror spreading through the refugees trapped on the vessel that was to be their salvation, and may yet become their pyre.

It's utter chaos, worse than the evacuation of Asgard, a confused mass of Asgardian orphans and widows and widowers all struggling to know what to do, and hundreds - thousands - of eyes turn beseechingly to their king as he appears in their midst, looking desperately to him to save them.

There aren't enough escape pods for them all, and they all know it.

But that's not the only avenue of escape, either. The only question is how long they have.

"Asgard!" Thor shouts over the cacophony, and the crowd quiets enough for his words to carry over the entire nation, even without Gungnir to silence them. "Hear me! All children and their guardians, make for the Nexus portal at once. All other non-combatants to the escape pods!" None of those dismissed wait to hear more, the people quickly streaming out of the main hall, but there are so many. Too many.

Not enough time.

"Valkyrie, take the Commodore and as many people as it can carry," Thor tells her, and she scowls and opens her mouth to protest, but he cuts her off with a raised hand. "I need you to gather the escape pods once the danger is over. Get the people to Earth, and find Steven Rogers or Natasha Romanoff. They'll grant you access to the Nexus for the rest. And find Loki, the other one. Norns willing, that's where they'll be."

"But your Majesty-"

"Go! We don't have time to argue."

Valkyrie curses and punches him in the chest, furious, and stalks away, her blue cape rippling angrily behind her. She doesn't look back, and Thor does not watch her leave, his attention demanded by those who've yet stayed behind. Loki, looking pale as death itself, eyes wide with a fear Thor has never seen on him before. Heimdall, grim-faced and clutching shining Hofund in his fist, the watchman's golden eyes staring right through Thor as he keeps his gaze upon the leviathan of a ship looming over the Statesman like an eagle descending on a mouse. The militia that the Valkyrie has been training, a mere handful compared to the ten thousand Einherjar that once protected Asgard, a ragtag troop of commoners nowhere near ready for real combat.

Their enemy will not wait.

Thanos is coming now.

"Every moment we still fight is another moment our people have to escape," Thor says to those who remain, and though he's fought in a thousand battles and come close to death on many occasions, never have his hands trembled as they do now, knowing that all of Asgard now hangs in the balance. He clenches his fists tightly, lightning skittering over his hands and arms, and squares his jaw to hide the fear. "If Valhalla calls us home today, we're damned sure going to send the Titan and his minions to Hel first. For Asgard!"

"For Asgard!" the militia cry out in reply, raising their weapons in quaking hands, voices trembling with terror, yet standing their ground at the side of their king. Even though it will almost certainly mean their deaths.

Asgard will yet live. They have not come all this way for nothing.

---

In the heart of the Nexus, one of the many portals hums to life, and a flood of people begins to stream forth. Too many children, too few adults, screaming and crying as distant sounds of thunder and explosions chase them through the doorway, and black acrid smoke belches out of the portal with every person that passes through.

There's still more waiting to come through yet when there's an abrupt screeching of buckling metal and shattering glass, and on the other side, there's a brief glimpse of terrified faces and a starfield where the hull should be before the portal blinks out entirely. The archway lies crumpled in on itself, smoking and silent.

---

Thor crumples to the deck, gasping for air through mouthfuls of his own blood, just another body in the sea of the dead and dying. He tries to roll over, to push himself to his feet, but his arm refuses to obey, lying limp several feet away from his body, the stump of what's left only succeeding in painting crimson smears against the floor, his lifeblood steadily draining his strength with every beat of his heart. He tries to summon the storm in his bones, but manages only a feeble spark between his remaining fingers, and nothing more.

He can do little but listen as Thanos' ship carves the Statesman in half, the tortured groan of metal ripping apart and the roar of hull breach in the distance, as his henchmen prowl through the slaughter and brutally end the lives of those who still draw breath, and pray that someone - anyone - has made it to safety.

A withered creature smiles at the massacre as it paces softly through the bodies, voice raised as if in praise. "Hear me, and rejoice. You have had the privilege of being saved by the Great Titan..."

Comments

[liverfree]

There's no way to know what Loki is thinking, but Prometheus can take a good guess once Loki comments on his de facto leadership. There is no mention of the other members of Thor's council. There is no mention of the other Loki. It's hard for Prometheus to remember sometimes that this Loki is from a timeline ahead of Thor's, but the distant look in his friend's eyes puts that fact in sharp relief.

He places a hand on Loki's shoulder, coaxing the deity to focus on him and not the past. "Loki. You care for your people, and you have proper resources here. That's enough to lead them through this tragedy, or at least keep them safe and cared for. And I can certainly find them places to stay. My neighborhood has become popular among the local artists and philosophers. It's... kind of hippie? Without the drugs. Everyone looks out for one other, I'm sure we can make room."

[coldsong]

There's no doubt in his mind that the other Loki is dead. Heimdall, too, he suspects strongly, has lost his life in defense of Asgard. The last three standing in any world must always have been Thor, Heimdall, and the Valkyrie, and if Thor sent the latter to gather and shepherd any people escaping by way of escape pods or the Commodore...

Well. If she survived, that would be a bright spot in a dark universe. A bright, wine-drenched spot with the mouth of a sailor. (He really would like to see her again.)

He twitches a little at the touch to his shoulder, but refocuses readily enough on Prometheus. "Is it, though? Is it enough? They have lost their entire world, and then had their means of escaping that disaster destroyed, ripped from beneath their feet. It's cruel."

Railing against the Norns won't make any difference, though, and if hating Thanos could harm him, he'd be crushed under the sheer volume of Loki's spite by now. What's happened has happened. "I...will take charge of the injured children, and the ones who I've had to spell to sleep. But for the others, yes. Many of them are alone, orphans, but I think the older children can help the younger, for a while, and there are a few adults here. If you can help find them housing..."

And maybe this is temporary. If the Valkyrie managed to get away, there will be adults to help aboard the Commodore, if they can just get to them.

[liverfree]

"Loki," he repeats, a bit more sternly this time. It won't do for his friend to keep chasing these dark thoughts, not while his people need him. "Somehow you gave the Norns the run-around and ended up here. Just as the Norns led Thor through a portal so many months ago, so that his people could one day use it to escape. That has to be enough, for now."

He looks briefly at the sleeping children, and the others with their healing injuries. "Once they have recovered, come find me and I will find homes for them, as well. If the goodwill I've earned in the neighborhood isn't enough, I've got plenty of drachma to burn."

What's an immortal to do with all the money they've shrewdly invested over the centuries, anyway? He's played the role of philanthropist before, he can do it in the Nexus without breaking a sweat.

"I'd like to take one of the adults with me, as they'll have a better idea of what the children need. Who do you recommend?" That is, who is the least traumatized here?

[coldsong]

Loki's ice-green eyes snap to Prometheus' face at that tone, and there's a blend of irritation and indignation that crosses his face, a flash of you're not my REAL dad. It softens after a few seconds, though, because taking things the wrong way simply isn't an option in the midst of a crisis, and Loki knows it. "I think everything happens in accordance with the story the Norns are composing," he says. "That is such faith as I have, and it affords me no comfort right now. But you're right. Now is the time for practical considerations."

"Some...may have found a home already," he says quietly. It's an emotional impulse he's feeling, and he needs time to analyze it rationally, but there's a reason he's gathering the worst-off, along with the healer's apprentice and the mother and infant. They're his, at least for now.

"Money should not be an issue, no." Anything Loki can't buy with what he's got, he can barter, bully, or steal. But if Prometheus has honest means and offers them freely, that's probably better.

"Rindr," he says. "She's older, and caring for her three nephews. One of them, Elgr, is nearly 90, and he's a big help. Take her, if she will go--and I'm sure she will not refuse--and perhaps bring them along."

"I will begin taking groups to the closest hostel. If better places can be found for them, so much the better, but I don't like leaving them in the middle of the Nexus, either."

[liverfree]

Well, if that irritated glare doesn't take him right back to when he was advisor to the Olympians. It's a sore spot for him, one of the few that he has, but his look of I'm only trying to help here lasts but a moment. There is no room for ego in a crisis. Besides, what Loki has to say about the Norns is very un-godlike, at least in his experience. How many times did Zeus complain to the Fates to change something, as if he had any sort of sway over their decisions?

Whatever the Norns have planned, at least they have led these people to the Plaza. Prometheus will thank them for that.

"Ah, yes," he says in response to Rindr's name. "I spoke with her briefly. Lovely woman. We'll get the housing situation sorted and return as soon as we can." He doesn't like the idea of leaving everyone in the Plaza for long, either. "And, ah... Loki, if it's all right, I can take in a family or two. I expanded my studio so I have the space."

[coldsong]

Loki is a transgressor of boundaries, and he cannot be what he is without boundaries to transgress. He fights fate tooth and nail, and to have something to fight, he must therefore believe in Fate. He never expects to bully the Norns into making something go his way. Rather, he plays a waiting game, reacting to what they throw at him and trying to turn it to his favor. And in the end, when the story is complete and the final thread of the tapestry is stitched in place and the loose ends trimmed, he has faith that the story he's been a part of will have been worth the telling.

Right now, though, the threads seem dark and knotted and tarnished with ash and blood, and he continues to struggle to maintain his focus.

And yet: "Yes. Please do. There are few people in this place I would rather see caring for the last holdouts of Asgard."

[liverfree]

Whatever his beliefs, Prometheus will respect them. Strange how much their pantheons have in common, and yet how different they are, as well.

He gives Loki a small smile. He's touched, truly, but now isn't the time to bask in the warm fuzzies. "It would be my honor," he says sincerely. "I'll be off, then. With any luck, we won't be gone long."

And then he follows through, finding Rindr and her nephews who are amenable to accompanying him, as predicted. He gets the practical matters out of the way, leaving time for questions about the Nexus itself, as well as a quick stop at Yaya's newly opened restaurant. The old woman demands that Prometheus returns with as many children as he can for a proper meal once he has them all settled in housing.

By the end of his trip, he and Rindr have secured lodging in his neighborhood. It will be group housing for many of them, and some of his artist friends are already talking about setting up a sort of art camp, but at least the broader logistics are taken care of.

He can return to Loki with that settled, at least.

[coldsong]

Thor, too, Loki knows, would approve of Prometheus caring for their people. He has proven a good friend; invaluable. Loki still worries that sooner or later he will run afoul of him, maybe not to the point where violence occurs, but enough to test his good nature to the extreme. Even then, though, he trusts this Titan to look after the people of Asgard, and Thor.

Loki nods soberly, watching for only a moment as he goes, and then he begins dispatching his illusions to the closest hostels and inns, looking for space for the others.

As it turns out, the hostels have plenty of space; most of the residents who were there while post-Winter repairs were done on their properties are gone now, back to their own homes. Taking on a large group of children and adolescents is a tall order, but using the list Prometheus has afforded him, Loki is able to split the refugees into groups where at least one or two adults are there with the little ones, and several older children, to help out. It won't do for the long term; there will be caregiver burnout, and fast, but for the interim, it will have to hold them.

He keeps the more cohesive family units with him; they will be the easiest to settle. Some of them have already latched on to younger children and toddlers that are technically unrelated, but who need care and welcome. It's this group that will remain when Prometheus returns as well as close to a hundred others that he has not been able to settle yet. Magna and Endre are among the families, as well as some others. There seem to be no adult males in this entire group, and the women are not shieldmaidens, just homemakers and scholars and farmers. It makes sense. The most vulnerable have been dispatched to the safest place.

At least some of the elderly were meant to be with the refugees coming to the Nexus, Loki thinks with a pang in his heart. They probably insisted that the little ones escape first. But what he wouldn't give for a few Asgardian grandparents to help, here.

He looks tired when Prometheus returns, but now he's playing with illusions to entertain the children. There are glimmering green deer chasing one another through the circle of furniture, leaping weightlessly over the seated kids.

"I've gotten some of them placed," he tells Prometheus. "Can you handle this many?"

[liverfree]

When Prometheus returns, even he looks a bit tired around the eyes. It is Rindr who answers Loki, giving her prince a cursory bow before patting the Titan's arm in a friendly manner. "Prometheus here has it all settled. Apartments and communal space, all on the same block. There is an old human woman who seems determined to feed the lot of us, as well."

She speaks the latter with a small note of wonder mixed in with her otherwise sedate manner. Thor had spoken of the people who inhabited Earth -- a short-lived race who needed his help, not the other way around. She hadn't expected much of them, to be honest, but the generosity of the people she has met so far has been enlightening.

Prometheus gives her a warm smile, then turns his attention to Loki. "I can walk people over in small groups -- around twenty at a time, perhaps -- and get them placed into their housing. It won't be quite so frenetic, that way."

[coldsong]

"That's wonderful," Loki sighs, and finds what he actually wants to do is cry rather than smile and reassure. But that's all right. There will be plenty of time for that later. There is always time later to mourn.

"The people here are very generous," he tells Rindr. "The humans and the others. There are many, many races and species represented here. We need not worry about lack of welcome, at least."

Later on, he'll wonder what Odin would think of all this. Whether he would be apoplectic at the thought of his people so fallen that they would take a meal from a mortal restaurateur, or whether he would be pleased that they're capable of adapting to a change so tremendous. Loki knows what he thinks, though.

Adaptability is power.

"That's a good plan," he nods to Prometheus. "I'll keep watch here, but if you want me to send an illusion along with you, I can do that, as well."

[liverfree]

Rindr nods, taking in this information thoughtfully, then looks up at Prometheus. "I'll start gathering up the first group." She gives another bow, then heads off, gesturing for her nephews to come with her. Who knows what Odin would make of this change, but she at least seems comfortable with the idea.

"That'd be a good idea," Prometheus says in response to the offer. "These people need a familiar face while they're getting settled." He pulls out his PINpoint and sends Loki another message. "Here's an annotated list of who is staying where. If anything changes, I'll let you know. People might want to rearrange themselves after a few days."

There's room for a few more, but he keeps that to himself. Loki seems determined to care for some of these children himself. "If there's anything else I can do, you know where to find me."

[coldsong]

"Thank you, Rindr," Loki tells her gently. "I will come around to visit as soon as I am able."

Until Thor comes here, until any further survivors are found, these are Loki's people. Never mind that they're from a universe parallel to his own and therefore no direct relation to him. Never mind that even his brother is not really his brother. They're here and they need him. He's going to be watching them like a mother bear watches her cubs.

He takes a deep breath and turns back to Prometheus with a nod. "Thank you. I'll keep an eye on them, as well. I don't know whether Thor will want to attempt to resettle them on Earth eventually--of course, he's not going to force anyone who would rather stay here, but if there are any living relatives for these children, they'll need to be found and matched up, in time. But he can decide when he comes."

He will come. He must come. He can't be dead.

[liverfree]

It's a side of Loki that Prometheus didn't exactly not expect, but is glad to see all the same. He only hopes that the deity does not burn himself out protecting his people before Thor can return.

Because Thor will. Obviously. Gods don't die. Or if they do, they come back. Or if they don't, then you find Hades and pester him and maybe wrestle his dog for a while and then they come back. That's how it's done in his pantheon, anyway.

"My Earth is always an option, too. Although they may prefer a place that has more experience with non-humans." Not that they wouldn't blend in, at first glance, but that difference in aging might cause some problems.

Catching sight of Rindr rounding up the first group of refugees, he dares to give Loki another clasp to the shoulder in farewell, hoping he does not rattle his already frayed nerves. "Until I return, then."

[coldsong]

If you want to wrestle Hela's dog, Prometheus, more power to you. Loki prefers to leave that kind of thing to the Hulk whenever possible.

In any case, the implicit offer to help Asgard resettle on Prometheus' world makes Loki smile a little more earnestly. He's not used to have friends to lean on; it's a peculiar feeling. Usually it's been him and Thor, and when Thor's not around, it's just him. This is probably a change for the better.

"We will not forget your kindness," he tells the Titan, and actually leans into the touch this time. "When things are settled further, I will come see you."

It's going to be a frantic few weeks, unfortunately. But Asgard survives, and has a place to call home, at least temporarily.