I Live! After a long hiatus due to forces outside my control I return to the realm of fanfic, did you miss me? Please say you missed me. At any rate this story is full of fluff, you have been warned. As always a big thank you to my beta reader, the lovely Josie Raine.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I do own the story and OCs though and anyone I catch copying them will be attacked by ravenous ghost-wolves. For realsies. :)
How had Odin discovered him? He had been sure to mask himself as he returned to Asgard. Thor couldn't have told him, the great oaf had clearly believed that he had fallen. Even if he hadn't, there was no possibility he could have warned Odin in time, he was too busy finishing off Malakith. There was no way the Allfather could have known he was there. But he had known, and Loki was forced to make a strategic retreat. At least that's what he would say afterwards. What actually happened was he ran like a coward while Odin's guards chased him through the palace. He managed to make it to one of his passages between worlds. Which deposited him face first into a pile of garbage. As he swore vengeance upon Asgard, he began to take stock of his surroundings.
"Midgard, naturally" Loki muttered, "If Odin doesn't find me, The Avengers definitely will."
As he walked out of the alley he took in his surroundings, and seeing Stark Tower in the distance immediately headed in the opposite direction.
"And right in their backyard too, Might as well just turn myself in right now"
He absently changed his outfit to something more appropriate for wandering the streets of Midgard. No need to make it too easy for the damned heroes to find him. As he resolutely walked away he failed to realize that he was walking right into a bad part of town. Suddenly the sound of jets filled the air. Loki swore violently and ducked into an alleyway just as Iron Man flew past.
"Unbelievable, is fate itself conspiring against me tonight? Is one good turn of fortune too much to ask?"
His rhetorical question was answered by the sound of a screaming child.
"Really, that's your answer?"
Loki began to turn away, trying to ignore the tugging in his gut as the child screamed
"HELP!"
"I must be completely mad." Loki sighed before running deeper into the alley.
The girl was tiny, a skinny slip of a creature. Made even smaller by how she curled up into a fetal position to protect herself from the fat man kicking her.
"Stop, please" she sobbed quietly
"Please, keep going. It's so much more fun that way" he whispered as he leaned closer, laughing as she flinched away.
"ENOUGH!" Loki shouted as his magic slammed the man into the alley wall. "I've done some awful things in my time, but never have I stooped so low as to directly harm an innocent child. You disgust me."
The fat man groans, vainly trying to free himself from the magic that pinned him to the wall
"Fuck off pretty boy, I can do whatever I damn well please with street trash like her." He snarled
"Oh, so you are not merely disgusting. But rude as well. You're like a pig, fat, ugly and stupid. In fact, a pig would be far more tolerable, at least they roll in mud to cover their stink. Yes, a pig will do quite nicely"
As Loki spoke, green smoke gathered around the man, obscuring him from view. When the mist receded, a fat pink pig stood in place of the man. It shrieked in terror and ran out of the alley, startling several pedestrians in it's mad escape.
With that dealt with he went to check on the girl. She had watched wide-eyed as he dispatched the fat man. But as he approached she whimpered and shied away.
"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise" He said quietly "I want to help." She stared up at him with big brown eyes full of tears. She was so small, so helpless. Had he ever been that small?
"You mean it?" she asked, seeming to somehow shrink smaller. Like she was afraid of the answer.
Loki was surprised to find that he did.
"Yes, I do."
He moved closer kneeling to take a look at her injuries. While he did not have any healing magic, he did have a functional knowledge of battlefield medicine. A result of his time galavanting about with Thor, Sif and the Warriors Three. Somehow he had ended up becoming their group's medic, largely due to the fact that no one else would do it. So Loki had resolved to become the best possible. He had spent months studying with the healers learning all he could without the propensity for healing magic. But had they appreciated it, no. Of course not, they took him for granted. Thor's little brother along for the ride, never a true warrior, never good enough. But those skills served him well now. He identified that while there would be bruising along her right side, but nothing was broken.
"What's your name?" he asked gently
She thought for a minute, like she hadn't had to think about that in a while.
"Amber, my name is Amber" She finally said, uncurling a little
"Well Amber, I think you are going to be fine. You can go home now."
This was the wrong thing to say, as she folded right back up
"No, you said you'd help me" she whimpered, giving him the big brown eyes again
"Don't you want to go home?" he asked
"Don't have one." She muttered giving him the nastiest glare he had ever received from someone under five feet tall.
"Oh" he decided to drop that subject, "Is there somewhere you'd like to go?"
She thought for a bit before surprising him with her answer
"I don't have anywhere." She said so quietly he had to strain to hear, "Can I come with you?"
He doesn't know how to answer that.
"I don't really have anywhere either." He says "You'd be better off somewhere else"
He begins to walk away, but feels a tug at his sleeve.
He turns around to see her sad brown eyes staring up at him
"Maybe we can find somewhere together?" she says.
He doesn't understand. He is Loki, He is a monster, he tore this city to shreds at the head of an alien army. She should be running away as fast as her little legs can carry her. But she doesn't she just stares. Deep brown eyes meeting his own sharp green. Her hair is the same shade of blonde as Thor's underneath all the grime. He knows in his mind that she's better off away from him. He opens his mouth to tell her that. But he can't. Instead he says.
"Maybe so."
He definitely was going mad.
As always please review, constructive criticism is welcome. Flamers will be eaten by my ghost-wolves. Also, for anyone who cares. The title is derived from an Ernest Hemingway Quote "All things truly wicked start in Innocence." I feel like it fits Loki pretty well, He just wants to be loved underneath it all. At least that's how I see it.