Chapter 2.

"Looks like the party is over." I said to Loki as we walked back to my rooms, and it really did. There were people sitting in chairs, nursing hangovers of varying severity and some and some people were still asleep where they collapsed last night. One Guard looked really green around the gills as we passed, Loki watched me patiently as I used a bit of my powers to help him feel better as he swayed on his feet. I touched his shaky hand gently, and he smiled gratefully down at me in thanks. I gave him a kind smile and carefully straightened his helmet as I ignored Loki rolling his eyes.

Everyone knew who I was, and I had their respect with the exception of a few people who disapproved of me in general. My birth on Earth, causes them a few problems and I cling to my roots a bit too much at times. Not really a bad thing, sometimes it is nice to hold on to your roots. Human beings crave the familiar, and some habits died hard. Especially the bad habits, as in I am pretty much a dirty mouth with feet who will stand up to anyone who messes with me. But a few of the cooler people here found me likable for the most part, and for the first time in my life I had friends, and they were the ones whose opinions really mattered to me.

I let Loki take my hand and guide me away and we walked together as he looked down at me, his usual public mask hiding the Loki I got in private and I sighed a bit at him. People often asked me how I could stand to be looked down on, and I would laugh at them for their not knowing the guy I got. Hell, when I first met him, I found him creepy as fuck and wanted nothing to do with him myself.

Funny how some people grow on you.

"You were too kind to him." He said as we walked. "Someone should have flogged him for his dereliction."

"He is already sick, why make it worse? Offer succor to those in need, and punish the real crimes out there." I said and smiled up at him, as we walked and I saw him look down at me in curiosity.

"And that means Little Mouse?" He said stopping and looking at me carefully, not quite challenging me but pushing at my belief system as we stood in the hall.

"You know the path I chose, I will not hurt anyone ever again with my powers. You know that I chose to use my gifts to aid." I said and shook my head sadly thinking about the fight on the beach on Oregon again.

"Blood leaves and indelible stain on your soul that may fade, but will never wash away. Never." I finished and he sighed down at me, but still smiled and it made me feel a bit better about lecturing him in the public halls. He knew the guilt that was in me for killing that man, no matter how bad the torturous acts he subjected to got, he was still a living thing. And the death that I caused haunted me still, I may be tough and armor plated but I was still a person down deep.

"I respect that." He said and looked down the hall as a man in a black cloak rounded the corner. He averted his eyes as he passed me politely and I felt utterly naked in the halls, I may be wearing a shift and a robe but I was still a bit too exposed for women around here. He probably figured I was taking the walk of shame after partying too hard myself.

"Please know Little Mouse, there may come a time that you will have no choice but to break your vow. You will be faced with dangers again that may only result in a death, and I would much rather it not be yours." He said, his eyes rimmed in red, I knew he was thinking of how I had died on the same beach and I looked down. Unable to face remembering the story of how he screamed at Clint Barton to keep trying to restart my heart. Part of me knew he was so very right though, I would face someone again, and I would have to kill them to save myself or someone I cared about. I hid my thoughts and sadness at the idea, and hoped I would never have to test the choice I made.

He placed a hand on my back and we started walking again, walking around the corner in the hall and I ended up tripping over the Norse God of Horrible Hangovers. His arm spread out over my head as I stubbed my toe on his bicep and went sprawling. I went down on one knee and swore a bit, and stood back up, using Loki for stability and rubbing my knee. Thor mumbled something completely incoherent into the floor as Loki rolled his eyes at his adopted brother and looked at me kneeling and checking my foot and knee, Thor mumbled into the floor again and I giggled a bit.

"This should be good." I said to Loki and looked down at Thor who groaned and mumbled something else into the floor and we both looked at each other as we tried to decipher what he said.

"I think that was something involving a foot, cheese, a book, and a goat?" Loki said and I shrugged.

"I would like to buy a vowel." I joked down at the back of Thor's head and Loki laughed as behind us Fandral walked up and stopped short as he looked at me. He glared briefly at Loki in his leather pants and green tunic, a brown vest over his clothes and me in my shift and robe. Wrapped in a blanket and looking like I was disheveled from the night before. I groaned at what was coming, because Fandral was a horrible flirt and he did not really care if the woman was interested or not. He was lucky I counted him among my friends though, otherwise I would have really let him have it. Loki on the other hands hated when Fandral flirted with me, and did not hide is jealousy when it happened.

"Good morning Lady Lilliana, you look lovely in this light." Fandral said and groaned, turning green a bit himself as he rubbed his head and braced himself against the wall. I was a bit worried about him, that flirt was only half of what charm he usually used.

"We found Thor." I said and pointed down at the heap of blonde hair and muscles, Thor lifted his hand and gave a weak wave with his wrist still on the floor. Loki looked down somewhat amused with his adopted brother's suffering, and I glared up at him and watched as Fandral slowly slid down to the floor with his back against the wall. He sank to a sitting position on the floor and patted a leg that he assumed was Thor's.

"Thor, dear friend, you have to go to Midgard today." Fandral said and I looked pityingly at Thor as he groaned and covered the back of his head with a massive hand, I felt bad for the big guy.

"If you do go, say hello to everyone for me big guy." I said and he gave me a thumbs up with the hand on the back of his head and mumbled something else into the floor.

"We have to be the intelligent ones in this castle." Loki grumbled and I laughed as I put a blanket over Fandral and Thor as they both returned to their respective painful post party comas. I carefully stepped around the both of them and Thor patted the top of my foot in thanks. He then pulled the blanket over his face to keep his eyes out of the sun as he moaned in pain. Fandral rested his head against a large flower pot and groaned in pain as the sun hit his face and he threw an arm over his eyes to block out the light.

"Poor babies." I said and Loki looked amused. I lifted the blanket and a bit of Thor's hair and he opened one eye at me and squeezed it shut painfully. I smiled at the two of them and threw another blanket over Fandral's head as I stood up and he gave a mumbled thanks for the assistance at keeping the evil sun at bay. I sighed in exasperation at the both of them and rolled my eyes, I debated for about five seconds using my gift to heal them. But their suffering needed to be a lesson.

Loki guided me and we walked on to my rooms and he opened the door for me, my rooms were not as cluttered as Loki's and so much more open. My bed was neatly made and the whole room was dominated by pastels and gold painted wood. A set of large double doors opened onto a private balcony, and the gentle breeze through them carried the scent of jasmine.

I had brought some things from Earth when I visited, and the rest Thor brought back from a list I gave him every time he met with our friends there. Tony Stark sent things for me as well, like the newest fun gadgets with Stark Industries Tech that never needed charging, which was not a bad thing considering that I never could find an adapter for the complete lack of outlets here.

Seriously Asgard, up your Tech Game. And get a Starbucks, get two. Starbucks is pretty awesome.

One Trip back yielded several art prints of Van Gogh's famous paintings that I framed and hung on the walls, and I had a collection of books that I shoved onto chairs, while my room was not cluttered, it was chaotic but no one complained...yet. I did ask Odin if he could have someone build me a cabinet for the books, but one had not been made as of yet.

Aimee appeared looking tired, but still pretty with her mouse brown hair and soft brown eyes, she had become a good friend over the last two years and I looked at her as more than just my Chambermaid. She swayed a bit and she rubbed her face gently as I looked at her concerned, but she still tried to perform her duties as assigned. She leaned against the post of the bed and sighed as she tried not to spill the tray of food she carried, setting it down by some miracle on the table next to the couches and sighed.

"Aimee, are you sick?" I asked her as she sat down on the couch and I walked over and took her hand as I sat down next to her. She smiled at me and looked sad at making me concerned about her, but I would always worry about my friends though.

"No Lady," She said and groaned a bit as I squeezed her hand and gave her a look that told her I knew she was lying to me.

"Perhaps a bit." She added and looked down shamefully, and I smiled at her and put my hand up to her face, using a bit of my powers to help her to feel better, and she instantly perked up under my touch. Her eyes regained their sparkle, and she sighed at me and looked ashamed again, I held her hand and hugged her to show I was not upset.

"Next time, don't celebrate so hard." I said to her and Loki gave a derisive snort, I sighed at him and gave him a look as he jutted his chin up in his usual way and I rolled my eyes at him. He stood quietly as he watched us both converse, his hands behind his back and I knew that with Aimee present, he would keep his mask up.

She stood up and gave him a small bow, and I nearly told her not to but decided against it. Loki was raised under the expectations of a Prince, but had been stripped of his title for some time thanks to a little event on Earth and an alien invasion. He claimed to be relatively at peace with his title now, but I could sometimes see he wanted more and it scared me at times to think about what would happen if I had to stand between him and his goals.

Aimee walked behind the screen to prepare my bath as I put my phone in the dock for the speakers on the desk I was given as a gift from Odin a few months ago after selecting Runaway by The National, Loki sat down on the couch and looked at the collection of prisms that hung from one window over my growing collection of Glassybaby candle holders. I had amassed so many in the multitude of shades and colors, that I had a rainbow of my own in each window sill. They were nice and the light from the rising sun shone through them and gave them an inner glow that really made everything look more cheery.

"She would have loved those vessels." Loki said and pointed at the glass containers, talking about Frigga, his dead adopted mother and smiled sadly thinking about her. He showed me a statue of her once, and I remember telling him that I thought she was so very beautiful, with kind eyes and a smile that only a mother could ever achieve. He approved of my assessment of her, and told me stories about how she could make you feel like the most important person in the universe by just waving at you. I smiled back at him as I turned and he looked at me, and pointed up to my eyes to remind me that the shimmer was back silently.

I blinked and it cleared away. He knew I hated it, but he loved it, or so he said he did. Sometimes I wondered if he loved the power that was in me more, sometimes the thought of asking for the answer to my curiosity scared me more.

"I would have given them all to her if she wanted them." I said and he smiled at me as I walked behind the screen for my bath, and to get dressed for the day.

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Leonie Ezora Mentoumbu had grown up quite a bit since leaving Haiti, becoming a strong young woman of her own rights. She was young by the standards of her beliefs to become a Bokor in the practice of Voudou, but she was in no means a novice in the art. She was a woman of great power, and devoted the last few years to strict study, learning everything she could in the art of both Light and Dark Magicks, and held no fear of any person as her thick curls trailed down to her shoulders in the sticky New Orleans heat. Her loose fitting dress covered a well toned body, that she kept in perfect condition through discipline and training. In her brown messenger bag, she carried a book that never left her side, along with several empty jars and a poppet filled with Goofer Dust. But none of it weighed her down as she walked lightly on the sidewalk the heels of her low shoes clicking on the pavement.

Papa Legba was good to her, and had lead her so very kindly to her next target. Her smile was sly and she paid close attention to the details of the person she followed as the Loa guided her along. The man she followed along the street did not seem like anything important, he was young and his spirit was strong, but for some reason the Loa had deemed him important enough for her to meet her goals. She needed certain types of souls, and their common link was hidden even to her.

The Loa saw him though, and the ghosts of New Orleans turned their heads to look at the man as they both walked the sultry streets. His soul was a beacon to the ghosts, and they flocked to him for its warmth. He was completely unaware how important he was to the woman who followed him as he glanced down at his phone, his distracted mind somewhere far away.

She needed his blood, and his soul to fill the Ouanga she had carefully made weeks before.

It was the only way she would possess the Sword of the Dargumiin, the only way she could change the world and take it back from evil men.

They both turned a corner and walked past an open doorway leading down into the basement of a building and she found her chance. She slipped the either soaked rag from her pocket and made her move quickly. She grabbed the man by the shoulders and pressed it over his nose and mouth, holding it tight and his breathing became panicked and ragged, soon it slowed and became calm as he lost consciousness, falling back against her his body sagging to the pavement.

The man groaned a bit when she kicked him to test if he was really unconscious, and he did not even shift as she lifted him by the shoulders and began pulling him toward the open door. She yanked him into the room, closing the door behind her and began working quickly. Using chalk to create her circle, dragging the man into the center of it and splashing his body in whiskey from a bottle. She raised the bottle to her lips, and spit it into the air to give a gift to the Loa, and smiled.

She tore the man's shirt open and used a long hat pin to attach the Ouanga over the center of his soul. The violence of the pin breaking through the two items caused the man to shift and moan and she pressed the rag over his nose and mouth again to ensure he did not try to escape her, forcing him deeper into black unconsciousness. Leonie then placed the jars at the cardinal directions, and opened them all. She pulled a drawstring bag up over her head and a knife. She began her chant and held her hands over her head, calling the soul of her sacrifice into the talisman in the center of his chest. He twitched and jerked about as the soul left his body and watched as he went still, indication that the soul was trapped in her small creation.

She pulled the Copperhead Snake out of the bag and held it up over her head as she decapitated it with her knife, letting the blood drip down over the prone man, and placed the poppet at his feet. Raising her hands again to call the Loa to her to fill the jars with his blood. A wind filled the room and she called louder for his blood to be hers.

Her pale blue eyes sparkled in her success and the man died slowly, the jars filling and she smiled in the dark room. The man died, shuddering and shaking against the floor as the whiskey and snake blood evaporated into a mist around him.

She broke her circle, and collected her jars, putting the snake into the bag to be dropped into a river later. She tightened the lids on the jars, and put them into her bag. The Ouanga was put into a velvet pouch with thirteen others and she left quickly through the door and out onto the streets to vanish into the night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sarah Baker found the body, the 72 year old retiree was looking for her damn cat. He had gone out, and she wanted him back in before she went to bed for the night. She heard a meow from the doorway and walked through to find her cat playing with a strange looking doll on the floor, she weak flashlight pinning the pet with the beam as she walked into the basement laundry room.

"Baxter, you silly cat, what do you have there hun?" She said as her hand found the light switch and flipped the light on and blinked down at the corpse, her scream getting choked in her throat as she stood shaking in the room.

She screamed louder and louder until someone on the street walking by heard her and ran toward her. Her eyes fixed as she clutched her chest, the cat on he lap as she cried out for help in her shock.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Black SUVs lined the streets in front of the tenement house, and people were gathered on the other side of the yellow tape that blocked off the street around the entrance to the building. They stretched and craned their necks as Nick Fury got out of one of the cars to walk through the humid morning, an elderly woman was sitting in the back of an ambulance clutching her cat and crying. Shock having set in long ago and giving way to sadness and grief.

It was going to be a long damn day.

"Victims name is Robert Paulsen, medical student." Coulson filled him in as he walked. "No one can figure out the how he was killed, but a clue has been left."

His long time friend and subordinate took in a deep breath as he pointed down at the doll resting near the dead man's feet as they both walked through the door and into the laundry area of the building, soon kids would be using this place to tell ghost stories, scaring each other as they talked about the man who was murdered in the building. All the facts would be biased on rumor and shared guesses. Stories about the guy killed in a drug hit, they never found the bags of heroin he carried but the place still smells of gunfire if you breathe in just the right ways.

Today, it was a crime scene, and would remain such until he deemed all evidence collected.

Coulson walked off and Fury looked down at the bloodless corpse and then glared at the Agent who nervously tried to lift the doll to put it into a bag. As he looked at the doll his arm hairs raised in an involuntary reaction as it was photographed, he got a sick feeling in his stomach. His mind tuning into the nagging suspicion Tony put there a day ago, getting a secondary feeling he was looking at the wrong suspects as he turned and walked back onto the street for fresh air.

He tightened his jaw and took out his cell, scrolling through his contacts and called Tony Stark. The sardonic voice of his friend started droning into his ear and he took in a breath to keep his cool.

"This is the voicemail of..."

"Fourteen Stark, cut the shit." Fury said and there was a pause for a moment as he waited for the man to react.

"Same M.O?" Tony asked, sounding interested.

"Yes, are you still seeing Thor today?" Fury asked and Tony laughed a bit at something he found funny.

"Yeah, he just arrived and he is hung over, you should see him. Somebody got hammered last night, and not by his primary weapon of choice." Tony laughed again and Fury took in a breath as he tried again to not loose his calm.

"I really don't care if he is dying on the floor. Tell him that we need to see his brother, and his little student here ASAP." Fury growled and ground his teeth at the thought of even asking Loki for help with this case, and his blood pressure skyrocketed at the thought of him being back on the planet but he needed insight. He hoped he was not making a mistake.

"Yay, Hogworts needs to send Slytherin back," Tony said into the phone heavy on the sarcasm. "Did you wake up in a weird mood or something today?"

Fury looked back at the door and the agent handed him the doll, now sealed in an evidence bag, and regarded it with disgust. His hand tightened over it and he scowled down at the horrible thing in his hand as if it were something very dirty, his mind not completely understanding why he hated it so much. He dropped it into a box as every item was recorded in case it was something that could be used later and memory cards were removed from cameras and sealed into envelopes and he tried his best to ignore the coroner as they walked by with an empty gurney, a body bag neatly folded on it to perform it's grim task.

"Let me put it this way, and feel free to stop me if you don't understand anything of my next statement Stark. This case frightens me, and I have the distinct feeling that all of us may be way over our heads on this one. As much as I abhor the idea of bringing Loki and this girl back to Earth, I am willing to take a calculated risk with the two of them. So have them return if Thor has to drag them both back kicking and screaming." He said and tightened his hand around the phone, hearing the plastic creak in protest as he spoke.

"And we get to be assigned as babysitters, Bruce and I really love our jobs some days." Tony replied.

"Not just you and Bruce, Steve Rogers will be in on this as well." Fury said as the coroners walked back by with the now full gurney, loading the corpse into the back of the van and closing the doors.

"Great the boy band is getting back together." Tony replied and Fury took in a breath, fighting the urge to swear.

"Yes it is, and be sure you cut them a very sweet deal for their cooperation. Use the girl as leverage if you have to, she may be the key to controlling the universe's biggest asshole. Make sure you inform them of my terms, and ensure you use small words, we don't want any confusion." Fury said, and turned in irritation as a young agent retched into a garbage can in the alley behind him, coughing and arching his back as he bent over.

"What are the terms of this deal exactly?" Tony asked and paused, his voiced laced with concern.

"Our exact deal is that we purge her juvenile record, everything. And we allow her to continue to enjoy her freedom. Throw in his record as well if he chooses to cooperate, I am sure the girl gets homesick from time to time." Fury said and glared at the agent again for loosing his professional calm.

"You have read that record right? When she was twelve, she hacked into the Pentagon and inserted a virus that nearly exposed every nuclear launch code in existence. She claimed in court she did it because she needed help and faster servers to complete her schoolwork. I am amazed that the feds even allowed her near a land line telephone after that." Tony replied and laughed sardonically. "She is a genius, but having her back here is also a very bad idea thanks to what she is. Every time she sets foot outside of Asgard, she rings the cosmic dinner bell for any race that wants to take her and use her."

"My deal stands, if she succeeds, we purge everything. And we put him on probation, house arrest if you will." Fury said and watched the Agent straighten up from his vomiting, smoothing his tie.

"And if they fail?" Tony asked.

"She goes to the deepest, darkest hole in a super max prison and never sees the light of day for eternity for aiding and abetting a known terrorist. Her record alone will help me to convince any judge to keep her in solitary confinement." Fury replied and Tony laughed into his receiver.

"You forget what she can do, she will just escape and jump planet again."

"Not if the little bitch is a vegetable in a medically induced coma." Fury said and disconnected the phone angrily, glaring at the young Agent again for loosing his cool.

Fury looked up at the sky, and then back down at the doll in the box, his skin crawled at the thing but he resisted cringing as Coulson walked up with another evidence bag. He held up the sealed piece of gauze and showed him the red to pink stains on the carefully collected sample of blood.

"We found blood, our killer is getting sloppy." He said, smiling as he bent to put it in the box, he covered the doll with the bag and stood back up with his report.

"We will have the lab run it for every possible trace of DNA, the boys are going to love everything we bring them. Stark going to inform Thor?"

"He is," Fury responded as another agent sealed the box with row after row of bright red strapping tape, probably using more than what was needed, his phone alerted him to an incoming email, and he glanced down at the sender and put the Samsung into his pocket as both men stared at the idling Coroner's Van. It pulled away, and Fury knew that their day was not over either. They would be making phone calls to the next of kin, scrambling to find local grief councilors, and offering kind words in the families time of loss.

A tableau that played out time and time again as humanity fell further and further apart around them and the age of compassion ended violently.

"Is this really a good idea?" Coulson asked and opened the door of an SUV for Fury. "This seems like we are using more radiation to put out a reactor fire."

Fury sat down in the drivers seat of his vehicle and sighed, looking at his old friend he placed a hand on the man's shoulder and stopped to think about what he was about to do. Threaten a young woman to get some semblance of control over a known terrorist seemed like a bad idea at best, but he was quickly running out of options. And the before mentioned reactor fire needed to be put out before it spread.

"It seems Agent Coulson, that we may have no other choice here." Fury replied as he closed his vehicle door and drove away. As he drove, Fury sighed and brought up his personal Heads Up Display, he used the on board computer to call the intern he had just hired with the hopes of making her a full fledged Agent one day. She face popped up on the windshield, and she looked grim.

"I received an anonymous email concerning the case, it is disturbing." She said and a copy of the video appeared on the windshield, making him slam on the brakes in the middle of the road as he watched in horror as what he hoped to be an elaborate hoax played out in front of him. A car behind him leaned on the horn and drove around him and he ignored the driver flipping him the bird in anger.

"This cannot be happening." He said and looked at it.

"All the other information received in the other files show this to be legitimate Sir." She said and looked pale as he watched. "The situation has escalated, we may need more hands on deck for his."

"Forward everything to me, I will be in touch." He said and closed the video, he sighed and shook as he gripped the steering wheel with both hands.

It was going to be a series of very long days.

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The horse was pounding fill tilt through the field, kicking up grass and dirt in its wake as I rode forward. My pursuer on my heels as I leaned close to the animal, my thighs gripping down on it as I glanced over my shoulder and gritted my teeth. I pushed Aertimis on, and she galloped as if every demon of the wilds were on her scent, the tail of my mauve silk riding coat flaring behind me. I dug my heels into her again and the flared sleeves of the coat fluttered gracefully as we splashed through a stream, running toward the edge of some woods. I urged the horse on as I heard the second rider gaining on me and I focused ahead, my gloved hands tightening on the reins as I rode forward.

Aimee, in her usual style, insisted on braiding my long hair and twisting it into and elaborate bun at the base of my skull, and I tolerated it this morning as I sat in front of my vanity. She pinned everything back using a filigree comb with elaborate scroll work, and I was grateful for the style now. My pursuer was getting closer, and my hair was not in my face, getting in my way as I shouted at the horse to run faster.

I heard the other rider hot on my tail, inching closer and could hear him urging the horse on. I gave Aertimis another kick and the chestnut mare ran ahead faster. I gained some distance between myself and my pursuer, reaching the boundary of the woods first and cheered as I slowed the horse to a trot. My arms were in up in the air as I laughed and I let the horse came to a complete stop to rest from the exertion. My heart was hammering in my chest as I turned to watch Loki arrive next to me, slowing his horse and pulling his own black horse around to bring it along side me. His eyes sparkled at me as I laughed at him, and teased him by sticking my tongue out at him.

"I win." I laughed out at him. "Pay up slow poke!"

He smiled at me, and gripped his reins in his hands, and looked at me with a touch of arrogance. He produced a coin in his gloved hand and held my hand out for it as he laughed and placed it in my palm, his fingers wrapping around my wrist quickly and pulled me close to him and pressed a kiss onto my lips, making me blush.

"In all fairness," He said as his fingers traced my jaw. "You horse carries a lighter burden."

I smiled and rested my hand over his, and he pulled back, his fingers whispering over my cheek and he looking at me as I recovered from the contact with an amused smile. I slipped the coin into my pouch and sat back as he looked at me, and I laughed at him as the sun caught on my face and made me blink. He looked up at the sky and then back at me, and I closed my eyes for a half second to protect myself from the glare when he leaned in for another kiss and I giggled again.

"Sneak." I scolded him and slapped at his arm ineffectively, he gave me a side long glance and leaned forward onto the horse as we let the poor animals rest.

"I do not think I will ever grow tired of that smile, and the way you blush." He said and I laughed openly, my brain turned to mush at the compliment and I turned in my saddle to face him.

"Good," I said, sitting up straight in my saddle and raising an eyebrow. "Because I am extremely territorial Magic Dance."

A yawn sneaked out of me suddenly and he looked at me as my eyes watered, I turned the horse so the sun was not in my eyes and irritating me and relieving my need to blink. I was getting tired, we spent the whole morning riding and I had not gotten much sleep over the last couple of days. We began riding back to the castle and I sighed openly, peeking over at him out of the corner of my eye and caught him looking at me and burst out laughing.

"Some may argue that you are the sly one Little Mouse, clever and always finding holes in a man's armor." He said to me and I remembered a time that it annoyed me to no end that he called me that, I literally had to fight myself to keep from punching him every time he opened his mouth. I thought he was picking on me for being short, turns out it was just a pet name that he claimed fit me. Now I knew better, whenever he used my given name, he was annoyed or angry with me. Otherwise it was Precious One, or Little Mouse, sometimes it was even other platitudes that I couldn't repeat in polite conversation.

I raised my eyebrows at him, smiling at his joke and gave him another swat on the arm.

"Any why would anyone say something like that?" I asked and he smiled as me as we found the well worn dirt road and turned down it to follow it back. I felt at ease out here, away from the constant gossip, and the giggles of the maids and courtiers that constantly followed me as I wandered the halls.

"I can think of at least a million reasons." Loki replied. I couldn't help but laugh at him and he looked over at me, his face becoming serious as we quietly rode along. He looked like he was struggling to say something to me, but couldn't find the right words to express what he wanted. I watched him and never pushed when he got like this. Whatever it was, he would figure it out later. I guess you could say our relationship was weird that way, but what relationship is normal after all?

Who doesn't have their own hangups as well?

Show me a person without hangups and I will call you a liar.

I put my hand over on his arm and he looked at me gratefully, I gave him my Mona Lisa smile and I knew that my eyes shimmered again in that moment because he looked ahead. I understood being emotionally constipated all too well, and sometimes I completely sucked at the touchy feeley stuff as well. I let my hand rest on his arm, and he sighed some and focused ahead on the road.

"Don't worry about it." I said and he put his hand over mine and smiled at me, his eyes finding mine and he grinned.

"Your eyes are doing it again." He said and I groaned in annoyance.

"I wish it would stop, it is getting really annoying, having violet eyes is weird enough." I said again and blinked to make it stop.

"It may fade with time." He said and pushed a low branch from a tree out of his way. "I rather like it, it makes you even more unique."

"Thanks, I will try to remember that when people are trying not to look at me because of it." I quipped out and I sighed at him in annoyance. My horse gave a grunt and I laughed as she snorted again under me.

"She agrees with me." Loki said and I laughed, thinking of something new to talk about.

"So, now that there is a treaty, when do I get to go to Jotunheim?" I asked and Loki snapped his head around to look at me in shock, pulling the reins from my hands and stopping both horses. He took in a deep breath and sat back on his horse and glared.

"Don't suggest or even make a joke of that," He said, waving a warning finger at me.

"Loki..." I started, but he cut me off.

"There are still dangers there I would never expose you to and you are very foolish to think such things." He said, putting the reins back into my hands and he sighed looking at my wide eyes and I looked back down at my hands. We started back on our way quietly and he must have seen me scratching nervously as the back of my hand, because he reached over and put his long fingered hand over mine to stop me.

"I am sorry my Little Mouse." He said softly and I turned my hands in his and smiled softly.

He knew about my father and how he mentally and physically abused me, blaming me for the death of my mother in childbirth. He knew how he would get drunk and pound me around for just being alive, and how my happiest memory of my entire childhood was of the month before my father died. He had stayed sober for an entire month, and the horrible fall from the wagon for him one Halloween night when dad crawled into a bottle and wrecked the car ejecting me into the night. He left me an orphan and unwanted by anyone, and I blamed myself further because of how I never could fully trust anyone after the way I was treated.

Fast forward several years, and you have Michael, the guy who introduced me to the world of running drugs. I ended up basically fearing for my life through those years not only from Michael, but my employer. But Michael made everything so much worse. He was just like my father, getting drunk and taking his anger on the world out on me. He got drunk one night and tried to rape me, lucky for me, he passed out before he could get my pants off. I left the next day and swore off men, until I met Loki, and he found a way into my personal Great Wall of China.

My whole life had been rejection or pain, and then I found acceptance.

I still have the been there, done that attitude...and the tattoo to prove it.

Yes I have a tattoo of a Cherokee Rose on my right hip, it was a wonderful starting point of discussion for everyone from Asgard who saw it two years ago on the streets of Seattle. And it reminded me to never wear a midriff top with low rise jeans ever again, otherwise I would be explaining it to everyone I crossed paths with in the future. Some people found it really odd here in Asgard, with the exception of Loki. He sort of accepted it as a part of me, and sometimes as we lay together in bed, he would trace his fingers over the black outline, fascinated by how the ink stood out from my pale skin.

"You are blushing." He said, pulling me out of my thoughts. I looked at him and he was giving me a sly smile, I blushed deeper and gave him a playful slap on the arm. He looked back at me, and shot me a look of warning and I ignored it.

"Don't stare at me and you won't see me blush." I said and he laughed as he looked at me and I laughed at him.

"I am enjoying the view." He quipped, rolling his eyes at me. "And if you were someone else, I would be annoyed with you for slapping at me."

"Remind me to be afraid later, right now I am way too tired to care." I said and laughed at him, knowing I had gotten his goat from the stern look he gave me.

"I would hate for you to insult the wrong person." He said and smiled again. "You do have the habit of being too free with your thoughts."

"You would find me boring Magic Dance." I said and he looked at me again in surprise of how I spoke, his eyes growing wide and I laughed.

"Possibly, but you would find another way to keep my interest. Women have that gift." He replied. I sighed as the road began to change from hard packed dirt to cobblestones, knowing that once again, we were nearing the city. Back to the castle where among the Asgardians who would stare and whisper, speculating about everything the two of us did, or did not do.

We made our way through the city and people, as expected, stopped and looked up at us and waved. I was still celebrated and everyone was enamored by me, I raised my hand politely and waved back to them. Loki stared straight ahead with his back stiff and straight, not giving any indication that he had noticed them at all. I was sad for him because he knew he had no favor here, despite Thor and I reporting his involvement in saving the West Coast of the United States and most of the Pacific Ring of Fire from the disaster of the century. But people were more judgmental here, Screw up once and you are a monster, despite saving millions of lives in the future.

I forgave his flaws however, and his sins. I hoped it was enough for him but I sometimes doubted that myself. I could just be the biggest idiot in the universe and most likely grasping at straws.

A blonde haired little girl ran up to me and stretched her chubby hands up and I smiled down at her, letting my fingers play with hers as I leaned over to pat her head. He father in his blacksmith's apron lifted her up so I could lean close to her and kiss her rosy cheek. The girl smiled at me and I used my powers to make her a little blue bird in my hand and she giggled and clapped her hands in delight as I made it sing for her and fly about. I allowed it to fly around the square, changing into a beautiful red and purple peacock that glided aground and landed, fanning out its tail in display and many people looked at the beautiful creature and sighed. The little girl smiled and waved to me as her father carried her back to his shop, I made the bird disappear and her little hands wrapped around his neck and her eyes sparkled at me.

"That child will remember that for a long time." Loki said coolly. "She was delighted by your kindness, and was touched by the Illenderial.

I smiled and waved to a group of children who were watching the bird in wonder and giggled loudly at it, one young girl pointed at us and whispered to her friend behind a cupped hand, the both of them blushing and giggling as we passed.

"Buddha teaches us that thousands of candles can be lit from the flame of a single candle, and that the life of the original candle will not be shortened from the sharing of the flame. Happiness and joy is never diminished by being shared openly." I said and Loki looked forward calmly as we came to the castle gates. I think he accepted my philosophies as being another part pf me, but sometimes I could never really tell what he was thinking, he was just so damn hard to read at times and it frustrated me.

"Is this why you share so much with me?" He asked me, making me smile as we passed under a high archway into the courtyard in front of the castle. I carefully swung my leg around and used my arms to lower myself from Aertimis as a guard brought over a stool for me to step down onto, not being part tree was a pain at times. I gave the pretty horse a scratch on her chin and she gently nuzzled my hand as I ran my gloved hand over her nose. She snorted at me as I handed the lead over to the Stable Boy, turning to see a Page appear in the doorway and sighed.

"Oh Hel." Loki said as the boy walked up and handed over his own lead, glancing apologetically at me and returning to the boy as I looked down.

"It's O.K. This treaty is important and you are needed. I am not going anywhere." I said and he looked back at me as I put my hand on his arm, he glared at the boy and I gave his arm a squeeze.

"I promised you the day. I will not break my word." Loki said through gritted teeth as the boy stood in front of him nervously, he looked at me and I smiled at him.

"The Allfather requires the presence of Lady Lilliana Rose and yourself sir, he is in the Council Chambers. It is very important that you both come." The Paige said and Loki looked at me surprised as the boy stood by waiting for my response. I took a patient breath and shook my head in confusion.

"Why me?" I asked the boy and he looked at me, his blonde, curly hair ruffling in the breeze as he carefully chose his words. It was evident he did not want to offend either of us, and that he was nervous of Loki.

"I do not know the reason for this request Lady, I was only tasked with finding you both." The boy replied and glanced at the both of us as we stood in the yard.

"Thank you, please tell him we will be there soon." I said and the boy bowed to me politely, hurrying off at a good pace as we both watched him vanish through the doors. I looked nervously at Loki and reached out to take his hand, but he pulled away from me as he looked at the doors.

"What does Odin want?" He said and glared at the castle, his head turning to face me as I blinked at him nervously. My hands began scratching at one another, and despite my having gloves on, he separated my hands gently reminding me that my nervous tic had come to the surface again. Odin knew, thanks to the constant gossip around the castle about Loki and I, and had alluded to the knowledge of the relationship but never really showed that it was a problem in his eyes. I was beginning to think that he accepted the choices that I made, but with Odin, you could never be too sure what he was thinking. He could show that he was pleased with something, but really be disapproving of it in his mind.

"Well, we could just go and see what he wants." I said and Loki looked at me sighing. "Maybe it is nothing."

"Let us hope." He replied as we started walking forward.