Chapter 7

Loki had to carry me back to our room. He laid me in bed, and I burrowed under the covers, shivering worse than before as the sedative wore off. He sat with his back against the headboard, and pulled me up into him so my back was against his chest.

"I'm going to die," I whispered, tears filling up my eyes.

"Sweetheart," he started running his fingers through my hair, "I am not going to let that happen."

I laughed a little, and then sobbed into the comforter. He sat forward, and I turned myself so I was facing him, and he wrapped his arms around me. "The... The healer... said... I might... not make it..." I choked between sobs.

"You are strong. You will be fine, I know you will."

I buried my face in his shirt. After everything that has happened in the last two months- and I couldn't believe it had only been two months- I was going to die. Worst of all, nobody at home would ever know what happened to me.

Loki lay on his back, taking me down with him. I rested my head sideways with my cheek on his chest, and my feet hanging a little off the bed. He ran his fingers through my hair absently, and I felt myself relaxing. Every so often my eyes would drift shut, and I would snap them back open, afraid to fall asleep.

After the fifth time this happened, Loki finally said, "Darling, just go to sleep. Everything will be fine."

At this point, I knew my whole body had turned blue. He told me it was because his blood was apparently turning me into a Jötunn, which I didn't understand, but nevertheless, I was freezing. I couldn't stop shivering, and I knew all the blankets in the world wouldn't help with that. Every so often Loki would stroke my cheek, and when he took his hand away, his fingertips were blue.

"I- I'm scared," I whispered sleepily. "I don't want to."

"Ashley," he pushed my head up with his finger to look me in the eye, "Go to sleep. I will wake you up at the crack of dawn, and we will have breakfast, and then we will do whatever you would like all day. No consolations, no meetings, just whatever you want. But you need to sleep now. I promise, everything will be fine," He kissed my forehead.

I nodded and closed my eyes. My body was exhausted, and after a few minutes, my mind gave in to the demand of sleep. I felt my breathing steady, and drifted to sleep with one thought in my head- Please let me wake up.

The sun was just staring to rise, casting a beautiful array of colors across the sky- yellow, pink, orange, purple, and a hint of blue. I opened my eyes slowly, momentarily disoriented at where I was or who I even was. Then I realized- I was awake.

I jumped off the bed and ran to the bathroom, looking at my reflection in the mirror. The wide-eyed girl staring back at me was ghostly pale and grinning. I ran back out into the bedroom, and Loki was sitting up with his hand over his mouth.

"I'm alive!" I exclaimed. "And I'm not blue!"

"I see that," he whispered.

Then I realized something else- Loki was crying. There were honest-to-goodness tears in his eyes, and he was shaking a little.

I climbed back onto the bed and threw my arms around him. He wrapped his arms around my waist and held me tight, like he was afraid I would disappear if he let go. We sat there like that for a few minutes, until I felt his breathing return to normal. Then I pulled my head back and looked at him.

"I love you," I whispered, smiling, and suddenly I started laughing.

He started to laugh, too. "I love you, too," he said, and he kissed me on the lips.

We got dressed, ate, and Loki decided to take me to Vanaheim for the day. He said the berry trees were in full bloom, and the people always had a huge feast that they had invited him to.

The feast was lovely. The people of Vanaheim apparently all cooked, and they all specialized in one type of dish, which each person brought. There were berries of every color, and they were all bright and ripe. The food was fantastic, and after the feast there was a party. There was music, dancing, and a lot of singing. They really liked to sing.

Afterwards, we returned to Asgard, and my question from the other day about rain was answered- it was pouring. Loki used his magic to create a barrier over us so we didn't get wet, and we walked back to the palace. Back in our room, I changed quickly and feel asleep right away.

The next morning, I woke up to Loki shaking my arm. The sun wasn't up yet, and he hadn't lit a candle, so I couldn't see anything. I sat up quickly, afraid something was wrong, and slammed my head into Loki's face.

"Oh, gosh!" I jumped out from under the covers as I felt Loki sit on the bed. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart! Are you okay?"

"Fine, yes, I'm fine," he said absentmindedly, standing back up. "Quickly, get dressed. You're training begins now."

"Training?" I asked as he left the room.

I stood up, groped around blindly for the closet, and managed to find one of my dresses, which, with some difficulty, I put on. I threw on some stockings and ran out into the living room, which was just as dark as the bedroom.

"Is there any reason you won't turn on a light?" I asked the black room.

I saw a black mass move across the room, and started towards it, feeling in front of myself with my arms so I didn't hit anything.

"No," Loki said, "stay there. And yes, there is a reason it is dark."

"Okay..." I said, and I shuffled uncomfortably backwards a few inches.

"You remember I said I would teach you magic, yes?" He asked expectantly.

"Of course."

"You're training starts today. Now."

Then it made sense, why he put his blood into me. I remembered the book I was reading, that said, Midgardians' minds and bodies are too weak to wield the magical abilities that some Realms' people can wield. He made it so my body was no longer too weak.

I was speechless.

Loki's arms around me snapped me out of my daze, and I jumped. He laughed, and took one of my hands in each of his. He raised my arms, and pointed my hands palms-out in front of me.

"Concentrate. Imagine the candles flickering on, think of the flames coming from your fingers," he whispered in my ear.

I closed my eyes and focused on fire. I thought of flames flickering from my fingertips, and then felt my fingers warming. I thought of the campfires I always loved having, and then saw the room light up through my eyelids. I opened my eyes and every candle in the room- and there were at least 30- had a two-inch high flame burning on top. I gasped, and looked back at Loki, who released my hands and kissed me.

"D-did I do that?" I asked, amazed at the candles. Looking at one closer, I noticed the flames were green and blue, not orange. I touched the tip of one with my pinkie, and it dissolved. I spun around and looked at Loki, who just smiled at me with one eyebrow raised. Then the realization struck. "Illusions," I sighed, almost dreamily, and he nodded encouragingly.

"Yes, unfortunately, actually making the fire is very, very advanced. But illusions are basic. Oh, Ashley," he sighed, putting his hands on my shoulders, "There is so much I can teach you to do. I can show you how to duplicate yourself, create a copy of yourself in another place, even another realm, cloak yourself in invisibility, the possibilities are endless!"

I also realized something else: In my rush to get into the living room, I had forgotten to grab my glasses off the nightstand, and I could see perfectly fine. "Loki," I said, confused, "Why can I see? I don't have my glasses."

He smiled. "Jötunns have good eyesight; in a few days you should be able to see in complete darkness. Besides, it does not matter, you look better without them."

I was so excited I forgot to keep up my concentration on the flames, and they all flickered out. Standing in the dark again, with the sun starting to peek through the windows, I started to laugh, and hugged Loki. "Oh thank you! Thank you!" I exclaimed. He laughed too, and patted my back.

During the next week, Loki and I trained day and night. We would wake up early, eat when the sun came up, then he would go to the throne room, and I would go run with Sif. Then I would go back to our room, take a bath, and head down to the throne room myself. I would practice off to the side while Loki tended to the people coming in to see him. He even taught me how to mask my sword in magic, so it was hidden until I called it to me. All I had to do was wave my hand in the motion you would swing a sword, and it would materialize in my hand. He did the same for my armor, so if I ever needed to go into battle, all I had to do was summon an illusion.

There were those rare times when Loki would have to run off to another realm or somewhere, and I would be left in charge of the throne room. Those would be the times when I felt like Loki teaching me Asgardian politics and giving me Queen's robes was actually worth it. The robes he gave me, which I made sure to wear whenever I went out in public, were a light, soft-spoken gray. They had silver armor on the forearms and a silver ribbon wrapped around the waist. I also had silver ribbons, which I twisted through my hair in two small braids on the sides. Then I would tie the braids at the back of my head, leaving the rest of it down so it fell onto my shoulders in cute curls with my highlights.

At first, the citizens were apprehensive to see me about their issues, but it didn't take long for almost everyone to warm up to me. Loki said I won them over with my charm; I laughed every time he said that. I could usually go out of my way to make people like me, if I really wanted to. I wouldn't call it charm, though. It was more like a good personality.

With a regular routine set, it was getting hard to tell how long I had been here. When what I thought had been two and a half months went by, Loki made a very unusual request of me.

"You want to what?!" I asked, appalled at his request.

"I said, I would like to meet your family," he chuckled a little at my reaction.

"B-But, they threw me out!"

"Technically, you left."

"But she didn't care!" I shouted, crossing my arms over my chest. I was really glad we were in our chambers, because I probably looked like a five year old.

"I doubt that to be true," he chided. "In the morning, we will go to Midgard, for just a little while, I promise, and I will meet your family." Without waiting for my response, he looped his left arm under my knees, and scooped me into his arms, supporting my body with his right arm.

Giggling, I let him carry me into the bedroom. He tossed me onto my pillow, and I lay on top of the blanket, closed my eyes, and tried to fall asleep. It was hard.

I woke up the next morning and pretended to be asleep while Loki got dressed. It didn't fool him, though, because the next thing I knew, the blankets were on the floor, with me on top of them. I groaned, got up, and trudged into the closet.

I found a long magenta dress with short sleeves, cut at the elbow. I put on the short combat boots that Sif gave me, along with the footie socks I wore when I came- why they were still here, I had no idea- and I brushed my hair out over my shoulders. Looking at myself in the mirror, I knew I was going to have a heat stroke at some point in the June sun.

"Ready?" I heard Loki call from the living room.

I took a deep breath, nodded into the mirror, and called back, "Yes!"

We walked to the Bifrost in silence, and Heimdall sent us on our way. We landed in the middle of the tennis courts of my complex, and I felt my cheeks flush. I led him out of the cage, down the street, and up to my building. Before I could press the buzzer, though, I heard a voice from behind us that made both of us freeze.

"Well, well, well," she cooed, "Look who came back to Earth. And look, he's brought us back the girl! Thanks for making our job easier! Why, how did you know they would come back?"

Another voice, a guy's this time, said, "Oh, just a lucky guess."

The woman laughed a cold, heartless laugh. "Turn and face me, now."

Loki and I turned in unison, and we were staring straight into the faces of Maria Hill and two other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.