The two fairy tale-turned Avengers made it to the little village. Along the way, Natasha had explained her hypothesis to Thor, who, although doesn't know what she was talking about, still managed to grasp the basic idea.
"So, you are telling me that we have somehow been conjured into the realm of this, this, Beauty and the Beast?" Thor asked, hopping along the trail after her.
Natasha tugged at her dress, cursing its limitations, "Not a realm, Thor. A child's fairy tale. And yes, I do believe we have."
Thor rubbed the hair on his chin and slung Mjolnir onto his shoulder, "How can you be so sure?"
She turned to him and grinned, "If the towns people start to sing, then you owe me."
"Deal." Thor said smugly, finding it hard to image a whole town just bursting into song.
Natasha nodded and smoothly strutted over to the closed man. She looked him square in the eye and said ever matter-of-factly, "Bonjour."
It was as if someone had pushed play on an unseen CD player. The man grinned at her and said in a singsong voice, "Bonjour!" Then four more people followed suit, all starting to do spins in the street and singing to each other about Natasha's beauty.
She gave him a winning smile and Thor just looked on in awe. The whole town had turned into a Broadway performance!
"Look there she goes, isn't she – "
"Silence!"
Natasha and Thor whipped around to see a man approaching them. Though, he was not just any man.
"Brother!" Thor exclaim once Loki stood before them. Like the both of them, Loki wore the clothes of the character Gaston.
'Fitting.' Natasha thought. Loki had his black hair pinned to the nape of his neck. Wearing Gaston's tight black pants and fitted red shirt, a gun that resembled his staff gripped loosely in his hand.
Loki looked around, confused, and then turned his gaze to the tiny man that was beaming up at him. Natasha could see every expression cross his face: Confusion. Realization. Shock. Fear. Confusion again. And then full-on amusement.
The trickster doubled over with his laughter, tears creeping from the corners of his eyes. His face was soon flushed and he claimed his ribs hurt. Thor merely stood with his arms crossed, patiently waiting for his younger brother to regain his composure.
That's when Natasha spotted the other short man hiding behind Loki. He had a rather large nose, small eyes; black hair pulled back, and was a little on the robust side. She remembered the character, but not the name, and she knew she disliked him immensely.
Thor also spotted the other man also and gave him a friendly nod, "Who is your friend, Loki?"
Once the taller god had calmed down, he dabbed at his eyes and raised an eyebrow. The look of merriment was completely gone from his face and just his simple, bored look remained.
"This is La Fool." Loki stated with a flick of his wrist toward the other man, "This morning, when I awoke, I found myself in a strange room. Highly decorated in fur and antlers, tacky to say the least, and then this little fellow took to following me once I emerged from the house."
"Ah, Gaston, my name is-"
"Your name is La Fool, La Fool. Do no question me again. However, my name is not Gaston, it is Loki." He spat at the tiny man, daring him to talk back. La Fool merely cowered down, averting his eyes.
Loki let out a breath out through his nose and then gave his attention back to Natasha, "My apologies for this absurd man. Now, tell me, where am I? Have you and your little friends summoned me here to somehow defeat me? I must say, this is by far the worst plan I've seen come out of that one-eyed leader of yours."
Natasha shook her head, "I don't want to be here any less than you do. Thor and I also woke up like you did. We have no idea how we got here, but I do where here is."
After a moment was taken to explain it all again, Natasha was a little tired of correcting the two brothers that, no, this was not a realm, and no, they were not summoned here by magic. That she knew of anyway. Loki, however, managed to understand it a little better than Thor.
Natasha, "So, I believe we should work together to get through this story. I think if we complete it, then we should find ourselves back home. Deal?"
"Deal!" Thor said, brushing off his apron.
"Hm, deal." Loki murmured, not overly fond of working with the two.
La Fool, who had kept silent the whole time, thought this would be a good time to try and redeem himself. The poor fella never knew when to quit. "Gast- er, Loki! Do you wanna go shoot some ducks, or something?"
Loki was about to turn around and threaten the man that if he opened his mouth for a third time, then he surely would find food tasteless without his tongue. Thor spoke up first though.
"Hunting! A fine idea, my good sir. How about it, Loki? Just like old times?"
Again, Loki was cut off.
"Ha! Oh please, like Loki would want to go hunting with you, you crazy old man. You're just a lunatic who- Erk!" La Fool found his vocal cords hard to use with Loki's long, slender fingers wrapped around his neck. He also found the ground was a long ways below him when Loki lifted him up and brought him close to his face.
"I want you to listen carefully, you little worm. You are nothing to me, so you better keep to my good side, least you find the cold void of space more suited to your liking. You will do everything I demand and you will keep your mouth shut." Loki snarled, "Oh, and if you ever insult my brother again, I will not think twice to crush you with my bare hands. He's mine to mock."
Thor tilted his head to the side, "Em.. thank you, brother?"
Loki tossed the squirming man to the ground and shrugged his shoulders. Natasha rolled her eyes, she really didn't have time for this. They needed to get on the road.
"Let's go." She said and began to walk through the middle of town. Thor followed close, Loki somewhat trailing behind, just close enough to keep up, but far enough back so it looked like he wasn't apart of their group. He noticed how people looked at him, and oddly, they all smiled or waved. He passed three girls and they all sighed, when he looked over his shoulder at them, they winked and fanned their faces.
Once Natasha made it to the end of town and they faced the long, curving road, she took a deep breath, "Ready?"
Thor swung Mjolnir a few times and brushed his hair from his eyes, "Ready." He then turned around to ask if his brother was ready, "Loki?"
He was nowhere to be seen. Thor felt his heart beat worriedly; Natasha huffed out a few inappropriate words and rolled her eyes, "Let's forget him, Thor. The sooner we finish this, the sooner we'll all be home."
Thor cleared his throat, "Will my brother be safe here?"
She looked down into his sad, blue eyes and nodded, "I know he will. Now c'mon."
Thor looked back once more at the little town, hoping to spot his brother somewhere. With no luck, he hurriedly ran to Natasha and slowed his pace to walk by her side into the forest.
