Chapter Text
He could hear the screams of battle outside, of destruction as his people fell under the unmerciful wrath of the Aesir. How could he be so foolish? To think that the aesir would see them as anything but monsters that deserved any harm that came on their way, and it had been, he swears, Midgard’s fault; they shouldn’t have entered his realm, even less steal sacred belongings from the palace. But it had, in the end, been too much to present battle to a realm so weak, even if they were so arrogant and selfish, and Jotunheim was paying the price now because of course the aesir would think them guilty and Midgard would play the dramatic part, thus sentencing his icy but warm home into fire and destruction.
He held the little toddler tighter to his chest when the door opened and two guards entered, along with his first born, still a child and too young for battle. The child, a small bumble in his arms, stirred a bit, but settled against his chest to continue traveling the realm of dreams. Laufey smiled down at him, his little giant, so innocent and peaceful even when the bloody war was surrounding them.
Seeing as their king had no intentions to speak and time was running short, one of the soldiers stepped closer to their king, worry in his red eyes; young, Laufey noted, perhaps one of the jotuns of the near villages that have offered their loyalty to fight for their king.
“My Lord” and he knew, he knew he would have to do it now and he sighed, because there was no other way out of this.
“Dad?” he looked up to meet Helblindi’s gaze, a mix of fear an concern in his dark red eyes, the same shade as his; yet he felt proud of the bright red color of his little son’s eyes, much like his mother. He held his sons gaze a bit longer, trying to remember how that little face looked when he smiled, when he played carefree through the palace gardens that were being destroyed under pink skinned war gods; he tried to remember where he failed as a king, for it was the same moment he failed as a father, failed to bring peace to his people, failed to understand that no matter how justified their actions were, aesir would be aesir, monsters convinced that jotuns deserved to be smashed like this and then sleep at night without any guilt or regret over their actions.
“come here, son” and the little jotun did, his steps a bit hurried to be next to his father “dad…” he buried his face on his side, and Laufey couldn’t help but put an arm around him, bending carefully to not wake his son in his arms while he kissed the top of Helblindi’s head, covered in dark blueyish hair “dad, they’re in the castle” a sob escaped the younger’s lips, and Laufey could feel it against his skin, the hot tears a great contrast on his icy skin, the tears his son might have been holding for so long now running free “they’re inside dad…” Helblindi looked up and Laufey felt his heart break a little bit more, because he would never have dreamed, not even if his worst nightmares, to see his son filled with such desperation, such fear that was ill-suited in his still round face. He imagined his precious baby, his youngest, wearing the same expressions and his heart sank completely, breaking into a million pieces; no, he would never let his younger son feel like that.
For the first time since they entered the room, the king turned to the two warriors, obediently waiting orders and staying in silence through the king’s moment with his family. Probably, his lasts moments. 'No' he thought bitterly 'definitely, for I have made my decision. I only hope it works.'
“take prince Helblindi to safety once I teleport you to the sanctuary in the far mountains” the kid widened his eyes and glanced between the guards and his father, but there was nothing he could do; the form the king had adopted was that of a great ruler, a leader willing to sacrifice himself to take the blown for his people “father, no…” the king’s eyes softened when he looked down at his son again, but the determination in there was unmoving, and it only took a small shake of his head for Helblindi to understand, that this was it; there was no other way, and he hugged his father all the tighter for it. “your Majesty…” the soldier extended his arms to take his younger from his arms as the one who spoke earlier put a hand on Helblindi’s shoulders, speaking softly to him that they had to go now; the aesir were too near, they were able to heard their screams and roars now, demanding the kings head.
Laufey stared at the soldiers hands and then looked at him in the eyes. The young warrior understood that the king still did not wish to depart from his youngest, and gave him a tiny nod “we will depart as soon as the second prince is teleported to us” he promised and the smiled, such a rare thing to see these days, yet he didn’t want to be remembered with a frown on his face. He held up his free hand and waved it through the air, muttering runes older than him, older than Midgard itself. Helblindi, staring up at him with fresh tears spilling down his face, disappeared in a golden flash along with the two guards at his sides, and only then did the king slowly turn his eyes to his youngest son, walking from the middle of the room to where a wide crystal covered half of the room, casting a bright light that was Jotunheim’s lands on them, red spots covering the ground bellow where crystal gardens have been before. He turned his back on it and his little child stirred again, now resting his head in the space between his neck and shoulder, and the kind let his hand caress his soft dark curls, these completely dark unlike his brother’s, but he loved them equally, beautiful as night and soft as a zakur’s fur.
He ran his fingers through it, closing his eyes to taste the moment, live in it a little more, try to get as much a hold of his little frost giant’s memory as he could. Time passed, people screamed, in pain, in victory, in agony, and the king stood unmoving, waiting for his fate while the only thing that made him stay his ground with a strong demeanor rested peacefully with a small smile on his lips.
Steps approached, the unmistakable clash of metal, and it was a miracle that his little son had yet to wake from all the noise, it was all that the king could thing as he slowly opened his eyes. A second, a minute, and hour, it could have been an entire day before the door opened and Laufey would still think it happened too fast. He instinctively tightened his grip around his child without crushing the little miracle, his eyes now staring in the deep blue eyes of Odin. Aesir entered and blocked any attempt of escape, thought it would be useless, Laufey knew; he could just teleport himself with his little one a runaway, and the option was tempting, run with his sons and hopefully be able to resist the war from his brother’s kingdom; it was a nice dream yes, but dreams weren’t meant to turn real. Not now, not ever.
“you can stop this massacre, Laufey” Odin spoke, firm in his golden armor, yet the jotun king could recognize the disgust he felt towards him; Odin All-father might be called ‘fair’ and ‘merciful’, but those who said so had never been able to see right through him, what he really thought, his personal thoughts that he only reserved for himself, and maybe his wife; they had never seen how he had made Jotunheim be seen as the horrible land of scary, heartless monsters. And wasn’t it an irony, that the ‘fair ones’ where now the ones pointing his spears at the supposed monster, holding his toddler protectively to his chest? But words would be twisted, venom will be added, until the story of the battle against Jotunheim is no longer but a fairy tale that everyone would believe like little kids.
“Accept your fate and the war will be no more” lies, Laufey new. The soldiers would still stay a few more days until the food ran out to take all valuable that they could manage, take his people’s horns as trophy, destroy the homes they could manage, feast and ravish their children, for they were the only one weak and small enough for them to dominate. They could prevent them from using the frost bite mechanism of their body by hitting their heads hard with something, they had discovered. It made Laufey sick.
“will you come willingly to Asgard and be punished under the crimes you have committed?” he barely held a dark chuckled here; he would, he would go to Asgard and accept his punishment for making the greatest crime against his own people; hope an impossible dream.
Something touched his lips then, and his gaze left Odin’s to look down at the brightest pair of red eyes he had even seen, staring up at him while the tiny chubby hand of his son patted his lips and chin, curiously unaware of the danger around him; the king closed his eyes and spoke, a firm but soft sound against his toddler’s little palm.
“Yes”
Everything went in slow motion from then on. The guards surged forward as Laufey muttered the same old runes again. The Aesir king frowned and lifted his spear; the child in his arms tensed and pain and confusion appeared in his eyes, almost as if he could understand, almost as if he knew what his father would do.
His last memory before Odin’s blast hit him was those of bright wide red eyes, staring at him as they disappeared in golden light.
“daddy!” and it hurt even more, the blast sent him against the crystal windows, forming a huge crack on them, as big as the one in his heart, which shattered completely at the sound of utter fear, desperation spoke in such an angelic voice. His body was numb, he felt the urge to scream and fight, to cry and disappear after his son, but duty tied him down. He had to be a good father, and a good king; he had to amend the wrong he had done.
A small smile graced his lips as the All-Father’s boots came into view, slowly fading into unconsciousness, knowing it would be the end of him, along with the war, and that his little giant would be safe.
Farewell, Loki.