Hey there my loyal audience! I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter of Key To Redemption, and I hope that you guys enjoy this one too. And in this one I'm gonna end up putting a bit of fluff between Diana and Loki in here, no matter how much Loki tries to stop me.
Loki:*glares at me and tackles me, trying to take away my laptop* Give me that confounded contraption! I refuse to let you ruin my image anymore with the nauseating fluff!
Silver: *keeps her foot against his chest to hold him at bay and continues typing* Nope! Everyone enjoys a little fluff now and again, and you getting my laptop isn't gonna happen.
Loki: *tries harder to get the laptop, but is thwarted at every turn* Damn you V-!
Silver: *slaps her hand over his mouth* HEY! No using my real name here! Now stop whining and go bug Tony and Steve. I'm working here!
Loki: *glares at her over the hand on his mouth and stalks out of the room, muttering angrily under his breath*
Silver: *sighs and rolls eyes* Sheesh, I never get a minute of peace when he's here. He didn't even let me say that there's also a bit of angst waiting in here too. Now here's Diana with the disclaimer.
Diana: 666Silvermoon is in no way, shape or form the owner of anything in the Marvel Universe. The only things in here she owns are me, my animals, my family, and any other future OC's or places she makes that are not in the Marvel universe. She is not making any money from writing this story; it is purely for her own amusement and to entertain others. Enjoy chapter 10!
Chapter 10
Diana's P.O.V
I had just come inside from letting out half of my horses for the afternoon in the last week of September when my home phone rang. I wondered who would be calling at this time, and picked up the receiver.
"Sullivan residence, this is Diana speaking." I said evenly, and a smile broke out on my face as I heard the voice on the other end of the line.
"Anni, it is SO good to hear your voice after the stressful week I've had!" My best friend in the world, Andromeda Becker, who I've called Andy since junior high, was on the other end. Andy is a little slip of a woman, barely 5'3 and 110 pounds when wet, but don't let her diminutive size fool you; when she gets riled up, her temper rivals even mine. She comes from a rich family where her father owns a high class café and her mother is a high profile lawyer famous for putting away wife beaters, child molesters, and arsonists, but her wealth has never made her snobby a day in her 27 years of life. With an inheritance from a wealthy grandmother, she opened her own art gallery, which is where I show my paintings, drawings, and sculptures from time to time. Despite being a successful business owner, she looks more at home at a rock concert than an art gallery, what with her bright blue and white pixie cut hair and her affinity towards the darker side of clothing with heavy amounts of black eye liner to show off her stormy gray eyes. But despite her outfit choices she's normally a very happy person.
"Andy! You shrimpy pixie, how have you been? It's been forever since we last talked." I asked her happily, jumping a bit to plant myself on the kitchen counter next to the phone.
"I've been horrible! This week, hell this month has been incredibly stressful. You remember the guy I was seeing, Louis? Well, I dumped him. Can you believe this?! Why are all the good guys already taken or gay?" She asked plaintively. I smiled, seeing how this was the norm for Andy.
"Maybe because you set your standards too high? I mean, what was he, the sixth guy in the last year?" I said evenly. Now, don't be mistaken by her excessive amount of boyfriends over a set period of time. Andy was not slut by any means; in fact she was still a virgin. She just had rotten luck with men, or they had something about them she didn't like.
"Hey, it's not my fault! He's the one that was the excessive flirt." She said indignantly.
"Oh yeah, then what was wrong with Robert?" I said, referring to the first guy she dated this year.
"I told you; he tried to make me act more ladylike."
"Ben?"
"He spat like a camel."
"Evan?"
"He had ferrets and they stunk up his apartment."
"Josh?"
"He cheated on me with a stripper."
"Rick?"
"He faked being an art lover."
I sighed, shaking my head in overly theatric dismay. "And Louis was an excessive flirt huh? Now that's just sad."
"I know right! Maybe I should just become a hermit in the mountains like you." She said, but I knew she was joking around.
"Oh ha ha; you're so funny. I'll have you know that I have a very active social life." I told her, though I know she sees right through it.
"Anni, your animals and your mother and brothers don't count." She says teasingly and I stick my tongue at the phone receiver.
"They are not the only people I interact with. And I live at least ten miles from the closest mountain Andy."
"Ooo, so have you met a guy yet?" She says excitedly. Yup, this was the Andy I knew and loved. Always ready to hear any juicy details I could give her.
"Weeell…" I start, but she interrupts me with a happy squeal that has me bringing the phone away from my ear.
"Eeee! There is, isn't there!? What's he like?" She asked excitedly and I softly laugh at her enthusiasm.
"Well, I'm not really seeing him but I have gotten pretty close to him. He's a bit of a prankster, but he's also very intelligent. He may be rough around the edges but…" As I think about the time I've spent with Loki, my voice grows softer, with more fondness in it. "He can be rather sweet when he wants to be."
I came back to reality when I heard Andy giggling over the phone. "Girl, you've got it bad and you don't even know it." My cheeks burn as I sputter to respond.
"I do NOT! It's a miracle in and of itself that we're friends, and he has enough on his plate as it is." I tell her quickly and try to deflect the conversation. "So this was the only reason you called, to chat about our love lives?"
"Oh, no not really. I also called to tell you that I've sold all of your current artwork, and need more pieces!" She tells me happily, and I feel a wide smile coming over my face.
"Really? How many more pieces do you need? And how much did they sell for?" I tell her excitedly. More artwork sold means more money in my pocket that goes into the farm.
"Are you sitting down girl? Your last batch of artwork, combined, sold for a total of fifteen grand!" She tells me excitedly. I screamed loudly as I leapt from the kitchen counter and started jumping up and down in excitement. Over the phone I hear Andy cheering with me, but I'm too happy to pay attention. Fifteen grand can go a long way on a farm, and I'm always excited about people buying my artwork.
I finally stopped screaming long enough to hear Andy's next words. "I need at least five more paintings and three more sculptures by Thanksgiving girl. Normally it would be by Halloween, but I know what you have planned for that night." She says mischievously, and I laugh.
"Oh yes you do, and I still hope you're gonna come see Granville's Halloween festival." I tell her. Granville, my town, has had a Halloween festival for the past ten years to increase tourism, and I had volunteered to be part of the main attraction, along with my brother Aiden. We got the part because no one had come up with something as scary, or crazy, enough as us. So far only the city officials and the mayor knew about it, and they were keeping mum.
"Duh! Of course I'm gonna be there! I can't wait to see what you and Aiden have come up with for Halloween." She tells me excitedly. "Can't you give me the slightest bit of a hint as to what the two of you are cooking up?"
I shake my head and laugh. "Sorry Andy, I can't. You'll have to wait and see."
"Oh fine. Spoil sport…so girl, I gotta go. You gonna be able to find some inspiration for that artwork of yours?" She asks me, and at that moment I look outside the kitchen window and see Loki riding up from one of the western trails on Commander. His hair, free from its usual braid or ponytail he normally wears it in, is blown around his face by the wind. He sat straight in the saddle, everything about him screaming royalty; from the way his face was turned to the side as he looked out over my backyard like it was his kingdom, to the way his back was straight and his eyes shined, and I was suddenly struck with inspiration so strong I could barely speak, but I managed to reply to Andy.
"I think I have inspiration covered Andy. I'll talk to you later ok?" I tell her, and we exchange goodbyes and she promised to transfer the money from my work to my bank account by next Monday before I hang up the phone. In an almost daze I head to the room next to Loki's bedroom and open the door, revealing a room filled with all my art supplies. Blank stretch canvases, blocks of sculpting clay, boxes of oil pastels, graphite pencils, charcoal sticks, and colored pencils, and plenty of bottles of acrylic paint, palettes of watercolor paints, and plenty of different types of paint brushes in a glass jar on the table next to my easel, with my stained acrylic paint palette leaning against the jar. I studied all my supplies, before deciding on doing an acrylic painting as my first new piece, but I had to do a sketch first. I grab a stick of charcoal, since the strokes would be bold and immediate, and grab an almost fully used up sketchbook from the closet before sitting at the stool in front of my easel and getting to work.
I was half way done with my pre-painting sketch when the door behind me opened. I had been so focused on my sketch that I jumped and almost fell from the stool because of the squeak the hinges made. I whirled around and saw Loki standing in the doorway with a little smirk on his lips, Atlas at his heels. My Maine Coon seemed to enjoy following him most everywhere; the traitor.
"I'm sorry Diana, did I scare you?" His voice held the slight delight he so obviously felt at making me jump.
I glared at him, but had to fight to keep my lips from pulling up into a smile. "You simply startled me Loki. I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings."
"Oh really? And what had you so preoccupied? Did you recently perfect a new food recipe?" He asked with a sardonic smirk, reminding me of the time I was thinking up a way to make a batch of brownies better when he startled me so much I dropped a cup of flour and it got all over my kitchen.
I rolled my eyes and closed my sketchbook, setting it down on my stool as I stood up and walked towards the doorway where Loki stood.
"If you must know, I was working on the sketch for my next painting. I got a call from a friend of mine not too long ago, saying she had sold all of my artwork that she had displayed in her gallery. It all sold for fifteen thousand dollars." I said, and I knew he could see the happiness and excitement sparking in my eyes.
He raised an eyebrow and his smirk widened. "Oh really now? I guess that means she needs more artwork from you doesn't it?" I nod in response to his question, a wide smile on my lips as I maneuver around him, heading to the kitchen to grab a snack before getting back to work for a bit.
"Yes it does, and I have plenty of inspiration to get my next few pieces done." I tell him as I grab an apple from my overhanging fruit bowl.
Loki follows behind me, grabbing an orange from the bowl and starting to peel it as I take a bite from my red apple.
"So what is your inspiration for these pieces?" He asks me, and I chew slowly as I think of how I should word the answer, before swallowing.
"You." I say simply, before taking another bite of my apple, the crunch of me chewing the only sound for a few seconds as Loki looks at me in slight disbelief.
"Me? Why me?" He asks me, and I shrug as I swallow my bite.
"Because I want to paint you, it's as simple as that. I can't help what I get inspired by, it just happens. And you just so happen to be the inspiration for this batch of artwork. Well, you and your children, if that's ok?" I say hesitantly, afraid he was gonna say no.
He looks at me for so long I start fidgeting, before a small smile graces his lips.
"I think that would be astounding." He says softly before taking a section of his peeled orange and putting it into his mouth, chewing it contently.
I smile back before taking another bite of my apple, feeling like everything was right in the world.
A few hours later I felt like I couldn't have been more wrong. I was sitting in my kitchen as I watched my brother Aiden, who had decided to come up for a surprise visit, and Loki argue back and forth. Now, I do love my brother, and Loki has become my friend over the past two months he's been living with me, but this argument was ridiculous.
Granted, I probably should have told Aiden that a possibly wanted war criminal was staying with me, but I figured he'd understand once he saw that Loki had been injured and was mortal. Clearly, I was wrong according to the way my eye was twitching.
"I don't care if you WERE a prince of Asgard! You have no right to impose upon my little sister!" Aiden screamed, his blonde hair all messed up from how many times he had run his hands through it and his blue eyes sparking with anger. He may have been only an inch taller than Loki, but his muscles were much more pronounced. (1)
"It's not exactly imposing when she's not in a hurry to get rid of me now is it?!" Loki yelled back with a smug smirk, his coal black hair framing his face and his green eyes bright with his own anger and with mischief. He may have not as much muscle mass as my brother, but what he lacked in muscle it was clear he made up for in cunning and speed.
At that the yelling increased to such a crescendo that even Taboo and Kida joined in with loud barking. I could only handle the arguing for a few seconds more before I finally snapped.
"ENOUGH!" I roared out, ceasing all noise around me as everyone looked at me as I advanced upon my Aiden and Loki, grabbed an ear from them in each of my hands and twisted, causing them to yelp in pain.
"Ow ow ow! Sis, let go!" Aiden pleaded, while Loki struggled in my grip.
I shook them by their ears, causing Aiden to fall silent and Loki to stop struggling.
"Now that I have your attention, can you two please STOP fighting like children and act like the adults that I know you are?" I tell them calmly, though my paler eyes show how angry I really am.
"But he started it! And what is he even doing-ack!" I cut off my brother's rant with a rather violent ear twist.
"If you had listened and kept your temper then you would know, now wouldn't you?" I shot at him. "Now, are you two ready to stop arguing and behave like your ages?"
"Yes sis/Lady Diana." They said at the same time, and I released their ears. They rubbed them gently as Loki glared at me and Aiden glared at Loki. I simply lean back against the countertops and cross my arms.
"Now then, Aiden, what would you like to know? And NO yelling!" I tell him sternly, and he glares at Loki and jabs a finger in his direction.
"What is HE doing here Diana? He's a wanted war criminal, and he's dangerous! He let loose an alien army and nearly destroyed Manhattan!" He tells me in agitation.
I raise an eyebrow. "Don't you think I knew that when I took him in? For god's sake, he's mortal Aiden! The most I have to worry about is him spiking my breakfast with hot sauce or putting glue in my seat! He's not a risk to me."
"And what happens when he gets his powers back huh? What then?" Aiden asks me angrily.
"The only way for me to get my magic and immortality back is for me to regret my actions in trying to take over your planet, you bumbling idiot. Lady Diana has no risk of that happening." Loki tells my brother venomously, and I feel a bit sad knowing that he feels like he'd never get his magic back. I sigh as my brother glares at Loki and looks like he's about to punch his lights out.
"Ok, enough. Aiden, as you can see I am still alive after two months of living with Loki, and I'm still as healthy as when you last saw me. Loki, my brother may be a bumbling idiot sometimes but his heart is in the right place. He was simply worried about me, as any big brother would be." I tell them evenly.
"But he-" I hold up my hand to stop Aiden.
"But nothing; I'm alive and well, and feel like celebrating because of my recently sold art. So call mom and invite her over once the bakery closes, and either help with dinner or shut up and go sit in the living room. And ask mom to bring a bottle of wine too." I tell him before smartly turning on my heel and heading to the pantry, grabbing what I needed for dinner tonight before starting to cook, Loki helping me with what I asked of him while Aiden talked to mom in the living room and sulked.
As dinner was finishing up and as Loki set the dining room table for four, the doorbell rang as my mom arrived and soon I had plated dinner up with a flourish and set a plate down in front of everyone.
"Bacon wrapped sirloin with Spanish rice and mixed vegetables? What's the occasion for us to have this wonderful meal lass?" My mother asks as I sit down and Aiden opens the bottle of wine she brought, pouring a decent amount into my mother's, his, and my own wine glasses before setting the bottle roughly down next to Loki, almost spilling some.
"Aiden! Your da and I didn't raise you to be rude! And be careful with the wine for heaven's sake! It's almost as old as you are!" Mother chastises him as she lightly cuffed him on the ear. I silently snickered when she wasn't looking at Aiden's misfortune.
I blushed lightly as I saw Loki wink at me mischievously before pouring himself a glass of wine and smiling charmingly at my mother.
"It's quite alright Mrs. Sullivan. Over my years of life I've been treated worse. I've learned not to let people who do not like me affect my outlook on life." He told her before taking a sip of his glass of wine, and I did the same to cover up the fading blush on my cheeks. I sighed in appreciation at the spicy, bold, and fruity flavor of the Grenache my mother brought.
Aiden glares at Loki periodically over the course of the dinner, but Loki ignores him and instead engages in polite conversation with my mother and I. My mother congratulated me when I told her how well my previous batch of artwork in Andy's gallery sold, and she was just as curious as Andy was concerning the Halloween festival.
"Halloween?" Loki questioned as the subject was brought up.
"It's one of the major holidays of the year on Earth. It started out as All Hallows' Eve, which was a Christian feast influenced by Celtic harvest festivals and by the Gaelic Samhain. Nowadays though, it's basically a holiday where children dress up as fairy tale characters, mythical creatures and other such things to go out trick or treating for candy, or where people hold costume parties for friends and family for fun." I explain to Loki as dinner progresses.
"So it's like the harvest festivals we have on Asgard?" Loki asks, and I nod in agreement.
Eventually dinner ends and the four of us are just sipping our second, or third in Aiden's case, glass of wine. My mother volunteers to go and clean the dirty dishes, and she drags along Aiden, despite his loud protests. I smile as they vanish behind the swinging kitchen door and motion Loki to follow me into the living room.
I sigh in exhaustion as I plop down onto the soft couch, leaning back against the pillows as Cleo leaps up and plants herself in my lap. I softly laugh as Loki sits relatively close to me on the couch and scratch under her chin, causing her to start purring in satisfaction.
"I am sorry for my brother's attitude today Loki." I tell him softly as my eyes look over to him. "He's just always been a bit overprotective since…well, since my hospital stay really."
Loki looks over at me and smiles a bit. "It's perfectly alright. I've dealt with people like that my whole life. Eventually you build up a shell against it." He tells me a bit bitterly.
I sadly look at him and lay a hand on his shoulder. "Loki, no one should have the power to make you feel inferior without your consent. I can't begin to imagine the hell you've gone through over the centuries you've been alive. But I hope the past two months here have changed your mind about some people at least a little bit." I softly smile at him, and laugh as Kida puts her head in his lap with a plaintive whine.
He laughs softly as well and pats her head before looking at me. He gently takes my hand from his shoulder and brings it to his lips. My breath hitches in my throat as he lays a soft kiss to my knuckles. His lips are surprisingly soft, and cool to the touch, and his hands are strong, but elegant, with long fingers.
"It has only changed my mind about you my dear. You went from being someone who I thought was too good, too pure to know the hate in the world, to someone who I know has been touched by the world's evil and has come back fighting. You intrigue me very much, Lady Diana, and I hope to keep unraveling the secrets you keep to know you better." Loki says charmingly before pressing another kiss to my hand and releasing it.
At that time my cheeks are warm and blushing red so I try to distract myself by ducking my head and resuming in petting Cleo and hope my blush goes away before my brother and mother see it.
When Aiden and my mother finally leave I've calmed down enough to smile while waving them off as Aiden leaves on his black and red Kawasaki Ninja bike and mom left in her blue Chevy Cruze. I gave a sigh of relief at them finally being gone before looking up at the sky. I was busy studying the stars so much I almost didn't hear Loki coming up next to me.
"It's a bit humbling isn't it? To see all those stars up in that mass of cosmos and realize how small you are?" I said softly, before amending my statement. "At least to us mortals it is. For you Asgardians, there can't be many things that make you feel humble."
I look at Loki, and am surprised when I find him looking at me.
"There are a few things." He says just as softly, before moving a curl of my hair that was hanging in my face to behind my ear. I was glad it was dark because I was blushing up a storm, but he could probably feel the heat coming from my cheeks.
He gave me a small smirk before heading inside, and after a few minutes of giving my cheeks times to cool down, I followed him inside, but instead of heading upstairs I went to my art room. I felt too restless to sleep, so I figured about an hour painting would help me relax. Plus, I wanted to get started on painting my first creation.
Though I had planned on only painting for an hour, four hours had passed by the time I noticed how late it was, and it only happened after I heard Loki screaming.
Third P.O.V
Once Loki had closed his bedroom's door behind him, he instantly smirked wider. To him, Diana had fallen for every trick in his book. Both pulling her hair behind her ear and kissing her knuckles had made her blush, so she definitely was at least feeling a connection to him.
He thought about how it had felt to kiss her knuckles. The palm of her hand had been rougher than he expected; he figured taking care of her animals and being an artist was bound to give her a few callouses. Not at all like the soft hands of the highborn ladies of the Asgardian court who did nothing but gossip and hold parties, but softer than Sif's who trained endlessly when she wasn't eating or sleeping or pining after his brother.
Her knuckles had the raised ridges of faint scars, but he figured that it was from her being a professional fighter like she told him. Granted, he hadn't been unaffected when he kissed her knuckles either, but he blamed it on the wine and pushed the foolhardy flutter in his chest away as he got ready for bed. He fell asleep with a smirk on his face, thinking that his plan to get closer to her was working.
However, the smirk was gone from his face as he tossed and turned in his bed, his mind in the midst of one of his worst nightmares yet.
"Do you honestly think you are worth anything, Jotun runt?" Thanos whispered in his ear as electricity coursed through Loki's body. "Not even your own people wanted you, let alone the people of Asgard. You are NOTHING."
Loki screamed as he smelled and felt his flesh burning from the electricity charged prod in Thanos's hands. Thanos grinned in pleasure at Loki's pain, and at Loki's screams. Thanos enjoyed torturing Loki, to break his spirit and to make him more pliant.
He set down the electric prod and instead picked up a rather sharp looking knife, and pushed Loki face first onto the ground. Loki panted heavily, his mind hazy from the sudden stop in pain until Thanos started carving the knife into his back, and then Loki started screaming again. The only thing Loki could feel was the rough ground against the front of his body and the knife carving into deep into his upper back, cutting through muscle and tendon as Thanos cut into his flesh.
Thanos only tossed the knife away once Loki's back was covered in blood and caked in grime; the word 'RUNT' in jagged lettering was carved into his upper back. Loki was limp on the ground, trying desperately not to whimper, to keep some of his pride, but Thanos was having none of it.
He grabbed Loki's leg, and slowly started applying pressure to his ankle. Loki whimpered and started screaming again as Thanos slowly crushed Loki's ankle into fragments. Thanos laughed uproariously as Loki screamed, and continued to scream till he almost tore his vocal cords as Thanos got the electric prod again, but instead of beating Loki with it, Thanos thought of another place to put it.
Loki reached a new level of pain filled screams as Thanos breached his anal passage with the electric prod on its highest setting. (2)
Loki was still screaming as he tossed violently in his bed and Diana forced his door open after hearing his screams from her art room. She quickly rushed to his side, and grabbed his shoulder.
"Loki! Loki, wake up! It's just a dream!" She tried to yell over his screaming, but his pain filled shrieks blocked her out, so she shook him to try and get him to wake up.
Loki's emerald green eyes, which almost glowed in the darkness of his room, snapped open as she shook him. His eyes may have been open, but his mind was still trapped in his nightmare. He didn't see Diana standing next to his bed, but Thanos looming over him.
Diana choked on her next attempt to call Loki's name as he tackled her to the floor with surprising strength and wrapped his long fingers around her throat. She tried to gasp for air, but couldn't breathe or talk because his grip was so tight. She was in such shock that she was paralyzed underneath him as he loomed over her.
"Loki," she finally managed to choke out, "I can't breathe…"
Loki heard Diana finally and his pupil's focused on her underneath him and saw her eyes looking up at him in fear, and her lips trying to bring in oxygen. His eyes widened as he rapidly let go of her neck and backed away from her, pressing his body against the wall as he hyperventilated.
Diana gulped air into her lungs as she coughed and curled into a ball, trying to get her heart to stop racing and reaching up to rub her neck, flinching as she touched the rapidly forming handprint bruises on it.
She soon gets her breathing under control and stops coughing as she uncurls from her ball and looked at Loki, who was still pressed up against the wall. She slowly gets to her feet and leans against his bed.
"Wanna tell me what the fuck that was about?" Diana asks him, her voice a croak as she winces and coughs again. She stands up and turns on the overhead light, and Loki's eyes are drawn to the bright red bruises on Diana's neck.
"I-I'm sorry Lady Diana, I d-didn't mean to attack you. I thought y-you were someone else…" Loki stutters, his voice betraying him and his cheeks gaining a slight pink hue.
Diana laughs humorlessly, though it sounds more like a dying frog's croak. "Yeah, I figured that. Wanna tell me who you thought I was? Or who scared you that much?" She asked as she gently rubbed her throat.
Loki opens his mouth, but at first nothing comes out but an embarrassing croak. He cleared his throat and tried again. "T-the monster that gave me my scars." He says softly, and Diana looks at him before sighing and walking to him.
"Come on," She says, holding her hand out to him, "let's go to the kitchen. I'll make some hot chocolate while I deal with these bruises."
Loki looks up at Diana in confusion, before he takes her hand and shakily gets to his feet. She leads him to the kitchen, him tightly holding her hand like a lifeline to the conscious world.
Embarrassed, Loki lets go of her hand once they reach the kitchen. Diana doesn't say anything as she putting a saucepan filled with enough milk for two mugs on the stove before turning on the sink faucet and sticking her hand under the stream.
When she brings it out a layer of water sticks to her hand, like a clear glove, and she brings it up to her neck as her eyes softly glow white. Loki watched, stunned as the water glowed a pale blue as it moved and writhed over Diana's neck.
She sighed as the cooling and healing sensation of the water moved over her bruised neck, gently soothing and healing the marks. Once she felt sure that the bruises would never darken, and instead would only be a bit sore for the next few days, the water stopped glowing as she pulled it from her neck to the sink.
Loki's eyes had widened as he saw the red marks he had left on her neck had faded away to nothing more than a few red pinpricks of leftover burst blood vessels. Diana paid no attention to him until she was pouring milk into two mismatched mugs filled with hot chocolate mix and a few marshmallows.
She mixed up Loki's first, to give him a little time to gather his thoughts as she mixed up her own drink. When she finished her drink, she took a long draught from it before turning towards Loki.
"Before you ask, my healing water bending is only strong enough for me to heal more minor wounds, like bruises, small cuts, and insect bites; but I can use it to help stop blood flow to a wound or in relaxing a person's muscles or mind to help them sleep." Diana explains to him before he can ask her a question.
"Now then, who's the monster who gave you all of those scars and why am I the first person to notice them?"
Right to the point I see. Loki thought as he took a small sip of the drink in his hand, before sighing as the warmth flooded his stomach. He licked his lips, before starting.
"The monster who gave me these scars, and who still haunts my dreams, is the mad Titan, Thanos. He strives to destroy the universe in the name Death, his Lady Love, and seat himself upon a throne made of the carcasses of his conquests." Loki says, his hands slightly shaking as he puts his mug of cocoa on the table, looking at the snowy owl on a night sky background but not really seeing it.
"When I fell from the Bifrӧst in my battle against Thor in Asgard when I tried to destroy Jotunheim, I wandered in the abyss of space until I landed on a distant planet, at the very edges of the World Tree. It was nothing but barren landscapes and rocky outcroppings; it was the Chitauri planet, and the most recent one that Thanos, and his servant the Other, had landed upon to inhabit. I was tortured endlessly; I was cut, whipped, branded, stabbed, and r-raped, until finally he gave me an offer I couldn't refuse. Either join him in his conquest against Asgard, or I'd soon crave for something as sweet as pain." Loki said, his body lightly shaking as more memories of his torture floated through his head. He started as Diana sat in the chair next to him and gently laid her hand on his cheek, wiping away a tear he didn't even realize he had shed.
Loki bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut, his shaking intensifying as more tears fall and shame pierced through his heart; shame at showing weakness, shame at having nightmares, shame at not being stronger. He took a shaky breath, Diana's hand still wiping away his tears, and continued talking.
"I had no choice but to join him, and so mere days before I came to Midgard to start his invasion, he took control of my mind using the scepter. After that, I don't remember anything but flashes of what happened between then and when the giant green beast threw me around like a rag doll." Loki said bitterly, tears still falling from his closed eyes.
"Why am I the only person who's seen your scars? Surely they must have been noticed by someone in Asgard." Diana said softly, still gently wiping away his tears. Compassion and sympathy bloomed in her heart as she watched Loki break down in front of her.
Loki shook his head. "No, I was always clothed. I was thrown in a cell almost the minute I was brought in front of Odin, and I was barely allowed to change my clothes or to bathe. When I was allowed, I did it in the privacy of my cell. I had no human contact except for the guards who watched over me or gave me food, or the visits from Thor and Frigga, barely lasting minutes."
"So no one knows of the torture you went through? They had to have noticed it somehow Loki. I've seen your scars, there's no way no one else noticed." Diana says, and Loki looks up at her, his eyes wide and a shaky scowl on his face.
"Don't you get it, you insufferable wench?! No one saw because they didn't wish to, or they didn't care! No one cares for a false trickster god! I'm nothing but a Jotun runt that was left to die out in the cold! No one cares if I die or spend the rest of eternity being tortured! Thanos will end up finding me, and no one will stand against him to save me!" Loki screams, his voice cracking at the end as he slammed his fist onto the table, jarring the mugs of hot chocolate but not causing them to spill. He breathed heavily as he looked at the floor, trying to hold back the sobs wanting to escape from his throat.
"I will." It is said softly, so softly Loki almost doesn't hear it. He looks up at Diana with wide eyes, cheeks wet from his tears, hair escaping the ponytail he set it in before bed, eyes bloodshot and still watering.
Diana looks down at him, her eyes warm and compassionate, and strong as she looked back into his. She gently cups Loki's face in her hands, holding his face in place.
"I will stand up to him Loki, even if I'm the only one." She says to him, a fire blazing in her chest to protect the broken man in front of her, to make sure the monster that gave him his scars would never again torture him.
Loki looks at Diana, seeing the determination and protection sparking in her eyes. He was once again at a loss when shown how determined she is to help him, for no one, save for Frigga and Thor at times, had ever been this determined to help him, or protect him.
Diana sees the confusion in Loki's eyes, but also sees the glint of hope in them.
"You…you would do that for me? Why?" Loki asks her softly.
"Because I care about you Loki, and I always try to protect the people, or animals, I care about." Diana said with a small smile.
Loki stared at her for a moment, before closing his eyes and tightly hugging her around her waist, laying his head on her shoulder.
Diana hugged him back, her arms gently wrapped around his shoulders as she gently soothed away his shaking and his last few tears.
"Thank you, Lady Diana."
With Clint, Natasha, and Bruce
Bruce looked around the small town as Clint parked in front of a massive three story Victorian style house in a pale shade of blue with white trim, a semi-wraparound porch, and a stone pathway leading up to the front steps, lined with red mums and white tulips. A small sign with the words "Angel Wings' Inn: Heaven on Earth."
Bruce thought the town and Inn looked very peaceful. The streets were clean, each of the shops had a planter with colorful flowers out front, there were a few people walking around and everyone looked cheerful, and the colorful autumn foliage of the forests in the background gave the town a very picturesque feel to it. The City Hall, a large brick building, stood across the road with a fountain in front. The outer stone rim had metal horses rearing with water spouting from their mouths facing towards the inside, where a classic three tiered fountain stood.
Clint thought the town and Inn looked rather boring. He couldn't see anything exciting about this place, so he figured if it wasn't for the fact he was here to observe Diana Sullivan with Natasha and Bruce he wouldn't be here, or he'd probably just pass through to get back to the city. Clint preferred a measure of activity in his life, so if he actually lived here he'd probably go crazy.
Natasha thought the town looked too perfect. The people were too happy, the stores were too cute, and everything was just too perfect. Granted, she was being a bit cynical, but in her mind everyone had a bit of darkness inside them, and she hated when she couldn't see it.
However, they soon grabbed their bags and entered the navy blue door to the Angel Wings' Inn, and looked around the den. A small podium lectern stood to the side, the walls were a pale blue with white feathers painted sporadically on them, and an old woman with white hair pulled back into a knot at the nape of her neck came from where they deduced was the living room. She was dressed in a loose white blouse, a pair of pale blue dress pants, and a pair of white shoes with a small heel. Though her face was lined, her warm brown eyes were sharp but kind.
"Hello there, you must be the new guests. My name is Rose McMullan." She says in a cheery voice with a smile.
"Hello Mrs. McMullan. I'm Nancy Rushman." Natasha said with a smile. "This is my cousin Bryce Banning-" She gestures to Bruce, "And my fiancé Caleb Burton." She gestures to Clint.
"It's lovely to meet you, dearies. Just let me sign you in and then I'll get my grandson to take your bags up to your rooms." She says and walks to the lectern and signed the trio's names into the guest book with a fountain pen, before heading to the stairs and calling up them.
"Brendan! Brendan, come down here please!" She says, and not a minute later a teenager of about 17 came walking down the stairs. Bruce felt his eyebrows rise in surprise at the way the kid looked.
His hair was such a pale blonde it was almost white as it hung past his shoulders, but his eyes were the same brown as his grandmother's, lined in kohl in his angular face. He wore pinstriped black pants and a black long sleeved shirt, but with the sleeves rolled up and a red vest over it. On his feet he wore a pair of black combat boots, and a silver cross hung from his left ear and a hoop in the middle of his lower lip, with a silver studded belt around his hips.
"You called grandma?" He said softly, a small smile on his lips as he stopped next to his grandmother.
"Brendan, take Mr. Burton's and Ms. Rushman's bags up to the rose room please. And then come and take Mr. Banning's things to the poppy room." She says and lovingly pats his cheek.
"Yes grandma." Brendan shyly looks at the trio, picks up Natasha's and Clint's duffels and starts up the stairs. "Follow me, please."
As they disappear up the stairs, Mrs. McMullan turns to Bruce.
"Please don't judge my grandson by the way he looks Mr. Banning. He's a really sweet, if shy, boy. He's never gotten in trouble, and he's a straight A student at Granville high school." She tells him.
Bruce smiles and shakes his head. "It's alright Mrs. McMullan; I've learned not to judge a book by its cover over my life."
She smiles happily as her grandson walks back down the stairs and takes up Bruce's luggage.
"Follow me Mr. Banning, please." He says softly and heads up the stairs, Bruce a few steps behind him. Brendan leads Bruce up to the second floor and down the left side of the hall to a white door with a smattering of bright red poppies splayed on it. He opens the door to reveal a room with pale green carpet, a queen sized bed with white blankets and red pillows, beige walls with a border of poppy flowers above white floor molding and pine furniture consisting of a desk and chair in one corner next to a nice sized window and a nightstand with a stained glass Tiffany lamp showing a field of poppies.
"Your companions are two doors down on the right Mr. Banning, in the room with the green door with the yellow roses painted on it. Your bathroom is through that door, and your closet is through the other one. My grandmother serves breakfast in the dining room at 9 A.M tomorrow, and dinner at 7 P.M. I'm afraid you'll have to go into town for lunch." Brendan says softly as he sets Bruce's suitcase down at the foot of the bed. He shyly turns to Bruce.
"I hope you enjoy your stay here at my grandmother's Inn." He says before exiting the room, closing the door behind him. Bruce softly chuckles at the teenager's shyness before heading out of his room and towards Clint and Natasha's.
They're already waiting for him outside of the room. "Nice place here. We have a king sixed bed for the two of us, with hand painted roses on the walls, and an adjoining bathroom too." Natasha tells him as they head back down the stairs and outside.
"I saw the bakery that Diana Sullivan's mother, Fiona, owns when we drove up the street. It's only about a block and a half from here. Wanna see if we can get a bit of info on where exactly Diana's farm is?" Clint asked. Natasha and Bruce had no objections, so off they went down the street.
They reached Cakes N' Crumbs fairly quickly, and the bell over the door jingled cheerily as they entered the store. The inside was tastefully done in tans, blues, and whites; the floor was a tan hardwood with a few white and blue patterned rugs placed in front of the pasty displays, the walls were a sapphire shade of blue with white crown molding and a white ceiling.
And what pastries the display held! Bruce counted at least 15 different cupcake and muffin types, Natasha spotted ten different types of pies, both normal sized and mini, and Clint saw bear claws, éclairs, cream horns, cannoli's, puff pastries, turnovers, and various cookies. Not to mention that the shelf behind the displays held loafs of bread, buns, and croissants, and the air pleasantly smelled of cinnamon, chocolate, lemon, and the lingering scent of leftover coffee.
Behind the front counter stood a woman in either her late forties or early fifties of average height, with dirty blonde hair pulled back into a bun, ocean blue eyes on a heart shaped face with laugh and smile lines around them and her mouth, which was pulled into a smile. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans with sensible shoes, a white shirt, and a long white apron over her clothes with "Fiona, Manager", stitched onto the left breast pocket.
"Can I help you?" She said cheerily, her voice holding a prominent Irish accent.
"Hello, we're visiting Granville for a few days and we passed by here on our way to the Inn, and were trying to figure out where to grab a quick snack for lunch." Clint said charmingly.
"Well then I'm glad you stopped by. If you want something on the sweeter side we have apple pie, or strawberry muffins, or triple chocolate cupcakes. Or if you want something savory and more filling there's a chicken or beef pot pie." Fiona said, gesturing to the pastry displays.
Clint decided on getting two mini chicken pot pies, Natasha bought a small pecan pie and a plain croissant, and Bruce chose a mini beef pot pie and two gingersnap cookies. As Fiona was bagging up their purchases, Natasha casually brought up horseback riding.
"Miss Fiona, you wouldn't happen to know anywhere my fiancé, cousin and I could ride horses would you? Because I use to love riding them before moving to the city, and horse carriage rides just aren't the same." Natasha says sweetly, and Fiona gets a thoughtful expression on her face.
"Well, my daughter owns horses and gives guided trail rides through some of the paths in the forest, but she normally doesn't give tours in anytime but the summer except for special occasions. But you might have a chance if you go within the next few days. She lives over on Chandler Road, in the green Victorian house. " She tells them.
Natasha thanks her warmly and they collect their purchases before leaving the bakery. "Well, sounds like we'll be busy for the next few days." Natasha says as they convene in the back patio of the Angel Wings' Inn.
"We gonna scout out the place tomorrow?" Clint asks after swallowing a bite of one of his pies.
"Yup." Natasha says as she nibbles on her croissant.
"We're gonna need to bring those motion activated, mini spy cameras?" Bruce asked hesitantly, not liking the fact that they were going to invade a woman's private life.
"Is there a problem with that, Doctor?" Natasha asks with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't exactly feel comfortable spying on the woman's life. I would prefer it if we kept the cameras out of the inside of the house." Bruce says, looking the assassin straight in the eye. A lesser man would've had trouble keeping the gaze of Natasha, but Bruce was different. He knew that even now, the woman was still weary of him and what he could do.
"Very well. We'll limit our access to the outside of the house and to the barn, for now. I hope there's nothing wrong with that." Natasha said a bit condescendingly, but Bruce smiled serenely.
"That's all I ask."
1) Ok, in my mind Aiden would be played by Kellan Lutz if this story was ever made into a movie, or if you guys just want an actor to base him upon. Just look at a pic of Kellan with blonde hair and a bit of scruff on his cheeks and you have Aiden. And it works both ways because Kellan works as a brunette too, which will be awesome once Lucas comes into the picture in a later chapter.
2) Ok ok, please don't kill me! I had to do something that would make Thanos a big enough villain in my story, to show his evilness. I don't really have a stomach for torture all that much though, so I don't know if this was detailed enough to show off how evil Thanos can be. It did kill me to write this, I don't like torturing people.
Ok, I'm soo sorry for throwing in the dream, but I had to give at least some back story on what happened to Loki while he was with Thanos. I did warn you guys that there was gonna be angst, but I paired it with some fluff as well.
Loki: *shudders violently and glares at author* I hate you…
Silver: *sighs* Yes, I know you do. I hate me too…
Diana: *hugs the author gently* Come on Silver, perk up. It's not the end of the story. It's only chapter 10.
Silver: *nods and hugs Diana back* You're right; it isn't the end of the world. I have more of the story to right. Thanks for reminding me Diana.
Now then, I'd like to remind you all that I own nothing but Diana, her animals, her family, and the town and all the buildings in it. I'd rather not get sued here.