Chapter Four: A Sudden Realization
Loki Laufeyson had woken up with a bad feeling. Call it instinct, premonition, magic; whatever it was, he knew when he got up that morning that something was going to happen. He just didn't know what or when.
Regardless, he had learned long ago to trust his instincts, so he was, while not unperturbed, at least not as surprised as he might have been when when he felt a familiar magic stirring through the shadows of the dining room of his current residence. A second later, Nico di Angelo stumbled out from behind the fridge, a space far too small for him to fit into in the first place.
The half-blood had a sword in one hand, and was clutching his conspicuously-bleeding stomach with the other. He glared at the older godling. "Well? You gonna help me or not?" di Angelo snarled.
Loki looked at him with raised eyebrows, but conjured a flask of medicine and tossed it to the half-blood. He didn't move toward him, though.
Di Angelo had a dangerous look in his eyes. The boy looked something akin to a caged animal. Di Angelo opened the flask, sniffing it. His eyes flicked to Loki. "This isn't nectar," he observed suspiciously.
"It's a potion, usually used to stop people from bleeding out. I would think that would appeal to you now," Loki retorted.
The half-blood took a cautious sip. Loki sighed. "The entire potion is required to be at all effective," he stated flatly. He downed the whole potion with an unreadable face, but his eyes didn't look any calmer.
"Something about this situation feels familiar, wouldn't you say?" Loki snarked, hoping for a response.
Di Angelo still said nothing.
Loki gave him an unimpressed look. "You come into my residence uninvited, demand healing, and offer no explanation?"
Di Angelo's face remained expressionless. "It's a long story," he replied tightly.
He suppressed a sigh. Obviously the half-blood wouldn't be explaining any time soon. "Would you like to sit?" Loki offered, gesturing to the dining table. He was already in the end seat, eating a well-cooked meal of some Spanish meat made by the head cook of this house.
Di Angelo snatched a piece of meat from his plate, then tossed the empty flask into the table and sat down two seats away.
Why did he come here instead of one of his safe houses? Loki wondered, Surely he had some of that Greek medicine-food there.
Meanwhile, di Angelo somehow managed to make eating look almost aggressive, a feat Loki had seen only in angry Asgardians.
Loki didn't know what had happened, but it couldn't have been good. Di Angelo still looked like he was ready to bolt, or maybe kill something.
"I do have plenty of time," Loki said, choosing his words carefully. He and di Angelo may have been on good terms, but the boy did not appear quite in his right mind at the moment.
He wasn't really expecting a response, but he got one. Di Angelo's voice was clipped and short when he said, "My cousins have decided they no longer require the services of a son of Hades."
A chill crawled up Loki's spine at the implications. It appeared the demigods were not quite as noble as the stories on Asgard made them out to be.
Loki was by no means honorable, but there were some things even he wouldn't do. To attack one's own family… well, even he had had to be magically coerced to fight Thor. Of course, it was too late to explain that little mishap to his old family now, but that was irrelevant.
Loki waited expectantly, and after a few moments of tense silence, di Angelo continued. "I am not a legionnaire. I've never been a legionnaire. I'm - I was - an independent contractor for the Romans. I solved problems for them when they hired me to. There was never anything in our contract about exclusivity. But when they discovered some of my other contracts, they decided I was too much of a loose cannon. That I needed to be eliminated before I became a threat. This was just the last straw for then. I'd been unofficially on probation for a while, since my behavior during the hunt I mentioned a few weeks ago was too erratic for their comfort." His explanation ended with another snarl and finishing off the last of his stolen meat angrily.
Loki could feel di Angelo's magic roiling inside him, screaming to be released, to lash out and let its pure destructive power wash over everything the light touched. But di Angelo kept his walls up, the gate to his power locked up tight. Loki had never met at mortal with so much power and such acute control over it.
Perhaps that is why he was betrayed, Loki mused, They did not realize that he was the exception to the rule.
Truth be told, Loki didn't quite know what to say now. He was good with people - it was what gave him the name of silvertongue - but he rarely had cause to comfort anyone. Unless he was manipulating someone with their grief, which wasn't his intention in this case. He tried to remember what Frigga had always done. In the end, he decided to state the obvious.
"You're angry," Loki observed.
"You think so?" Di Angelo's response was scathing, but not unexpected.
"Your cousins, the ones whom you fought," Loki pushed, "Were you close to them?"
Di Angelo's face was like granite as he stared at him, but at least he no longer looked like a caged animal.
Okay. He doesn't want to talk any more about it. Although I'm still not sure why he's here instead of one of his safe houses.
That seemed like a safe enough topic. Probably. It would still require careful wording.
"Have you somewhere to go?" he asked.
"No. Nowhere." Alright, perhaps not so safe. Di Angelo's voice was still hard, but his mask of stone flickered for just a moment long enough to identify the most prevalent emotions in his eyes. It was one Loki knew well - betrayal.
So his safehouses were compromised. If he was smart, which Loki knew he was, he wouldn't have told just anybody their locations. Whoever he had told had likely been close to him, and had almost certainly betrayed him.
It struck Loki suddenly that he was actually concerned about this. About a half-blood he had met thrice. He enjoyed di Angelo's company and conversation, and he was actually concerned about his wellbeing.
He hadn't planned on this.
"The guest rooms are at the end of the hall," Loki found himself saying.
Di Angelo looked at him intently for long enough for most people to become uncomfortable, as if he was searching for something. He must have found it, because he finally stood and walked towards the hallway without a word.
When he reached the doorway, he paused. "Loki…" he trailed off like he wasn't sure what he'd been going to say. "Thanks."
He was half-way down the hall when Loki realized that the young half-blood had called him by his given name.
Well. Damn.
A/N:
I honestly don't know how I feel about this chapter. I kinda feel like it went too fast, and it was more serious than the others. Please review, guys.
