Chapter Three: Compromise

"More often there is a compromise between ethics and expediency."

-Peter Singer

Loki's entire body tensed and his first thought was to shove the human off of him – but the warmth of her embrace wasn't entirely unwelcome after the news of his mother. Besides, if he wanted her to allow him to remove a piece of the Aether then he couldn't treat her harshly. He let his body relax after the initial surprise, and slight distaste inspired by her gesture of pity. Instead of pushing her to the side he set an arm around her lightly and put his head on hers – it was probably more intimate than she ever intended but if he wasn't going to reject her offer then he might as well embrace it. It was probably the last honest comfort anyone would ever offer now that mother had been murdered.

"Ow." Her complaint made him realize he'd tightened his grip at the thought and he released her waist. Malakith would pay...Loki would make sure of that himself...how fitting if he was to be unmade with the very weapon he sought. Jane was quiet, she still didn't have much she could say – far as she was concerned the death was her fault – and she knew asking 'are you okay?' was the dumbest question possible.

Instead she found herself staring at the unkempt god of mischief. He looked so different now compared to when he was trying to stand over New York. It was difficult to believe this was the same Asgardian that had tried to become the earth's overlord. He was scanning her in return and that made her nervous – he could read people better than she realized and she glanced away again – fearful he would figure out that she was involved with Frigga's death. The silence was excruciating – that was until her stomach growled loudly and despite her claim she wasn't hungry earlier her body was going to disagree in the most embarrassing way possible.

"Really, right now?" She thought at her belly in frustration.

"There should still be some fruit that survived the blast in the bowl, if you are hungry." Loki commented as he watched her glance away in embarrassment. From a lion to a mouse in a matter of moments – no wonder Thor approved. His finger traced her arm, interested in the aether curled close to the surface of her skin at his touch. It was beautiful; the crimson energy that sparkled within her veins.

"The Aether..." Jane blinked, as if she'd forgotten a moment she had an eternal parasite within her. "Why didn't it react to you? It's forced everyone else away."

"Everyone but Thor." Loki grinned. "Perhaps you feel attracted to me as well so it simply doesn't lash out."

"Yeah, no." Jane replied in an immediate refusal. He might have been insulted if it wasn't amusing. "It probably just thinks you are a kindred spirit."

"How quickly your grace becomes grievance. I am familiar with the infinity stones Jane Foster – that is why it does not attack me." Loki replied, it seemed a fair enough excuse since she already knew of his work with the Tesseract.

"What's an infinity stone?" Jane asked, moving to look for something salvageable to eat while she spoke with Loki. He'd been right that some grapes survived under one of the bowls – better than starving...she popped one into her mouth.

"They are artifacts older than time – or so the story goes. To say the least they are ancient given their origin is unknown even to the Asgardian's. They are sources of incredible power, as I imagine you've seen some small portion in your television." Loki replied, the explanation was far from something that many in the palace weren't already aware of. His personal knowledge of the artifacts went far deeper thanks to his time beyond the void of space.

"Great...I have some prehistoric virus..." Jane remarked, unhappy with everything she'd been told so far. "Why is Odin keeping me here exactly? Wouldn't it be safer not to hold me on Asgard? Where Malakith will return for it."

"Revenge would be my best guess – I suppose we were bound to agree on something eventually." Loki remarked. Not that he ever liked agreeing with Odin but if this elf was responsible for mother's death then he backed seeing the dark elf drown choking on his own blood. "As for you...being a mortal I can't imagine the Aether will take long to eat through your energy – you already look very pale."

"I'm usually pretty fair skinned." Jane answered, hoping that it was just because he didn't know her. The idea that this supernatural tic planned to drain her to death was far from comfortable. She had felt a little more reassured that Thor wanted to help her but that plan was now out the window. Trapped in a cell in a prison on a world so far from her own she couldn't begin to know the distance didn't help her nerves – perhaps she was dead and just hadn't gotten there yet. It certainly felt like the clock was winding down. "I dunno. Minutes to midnight."

"Midnight?" Loki perked a brow. "Are you waxing poetic?"

"No...well, not exactly. It's a concept about world destruction – midnight is when the world will implode and there are only minutes left in the cosmic scale before it happens." Jane rushed through the explanation, shrugging after she did. "It's not really the best reference. You know about these stones, and this thing inside of me is one of them?"

"Yes." Loki nodded at her. "But I could get it free of your skin."

"What?" Jane glanced back up to Loki from where she'd inspecting which grapes she'd risk eating, her eyes surprised. "What do you mean, Odin said they didn't know how to get it out of me."

"Odin wouldn't, but then he has never spent time in the void of space." Loki retorted with a small shrug. "I couldn't do it here regardless, it would take supplies from my mother's personal collection and we won't get those here."

"But if you could get it out you could talk to the guards, maybe they would let you free long enough to control the Aether." Jane spouted the words hopefully, innocent to just how harsh the all-father could be.

"Think carefully about that. Do you think they'd risk letting me out, more or less me possibly taking control of the Aether? You are nothing to them, the life of a mortal is a passing breeze." Loki commented, setting his arm across where one of his legs was bent. He'd destroyed most of the places to sit so he may as well get comfortable on the ground. "It's ironic though isn't it? Stuck in a cell with the one creature on Asgard that could help you but just beyond the means to do so."

"Why would you want to help me anyway?" Caution took hold once the woman had time to consider the 'too good to be true' scenario of getting help. "What would you get out of it?"

"Well, the Aether would have to be controlled, a method of channeling it without becoming it's host would be needed. I'm not volunteering to replace you as it's walking meal." Loki put it out there, little reason to sugar coat with the limited time he had to work with. He wasn't going to convince her to trust him in so short a time but she might want to survive despite possible consequences. "Once I manage to get it into such a form I will use it to unmake Malakith."

"You speak like we're gonna do it right now, we're stuck in a cell – besides I don't think it'd be a good idea to give you anything like that. You'd probably use it to destroy Asgard." Jane remarked bluntly. With how quickly he seemed to get over his rage about his mother she'd been swift for forget her guilt as well.

"For a woman so quick to judge, you know incredibly little. I imagine only whatever sparse remarks you shared with the brute that calls himself my brother." Loki retorted. "Why on earth would I destroy Asgard when I wish to be it's king?"

"Uh, you killed a bunch of people on earth. You said you wanted to rule there as well." Jane's lips were canted downward. The idea of this destructive force in the hands of Loki didn't sit too well with her...it felt a little like a 'into the fire' scenario.

"A few deaths will likely be needed. Such decisions are made by rulers all the time. Even your country's president kills when the demand arises." Loki waved a hand as if it were nothing of importance. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

"Is that what you were trying to show those poor people in Germany?" Jane asked, feeling a little braver since she knew Loki couldn't kill her without signing his own death warrant. "Seems to me, you're a little boy looking to play at king while you don't understand it at all. A tyrant is different than a king."

His expression darkened, there was a dangerous glint to the rich pine of his gaze that made Jane second guess how wise it was to name call. Then a coy smile lit his face instead of the harsher actions or words she began to suspect would follow.

"A pity you couldn't teach Odin such a difference...the way your world sees ruler ship as opposed to Asgard are by and large distant concepts." Loki stated, calm despite his moment of unrest. "Regardless, we will need to escape here to find the proper materials with which to construct a vessel."

"You want to escape the dungeon?" Jane blinked a few times at him. "Why, er how, no actually – yeah let's stick with why haven't you already done it then?"

"I had my reasons until now to bide my time." Loki offered up the mostly non-answer with a shrug. "It remains on you. I cannot shield you with magic if you do not listen to what I say. Any chance of us vacating this cell – even for a short time – comes with a commitment from you to do as you are told. Something I would presume you are unaccustomed to."

Jane stared back at him, mulling over the condition. That could really come back to bite her, wasn't he supposed to be a master manipulator? She couldn't just agree outright – but it was difficult to refuse him as well. In the end she had a limited time-line for as long as this Aether was shimmering away in her skin like a malevolent Christmas parasite.

"No killing anybody." Jane remarked. She had to at least make that known. She wasn't willing to watch anyone else die so she could survive. Or at least no innocent people... "Okay, well anyone that isn't a dark elf."

"An acceptable compromise." The smile on his face didn't make her anymore comfortable. "Are you then willing to listen to me without questioning every command?"

Jane swallowed and set her jaw before she nodded to him.

"I am."

What was she getting herself into?

End Chapter

Yay I got some time to write. I has plans for the next chapter but just depends on when I get the free moments to work it out. Halloween has been busy this year. I learned to make an awesome double layered orange fudge – it's tasty!

-Aura

To my reviewers:

Thanks for all the kind words. I'm glad people seem to be enjoying my new story!