The fire runs through my veins...

Takumi followed Loki down the dark hallway, trailing closely on his heels. She kept her eyes focused keenly on the trailing green and black pieces of fabric of Loki's formal wedding outfit, the cloth unraveling and curling into the air. She couldn't help but spot the pieces of ember still glowing on the ends of that black cloth, burning orange and spiraling upwards in little smoky hazes.

You have always known.. You have always been different..

She clenched her hands in utter frustration, tears blurring her eyesight as she walked. She had been a freak of nature before: with the magic and the rebellion, disobeying her father's rules merely for the sake of breaking rules. But it was never like this. Never in a million years would she have thought something like this. To be another race that was nearly extinct, and to be an ancient enemy on top of it all. But she should've seen it. The only reason she had managed to fight off those Frost Giants was because of this unknown ability, the fire shooting from the rocks not from magic, but her own power. Warmth and heat had always been her respite, her savior. That was why she could never deal with the cold.

It all made sense now.

The Gift, the one thing that all the Vanir's held dear to their hearts, the one royal trait of the family, didn't exist in her. She wasn't truly a part of the royal family. She didn't have the Gift because she was a freak. A Fire creature freak that wielded fire, who's body was an entire facade of magic. She herself was an illusion, the biggest of spells.

My rage feels like fire. It curls through my body like smoke.. It hurts..

Of course she was angry. Why in the hell hadn't her father ever said a word to her about this? Not even breathed a word. But maybe he had, in his own little fucked up way. Treating her as though she was never good enough. Always reprimanding her that she needed to study more, to be less withdrawn, to be more like the Lady her mother had been and to know her place. To be more like Kaisa. Takumi had always tried to be more like her sister, copying her movements and the way she dressed, even the way she talked. But it had never been good enough, and now Takumi knew why.

The way they all looked at me... I'm nothing but a mistake, a fluke. Broken merchandise..

What was Loki going to do now? As she followed him, she felt a tendril of fear shoot up her body and settle into her stomach, like an iron block that she couldn't digest. Despite his hatred for her, Loki knew that this needed to be done. There was no escaping the fate he was set under, and he had reluctantly accepted it. Maybe he knew that she was going to be a terrible wife, but not some sort of mutant Fire thing.

He's going to kill you for what you are. He's going to torture you until you beg for death..

Takumi nearly let out a small whimper of fear with those thoughts. Wasn't it correct that Loki was a Frost Giant? How ironic, she realized dully. A Frost Giant, and a Fire Giant. Together in the same room. Set to be married. It would almost be funny if the situation wasn't so grim. With a jolt, she thought of something else. Perhaps he wouldn't kill her. What if she was kept as a slave instead? Asgardian law said nothing about keeping other races as slaves.

I need to run. To set the entire city on fire. Take a nice seat to watch all of Asgard burn..

Loki opened the door to where the chambers were, and with a silent gesture, he ushered her inside. Takumi pressed her lips tightly together but walked inside, feeling her torn wedding dress getting caught on the small pieces of tile underneath their feet. She cared nothing for the lacy garment to be torn and shredded. The blackened cloth was ruined beyond repair, stained with burnt flesh and ash and smeared with oily embers. As she walked into Loki's dark chambers, she was glad that she couldn't see herself.

The fire crackling in the fireplace was suddenly a roar to her. It only reminded her of the fiasco that had gone down in the ceremony room, the pillars crackling with flames and people screaming in terror.

She stood there awkwardly, her hands down at her sides, her black and tangled hair set in front of her face. She didn't want to even see the look on Loki's face. If punishment was going to happen, she wanted to be caught off guard. To see the blow coming, bit by bit, was utter torture.

The door closed quietly behind them. And then there was silence.

Freak. Mutant. Disgrace. Monster.

Monster.

"Your sister is a quim."

Takumi shot her head up at the dry voice, her brow furrowed in confusion. At first, the insult didn't register to her. But as it sank in, she realized that Loki was staring directly at her, his face devoid of emotion, his emerald eyes focused on her intently. She shrugged her shoulders offhandedly. "It was a bit of a shock to her, don't you think?"

Loki chuckled dryly, the sound forced and fake. The smile he wore didn't have a shred of genuinity. "I suppose it was to all of us. It is not everyday an extinct species comes barging into the lot of Asgard."

Takumi remained silent.

"Tis not everyday that they come to claim one of their species, either." Loki continued, staring at her with those wide emerald eyes, still totally devoid of emotion and expression. "It was said long ago that Muspelheim had died out, along with the people. The Great War eliminated the entire race, leaving the realm as a wasteland. The King and Queen of Muspelheim had disappeared, presumably dead. There had been no talk of a child escaping from such bloodshed-"

"Stop it." Takumi said quietly, hissing the words angrily. Tears pooled in her eyes again. She didn't want to hear about it. There wasn't a hint of what had happened to her when she was a child, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know. Her real parents...? She didn't want to think about it at all. To think of the bloodshed that may have happened... "Just shut up about it, okay?"

Loki leaned back with an eyebrow raised, clasping his hands together. "But don't you want to know what had happened? You aren't curious to know why you've been thrown around as a political pawn, or why your Father had kidnapped you from an already dying realm? You aren't curious about any of it?"

"No, I'm not." Takumi snapped, glaring at him angrily. Her fists were clenched tightly, so tight that she thought her fingernails would break the skin. "I don't care. If the realm is dead as you say, then what is the point of trying to find answers? I already know the answer! I'm an outcast, even from my own race. And you shouldn't care anyway, Loki."

She was crying now, tears spilling down her cheeks angrily. She half expected her tears to be lava, or some sort of cliche shit like that, but it wasn't. They were normal, just like they had been her entire life. She hadn't even noticed she had been crying until the tears dripped off her face and onto her hand, a little puddle of water.

"You shouldn't care!" Takumi found herself saying angrily. All care and fear went out the window. If he was going to beat her senseless, than fine. "You should be happy that I'm suffering! That has been your entire goal ever since I arrived here. Every day I have been living in hell, and this is merely the icing on the cake. So go be happy, you bastard!" She moved from her spot, slamming her palms onto Loki's chest and shoving him backwards angrily. "Go, you asshole!"

Loki grabbed her wrists roughly, his hands clamped around her and pulling her to the side. Takumi clumsily fell over her torn wedding dress and fell onto the floor, her head knocking against the soft mattress of the bed. She wasn't hurt in the slightest, but she was furious.

Furious that this had happened.

Filled with rage that she was a monster, tossed aside like a piece of trash or rubble.

Angry that Loki thought he could sympathize with her in the slightest.

"Let me go!" Takumi shrieked, her vocal cords shaking painfully. She tried to wrench herself away from his grip. "Let me go! I hate you! I hate you, and I've always hated you!"

"Takumi, silence yourself!" Loki grabbed her tightly and wrapped his arms around her, her face slamming against his shoulders and her body unwillingly curling into his, her legs tucked underneath her as all the fight left her body.

Takumi fell onto his tight embrace, her shoulders shuddering fiercely. Loki had let go of her wrists, letting her crumble to the floor. He was sitting on the floor right next to her, looking stunned.

Takumi looked up slowly, tears still trailing down her face. Loki was staring at her with a strange expression on his face. It wasn't one of malice, like she expected, but of something else. And then it dawned on her: he hadn't done anything to hurt her.

He had defended her back there, in the room with Kaisa and Thor.

And now, he was sitting on the floor right across from her, looking dazed, but calm.

"If you hate me so much," Takumi whispered fiercely, her fingers curling into the marbled floor. "Then kill me. Right here. I'm not going to fight you."

Loki's emerald eyes narrowed. "I am not going to kill you."

Takumi grit her teeth and snapped her head up. "Why? Suddenly lost your malice, God of Mischief?"

"Get such foolish notions out of your mind. You are delirious from shock." Loki snarled, leaning forwards towards her. Takumi flinched slightly, but kept her ground. She planned to stay fierce until the very end. But now, staring at Loki with that pitiable expression written all in his eyes, made her waver.

She slowly got to her knees, her fingers curled around the emerald necklace Loki had given her. "You're a weak man. You're a fucking coward. You act so big and strong, like you aren't afraid to do anything, but you're a coward until the end."

"You are upset." Loki said, almost infuriatingly calmly. "You have received some terrible news, and you are in shock. You wish to take it out on me, is that correct?"

Takumi almost choked out a laugh. What in the utter hell was wrong with this man? She felt like she was on an emotional ride, unable to get off. There were no clues to where it was going to go, no way of knowing what twists and turns were about to slap her in the face. "I'm not like you. I'm not going to go insane and kill a bunch of people because of it, okay?"

Loki's eyes narrowed. "What I did was for a different reason, one that you may relate to. But that is a different story for a different time."

"There won't be another time." Takumi spat. Her shoulders heaved dangerously, feeling cold all over.

He shrugged, again so calm that it made her angry. "Despite your anger, I understand your turmoil of emotions. You and I may not have started out on good relations, but that doesn't mean I will not listen to you if you need someone to talk to. You may not trust me, but I am the only person who will understand what you're going through."

"Fuck you." Takumi spat. She stood up and started to move backwards, nearly falling over her own two feet again. There was a time where she wouldn't dare speak out like this. It felt good: amazingly, utterly good.

Loki got to his feet and stared at her. Without another word, he turned and slowly left the chambers, the doors shutting behind him.

Takumi was left in the room alone, the sudden good feeling she had felt from telling him off draining, leaving her empty and hollow.

I am pathetic. No wonder Father always treated me lesser than Kaisa. This is why I had no friends as a child, no lovers to call my own, not even a family that loved me for whom I was. The only person I can relate to is a psychopath who has tried to murder me twice.

Takumi sank down to the ground again, tears trickling silently down her cheeks. The orange glow of the fire made everything look slightly tinged, and seared with fire. Her arms wrapped around each other, her fingers curling around her sleeves, the white lace underneath her tips.

Monster.

An angry hiss escaped her. Her fingers tightened around the cloth, and then without a moment of hesitation, she violently ripped the white cloth away from her shoulders.

She clawed viciously at the dress that she was wearing, the white lacy seams popping apart. She flung the blackened pieces of the fabric into the fire, letting out a yowl of anger. The scratches against her skin hurt painfully, blood trickling down her arms and dripping onto the pieces of dress hanging off of her. Takumi stood up and ripped apart the bottom of the garment, tearing off the buttons and watching them pop off with a small noise, the threads unraveling until everything was a messy bundle of white fibers and ashy pieces left.

Takumi stood there, nearly naked, blood running from the gashes she had caused. It splashed into the mess she had made, her tears also mixing with the red blood.

She let out a scream; a ragged, aching scream that nearly left her breathless. She felt herself transform without even trying, her skin turning orange and fiery, flames leaping off of her body. Even her hair turned to ragged smoke, curling upwards into the ceiling and turning into the thick black smoke that choked people, slowly filling the entire room. Her rage was fire.

She was fire.

Takumi sank down to her knees, the flames creeping back to where they had came. Her skin went back to peach, and her hair fell back around her shoulders, black and tangled and normal. She wept quietly, burying her head in her hands.

The fire runs through my veins...

I know that there's a lot of questions left unanswered. Believe me, I know.

For those of you that were hoping Takumi wouldn't have a breakdown, well, oops. You have to kinda understand though.

I hope that I'm hitting all the characters personality spot on. I know some people really don't like how Loki is acting against Takumi (or just in general), but don't worry.

*whispers* Things will happen.

Please review! I really love them. :)