Chapter Two: Grief
"Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them."
-Leo Tolstoy
Odin does hate me...
It was the only thought Jane could come up with as she was pushed into the cell. The golden wall flickered into place behind her as soon as she'd passed the threshold. She had to catch her feet and turned to protest, but her words caught in her throat at the pain that arched through her upon contact with the deceptively thin barrier. She was shoved backward after a moment, or she fell. It was hard to tell which. The fabric of her dress pooling around her on the floor as she remained on her knees a long moment before pushing herself to her feet – but there was little she could say.
The harsh reality that she was on an alien world really closing in with the electrified wall in front of her. Sure, it'd seemed like a dream when Thor returned, pulled her off to his world and it's marvels – despite the dangerous substance flowing through her veins. She'd been happy, so delighted by being swept off her feet in that brief time she couldn't have predicted what would follow. She crashed to the earth – well the proverbial earth – when her rear struck the tiled floor of her new 'room'. Thor was in danger now – just as his mother had been – all because she'd come right along with him without a moment of hesitation or fear. Not even a second she'd put into the thoughts of possible consequences – and even if she had this wasn't at all what she would have come up with.
"Well, well, well...it seems the all-father is being generous today." The superior drawl of Loki's voice made Jane's spine stiffen. She'd forgotten until that moment that she would be sharing a cell.
She heard the shift of movement behind her and turned around, stalking up to him to slap him before he could continue to speak. "That was for New York!"
His face snapped to the right but given a slow smile came to his lips a moment later.
"I like her." He remarked, not making Jane any more comfortable with her new place – she had to stop letting that temper get the better of her. "What an unexpected gesture of good-will, is the all-father tired of Thor's tryst's with the mortal realm? Is she to be a form of entertainment?"
Jane was about to reply to that question but the guard had already spoken before she could form a suitable answer.
"The All-Father wishes for you to guard Jane Foster until such a time as the war criminal Malakith is taken care of. He sends this order with the offer of giving you parole from these walls after another hundred years has passed. If she is killed then you will follow her to the afterlife soon after." The guard replied, glancing to Jane and then back to Loki – his serious expression softening if only by a fraction, then he remained quiet – were they not going to tell him about his mother's death?
Jane paused, she couldn't really continue to protest – or say anything. It was her fault – Frigga died because Jane was there – because she couldn't defend herself. Jane instead looked around the sparsely furnished room. Anywhere that wasn't the stare still leveled on her from her cellmate. This one was nicer than any of the other cells she'd seen in her short trip here but still had limited area. One detail was enough to prod her to speak before the guard could fully walk away.
"Um, there's only one cot." Jane said, hoping the guard would throw her a bone.
"Then you will have to share." The guard replied, walking off before she could offer another protest – not that it would do her any good. When she turned around to face her cellmate she frowned at the grin still on his face. She doubted he would be so cheerful if he heard of his mother's demise and she couldn't be the one to tell him. Not when it was her fault...
"Here you were so direct a moment ago – why the sudden quiet?" Loki had been deprived any personal entertainment for some time so he had to admit that the all-father handing him the very woman he had previously been planning to kidnap was almost too perfect. Protect her for an eventual release? Oh, Odin must have bought into Frigga's pressing him to give Loki a chance. He would have to thank his mother later for the gesture – once he fashioned himself an escape.
"I...just don't like you." Jane retorted hesitantly, it was difficult to really be angry with him when she felt responsible for his mother's death. She backed up as he approached, until she remembered the electric wall and paused herself with him close enough to make her less than comfortable.
"You're hiding something." Loki observed, his eyes scanning her – he was good at this – better than she would have thought from what she knew of him.
"It...it's not my place to say anything." She remarked, walking around past him to go sit on the cot – it was away from all the painful walls.
"Something happened in the city with the attack, tell me." Loki followed her, seating himself next to her. She half wanted to get up again but she felt exhausted – she could only presume that was the Aether in her body draining her energy. She knew she had to conserve what she had left.
Jane shook her head negatively. "I wouldn't know where to start."
"Well you're mom's dead and it's probably my fault won't win me a fan of the psychopath."
"You can take your time, we have that in spades judging father's plans." Loki remarked, smiling in such a way as to be charming.
If she hadn't seen him trying to destroy New York for herself she might have given him the benefit of the doubt. She glanced away from him, even if he was horrible...he was still a person – and he wouldn't be grinning if he knew. It felt so much worse that he was smiling and carrying on as if all was well despite the attack above. Could she really just not tell him something that important? Forget what sort of person he was...what would that make her?
"Frigga..." She managed to resolve herself to at least tell him of her mother's death. "Frigga is dead, Malakith..."
She went silent, swallowing as she glanced back over to him. Rage might as well have been coming off of him in waves. The relaxed posture of a moment before had tightened to a coil. The smile had faded into a thin line on his pale lips. His fingers curled into a fist that was nearly shuttering.
"Hey um..." Jane's words fell short when he rounded on her. His eyes were wild. The green within seemingly on fire – perhaps because of his riled temper. She stared at him, his dark hair slightly uneven after his swift turn. Could she apologize? No, if she said that his mother's death was because of her then surely he'd kill her himself if this was how he reacted to the fact that she was dead at all. She cried out when he pushed her down on the bed. About to fight when instead found herself on her side after a freefall – he'd flipped the cot to the side.
"Stay down." Loki remarked shortly, his voice uneven.
A pulse of energy shot from where Loki was, tossing everything in the room backward. She didn't have time to protest before the mattress pinned her to the single non electrified wall. A moment before that there was a glimpse of other furniture getting blown backward, sparking against the cell and fragmenting from the energy within the room. When he cried out she felt herself shutter, swallowing the lump that rose in her throat – the raw emotion in his scream was almost enough to bring her to tears.
This wasn't the villain that had destroyed half a city – it was just a boy that had lost his mother...Jane couldn't help but pity him even though she was frightened. Certainly it wasn't comfortable behind this bed but she wasn't about to try and crawl out – more pulses followed the first two. More screaming, palatable grief hung in the air even where she was hiding.
Eventually she hadn't felt anything for several minutes but could hear heavy breathing. She wasn't sure if she should leave. She could breath and she wasn't exactly being crushed – this also kept her safe from any debris – so apparently Loki didn't intend to hurt her.
Then again, the soreness in her hip from where he flipped the bed made her doubt he meant to be kind. The guard had said if she died Loki would die as well – that he was supposed to guard her here? It was just very confusing – Jane was glad Odin didn't want to kill her but that didn't mean this was very safe. She didn't peer from behind the cot for a few more minutes – until it had been quiet other than unsteady breathing for a while.
The once comfortable seeming Loki was disheveled – his coat had been discarded and lay tattered across the floor with the rest of the furniture. He sat against the wall where she hid, staring at his hands – settled on his lap. He must have either cut his foot or stepped on the spilled fruit during his breakdown for it was marred a deep red. His hair was wild, but the rage was gone – at least temporarily. There were wet marks along his cheeks where his tears had fallen, his face still puffy from the show of sorrow. This broken creature wasn't by any means the villain she'd come to hate. In that moment of emotional bankruptcy after his disintegration she couldn't bring herself to feel any animosity toward him. She was afraid, but she also felt incredibly guilty – this was her fault...she caused this – the least she could do was to try and comfort him.
She moved closer slowly, and gently set a hand on his. He jumped, glancing at her as if he'd forgotten during his fit that she was in the room with him. Then staring at her then her hand – his eyes jumping between the two spots. Her own expression softened – she could loathe him later...she shook her head once negatively. There were no words she could offer that would be of any condolence – instead she did the only human thing she could think to do – she hugged him.
End Chapter
Yay, got a second chapter finished. Sorry it's taken a while but my OC/Loki fic is one I'm doing more work on right now – and I don't have a lot of free time with school having started back up in the first place. You should check it out, it's named; Loyalty. (by me of course)
-Aura
To my reviewers:
Thanks for all your kind reviews, I appreciate every one but usually only reply to longer reviews or questions from person to person : )
SharpMaz – Thank you, I'm glad you enjoy both stories. The second part of Art of War is on hold until I can come up with more details for it as it will take a lot more effort and planning than the other fics I have going on atm.
Isaalacrymosaa – Who would do what with jane and the aether?
TheFarthestStar – Yeah I've been wanting too.
