Chapter 18 : THE BRIDGE BETWEEN
Dreams came fragmented and strange.
Loki saw himself from outside—Loki's body moving through corridors that twisted like Escher paintings, walls becoming floors becoming ceilings. Frost Giant blue crept up his arms, spreading, consuming, until he was a creature of ice standing in a throne room that burned with golden fire.
Frigga watched him from across the flames. Her mouth moved, but no words reached him.
Thor stood beside her, hammer raised, lightning crackling—but when the thunder struck, it passed through Loki like he wasn't there. Like he was a ghost wearing flesh that didn't belong to him.
You are not what you were.
Heimdall's voice, echoing from everywhere and nowhere.
You are something the universe hasn't seen before.
He woke to a hand on his shoulder.
"Regent." A servant's voice, carefully neutral. "You've been summoned to the Bifrost. Heimdall says it's urgent."
The Warriors. They're making their move.
He pushed himself upright, muscles protesting the awkward position he'd slept in. The meditation chamber's stone floor had left impressions on his cheek that would take minutes to fade.
"How long was I asleep?"
"Three hours, regent."
Better than nothing. Worse than needed.
The walk to the Bifrost felt longer than usual. Night had fallen fully over Asgard, stars wheeling overhead in patterns that his academic mind still couldn't quite accept. The rainbow bridge glittered beneath his feet, its eternal hum a constant reminder that he was walking on crystallized space-time.
Heimdall's observatory gleamed ahead, golden light spilling from its entrance like a beacon.
He arrived before the Warriors.
The Gatekeeper stood at his post, golden eyes fixed on distances that had nothing to do with physical geography. His expression remained impassive as Loki approached.
"You know why they're coming," Heimdall said.
"I know why you'll let them go."
Something flickered across that ancient face—surprise, perhaps, or recognition. "Do I?"
"Your oath is to Asgard. Thor's return serves Asgard—a worthy king benefits the realm more than an exiled prince learning humility on a mortal world." Loki stopped beside the viewing mechanism, watching the stars shift in its depths. "You've been waiting for someone to force the decision. The Warriors give you the excuse you need."
"You see clearly for one so young."
"I've had motivation to learn."
Footsteps echoed on the bridge behind them—multiple sets, moving with the determined rhythm of warriors committed to action. Loki didn't turn, keeping his attention on Heimdall's face.
"They've decided," the Gatekeeper said.
"They've chosen."
The Warriors Three and Sif entered the observatory, armed and armored. They saw Loki immediately—his presence registered as surprise, then suspicion, then the careful calculation of people encountering unexpected variables.
"Loki." Sif's voice carried challenge. "Come to stop us?"
He turned slowly, keeping his movements unthreatening. "I came to watch Heimdall make his choice. The gatekeeper's loyalty has always been fascinating—sworn to the throne, but serving a concept of Asgard that may not align with whoever sits that throne."
"We're going to Midgard." Sif's hand rested on her sword hilt. "With or without your permission."
"My permission is irrelevant. The Bifrost isn't mine to command." He gestured toward Heimdall. "It's his."
All eyes turned to the Gatekeeper.
Heimdall's expression remained unreadable, but something shifted in his bearing—a decision crystallizing into action. His hand moved to the great sword-mechanism that controlled the bridge's power.
"My oath is to Asgard," he said, and his voice carried the weight of millennia of service. "Thor's return serves Asgard. The realm needs its crown prince whole and worthy, not broken and abandoned."
Light began building in the mechanism's core.
"You're actually doing it," Fandral breathed. "You're defying the regent."
"I'm serving my oath." Heimdall's golden eyes found Loki . "If the regent wishes to stop me, he has that authority."
Do I?
Should I?
The question hung in the air. Four warriors watched him, hands on weapons, prepared to fight if necessary. Heimdall waited, the Bifrost's power humming beneath his control. The moment balanced on a knife's edge.
Thor needs this. He needs his friends to arrive. He needs the crisis that will push him to sacrifice himself. The timeline requires it.
But they can't know I want this to happen.
"You're making your choice," Loki said quietly. "I acknowledge it."
"You won't try to stop us?" Volstagg's voice carried disbelief.
"I could." He let the admission hang, let them see the truth of it. "I could call guards, invoke regency authority, have you arrested for conspiracy against the throne. I could have Heimdall relieved of his post, the Bifrost locked down, your plans unraveled completely."
"Then why don't you?"
Because Thor needs the push. Because the timeline requires their presence. Because I'm playing a longer game than any of you can imagine.
"Because I remember Jotunheim," he said instead. "I remember fighting beside you—poorly, perhaps, but fighting nonetheless. I remember Fandral bleeding from an ice wound while I helped him to the Bifrost. I remember Volstagg's hand on my back, welcoming me to the expedition."
The warriors exchanged glances. Whatever they'd expected from this confrontation, it wasn't reminiscence.
"I'm not your enemy," Loki continued. "I never was. The throne fell to me by accident of circumstance, not by design. I don't want it. I don't want Thor's place. I want my brother home, my father awake, and my life returned to something resembling normal."
"Pretty words," Sif said, but her voice had lost some of its edge. "The old Loki would have said pretty words too."
"The old Loki would have sent the Destroyer after you." The truth slipped out before he could stop it—too specific, too knowing. He covered quickly. "I've seen the records. The vault contains weapons capable of crossing realms, pursuing targets, eliminating threats. The old Loki would have seen you as threats."
"And you don't?"
"I see you as people who love my brother." He stepped aside, clearing the path to the Bifrost's activation platform. "Go to Midgard. Find Thor. Help him become the king Asgard needs. I'll hold the throne until he returns."
The light intensified as Heimdall completed the activation sequence. Rainbow energy swirled into a column of pure power, tearing through the fabric of space toward a distant world.
Sif moved first, striding toward the light with the determination that defined her. The Warriors Three followed—Volstagg pausing to give Loki a confused nod, Fandral's expression carrying something that might have been gratitude, Hogun silent as always.
At the threshold, Sif turned back.
"When this is over," she said, "we'll remember you let us go."
"I'm counting on it."
She stepped through, and the light swallowed her.
The Bifrost roared for a moment longer, then faded to its normal gentle hum. The observatory fell quiet, leaving only Loki and Heimdall in the darkness.
"You could have stopped them," Heimdall said.
"Yes."
"You chose not to."
"Yes."
The Gatekeeper studied him with those golden eyes that saw everything and understood more than they revealed. "The old Loki would have seen their departure as opportunity. Time to consolidate power. Time to eliminate rivals. Time to ensure Thor never returned."
"I'm not the old Loki."
"No." Heimdall's voice carried something new—not quite approval, but perhaps the beginning of respect. "You are not what you were. You are something the universe hasn't seen before."
The words echoed his dream, and Loki felt a chill that had nothing to do with his Frost Giant heritage.
"How much do you see, Gatekeeper?"
"Everything that can be seen." A pause. "Some things cannot be seen. Your true nature is one of them. I observe your actions, hear your words, watch the effects ripple outward—but the source remains hidden. Obscured. As if something stands between you and my sight."
The transmigration. Whatever brought me here is shielding me from his perception.
"Does that concern you?"
"It intrigues me." Heimdall returned his attention to the cosmos, his eternal vigil resuming. "I have watched this realm for millennia. I have seen kings rise and fall, princes prove themselves or fail, threats emerge and recede. I have never seen anyone like you."
"Is that good or bad?"
"That remains to be determined." A ghost of something that might have been a smile crossed his face. "Go, regent. Train. Prepare. Thor will need his brother when he returns—and I suspect you will need your strength before this story ends."
Loki walked back along the Bifrost, leaving Heimdall to his watch. The stars wheeled overhead, and somewhere across the cosmic void, four warriors approached a world where his brother learned humility.
Hours. Maybe days. That's how long I have before Thor proves worthy and the timeline advances.
Time to use them.
The training chambers waited. Frigga waited. The mana core pulsed cold in his chest, ready to be pushed further than it had ever gone.
He had work to do.
Note:
Please give good reviews and power stones itrings more people and more people means more chapters?
My Patreon is all about exploring 'What If' timelines, and you can get instant access to chapters far ahead of the public release.
Choose your journey:
Timeline Viewer ($6): Get 10 chapters of early access + 5 new chapters weekly.
Timeline Explorer ($9): Jump 15-20 chapters ahead of everyone.
Timeline Keeper ($15): Get Instant Access to chapters the moment I finish writing them. No more waiting.
Read the raw, unfiltered story as it unfolds. Your support makes this possible!
👉 Find it all at patreon.com/Whatif0