2 Chapter 2 loki arrives in new asgard

A knock on Valkyrie's door woke her from her sleep, and she rushed out of her bed.

"This better be important," She thinks to herself, looking at the clock and realising that it is just 5 a.m.

She opened the door. "Your majesty, you need to come to the healing rooms immediately," a healer told Valkyrie.

She slammed the door behind her as she dashed out.

"What happened?" Valkyrie asked.

"It's better to show you; I can't really explain it," the healer told Valkyrie.

They hurried to the healing rooms, where Valkyrie was met by four healers who all appeared to have just seen a ghost.

"Based on the looks on your faces, It appears bad. Has someone been hurt?" Valkyrie asked.

No one answered her; she was led into another room by one of the healers.

When she saw a bed and on it a man with long black hair, she immediately recognised the person in the bed.

"He's dead, so it can't be him. He died five years ago." Valkyrie thought to herself.

"Is this some sort of trick or sick joke?" Valkyrie asked.

"No, your majesty, we don't know what's going on; we were here tending to the wounded and injured, and he just appeared; we heard a bang in this room, and we entered, and we found him on this bed unconscious." The healer told Valkyrie.

"This can't be him; he died five years ago; there is no way he could have faked his death; he had his neck snapped; you can't fake that," Valkyrie told the healer.

"I'm not calling you a liar, your highness, but he is a very powerful magic user; perhaps he did." The healer said to Valkyrie.

"Why now and not at any other time in the previous five years?" Valkyrie asked.

"Perhaps he snapped away with the others and only recently made his way home a few days later," the healer replied.

"But it doesn't explain why he's here out of all places—why would he come back here—why to the healing rooms is he injured?" Valkyrie asked.

"We did not notice any obvious injuries, your highness, but we haven't checked him for any internal injuries; we wanted to bring you here for your permission and your opinion," the healer said to Valkyrie.

"Has Thor been informed yet?" Valkyrie asked.

"No, your highness, we didn't want to inform anybody else before you in case it wasn't him; we didn't want Prince Thor to have hope that it was him in the event that it was someone else, someone pretending to be him." The healer told Valkyrie.

"I advise we hold off telling him in case it's not him; as you said, it could be someone pretending to be him; I think we should restrain him in case it's him and he means us harm or someone else pretending to be him who also means us harm," Valkyrie told the healer.

"Yes, of course, your highness." "How would you like us to restrain him?" The healer asked.

"Do you have any of those magic-blocking handcuffs?" Valkyrie asked.

"Yes, we have a pair in the storage room," the healer said, and then went off to get them.

Valkyrie sat down next to Loki's bed and turned to face him. "Could it be him? After all these years, could he really still be alive? Could he have somehow survived and made his way back?" Valkyrie thought to herself.

Returning with the magic-blocking handcuffs, the healer fastened one end to the metal frame of the bed and placed one side on Loki's right wrist.

"No one is going to tell Thor or mention any of this to him until this person is awake and we know if it's definitely Lackey or not until we know for sure I didn't want Thor to know, is that understood?" Valkyrie told the healer.

"Yes, of course, your highness," the healer said.

"I personally will sit here and keep an eye on him if it's really him and he's somehow hurt. He might freak out being handcuffed to the bed, so it'll be best if I stay here to talk to him and calm him down. And if he does try and hurt anyone, I'll be here to stop him or whoever this is, and no one else will be at risk of getting hurt; I'll be there to stop this person before anyone gets hurt," Valkyrie told the healer.

"Of course," the healer replied, and then he left the room.

As Valkyrie sat by Loki, she considered all the ways Loki might still be alive and might have managed to get home. Did he really fake his death, then get snapped, and it took him a few days to find his way home? Or did he survive, get injured, and get snapped away? And it took him a few days to get home due to his injury? That would account for his return home and his visit to the healing rooms; perhaps he fell asleep before he could attempt to heal himself. Valkyrie remembered that Thor had told her back on the statement that if Loki ever got hurt in a battle, he liked to sort his wounds out himself he didn't want anyone helping him.

Valkyrie waited for what felt like forever for Loki to wake up, but finally, at 10 a.m., he started waking up.

Loki started pulling against the restraint, and Valkyrie could tell he was starting to panic.

"You're only restrained because we don't know if you're really you or not, plus we don't know if you're here to harm us or not. If you calm down and answer some questions, and act reasonably, we will untie you," Valkyrie told Loki.

"I'm not going to harm you; if I had been here to harm you, I would have done it already," Loki told Valkyrie.

"We can't take any chances; you need to answer a few simple questions so we can prove your identity, and then I'll consider freeing you," Valkyrie told Loki.

"Fine," Loki said. He was starting to get annoyed but wanted to be untied. He would normally get out on his own, but with these stupid magic-blocking handcuffs on his right arm, he couldn't free himself.

"Who are you?" Valkyrie asked.

Loki looked at her, confused. "Is this supposed to be some sort of joke? Because if it is, you're not funny; you know who I am," Loki said.

"I do not know if you are really you or someone pretending to be you, so I have to ask to be sure," Valkyrie told him.

"Fine, my name is Loki," Loki said.

"Why have you come here?" Valkyrie asked.

"Really, isn't it obvious I'm here to see my brother, or is that a crime now?" Loki asked.

"How are you alive when your brother saw you die?" Valkyrie asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you it sounds unbelievable," Loki told her.

"Try me," Valkyrie said.

"Fine, Thanos broke my neck, and then when I woke up, some guy was standing in front of me. He said I may return here and have a second chance at life, but I had to pick some sort of consequence for what happened to me. I picked a consequence, and here I am. I've come back to help Thor. I didn't know I had been dead for five years until the person told me. He also told me something about the Avengers and their friends finding the stones and getting rid of Thanos. also that the Captain apparently reversed all the deaths of the people who died for a stone or through the power of the stones," Loki told Valkyrie.

"It doesn't sound at all believable; you're correct," Valkyrie told Loki.

"I know, but it's the truth; otherwise, how would I be alive?" Loki asked.

"I don't know; maybe you faked your death. You've done it twice, so perhaps you might have faked your death again," Valkyrie said.

"Once, I did it once, and it was different. It wasn't a broken neck. I can't fake a broken neck, and even if I managed to, why would I be back now, five years later? Why not sooner?" Loki asked Valkyrie.

"I don't know how your mind works, and you could've been one of the people that was snapped away and is just now getting back," Valkyrie told Loki.

"Right. OK, and why would I come to New Asgard, let alone the healing rooms of all places?" Loki asked.

"Perhaps You did generally come to see Thor, but you were hurt in some way and came to get supplies to treat your wounds, but you passed out before you could," Valkyrie reasoned.

"If I were injured like that and needed emergency attention, I would just do it myself; I wouldn't come to the healing rooms; I would get the stuff myself from somewhere else; I wouldn't come here and get on the bed and then pass out," Loki told Valkyrie.

"What was the consequence you were referring to?" Valkyrie asked.

"Nothing that concerns you," Loki told her.

"It does concern me; everything to do with this place concerns me," Valkyrie told Loki.

"If anyone should be concerned, it should be Thor, since he is the king," Loki told Valkyrie.

"Actually, he's not the king," Valkyrie said, smiling.

"Why not?" Loki asked.

"He gave it up and picked a successor," Valkyrie told Loki.

"What, why?" Asked Loki.

Valkyrie explained to Loki, "Well, you know, you did die, and Heimdal did die, and the entirety of Asgard was destroyed, and practically everyone he knew died, including some of his Avenger friends, and then he blamed himself because he thought it was his fault that the Snapped people disappeared and they were initially thought to be dead; he could no longer cope, so he gave it up." Valkyrie told Loki.

"Who is king now?" Loki asked.

Valkyrie's smile grew. "You're looking at them," Valkyrie told Loki.

"Now I know you're joking with me," Loki told Valkyrie.

"It's not a joke; feel free to ask anyone," Valkyrie told Loki.

"You can't be king," Loki told Valkyrie.

"Because I'm a woman," Valkyrie said.

"No, that's not it; a woman can be king if she wants to. It's because the last time I saw you, you were barely looking after yourself, let alone being able to look after a kingdom of people. You wouldn't have been able to handle the responsibility of the throne, plus you are a bit random. Thor has so many people that could take his place as king from him; why pick you?" Loki asked.

"Actually he doesn't; him and Jane, or whatever her name is, are still split up, and they never had kids, and he had no living family, so he can pick a random person, and he picked me. We've actually become quite good friends over the time you've been gone, and he chose to give up the throne in favour of me." Loki was informed by Valkyrie.

"Where is Thor then? I'd like to talk to him," Loki asked.

"Once we're sure you are really you, you can speak with him," Valkyrie told Loki.

Loki then started to tug at the restraints once more, saying, "I've answered your questions; I've said the things you wanted me to say; what more do I need to prove I'm me?"

"There's one question you didn't answer: what's the consequence you were just talking about?" "You know I'm king, so it has to do with me, and it's the king's order to answer me," Valkyrie told Loki.

Loki knew she wouldn't just leave it and let it be; he had to answer.

"An injury, but it doesn't concern you; it will only affect me, and it won't affect anyone else in any way. So Don't worry," Loki told Valkyrie.

"You don't seem to be hurt, so what kind of injury is it?" Valkyrie asked.

"No, because it's not obvious—not when I'm here anyway, and as I said, it won't affect anyone but me, so why does it matter?" Loki asked.

"Because I want to know what's going on, and I want to know what to tell Thor if I tell him that you're here," Valkyrie said to Loki.

Loki didn't want to tell her; he didn't want to be seen as weak. He was aware that many of the people he had grown up around took on the warrior culture and that they generally viewed injuries like the one he currently has or any problems he is currently experiencing as a weakness or as being useless, but he knew he had to tell her something in order to see Thor and to be released from the restraints.

"Paralysis it will improve and get better with time." "It just needs time and patience, and then I'll be back to pretty much normal," Loki told Valkyrie. "However, to accept the second chance at life, I had to have a permanent issue, so I will have a permanent issue with my back, basically random flareups of back pain that will act up now and then, and a permanent weakness in my left arm, but I can still do things I could before, and I will still be the person I was before I died," Loki told Valkyrie.

"And how do I know that you're not making this all up to win our trust and then to betray us?" Valkyrie asked Loki.

Valkyrie would never understand how much that hurt Loki. "Yeah, of course. What do you want me to do to prove I'm actually injured?" Loki asked. starting to get annoyed.

"Prove that your arm is actually hurt; I simply want some proof that you are actually telling the truth; I won't tell anyone about your injury except Thor. If you show me proof, then I'll think about telling Thor about you." Valkyrie told Loki.

Loki began to become irritated, but he knew he had to prove his honesty.

When he attempted to lift his left arm and struggled, he looked away and felt ashamed. To show he wasn't lying, he concentrated all of his attention on trying to raise it and prove he wasn't faking it.

"All right, alright, I'll trust you for the moment," Valkyrie said to Loki.

Loki laid his arm back on the bed and remarked, "Good. Can you now go and get Thor and untie me, please?"

"Fine, I'll find a healer to free you, but I'll be watching you, and for whatever reason I can't, there will be someone else to." Loki was told by Valkyrie.

"Fine," Loki said.

Valkyrie called a healer into the room, and they untied Loki.

"I'm going to go and get Thor; you have to stay here; don't go anywhere; the healers will be outside, so don't try anything stupid," Valkyrie told Loki.

Loki rolled his eyes. "I told you I'm injured; I'm not going to get far without using magic, and if I do, you're going to know you'll be able to work it out. I'm not going to try anything; I truly want to see Thor and talk to him." Loki told Valkyrie.

Then Valkyrie walked out of the room to find Thor. She was unable to find him despite searching the entire village, so she went to his house on the edge of town. Valkyrie then knocked on his front door.