Dirty plates littered the dark wood coffee table, accompanied by two wine glasses, one still bearing its burgundy contents. Papers were strewn all over, full of patterns of text in varying fonts and colors screaming the height of sophistication.
Reagan cracked her toes by folding and pressing them to the floor. They'd been at this for hours now, finalizing guest lists and invitation designs. She stood and tried to get the kink out of her neck, stretching her arms to get any semblance of feeling back through her body.
She had made it here in a daze, her hand burning. Not a typical response from holding someone's forearm. The reaction wasn't normal, he wasn't normal, nothing about her encounters with him was normal. She was used to weird and strange being outside of her, around her but not a part of her. Carlisle had noticed but muttered something about her hopefully not developing a fever.
Her boss returned with two steaming mugs of coffee-ironic, she thought, him getting her coffee.
"Nearly done. A few more pages between us, and we can email it to the printer and have them sent out this week…" She was attempting to be optimistic, and wished the procrastination had ended when she left college and got to the real world. If they got everything done by eleven, it'd be a miracle.
They sat back down and got to work. More papers were shuffled, reorganized between finished and not. Four full pages each, and they could be done.
Reagan sipped her coffee, savoring the warmth it provided while it lasted. Tonight was chilly, and she wouldn't have minded burning hands in the brisk winds on her walk home. Her hands had since dropped back to their normal temperature, but with such an absence of heat they felt colder than they actually were and the coffee felt hotter than it actually was.
A radio station played in the background, providing a backdrop of classic rock to motivate them. Pens scratched paper, keyboard keys clicked, fingers met porcelain and lips found caffeine. The sounds of productivity. In what felt like no time and an eternity at once, they were finished and the email drafted and sent. Catering and music were worries for another night.
She rubbed her eyes, reluctant to move—her mind screamed to get going, her body protested to even a slight shift.
"Are you sure you'll be okay? I can get you a cab." Her boss spoke as he gathered the dishes and glassware. "You know you're more than welcome to stay."
"It's a twenty minute walk, I'll be fine. But thank you." He vanished into the kitchen to set the dishes in the sink and came back to walk her to the door.
They both knew the only reason such words were uttered was out of concern. She always made sure everything ran smoothly, and he once said the least he could do was watch out for her like she did for him.
She slipped on her boots and jacket, and made sure she had her phone and keys in her pockets as he returned to walk her to the door.
"Then text me when you get in."
Reagan nodded. They said their goodnights and she left the warmth for the chilly of the evening.
Loki had found himself a nice rooftop spot across the street, a building at a diagonal offering a view of the front sitting room. He knew they would be there for a while; he recalled Frigga spending months on preparations for festive events, ladies-in-waiting devoting themselves to such tasks as Reagan was working on.
A hole between the worlds was not terribly far-it had been fairly close at the park earlier, but closer at the museum. He blamed the collection of artifacts being placed so closely together; pressure in a bottle.
Loki needed the magic he had left to open the portal, sneak Fenrir out and back in again, and potentially protect her in the process if the wolf got too excited. Such efforts would nearly wipe out the rest of the energy Reagan's interaction caused and then some; a lot more than he would like.
Not to mention chances were Thor's little buddies and their agency would be looking for weird things going on. He'd worry about that later.
Back-tracking on foot meant time, but Loki assessed he had plenty of it. Fastening his jacket, he descended the building by leaping over the wall at the edge, and landing neatly on two feet below.
He reached the area where the dimensional barriers were their weakest, where the air rippled and smelled only slightly different than the refuse and grunge of the alley it stood in. The brick wall shimmered, at least to him, and he peered around to find no one. World-hopping wasn't easy, and he had mastered it because of his mother's devotion to his magical skill.
"If it was easy, everyone would do it." He muttered, raising a gloved hand to bend the magic to his will, fixing his destination to the outskirts of Asgard. He took a few steps back and leaped at the wall, his figure disappearing as the force whipped around a few stray newspapers left behind.
The night was quiet, except for the occasional bird crying out into darkness. Torchlight in the distance gave away where they had placed the large creature, a precaution for wandering visitors.
Loki glanced up through the bare tree branches, catching dark wings on an even darker sky; not Odin's ravens. They did come out this way now and then, and while Odin had charged him with this task, it didn't mean he was welcome to go to whatever means he had for help.
Fenrir was a massive wolf, paws the size of the All-Father's throne and a jaw with unfathomable strength. Well, except to his leash. The strongest tether known in the nine realms. The world was relaxed, seemingly asleep, ears twitching at every sound.
Loki crossed the threshold of torches into the open circle, grass glazed in frost beneath his feet. A yellow eye flicked open at the presence of another, resting on its creator.
"Father…" A gravely voice, one he hadn't heard in several centuries. "What business have you here? If the All-Father…"
"He will understand; I need your help." Loki kept his tone even-Fenrir was easily upset when it came to him and his "siblings", especially after Odin had banished them.
"What good can I be to you, chained here? You smell…like mortal, like my thunderous uncle when he returns from Midgard." A huff escaped his nose in disgust.
"This is why I need you. Your nose is fantastically good at differentiating scents I cannot."
Loki had wandered to the stake that held the chain before it dove underground into the deep earth. "I cannot rid you of your chain-only the All-Father can do that. I can do this."
His hands grasped the chain before the stake and pulled, the metal ripping up dirt and grass as it broke the surface. The end was embedded into a large boulder by the dwarves that made the chain-Fenrir was forever tethered, the chain unbreakable but malleable to magic. One wave of his hand and the links shortened and thinned, the boulder becoming a more manageable sized rock to be carried in his hand.
"I repeat, what good can I do chained?" Fenrir was far from happy at still being tethered, forever a prisoner.
"Plenty, as I did when my lips were sewn." Loki held the collar, also unbreakable, and pet the wolf's snout. "I can never free you, but you will fulfill that anger one day. I promise you that."
Fenrir moved his head and placed it next to Loki's, like he used to when he was a pup.
"Come, let's get moving."
Reagan buried her head in her scarf, pulling it over her mouth to protect against the chilly air. She was halfway home, her fingers curled in her pockets. Why didn't she take up the offer for a taxi? That would have been a smarter choice.
A strong gust of wind rushed past her, stopping her in her tracks. Reagan looked up to see what caused it, thinking it was an idiotic driver.
The growl that came from the hulking mass of shadow made her rethink that idea. A giant wolf, larger than the SUV next to it, huffing from the sprint, stared at her. Yellow eyes seemed to glow in the dim streetlights, and grey fur rippled.
One word came to her mind, one she had heard uttered on her favorite show for years, one she thought she had forgotten in college gym. Run.
She heard the creature sniffing, and a louder growl followed. Rhythmic pounding came after, much louder than the heartbeat in her ears.
Shit. Where was S.H.I. ? Didn't they have a handle on this kind of thing?
Reagan ran, her lungs burning, as if oxygen had suddenly become toxic yet so very necessary. A stitch had formed in her side, but she had began to stop feeling it. Her legs desperately wanted to give out beneath her. She had gone in the opposite direction of home, the creature having stood in her way. Not that she could go home with a giant wolf chasing her, that'd be stupid. The entire thing was stupid, insane. Her mind wanted to answer why, but it couldn't. She rationalized it was because it had seen here, but it was searching. Searching for what…?
"Damn," she hissed, seeing the lights ahead of her a few blocks down. . If she continued much farther, she'd be on the edge of downtown, and that was packed regardless of the day of the week. She couldn't endanger other people
Alley. Find an alley. Loose the weird-ass lab experiment and get the hell away.
Reagan darted to the left, dirty brick and graffiti surrounding her. Instantly she regretted her decision. A closed space? No one would find her for days. Fire escape, find a way to get above. The thing can't fly, as far as she knew.
A ladder and the rest of the scaffolding for a fire escape laid to her right, and she scrambled to pull the ladder down, the metal clattering and ringing as it slide to the ground. Too much noise, she realized, but too late as well.
The light from the street was blocked by the creature, sniffing around. Its head snapped up, making eye contact again.
So that's what death looks like, she thought.
Reagan climbed the ladder and had begun ascending the second set of stairs before the metal was torn down by a massive paw. The landing tumbled to the pavement, leaving her clinging to the stairs, as if dangling from a rope.
Her heart had never worked this hard before. The monster closed in, reaching its snout up to smell her. It reeled back in revulsion, shaking its head and huffing to rid its nostrils of whatever it had smelled.
She found herself slightly offended at being found to be disgusting. The paw came out again, and this time nudged the stairway, swinging it back and forth. Closer to that gaping maw with rotting breath.
What a way to go, eaten by a giant wolf in an alley, she thought. No big deal.
Instinct told her to curl up, become as small as she could, not look at those yellow eyes and yellowing teeth.
She opened her eyes just once as a paw went to swipe at her; something impeded the contact. A barrier shimmered at being touched, a radiant flow of energy showing itself for a moment and then vanished.
The beast sniffed, made a disgusting sound passing for a gag before backing away. It sniffed again, looking up. Reagan followed its line of sight and caught a glimpse of a figure in a long coat turn heel and disappear.
She watched the creature dissolve into the shadows. It cast an eerie, golden glare in her direction before being swallowed entirely and vanishing.
Shaking, Regan climbed down the remainder of the stairs, hoping it would not collapse and drop her to the ground. She caught her breath, unaware she had been holding it.
Cabs are good, next time…take a cab, were her last thoughts before the world spun around her and everything went dark.
Loki returned to ground level, and peered down at the woman currently passed out, a tiny string of saliva forming in the corner of her mouth. She was mumbling occasionally, and he can't imagine he had done any good to her sanity.
She hadn't screamed though, he gave her props for that.
He took her hand, feeling an energy surge stronger than ever. Her encounter had stirred up whatever flowed through her veins, and reacted with him. It was much harder to let go, like strong magnets. Magic was calling to magic, and he found himself wondering if that was how Thor found his mortal.
No, Thor fell in love with her. A very strong difference from a magical bond calling out and being completed. She was a means to an end, not a companion.
He reached into her mind, her memories, and searched for a location to her home. He could not leave her here. People would notice her disappearance, and she should have been home by now anyway.
"Come, Fenrir." Loki let go of her hand, feeling the scalding warmth of her flesh leave his strangely cold, even for a Jotun.
The wolf stuck his head back out of the shadow he had been placed in.
"All the way. We have something to do first."
He gave a frustrated huff, but wiggled out of the darkness. The hulking mass of an animal was shrunk to the size of a pup, the tether becoming a nice leash.
"She has to go home. People will miss her."
Slipping the leash's handle around his wrist, Loki knelt down and picked Reagan up, cradling her. Her head rolled and rested against his chest. She had rings under her eyes, he hadn't seen that before.
He looked around before imagining her street and opening a small portal, arriving in an alley much closer to her townhouse.
Loki looked around, and seeing no one, approached the stairs and door with false hesitation. He acted…human, as much as he knew how to. He whispered to Fenrir, the now-tiny wolf hopping up the three stairs after him. His elbow tapped the button by the door and created a noise inside.
"Reagan, is that you?" A woman opened the door, wearing scrubs and slippers. "Did you forget your…" She saw Reagan's sleeping form and looked up at Loki, her tone from playful to angry concern in a split-second. "What happened to her?"
"She fell asleep on the cab-ride over, I didn't want to wake her."
"Are you a friend of her's?"
Loki mentally rolled his eyes. Of course she'd have a house-mate, and she'd be wonderfully annoying and paranoid.
"We met a few times. I was out walking my dog and ran into her. She seemed tired, and mentioned working late on a project; I thought I would get her a cab and make sure she got in alright."
With Reagan so close to him, his magic was coming back to him again. He influenced her house-mate just enough to believe him, and let him inside. She moved aside and he stepped in, Fenrir scuttling after him.
"It's the one straight down the hall, at the end." She pointed up the stairs, and watched him take her friend upstairs who was mumbling incoherently.
Loki peered around the small room for a moment, laying her on the bed against the wall. He examined her boots and unzipped them, placing them by the closet doors. Her jacket came next, at least to make her a little more comfortable, pockets heaving with her phone and keys.
He took out the little black box and pressed the center button, finding messages from Casey and her boss, both wondering where she was. He replied to the one from her boss, mentioning running into an acquaintance and a cab-ride home with him. Stories had to match up, of course. The man could draw his own conclusions about the encounter.
The battery flashed red and he scoped the room looking for a cord he had seen others use before. Peering at the phone from different angles, he found the port and connected the cord; the screen now said it was charging. Loki placed it on the bedside table and turned back to Reagan.
He pulled the blanket at the end of the bed up and over her, and she shifted, pulling the covers to her like a child. He brushed hair away from her face, and wondered how to go about telling her the truth.
Humans would deny their purpose as long as they could, but a part of her was curious, he knew. She wanted knowledge, not the idea of all of it being real. He'd let her piece it together and come to him. He could wait a little longer.
Fenrir nipped at his ankle, reminding Loki of his presence. The God of Mischief gave the tiny wolf a pointed look. They returned downstairs, where he apologized for the intrusion and that he'd be on his way and she should be okay in the morning.
After the door closed behind him, Loki rolled his neck. Domestic was not exactly his forte.
"She smells strange. Mortal but…a hint of magic."
They had arrived back in Asgard some time later, Loki working on enchanting the chain back to its normal appearance and burying it deep into the ground again.
"Different than mine?" Loki asked, waving a hand and returning the ground to its previous perfect appearance.
"Yes…although there was a touch of you, too. You spend time with her."
"Brief encounters."
"What is special about her, father? She is mortal. She will die."
Fenrir reminded Loki of Odin-he had been there, briefly, to hear Thor argue his case for returning to the mortal, Jane. The All-Father had hissed Thor would outlast her, he would blink and she'd be gone.
But he was supposed to find a mortal. One of them on that stupid little world of Midgard would help him attain his goal, one more birthright, probably the only one left, that he could actually have.
Unless Odin was using him to find it and going to take it from him and hide him away again. He did enjoy doing that, shoving Aesir beliefs down other realms and taking their strongest things from them…
Fenrir nudged Loki with his snout, and absent-mindedly, the other reached out and pet him in return. He was light-years ahead, trying to think of a plan and possible outcomes.
"Her lifespan is not your concern, Fenrir. She has a burden she is yet unaware of."
I'll have an update eventually; I need to find time to write some new content. And the motivation. I love this story but sometimes it's difficult to write. Until then, thanks for reading and following and reviewing, etc.
