The Ragnarok Trials

Day Twenty: My Way

Day Twenty
         My Way
Focus Word: Final
Word Count: 1713

Around us, the crowd disappeared, along with the dais and the remains of the god called Heimdall, the one-time Watcher of the Norse, driven mad by his own blindness. With a sweep of his hand, Michael cleared it all away, and returned everyone to their own homes, leaving only my compatriots and he to stand in the town center.

"You violated my command, Gabriel, and aided him," Michael whispered. "What have you to say for yourself?"

Gabriel stepped up and placed a hand on Michael's shoulder. "My friend, I would not have you commit an injustice, even unwitting. Loki could not prove to you that he was innocent. He had not the power to sense the blood on Heimdall's sword, nor to extract a confession. And so you would have executed him, or no one would have been punished at all."

Michael shook his head. "I would have combed the crowd myself, had I sensed Loki's innocence. I would have turned my sword aside and searched every living Old God, to find who had so allowed the Lie-smith to take the blame for a crime they committed. You did not need to violate my command and orchestrate a grand lie to save him, Gabriel."

I watched the exchange, open mouthed with shock and something akin to shame churning in my stomach. Michael would have brought Heimdall to justice, would have scoured the whole crowd, to keep me alive in my innocence. Incomprehensible pain for an Old God, to be so bared before the might of an Angel, and he would have done it to find Baldur's killer and my adversary. He would not do so immediately, to so spare us from that agony, and so he had set me to the task of proving my own innocence.

Had he ever believed that I was truly guilty? Yes, he must have, for Michael did not believe in lies. Evidence had pointed to my guilt, and even then he had given me a chance to prove my innocence. He would never have executed me. And I had gone on believing that he would, all this time, because he hated me. I was completely wrong.

I didn't know how to feel about being wrong twice in one day. It was something new for me. I'm used to outsmarting everyone.

Holy shit, I'd been tricked into thinking that Gabriel and all my friends thought I was guilty and were framing me for a crime I didn't commit! How the hell had they managed to pull that off?

I was really losing it. I guessed it was alright, though. If losing it meant friends such as mine, I definitely didn't mind losing it all and right quick.

"I did not want you to feel guilty for attempting to execute an innocent man. I just wanted to spare you the pain of unsheathing your sword against Loki, who had not committed the crime you convicted him of." Gabriel placed both hands on Michael's shoulders. "I am truly sorry to have disobeyed and to have lied, my friend. It was the only thing I could think of, and Athena insisted that it would work. She is powerful and wise, as you well know, and just as just as you. I wanted everyone to talk away free of guilt. And...Loki is my friend, Michael."

The Archangel glanced at me, shock evident in his fire-bright eyes. "He has earned your friendship, Gabriel?"

"He has. And that is the exact reason you freed him from his chains, Michael, remember? That he might finally be free of his guilt, that he might finally learn love and acceptance and be free of the maelstrom of chaos churning within him. You wanted to free him from that burden he has carried for so long, to allow us to shoulder that burden for ourselves. It is working, Michael. Your plan is working."

I stared back at Michael, whose eyes remained on me, mouth agape. "You're the one who decided to free me from the chains? And...from myself?"

Michael nodded. "I am. And it seems that you are inching closer to the humanity I envisioned for you, Loki Laufeyson. This is not your final case for us, but I am pleased that you are innocent and that you will continue to work for us. I shall return to Heaven now. Gabriel, you may remain until such a time as you wish to return." With a nod to Ares, Athena, and Odin, Michael disappeared into the Heavenly plane, leaving all of us to stare at one another.

"Well, I wish I could say I did it my way, but I guess I have all of you to thank for keeping me alive." I chuckled awkwardly. "I...I admit, I am not used to such magnanimity. From anyone."

Odin cleared his throat. "I remembered, Loki, that I once promised that we would always drink together, you and I, and that I would never raise a glass but you had one, too. And yon Angel reminded me that this means drinking with you even when your nature renders you inimical. And, too, he showed me how much you had changed. I broke my word to you, Loki, my oath. I wanted to pay recompense."

It was as close to an apology as I would get from the Allfather, and, as such, was plenty good enough for me. "Thank you, Odin."

"I will take my leave now. I undoubtedly need to calm the others after Heimdall's execution. If he's not as useless as I think he is, Thor will have already begun his own attempt to bring order to things in there." Looking up at the building, Odin sighed and closed his eye. "I imagine, though, that he is up there toasting to Heimdall's memory and telling stories about his own glory."

I shrugged. "That's Thor for you. You kind of just have to accept him for what he is, don't you?"

Odin turned and glared. "Don't push it, Lie-smith. You still have a lot to answer for. Just because you didn't kill Baldur this time doesn't absolve you of all you have done to our kind over the years. It will take a long, long time for you to become one of us again."

"Ah, there's the Odin I know. Good to have you back, blood brother."

Grumbling, Odin walked toward his building, hands stuffed into the pockets of his coat and shoulder hunched against the pressures that awaited him inside his hall. I didn't envy him the task. The Norse had been expecting to get rid of me and had, instead, lost their Watcher. Bright-eyed Heimdall, who'd once seen everything in the universe and had died a blind man. They would quite likely be angry, and Odin had only the force of his personality to keep them in line. No, I definitely did not envy him the task. Not even a little bit.

"So, I guess I made quite the impression," I muttered, turning to Athena. "Good to know I'm so good in the sack."

Athena choked back a laugh. "Oh, please. Not that you're not wonderful, but I am not new to the sex game, Loki. I aided you because you are intelligent, and because you deserve justice. We must all be true to who we are. The only difference is that now we get the choice to be who we are, as opposed to having that decision made for us."

"I can't believe I was going to face mortality if this didn't work out," Ares muttered. "You owe me, dude. I'm going to the gym. I can't deal with this shit." Waving, Ares stalked off, leaving just me standing around with my two lovers.

"So, cheating on me already," Gabriel joked. "Within a day, you've already found someone else you like better..."

I winced. "Honestly, I thought that might have had something to do with why you were so ready to betray me..."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "You really think most Angels are monogamous? Please. Just because Michael is. I mean, Christ would prefer it, but...why do you think most of us take on human form in the first place? We live for a very, very long time, Loki. Sometimes, all we need is the touch of another being. So I will not judge you for having another lover. Plus, Athena is a good choice. She'll keep you calm."

Athena laughed. "Exhausted, is more like."

"Don't you two start plotting anything. I almost died today because of your plotting. I'm really just glad this case is done, and I find myself hoping that the Old God community can take the night off from crime. I don't care if they're all planning on murdering me, as long as they don't try until tomorrow. Until then, I'm going to go get some sleep."

Gabriel and Athena looked at one another. "Hmm," Gabriel began. "I was thinking of something a little different."

"Oh dear God, no. I am not having sex with both of you at the same time. As much as I would love to, I am too damn tired for that kind of shit right now..."

Athena laughed. "No. Hermes invited us over to his place for some food and beer. I thought you might want a chance to relax. But if you want to use your one night's reprieve sleeping..."

I grinned. "Well, if that's what you're planning, I'm all in. That man beat me at Halo one too many times, and I plan on wreaking unholy vengeance upon him this evening."

"Well then, let's get going before he's eaten everything and there's no beer left." Gabriel came up and threw his arm around my shoulders. Athena, smiling softly to herself, slipped her hand into mine.

A few hours ago, they were trying to kill me. Now, it turns out it was all a ruse and they'd been playing me for two days, and we're going to go play video games with the man who'd sent me right into their clutches. And, you know what, despite it all, I couldn't help but feel happy.

Because I was one step closer to being human.

One step closer to being completely and totally free.

And that was bloody well wonderful.

Fin