My head rose and fell, my cheek against a warm chest. I wrapped my arms tighter around the object I was lying on. My legs were tangled around another pair of limbs. Hands rested on the small of my back whilst soft snores sounded above my head. A steady stream of light filtered through the window, casting a shadow on the floor. The body underneath me was so warm, for once I didn't want to move from their hold. Last night had been rough and Loki had helped me through it. Wait...
I opened my eyes wider. Shit. I was on top of a God. On top of Loki. I'd slept on him. Oh god...
I unwrapped my arms and slowly tried extracted myself from him. Loki's grip tightened his grip around my waist. Dammit. I reached behind me and undid his hands, quickly leaping off of him. Loki didn't stir, pale face tilted up towards the ceiling and a small smile on his lips. His hands rested by his sides now, black hair fanned out around his head. Zeus stared up at me, his little green eyes pleading. His fur was soft against my hand as I placed him on Loki's chest. He snuggled into the God as Loki reached up and held him close.
"Not so heartless now, bad man," I laughed. "You're losing your credibility." I padded away from the adorable scene then. My hair clung to my neck, frizzy and greasy. I pushed it out of my face and headed for the bathroom. What on earth was happening to me?
Twenty minutes later I was ready with a bowl of cereal settling uneasily into my stomach. My hands were a little better, quite red but bearable now after some paracetamol, and as for my knees they were fully healed - a high metabolism had its perks. I brushed a strand of wet hair out of my eyes and padded across the room. The bowl made a small clatter against the coffee table but Loki didn't stir. I brushed a black lock of his hair from his face - he looked so peaceful, so painfully unaware as his eyes darted underneath his eyelids. Zeus opened an eye watching me for a minute before he stretched out on the God's chest and yawned.
I smirked, rubbing his head. "Mum's gotta go to work now, be a good little man and look after the house for her."
Zeus meowed, closing his eyes again.
"Loki?" I whispered. All of my efforts not to wake him up, including not singing in the shower, were all going to waste now.
He blinked twice before he groggily sat up, clutching Zeus to his chest. So threatening now, wasn't he? "Midgardian?" Especially how his hair was all poof now and not slicked back.
"I'm going to work." I smiled at him before straightening up. "I'll be home when they agree on the next plan of action to find you."
Loki smirked. "Farewell, Midgardian."
"Why do you look like you're laughing at me?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
"I was not asleep when you woke up." Loki shrugged, smirk growing. "And the same applies to you, Midgardian - you are feeling again, you are not as cold as you want others to believe."
I shook my head, walking away from him.
"And there is my proof," Loki laughed. "You are rather like that of a clam, Midgardian - something precious on the inside but practically irretrievable by almost all who get near it." Almost all? Who was the exception?
"One would almost think you're being kind, Mischief." I smirked around the corner. "Better watch yourself or people might start thinking you're actually nice and start liking you," I mimicked his accent.
"Midgardian, what ever would I do with myself if that were to happen?" Loki chuckled. "People liking me, what a ridiculous notion."
"God knows," I laughed.
"Oh, I think I know," Loki answered. "And I know you know to, but I will not force you to say it. I will wait and when you realise you will tell me. It appears I will be here for a stretch of time and so I can wait."
My phone beeped as I slipped on my other boot. "Wait for what?"
"You are almost like me in the way you deceive people, perceptive of everyone but yourself, Midgardian," Loki sighed.
I looked down to my phone, Steve was outside to pick me up. "You've quoted that before," I called.
"I shall keep doing so until you admit what you cannot express, Midgardian."
"Okay enough with the riddles, goodbye Mischief." I opened the door.
"You have given me a nickname therefore you are showing me affection," Loki retorted.
"Don't push your luck, frosty." I shut the door, trying not to laugh.
Captain America sat on his bike at the end of the drive. "Good morning," he smiled. Classic Captain.
"Hey," I nodded.
"Here, put this on." Steve handed me a helmet. No fair...
"How come you're not wearing a helmet?" I frowned, taking it from him.
"I'm a Supersolider," Steve smiled. "I don't need a helmet."
I put the helmet on my head, a simple design which didn't cover the mouth. "All the little kids around here love you and are following your example and here you are being unsafe on a motorbike." I slung my leg over the bike and wrapped my hands around Steve's middle. "You should be ashamed of yourself."
Steve laughed. "Yeah, well gotta have a little rebellion." He revved the bike, accelerating forward.
"Would you kill Loki?" I asked.
I felt Steve shrug. "I wouldn't kill the bastard but I'd give him a good piece of my mind."
"So I'm not the only one," I whispered.
"You never were," Steve said over his shoulder.
"Captain?"
"Yes?"
I smirked. "Language."
The Avengers sat arguing when we strolled into the room, yet the argument seemed exhausted just like them.
"He's a monster!" Stark yelled. "He can't walk the earth."
I flinched, stopping in the doorway. Steve went and sat down next to Thor.
"Why are we looking for trouble?" Bruce argued.
My boots squeaked as I walked in, taking a seat next to Stark - the only seat left. Great.
"There is no sign of my brother, it is as if he has dropped off of the face of the earth," Thor sighed, chin resting on his hand.
"I'm sure he's okay," I smiled at him.
Thor nodded, seeming to perk up a bit.
Stark glared at me. "I don't care about-"
"Stark, you're talking about someone's brother," I snapped.
"And you'd know how to treat brothers wouldn't you," Stark spat. "You treated yours-"
Ice rose from the floor in a point and grazed Stark's neck. "Imagine what I could do to someone if I actually wanted to kill them," I hissed.
The room fell silent, all eyes on me.
"Freya." I turned to the door. Phil stood there with Johnson by his side.
I gritted my teeth, the ice falling to the floor.
Phil walked towards the table.
Johnson followed him. Ice rose from the floor and created a thick wall between him and the rest of us.
"Stop acting like a child," Stark snapped, from beside me.
"I'm not staying in the same room as him." I pushed my hair out of my face.
"Freya Sigyn Swinton stop it now." Fury stood at the head of the table, glaring at me with his one good eye.
I let the ice slowly melt away.
"Avengers and others..." Fury's gaze scanned around the table before he nodded. "Someone must be harbouring him and I want that son of a bitch found."
"What idiot would harbour Loki?" Banner sighed, playing with a pen.
"Someone who obviously isn't on our side." Steve shook his head.
"We've scanned the entire area and he hasn't shown up, since the supermarket he's disappeared." Phil's face seemed ghostly and his voice was monotone.
"Maiden, how did Loki disappear? He has no magic." Thor's gaze fell on me.
"He touched my arm and he turned blue," I shrugged.
"He can draw magic from you," Thor sighed. "It gets worse. Loki now has magic."
No. No he hadn't. Loki didn't and couldn't do that to me. But it all made sense, why he'd touched me and turned blue - he was stealing magic from me. Loki wasn't becoming nice he was being his usual self - manipulative, deceptive and cruel. I can't believe I fell for his act. I swallowed the lump in my throat, nodding. The lying bastard...
"When we find him, what happens if he doesn't come easily?" Johnson slid into a seat near to me.
I gritted my teeth, the snowflakes on my arms turning black with a flicker of red. Not good. Anger and hatred was black. Loki had used me and that pissed me off. But what did my arms going red mean?
The room went quiet. It was the type of tension that appeared when someone had died, or was going to die... Wow, even though he'd annoyed- angered me considerably I didn't want him dead.
"Just say it," I whispered. "You call me a coward but you won't just say it out right when you're going to kill someone in cold blood.
"My brother is dangerous and if he is threatening anyone then he must... The Allfather has declared that if he is a threat he must die." Thor's voice was rough, purple semi-circles underneath his eyes. "He has magic now and he is a threat, Loki cannot be saved."
"What?!" I shot up, glaring at Thor. "He's your brother, you can't kill him."
"It is not my choice," Thor sighed. "He has done many wrongs and has gained many enemies both for Asgard and for Earth, he will never do a great enough deed in order for redemption. Loki is shrouded in darkness and he will always be that way."
I shook my head. "He's. Your. Brother. Does that not mean anything to you anymore?"
"If I didn't know any better I'd think you were defending him." Fury raised an eyebrow.
"No one else is, I believe in a fair trial and you're not giving him that," I snapped.
"You don't get a choice in this, you saw the destruction he's caused, you felt the pain as your paren-"
"Don't bring them into this." The sun disappeared, a large black cloud blocking out the light. "You're mistaking my knowledge of justice for liking him. I don't like Loki but I do know that everyone deserves a fair trial. Captain America stands for justice, the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D stand for justice and for doing the right thing and here you all are killing someone so you don't have to deal with the consequences. It's wrong."
Everyone pulled their jackets on tighter around them, the room incredibly cold now. The ice raced in my veins, rushing for my heart - it was going to consume me. If it did that I would never regain control of myself.
"Freya, stop." Phil walked around the table, reaching out to touch my arm.
"Don't, you'll freeze," I whispered.
"Freya, we don't have a choice we have to kill him," Phil spoke softly.
"You didn't kill me," I whispered, the snowflakes disappearing from my arms. I stood up, walking towards the door. "I won't kill him. I will not end Loki's life. I'm not like you and I never will be." I kept walking.
"You're the only one who will be able to kill him," Fury called after me.
"Then I guess Loki's going to live," I answered.
A red shimmer of light blocked the door. Wanda.
I turned around, ready to fight.
Instead Wanda stood by my side, a small smile on her face. "Wait for me."
I nodded, walking with her out of the door.
"Your power grows each day," Wanda whispered. "It's going to consume you eventually and then..."
"And then I won't come back from it - eternal winter," I whispered. "That won't happen though, unless something really traumatic happens, which it won't. I can't imagine being totally emotionless."
Wanda laughed. "I'd miss your sarcasm too much."
"Thanks."
Wanda nodded as we stepped outside. "Any chance you can make the sun come back?"
"For once this time it isn't me, it's Thor," I laughed. "I added some cloud and made it cold, he blocked out the sun."
"I could not kill someone in cold blood," Wanda whispered. "But Loki is dangerous and my experiences with dangerous people has led to many deaths. What is one life compared to hundreds saved?"
"What happens if Loki could save hundreds?" I kicked the gravel under my feet.
Wanda pulled her jacket on tighter. "I can't believe we haven't found him yet. Someone has to be harbouring him."
"But who?" I asked, sitting down on a bench.
"I don't know," Wanda frowned, perching next to me. "If I knew them then they'd be the enemy to me."
I nodded. What if Wanda found out? I'd lose a friend just like that. A simple click of my fingers, that split second decision would cost me everything.
"Loki doesn't have my magic," I whispered.
"What?" Wanda turned her full attention to me.
"I made him disappear, he said something and I sent him somewhere." I shrugged. "I don't know where." Again with the lies.
Wanda nodded. "You don't want to find him, do you?"
"If I kill him the cold will consume me, if I don't kill him the cold will consume me - besides, I don't really have a choice."
I should hand him in. I shouldn't. I should. I shouldn't. It was an endless turmoil in my head. If I handed him in it was like giving him a death sentence. I couldn't do it. And there was another reason, no matter how much I wanted to deny it - he was the one who had made me tap back into my emotions. Loki the God of Mischief and Lies understood me the way no one else did. He'd saved me from the cold. And he trusted me. I couldn't throw that away.