This is a meager offering. I am hoping the muses have not wholly forsaken me. Much gratitude to babewiththepower for encouraging me to write, and then pre-reading the dribble I send her.


Victoria awoke with a start. The stars had not yet abandoned the night sky, although the pink fingers of the sun were reaching out from the east. Loki breathed heavily from a few feet away. His ruffled hair and peaceful face nearly disguised the god's inner wickedness. The quirked corner of his mouth gave him away, Victoria was amazed that, even in sleep, he managed to smirk. She knew that when his eyelids fluttered open and his dancing green eyes made an appearance, there would be no mistaking him for anything but trouble.

What have I gotten myself into? Victoria thought.

For a moment, in the stillness of morning, she considered the last few days. They felt like months really. She cataloged the things that she had seen and done. Far off places, check. Daring sword fights? Not really, but dragons will cover that. A prince in disguise? Hmm. She glanced over at Loki once more.

He's no prince. At least, not in the romantic sense of the word. She mused.

Actually, he was everything a woman probably shouldn't want in a man. Archaic, obnoxious, possibly insane, and morally ambiguous. The young woman held her breath to stifle a sigh.

"Stop it." Loki grumbled.

"Stop what." Victoria released the sigh.

"Thinking. I can almost hear you doing it. It's very distracting."

And, possibly married…to a goddess. Victoria sighed again.

"Now you are going to think and sigh." Loki sat up and skewered her with his flashing eyes. With a huff he dragged himself from his makeshift bed, and began collecting the few things they had with them.

Victoria followed his example, silently.

"Once we clear this forest, we should be in sight of the mountain. With any luck we'll be finished with this little quest in a few days." Loki remarked.

In order to keep up with the god's lanky strides, Victoria was nearly power-walking at his side. She believed herself to be in fairly good shape, but the pace was causing her considerable discomfort. Loki didn't seem to notice, he charged on.

"Do you have any more stories?" Loki asked suddenly.

"I have lots of stories." Victoria panted, pushing her braid back over her shoulder.

"Would you like to share another?" The god quirked an eyebrow.

"Not presently. Why don't you tell me a story?"

"About what?" He looked confused.

"Anything. Surely you've been on many adventures, or you could at least tell me about your home. I only know of it from legends." She replied.

"It sits at the center of the universe. Surrounded by stars and moons at all times, the sky is a living canvas. There are waterfalls, and gleaming towers, taller than any buildings that you could ever find on earth. Our streets are paved in gemstones and crystals. The food is satisfactory." He trailed off.

"Oh." Victoria stared ahead.

"It can be very dull." Loki assured her.

"I would like to see it…"

The god was quiet for some time.

"Perhaps, once we have the wig, I can show it to you." He did not meet her eyes.

"Really? Are you teasing me? Because that would be very cruel of you."

"Truly. If I were going to show you cruelty, I would do so more cleverly. Telling a lie simply for the sake of disappointing someone is an amateur's move." He grinned.

"Good to know." She glared. "But, what about your wife? Wouldn't she find it odd that you were playing tour guide to some earth girl? Wouldn't she smite me or something?"

Although he kept their grueling pace, Loki frowned as though he were trying to remember something.

"I most assuredly do not have a wife." The last word sounded like a curse. "Hateful nagging, creatures. Consorts are much more convenient." He shook his head as if to banish the thought completely.

"In our stories you have a wife." Victoria wasn't sure if she felt relieved or more troubled.

"Ah," Loki smiled, nonplussed once more. "Humans are very interesting where such things are concerned. "You see the rest of the universe rests outside of your mortal concept of time. Mortality makes time important. For myself, and the other immortals, there is only today, right now. We are unchanging. But your people, the storytellers, channel so much of what is, what was, and what will be. Your stories come to you out of space and time, on occasion, like the tales you've collected of the immortals. Some of it has happened, some it may happen, and some of it will happen. It is hard to tell."

"I suppose that makes sense." Victoria thought. After all, if the events of Ragnorok had already occurred, she couldn't exactly be walking around with a dead god. The thought was disturbing on several levels. "So some of our stories are more like prophecies?" She asked quietly.

"Yes."

"So you may eventually have a wife." She stated.

"Gods forbid." He snarled.

They walked in silence for a while.

"So, this wife…what is she like?" He questioned off-handedly. "What kind of woman do your people believe me to have charmed?"

"Not much is said of her…" Victoria did not want to repeat the stories that she knew of Sigyn. "…I believe that she was supposed to be very beautiful."

"Of course." Loki rolled his eyes, reminding Victoria of Jareth for a moment.

"…but some also say that she was known as the goddess of fealty and compassion…"

Loki laughed derisively. "Only the goddess of fealty and compassion would have the nerve to tie herself to me I suppose."

"Do you know of such a goddess?" Victoria asked.

A wicked spark appeared in Loki's emerald eyes. "Why are you so curious?"

"I'm not. I just don't want to be smote…or smitted, whatever." She didn't dare rise to his baiting…at the moment.

The spark died down a little. "No, I do not."

"Well, maybe we got that tale wrong then." She kind of hoped so, but not because she wanted Loki for herself, that would be silly, but because she wanted to spare them those tales, mostly.

"Will Sarah and Jareth be coming with us to deliver the wig to Sif?" She wanted to fill the silence.

"I'm not sure what the elf intends to do." He chuckled.

"What is so funny now?"

"Hmm, I would kill to see what those two will do with one another once this is all over. If we succeed, which I am sure we will, your friend may be in a delicious mess of trouble. The elf is tricky, but he is clever about it. Here you both are stuck on this world far from home, and very soon, Sarah may be truly at his mercy."

"I don't think that is funny at all." Victoria felt as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped over her head. She had forgotten that they were trouble.

"Jareth doesn't seem unkind, although Sarah doesn't trust him." She reasoned aloud.

"Unkind? What does kindness have to do with anything? Their struggle, my little vixen, is one of power and pride. Possession and right. Betrayal and revenge. You know so little." His eyes mocked her.

Victoria swallowed hard, finding that her mouth was suddenly dry. "Will you promise to take us home then?" Her eyes were a storming sea as they beseeched him.

The green fire sprang to life again as Loki paused for the first time since they began their journey. They had plowed through the trees for hours, but he looked as if he had only been out on an easy stroll.

"Hmm," his eyes traveled down her flushed face. "That is an intriguing question. It is full of possibilities. Do you know that I am a gambling man?"


I tried to get the typos, shout out if you see one and I'll try to fix it.