Loki sits beside her. Aurora takes a deep breath.
She begins,"I grew up in a typical family, a mother, a father, an older brother and me. My mother, Renee, is a loving mother, she worked as an elementary teacher in my hometown of Albany. My father, Richard, was an ex-military man, who is police chief. One of the more feared or respected officers in my home town. My older brother, Chris, was literally the apple of my dad's eye. I think to some extent, dad was disappointed that I was not born a boy. Dad was all about discipline, working hard, and especially athletics. My brother Chris was an excellent athlete. Dad literally spent every free moment he could with him. Chris played several sports including basketball, baseball and football. He is 2 years older than me, so by the time I got to school, EVERYONE knew I was "Chris' little sister". Chris was a good big brother. He was talented in sports and he knew it. But, he was always looking out for me and protecting me. Still though, I was always a little jealous of dad's preference to him. "
She continues, "Growing up, I knew I was different though. I never talked about it though. I wanted to enjoy being a kid, a chance I don't think Chris really had because dad was always training him for whatever sport was going on in our town that season. Mom just supported us both; she always said we were meant to do great things. I played basketball and softball too, I was talented too. I won awards for sports, but I never could ever get my father's approval, no matter how great I did. To me, sports were great for showcasing arrogance and vanity, something my brother fell victim to as he got older. So I decided to become a dancer."
She takes a drink of her water and continues her story: "I enjoyed my childhood, my friends and my mother kept me going. One night at the dinner table, we were all eating and my dad asked Chris how his day at school was and I heard my mother say, "Richard, you have a daughter too, you know." The only thing was she was eating and the words never came from her mouth. Then, as dinner went on, I could hear everything my brother was thinking, which wasn't very interesting at all. It was mainly gibberish on some girl he liked and that he was looking forward to Homecoming. My dad's thoughts were the ones I found interesting. I found out all kinds of things about his work. The fact that I was a dancer blew his mind and though it took no athletic ability whatsoever. So it only made me dance more to spite him. I realized that mind reading was going to be very useful. I could read anyone's mind, if they were in proximity to me. I didn't need to use it for scholastic achievement because I had already tested at a genius IQ level. I used to gain popularity. I used it to find out people's secrets and so on, blackmailing others and the like. I think my parents realized something was always different about me, especially when I was practicing my telepathy. Thing is, I spent so much time covering it up and lying about different things, to them and others, it just became natural. I wanted so desperately to fit in, so I continued. I didn't want to, but I needed to. No one knew the truth. Once Chris left for college on a football scholarship, I didn't see him as much. I spent that time, trying in earnest to earn my father's approval. My mother was the support I needed. I kept on studying and dancing. My dancing was my escape. My mother attended my recitals, but my father opted to stay at home so he could watch Chris's games on television. So I decided to apply to any college or university that I could. It was easy, I was accepted at most colleges, but I opted for Yale. Even going to an Ivy League school wasn't good enough for my father. After getting my bachelor's degree in Information System Technologies, I transferred to MIT for my Master's degree in Computer Science and Programming. It was there, that I had problem. I had an incident similar to the one you witnessed earlier today. Today was mild compared to what happened to me." She pauses, would you like something to drink?"
"Yes, water is fine." She gets up and walks over to the refrigerator and gets a bottle of water for him. She hands it to him. "Please Aurora continue your story." he say as he opens the bottle of water. She sits back beside him.
"Alright, well one night I was headed back to my apartment from a lecture. I decided to walk, because it wasn't very far. All of a sudden, someone grabbed me and pulled me into a dark alley. He overpowered me, he was strong. I pleaded for him to leave me alone and to take my money, but he said he didn't want my money. I pleaded for him not to hurt me, he hit my head and I fell to the ground. He rolled me over and pinned me down with his body. Then he was reaching for a knife and he told me he was going to slit my throat. I told him he would be sorry, before he got the chance; I felt this intense rush of heat inside of me and everything went black for a minute. The angrier I became the warmer I felt and all of sudden, the man was disintegrated right in front of me. Then the alley walls started to crumble down, like an aftershock. I grabbed my things, avoided the debris and ran to my apartment. There was a knock at my door a few hours later. When I opened the door, there was a bald man in a chair looking back at me. He introduced himself as Charles Xavier and said that he was here to help me. I didn't believe him. He told me not to be frightened and that my powers were nothing to be ashamed of. He asked me if I ever felt different growing up and I said yes. I asked him how he found me. He said he was a mutant too. He can sense other mutants and that my incident was powerful enough to alert him. I asked him to come in. Then some guy with glasses came in with him, a Scott, I think. Anyways, he explained to me that being a mutant wasn't something to be ashamed of."
Loki's eyebrows cocked, "A Mutant? What is a mutant?"
"Well, Professor X explained it to me like this: Mutants are genetically superior to humans. We have an X gene that affects us at a cellular level. It has the ability to alter one's physical or mental structure or appearance. It can manifest in different ways and at different times and have varied degrees of strength and force. There are many of us that exist, in plain sight."
"My telepathy was basic. I can read minds of anyone in proximity of me. However the incident of me disintegrating a man, causing a blast was very powerful. He asked me if I would be interested in finding out more about my powers. I agreed. So I went with him and Scott to a mansion in Salem Center, New York. It was a school called Xavier's school for Gifted Youngsters. Although, I was only 21, I was way older than the students and the same age as the teachers who were also mutants. He sat down and assessed me. Apparently, my power of telepathy was stronger than I had realized. I had undeveloped potential to shroud my thoughts and generate blasts of energy, or "psi-blasts" which is what I generated that vaporized the attacker."
She continues, "Because I had no idea how powerful it was, I was subjected like a lab rat to all these tests. I was hooked up to machines and tubes and was experimented on. During the experiment, I remember feeling very hot and then nothing. When I came to, the lab was destroyed. It turns out, that under extreme emotional response or trauma; I can generate enough kinetic energy from my body and project it. Afterwards, I stayed at the mansion to learn how to control and harness my powers. He taught me how to shroud my thoughts and prevent other from reading them, that way I could remain undetected. I had mastered the telepathy on my own. However, to control my psionic blasts, I had to practice keeping my heart rate down, when faced with incidents of emotional stress. It took a lot of concentration, but I had mastered it and I left back for MIT in Boston a little while later. After graduation, I traveled down here to New York and invested my money on Wall Street and it paid off. I bought a small technology company and renamed it and worked my ass off to build it into the conglomerate it is today. That's about it." She says as she finishes the story, as she looks at him on the couch.
"Does your family know that you are a mutant?" Loki asks
"No, as much as I wanted to tell them, especially my mother I never could. My parents would never understand. I first thought if I told them about it, my dad would be amazed and maybe I could get his love and approval after all these years. I realized that was futile. So I decided I would continue to live my life for me. I just considered my abilities part of my flawed design. I still keep up the charade around other people, including my employees, so that they don't know what I am or what destruction I am capable of. Now, why are you here Loki?"
"I came here for you, I want to make you my queen." He replies
"Since when?" she sniffs
"Last night during our dalliance, you agreed to be mine." He touches her forehead and the dizzying thoughts from last night's events flash back. The love making, his touch, his kisses, all appear so real and then he removes his hand from her head. She backs away and asks, "What are you?"
"I am Loki of Asgard. I am the God of Mischief." As he says this, his Midgardian clothes, disappear and his leather duster and pants, cape and royal armor appear on his body. Aurora starts to think back earlier to her research for S.H.E.I.L.D. The dossier about Selvig, the New Mexico incident, Thor, Asgard, everything she had read that happened a year ago. "You're Loki, brother of Thor, aren't you? I should have known something was different about you. I can't believe I didn't pick up on it. Why weren't you honest with me from the beginning? Why didn't you just tell me you were a freaking God?"
"You wouldn't have believed me. It seems ironic, though, you never told your secret before either. You've lied about it all your life. A liar knows another liar, my dear."
"Fuck You." She quips
"Which is exactly what you did last night, my dear, choose your words wisely next time." he says
She stares at him, utterly speechless.
Loki looks at her, "My love, I am extremely turned on by this side of you. I see such passion and fire in you. I want to love you and make you mine for all time. You are special and a woman like you deserves to be on the arm of the most powerful sorcerer in the nine realms. Please sit. First, let me tell you about my past. I owe you that."
"Where do I begin? I was orphaned. Odin found me and adopted me and raised me alongside Thor as his own. Odin never told me about my true parentage or history. He lied to me. Everything I was taught to believe in growing up was all a lie." Loki sits down and looks up at her, "I too always felt different. I was never sure why though. I was jealous of Thor growing up. Odin lavished attention on him and praised him for his fighting, strength, size and bravery. I remember living in Thor's shadow. I was dark haired, thinner, and not as strong as Thor. I was the younger brother. Instead, I decided to practice sorcery. I used to play pranks on people and cause mischief around Asgard, hence the name: God of Mischief. I have many abilities, I too can read minds, but I can jump the astral plane, control other's thoughts and action, strength and agility, among other powers. I am great sorcerer. I have used my powers in battle, and on several occasions; saved my brother's ass. A few Frost Giants interrupted Thor's coronation and were taken care of. Thor decided to declare war on Jotenheim, I went with him and his friends, the Warriors Three." He pauses and continues,
"I tried to tell Thor it was not a good idea. But he was intent on punishing the Frost Giants. During the battle, a Frost Giant, touched me and my skin turned blue, like his. I killed him, but we were outnumbered. Thankfully Heimdall listened to me and told Odin, who appeared and pulled us out of Jotenhem. Thor, for his actions in breaking the peace, was banished here. After we returned, I went to the vault and touched the Casket. My skin became cold and my eyes red and then it faded. I confronted Odin about it. I discovered that I was the bastard child of the Frost Giant king Laufey. He was ashamed of me and left me to die in the snow. After the war and the treaty, Odin and his wife, Frigga, raised me as their own, with me none the wiser. He admitted he kept the truth from me, to protect me, he said. Basically, I was no more than another stolen relic from his battle in Jotunheim. I was angry. The stress of our argument, put him into the Odinsleep. During that time, I became King of Asgard. I wanted to ensure that peace remained in the kingdom. Thor is too rash to think, as was demonstrated by his attack on Jotunheim. Asgard needed a king with sense and ability, I WAS that king. The rightful king. I just sent the Destroyer to make sure he didn't come back to Asgard. In the meantime, I decided to open the Bi-Frost and destroy Jotenheim. That way there would be no threat to the peace of Asgard. I wanted Odin to be proud of me because I dared to do what he and Thor could not do. When Thor returned, we had a fight and I lost. He destroyed the Bi-Frost, so that the travel between Asgard and Earth, or as we call it Midgard, was no longer possible. I fell into the hole created by the destruction. I remained trapped in between worlds. I had much time to think about things, but still in the void, I was connected to Earth, since I can travel the astral plane. In the void, the Chitauri found me and we struck a deal. The organization S.H.E.I.L.D had discovered a blue cube, called…..."
"The Tesseract. I've seen it." She says, "Why would you want that?"
"I do not want it. The Chitauri do. My only desire is to become King and unite your world in peace. The Chitauri enhanced my powers and allowed me to travel here to find it. Through my ability to possess minds, I found it at S.H.E.I.L.D. It was then, I saw you. I knew I had to meet you. So, I decided to travel here to meet you and have you as my queen. A king needs a queen, and a queen is to be worshipped unconditionally. And you are a queen. Together we can rule as one."
He continues, "It's the unspoken truth of humanity, my dear. The bright lure of freedom diminishes life's joy in a mad scramble for power. You see this every day in countries around your world, while they slaughter each other in droves. People do not have to die for this you see, when there is only one God for humanity to worship, there will be no fighting and killing. I am doing your planet a favor. All that is required is for them to kneel at my command and do as I say and with you by my side, it will be perfect."
"I can see your logic, twisted as it may be; but you do realize that this will not be easy. Nations around the globe will fight you, just as they did thousands of years ago against oppressors to keep that freedom that they fought and died for. People will die in the fight for freedom because they will feel that you have brought war to them. You would literally have to have one hell of an army for this to be considered a reality." She says.
"I do have an army, the Chitauri. They are powerful and not of this world or any other, I will lead them to a glorious conquer of Earth. Once I have the Tesseract, all I have to do is open a portal for them and then it will be begin. Then, I give the Tesseract to them and they continue on their quest for other realm domination and I rule here. It is a beneficial trade on both sides." Loki replied.
"This is madness, Loki. Isn't there another way, can't you just return home to Asgard?"
He rises and walks over to her window and looks out on the city. "No, not yet. I must prove that I am a king, a worthy one at that. Maybe I can return when Odin realizes that I am capable of peace and be a better king than my brother ever would be. For so long, my life has been driven by my desires and jealousy. I too, have lied to people and deceived, purely out of loneliness, but, with you I no longer feel alone and the thought of losing you or of walking away from you scares me." He turns his head to look at her, "I have never felt this strongly before. I know it is sudden, please, Aurora, say you will be mine and I swear to you, that I will never leave your side. No one will ever hurt you again or make you feel less than you are. I am in love with you."
Aurora knew the pain he was feeling. Too long had she longed for her own father's approval and stood in the shadow of her brother. Before her stood a man, no less a god, but a man showing the same vulnerability and emotional destitution that she had experienced for so long. A tear streams down her cheek. Maybe, fate had brought these two misfits together for a purpose. She did like him very much. He was so beautiful and sexy even in his despair and loneliness. She knew he liked her. Maybe, together, they could be more.
Aurora walked up to him and put her arms around his waist from behind him and hugs him. The smell of him and his leather is intoxicating. He places his hands over hers and smiles. He turns her around, so she is facing him and he takes his arms and pulls her into an embrace.
With her head on his chest, she says, "Loki, I know you're in love with me. I can feel it when I'm around you. I feel the same, too. I never thought I would find someone who would understand how I have felt all these years. I have spent my whole life covering up the truth about myself, trying for approval and consumed in self-doubt. I used my powers selfishly for my benefit and the guilt has been too much to bear. You have freed me. I can finally be myself. If something were to happen to you because I lost control, I don't know what I'd do."
Loki looks down on her, "My love, I am a God, an immortal. You can't hurt me. You on the other hand, are still physically fragile and mortal despite your power. I can help you manage that power, you know. When we become husband and wife, you will become immortal. We will be together forever, you and I. You know my true lineage, all I simply want is for you to love me, and when my eyes become crimson and my skin Jotun blue, I want you to warm me with your body and take me as I am, without regret. My heart belongs to you, please say you will be mine."
"Yes, Loki, I will. I want to be with you, I don't want to be lonely anymore. I want to share my life with you."
"You will be my queen?" he asks
"Yes. Yours. Always." she says
Loki smiles and picks her up and kisses her. "I am so happy to hear this. We will celebrate now." Loki scoops her up and starts to carry her like a newlywed bride over the threshold to her bedroom. He looks at her. She has her arms around his neck, as they make it to the bedroom. He sets her down on the bed. "Before I take you as mine and mine alone; to give your pleasures untold, you must give me something in return. I told you that I always collect on my debts."
Aurora smirks at him, "I knew you were going to say that. I am happy to oblige. Anything for you."
"I know, my queen and afterward you will be rewarded with pleasures untold. Now kneel before your King."