Sorry! I know I promised you a week and I'm late. I just kept procrastinating, and whenever I thought about it I was busy, and I had to go to a picnic, and a Barbeque. I feel bad about it, I really do. But at least it's here now.
Gosh, so many people have followed and favorited and reviewed and all that though. I feel all committed now thanks to you guys so... Good job. That's hard to do with me sometimes.
Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, Loki, Thor, Amora, or any of this large marvelous (see what I did there?) universe. All that belongs mostly to Stan Lee and the other, not as important people. STAN LEE FOREVER!
Loki woke up to a girl's murmuring, his eyes adjusting to see a pretty blonde woman standing above him and grinning smugly.
He didn't allow himself to jump back, but the girl's smile widened like she read his emotions in his face.
"Do you need directions to the Throne Room?" Loki inquired sarcastically, straightening and adjusting his armor. He really shouldn't be sleeping in it, he noted dully as his muscles protested the movement.
"Oh, no," The blonde girl giggled. "I was actually looking for you. My name is Amora."
Loki slipped a knife into his hand slowly so that she wouldn't notice and tilted his head to the side.
"My pleasure, Amora," He said. "But as you can see, this is my room..."
"Do you really think that will work?" Amora asked with a wide shark grin.
"No," Loki answered immediately, trying to adjust his icy expression into a falsely good-natured one. "In fact, I'm certain that you know that. Have you come to kill me?"
"Now why would I kill you?" Amora asked curiously.
"Because you might hate me for my past transgressions and want to take this moment of weakness in my magic and health to incapacitate me, as most likely you will find it quite easy," Loki said, all in one breath. He hissed angrily, but Amora looked rather pleased.
"So it did work then," She said. "Good. I'd been worried."
"You set the spell," Loki stated, his eyes widening before he narrowed them. "Take it off right now."
"There's not really much you can do," Amora chuckled lightly. "The way you are now, I doubt you can stand."
"I'll find the strength," Loki promised. "Rage has been known to spur on my movements."
"Ah, but haven't you noticed my new spell?" Amora asked.
"No," Loki frowned. "What...?" And then he trailed off, because he couldn't move. It wasn't like he didn't think he had the strength, but that he was too tired. Like his body suddenly weighed a ton.
"You will try to break it?" Amora wondered.
"Of course," Loki spat at her, already throwing his remaining magic into doing so. "I wouldn't take this lying down."
"Figuratively, of course," Amora commented. "Not literally, considering that you actually are lying down."
Loki rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Sorceress?" He asked.
"Enchantress," Amora corrected. "The one and the only. And as for what I want, I bet you could give me plenty of very good information."
"You are pathetic," Loki spat at her. "A coward to attack a man who is unable to defend himself properly."
"Ha, not falling for that one," Amora told him. "Now, what all do you know about Thor?"
"Nearly everything," Loki said before gritting his teeth. "What do you want with Thor?"
"Why do you care?" Amora shot back.
"Because he's my brother," Loki answered before closing his eyes, straining against the spell that kept him down. It loosened slightly and he managed to go to one knee, gasping for breath.
"You really are quite committed," Amora said, staring at Loki in fascination. "But right now I'm not too worried about that, as you said, you're weak."
"Not as weak as you might think," Loki told her, trying to project confidence.
Amora just shook her head at him sympathetically. "But you consider yourself pathetic, right?" She asked.
"Yes," Loki said, and then he shouted, trying to lunge at the woman and ending up only moving an inch.
"Tsk, tsk," Amora clucked disapprovingly. "You'll never get ahead in life like that, my Prince. So tell me: What are Thor's weaknesses in battle?"
Loki tried to keep his mouth shut, but the answers were ripped from him unwillingly.
"He shows-off," He told her, trying to stop this. "That gives you a time advantage. He is also very upfront in his attacks and relies mostly on the force of his strength coupled with the power behind his hammer. His lightning only helps machinery and can be avoided if you're quick enough and he gets easily confused and isn't as graceful in battle as he could be. And he celebrates victory too soon. SHUT UP!"
"Oh, but you can't," Amora said happily. "Now I know that you will tell me all I need to know! Tell me about Midgard. What is Midgard like?"
"Smaller then Asgard and lower in some ways but higher in others," Loki told her, this time bewildered. "It is defended by a group called the Avengers and a few more sparse and not as powerful beings. It has very odd cultures and isn't ruled over-all by one king, but by many kings, or sometimes the people. Why? What do you want with Midgard?"
"Interesting question," Amora told him. "And what is Thor's attachment to Midgard and it's people?"
"He has a woman there," Loki said, noticing the way Amora's eyes tightened at this. "A Midgardian scientist named Jane that he's in love with. Also, he has friends there that he must protect, the Avengers and others like Eric Selvig and Darcy Lewis. I suppose he grew an attachment there during his banishment."
"You don't like this... Jane?" Amora asked, spitting the females name.
"No, I don't," Loki answered. "Why do you want this knowledge? Why are you here?"
"I told you, answers," Amora said flippantly. And then her eyes grew wide and she smiled gently, though not at Loki. "Do you think that Thor would ever consider me for a bride?" She asked.
"No," Loki said honestly. Amora looked back at him, her eyes flashing.
"Why?" She demanded.
"Because he's promised to Foster," Loki said. "And he's far too loyal for that. Also, I'm not sure he would like this very much." Here he looked down at himself, straining with all his might and magic and just managing to lurch toward the wall.
"But you won't tell him about this," Amora laughed. "Because you won't live for him to see it."
Loki looked up at her curiously with a mocking quirk of an eyebrow, he wasn't too worried about the death threat. Wasn't death what he had always wanted?
"As far as I'm concerned," Amora continued. "You're just a toy to get what I want out of before into the rubbish heap you go, too broken to play with."
The words hit just a bit too close to home and Loki screamed as he finally broke away from the curse and sprung at Amora, ready to rip her open with his bare hands, only to find himself falling through her.
"One of your favorites, right?" Amora laughed from the other side of the room.
"Yes," Loki gasped as soon as he had rolled out of his fall. He threw his knife at her, and she sidestepped it easily. "I am rather fond of that one."
"Feeling a little lightheaded?" Amora said sympathetically.
"Yes," Loki shouted, starting to get desperate again. "Now shut up or I will -"
"Kill me," Amora finished for him. "But sadly, you no longer have the strength for that. Poor Loki. Used up all his magic fighting Amora's bad spell. Barely strong enough to stand.
Loki threw three more of his knifes in rapid succession, but Amora dodged them all and even took one and began playing with it boredly.
"You're slipping, Loki," She said regrettably. "You know, all I want to know is what it would take for my Thor to fall in love with me."
"If you were the last two people after Ragnarok he still wouldn't love you," Loki snarled. "You are delusional!"
"I am not!" Amora screamed, suddenly seeming as mad as Loki himself. "Why wouldn't he love me?" The question seemed rhetorical, and Loki grinned widely.
"He's already in love, and you're insane," Loki told her. "Thor has had a history of making foolish decisions but even he wouldn't be so blind as to believe you anything but a viper."
Amora threw Loki's knife at him, but he managed to pull up a shield spell just in time. He staggered, weakened, and Amora flew at him. They rolled right through the bedroom door and toppled into the hall, Amora on the top of their heap.
"Looks like we're about to get an audience," She laughed sadistically. "And I don't suppose I need him to really love me. Minds are my specialty. I'm called the Enchantress for a reason, you know."
Loki conjured flames into her hair and laughed madly when she screamed and jumped off of him so fast that she fell over.
"Touch him and I'll kill you," He said through his laughter, stumbling to his feet again.
"You'll pay for that one, Odinson," Amora snapped angrily. Green ice poured from her hands and flew toward Loki, and he had just enough time to shout in surprise and fear before he found himself pressed against the wall, the cold seeping into his skin.
"What...?" Amora said in shock, staring at him as if he had grown another head before throwing back her head and laughing. "You're a Frost Giant?" She asked.
"Yes," The admission was more painful then Loki would ever like to say, but he made it as cutting as he possibly could before blowing all of Amora's ice back at her, along with a bit of his own.
She screamed and leapt away, but then continued laughing. "This is just too rich," She laughed.
"Be silent," Loki hissed at her, the warmth slowly coming back over him and making the hated patterns all over him disappear. "For this, you will pay."
"A Frost Giant, in the Allfather's house," Amora giggled, getting to her feet again. "No wonder you think you're pathetic. What it must have done to you! Bit small for a Frost Giant, though, aren't you?"
"I was a runt," Loki said, and then he rushed toward her again.
Amora blasted him backward and through a stone wall, and as Loki blinked hazily and tried to stand again, he heard several shouts before a table was sent flying at him and he had to throw himself to the side to avoid it.
When he looked back up, Amora was gone and several guards were looking around the room in complete confusion as a maid who had been cleaning the room he was now in (one of the sitting rooms) tried to get her hysterical friend to come out from behind a cupboard.
Thor strode into the hall that led to Loki's room with the intention of bringing his brother some food and stopped, accidently dropping the tray of food in shock at the sight before him.
The hall was half-frozen and half-burnt, had knives embedded into one wall and a giant hole in another that led to a trashed looking sitting room, which contained a flock of servants, one of the councilmen, and Loki, who was being held by three different guards.
"Odin's beard..." Thor said, tongue tied as he walked through the hole in the wall.
Several pairs of eyes snapped to him, and everyone began talking at once.
"My Prince, we don't know what happened-"
"And then it just exploded-"
"Tables flying everywhere, ice storms in the hall-"
"Disappeared like smoke and-"
"Couldn't find where she had gone-"
"Asking what happened but he keeps-"
"Such a stream of-"
"Would've contacted the Allfather but-"
"Never heard in my days."
Thor hesitated, having hardly caught any of that. "... What?" He asked simply.
"They said," Loki started, looking exhausted and upset but still fighting against the hold of the guards. "That they didn't know what happened, and the maids were just cleaning when suddenly the wall-"
"It's alright, Loki," Thor said, holding up his hands to stop him. "You don't have to continue."
Loki rolled his eyes at him like 'you think I have a choice'. He looked far worse then he had when Thor left him. His face was covered in soot, his lip was split, he had dents in his armor, a cut on his forehead, and shards of wood stuck in his hair.
"Let him go," Thor snapped at the guards. "Can't you see he's injured?"
Loki opened his mouth, but no sound came out so Thor guessed he'd been about to say he was fine. The guards let him go and Thor had to dart forward quickly and catch him before he hit the floor.
"Let me go," Loki spat at him, trying to pull away weakly.
"What happened?" Thor asked without thinking, looking over Loki's injuries.
"The Enchantress paid me a visit and we got in a little spat," Loki hissed angrily. "Good thing I had this lovely new truth spell, isn't it? Why would she kill me as long as she needed information?"
"What?" Thor said again.
"I said that the Enchantress paid me a visit," Loki shouted, managing to pull away. "And she placed a spell on me that I couldn't fight because my reserves were low and interrogated me while I could do nothing but answer her!"
"But..." Thor hesitated, furrowing his eyebrows. "But, Father said that she was trustworthy."
"Fa... Odin was wrong," Loki snapped.
"If she wasn't trustworthy, why would Father let her perform the spell against you?" Thor asked, aghast. Loki scoffed.
"He must've gotten the most powerful mage he could, never mind the risk involved," He said bitterly. "I'm the greatest sorcerer of my time. Anyone else, and he would not be certain I wouldn't break their spell like a twig. He needed me desperate and contained and if the Enchantress went after me, then so be it. Everything for the kingdom, right?"
Thor was shocked and upset by Loki's words, but all he could manage to get out was "Are - Are you alright?"
"No!" Loki said, and suddenly he was blinking back tears. "No, of course I'm not alright! How could I be alright?!"
Thor tried to reach for him, to comfort him, but Loki turned away from him, taking deep calming breaths.
"I-I..." Thor stuttered uncertainly to Loki's back. A guard came up to him, casting Loki a suspicious glance.
"My Prince," He said with a bow. "The Enchantress Amora was here, and seemed to have very ill intentions. She disappeared before we had to chance to apprehend her and none of us are so skilled in magic that we could follow her."
"Why not let Loki follow her?" Thor asked.
"Well you see, my Prince," The guard said, clearing his throat awkwardly. "We were not sure if the Allfather would allow it. And..."
"Speak your mind, guard," Thor said, annoyed. "I have no patience for your hesitancy."
"I am not well versed in magic," The guard said uncomfortably. "And know little of such things, but I know that physically, the Prince is not well. And if his health is suffering, then surely his magic must be as well. I did not want to risk his majesty's life by sending him, exhausted, to face a threat."
Thor blinked at him, surprised by his kindness, as it was fairly obvious the guard did not trust Loki.
"Thank you for your consideration," Thor said for Loki, who was still turned away. "In that light, my brother needs to see a healer and-"
"And nothing, Thor," Loki said, turning back to the conversation. He didn't seem as angry or upset as he had been before, just tired. "Even if I do need medical attention, I am not accepting it. I will heal."
"But Loki," Thor started. "You are unwell."
"I know that, you idiot," Loki snarled. "But I don't care. I am exhausted and I'm going to bed. If you could be so kind as to leave me be."
With that, he stormed away angrily, walking through the hole in the wall and through his depleted wooden door.
A guard started forward, but Thor held out a hand to stop him.
"Let him rest," He said.
"Prince," The councilman who had been in the room said as he walked toward Thor, frowning in disapproval. "You have no obligations towards that traitor. If you ask me, he has no place here. I am surprised he was not sentenced to death."
"Hold your tongue," Thor said angrily, shocked. "He is still a prince of Asgard!"
"With all due respect Sire," The councilman said with a thin smile. "Loki is a prince of Asgard no more. He himself disclaims the title and frankly, we are all taken aback by his light punishment. Many of us in the council believe him deserving of death. He has a place amongst us no longer."
"You should be hung for such words," Thor told him, trying to contain his anger. "Loki is a son of Odin and my brother and you will treat him as such or I will teach you to heed my words."
"A son of Odin?" The councilman repeated. He leaned forward conspiratorially. "The Frost Giant runt?"
Instead of bothering to answer him, Thor made good on his threats. He summoned Mjonir to him and hit the surprised councilman on the head. The weak man instantly crumbled and the occupants of the room drew in a collective breath.
"Anyone else?" Thor demanded through gritted teeth, Mjonir still in hand.
The guards all shook their heads and the maids only offered squeaks. One of them fainted.
"Good," Thor said. "Clean up this mess. I must have words with my father."
There you guys go and I hope you enjoyed it. My apologies once again for the late date. I'm not sure when I'm going to get the next chapter up, because I haven't written anything for it yet. But here's hoping, huh?
Oh, and side note: I had someone ask if this story would be BlackFrost. Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't actually have much romance planned other then a little bit of Pepperony (I love it when they talk over each other) and the one-sided obsessive romance that Amora invented in her head with her and Thor. Kind of sad if you ask me.
OH! And another side note: I actually have a really hard time writing for Odin. I don't think he's evil or overly selfish or anything, but I know that sometimes he's not the best dad ('No, Loki?' Was that really all he could say?!). But I'm trying to write both sides of it, and Thor loves and trusts his father while Loki also loves him but tries not to and is inclined to be skeptic about everything he says, so I'm trying to portray that. You guys will see more of him in the next chapter, and I'm hoping to put Frigga in as well, but maybe not. I don't know, but you'll find out in the next chapter. So follow the story. Favorite it. Review. And then... Watch those updates!
