Dead Right Chapter 4-Fighting and Fandral, a thor fanfic

I'm so, so sorry for this few month delay. I have no excuse except that I've been in serious writers block, and if any of you are writers, you know how hard it is to write something good when you are low on inspiration. Please leave me feedback; I want to know if I've strayed from the previous story line at all. Thank you to anyone who is still reading.

Chapter 4

Fighting and Fandral

Shade bounded back as a tiger burst through the brush at Loki. He easily deflected it and looked at Shade. "A tiger, slave?" he asked, amusedly.

"I guess, my lord."

"Aren't you going to try to fight it, slave?"

"Is that an order, my lord, or a question?"

"An order, I suppose, slave," he said thoughtfully. She sighed and looked at the ground, wondering how best to counter the agility of a tiger.

"You don't happen to have a knife, my lord, do you?"

"I'm afraid not, slave."

Shade groaned and crouched on the ground, staring at her opponent. The tiger just looked at her. It didn't want to fight. Nor did she, but she had no choice. She growled at it, trying to send it away, but all it did was pad over to her and nudge her curiously with its head. She looked at Loki again, but he was watching the tiger. Shade smiled. This was going to be easy. She stood up and ran off into the woods. Loki called after her but Shade ignored him. She needed a stick, a long one, if she was going to fight the tiger. She grabbed one and turned back. The tiger had followed her. She sighed and went back to the area Loki had been. He stood still and looked at her when she arrived back in the miniature clearing. She wondered why he wanted her to fight, but supposed being a prince under house arrest was rather boring.

She stood and looked at the orange and black cat head butting her leg. She couldn't wait to get rid of it.

She hit it fiercely with the stick and it hissed and bounced backward angrily. It no longer seemed like an adorable house cat, but an angry predator. Shade grinned, excited. She had never fought a tiger before, only men. She had seen tigers and knew how they worked, basing them off house cats that Asgard occasionally took in, but this was much more fun than fighting off a house cat. She jumped aside as it pounced at her and slashed her dress with its now prominent claws. Shade felt her abdomen sliced open and yelled, but happily. She jumped in the air about six feet and kicked the flying cat into a tree, grabbing the branch above her and pulling herself up the tree. Loki leaned against a tree behind her, yawning. Shade rolled her eyes and bounded down the tree to attack the angry cat. Her chest was bleeding a bit, but she knew that the scratches weren't that deep and that she wouldn't faint from blood loss. If she played her cards right, she wouldn't even have to kill herself.

She rolled to the side as the cat flew from a tree at her head. She ducked and stuck the stick into its stomach. It howled and slashed her face. She felt her cheek and looked at her fingers. Blood, a lot of it. But both eyes were still operational, so she didn't worry. She did, however, hit the bleeding tiger again. It whimpered and backed away, than streaked into the woods, away from her and Loki, who yawned again and laughed a little. Shade laughed as well, laughed at how much easier it was to kill when you knew that it wasn't permanent. When it was a person. She didn't know why, but it was always easier to kill people instead of animals, like animals were the innocent ones and the humans were the ones that deserved to die painfully. That didn't keep her from fighting animals, just from killing them.

Shade heard Loki walk over to her and tensed, expecting pain of some sort, but he didn't hit her. She turned around and stood completely still, an inch from Loki's face. He was smiling but he still looked evil. "Could you kill a person, slave?"

"Definitely, my lord," she said, truthfully.

"But not the tiger?"

"It's much easier to kill people, my lord. They have more intelligence. And little senses and instincts. Plus, they're much more fun!"

"Do you kill people often?" he asked.

"Not in the-

"Realm of the living," he finished for her, and chuckled a little, taking a step back. Shade did as well and looked around. Loki walked away out of the forest and Shade followed obediently.

She wondered what that had been about. Did he want her to kill someone? She wouldn't mind that so much. But she couldn't do that. The laws of Asgard and the allfather far overruled the wishes of the fallen prince. Killing someone for him wouldn't be doing society a favor. More likely it would be killing off a pretty important and kind person who would be nice even to her. Shade could always deal with getting her hands dirty, but not for a person like that.

"Uh, my lord?" she asked, glaring at his back.

"Yes, slave?" he said, without turning back.

"May I ask why you told me to fight a tiger?"

He spun around and backhanded her in the face. Shade stumbled backward but didn't make any noise. "NO! YOU MAY NOT!"

Shade looked at him, surprised at his reaction, and then regarded the ground passively. Loki realized now that this may not be the best route to trustworthiness. He looked at her face, attempting to look guilty, but she just stared at him, puzzled. She then shrugged and indicated the castle. Loki startled slightly and turned back to the castle.

Shade followed him down the hall and into his room. Loki walked into his bedroom and shut the door, turning around before the door was closed to see Shade grabbing her cleaning supplies from the library. He sat down on his bed, got up, and then fell backward. He felt exhausted, and really wanted to go to sleep, but couldn't think of why. Then he remembered how early it had been when he had awoken and sighed, wondering how she had dodged the question about the time. Finally he decided that he would bother with her later and just go to sleep.

His dreams were more like plans, a constant stream of how-the-Hel-am-I-going-to-get-her-to-trust-me ideas that didn't seem like they were going to work. Finally he settled on his original thought of slowly changing, but he also realized that he would actually have to make an effort, that it wouldn't just change on its own. He woke up with a new mindset that he was going to change her by "changing" himself. He looked out the window and was greeted by a short spell of blindness. He stretched and yawned and heard his back crack. He looked down and saw slaves swarming through the garden, clipping bushes and such but avoiding the woods.

He silently opened the door and looked out. Shade was on the floor, scrubbing it with a look on her face that suggested that she was dead inside, which was probable. He snuck up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. She started and looked behind her. He was tempted to slap her, but thought better of it. He instead smiled and pointed at the ground, "you missed a spot."

She blinked and looked at the crystal clean ground, "are you sure, my lord?"

"It seems perfectly clear to me."

"Exactly my point, my lord."

It took him a second to realize what she meant, and that made him want to slap her again. He instead knelt down and touched the area. "Right there."

"There's nothing there, my lord. Are you sure you're not just tired?"

He laughed and walked away, watching her relax as if she had been tense. It was rather annoying that she was afraid of him all the time. That just made this whole thing harder. He decided that it would be a good idea to read up on this type of stuff, and, sure that he would find some good sappy research books, left his dorm and walked down the hall to the library. He looked around and shoved through a couple of maids scrubbing the floor. They looked up in fright, not used to royalty out this early and terrified that it was him rather than, say, Thor or Frigga.

Loki strode down the hall, along the route that he had often taken when he had been younger, into the library. He entered the cavernous room and was caught in temporary awe at how many books and shelves there were without any sign of movement besides all of the dust that tossed around his face because of his breathe.

Loki immediately hurried into the depths of the room, feeling himself relax from his normally intimidating visual. Being around others made him self-conscious, and that made him try to be the biggest man he could be. Here, he knew no one would judge him, not even for his parentage, because no one was no one to be there. Loki was tempted to sit back and relax and stay there for all eternity, but that was never going to happen. His best bet to get out of Asgard was back in his room, and his best bet for convincing her to help him was probably in this library.

He strolled down the shelves, searching for any book that could help him in his situation. He finally caught sight of a helpful looking section of books, way in the back of the library. He picked one out and looked behind the back cover. It seemed unrealistic, so he put it back. He looked through another but none of them said anything about deathless women who were dark and dangerous, or any ways in a situation when the said woman didn't trust him or ever really would. He tried looking again and again, but all of the books spoke of women as idiotic animals, as if they were objects. He doubted that there would be any way to even try to speak to Shade like that, or any more than he already did, which was what he was trying to stop.

He sighed, knowing that there was no way to find any useful information on the subject, in this library at least. He sighed again, angrily, cursing the fact that the library had let him down. He knew where he would have to go for the information, but he didn't like it. The only place he knew he could find all of the information he was looking for, was also the only place he didn't want to see. Thor, god of thunder, adoptive brother of Loki himself, and extreme ladies' man.

Unfortunately, Loki and Thor weren't on the best of terms. Ever since they had had that little argument about how Loki wanted Midgard, but Thor didn't want him to rule it and so on. Still, since this was for his own benefit, and not a long or heartfelt conversation, he figured that he could maybe survive an hour of his brother's otherwise pointless information.

He turned around, new inspiration flaming in his mind, and walked purposefully out of the silent and empty library. He stopped a second to glance at a shelf to his left. A couple of titles stuck out, mainly involving deadly magic and horrific fiction. He chose a few and read the back. They seemed interesting enough, so he slipped them under his arm and continued on his way.

When he got back to his room to drop off the books he saw Shade hard at work scrubbing the floors in his room. She didn't even look, he wondered if she heard him at all, but assumed that she did because of how she tensed slightly. He sighed and rolled his eyes, wishing that he could let himself kick her, but he couldn't. He had to "play nice" until he had gained her trust.

He left and walked down the hall, wondering where Thor could be. He peaked through a few doorways, but only scared the hell out of a few maids and a soldier. Yawning, he wondered if it were possible that Thor could be asleep. It was only around ten o'clock or so, and his brother wasn't known to be a morning person. As kids, Thor had slept until lunch, and only woken up when the aromas of delicious food had been wafted through his door that had been strategically placed right near the dining hall for just that occasion. It wasn't always necessary, only when Loki was having an off day. Loki had been his wakeup call most mornings, in an ever entertaining variety of ways.

Loki smiled to himself, remembering one particular instance involving a bucket of ice and a bit of rope, plus a little bit of magic. A couple of guards must have mistaken his smiling for malcontent and Loki saw them fingering their weapons apprehensively. He smiled even more then before and let out a laugh just to humor them. They looked taken aback, and even more so when he ignored them and walked on away.

He couldn't, however, disregard the attack that came from behind.

"Brother!" came the rough voice of his adoptive brother as he felt as though his ribs were cracking from the strain. He was sorry to admit that he didn't have as much muscle as he would have liked in that area, or anywhere else for that matter. That probably would have been helpful in his current predicament. He wasn't strong or handsome and it seemed more like girls preferred that quality rather than intelligence.

He gritted his teeth as Thor hugged him some more, clenching his fists angrily. He felt the guards gaze on him and Thor and finally couldn't stand it. "Get off of me!" he growled.

Thor released him and Loki was finally allowed to turn around. He glared at his brother, but some part of him, the part that had been his main source of doubt throughout his Midgard take over, was almost glad to see him. He shut that part of himself out and locked the metaphorical door, laying against it and sweating. He looked at Thor in hatred, with eyes blazing. Thor's smile didn't waver one bit. He actually laughed, possibly to annoy him, possibly to be an idiot as usual.

"You finally came to visit!" Thor grinned, then looked at him suspiciously, "wait, you are here to visit, aren't you?"

"I don't need to visit. I live here, Thor."

"But you never come out of your room!" Thor yelled boisterously. Loki wished that it hadn't come to this, that the library hadn't failed him, but apparently it was unavoidable. He groaned, mustering all of his willpower, and smiled forcedly. It actually produced physical pain, and turned into more of a grimace. Thor just kept grinning happily. God, he really was an idiot.

"I leave my room. See, I'm out right now. And I took a walk this morning, and I'm not stuck in my room, I just prefer confinement."

"You with your maids."

"What?"

"I'm just saying that you spend way too much time in your room with your maids alone."

"Whatever you are implying, Thor, it is untrue."

"What do you do with them, anyway?" Thor asked.

"I generally break them."

"Break them?"

"Destroy them mentally and physically. It helps pass time."

"Their people, not animals!" Thor said indignantly.

"You're no better," Loki said truthfully, "flirting with them every chance you get. At least I don't treat them like two dimensional beings."

"How can you say that?"

"It is completely accurate, is it not?"

To that Thor had no response. Loki smirked. His brother never changed. The filthy womanizer.

"Loki, what do you want?" Thor growled.

"You're the one who attacked me! I was just walking around!"

"Oh," Thor said, suddenly quiet and downcast. Loki smirked wider, glad to see his idiotic brother's sad puppy face.

"But, I could do with a little advice."

Thor's face brightened immediately. He grinned happily at Loki, apparently overjoyed. Oh please, Loki scoffed, it's not like I wanted to do this. "How can I help you?!" Thor asked cheerily.

Loki wished that he didn't have to do this, but if he wanted to escape, he would need the help of Shade, meaning Thor would need to help him. It made him feel a little bit better when he realized that Thor would be helping him out of the castle by accident. "Well," he said, trying to muster enough courage to say what had to be said, "it's just, there's this girl, and-

"HAAAAA!" Thor laughed. He collapsed into fits of laughter that made Loki blush slightly against his will. Really, it wasn't such a big deal. It wasn't like he was confessing eternal love or something. He had only said 'there's this girl', and then Thor had started laughing hysterically.

"What?" Loki asked indignantly.

"Well, I never thought that I'd here you say that!" Thor bellowed, "I'm so proud!"

"Hey, can you help me or not?"

"I sure can, little brother!" Loki didn't even bother trying to correct him, he was too busy glowering at the guards snickering behind their hands. "What is it that you need advice on?" Thor winked.

"Well, nothing much," Loki shrugged, "The only problem is that she's terrified of me and the strangest person I've ever met and almost never makes eye contact or speaks and I have no idea how to interact with her without wishing that I could slap her out of habit but she doesn't respond to anything I do with more than a sentence or two and she's always working and-

"Wow," Thor gaped.

"What?"

"Girls aren't supposed to be that-that infuriating," he gawped, "They're just supposed to smile and laugh and be silly."

"I don't think that's how it works."

"They're always like that!" Thor insisted, "All of them!"

Loki sighed, "What about Lady Sif?"

"Sif's not a girl!" Thor told him.

"Then what is the title Lady Sif referring to?" Loki rolled his eyes.

"I don't know."

"Alright," Loki groaned, "Back to the problem at hand."

"Right," Thor agreed, "I was just about to say that it might be easier if I met this girl that you are talking about. What is her name?"

Loki glared suspiciously at the guards, who were pretending not to listen but were obviously not trying hard enough. Their eyes kept darting back to the pair and they were failing to conceal amused sort of smiles. "Come on," Loki growled, shooting a dirty look at the two guards, "I'll introduce you to her."

They set off, Loki in the lead, followed by Thor. They got to Loki's room and entered. Loki spotted Shade working in the library, finishing her dusting. He wondered how she could keep doing such a boring and useless job, since he rarely read those books anyway, but then remembered that it was her job and that he shouldn't care. Thor's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he looked her up and down. Loki felt his fists clench in determination not to slap his brother, and he instead decided to go get Shade.

Before he could reach her, however, his brother burst out, "My lady! It is an honor to meet you!"

Loki face palmed as he saw Shade turn her head to the side, establish that there was another person besides Loki in the room, and turn around, head down. She bowed respectfully, "Thank you, my lord." Loki's face heated up a little, knowing that she had just addressed Thor in the same way that she addressed him, but it pleased him to hear her voice as it always was. He was tempted to hold his brother back as Thor approached her, but decided against it, preferring instead to see how she would react to Thor. She tensed when he drew within four feet, and took a step back when he got closer. Apparently she knew about Thor and his sexist views, because she seemed even less at ease with Thor than she was with Loki. He saw Thor a little taken aback by this cold reaction, but his idiot brother never knew when to give up.

"So you are my brother's new maid," he told her, grinning stupidly. She didn't change, only leaned back a little more, "He is a very lucky man to have you assigned to him."

"Thank you, my lord."

"Will you not say something different, fair maiden?"

"I do as I am told, my lord."

Loki felt a beast in his chest growl angrily. He wasn't hungry, and it took him a minute to realize that it was his Jotun form that was angry. He supposed it had something to do with possessiveness, for he had been known for guarding his stuff well, and here was Thor, trying to steal what belonged to him. Finally he could take it no longer. "Shade has to get back to work," he hissed. Shade looked at him with gratitude filled eyes, and then nodded at the ground.

"Yes, my lord."

"Oh, Loki," Thor complained, "How can you be so cruel?! Making this poor young lady clean for you while I am here! She will be distracted!"

"No, my lord, it is my job," Shade insisted, but Thor ignored her.

"Loki, I refuse to allow this young lady to work while I am here! Come," he turned to her, "Sit down so that I may know you better!"

Shade looked at Loki imploringly, obviously not keen on sitting down anywhere near Thor and his wondering hands. Loki sighed, annoyed at how unhelpful Thor was being, and nodded in the direction of the library, "You take orders from me, not him. Now go do your work."

She nodded, concealing a smile, and hurried off to continue her work. Thor glared at his brother, angry. "How can you be so mean to such a pretty woman?!" he inquired, standing up and asserting himself. He was an inch or two taller than Loki, and more than a few inches wider, but Loki didn't move.

"She is my servant, and I may do as I please with her. I came to you for help, but you have only been able to harass my maid."

"I'm sorry," Thor said, apparently trying to remember why he had come in the first place, "What was it I was supposed to be helping you with again?"

Then in the hallway came the loud voices of two others, and the footsteps of three. "Thor!" called one, "Where are you?!"

"In here, Fandral!" Thor called before Loki could stop him, and the warriors three came stomping into his room, tracking mud and grass everywhere. He turned and saw Shade peek in, an almost bored look on her face. He imagined how much work she would have to do after the four others left, which would hopefully be soon.

"Are you all going to congregate in my room, or could you muster up the energy to get lost?" Loki hissed sarcastically. He looked back at Shade, knowing how bad it would be for them both if Thor caught sight of her again, and she ducked back into the library.

Unfortunately, she didn't make it in time.

"Who was that, Loki?" asked Fandral, eyeing the library door curiously. Loki's Jotun side growled angrily inside his mind, warning him not to tell, reminding him of how Fandral was almost as bad-no worse than Thor when it came to women. But the question had caught the attention of the others, and they were all looking towards the library intently.

"It's only my servant," Loki told him dismissively. Fandral, however, didn't catch on to his flippant tone, and took it upon himself to go investigate, speaking as he went.

"She didn't look like a servant," he said, peeking around the doorway, "More like a fairy or elf of some sort. Loki groaned. Now that Fandral had started, it was unlikely that Shade would get any time to do her work, too busy getting annoyed by the two men to get anything done. Then he remembered just how much Shade would hate all the attention, and grinned to himself. Finally, he thought, revenge for waking me up so early. He heard Fandral searching through his bookshelves and decided that he might as well enjoy the show, while he could. He turned to find the others deep in conversation, some debate about whether or not fairies existed, and then slipped into his library.

Fandral was walking down the aisle, looking into every lane, until he let out a sound of amusement and walked into one of the rows, grinning. Loki stopped at the end to watch Fandral attempting to have a conversation with Shade, who was immersed in her work and only occasionally agreeing with what he said, with a dazed, "yes, my lord," or, "no, my lord." She was obviously not paying attention, and eventually Fandral caught on, for when he did, he took the duster out of her hand and held it above her head, chuckling as she put the book back and looked up at the duster with the same look as before. Loki smirked, wondering how many different ways she could have gotten it back that she refused to commit. Such as breaking his arm or dislocating his knee cap or simply jumping and grabbing it out of his hand. He wished that she would just give in and do it, if only for an excuse to punish her, but he knew that she was too good of a slave to do anything like that.

Despite his amusement, a twinge in his chest told him that his more animal-like nature did not enjoy watching Fandral toying with her, but for now he ignored it.

"You think you can ignore me?" Fandral grinned, "Well, I'm not giving this back until you do as I say."

"I am a servant, my lord. It is in my nature to do what people say," Shade replied coolly.

"Fine then," Fandral chuckled devilishly, and the glint in his eye made Shade very uneasy. She was worried what might come next. Finally, he seemed to decide on what he wanted her to do. "Kiss me."

When Loki heard what he had said, he tried to stay calm. He knew that Shade had one million loop wholes she could and would use, and sure enough, she kissed his hand like the servants had been trained to do when visiting royalty came to Asgard. Loki sighed in relief, sure it was over, but alas, Fandral wasn't satisfied.

"Not there, sweet heart," he laughed. He pointed to his mouth, smirking, "There."

Shade turned paper white, taking half a step back, but Fandral grabbed her arm. Right over the area where Loki had carved his name into her flesh. "Don't run away, darling, I won't hurt you," Fandral grinned, "I just want a kiss before Thor gets to you. Is that so much to ask?" This was the final straw. Loki's Jotun form roared in anger under his skin, and he focused all his energy into keeping it contained, but he didn't move. He convinced himself to stand and watch.

Shade spoke, "I'm sorry, my lord, but-

"I love it when you call me that."

Loki gritted his teeth.

"My lord, I really have to get back to work!"

"Oh come on, it won't take long."

"Please, my lord, stop." Loki was beginning to hear signs of distress creeping into Shade's voice, and it took all of his remaining energy, magic and non-magic alike, to keep himself from shooting Fandral with an ice dagger.

"Oh, but I don't want to," Fandral laughed, moving his hand to the side of her face, "And you won't want me to either-

Loki didn't know what had happened, only that one minute he was at the edge of the row, the next he was at Shade's side, holding Fandral's arm away from her. She was shivering like a cornered animal. He was almost tempted to hit her just to bring her back to her normal self, but thought better of it. He instead turned angrily to Fandral and hissed through clenched teeth, "Never touch what's mine!" He felt his hands grow colder than normal and begin to freeze Fandral's wrist.

He let go and took a step back, frozen fire still flitting about his eyes. The duster dropped to the floor and Fandral looked at him angrily. "She's yours, huh?" Fandral scoffed, and with that, he walked out of the row, still fuming.

Loki watched him go, feeling his anger slowly subsiding, beginning to be replaced with something similar to embarrassment. He turned to Shade, looking her over carefully for injuries, and decided that that had probably been a very good start to getting her to trust him. She was leaning against the shelf, eyes closed, and he noticed that she did somehow look different. He realized that her hair was silkier, and her skin was cleaner, as well as her teeth. She looked more like a noble than a servant, because she was so clean. Only the dress was unchanged, and even it seemed less baggy. Her bones weren't showing.

"You look healthy," he said accusingly, "Why is that?" She didn't respond, only kept her eyes closed and breathed quietly. He asked the question again, and on the third time, she answered.

"I killed myself, my lord. That results in waking up healed. Malnourishment is basically a disease, and so I am healed from that as well. Also clean and such." She opened her eyes and stared him in the face, "Thank you my lord. I am grateful."

"Just remember," he chuckled humorlessly, "You owe me now."

"What more could I possibly do for you?" she asked him, kneeling down to dust the lower shelves.

"Are you suggesting that I owe you?" he asked.

"No, my lord, merely wondering what favor I could do for you than what I do already."

She was no longer paying attention. He could hear it in her voice. He knelt down to her level and smirked, "You could give me a kiss." She turned white and her gaze shot to him, eyes wide and scared, like an animal once again. He laughed, "Only joking." She sighed and Loki could smell a hint of something on her breathe. "Does your breath always smell like vanilla when you die and come back?" he asked, smiling as she blushed and looked at the ground.

"No one has ever informed me of that," she told him. He became aware of how close they were, and almost blushed as well. It made him wonder why he was suddenly blushing and protecting this servant girl, and also why he had himself made note of how pretty she seemed that morning.

Shade looked at the ground, heart still speeding, as she remembered how close Fandral had been. She shivered again, shutting her eyes and trying to forget, but only remembering his final words. She's yours, huh? He had said in such a foreboding way, she couldn't help but feel haunted by those words. When he had asked her to kiss him, she had thought she could get around it, but he insisted. Thor, she could have dealt with. At least he was too stupid to be very threatening, but Fandral was different. He was between Thor and Loki, and more full of himself than both. She was thankful that she hadn't been assigned to him, unlike many other maids. She had heard things from the ladies who had worked in his quarters, of how much of a womanizer he was, or of how clever he was when it came to getting women to do what he wanted. He was charming, yes, but he liked getting what he wanted. Shade had hoped that she would never meet him, and if she had, she would have hoped it wouldn't have been under these circumstances. She was eternally grateful for what Loki had done, and just hoped that it had been enough.

Loki stood up and she followed, walking behind him as they exited the library. He grabbed a book as they passed a shelf, making it seem as though the reason he had spent so much time in there was because he had been finding a book, not because of Shade. She glanced at Fandral and was taken aback when he winked at her. She had expected him to stay back after the threat from Loki, but evidently that wasn't going to happen. She looked at Loki, but he had missed the interaction. She sighed and walked across the room to her bedroom, grabbed a new sheet and bedspread, and walked back across the room and into Loki's instead. Thor barely noticed her, but she felt Fandral's blue gaze on her the entire way. Loki was trying to shoo all of the others out, and didn't notice Fandral as he smirked at her again, bowed, and then exited the room.

Loki turned around and leaned against the door sweating, and gazed at her intently. She realized that she had been standing there for too long and went back to her work, stripping the sheets off of his bed and replacing them. She didn't notice him creep up behind her until she felt his breath in her ear. She jumped and spun around, nearly knocking into his chest, and tried to step back. She couldn't, however, and only managed not to fall onto the bed by grabbing Loki's shoulder and using it to stabilize herself. He watched her amusedly before sitting down on his new clean bed, wrinkling it.

"I have some questions for you, Shade, and I want you to answer them truthfully," He told her calmly, "and remember, I'll know if you're lying."

She looked apprehensive, wondering what he possibly want to know from her. He motioned for her to sit down beside him and she did so, well away from him. She didn't know if he noticed or not, but he did nothing to stop her from leaning away from him. She didn't like the feeling of sitting on an actually bed, and certainly not when it was next to one of the male species. She preferred her stone, though it made no sense. There was no familiarity in the bed, the stone she was more accustomed to.

He turned to her with one leg hanging over the edge, but she kept both of her feet planted on the ground. He reached out and grabbed her arm, shoving the sleeve up to check the scar. There were red markings where Fandral had grabbed her that made her feel somehow weak, but Loki only stared at them for a little while and let go of her arm. She pulled the sleeve back down, hurriedly, and another phrase came back to her.

Never touch what's mine! She felt like she was going to blush just thinking about it, and was glad that Loki said something, because she probably would have otherwise.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, my lord," she said sharply.

"I said don't lie," he growled, surprisingly insistent.

"Well, I'm fine now," she told him, "Or I will be."

"Good."

"May I ask why you care, my lord?" she asked tentatively, worried that she had crossed the line and tensing, preparing for a punishment of some kind. She felt a cold hand on her shoulder and startled and Loki spoke, softer than she had expected.

"Why are you always so tense?" he asked her, and she felt his breath on her neck. She didn't like sitting on the bed, she felt as though it projected some sort of illusion into both of their minds. He was too close, she decided, but she couldn't get herself to stand up.

"I suppose it's an old habit, my lord," she told him, closing her eyes and trying to relax.

"A habit from what?" he asked, surprisingly calmly, and the memories that question brought up made her shiver.

"When I was younger, and dead, I was forced to fight for entertainment," she confessed, almost whispering.

He looked at her with something close to pity, and she shied away from him, uncomfortable. She was almost positive that she could see him making an effort to look that way, sure that the whole thing wasn't genuine. She looked at the ground, feeling depressed and relaxed when he took his hand off of her shoulder. She heard him sigh exasperatedly, almost silently, and knew that he wasn't being genuine in his care. Somehow, that made her feel better, like nothing had changed.

She was wrenched out of her reverie by his final question.

"Why are you afraid of affection?"

She blushed, staring even more intently at the ground, and wished that he hadn't asked that.