"Are you really throwing me back in here after all I did to help you and your precious mortal?" Loki hisses at Thor as he is shoved back into his cell.
"You made me believe you dead and then you tried to fool me again by pretending to be our father. I told you at the beginning of this endeavor I would return you to this place. If you hadn't tried to fool me now I would have petition our father for leniency on your behalf, but he is right. You have not changed." Thor says.
"He won't let you leave Asgard you know. He can't. You're his only heir now. I'm left to rot in here and Asgard is in shambles. Do you really think he will let you go down to Midgard NOW to be with your mortal?" Loki taunts.
"Asgard can rebuild without me, and as you have reminded me over and over again, my time left with Jane is precious. I will spend what time I can with her since our father will never grant me to marry her. I will spend her mortal life with her and return once she is gone." Thor says.
"And what of children? I'm sure she'll want to breed with you. What will you do with them? Will you abandon them to Midgard? You know Odin won't permit them entry to Asgard either. He will view them as illegitimate!" Loki shrieks. He is trembling with anger and Thor is somewhat surprised by it.
"Where does your hatred for mortals come from brother? You did not always loath them so." Thor asks him.
"Their lives are too short. Loving one of their kind is a foolish thing for someone like us to do." Loki hisses. Thor stares at Loki then, as if seeing him for the first time.
"Who was she?" Thor asks. Loki, shocked that Thor figured it out is unable to mask the pain he has hidden for so long.
"You think I could ever love a mortal? You're even stupider than I thought." Loki lies.
"I think you did and still do. Who was she?" Thor presses. Tears glaze Loki's eyes and wrath fills his heart at being so exposed.
"What do you care? You never even noticed! You never noticed that I was heart sick. You never cared about my welfare!"
"That is not true and you know it! You keep everything a secret Loki! Am I to read your mind to know your inner thoughts? You pushed me away. You pushed everyone away and then you blame us for your loneliness!" Thor yells back. His statement throws Loki off balance.
"I am not lonely!" Loki says like a pouty child as he crosses his arms. Loki has held many secret desires over the years, to include what he once thought to be incestuous feelings for Thor. But Loki gave up on that hope for love a long time ago. Thor was always interested in the ladies. When he did finally give up on any kind of romantic relationship with Thor, he finally met her. Emily. She loved him, and he loved her. Oh Norns how he loved her! She was the first person to ever show true desire for him and returned his affections. She had a brilliant mind and stunning sense of humor.
"Who was she?" Thor repeats. The tears fall freely then as Loki sits on the floor in defeat. His mother is dead, the woman he loved has been dead for quite some time and he has an eternity of isolation to look forward to. Moreover, the one person in all the nine realms whom he loves more than the rising sun has no idea who he is. She grew up thinking herself an orphan.
"She was the love of my life. Our romance was brief and clandestine. I was going to walk away too Thor, but she died giving birth to our child." Loki says.
"What! Does the child live?" Thor asks.
"Yes. She is a woman now and though she has never seen my face I have always been a presence in her life in some form or fashion. Her very skin is littered with my protection spells. She looks like the perfect union of her mother and me. She has long black hair and green eyes and the most beautiful porcelain skin. Her face is like her mother's. It breaks my heart to look at her. You should hear her sing." Loki says.
"If you love her so why would you attack Midgard then? Why would you do something that would surely earn her hatred of you?" Thor asks.
"The Mad Titan used her as leverage against me. He used the staff to glean my secrets from my mind. I did what I had to, to protect her." Loki confesses. Thor stares at Loki again, digesting this information. Is Loki lying to him yet again? He cannot know.
"Loki are you telling me you attacked Midgard because you were compelled to do so?" Thor asks.
"Does it matter? You don't trust me remember. Odin will never let me out of this cell. I am finished." Loki says.
"But there is physical proof that your words are true, down on Midgard. If I find her and bring her here…"
"You cannot! She is happy in her ignorance Thor. Do not take that from her. She is living a normal life. Do not tell her anything." Loki says.
"Why did you not tell any of us about her?" Thor asks.
"Take a wild guess you fool. You saw what Odin did to my precious Sleipnir. He is my child but Odin has him serving as his war horse. Norns only know what he would have done to her." Loki says.
"Where is she?"
XxXxXxXxXxXx
"…5,6,7,8…" The choreographer counts. Lilly twirls on stage with her ballet partner. If only she could do this professionally and not simply as a hobby. Competition in New York is cutthroat and the professional career for a dancer is 20 years tops. Lilly is in college studying chemistry. It's a field that will pay the bills and give her a decent living. She can't wait to graduate next month.
The theatre is located just outside Brooklyn. Local dancers, actors, and musicians frequent the building, putting on shows for the local community. It doesn't pay. Any money collected from ticket sales goes to keeping the building open, but she loves it. She loves this place as all the thespians here do too. They'd all give up their left leg to keep this theatre alive.
Lilly Anderson is a talented dancer and singer. She loves ballet but it is her voice that people love. They want to hear her sing. Why on earth the girl doesn't pursue a professional singing career is beyond them. Lilly states she has no talent for song writing, and singing other people's songs is fun but not something she wants to do as a living.
"That's a wrap people. I'll see you tomorrow night."
The rehearsal ends and everyone packs up to go home. Tomorrow night is opening night for their little song and dance extravaganza. Lilly will be both singing and dancing for the performance. It is a conglomeration of local bands and dance troupes putting forth original work in the hopes of breaking into the business. Lilly has volunteered to sing a song for a friend of hers who is a song writer. Lilly has just the right set of pipes to hit the high notes.
Lilly takes the long walk home with her best friend Warren. Warren is a beautiful beefy piece of male meat, who unfortunately bats for the other side. Even though Lilly knows he's as gay as San Francisco she still can't help the crush she has on him. Honestly, who wouldn't want of piece of that?
"You are a naughty girl!" Warren exclaims.
"I have no idea what you are talking about." Lilly lies blatantly.
"Oh so you have no idea who posted that video of Bella sucking Mr. Johnson's cock?"
"The bitch is a slut and a home wrecker. Honestly, if she has to perform sexual favors for her professors to get her degree she has no business in a chem lab. She'll blow the place sky high. And as for Mr. Johnson, I emailed a copy of the video to Mrs. Johnson. I hope she takes him for everything he's got." She says.
"That's a very high moral horse you've got there." Warren says.
"Damn right it is. I don't like liars. They make my skin crawl." Lilly says.
"You and your spidey-senses. It's creepy that you can do that. You should play the lottery." Warren says.
"If only it worked that way. I've always been really good at reading people, especially when they are being dishonest. There's nothing psychic about it." Lilly says.
"Bullshit. I've seen the things you can do. You should become a psychiatrist, or an interrogator. You'd be really good at both." Warren says.
"No thanks. I've got enough baggage of my own. I don't need to delve into other people's problems." Lilly says. They pass by an old brown stone building. It was once dilapidated until Captain America was discovered alive and pulled out of the ice. Since then the building has been renovated and declared a historical landmark. It was his childhood home.
"Do you think he ever comes here to visit this place?" Lilly asks as they walk by it.
"Probably, I don't know. I don't really have any warm fuzzy feelings for the crap shack I grew up in, just the people that I grew up with."
"Yeah, I guess I'm the same way." Lilly says.
"You know you should cut your mom and dad a break. They love you to pieces even if they don't understand you. I spent my entire childhood hopping from house to house in foster care." Warren says.
"I know. I know they love me, and I love them but I just never really bonded with them. They told me I was adopted when I was …like….10 years old I think? It didn't surprise me at all when they told me. Some part of me already knew, we just never really connected as a family." Lilly says.
"You're my family Lilly." Warren says. It is cold out and Lilly slips on her gloves. It's not that the cold bothers her, cold never bothers Lilly. It's just that her body always seems to turn a scary shade of blue, like she's hypothermic whenever she gets exposed for too long. It first shows up in her hands. It scares people when they look at her. They think she's dying when she looks like that. She hates it. It makes her feel like a freak. She dreads winter time. She barely ever goes outside when the snow falls.
"I'll see you tomorrow night. Thanks for walking me home." Lilly says.
"No problem. Hey maybe we'll get lucky and some celebrities will come and watch. Maybe get some autographs or something." Warren smiles.
"I'd rather have a talent scout, but I'd settle for a kiss from Captain America." Lilly laughs.
"Forget Captain America, I want to meet Thor!" Warren says.
"You would. Let me guess, you'd offer to help him hold his hammer." Lilly jokes.
"Hold it, suck it, ride it. You know, whatever." Warren laughs. "Night."
"Night….flaming queen." Lilly calls after him. Warren wiggles his eyebrows at her as he turns to walk home.