//------------------------------//
//  You Gave Me The Reason Why 
// Story: We Remember Everything 
// by Thunderscourge 
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A/N: Special thanks to Evilhumour, Archivist Nightwatch, SilentMech, Amethyst blade, Drgnwolf, Scarheart, Ketvirtas, The Grim Reaper, Shroedingers_Katze, DemonOJM, and Killabyte for your comments last chapter. Thank you again, and I hope to continue hearing from you all!

Title is from the song "War" from Poets of the Fall.

Your thoughts mean everything to me and I would love to hear from you in the comments below! Comments are  after all, and I could not get by without them from you all!






Loki did not desire to wake up. His dreams had been better than they had been in years, guided by the woman sleeping beside him, and even then they were plagued and disturbed by nightmares.

Still, the knocking on his partially repaired but mostly broken door was not welcome. Loki knew them as belonging to Thor given the intensity and speed of each knock.

“Brother, I know you must need your rest, but there are matters of great importance we must speak about.”

Loki was not stirred alone. Beside him Luna began to rise and fumble about as she came to consciousness. Loki found himself eyeing her stomach covered by her tattered blue dress. She was not showing, but he doubted that would last much longer.

Luna’s apprentice had slipped out of the room at some indeterminate point, leaving just them and allowing them some privacy. This meant that when Luna fumbled to feel for Trixie she did not touch anything, instead rolling over to give Loki an embrace.

Thor’s repeated knocking made the drowsy couple roll their eyes in annoyance, Luna finally taking it upon herself to give Loki a kiss on the cheek and nod for Loki to get up, “I will be here. Go see him.”

Her lover let out a snort, rolled on top of her and pinned the surprised Luna against the soft bed. He gave her a kiss on the lips before rolling off her other side and the bed as well, landing on his feet and letting out a sigh as Thor continued to knock urgently.

Upon opening it, Loki was taken aback by the completely distraught face of his brother. Tears were flowing down his face and his eyes were puffy from his grief.

Loki cast his gaze back towards Luna before exiting the room and shutting the door behind him. Thor reacted by reaching to embrace Loki, who was handling their grief in one of the only two ways he knew how: becoming cold and shutting down the feeling entirely. Rage would not be useful in dealing with the larger emotions, nor would it help Thor.

To Thor’s surprise, Loki returned the firm hug and actually let out a depressed breath. Loki was not breaking down outside, but the small quiver in his voice gave everything away, “Crying will not turn back time, Thor.”

“You grieve as I do. Do not pretend otherwise.”

Loki let go so as to move more away from the door, not wanting Luna to be privy to this conversation, “My time away gave me the foolish notion that perhaps, when I returned, I could make things right with you all,” Loki’s fist curled up before falling limp at his side. He had given up rage long ago. He would not fall into that downward spiral once again,  “Now it appears I will not be able to set everything right.”

Thor approached him while sighing, regretful that Loki would never be able to make true amends with their father, “Loki, you need only do me one favor to earn my trust again.” 

The younger brother gave the elder a confused look, but Thor continued so as to clarify, “I am no great leader, nor am I the strongest of Asgard anymore. My only experience leading is of a small team of warriors, and that does not transfer onto a national scale.”

Old wounds reopened as Loki thought about what their father’s death meant in regards to Thor, “You will be getting a lot more now that you are to be king. What, do you wish for me to be your advisor?”

The idea of playing second fiddle to anyone had always irritated Loki, who had an obsession with control. Even as finished with pettiness as he was, Loki could not imagine himself finding life fulfilling underneath his brother’s rule.

This made Thor’s next statement all the more jarring to Loki.

“I am forsaking my birthright. You shall be king.”

“W-what?” Loki sputtered, turning to face Thor fully with shock in his eyes, “Why? After all these years, after always wanting to—”

Thor averted his eyes briefly before returning them to Loki, “My place is on Earth, protecting their kind. They need a guardian of my caliber much more than Asgard does these days.”

Now Loki found himself not wanting this, as much as it once would have rung golden to his ears. Losing Thor to Earth would be a serious blow to the destroyed Asgard, “Asgard faces its own issues, what with our utter lack of security now that our forces have been completely wiped out—”

Thor smiled for the first time in the conversation and for the first time in what felt like forever since the Dark Elves came to exact ancient vengeance, “Our guard has been restored. Whatever that six armed man did, they are among the living again. Some require medical aid, but every last one of the men whose bodies are accounted for have been revived.”

With this in mind, Loki was left to muse on the idea that he was now going to be king without Thor in the way and without his disapproving father in the picture. While losing Odin hurt, Loki being able to finally live out his dreams made the impact lesser. Ruling in a manner that would make Odin proud would be the best tribute he could grant his deceased father. 

“That partially solves that problem,” Loki’s face softened continually as he thought about Thor’s reasoning and possible motivations. There could really only be one true cause for him to leave Asgard, one that Loki could both sympathize with and feel irritation about, “You wish to be with your human lover.”

Thor was not going to let Loki go uncontested on that point, “Just how if I rose to the throne you would go be with your equine lover.”

While Loki could argue that Thor was foolish investing so much feeling in a mere mortal who would be gone in less than a century, he would not demean his brother for this. If Loki had learned anything in his years of suffering, it was humility and grace. The torment could have driven him to hatred, but he had strove to not give Hela the satisfaction of letting her torture get to him.

If that was her goal, to craft a humbler father, then she had succeeded. If not, Loki would be what she would not punish: a good person. 

“Fine. Go. I will take custody of Asgard, but I will do so with the agreement that you are not to claim your birthright at any further point.”

Thor pulled Loki back into a hug, a big smile on the warrior’s face as tears continued to fall down his face. He was happy that Loki, in his own way, was allowing him to go despite his princely obligation to Asgard. “If I wish to reclaim the throne, it will be because you have turned evil once again and are harming our people. In that instance I would forcefully take it back as it were, so you need not worry.”

Loki found himself laughing, knowing that the threat was both true and hollow. Thor was no match a Hel trained Loki, but he would in fact fight to save Asgard should Loki prove to be a tyrant. Luckily they both knew that such a thing would not happen. Even in his period of insanity following the revelation of his origins, Loki had led Asgard (however briefly) just fine and he was not been reviled until after his disgrace.

Still, Loki had always wished to earn his place as Asgard’s King, not just receive it by default, lending a hollow feeling to this news. Despite this, Loki would do his duty as was expected of him. Asgard needed a strong and effective leader to lead it from the ruin it was afflicted with after a civil war and an invasion.

Thor gave Loki a warning look as the former continued to speak, “Serve them well, protect them, and do not dare harm them. If you follow those tenants I will grant you what you have desired for years.”

“Very well,” Loki agreed, looking at his brother with a genuine smile not shared since before Thor’s near-coronation so long ago, “I expect you to visit, despite your preoccupation with the world you seem to cherish so greatly.”

“I will,” Loki promised. He had no intentions of treading his former dark path once again. Not only would Luna kill him more likely than not, he would have to deal with their future daughter and her insanity once again.

The two separated and a silence fell between them. Loki knew he would need to speak to their mother about this, but she would not bind Thor and keep him from being with Jane if that was what made Thor happy.

Before the two could silently go their own ways Loki called out to his brother just as Thor turned to leave.

“Thor.”

The sadness in Thor’s voice brought concern instantly to his mind, so he turned back to face Loki with that concern.

With his brother’s attention, Loki closed his eyes and looked down to the floor, “You do know that you will outlive her by entire millennia? Right?”

Thor could see that Loki was worried for him and his feelings, but he decided to laugh it off. They had enough to be grim about without factoring in the sadness related to time. 

“Perhaps we should look into a remedy for age. Mother is growing quite adept at finding cures to all sorts of things these days.”

With that the brothers departed, Loki returning to his room in silence and Thor leaving to go see how the recovering Jane was. She had nearly died from having the Aether inside her, and even a day later she was still recovering from it in the infirmary.





When Trixie slipped away earlier she had traveled to the medical ward. She had gone expecting to find her companion/student/friend thing there, and Trixie had hoped to talk with him more to discover just what it was like to have normal relationships with others.

Of course, as if she had known there was to be something concerning friendship, Twilight had arrived early and was already sitting beside the table Kael’Thas was resting on. The foreign prince of High Elves appeared quite exasperated until his eyes caught sight of Trixie entering the room, at which point he became more focused while still maintaining conversation with Twilight.

“So, you’re an Elf too?” Twilight asked him, referencing the fact that she had just been fighting against Elves yet this one was said to be an ally.

The medical staff had been giving minimal treatment to Kael given that each and every one of them had been murdered the day before by the Dark Elves, only to be revived by some unknown force later on. They held a grudge as much as they did not want to, even with the knowledge that he was not one of the invading forces.

“Not one of the ones who assaulted this place, but I am an Elf. Some might call us Eldar, but my people are called the High Elves,” Kael grumbled, far less jovial than he would be under other circumstances. His ribs were shattered and he had been in agony all night, only now receiving aid at all.

Twilight loved learning, and so talking to this exotic being was making her ears perk up, “Are there other Elves where you are from?”

Kael was surprised that Twilight had not even noticed Trixie’s arrival, his eyes tracked on Trixie as he lay lazily with one hand propping his head up. His glowing green eyes warmly met Trixie’s purple ones, “Yes, in fact—”

Trixie cleared her throat from behind Twilight, the princess turning to see Trixie looking anything but amused. Trixie had a thick purple dress fashioned in her usual purple that covered her entire body below the neck and except for her limbs and tail. This difference in appearance caught Twilight’s interest instantly.

After gaining Twilight’s attention, Trixie spoke to Kael specifically, “Kael, could you do me a favor and bring me books on magical integration and separation? The libraries here are not suited for one of my being.”

He moved to get up but faced difficulty when his damaged chest pained him. Trixie noticed this and used a beam of energy to heal his afflicted area, doing in seconds what would have taken the medical staff hours to accomplish.

Now able to rise, Kael stood up and bowed to Trixie, “Of course, milady.”

He walked past the two mares and out the door with a bit more speed than one might expect. Trixie watched as he left with a smile, glad to have helped him and also happy about saving him from Twilight.

Her fellow student’s smile caused Twilight to grow a coy smile of her own, “Jealous he’s talking to other mares?”

Trixie’s face flushed red as she thought of Twilight’s claim the day prior that she was to marry Kael. The idea caused some revulsion in Trixie as her mind tried picturing how that might even work before branching out to considering how Luna and Loki made it work.

Trixie tried not to blanch at the thought, instead putting on as composed a face as she could manage with her eyes closed, “Of course not. You read too many romance novels, Twilight. He is my companion now and nothing more.”

“Fine, fine,” Twilight grumbled, “That ruins that shipfic…”

“What was that?”

Twilight realized her error in saying that aloud, “Nothing!” Trixie glared at her carefully as Twilight thought of a way to deflect the subject and her folly, “Hehe, so, let’s talk about those books. Magical integration and separation sound interesting!”





When Loki returned to his room he had chosen to just lay back down, Luna pulling him into an embrace that lasted for hours. She had not heard everything from outside, but she had heard enough to have a general idea about what the situation was.

Odin was dead, but she wanted to hear Loki say it. He hadn’t told her last night despite how important this was, but she was not going to force him. She may have pressed him despite how uncomfortable he would be a little time ago, but she was feeling much more cheerful now that he was back.

On the other hand, she felt weaker than she had previously, though she passed this off as a side effect of her pregnancy. The pregnancy that helped snatch her thoughts away from the dark subject waited for the two of them like a proverbial elephant in the room.  

After his complete silence and lack of any form of interaction for what must have been a quarter of the day, Luna felt her patience beginning to wane. Even still, she tread the topic lightly, “Loki, you cannot be quiet forever.”

Loki let his face fall to the side instead of continuing its stare upwards. Luna’s face was soft with the empathy she was displaying towards him, her heart hurting because of how she was worried for him.

Loki brought a hand to Luna’s cheek so he could stroke it and show that he was grateful, “Forgive me. I am used to the company of a mute and no other currently. Normal interaction will take a few days for me to acclimate to…”

His voice trailed off as tears streaked down his face, his eyes having been holding back water for hours. Despite his lack of admission to Odin’s death, Luna knew that she needed to say something. 

“Oh Loki…” she pulled him closer to kiss his face, “Your father has passed…Loki, you should have told me.”

Loki’s grief came out fully as he let himself fall victim to his own repressed emotions, “He died saving us. He died because I was too arrogant and considered the pseudo Loki finished. I underestimated their weapons—”

Luna forced him to stop his self-degradation by pulling him into a kiss, which Loki hungrily returned because of his of time away. When they finally pulled apart to breath Luna was the one to speak first, her voice worried and concerned. 

“Listen Loki, this isn’t your fault. It’s the fault of that homicidal bastard who invaded this place. You deserve none of the blame for this.”

“I—” he once again was cut off by Luna, though this time it was by her speaking over him.

“Loki, you are a prince, but not even you can hold the entirety of this world and every other on your shoulders. Believe me, if this was your fault I would let you know. You didn’t kill your father, but you need to do something for your kingdom now that he is gone.”

Loki closed his eyes and leaned forward to touch foreheads with her, “Thor does not want the crown.”

That instantly helped change Luna’s mood. So Loki was to be king in Thor’s place? That would make her queen of Asgard…Luna only wished it did not take the brutal death of her father-in-law to get here. Still, she would not let this good news of sorts go to waste. She could grieve on Loki’s behalf later, “So it appears I will be moving here after all.”

“I…” Loki’s words failed him as he tried to think about his own life, what he had done these recent years, and what that meant concerning his new title of King, “I do not know if I am fit to rule Asgard.”

“Love, you are a genius manipulator with just enough morals to do the right thing and the right lack of them to do what is needed. I think you’ll be just fine,” Luna noted with a small laugh, her body curling into Loki’s so that her stomach was up against his side. Having what she assumed to be twins might not be ideal given sibling rivalry, but that whole matter was screwed the moment Trixie came into the equation. Seeing Sleep Near’s interaction with his sister actually made Luna a little happy, since despite her obvious issues she listened to him. 

He was so tall too…Luna felt proud that her children would be fine, or at least as fine as they could be, given that she took quite the beating from Algrim. She was happy that their intervention in the end saved their own lives in some ways.

While on the subject of height, Luna noticed something. She was coming up to Loki’s eyebrow instead of him being slightly shorter than her. She stretched her body out to see if there was any change. Their feet were at about the same point, but she remained shorter than him.

Luna put on a pouting face as she realized this fact, “Why are you taller than me now? I liked being the taller one.”

Loki looked down at her and noticed the same thing. Upon observing her some more, an idea crossed his mind about what may have caused this.

“Transform.”

Luna bit her lip, “Should I, given my…condition?”

Loki shrugged, not sure but also not too worried, “I have a feeling your body has a way of compensating, given that you are still gravid despite how many times you must have transformed in recent months.”

“Point taken…” Luna sighed and closed her eyes as she channeled her magic, “Still, I think I should choose one to prevent complications later.”

“Of course. Now go on. I need to see if my theory is correct.”

In a flash, Luna became her Alicorn form once again. However, this time it was a form that Loki had not seen for quite some time. He smiled as he observed the fur that now brushed against him.

“Blue. It has been some time since I last saw that fur color on you.”

Luna blinked blankly in confusion, “Wait…” looking down to observe herself, Luna realized that she was no longer Nightmare Moon, “So the reason I feel weak is not because I am with foal, but because I actually lost my Nightmare energies?”

Loki nodded, “It seems the Aether took them with it when it left after its brief stay in your system.”

Luna transformed back in a puff of blue smoke before pumping both hands into the air and smiling more than she had in months, “Haha, I’m not going to be a cold and ruthless bitch anymore!”

Loki snickered before Luna realized what she just said and turned to him with a warning glare, “Do not dare say anything on that subject. I have hormones to put you through the wall.”

“But not the speed,” Loki joked while using said newfound super speed to make Luna blush.

“I also miss being the stronger one of us. Care to swap?” Luna pouted again, not liking that while she was now weaker and left with a feeling of craving for her lost power, Loki was instead at the top of his game.

Loki brought his hand down her stomach before, “Fortunately you will not need your powers for some time, so this decrease will prove no issue.”

“It’s the principle of being weaker though…”

He raised his hand to her forearm, clenching it softly to make a show out of her muscle there, “You likely still are more physically powerful than me.”

As Loki’s hand left her stomach a growl escaped it. Luna had not eaten in awhile, and given that she was eating for three she undoubtedly was going to have to eat something.

To pay him back for his lighthearted ribbing of her, Luna poked him in the chest and grumbled, “Shut up and bring me food.”

“You are not quite at that point where you cannot get up easily, love—”

Luna stuck her tongue out like a child before leaning her head down on his chest, “Less complaining, more raiding thy dining hall. I am not to use my powers, remember? And who knows what effects teleportation has on—”

Loki threw his hands up in defeat. If it would get her to stop whining, he would do it, “Fine, fine.”

As Loki began to rise, Luna grabbed his wrist. He turned back with a curious look as Luna called for him to stop.

“Loki?”

He paused, letting her speak her mind.

She blushed as she smiled up at him, “I love you.”

That again rose his curiosity, “Why?”

Loki learned at that moment that pregnant female hormones were not something to mess with, for she gave him a look of fury, “Because I damn well feel like it. Be happy that you captivated me to the appropriate level before you went evil again, or else you would be in the ground and a forgotten memory.”

Loki just nodded, not saying anything as he thought about her words.

“And you?” she prodded.

He was unsure as to what she meant so he inquired, “What?”

Her pouting face returned as she loosened her grip on him, “You do love me, right?”

“Of course,” Loki bent down to kiss her before rising back up, “You kept me from falling deeper into the despair that had overtaken me when I arrived on your world. You are an intelligent, powerful woman who is willing to put up with the various wrongdoings I am prone to commit. I would not just lay with any equine, I would have you know.”

Luna felt her heart flutter at his words more than the kiss, though something remained on her mind, “None of that evil nonsense anymore though, remember. I propose a reciprocal vow of purity.”

His lip curled up in amusement, “Complete purity?”

Luna scrunched her blue eyebrow in confusion, “I do not understand.”

Loki brought a hand to her inner thigh, telling Luna exactly what he meant while also making her realize just how much she had been missing him.

“Oh,” Luna blushed fiercely, “No, just purity of the morality kind. This is fine, however.”

“I thought you wanted food,” Loki joked.

“Can I have both?” Luna asked in a more serious manner.

Her question made Loki falter momentarily, his expression changing to one of complete confusion, “At the same time?”

Luna licked her lips at the idea before bringing a hand down to her clothed chest and running a hand down it, “You can partake in doing so as well. I have heard many a disturbing tale of a pink pony who has a fridge full of whipped cream for this kind of occasion. It does not seem unheard of amongst mortals.”

Loki snickered and shook his head as he began to get up again, “The things I do for love…”

“Don’t pretend you don’t like it.”

As Loki began to cross the room and head to the exit, Luna used her magic to try and fix the door a little. Using her magic made her think back to her recent usage of it to transform, as well as the worry about her son and daughter…which brought another idea to her mind, granted she had no idea what form they would be born into.

“Wait Loki, I have one last idea.”

Loki wished she would make up her mind, but he turned back to see what she was doing. By the time he turned around he was met with the sight of an Asgardian woman with light blue fur over her body. Her hair was completely ethereal like her Alicorn form, and she had many features that could be considered entirely Asgardian.

Luna smirked as Loki observed her new form, “A blend of my two bodies. Embracing some of the…qualities that will prove beneficial from my normal body, and retaining the very useful fingers you Asgardians possess.”

“I believe there is a Midgardian word for this…anthropomorphism I think?”

“Less archaic words, more whipped cream.”





Some time later, Trixie found herself at a dead end in one text she was learning from and decided to seek out Luna’s counsel. She came back to Loki’s room through teleportation, her face looking down at her book as she entered.

“Mother, I have some questions concerning some texts I—”

As she had spoken, Trixie had gradually looked up to the bed in the room. The sight waiting for her there caused Trixie to fall over and pass out instantly.

Seeing the equine collapse on the ground in her little purple outfit made Loki groan, “I think you killed her.”

Luna looked around the man on top of her to see the passed out Trixie before shrugging, “She’s been through worse.”

It was at that point that Luna realized that Trixie had not teleported alone, and that a certain Elf was trying to cover his eyes as he searched the ground for Trixie, “Kael, would you be kind enough to bring her to a guest room and not just fumble around there like a fool?”

The Elven prince nodded but said nothing before grabbing Trixie and teleporting out of the room, leaving Loki and Luna in privacy once more.

This done, Luna looked down at her own blue body and the various pieces of food she had on it. 

“Where did we leave off? Fourth course?”