THIRTEEN

Ellie could see the palace from the start of their journey as it towered over the homes that were scattered all around. She had even seen it as they made their getaway the day before, but there had been too much going on for her to truly take a good look at it. As they rounded another little street, Ellie stopped short as she saw the palace for the first time with an unobstructed view. Loki turned to see her and found himself captivated by the sheer look of awe on her face.

It was tall. It rose so high her legs hurt just thinking of all the stairs she imagined she would have to climb. The gold the palace was made of gleamed brightly in the sunlight; so bright it made her eyes hurt to stare at it for too long. Yet, she couldn't seem to be able to look away. "It's beautiful," she whispered.

"Yes, well, beauty often masks the truth."

Something in his tone finally drew her attention away from the palace. She blinked a few times before being able to see him staring at her. "I can still appreciate it."

His lips twitched slightly. "We don't have time for this."

"I know," she replied tersely and moved forward. It wasn't much longer before they reached the entrance and Ellie had to take a deep breath at the sight of the massive doorway. The entry way was full of people clad in either battle gear or swathed in robes like the one Eldred had been wearing. "Is everyone always dressed for war?" she asked as they entered the palace.

"The Aesir are a race of warriors. Those that are too old or have other skills to offer this realm wear more simpler garments."

"Skills?"

He nodded, but didn't stop moving, taking her down corridors with a fast stride. "We have healers, teachers, those that are trained in one specific talent for magic."

"Do you have scientists?"

Loki paused at that and gestured around him. Ellie looked around at the sight before her and couldn't help but be filled with awe again. "Magic and science are one in the same here. Midgard is the only planet foolish enough to deny its existence. What mortals think of as inexplainable or magic are just things they are afraid of or their science hasn't discovered yet. Here, they are the same and we fear nothing we cannot explain."

"Everyone fears something."

"That's not-," he said and ushered her on once more.

"I'm afraid of heights," she supplied, cutting off his words.

He stopped again and turned to look at her, his expression causing her to smile. "Yes, I remember the ride on the Chitauri vessel."

"I'm alright once I'm up there and the fact that I can't see where I'm going, but to be on something like that after a free fall... Never again." Her stomach felt tight just thinking about it. "What are you afraid of?"

His humor disappeared immediately at her question and he turned away from her. "Failure," he replied so stonily that Ellie almost didn't hear him.

She decided not to comment as they continued through the crowd of people who couldn't feel them as they passed through them like ghosts. She took the silence well, using it to commit everything around her to memory. They only had one shot at this and she needed everything to go perfectly. She hadn't come this far to mess it all up now. "Maybe we should take some time to find Thor and see what he's planning," Ellie suggested.

"We'll see," he said and then stopped in the center of a hallway with multiple exits and entries. "This is where it will get tricky. This is the main hallway, it will be easy enough to get here once we come in through the front door."

"We're using the front door?"

"One of my greatest skills is my ability to take the form of anyone or anything I choose."

Ellie's brow rose. "Impressive."

"I would show you, but it doesn't work on this plane of existence." He shook his head to get himself back on topic. "We'll figure that out later, for now, I need you to remember this hallway and the fact that you need to have extreme caution upon getting to this point." He pointed towards the tunnel on the left. "That corridor is heavily armed by Odin's best warriors and I'm sure it's even more heavily guarded now that I'm in Asgard. This is where we'll need a distraction."

Ellie's eyes went wide as an idea struck. "Your clones."

Loki considered it for a moment and nodded. "That would work."

Ellie nodded in earnest. "It would be perfect. We would already be here, cloaked in the guise of someone else and then they would see Loki somewhere else. Maybe just outside of town, maybe at the gates, maybe down another hallway? Maybe all three."

"Not all three. Too many would cause suspicion and they would think I was coming for the Treasure Room. Outside the city would take too long to draw the attention of the guards, but just outside the gates would work."

"You should teach me how to make a clone," Ellie stated. "It would look more real if I was out there with you. If Thor got word of you out there, but not me, he would think it truly was a distraction." He stared at her in a gawking manner and Ellie couldn't help but narrow her eyes. "What?"

He shook his head slightly, his expression somewhere between amused and surprised. "I keep expecting you to falter, to realize that you don't want to be a part of this."

"I had an idea of what I was getting myself into when I decided to follow you here. I didn't come this far to get butterflies now." She straightened her stance and placed a hand on her hip. "Besides, I'm not your prisoner, Loki, I did come after you because I wanted to, not because you had some hold over me. I was fully aware that you were not the hero from the get-go." She smiled and took a step forward, her free hand resting on the center of his chest. "I was never one to side with the hero," she added, her voice soft and seductive.

Loki watched as she stared up at him through her dark lashes. He watched as her tongue ran over her lips and the way her chest rose and fell as her eyes darkened with lust. Her head tipped to the side and he found himself leaning in, his lips brushing over hers. Hers parted on contact and he deepened the kiss immediately. She sighed as she moved her mouth in sync with his. Loki slanted his mouth away, leaving his forehead resting against hers. He reached up and placed his hand over hers, leaving her petite fingers on his chest.

"What other plans do you have?" he asked her.

"You can take me here, right against this wall."

He groaned and closed his eyes as felt himself harden. "Ellie..."

She angled her head and placed her lips gently over his before stepping back, pulling herself away entirely. "I know, I know. We don't have time," she said playfully and cleared her throat as she looked around, getting back to the seriousness of their mission. "I guess we venture into the Treasure Room so you can show me what all the fuss is about."

"Very well," he said and turned away from her to lead them down the hallway to the well protected room.

As they pushed past the heavily guarded door, Ellie quickly learned that "room" was code for "museum." The room was larger than anything she had ever seen before with ceilings that seemed to be as endless as the winding hallways. "Why does everything have to be so maze-like?" she wondered aloud, taking in all the little niches in the wall, each one home to a different treasure.

"For thieves like us," Loki said, a smug smile on his face, one that Ellie couldn't help but return.

"Touche," she replied and looked around with earnest, eager to lay her eyes on every single piece this treasury had to offer. "So many things."

"Odin is quite the collector."

"Well, he has had plenty of time to do so," she said without thinking.

Loki chuckled and pulled her to a stop. Off to her right was a pedestal that came up to her waist. Luckily, it wasn't far from the door which meant they didn't have to run too far; less chance of getting lost. She looked at the small box resting on top of the pedestal and then back at Loki. He was staring at it hungrily. "The Casket of Ancient Winters."

She looked back at the pedestal. "That?"

He glared at her. "Something wrong?"

"It's..." she frowned at it. "Tiny."

"Yes, well, the best things are often wrapped in small packages." He watched as she tried not to smile, failing eventually. "You'll find that in Asgard, bigger is almost never better."

"Noted," she said and took another step closer, wishing she could touch it. "Alright, so with the distractions, we come in here, we take the casket from the pedestal and then..." her voice trailed off as she turned towards Loki, waiting for him to fill in the blanks.

"Getting in here will be hard enough, getting back out will be...harder."

"What about that transportation thing you did last night? That trick where we ended up in the forest instead of that dead end?"

He nodded. "The use of that kind of magic is prohibited this close to the important places of the palace."

Something in his tone had Ellie frowning again. "Your doing?"

He nodded, a smirk taking hold of his lips. "Something like that." His mouth opened to say something else, but he stopped. Ellie saw the light bulbs go off and waited eagerly for what he had to say next. "My chambers would be the easiest to get to from here."

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Of course they are."

He grabbed her hand and pulled her further into the Treasury. "There's a secret stairwell this way. It will lead us to the hall opposite my chambers. Not many people know of it; not anyone that would dare come after us." He led her through the tight crawl space, never letting go of her hand, until they emerged into a rather large corridor. It was empty and silent. "People know better than to disturb me," he said, letting go of her hand.

"Alright, so we get here, go to your room... Then what?"

He gestured for her to follow him and led her through a door. Ellie stopped short once they were inside, blown away by the grandeur of his chambers. It was easily the size of your average size house back on Earth. The ceilings were high like she was in a cathedral and on more than one wall there were bookcases spanning from floor to ceiling. The most stunning part of the sight before her was the lack of darkness around her. She hadn't known what she would expect, but this was not it.

The sound of Loki's voice broke her from her thoughts and she realized he had moved away from her in her daze. "Something wrong?" he asked, making his way back to her.

She shook her head and smiled. "No, no. I'm just...impressed." She looked around at all the books. "I never knew someone who liked to read that much."

"Knowledge is power," he said as he stopped before her.

"I thought power was power?"

"Not always," he replied.

"What are we looking for in here?"

"Something a friend once lent me. I'll be able to use them to bring us back to Eldred's. From there we can get away from this Realm and make our way to Joutenheim."

"I vaguely remember someone saying the Bifrost was the only way in and out of Asgard."

He grinned and cupped her face. "There are other ways as long as you know where to look." She reached up to cover his hand with hers. "We should go after Thor as you suggested earlier. See what the Golden Child of Asgard has to say."

"Or," she whispered, stepping closer to him. "We could just stay here."

He smiled and pressed his lips to hers, but only briefly. He pulled away, leaving her frowning. "Not now."

She rolled her eyes and stepped forward. "You'll cave in eventually, Loki."

"I'm sure I will," he replied and watched as she stepped outside of his chambers first. As he stepped out after her, he froze immediately at the sight of her being held up by her throat, back up against the wall. The woman holding her up turned to look at Loki, a cruel smile on her face. "Karnilla," he breathed.

"Hello my darling prince."

Ellie struggled against the other woman, her hands went to the ones tightening around her throat, trying to pry the fingers loose. She wished that her powers worked here, but at the moment she was at this other woman's mercy. "Put her down," Loki demanded, his voice cold with rage.

The bright red lips of the other woman curved ever so slightly as she tipped her head in Loki's direction. With a sigh, she brought Ellie down so that he feet touched the ground again. Her fingers moved away from her throat, but quickly wound around her bicep when she went to move for Loki. "She's down, but I'm not letting go just yet."

"What are you doing here?" Loki asked, keeping his eyes on the other woman.

"You don't sound very happy to see me," she replied, disappointment in her voice.

Ellie rubbed her throat lightly, forcing herself not to cough or draw any other attention to herself. Whoever this woman was, she was powerful enough to follow them here and touch her. Her eyes sought out Loki, but he wouldn't return her gaze. "Karnilla-"

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "I'm here because Odin requested my presence. He thought I had something to do with your return and invasion on Midgard. A planet full of humans, Loki? Really?"

Ellie saw how rigid he went, but commended him because he didn't look away. "Let her go."

"And then you bring one of your humans here," she said and clucked her tongue at him. "Odin will never let her stay."

"Hey!" Ellie snapped, earning their attention. She glared at Karnilla. "I am not a human."

"Oh?" She looked genuinely surprised by that and it aggravated Ellie even more. "Then what are you?"

Ellie's lips parted to speak, but Loki spoke first. "What she is is none of your concern."

"If you don't want me to drag her back to reality, I really do think it is of my concern," she replied, her voice light as if this threat was the most casual thing to say in the world. She saw the way Ellie shook and smiled at her. "Oh yes. I don't know if Loki has mentioned me before, but I am much more powerful than even he knows. I can bring you back to reality despite where you might actually be."

"Then why don't you?" Ellie asked, her gaze hardening as she locked eyes with the Aesir woman.

She smiled at Ellie and loosened her hold just enough so circulation could flow again. "Whatever you are, I admire your spirit."

"What do you want, Karnilla?" Loki asked, annoyed.

"First, I would really like to know why you didn't reach out for my help. Invading Thor and Odin's territory is something I would have readily helped you with."

"It wasn't something I had a lot of time planning. It just...happened."

"Yes, I heard how you came to be in the presence of the Chitauri."

"How?"

"The Fates are chatty," she said nonchalantly. "Still, you could have sent word." She waved her hand and shook her head. "No matter. I merely came here to reclaim what you borrowed."

"I don't have them," Loki replied tersely.

"Loki," she breathed, a warning in her tone. "Just tell me where they are and I'll hand the girl over. If you don't tell me where they are..." her voice trailed off and she shrugged. "Well, I'll just hand her over to Thor. Maybe even keep her for myself."

The idea of being prisoner brought up some anger and Ellie was determined not to let that happen. Improvising, she let herself drop to the floor, the sudden shift of weight surprised Karnilla enough that she let go of her hold in order to stay upright. Ellie used that distraction to her advantage to do sweep her leg around, causing the Aesir woman to fall as her legs shot out from under her. Ellie got to her feet and ran for Loki. He grabbed her and they bolted away, phasing through walls and people alike as they went.

"I say we skip finding Thor and get back to Eldred's," Ellie suggested as they ran.

"Agreed," he replied and continued to pull her through the crowd.

Ellie had no idea where they were until they reached the main entrance. She looked back to see if Karnilla was chasing after them, but couldn't make anything out. As she turned back around, she came to a stop, panic rising in her chest. Loki was no longer in front of her. He was gone. "Shit," she muttered and looked around for him.

She felt a loud thump from above her and felt her body shake. She continued to move towards the door, stopping every few steps to look around for Loki and the source of the noise as it got closer and closer. As she pushed herself through the entrance, she opened her eyes and found herself looking up into Loki's icy blue orbs. They were filled with concern and relief as they stared back at hers. She let out a deep breath and closed her eyes again, relaxing in the security of his arms around her. They were back at Eldred's, lying on their bed, still nude. The only difference was that the room was covered in a solid layer of ice from Ellie's subconscious use of powers.

"Well, that was..." she stared, swallowing thickly.

"Indeed," he replied, dropping a light kiss onto her forehead.

She cleared her throat and forced herself out of his arms and to her feet. "Well, I need a legit bath before we go any further." She turned to see him watching her. "You coming?" He grinned at her wolfishly before following her towards the lavatory.