A scream ripped through the halls of the aged fortress. Few of the people passing through the halls paid it much mind as they went about their business. No one cared that somewhere there was a person in agony. The shriek had sounded feminine and after it had petered out sobs could be heard.
Worry clenched at his gut as he moved closer to the source of the noise. The stone halls echoed with the crying. When he finally got to the door which the girl was behind, he felt compelled to turn away and follow a new sensation. This new pull was familiar and it also brought pain. Gold and azure flashed across his mind as well as a burst of cruel laughter.
Attempting to ignore this force, he pushed the door open. The sight in before his eyes felt like a stab in his side. Blood was everywhere; the walls were coated in red, the floor was flooded with it. At the center of the room was the most horrifying scene of them all.
A girl, twenty-one years old with short brown hair, lay on an operating table and though he couldn't see a cut on her he knew she was the source of all the blood. Her eyes were closed and somehow he knew that when they opened they would not be a natural color.
"What happened to you?" He whispered, stepping closer.
The girl's eyes opened, startlingly golden. "You left me."
"You told me to!" He argued weakly.
"You left me and allowed this to happen." She moaned.
"I'm sorry," He touched her face gently, "But there is still time! I can free you!" He tugged at the leather straps that held her down, "You can escape to safety!" The straps did not budge.
"No. It's too late. You left me." Her eyes rolled back in her head and he released the straps in shock.
"No! I can free you! Wake up, I can get you out of here!" His hands flew back to the straps and yanked at them fruitlessly, "Wake up!"
"You left me."
"No!"
"You left me." The words repeated, growing quieter and quieter until she faded altogether, disappearing from his sight. She was dead and it was his fault. All his fault.
"No!" Loki shouted, sitting bolt upright in bed. His breathing was heavy and his brow was soaked in sweat. Panting, he took in his surroundings. The fortress was gone, replaced by his own chambers in the palace of Asgard. Growling irritably at the realization that it had just been a nightmare, he threw back the covers and grabbed a tunic, pulling it on in a hurry and running his hands through his hair.
The palace was dark and he assumed it was the wee hours of the morning at the moment. It didn't matter, the person he wished to see would be up, he knew. Loki yanked open his door and strode angrily out into the hall. The guards at his door attempted to follow him, but he shooed them away with a gesture.
All around the palace things were quiet. A few lingering nobles laughed and joked in hushed tones as they darted about. If any saw him and his stormy expression they immediately scurried away, giggling hushed for a moment. He was glad of this, it meant he wouldn't have to explain why he was hurrying through the palace in his night clothes.
When he'd arrived at his destination, the end of the Rainbow Bridge, he felt more irritated than ever. This was the seventh time this week that he had been disturbed by this ridiculous dream. This was the only action he could think of that would banish the nightmares. If he knew that she was alive and well as he kept assuring himself then perhaps he could finally get some sleep. If she wasn't living any longer - no she had to be. He had no strategy if she wasn't and he didn't wish to acknowledge that possibility.
"Gatekeeper!" He roared, bursting into the other man's domain.
"Is there something I can help you with?" Heimdall replied solemnly. His voice sounded professional, but when Loki made eye contact he could sense distaste and worry.
"You know well the reason for my visit." Loki spat.
"If I recall, you told me never to mention her to you again because you would not listen to a word of it."
Loki glared and then took a breath to calm himself. "For the past week I have been plagued with dreams of her. I wish to know if there is any truth to them."
"I suppose a king does need his sleep and that is impossible with visions of those he no longer cares about." Heimdall replied dully. Loki could barely keep himself from drawing his knife and slitting the other man's throat. What did this old fool know? He wasn't the one who'd had his heart and mind torn apart by thoughts of this girl. Blocking her out had been all Loki could do to keep himself from going insane. At least, more insane than he already was.
"For someone who sees everything you know very little," The trickster snarled, "Just tell me if she lives or not."
"Oh, she lives," Heimdall answered with an eyebrow raised, "You may return to your slumber now."
Loki exhaled in relief. She was alive. His fears that she'd starved to death or been killed were simply the product of his mind. They held no truth. However, a glance at Heimdall told him that there was more news regarding her, news that the Gatekeeper had been waiting to tell him since he'd returned to Asgard a year ago.
"She lives, but there is more to it than that," He noted. Preparing himself for a torrent of pain he bobbed his head. "Speak."
"A terrible battle is about to begin on Midgard. I do not know the details, but I can see the signs of chaos making themselves clear."
"Why should I care about the happenings of such an insignificant realm?"
"Casey Elrod sits in the middle of the path of destruction. When the battle occurs she will be trampled by the feet of war."
Loki felt ice stab at his heart. Casey was alive, but unless he did something she would not remain that way for much longer. "How could she be involved in this brewing battle? She is in New York City, is she not? With so many Avengers near her I would assume her to be-"
"She has not been in New York for a long time." Heimdall interrupted harshly.
"Then where?"
"I know not. The organization titled Hydra has taken her somewhere that clouds my sight. I see her pain, but I cannot locate her."
Loki clenched his fists. "Hydra? What is their motive?"
"I do not know. It was they who uncovered the Tesseract many years ago. In the past they have been obsessed with power. All thought them to be dead, but they recently revealed that they had been hiding in and feeding off of SHIELD, like a parasite. This was not long after Casey was captured that night you were in Central Park."
Loki stared at him. "She was captured the very night I left? How is that possible?"
"When she told you to leave her she was acting on the commands of John Garrett of Hydra. None of the words she spoke to you were her own. Garrett threatened to reveal your true identity to your brother if she did not do as he asked."
Loki stumbled and caught himself on the wall. The golden room was spinning. He took a deep breath as the words she had said filtered through his mind.
"I hate you."
"Let me live my life. I'll be fine."
"You wouldn't understand."
"I have my reasons!"
"Don't come looking for me!"
"I don't love you."
All of those words had been fed to her by Garrett and he hadn't even seen it. He'd been blinded by her sudden hatred and his anger at the situation. She'd said all of those things to protect him. She'd broken his heart so that he could remain king. With a pang, he realized that his failure to recognize that it wasn't her had probably broken her heart as well. Just as she'd said over and over in his dreams. He left her. He tried to erase her from his mind. He abandoned her to Garrett.
"Garrett forced her to speak those words?"
"He surprised her in the restroom, threatened her life, and then threatened you. She did not wish to harm you and promised to do whatever he asked." Heimdall confirmed, sadness in his shining eyes.
"And I threw her to the dogs for protecting me." His eyes raced across the domed room, taking in everything and nothing at the same time. A bitter curse erupted from his mouth. What a mess he'd made of things. And now Casey's life was in danger. If he did nothing she would die just as she had in his nightmares.
"What do you plan to do?"
Loki didn't reply, instead running back across the Bridge. He shoved past anyone who got in his way, making for his study. As the sun began to rise, nobles began to flood the halls again, all laughing and enjoying themselves.
"Out of my way!" He ordered a few people in the throng. A handful moved, but everyone else was still between him and the thing he needed to retrieve. Thoroughly angered now, Loki decided to bellow at the top of his lungs: "Make way for the king or you will be punished!"
Laughter hushed as a clear path was made for him. He paid their worried glances no mind as he sprinted through them. Arriving at what had once been Odin's study, he flung the door open and dug through stacks of paper that had been collecting dust. Where was it?! It had to be here somewhere. This was where he'd last left it, right? Or had he put it in the vault for safekeeping? In a brief moment of amusement, he laughed.
"I swear if I ever get Casey home I'll lock her in the vault for safekeeping!" The thought did little to cheer him up, but it did boost his confidence. He would not fail in saving her. She wasn't dead yet so all he had to do was get her away from Hydra and he could apologize. Norns, he'd get on his knees and beg for her forgiveness.
Hydra would severely rue the day they attempted to take her from him. They did not realize who they were dealing with if they thought they could go up against him. Though, it occurred to him that the Avengers would probably be suspicious if someone destroyed this nefarious agency before them. They would begin to ask questions and it was a possibility that they could find out about his survival. So perhaps he wouldn't completely destroy them, perhaps he'd simply ensure that the Avengers did. After all, the team of "heroes" had to be useful for something, didn't they?
"Aha!" He held a silver cuff aloft triumphantly. It had been tucked behind a book he and Casey had used to study her condition. After what he'd done there was no way he could keep this from her any longer. It would be his peace offering - something she should have had in her possession for a long time but he had withheld from her.
Now he just needed something that had belonged to her for the tracking spell and he could begin his search. He had just the thing to use, if he could find it. His study was a bit of a disaster area since he'd revealed himself. Official papers went missing on a daily basis, but he hadn't cared.
Finally finding everything he needed, he dressed, marched back to the Rainbow Bridge and nodded at Heimdall in thanks. He wouldn't say it, but he was grateful.
"Send me to her last known location."
"Good luck, Loki." Heimdall nodded, activating the Bifrost.
"I'm coming, Casey, hang on a bit longer."
A/N: Thank you for reading the first chapter of To Trick a Trickster's sequel, To Find a Trickster! I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as you enjoyed the first one (if you enjoyed the first one, I'm just assuming you wouldn't read the sequel if you didn't like the first one, but if you are I hope you don't hate this one as much as you hated the first one). I'm not certain how frequent updates will be. I may be nearly graduated now, but I'm going to be working a lot and taking drivers ed this summer. Unfortunately, life never stops being busy. However, I will do my best to update as much as possible. :)
Oh man, you guys are in for such a rollercoaster. I know what I have planned and I'm afraid for the characters. It's gonna be so much fun! Maybe...
So, the cover. What do you guys think? I'm not sure I like it and I designed it. :P Can you tell that I used sparkles to cover up the fact that those are a man's arms? Ssshhh! Don't tell. If you guys have any ideas for what a better cover could look like, let me know. I might remake this one anyways, but we'll see.
Well, I'll see y'all in the next update!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything else in the MCU, I write these stories for fun, not profit.