Chapter 412: Loki's Breakdown
Another day passed, and Ethan returned to the orphanage where Loki lived.
This time, Loki wasn't outside.
Instead, Ethan noticed a figure sitting on the front steps. It was America. Her hands were folded on her knees, and she kept glancing into the distance as if waiting for something.
Her face was full of anticipation and unease, as though she knew Ethan's arrival would change something.
When she saw Ethan coming, America's eyes lit up like she'd just spotted her idol.
This was the Lord of Hell's Kitchen, after all. If only they could live in Hell's Kitchen, or get Ethan and his people to take the orphanage under their protection.
But her happy expression flashed by in an instant, and she quickly turned to Ethan looking anxious.
"Mr. Cross, please go check on Big Brother Loki. Ever since he went back to his room yesterday, he hasn't come out. He's been all gloomy, and he won't even eat." America didn't know why Loki had gotten like this. All she'd heard from the other kids was that it started after Loki saw Ethan.
She was sure Ethan could help him.
Ethan was taken aback to hear Loki had fallen apart. He'd only watched a TV show, and now he was in a slump?
Ethan had expected Loki to come away from the Loki series happy, cocky, proud of himself. It had never occurred to him that it might break him!
"America, take me to see Loki," Ethan said in a low voice.
America led the way to Loki's room. The door swung open softly, and a stale, heavy air hit them.
The room was dim. Loki was half-lying in the corner against the wall. The high-spirited man from the day before was gone. His hair was disheveled, and he looked utterly lost.
Loki didn't react at all when Ethan came in. His eyes were empty.
Ethan was curious what had happened, so he began probing Loki's memories.
Yesterday...
When Loki got the discs from Ethan, he didn't think much of them.
He was sure Ethan would restore his divine power whether he watched them or not. After all, it was Odin's seal on him.
But that night, he couldn't resist the urge to watch.
Fine. I'll treat it as a way to pass this long night, Loki thought to himself. His fingers brushed the edge of the disc, and in the end he put it into the orphanage's old DVD player.
With a soft click, the screen slowly lit up. The images rolled, and a world both familiar and strange unfolded before his eyes.
On screen, a Loki who looked like him but had a very different personality was surrounded by people in strange uniforms who claimed to be from the "Time Variance Authority."
Loki frowned, full of confusion. He kept watching. The plot came at him like a tide, and every twist left him stunned.
When he saw his on-screen self cause his mother's death through a single bad choice, and then, in the end, die at Thanos's hands while trying to save Thor, Loki's face went white. A look of utter disbelief flashed in his eyes.
He shot to his feet, fists clenched, and growled in fury: "Impossible! This has to be one of Ethan's tricks!" He couldn't accept such a cruel truth, and refused to believe his fate could be so tragic.
But as the story went on, Loki saw other versions of Loki. He saw the breathtaking sight of Old Loki conjuring an illusion of all Asgard, proof that Old Loki loved Asgard just as deeply as he did.
Then Loki understood that everything the show depicted was true.
Later came the truth about the TVA. In the end, the Loki on screen understood his purpose, for the sake of the multiverse. After countless struggles and much growth, he became the God of Stories, writing his own legend with wisdom and courage.
The sight filled Loki with a pride he had never felt before.
But that pride didn't last long. It was soon replaced by a deep confusion.
Loki began to question everything. If it was all predestined, if he only existed to walk toward a fixed and tragic end, then what was the point of his existence at all?
To repeat that pain? Or to search for some faint chance of changing his fate?
He didn't know where to go from here. His old dreams of surpassing Thor and proving his worth now seemed meaningless, because all that effort had never stopped the tragedy.
Everything he'd done had only made him the one who killed his mother, and in the end he'd died at Thanos's hands anyway.
What could he possibly do?
Ethan frowned as he finished going through Loki's memories. His first reaction:
"That's it? That's all it took to put you in this state?" To Ethan, this fragility, this glass heart, was nothing like the cunning, resilient Loki he remembered.
It wasn't really Loki's fault, though. It was Ethan's.
Ethan had dumped Loki in Hell's Kitchen, and his confidence had already been nearly ground away. He'd only just picked himself back up, and then Ethan hit him again. It was like a sudden storm that knocked down the fragile defenses he'd just built.
This time Loki had sunk completely into an abyss of self-doubt and despair, as if the whole world had lost its color.
But Ethan wasn't Loki's parent, so he wasn't going to coddle him. He simply said coldly, "The other Loki would probably be pretty disappointed if he saw you.
"What are you moping about?
"Your father and mother are both still alive. I took care of Thanos. Your fate has already changed.
"You don't have to suffer everything the other Loki went through. Shouldn't you be getting stronger and protecting all of it instead?" His words were like a sharp blade, piercing Loki's heart while trying to wake his slumbering will to fight.
And Ethan was right. Compared to every other Loki, this world's Loki had it far too good.
Ethan didn't know about the Dark Elves yet, but they probably wouldn't show up, so Loki's mother wasn't going to die.
Ethan had dealt with Thanos, so Loki wouldn't die either. And he wouldn't have to sit bound to a throne forever like the God of Stories.
"What are you afraid of? If you want to keep moping, fine, I don't care. I'm not your dad."
With that, Ethan grabbed Loki by the collar, hauled him up, opened a portal, and stepped through into Asgard in a single stride.
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