“What sort of fool question is that?” Loki asked, perturbed, “I know who I am. I’m Loki, son of Odin, prince of Asgard, God of—”

“Not what…who, Prince, duke, earl, the Bloody Red Baron of Germany…that’s a good song, haven’t heard that one in awhile,” Will mused, interrupting Loki, “Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more, the Bloody Red Baron was rollin’ up the score. Eighty men died tryin’ to end that spree of the Bloody Red Baron of Germany...” Will sang, “None of that matters.”

“It certainly does,” Loki retorted before taking a drink from his mug.

“Maybe where you’re from…but here, no one gives a rat’s ass,” Will replied with a grin.

“If Midgard had anything resembling proper leadership you’d still be alive,” said Loki with a sneer.

“We tried the whole king thing…a few queens. Didn’t work out so well. Most of the few still around are just shiny baubles that are taken out and paraded around on occasion.”

“My father and Asgard’s warriors prevented this entire planet from becoming a playground for the frost giants. My father sacrificed an eye and Asgardians gave their lives only for the mortals whose asses they’d saved to then inform them they were no longer needed then proceeded to run the place into the ground,” Loki retorted.

“He could have destroyed us all but he didn’t. He gave us the opportunity to discover who we are.”

“Ignorant, backwards fools,” said Loki disgustedly.

“We haven’t been around all that long. We’re still kids really. Eventually we’ll grow up.”

“More likely you’ll destroy yourselves, like a cocksure pubescent who doesn’t look before he leaps breaking himself on the rocks below,” Loki replied, finishing his drink.

“Anything’s possible...most kids survive and go on to become adults. I did,” Will countered.

“Only to have your brains bashed out…too soon?” Loki said, looking up from his mug with an evil grin before his expression transformed to one of annoyance as he stood quickly from the barstool, “I’m wasting time!” Loki exclaimed, "None of this is real! You’re not real! She put you in my head.”

“Maybe I'm in hers,” countered Will.

“She’s planning something foolish!”

“Anne? Never,” Will scoffed.

“She’s going to get herself killed!” Loki cried in frustration.

“She knows what she’s doing. You have to trust her. She trusted you.”

“Look where that got her!” Loki growled angrily, turning and heading for the door.

“All you’ll find out there is a winter wonderland full of the monsters you so fear,” Will said before turning and grabbing a bottle of amber liquor from among others arranged on the highest tier of the shelves behind him, "She couldn't save me...but she can save you."

As Loki processed Will's words he came to a halt, standing with his back to Will before the door, his head far clearer now than it had been when he had first opened his eyes to find himself a child again standing before the sink in the palace kitchen's washroom.

“Have another drink. Let’s have a chat, get to know each other,” Will said, Loki turning to face him as Will poured two drinks from the bottle in his hand, “Top shelf, best she had…it’s either me or the smurfs on steroids out there, your choice,” Will continued, taking a drink from his own glass as Loki eyed him suspiciously as he made his way back to the bar, “It’s too quiet in here,” said Will, stepping over to the stereo and removing the cassette he had silenced previously, replacing it with another, “I put this one together. It’s mostly Bowie, a little ELO and Zeppelin thrown in if I remember right,” Will finished as he started the tape playing, the opening riff of David Bowie’s ’Rebel, Rebel” flowing through the speakers.

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Loki seated himself once again, glowering at Will who pushed the second drink across the bar in front of the Asgardian.

“What did she see in you anyway?” Loki asked, raising his glass to his lips.

“I was about to ask you the same,” Will said with a grin, studying Loki, “I used to be a lot like you…beyond the obvious...wanted my name up in lights,” Will continued, setting his glass down, raising both hands as if framing an imaginary marquee, “Will Henrikson..." Will grandly spoke his name, "It was what I’d been born to do, my purpose. I wanted the world to know who I was…but I didn’t know who I was, I didn’t even know where I came from…made it up as I went along I guess,” Will said, picking up his glass and taking a drink, setting it back down on the bar, “When I was on stage I convinced people I was someone I wasn’t, that I felt things I didn’t feel, loved people I didn’t love. It wasn’t much different off stage. After a time I didn’t know who or what was real anymore…Anne saw right through it. She changed my life.”

“What little you had left,” Loki said darkly, “You certainly changed hers.”

“I did,” Will said, gleaning Loki’s meaning, “I'd been far drunker than I was that night. I’d always been careful to avoid that, among other things.”

“You gave your life for chocolate. Did you try to fight them?” Loki asked.

“Not for long. I was never much of a fighter. It was two against one. I thought it would be like all the other times. I’d get the shit kicked out of me…black eyes, maybe a few broken ribs, I'd be sore for a few days. If I didn’t put up much of a fight it was usually over quicker,” Will replied, staring into his drink, Loki’s expression changing to one of empathy, “I should have stayed in the alley. I shouldn't have put her through that. I wanted her to have it.”

“It would have been harder for her to know you died alone,” said Loki, unable to avoid recalling Arvid and the circumstances of his demise.

“You talked about humanity jumping off a cliff...I took a blind leap of my own a few days before that. We weren’t together, not officially, we never talked about that night after…I didn’t know about him…my son I mean, maybe I did somehow…the worst that could have happened was she could have said, ‘no.’ I was an actor. Trust me, I’m used to rejection,” Will said, setting his empty glass on the bar and refilling it from the bottle, topping off Loki’s almost empty glass as well.

“She and I also experienced its sting. She saw through the illusion I cast as well. Maybe that's why I betrayed her. Maybe she's right..or as I told her that's all bunkum and I'm just a monster,” Loki said, more as if thinking aloud than speaking to Will, draining his glass in one drink before turning to his right and hurling it to shatter against the wall, placing both elbows on the bar and holding his head between his hands in despair as he stared at his reflection in the varnished wood.

“I used to watch old horror movies on TV as a kid with my dad, the man who raised me. Maybe your stories are different, but here many of our monsters…vampires, werewolves, zombies, Frankenstein’s Monster…Frankenstein was the name of the scientist who made him…they were once just people…I suppose in Frankenstein’s Monster’s case, parts of a few people. You’re not a monster,” Will echoed Loki's previous words he'd spoken to Vanar.

“I have to find a way back!” Loki cried in helpless frustration as he raised his head, lowering his arms and balling his hands into fists, slamming them down on the bar.

“If I help you, would you do something for me?” Will asked.

“What could I possibly do for a dead man?”

“The leap I mentioned…it wasn’t much, the best I could do. I got it at a pawn shop, pawned a few things myself to help pay for it. I spent all evening thinking about how I was going to do it, I wanted to surprise her, she would have been surprised anyway, but I wanted to do something different than the old routine. When she said she was dying for chocolate the lightbulb went off. The chocolate wasn’t the only thing I bought. My jacket…the inside pocket…” Will said, pointing at the jacket Loki wore, Loki unzipping it, reaching into an inner pocket and retrieving a small, square ring box along with a diminutive tube of super glue, Loki opening the box to find it empty, “I resealed it, You couldn't even tell. She kept it. It’s in a box under the bar below the register. The key’s under the till.”

“How do I get back?”

“You won’t be there but you can use the link--”

“The bracelet! Damn it! Why didn’t I think of that?” Loki exclaimed.

“Through that door,” Will said, pointing to the swinging door behind the bar a few feet to his right, Loki stepping away from the bar, moving towards it, “One last thing…” Will added, Loki halting and looking at him questioningly, “It’s time I moved on. You're a god. Would you send me on my way?”

“Send you--? Oh, yes...of course,” Loki replied, realizing the meaning of Will’s request, walking around the bar as Will stopped the tape in the stereo before he stepped forward to meet and stand before Loki, “What was your father’s name?” Loki inquired.

“I never knew who my parents were. No one did. The people who raised me abandoned me too in the end,” Will answered, his eyes sad.

“It doesn’t matter,” Loki assured him, raising his right arm as Will bowed his head, closing his eyes, as Loki rested his palm on Will’s forehead, “William…father of Vanar, I bid you to take your place in the halls of Valhalla, where the brave live forever. Nor shall we mourn but rejoice for those who have died the glorious death,” Loki finished, lowering his hand.

“Thank you,” Will said before his image vanished, leaving Loki alone in the still and silent tavern.

“May you be welcomed in the land of the gods,” Loki said before turning and swiftly striding to the swinging door, stepping through it.