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The Tenth Realm

Summary:

What would happen if there were more than Nine Realms? Loki finds out when he thinks he has gone to Hel after Kurse stabs him in The Dark World, but ends up in Middle Earth and meets Thranduil, King of Mirkwood. What happens next? Read to find out!

This is very AU, so expect the unexpected. The story keeps surprising me with the directions it continues to twist to.

Chapter Text

Author's note: This story is the result of watching The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Thranduil’s opinion of mortals is so similar to Loki’s in The Dark World, I wondered what would have if the two ever met?

 

The tale begins at the end of the Battle of the Five Armies for the Hobbit characters, and in the middle of Thor: The Dark World for the Marvel characters. What happens from those points is purely my crazy imagination!

 

Chapter 1: Black & White

 

Loki’s eyes fluttered as he awoke. He sat up, looking down at his belly. There was no sign of any wound. He considered that for a moment. The last thing he remembered was lying in his brother’s arms - dying. “Must be one of the advantages of being dead, I suppose,” he muttered to himself, dismissing the issue.

 

He looked around, taking in his surroundings. Green hills with mountains in the background met his gaze. A large lake was nestled at the base of the closest mountain. He was sitting in the midst of an open meadow with a forest off to his right. “Well, if this is Hel, I guess I cannot complain.”

 

A bird chirped in response. He chuckled at the sound. “There are even birds in Hel. Might not be so bad after all… now, where is Kurse? I did promise to meet him here.” He rose and looked around. “May as well head there,” he said as he walked towards the lake. Using the trees as his baseline, he continued walking for two hours before reaching the lake.

 

As he reached the shoreline, he saw the bodies. A battle had happened, and from the look of it, it had been fairly recently as blood was still pouring from the wound of one of the bodies. Loki walked towards one of the fallen and knelt down to inspect it. Rolling it over, he stared into a hideous face, but one of a creature he did not recognize.

 

“What realm are you from?” he muttered, not expecting the body to answer.

 

“More precisely, where are you from?” A voice from behind him asked.

 

Loki shifted from his position on the ground so he could see who was talking. A tall man stood there, wearing silver armor and carrying a rather large sword. A silver circlet rested upon his brow, and long white-blond hair flowed down his shoulders, parting only to expose his pointed ears. Steely blue eyes were trained on him. “Who are you?”

“I believe I asked the first question,” the man replied quietly.

 

Loki considered the reply, then nodded. “Fair enough. I am Loki of Asgard. I thought I was going to wake up in Hel, but if this is Hel…”


“This is Middle Earth, Loki of Asgard.” the man cut him off abruptly. “I have not heard of Asgard before.”

“And I have not heard of Middle Earth before, so it appears we are even,” Loki said, rising from the ground. “And your name?”

 

“Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm.”

 

“Woodland Realm?” Loki shook his head. “That is not one of the Nine Realms. So who are you really?”

 

Thranduil did not reply, just stared at him.

 

“Thranduil, eh? A resident of the Woodland Realm? Does that make you a Woodlander then?” Loki asked.

 

“I am an elf,” Thranduil replied. “What are you?”

 

“Elf?” Loki’s eyes narrowed. “A dark elf?” He did not like dark elves right now, or anytime really, considering it was Kurse that had killed him.

“Galadriel might agree, but no. I am Sindarin,” Thranduil explained.

 

“And this is not Hel I am guessing,” Loki said. “Am I not dead then? Did I manage to outwit it once again?”

 

“No, this is not Hel. We are outside the ruins of Esgaroth, or as Men call it - Lake Town. If you wish to call it Hel, it might fit… considering what Smaug did to it.” Thranduil pointed towards a spot where it appeared a town had once been out in the lake. Smoke still rose from several of the buildings. “And you appear to be very much alive. I can test that fact if you wish…” Thranduil raised his sword.

 

“No, that is not necessary. So, I am not dead. Interesting. I seem to be good at avoiding death.” Loki looked once more at his belly.

 

“Why did you ask if I were a dark elf? Clearly you are familiar with elves, yet you seem not to know where you are,” Thranduil asked.

 

“I was fighting one, helping my brother save the world. He’s good at that, my brother, that is,” Loki replied.

 

“And he killed you?” Thranduil asked.

 

“No, my brother did not kill me. Kurse did, after I stabbed him with my dagger,” Loki’s hand dropped to where his weapon usually rested. He was surprised to find the dagger in place. He pulled it out, staring at it. No blood stained it. “Interesting.”

 

Thranduil stared at the small dagger. “You will need a bigger weapon than that.”

 

“I will not disagree with you on that count. I wish I had my staff…” Loki’s voice trailed off as a section of the ground in front of him shimmered then materialized into the scepter he had carried on Earth when he had attacked it. His helmet appeared next to it. “Interesting.” He reached down and picked them up. “This might come in handy. Now… you were saying?”

 

Thranduil opened his mouth to reply, when three orcs burst out of the forest charging towards them. He turned to face their attackers. “YRCH!”

 

A burst of light exploded from the end of Loki’s scepter, killing the orcs instantly.

 

Thranduil stared at him. “Are you one of the Istari? I thought there were only five.”

 

“Istari?” Loki stepped past the elven king to look at the bodies of the orcs. “What are these? They are as ugly as Kurse.”

 

“This Kurse, he was an orc?” Thranduil asked.

 

“Dark elf,” Loki answered.

 

“Interesting, as it is said that orcs are a mockery of elves, some even say that they are descendants of Quendi who were captured by Melkor. Perhaps your dark elves are related to orcs. They are evil, correct?” Thranduil asked.

 

“Oh, yes. They are evil. Malekith is the worst of them. My brother was trying to destroy him and save the Universe. A regular day in the life of Thor,” Loki replied.

 

“Thor?”

“My brother, or half-brother really.”

 

A figure appeared out of the forest. “My lord? We feared we had lost you. There is still a party of orcs loose…”

 

“They are dead.” Thranduil pointed to the bodies.

 

As the person approached, Loki noticed that it was a female. Like Thranduil, she had pointed ears, but her garb was a drab green, and her hair was red. “One of yours, I take it.”

 

“Tauriel, one of the guards of Mirkwood.”

 

“Who is this?” Tauriel asked.

 

Thranduil glared at her.

 

“I am sorry, my lord. I ought not to have asked,” Tauriel bent her head.

 

“He is Loki of Asgard, an Istari,” Thranduil finally stated.

 

Tauriel’s head jerked up to stare at Loki. “Istari? There are more than five?”

“So it would seem.” Thranduil smiled. “And this one is ours.”

 

“Wait, I am not…”

 

Before Loki could finish his sentence, a shimmering effect surrounded them. The rainbow colors of the Bifrost appeared. As Bifrost receded, the Lady Sif was standing with her back to them.

 

“Well… well… well… Lady Sif. How nice of you to join us,” Loki chuckled.

 

Sif whirled around, raising her sword. “Loki!”

“In the flesh!” Loki grinned at her.

 

“Where is Thor? You better not have killed him or I will…”

 

“Kill me? Don’t worry, Kurse already managed to do that. Or not, as it appears I am still alive.”

 

“Where am I?” Sif asked, staring warily at Thranduil and Tauriel.

 

“Middle Earth.”

 

Author's notes: I hope you enjoyed the start of this tale. If you are a Loki fan like me, I have written several one-shots and a series of six (so far) chaptered stories. The series is called the Infinity Series and begins with Alliance. The other stories in the series include Exile, Retribution, Redemption, Mayhem and the current one I am working on is Deception. As I mentioned, there are a number of one-shots all related to the Infinity stories.

In terms of this tale, please, do not expect any pairings or romance. It is a humorous adventure. And remember, it is my story.

In regards to Tauriel, I did not like the part/purpose of Tauriel in the movies, but I did like the character - a woodland elf, a chance to see the real elves of Mirkwood (Legolas and Thranduil are Sindarin). So, she became a part of this story.

Please take the time to let me know what you think about the stories that you read. I enjoy hearing from my readers and any ideas, suggestions, critiques are more than welcome!

As I always remind my readers, it is "my" story, so I write it my way. You might write it differently, but then it is "your" story. That is what fan fiction is - A person's interpretation of events based on characters from movies/TV shows/books/etc. I always appreciate comments, but try to remember that little bit. I have no intentions of making this fit what happens in LOTR, or might happen in Thor 3, or Avengers: Age of Ultron. It's just my silly story.