A/N: This actually started in my head as a one shot, which is why the first chapter has perhaps a lighter tone than the rest of the story will. Of course when I began writing, however, characters and plots burst into my mind and now this is going to end up a multi-chaptered fic. Because reasons.


Vicious triumph clung to Loki's heart as he drifted down the street in the small New Mexico town dear Thor had taken such delight in. My brother, he thought with relish, overthrown from his pedestal at last. Even so, there was a bitterness churning inside of him that he could not quell, so he gave himself over to it and allowed the rage to course through his body, sustaining him as he his eyes absorbed everything in his vicinity.

There would be war, he would see to that. The time for living in peace had long since run its course and Loki would be the one to conquer each of the nine realms until he himself was the sole ruler, Mjolnir or not. With Odin vulnerable in his Odinsleep and the kingdom in unrest due to Thor's exile, the people would be desperate to cling onto anything they found comfort in. Loki, second son of their beloved ruler and brother of their shamed prince, would gladly oblige and see his people through their troubled times. None of them knew him for what he truly was, a notion which elated him. They would be easy to convince.

Loki's eyes darted this way and that as he moved, taking in the inferior architecture. He snorted at how pathetically small the city was. The entirety of the town could fit easily inside his palace on Valhalla; though, he thought with a grin as a small group of teenage girls hurried by and giggled loudly at his passing, this city bore a special place in Thor's heart. That alone made it worth his attention, for Loki was not content to merely exile his brother to a life where he might still find happiness. No, that would simply not be enough to punish the man who had overshadowed him their whole lives.

How best to go about completing his revenge, though? Of course he could take the obvious path and merely destroy the town, but that solution seemed too easily accomplished to be truly satisfying. Perhaps he could destroy just the woman—this Jane Foster—and allow the city and its inhabitants to stand as a reminder to what his brother had lost.

As he passed by them the city dwellers did double takes. Some were uneasy, as if they were not used to strangers in their midst. Many of them took in his appearance with undisguised awe, giving Loki momentary amusement wondering how the humans would react if they saw him in his true form. He vaguely noticed that women in particular were eyeing him with interest, but this was of no more importance to him than a passing breath. His eyes swept the crowd, lazily searching for the brunette his brother had so foolishly fallen in love with. He could find her easily enough with his powers and dispatch of her, but he felt in no real rush as he languidly strode down the city street, his black coat billowing behind him in the chilled winter air.

Loki stopped at what appeared to be the main traffic intersection, watching with scorn as the humans all crossed the streets in droves in sync to the lights which directed their clunky vehicles. He found himself oddly enjoying this façade of being one of them, and was just wondering what mischief he could play purely for enjoyment's sake when something bumped into him from behind, forcing him to take a step forward to steady himself. Furious, he whipped around with scathing words half-formed on his tongue.

A young woman was sprawled on the ground before him, books scattered around her as she struggled to get to her feet. He stared at her for a long moment until, without telling his arm to move, his hand extended out towards her. She accepted it gratefully and used his strength to pull herself upright, and her face burned scarlet as she squatted down to begin picking up her books.

"I'm so sorry," she spluttered, hastily trying to gather them up in her arms. "I wasn't watching where I was going and I thought the light was green and—" the girl's voice died in her throat as she took in Loki's appearance. "I'm sorry," she repeated quietly.

"It was nothing," Loki heard himself say, and then he was on one knee helping her gather the last of the books. "Are you alright?" the words slipped out of him without being consciously aware he had been thinking them. Is she alright? He fumed to himself, she's a human you imbecile, like it should matter if she is harmed.

"Yes, thank you," she murmured as he placed the final book atop her stack and she peered curiously over the top at Loki. "Say, you're not from around here, are you?"

A grin tugged at Loki's lips and he shook his head once. "I'm not, no."

"Are you from England?" the excitement in her words gave him pause, and when she realized what she had asked she immediately donned the expression of one caught with their hand in the cookie jar. "I'm sorry, I'm always being told to stop being so nosy but your accent is beautiful and I've always wanted to go to England."

Loki was very tempted to laugh at the rambling girl, but found he was unable to do more than smile at her. Of course the humans would not have any idea that the accents of their own regions came from those of the Asgardians. "Yes," he said with a hint of sarcasm that she did not seem to pick up on.

"That is amazing," she replied in awe, her eyes wide. The sight of her expression made Loki laugh dryly, and then immediately rebuke himself for doing so. "Say, would you like to get a coffee or something? There's a great little place around the corner and I do sort of owe you for almost making you face plant."

The girl smiled at him good-naturedly and Loki felt himself go rigid. All around them was a mass shuffling of people as they crossed the intersection, the light having turned green, but all he could do was stare at this human who watched him with a trace of apprehension—not the type he was used to seeing, of those who feared and quaked before him, nor of those who marked him as their enemy, but of one who simply feared putting their thoughts out to the universe only to find them rejected.

"Alright."

That word had tremendous impact on them both. The girl's face lit up and she readjusted the books in her arms, turning so that she was leading the way down the street. Loki followed her, rattled. Part of him considered destroying the town then and there, just to placate this unease and make things simpler once more. Instead his long stride caught him up to her within moments so that they were walking alongside each other.

"My name is Savannah," she said to him over her pile of books, not watching him as she carefully wove through people on the sidewalk.

"Lucas." He might be foolish enough to allow himself some time with the company of a human, but he was nowhere near mad enough to give his true name.

"You don't say much, do you Lucas?" she laughed as she turned abruptly towards a glass door on their right, struggling to reach the handle with her laden hands. Loki reached out and opened it for her, his hand against the glass to push it open so that she could walk through. "Thanks," she beamed at him.

The coffee shop was rather small but crowded with people, all of whom were bundled in coats and hats, chatting animatedly to one another. A few of them glanced over at the pair when they walked in but just as quickly looked away again. Savannah approached the counter and Loki followed behind her, feeling somewhat awkward being in an environment filled with such general cheer.

"Hi Angie!" Savannah waved to the girl behind the counter as she set the pile of books down. The girl she had addressed looked up from the pastries she was stocking in the glass display case and smiled back at her. When she caught sight of Loki her eyes widened and remained frozen on him, though it was Savannah whom she addressed.

"Hey Anna. Back from college, then?"

"Well it is the holidays," Savannah replied sarcastically, correctly guessing at the girl's distraction and half-glancing over her shoulder to where Loki stood rooted to the spot, staring evenly back at the girl behind the counter. "This is Lucas," she added with a waving gesture behind her. "Say, do you still make peppermint hot chocolate?"

"Err, yes," Angie answered awkwardly, forcing her eyes away from Loki's and turning them back to Savannah.

"Great! Have you had one before?" she threw at Loki suddenly, turning around to face him and pulling her mittens off as she did so.

"No," he replied, nonplused.

"We'll have two peppermint hot chocolates, then," she declared, digging into her pocket and pulling out a small wad of cash.

"That'll be $8.59," the girl behind the counter said in a would-be casual tone, giving Loki the impression that his appearance in the town would not go as unnoticed as he'd hoped. Maybe he'd have to destroy it after all, he thought ruefully as he watched Savannah count out some of the cash and hand it over, accept her change and then struggle to pick up the pile of books. For half a second Loki was tempted to take them from her but he mentally shook himself and instead followed her silently to an empty booth near the window. There she dropped them heavily against the wall before squeezing herself in the side facing the windowed street. Loki sat in the booth across from her, immensely regretting his decision to play along with this little game.

There was a few minutes' silence while Loki watched the girl strip off her layers of clothing, tossing the red pea coat and knitted cap on the seat next to her, along with her gloves and scarf. Soon she sat before him in nothing but her faded jeans and a rather garish tee shirt that seemed to depict a celestial cat in space. Momentarily distracted as he was by her garment, he was surprised when she spoke as if continuing an already-existing conversation in her head.

"She really will start telling everyone I have a boyfriend now. Maybe that will get everyone to leave me alone for a change. Not that I'm trying to say that you in particular would be my boyfriend," she added abruptly, and he looked up in time to see her gaze move dreamily away from the glass to study his face with embarrassment. "I mean not that I wouldn't date you, you're rather good looking and all. Not to say that I'm attracted to you or anything—"

Loki stared at the girl, whose cheeks became slowly redder under his gaze until she finally stopped talking altogether, leaving an awkward silence in her wake. She looked down at her hands and began to pluck absentmindedly at her fingernails, which he noticed were painted an obnoxious shade of neon orange. While she was distracted he gave himself a few moments to take in her appearance.

She was a pretty enough human, he had to admit, though not in any spectacular way. Her hair was long and wavy, a deep chestnut brown, and her full bangs framed her face nicely. With her many layers of clothing removed he could see that she was not a thin girl but rather curvy, and her skin was pale. She did not have the look of one who was often outside, but did not seem to be unhealthy for that fact. Though her eyes were a little small, they were a striking shade of amber. After some time she began to fidget under his scrutiny and seemed thoroughly relieved when her friend behind the counter had brought them their drinks and set them on the table, casting a backwards glance at them before walking back to the counter.

Loki watched as the girl used the peppermint stick to stir her hot chocolate and then mimicked her actions, having no idea what peppermint hot chocolate was supposed to be. When she lifted the ceramic mug into her hands and took a sip, an expression of pure joy brightened her features and she closed her eyes, a little moan escaping her lips. Bemused, Loki took a sip from his own mug.

The texture surprised him more than the taste did. While the drink was indeed an enjoyable sweetness, decadent to the extreme, the smoothness as it ran down the back of his throat was what he found himself liking the best. He took another swallow and repeated what he'd seen the girl do, stirring the brown liquid with the peppermint stick, and watched as it slowly lightened the shade of brown.

"Good, isn't it?"

"Yes," Loki admitted, watching her. "Why do you carry so many books?"

"Oh," Savannah started, looking over at them as if suddenly becoming aware of their quantity. "Well I do have a lot of pre-reading I have to do for my new classes starting in a few weeks. I mean obviously I don't have to do the research but I like to go into a class having a basic grasp of what I'm about to learn. The rest are just books I got for my own personal reading, which is probably my favorite thing to do anyway. Not that I don't do anything else," she added awkwardly, biting her lip and becoming far too interested in stirring her hot chocolate to be entirely plausible.

"So you're a student, then." Loki was aware of the stock humans placed upon higher learning and the institutions they had dedicated to knowledge; it was perhaps the one thing he appreciated about their kind.

"Mmm," she assented, taking a deep swig of the hot chocolate and then licking her lips appreciatively. His eyes fastened on her tongue with a flicker of greed.

Well if that was why he was so taken by this girl, then so be it. Lust was something he could understand, having had his share of maidens and wenches alike back in Asgard. He doubted whether these two races of women were much different with their clothing removed. "And what do you study, Savannah?"

Her eyes widened slightly, as if she could sense the difference in his tone, or perhaps just because he was showing an interest in her. "I'm a psychology major. I'd like to be a grief counselor." Loki studied the girl, but she did not blush this time. She stirred her hot chocolate with the peppermint stick, her eyes distant and unseeing; he wondered what series of thoughts had removed her from the present. When she looked up at him again, she was smiling sadly. "My mom died when I was eleven, and I didn't have anyone to help me through it. So I'd like to help others."

"What about your father?" Loki couldn't believe he was asking this human girl questions, but found himself genuinely interested. If anyone knew what it was like to be abandoned by parents, it was he.

"He works a lot," Savannah muttered as she looked through Loki at something he could not see. "And he doesn't deal with grief very well. He preferred to bottle it up and pretend nothing had happened, even when I'd be crying and begging him to talk to me about her. So I grew up my own mother and father, I guess." She jolted and Loki saw her eyes snap back to his, like one realizing a flame was hot and yanking their hand away. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to tell you my sob story. What do you do for a living, Lucas?"

"I don't work," he said evenly, taking another sip from his mug. The drink really was beginning to grow on him.

"What do you do all day, then?" She seemed to realize that the question had come off as rude because she quickly backpedalled, leaning towards him as she gripped the mug in her fingers. "If you don't work I mean, what do you do?"

"My family is wealthy." Loki left it at that, and his tone made it clear he was not prepared to discuss himself further.

"That must be sad," Savannah whispered, true heaviness shading her eyes. Loki met her gaze, appalled.

"Sad to be so wealthy that one need never to lift a finger in his life, should he choose not to?"

"No. Sad because if you don't get the opportunity to scrape by and earn things for yourself, you will likely never know true satisfaction." Loki gaped at Savannah, aghast and not without a little anger as his own, earlier thoughts about a drawn-out revenge upon his brother echoed in his mind. Who was this girl to assume she knew anything about him? When she saw his expression darken she leaned back against her booth, frowning. "I didn't mean to offend you, I'm sorry if I did. I can just see the sadness in your eyes."

At these words Loki scoffed, tilting his head back to gaze at the ceiling long enough to reign in his temper before looking back at her. "Sad? Me? You could not be farther from the truth. Today the greatest thing that could have happened in my life did."

"And that makes you feel what?"

Loki began to say how his heart had filled with triumph when his brother, captured by that ridiculous S.H.I.E.L.D. organization, had accepted his lies without a flicker of doubt and even thanked him for risking his own status to deliver him the sad news. He wanted to tell this finite human being that he was now the most powerful creature in the nine realms, and that she was as much his property as was the hot chocolate in her hands. Instead he gazed fixedly at her, and she smiled wistfully back at him.

"You're unhappy, Lucas. Whatever that greatest thing in your life that happened is, it doesn't bring you joy."

"How could you possibly think to know anything about me? You don't even know who I am. There is no proof I am in fact a man named Lucas. You are putting your blind faith in a complete stranger—didn't your parents ever tell you the dangers that come with such a choice?"

"You might be a stranger, and you might not even be a Lucas, but that doesn't mean I can't have an idea of who you are. Have you never been able to look in someone's eyes and get a sense of what makes them tick?"

Loki unwillingly found himself staring into her eyes, and realizing that he could see pain there, and loneliness, and a crippling sense of self-doubt. He hated her in that moment, as all of her words reached beneath his skin and scraped at his insides, begging for acknowledgement. She had no right to tell him things that he did not want to hear, this girl who had lived only a fraction of the lifetime that he himself had endured.

Abruptly he slid out of the booth and towered over Savannah, who did not move but gazed up at Loki as if she had anticipated just that reaction. This enraged him further, and he placed his hands on the table in front of her, bending down so that his face was directly in front of hers. She sucked her breath in at the closeness of him and no doubt at the iciness radiating from him, but did not flinch away.

"You are but a silly girl with no experience other than books to fill her head with, and you dare to talk to me with such conviction? It would do you well to learn your place in this world, Savannah."

"My place?" she whispered, not with fear but a trace of hurt lining her words. He could see her shoulders slump and took vindictive pleasure in that small proof of his triumph. Straightening himself and removing his hands from the table, Loki adjusted his trench coat and watched her, his jaw set.

"There is only the happiness that you take from others, girl. True happiness comes from revenge and power. You'd do well to take that to heart and stop your foolish daydreaming." He turned towards the coffee shop entrance.

As he was walking out the door, he heard the girl call out from the counter, "I think you pissed off your boyfriend, Anna."

"Shut up, Angie," was the barely discernible reply before Loki had walked out of the shop and turned towards the direction where the desert lay, and his waiting kingdom.