Chapter Eleven: Family ties
"Any bright ideas Loki?" Orla questioned as she gazed up at the glistening star.
Not answering, Loki gazed up the star, his brow furrowing as he thought.
"The star is quite close…" He mumbled. He pointed his scepter upward to the star.
"Loki, what are you planning?" Orla asked him uneasily.
"I'm going to use the scepter to capture the star."
"I don't know if that's a good idea, I've got a bad feeling about this." Orla said nervously.
"Silence mortal, you know nothing of these matters." Loki hissed. Orla folded her arms across her chest.
"Oh I don't know, I've been doing this for about a month with only YOU as my only company." Orla retorted saucily.
Loki rolled his eyes and shot his scepter.
Just watch, the star's going to blow up. Orla predicted.
The star did not blow up. It stayed as it was.
"Wow, Loki, fabulous job." Orla said dryly. Loki gave Orla a dirty look and she decided it wise to be quiet.
After a few moments they heard an echoing rumble in the ground. Out of the ground sprouted a tree that was growing rapidly. Orla looked up at the tree in awe. The tree had pure white bark and its leaves were glowing.
"Who attacked the star of Rangek?" a calm and gentle voice spoke.
Orla noticed Loki pale a little. He knelt to the ground and motioned for Orla to do the same.
"I, Loki of Jotenheim." He said in a steely voice.
"Jotenheim? Are you not from Asgard, son of Odin, and brother of Thor?" His fists clenched.
"I am not son of Odin. I never was. And Thor is not my brother." He said bitterly.
Odin…Asgard…where have I heard that? And wasn't Thor in New York? Orla thought.
"You have trespassed into Rangek, Loki of Asgard, and have attacked our star. What do you wish of our star?" The voice asked.
"I wish to possess the star in order to complete a task." Loki answered.
The tree was still and flickered brighter.
"I know what task you wish to complete. However, I cannot allow you to use our star for your evil plans." The voice said, steadily growing stronger.
"I do not mean evil with my actions-" Loki tried to explain but was cut off.
"You speak a lie. The Asgardian court has been searching for you, son of Odin. At long last, they shall find you." The voice said. The ground began twisting itself open to reveal a prison like room.
"Wait, what? A prison? What did he do?"
"So, your companion has told you nothing…aside from attacking Mygard, the land where you are from, he almost annihilated the ice giant race, nearly killed his brother, and kidnapped his own father."
"Wh-what?" Orla asked, glancing over at Loki.
"Is…is this true Loki?" Loki avoided her eyes and looked at the tree.
"Now the both of you shall meet the Asgards…"
Orla felt herself starting to fall into the prison.
"Orla!" Loki shouted, grabbing her wrist.
"This mortal has nothing to do with this! Nothing! Release her!"
"Oh? Is my prisoner ordering me?" The voice taunted.
"No. I'm begging you to let this girl go free." Loki pleaded. Orla's eyes widened. Loki was pleading for her to be free? She must be hearing wrong. He was always pushing her around and suddenly, wanted to help her?
"The mortal had made the choice to follow you did she not?" The voice said as the ground began slowly sinking into the prison.
"Merely because I had threatened her! I do not wish her to suffer the same fate as I, so release her!" Loki cried out.
"I shall not." Came the stubborn supply. The two fell into the prison.
"Remember this Loki. Your past will never leave. Your actions will forever be branded on you. Because of this, you shall deal with the consequences forever. You shall never be loved, you shall always be hated, and forever the outsider. You can never change." The voice said in a cold voice, as the ground covered up above them.
Loki angrily kicked the wall. Orla simply sighed and hugged her knees.
"It is of no use. There is no way out of this prison." Loki said after thoroughly searching the prison.
"I-I'm sorry Loki." Orla whispered as she felt hot tears drip from her eyes.
He looked at her in surprise and sat down next to her.
"Why?"
"If I had done something, if I had tried to stop you from shooting the star, we wouldn't be here." Orla said, putting her head on her knees.
"No…It's my fault. I shouldn't have tried to shoot the star without knowing more about it." Loki said quietly.
He's…saying he's at fault? Is he sick or something? Orla looked at Loki and frowned. He looked her way and scowled.
"What?" He asked in an annoyed tone.
"What are you trying to accomplish?" Orla asked.
"Why the sudden curiosity?" Loki asked suspiciously.
"It's not sudden curiosity. I've wanted to know for a while now. What is it that you want so badly?" She asked carefully.
"You most likely haven't heard of it. It's called the tesseract. With it, I will be able to…" He trailed off.
"With it…?" Orla pressed.
"Oh, why would you care?" Loki snapped irritably.
"I do care. Is that all true?"
"Is what true?"
"You know what I'm talking about. Your family." Orla said.
"Oh." There was an awkward silence.
"A…a lot happened." He mumbled.
"What happened?" She pushed on.
"Mother…mother died, protecting a mortal. Father hid the truth, and my brother…my brother has always been better than me. Always." He said bitterly.
So his family is really, really complicated.
"So…where's your family now?" She asked.
"It's none of your business, why should you even care?" He snapped.
"Because you're in a way, my friend." Orla said quietly.
"I'm your what?" Loki blinked.
"My friend. Even though you're a jerk, even though you are using me, you're selfish, and don't really give a hoot about what happens, you're in a way, my friend."
Loki snorted. "Hmph, I wouldn't waste your time trying to indulge your human feelings on me." Orla rolled her eyes. Ok, sure, Mr. Tough guy.
"Can you tell me about Thor?" Orla asked after a minute of silence.
"What is there to tell? It was always he who received glory and praise, only he who his father loved, and he was always the do-gooder." He spat. Loki is obviously jealous of his brother. And he is bitter about something. Orla thoughts were cut off by Loki.
"What about your family? I do not wish to speak about myself any longer." Loki implored.
"Well, not much to tell. I grew up in a happy home with three sisters and my parents. I grew up in New York, I met Michelle in high school and we became roommates in college." Orla said.
"Hm. No strife or issues in your family. You are truly lucky." Loki remarked.
"Actually, no. When I was sixteen I found out that I was adopted. I wasn't upset about the fact I was adopted so much as I was about my family never telling me that I was." Orla revealed.
"You were adopted?" Loki asked in blatant surprise.
"Yup. I was adopted." Orla admitted.
"Then, if I may ask you a question?" He asked.
"Go ahead."
"Have you ever wondered about your real family? What your true origins are and where your real family exists now?" Loki inquired.
"Nope. Because I only have one family. My family is the family I grew up with, the family I ate with and talked to and kissed goodnight. I really don't think it matters who my actual blood relatives are." Orla said casually.
"Not even once?"
"Not even once." Orla confirmed. She stood up and offered a hand to Loki.
"C'mon, let's get out of here." She said smiling.
Loki looked warily at her extended hand but took it. Orla smiled and pulled him up.