Chapter 7
You can't wake up, this is not a dream
You're part of a machine, you are not a human being
With your face all made up, living on a screen
Low on self esteem so you run on gasoline
Ilazki's POV
I left Loki in the kitchen to get ready. I placed my contacts in and pulled on a black and white striped long sleeve, a dark blue mini skirt with black tights under, along with a matching dark blue slouchie beanie. I slipped into my converse and went back to collect my gloves and Loki. He wore black slacks and a green button up shirt under a black blazer. The green shirt made his green eyes much more noticeable. I tried not to stare but it seemed like every time I would look his way he'd notice and when he'd look at me we'd lock eyes momentarily before I sheepishly looked away. I had decided to have us walk to the diner. It was a ten minute walk away.
It felt weird walking with him this time. Ever since that night he stayed in my room he's been really nice to me. Even before that he had shown hints of kindness. Maybe he was starting to warm up to me? I wasn't sure but he offered his arm when we started this walk, not with words, but with a gesture. Like in the really old movies. I guess he was really old fashion, or maybe this was something else? I don't know why I went along with it but I had to admit it was kind of nice. I don't remember the last time I even had someone to interact with.
The whole walk there was quiet but comfortable, I was glad he wasn't the type to converse, that would have made everything really awkward. We made it to the diner, it was actually pretty busy but despite that we were ushered to a booth pretty quickly.
I stared at the menu trying to figure out what I wanted, once in awhile I'd steal a peak of Loki. When the waiter came by he caught me but he flashed me a small smile before ordering a drink. I could feel my face heat up and I looked back at the menu. I timidly ordered a coffee and with that the waiter was off, giving us more time to decide. I felt myself calm and the I looked up again.
"So what happened to Aelsa and Malekith?" I asked curiously, he seemed to know of them and I wondered if maybe he knew more.
"According to the records in Asgard Malekith and the rest of the dark elves died in a war against Asgard. The aether was said to be destroyed as well." He explained as he looked up at me with a strange expression. I wasn't sure what that look was all about but I focused my mind back onto the subject as he continued. "Aelsa is still the queen of Alfheim."
"...You said that book was a journal. Were you able to understand it?" I really hoped he did, I was curious now, maybe I would open the letter now...
"I have not yet deciphered it, it would be much simpler if I had access to the library in Asgard." I simply nodded and dropped the subject, why did this even matter? They left me here to fend for myself. I needed to move on, I'm not some snot-nosed little kid anymore. The waiter came back, I ended up ordering some blueberry pancakes and Loki ordered the breakfast platter, which pretty much came with everything ever invented for breakfast. The waiter left with our order and menus, now I had nothing to occupy myself with.
I noticed Loki was looking around the diner, his hair was slicked back perfectly, not a hair out of place. His emerald eyes scanned the room with mild disdain. Even with his scowl he looked so handsome. I looked away as soon as I noticed I was staring. He was probably irritated enough being around everyone here. I didn't need to add to it.
I looked at my gloved hands, a small frown across my features as my thoughts went back to what Loki had told me. It all made sense now, why everything would happen when I had a vision, even just having visions. It was just my true self coming out, which I still shunned. I heard a distant laugh coming from a table across the room, I turned to see a happy couple sharing food and casually talking, smiles plastered across their faces. I followed the happy sounds around me, it must be nice to be mortal. I let my thoughts wonder to a subject I would think of often as I stared at the people around me.
"Have you ever wondered what it'd be like to be mortal?" I asked, not deterring my gaze from the people around us.
"What is your obsession with the mortals? They are weak and pathetic creatures." Loki snarked, it was obvious that he thought he was above them.
"But don't they look happy?" My attention then went back to Loki's face contorted with disdain before I looked down to my hands as I continued. "I wish I was..." He didn't answer, instead he reached out and placed his hand over mine, I looked up to see his features had softened. There it was again, but it was different this time. Almost as if he hasn't been sincere until this very moment. I could feel my face warm at the feeling.
The moment was quickly interrupted as the waiter came by, apologizing for the wait before placing down each plate of food. Loki immediately began to eat, saying nothing to the waiter. I smiled at the waiter and thanked him before turning my attention to the food. The silence between us returned, the only noise was the conversations going on around us. I watched him as I tried to figure out what all his gestures meant. I looked away quickly before he could catch me staring at his handsome features. I tried to push my thoughts aside. I'm being ridiculous, this is probably just all in my head. I mean this isn't some romance novel. Get a grip on reality!
We finished our meals and as we were waiting for the waiter to come back with change a redheaded woman interrupted us, her arms crossed.
"I didn't know Asgardian justice was so short lived." Her voice caught Loki's attention fairly quickly but his face remained blank. He simply shrugged.
"Perhaps my offense wasn't as bad as you all make it out to be."
"I find that unlikely. Your coming with me. Now." She said in a serious voice. She looked me over once before speaking again. "I'm not sure what he told you but he's dangerous."
"I know who he is. It was all over the news when it happened." I was unsure what to do, I didn't mean to say it so casually like that.
"Then why are you with him?" she looked a bit perplexed.
"He needed help, I couldn't just leave him-"
"You helped him? He's a fugitive." She put her hand over her ear, before speaking into a headset. "I'm taking in two." Her full attention was immediately back on us. "If you try anything, you'll regret it." She lead us out to a black car outside. The red head took a seat in the front passenger side leaving me and Loki in the back. I kept looking at her, something about her seemed familiar. Like, I had seen her somewhere before? But this was my was time ever meeting her, wasn't it? There was a small pain in my head, like earlier but less aggressive.
The car was completely full, there was another man back here with us, he had short blonde hair and a blue uniform. The driver was dressed in a black uniform and had dark hair but, I couldn't really see his face. didn't seem to say anything, there was silence in the car, not even the radio was on. Just the quiet hum of the engine could be heard. I wasn't sure where we were going but this was definitely serious. I looked over to the man in the blue uniform, analyzing him, I glanced at Loki, he seemed quite amused by all this. I looked over at the redhead, I couldn't see her face but I was looking for anything that could tell me where we were headed. My search was useless and I just let my head fall onto Loki's shoulder, I felt him turn to me for a moment but I didn't bother getting off. I started feeling really tired,
Well, I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, maybe I'll just sleep the ride away and figure things out later... Then I caught my reflection in the rear view mirror. I still had my contacts in, if I fell asleep I'd have to deal with dry eyes and then there was the possibility that it could get lost in my eye. That was always annoying and painful, I'd have to stay awake...
"We're here." A voice woke me up, I hadn't even realized I fallen asleep, even more surprising I was still on Loki's shoulder in another vehicle no less. I quickly got off of him, it looked like we were in some sort of helicopter, how did I sleep through that? Wasn't I just in a car? We were lead into a large building. There we were greeted by a man named Tony Stark.
"Look what we have here." His attention went from Loki, who held a smug smirk on his face, to me. He seemed a bit caught off guard and looked back at Loki. "This your girlfriend reindeer games?" the red head explained to him that she found us at a diner having breakfast together, which only fueled his little accusation. I decided to ignore him and his pestering. We were brought to a room with a table, then I heard heavy steps behind us a man in red and silver came over to us. Loki seemed to recognize him immediately. It made him anxious? Now I didn't feel so confident anymore.
"Brother, why have you come here? If you plan more destruction, I will not allow it." His attention got caught on me as Loki gave him a sly remark. It made me uneasy and I tried to hide away behind Loki. For the first time the gravity of the situation sunk in. I felt intimidated by everyone and clung to the last scrap of familiarity. I pulled my slouchy beanie down over my eyes, keeping my hands clutched in the beanie, wishing I was invisible.
"Who are you?" The man addressed me. I didn't want to be here anymore. I just wanted to go home, I didn't answer him, but the redheaded woman answered.
"We found her having breakfast with Loki." She sounded monotone.
"Yep, your brother found himself a girlfriend." I could almost hear Tony's obnoxious smirk.
"Is this true midgardian?" I didn't want to answer anyone.
"Do you really think I would associate myself with a pathetic mortal?" Loki's snide remark hurt, I know I wasn't really human but it still hurt. I tried to collect myself but I could feel tears in my eyes, wetting my beanie as I tried to discreetly rub them away with the fabric. I must have been rubbing too much, or maybe there were just too many tears but I felt my contacts peel away from their place. One stuck to the beanie, the other was lost. I was able to stop myself from tearing up more but my mind was in a frenzy. I had to make sure not to let them see my eyes.
Then the unexpected happened. My beanie had been ripped away from my grasp by someone, everyone stared at me. I caught sight of my beanie in the redheads grasp, makeup was smeared on it, I could only assume that the foundation around my eyes was gone, revealing pale grey skin.
"Well that's definitely not normal." Tony commented. I took a few small steps back in fear, my disguise may as well have been gone. I saw the blonde man grab Loki and demanded to know who I really was but all Loki said to him was to let him go, and a name. This man's name was Thor, he announced himself Loki's brother earlier. He must be Asgardian as well, and probably the only one here that actually has a chance at restraining Loki. Maybe that's why he'd been so fearless up until he saw his brother.
"My name is Ilazki..." I said meekly, my voice barely above a whisper.
"What are you?" Tony said curiously. I looked to to the ground, I thought about telling them the truth, but that would mean I had to accept it. I quickly pushed the thoughts aside and glared at them.
"I'm obviously human. How hard is that to understand?!" I got doubtful looks from them.
"Well you don't exactly look it." Tony remarked.
"Sorry, not everyone has that luxury." I could feel the adrenaline building up, I hated this.
"I don't believe you." Thor stepped in. My attention went to him. I glared at him, how dare he.
"I don't care what you believe-" Thor cut me off.
"Why did you help Loki?"
"Why? Why wouldn't I? He was injured. He needed help. I wasn't just going to leave him there like that. I would expect you all to understand that. I mean isn't that what the Avengers is all about? Helping people?"
"Yeah, we help keep people safe, not this." Tony said referring to Loki.
"So only those who are worthy enough to safe. Is that what your saying?"
"Don't twist everything." The redhead spoke next.
"Am I twisting it? Or are you just saying that because you refuse to see the truth." I couldn't contain my emotions at stable level anymore. I began to feel an acute pain on the side of my head again. It was the same pain I had felt earlier in my kitchen. I had to get away from everyone, I heard someone speak but I couldn't focus. My perception was becoming warped, I quickly turned away from them in an attempt to hide my discomfort. More voices mixed in together, perhaps they were arguing, I couldn't tell. The pain intensified, my legs became numb and my head heavy.
I felt someone grab my shoulder and forced me to face them. It was Thor. He said something angrily, I couldn't understand, his voice seemed muffled and there was a slight ringing in the distance. I looked around the room searching for something to help me focus. I felt a slight pain coming from my arms and quickly realized Thor had tightened his grip and was staring at me expecting some sort of response. I began to try and break free but I couldn't.
"Let go of me." I demanded. I tried to push at him, I felt something stir in me, then I froze. It was that strange feeling again. I felt fear, fear of what that feeling inside could possibly be.
"Thor, she looks a bit ill. Perhaps you should reconsider your actions." Loki chimed in. His voice attracted my attention, helping me focus a bit. I looked back at Thor who simply let go of me and walked over to one of his companions. It was soon hard to focus again and my vision blurred.
You are weak
I woke up with a jolt. I found myself on a cot in a small room.
"I thought you'd never wake." I heard a familiar velvet voice. I looked around the room but saw no one was there. "Don't waste your energy, I am not there. They have separated us, I will be sent back to Asgard with Thor soon, you may be joining me as well. Thor didn't seem to believe your rather vigorous exclamation of being mortal. Try not to make a scene." Loki's voice helped me calm a bit, but it also brought about worry. I might be going to Asgard? Why?
A/N: I had decided to go in a different direction then what I was already writing because I got really bugged with how complicated and off track everything got. I feel like this way it wont be so dragged out.
