About the dress think of the picture above! Click it and imagine one like that, but without the stomach showing. Imagine it looks like an actual dress and all. I'm not good with explaining things sometimes so I hope you forgive me. Enjoy!
There were times when Roxanne would suddenly remember dreams with Loki when they were children. They would play for hours with her teaching him the games she had learned from watching other kids around wherever she was at the park. Tag had been the one they had played all the time. They had laughed and yelled for what seemed like hours and probably had been before their respective worlds forced them to wake up.
She remembered the first time she had met him. Her dreams had always been vivid with bright colors but there was a time her loneliness had sought the companionship of another and that's how Loki came to walk into her dream. Apparently they had both been feeling the same way so when she reached out he did too and that opened a doorway for them to share their dreams together. It was a doorway they left open until it just disappeared one night. It had haunted her how it was as if it never existed and made her doubt ever meeting him. His beautiful emerald eyes were no longer part of her world.
It wasn't until recently that she felt something tugging at her being as if searching for her. She felt a phantom emotion of knowing what exactly was tugging but in the end it went away as fast as it had come leaving her confused. She had let his memory go as a child and now she regretted it immensely.
He was gone the next morning from her hotel room as if he had never been there. She didn't remember falling asleep but when she opened her eyes to find herself in her bed she did wonder if she had dreamed it until she looked by her door. Hanging from a hook was a clothes bag that reached the floor.
"Where did this come from?" she murmured getting up and walking to it. Looking around she noted how her room seemed a tad bit emptier since he had left.
She unzipped it and a note fell to floor. Forgetting the gift she picked up the note and read it.
Roxanne,
I know I said you would have to forget me and this isn't the best of ways to go about it but I thought you would like this as a thank you gift. I have never had someone believe in me so fiercely before and I am truly grateful to have met you in that alleyway. I will try and fight him again but don't get your hopes up foolish mortal.
If we ever meet again you should tell me why I feel as though I know you from somewhere.
Goodbye Roxanne.
-Loki
She smiled brightly at his note and clutched it to her chest. Sure he had called her foolish but she felt no cruelty in it and she honestly found herself hoping to meet him again. Though in the back of her mind she knew they would because of future events that were bound to happen.
It was at that moment she remembered the art gallery was tomorrow night and felt suspense. The air felt charged like the time before a storm approached and rained hell on anyone unlucky enough to get caught in it. She knew Loki would set into motion to either damn the world or save it tomorrow and hoped she could make a difference.
There was a knock on her door.
"Carson are you up yet?" it was her art instructor.
"Yes Ms. Anya is there something you need?" she asked as she opened the door.
"Yes I don't remember seeing you touring with our class the other day did you stay here?"
"I wasn't feeling well and didn't want to spoil anyone's fun. I'm sorry if I forgot to tell you." Roxanne lied efficiently.
The older woman sighed. "It's alright but the next time you're not feeling well tell me. And come down for dinner."
"Yes ma'am I'll be there in a moment." With that she gently shut the door.
When the door was closed she saw the dress Loki had given her and her jaw dropped. It was pure white with gold thread embroidered on the top which looked like a sleeveless vest with a collar reaching from her sides to behind her neck. Looking down she saw the flowing fabric reach the floor and loved it all. It was just gorgeous and expensive looking. Carefully reaching inside the bag she took the dress off the hanger and held it to her body noticing how it looked perfect for her body.
Thinking back on it she remembered him telling her in his dreams how he could use magic at his home to conjure up all sorts of things. She smiled at the memory. He was such a young, carefree boy after they had got to know each other better it seemed unreal how he could be so lost now. But she planned on helping him find his way again.
With a soft smile she laid the dress across her bed and went into the bathroom to clean up before heading downstairs. Once there she found the rest of her class sitting around each other and immediately opted to sit elsewhere from them. Of course Ms. Anya noticed her and motioned her towards their table so she did with resignation and apprehension.
"Sit here Carson." Ms. Anya said when she finally approached.
"Yes ma'am." Roxanne ignored the odd glances she got from the ones sitting behind her and did as told. The waitress came over and asked for her order a moment later.
"I don't think I've asked you yet but what is it you plan to do after you get your degree in art?" Ms. Anya asked with a small smile.
The question surprised Roxanne but she smiled nonetheless having been asked for the first time since she began going to the college.
"Well my initial plan when I started was to open an art studio and gallery but recently it seems I've been having a sudden epiphany and my dream is going in whole new direction." Because of one tall, dark and beautiful Loki. "I had hoped to make a career out of painting but maybe my new plans will still allow me to take my studio as a hobby and if nothing else I could always teach art to the younger generations."
Someone a long time ago had told Roxanne that she was an old soul but she hadn't known what that was at the time so she ignored it and yet someone else was giving her the same look that woman did years ago. Ms. Anya then gave her an appraising look and a soft smile but it still held a tad bit of disappointment.
"Tell about this epiphany and these new plans."
Not knowing what to truly say Roxanne spoke the only truth she knew how to give.
"I have recently begun to remember someone from my childhood who needs my help now but it pains me that he's so lost." She began. "He was the sole reason I loved to paint because he always enjoyed the worlds I created. He told me once it was a beautiful gift to have and that if I don't share it with the world then they would never know how much they have lost. It seems that my dream is changing again because of him since I met him by accident the other day."
At this Ms. Anya's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You met him here in Stuttgart?"
A little too late did Roxanne see her mistake. "Y-yes well he was at this hotel but then left before you all came back from your tour."
"It's alright I snuck away from my tour group when I took this trip a few years ago. It's nice here."
"You snuck away? Where did you go?" Roxanne smiled brightly with curiosity.
"Well for one I couldn't read a map then but after getting lost a few hundred times I had walked almost all over Stuttgart before finding my way back to my hotel room." Ms. Anya laughed. "My art instructor was so mad at me for leaving without anyone with me that she was nearly in tears. I do feel bad for making her worry but it's not exactly my fault God didn't give me the ability to find my way around a map."
Roxanne laughed thinking of a lost Ms. Anya. "So is your old art instructor the reason you took over their position at the college or was it something else that made you to become one?"
A look of sorrow passed over her face and made Roxanne regret asking.
"Yeah in a way he was the sole reason I took up teaching but I think I would have taught a class of my own even before the accident." Ms. Anya smiled sadly. "There were two art instructors at the school but only one caught my attention. He loved my art just like your friend loved yours so he was a huge inspiration in my life before and after."
"He sounds wonderful. What happened to him?" she asked softly while noticing the people behind her giving off an ominous aura.
"He died in a car crash the day after he proposed to me." She sighed loudly. "But that was a few years ago and I'm over it now."
"I'm sorry." Roxanne murmured. "But I hope you never forget him though surely he was grand enough to be remembered for a long time to come. I'm also sure he would want you to move on as well."
"Thanks."
They ate a bit of their dinner before looking around to see the restaurant getting busier. Roxanne turned her attention to the ones behind her and saw that they gazed at her with malicious intent. Three men and a woman sat at the table and all with blue eyes that looked a bit…crazed. It wasn't that they were crazy themselves but the evil aura that surrounded them made them look as such. She could feel their minds were in turmoil yet determined and that boded well for them if she found a way to free them.
The biggest looking male glared at her and for a moment Roxanne could have sworn she had been standing in front of Thanos in a dark and beautiful realm. His eyes had borne into her as if to incinerate her very being from existence. He wouldn't intimidate her though because she had someone to fight for.
Death was something Thanos coveted with greedy passion so much so it seemed to be a part of him. That may be the only thing that terrified her but for her sake and Loki's she will face him with her last breathe if need be. She turned around and faced her plate but she closed her eyes and opened her mind to Thanos.
"Hello Thanos." She sneered in her mind.
"For a petty and pretty human you are going to be troublesome in the near future aren't you?" he chuckled with terrible glee and cold amusement. This was a game to him, nothing more.
"Careful God of Death for this human may be your very downfall and before you laugh you should remember the ones who have lost to lesser beings. Though I'm sure you remember all of them well Death-Eater."
"This may be true but I draw the line at ever losing to a human girl such as you but I commend you and hope you ready your fellow humans for the war of their lifetimes." He laughed harshly. "I shall enjoy ripping the fabric of your mind apart, to display all your shames and torture your pitiful body until every inch of your skin is littered with cuts and scars."
"For all your boasting and threatening I imagine everyone else would be scared but I feel nothing from you. I see nothing in you. You will go no farther than as far as I let you. You will be stopped here at this planet even if I have to sacrifice everything of my being. Rip the fabric of my mind apart? Fuck with me and I will show you true Hell on earth. I know how the dark recesses of your mind work." She let her mind close off from him but not before she heard him say something else as if to get the last word.
"Let the game begin human."
Then let it, she thought.
"Roxanne, are you alright?" Ms. Anya asked while laying a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm Ms. Anya just still a little nauseous from the other day I guess." Roxanne opened her eyes and smiled. "I feel fine now though."
Looking back at the table behind she noticed the four were gone as if they were never there.
"I think I'm going to go back to my room and rest for a bit. See you in the morning Ms. Anya." With that she stood up and made for the stairs. Once inside her room she felt like crying. Loki had to face that monster every day and possibly every moment. She wondered vaguely if he would think she was weak for crying so she quit her tears and found her sketch book.
"I'm so sorry for the pain you must go through Loki but I wish you were here right now." She whispered as she drew his eyes. She drew all the angles of his face, the curves of his lips and brow line, his sharp nose and his beautiful jet black hair. In this picture his hair was almost as short as it had been when they were younger but still longer and it looked magnificent on him.
She looked up at the clock and saw it was well past midnight. It still baffled her how she could spend so much time drawing and be oblivious to the world around her. It also amused her to see so much time pass by like that.
She put her sketch book away, dressed for bed and picked up her dress to hang back up on the door so it wouldn't wrinkle. Giving the white garment one last look she turned around and got into bed hoping that just this once Loki would be there and if he was she would always keep that door open for him.
Loki sat on the ground with his eyes closed remembering the bright golden eyes of one Roxanne. Her words still burned him to his very core making want to become something more than Thanos' puppet. It had been two days since he left Roxanne's room and he still hadn't really found a way to fight back or make Thanos' control slip from his mind. He honestly was afraid to dwell on the fact that Thanos had been working on his mind ages ago and now his mind might no longer be his own. It did frighten him that he might have lost control but when he thought of Roxanne he felt he had reason enough to fight for his mind.
Opening his blue eyes he remembered the conversation he had with the Chitauri. Pain so agonizing it left phantom pains throughout his body making him not want to fight Thanos at all. Yet he would fight for himself, for his brother, father, mother and for Roxanne. It seemed his entire being wanted to fight solely for her and it confused him.
She looked familiar when he looked upon her sleeping face that early morning and wondered if he had seen her somewhere before but he had quickly shut out the thought. He thought of her now and decided to delve into his memories for her just in case he really had seen her somewhere. Taking deep breaths and closing his eyes he saw nothing at first but as a few minutes went by he could make out a cold fog in the back of his mind.
The memories I shut out. This was where he stored them, inside a cold fog, left to be forgotten. What baffled him more was if she was part of these memories why did he want to forget her?
Thinking more on her bright eyes and warm smile he heard laughter inside the fog. As he got closer he heard more laughing and he made it out to be a female child's. Getting closer he started to hear another laughing with her this one a boy.
"Loki let's play tag!"
"What game is that?"
"I'll show you so come on this will be fun!"
"Okay!"
His breath left him and his mind was confused. It was Roxanne and him when they were children. He vaguely remembered a cherubic face framed by reddish hair and huge golden eyes always looking at him bright with laughter.
"I don't ever want to wake up. It's so lonely at home."
"I don't want to wake up either."
"Why don't you want to wake up?"
"It's lonely at my home too. No one sees me really and when they do I'm a disappointment and a nuisance. Father is king and my brother future king while I'm just a prince."
"I'm sure they love you Loki I mean I have no one to love me at my house. They only tolerate me to get money from the government."
Loki remembered that conversation well. They had talked all night about being alone. Hers was lonelier and a tad bit crueler than his own.
Suddenly he could feel Thanos prying into his mind and he quickly threw up a barrier over the fog to keep it protected. He didn't need Thanos to hold her over him.
"It's almost time Loki. Go to the mortal archer and doctor to set everything into motion."
When Loki only stood there and glared at the air he felt something like a hand grasping his throat cutting off air to his lungs.
"Don't try my patience, Trickster. Obey me and you will have everything you always wanted."
With that the hand went away and he could breathe again. He had almost forgotten how formidable Thanos' powers were and shuddered at the memory of when he first met him. It had been when he was a kid and Thor had left him behind leaving him to play alone. He had been so saddened by the abandonment he retreated to his secret study. The study was located behind his favored bookshelf set with a secret hidden door and everything. Inside was everything he had ever held dear and more.
It was a sad day when Thor left him on his own because that was the first time his brother had done that to him.
He sat there in his secret room depressed and moping until he fell asleep there. It was in his dreamscape that he had met Roxanne but she had told him to call her Roxy. She was so happy to find him in her dreams and in turn he'd been happy to have met her too.
For a while they played in their dreams until days passed dashing away their doubts of themselves being real or not. Those days became weeks and weeks became months. He had never been happier to have a friend granted that she wasn't of Asgard it still felt like someone cared. Just when he was beginning to think he would have Roxy around forever Thanos had appeared in his dreams and sent him into a nightmare. He remembered closing the doorway to Roxy and thinking that if he could forget it ever existed the nightmare might not reach her.
He was glad she hadn't been affected after all this time but in a way he missed her. He missed her light and her smile. Her laughter. Her eyes.
Loki walked up to the archer, Barton, and the scientist-doctor, Eric Selvig.
The doctor saw Loki and made his way toward him.
"Hey! The Tesseract has shown me so much. It's more than knowledge. It's truth." Selvig smiled.
Loki knew this man was good and he also knew what lay in his mind. In a way Eric Selvig knows what he's doing and isn't fighting it. It had intrigued Loki at first but being with Roxanne even for that short amount of time made him remember what it was like to be compassionate.
"I know." Loki said. "What did it show you, Agent Barton?"
"My next target." Barton said turning around.
"Tell me what you need."
Loki watched Barton go to his bow and take it out of its case.
"I need a distraction. And an eyeball." He looked determined and Loki knew he had to do Thanos' bidding until he found a way to thwart his plans.
Loki found himself walking the streets of Germany looking to take Dr. Heinrich Schafer's eye and be done with it. To be honest the idea of doing this made his stomach reel but he wouldn't show it. He had to protect Roxanne and he couldn't do that if he didn't find a way to take back control of his mind.
Walking into the building he noted the artistic value of it with pride. This would be something Roxanne would love to see. He could imagine her eyes glowing with such awe and curiosity it made him smile.
He looked down at the crowd below and saw his target standing front and center preparing to speak. Loki just needed to distract SHIELD and then move on to the next plan at their headquarters.
Forgive me Roxanne for what I'm about to do.
Roxanne walked into the lobby by herself wearing the gorgeous dress Loki had given her. As she made it to the last step her classmates only stared at her in awe. The girls mostly glared at her but admired her dress more. It would have been comical if those looks weren't directed at her.
Ms. Anya came up to her with raised eyebrows. "Where did you get the dress Roxanne?"
"The friend I spoke to you about sent it to me a couple of days ago. I really don't want to know the price but I couldn't pass up the chance to wear his gift." Roxanne smiled softly. "I just hope it doesn't get ruined on the way over."
"I'm sure it'll be fine." Ms. Anya motioned for her to follow. "You can sit with me so no one does anything stupid."
"Thank you." Roxanne sighed in relief.
Steve Rogers was suiting up to fight Loki at the gallery. He had no idea what he was up against only that someone claimed to be a god. He believed in only one god. That kind of attitude reminded him of a certain red colored fiend he used to know.
Agent Barton was taking out the security to get to the iridium. He was a trained assassin to put it truthfully and he had regretted the decisions he had made but with his mind being controlled he didn't have any way to stop himself much less care or remember. There was only one goal in his mind and it was the iridium.
Roxanne and Ms. Anya walked inside the beautiful building with the class at their backs. There were old statues that crumbled over time carefully pieced together and paintings she respected and immediately admired.
If only you were here with me Loki. She sighed and kept up with her instructor feeling like the air had become charged all of a sudden. Glancing around she saw nothing out of the ordinary and yet she couldn't shake the feeling that something was fixing to happen. No one else noticed the change and that frightened her. What if something did happen and somebody got hurt? It would be her fault.
They were just walking into a room with the curator speaking in German when she saw him.
It was her Loki walking down the stairs scepter in hand. From what she could tell he was heading for the curator.
Before she could make a sound he had already hit one of the men standing beside Dr. Heinrich and had grabbed the man by the neck and thrown him onto the stone table thing. She really needed to research these places before she entered.
"Loki." She said and made to run to him so he could stop him but Ms. Anya grabbed her and hauled her out of there before she could do anything. The class had panicked just like everyone else and soon even they were cornered by Loki outside.
She flinched as he yelled. Why was he doing this? Couldn't he see her right before his eyes? She froze as she realized that Thanos was more prominent in Loki at this very moment.
As Loki spoke she could hear the strain in his voice. He was fighting on the inside while doing Thanos' bidding. The Loki she knew didn't believe in subjugation like Thanos and she knew that his heart and soul were still good. His eyes were a brighter shade of blue not an ounce of the emerald green she loved.
The old man will stand up now.
She turned her head and saw the same man she had seen in her dreams stand up.
"Not to men like you."
"Not to men like you." The old man said with wisdom.
She looked at Loki and saw him pause and in that frozen moment she also saw that lovely emerald flicker for just a second. He was definitely fighting.
Loki laughed arrogantly. "There are no men like me."
The old man stood there defiantly. "There are always men like you."
The emerald color of his eyes flickered more and more with the wise words and defiance of that man. He had such courage to stand up for his people that it reached through to Loki someway somehow.
"Look to your elder, people." Loki seemed to be warring with the decision to kill the old man. "Let him be an example."
Right before he could shoot power through the scepter Roxanne stood up and jumped in front of the man protecting him.
"Loki, please don't do this!" she shouted at him.
She could see Loki look panicked as his eyes had widened. He powered down the scepter and turned it away from her. Ms. Anya had grabbed her arm trying to pull her away from danger but she wouldn't budge. She needed to help Loki any way she could and if putting herself in danger was the way then so be it.
"Look at me Loki and tell me you're not strong enough to fight Thanos!" Roxanne wrenched her arm from her instructor. "I told you I would always be at your side to fight him and I know you believed me! Fight him now and be the man I know you to be! Don't let him control you in this moment!"
She had walked forward while everyone around her had gone absolutely quiet. When she was right in front of him she saw the unshed tears in his eyes. He was lost and didn't know what to do next.
"Look at me and know I'm right here for you to lean on." She whispered to him. "I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. If you trust me then allow me to help you. Fight for me and I'll fight for you."
She let her own tears fall and took the scepter from his hands. When the blue threatened to overrule his eyes she brought her hand up and cupped his face. It seemed to bring his emerald eyes back entirely.
"I remember you from when we were kids." He whispered. "I would always protect you with my life. It's why I closed that door off so Thanos couldn't reach you. I chose to forget to protect you."
"I know that now and I'm grateful to you. It's why I still believed in you even after all this time." She dropped the scepter and cupped his face in both of her hands. "I know your heart is untouched."
"How do you know?" he had closed his eyes and panted.
"It shows in the way you look at me and the world. When the emerald of your eyes that see the people in ways they should be seen in be they good or bad. Your heart shows and if I'm the only one who sees that then no one else is worth your time." She brought their foreheads together. "Don't you ever stop fighting him. I'll find a way to free you from his grasp one way or another. Believe me."
Roxanne knew when SHIELD had landed and surrounded them. She never stopped holding onto Loki until Director Fury himself came to stand behind her. His agents surrounded Loki and kept aim at him.
I don't know him Loki but I've seen him in my dreams as well. She whispered to him in his mind. He felt calm now and he had built a wall to keep Thanos out even if it was for a little while.
She had found out that speaking to someone in their mind, feeling what their emotions were and fire were her powers over the last day or so and she was grateful for them. She reached in her mind and let her own walls reinforce Loki's to protect him better. When he looked at her in surprise she smiled. He had just realized she wasn't entirely human.
Be calm, I think Fury and SHIELD can help us fight Thanos. Your brother should be on his way as well.
She gave him a reassuring nod.
"Step away from him ma'am." Fury said in his commanding tone.
She did as told and backed away from Loki but never took her eyes off him. He didn't look away either as the agents around him put him in cuffs.
"Take him away." He put a hand on her shoulder and Loki growled at him.
"Do not touch her."
Fury gently lifted his hand from her shoulder and waited until they put Loki in one of the jet planes and took off. He stared at the girl and noticed she watched the jet leaving.
"You have many questions but the one you want answered is if I'm in league with Loki." Roxanne looked at him then and her golden eyes threw him off. "If I told you truth you wouldn't believe me especially where Loki is concerned but I will tell you there is someone far more powerful preparing a full scale war on earth. He means to kill everyone and take the Tesseract for himself. No one will be safe no matter how hard you try."
Fury gave her a hard look. "And how do you know all this?"
"I've seen them in my dreams." She gave him a kind smile. "Just like I dreamed of this day. I saw everyone in it like you, Coulson, Hill, Selvig, Romanoff, Barton, Rogers, Stark and Banner." She looked in the direction the jet with Loki had taken off. Lightning lit the sky that way. "And there's Thor."
"There were many different paths this day could have taken. Being able to see the future in my dreams allowed me to change it. Though two weeks ago I was just someone trying to finish college." She sighed. "Thanos will try to get to Loki to kill me so he can have Loki as his puppet once more. I intend to sever that tie he has with the trickster god. If you'll let me that is. Find Barton and Selvig and I will sever their ties as well."
Fury studied her for a few moments and when she thought he wasn't going to give her this chance she looked down in sadness. She had hoped he would take this chance to free his agent and the scientist.
"I don't know what it is you'll gain but if you can sever that tie then maybe we can negotiate something for Loki." He narrowed his eyes at her then walked off. "Take her to headquarters."
It wasn't the deal she wanted put if she could just get on the airship then maybe she wouldn't need to be physically near Loki to sever that tie.
I can only hope and pray.
