In which betrayal and love can sometimes be synonymous. Also, because Odin has yet to show in this story, Fury is an asshole.
Chapter Text
The flight home was suspiciously quiet, broken only by the occasional coughing or mild groaning as someone discovered a new wound. After her initial scramble to get to the Hulk to calm him into letting Banner back out, Fiona was silent too, sitting with Loki's arms wrapped firmly around her. But she was sinking deeper into her own pit of misery, finally having a moment to process what that inhuman piece of shite had told her, bleeding out his last.
She… was barren? He took away everything that allowed her to carry on the line of the Baobhan Sith? What was she, then? Fiona's mouth twisted bitterly. Loki- all of them- had no idea how very long the Clíodhna wandered the world. But there was an end to each of them, eventually. Then there was another to carry the line- there had always been another to carry the line!
Loki frowned behind her, feeling her heart rate speed up to an alarming rate. Smoothing those long fingers along the skin between her breasts, he crooned so softly that only she could hear him. "Rest those fears, my darling. You have done so well today. Daddy is so proud of you." His gentle words had the opposite effect, and his dark brows drew together as Fiona turned her head away in disgust. Perhaps if he had not been so shaken by the confirmation that Thanos was, at last coming for him, for all of them, he would have sensed and understood what was troubling his Kjæledyr. Her shame and fear about what she now knew herself to be.
But instead, he only saw his bánánach shrinking from him, from her daddy. "False Prince…" the last words from the clotted tongue of that vermin, stupid enough to think that the Titan would share his glory, the power. He and the rest of his imbeciles had just led Midgard towards certain destruction. "False Prince…" Thanos was coming. For him. For all of them. And Loki would be strung up like a slaughtered bull to watch the world burn.
So the jet streaked toward New York City as they both stewed in their own varieties of self-disgust and terror.
Traditionally, Steve Rogers used his blindingly lovely sincerity to draw the team together after a mission, successful or disastrous. But when they finally stumbled off the jet, eager to find their shower, bind their wounds, sit in silence to puzzle over the dread and horror that seemed to swamp them, none of the Avengers were interested in a pep talk. Watching their eyes avert from him, the Captain forced a smile, showing every one of those gleaming, white teeth. "Everyone's beat. Let's get together for a recap in the morning after breakfast."
There were scattered mumbles of "'Night..." "sure..." "yeah, in the morning..." as everyone shuffled away.
Standing alone on the landing deck, Roger could feel that dread make his chest clench again. 'Is this what a heart attack feels like?' he wondered idly, rubbing his pectorals absently until Bucky took pity on him.
"C'mon. Time for bed." Taking his lover's hand, the Soldier drew him away in behind the safety of their locked door.
Fiona was sitting in Loki's absurdly large and luxurious tub. Her daddy wasn't fond of showers, preferring the spaciousness and grandeur of a tub with gleaming metal fittings and all sorts of jets and sprays and jacuzzi-style elements. Shivering as he drew a washcloth down her back, the girl turned to see his gleaming jade eyes, so close to her that she could see the tinge of tidal blue in his irises. "Sweetness..." his voice was so kind, she thought despairingly. How could he still be so kind now that he knew she was broken? Irretrievably damaged? "Tell your Daddy what upsets you so."
Closing her eyes, the girl could remember one horrible night after Kahn had... done things to her, hurt her. She was so weak from the experimentation in the Pit that she couldn't even fight him, only lie still and pray he would go away. He'd finally made a noise of disgust, pushing with one foot to knock her off the bed. "Pathetic," Kahn snapped, rising to pull on a silk robe. "You'd better pray to your Gaelic trash ancestors that you shape up as some kind of a weapon soon." He angrily poured a drink, looking at the scrawny body of his banshee curled on the floor. "You're certainly no good for anything else. No man will ever want you."
"I thought..." Fiona's thoughts drifted away like milkweed, but she forced herself to concentrate. "I thought it would feel better."
Loki was silent for a moment, strong hands stroking over the smooth skin of her back, absently pleased to feel muscle tone instead of the knobby bumps of her spine. "Revenge," he bent to place a gentle kiss at the base of her neck, his warm breath stirring the wispy bits of hair there, "never feels as satisfying as it should. There is... an emptiness. A loss of purpose."
Fiona suddenly turned in the bath to face him, grabbing his biceps and sloshing water over the edge. "Why?" she asked, "Why doesn't it? Kahn is..." she gagged a bit but continued, "he can't hurt anyone else, not ever again. Why doesn't it feel better?"
Pausing for a moment, Loki stroked her cheek.
"I'll never pause again, never stand still,
Till either death hath closed these eyes of mine
Or fortune given me measure of revenge."
"It drives us," he murmured, "keeps us alive one more day for the intent to take revenge. But it is never enough. It never grants us peace."
Gritting her teeth against the swell in her chest, Fiona lost the fight and an ugly sob erupted. "Then... um, then what does?"
The weight of his hand of her face was the only thing that seemed to anchor her, remind the girl where she was in this time and space. And when she opened her teary eyes to see the beautiful face of the god who cared for her, Fiona was struck dumb by the grief and resignation on his perfect features. "These moments. The small perfect moments between lovers. Between a prince and his princess. A God and his betrothed. That is all."
Turning on her own to face him, her daddy, Fiona laced her fingers into the thick, ebony silk of his hair at the back of his neck. "I'm... your princess?" she asked shyly. She's heard the word "betrothed," but didn't know if it meant the same thing to Loki as it did to her.
His big hand went under her chin then, lifting it and forcing her to look at him. "And my lover." Loki kissed her then, those heavenly, cool lips soothing her puffy ones and making Fiona sigh. "My angel..." another kiss. "My Kjæledyr..." another kiss as his tongue ran across her lips, teasingly, lightly, making the girl follow his mouth blindly. "My betrothed." Loki felt her still, running his mouth down her shoulder. "When this... conflict ends, we will be wed, min Engel."
Despite the horror of the night, Loki bit back a chuckle as his songstress reared back. "That's your proposal, Daddy? Dinna they not call you Silvertongue?"
Wrapping his arms around her firmly, Loki kissed her temple as he soothed, "When the time comes, I shall bestow upon you a huge ring- vulgarly large and cause all the Nine Realms to celebrate. But for now..." Improbably, Fiona thought, almost impossible it seemed but here he was, her beautiful daddy, as full as the moon and holding that gigantic shaft still and pushing with his other hand on her hip to sink his Kjæledyr down on it. Despite her saucy request to not heal the soreness left behind from his Jotunn cock, the girl nearly bit a hole through her lip, keeping quiet as Loki slid her down on his wonderfully, alarmingly thick shaft, enjoying the way her lips opened for him- like petals unfurling from a flower and the scent of her- sweeter than his mother's rose gardens in Asgard or the exquisite scent of a violet patch on the moors.
"Stop... wait, daddy!" Fiona's fingernails dug into Loki's scalp, but he was still, letting her slide down on her own pace. She knew babies came from this spot but she still couldn't guess how because her daddy's cock was fucking gigantic and... Closing her eyes, she turned her face away, kissing along his neck and shoulder. It wouldn't matter. If he had not heard that rat bastard, Kahn, Loki would eventually need to know she couldn't be his princess. Couldn't carry on his line. But her cowardly self soothed her, 'Just for tonight... don't think about it. Just feel him inside you and be happy. It might be the last time, so... be happy.' So as that thick shaft slid along her, spreading soft tissue hugely wide, Fiona didn't bother to stifle a moan of relief. Two big hands squeezing the slick globes of her ass tightly made her freeze in shock, pulling a moan that her dark and terrible daddy enjoyed as he chuckled unrepentantly. Loki did it again, driving up with his hips, feet braced on the bathtub's floor and squeezing her ass again as he drove up into her channel, enjoying her corresponding stiffening that clamped down so beautifully on his cock. Fiona's eyes rolled back in a deeply satisfying fashion as he did it again, over and over until she was shaking with arousal and when her cruel and mercurial daddy flipped her over in her hands and knees, she anxiously grasped the side of the porcelain tub. Loki brutally pounded towards his first, deeply satisfyingly eruptive performance. Before he'd finished, he paused and leaned down, still throbbing wildly and laughing breathlessly as his lovely, lovely girl quivered underneath him.
"Poor girl..." Loki soothed, "you have not found your satisfaction. Shall I give it to you, then?"
"Yes, please?" Fiona never knew what to ask for in moments like these, when her nerves were on fire and she was nearly in tears, so desperate to come. She felt her cruel Asgardian daddy thrust harder until she felt his cock swell, sighing and bracing blissfully for his finish. But Loki pulled out just in time, luxuriously stroking his cock until he flowed over the small of her back, enjoying the view of the pool of his spendings on her skin. Running his fingers through his come, Loki stroked one finger against the pucker of her ass, enjoying with a spiteful grin as his sweet girl tightened against his questing digit. Adding another finger into the lubrication of his finish, Loki began sliding the second digit within her. Long, thick fingers, her dazed brain managed, really... unfair because they were already the size of... uh...
And then all thought was lost because her beautiful and cruel daddy's cock was back inside her cunt as his fingers stroked up her ass, pressing against that slick thin place between them. And when that beautiful, pale bastard's thumb began strumming idly over her clitoris, Fiona began shaking and moaning, it was over. This otherworldly god owned her. Body and soul. And when he laid his cool, granite-hard chest against her sweaty back and growled, "Come for daddy again, my sweetness. Be daddy's good girl." And just as he'd ordered, Fiona threw back her head and wailed pleasurably, too far gone to hide her reaction. Oh, what this beautiful, terrifying god did to her.
When they finished, the sun was beginning to work its way through the stone labyrinth of Manhattan. Fiona lay on her side watching the path of light creep across the floor as Loki curled behind her, as closely pressed to her as some exotic corset or rope binding, two things he was idly considering doing to his Kjæledyr. The sweet sweat from their coupling was still sliding along their skin.
"I see his face now," Fiona said flatly, "I know his name." Behind her, Loki was stone. An impossible stillness and his arm suddenly feeling hugely heavy across her hip. The banshee cleared her throat, suddenly choked with emotion and a crawling atavistic sort of horror that made her lips numb and her tongue clumsy. "It's Thanos," she finally said, "he's coming for us, isn't he?"
It took Loki so long to answer that she nearly turned to see if he was still breathing. But his arm hardened against her waist keeping her in place facing blankly out the window. "Yes;" he managed. "Yes, my lovely. I fear he is."
It was no surprise then, that as they were finally dressing, feeling as sore and tired as they had the night before that a clamoring in the hall indicated new arrivals to Stark Tower. As they headed up to the joint meeting room overlooking the roof and the helicopter pad, Fiona frowned to see a hugely improbable grin on Thor's face as he strolled forward to meet their four guests, arms wide. "My friends!" he roared happily, "At last, good news!" But the grim expressions from the visiting Asgardians indicated it was not good news at all.
And since timing was on her side until it wasn't, Fiona heard the sneering tone of Nick Fury from behind her. "At last," he snarled, "everyone's here. Now I'll finally get some answers."
The seating in the giant room was not subtle. Fiona noted she and Loki were seated together with everyone else facing them as if they were on trial. To Bucky and Steve's credit, the two of them insisted on standing by the pair currently under scrutiny.
"Thanos is coming and it's you, Loki who has led him here." Fandral snarled unpleasantly, none of his usual humor on his handsome face.
"That purple pile of pig shit tortured Loki for eons before he came to earth," hissed Fiona, leaning forward menacingly. "Not one of you ever bothered to even ask about that, did you?" Thor was already looking back-and-forth helplessly, the way he had when Stark had insisted he attend Wimbledon with him because he wanted the best seats. It had worked: the Wimbledon officials actually removing the Royal Family from their box in favor of the blonde Asgardian Prince.
"But..." he said helplessly, "you never spoke of torture, Loki- only that the Titan gave you the Tesseract to conquer Midgard."
"Well maybe if you would ever think to ask how the fuck that could possibly happen?" Fiona could feel the pitch of her voice rise, those around them shifting and rubbing hands across foreheads, rubbing the back of their necks as if trying to chase away a painful buzzing in their brains. "Really? Your brother fucking falls from the Bifrost and you canna be bothered to know why he reappears in such a way an-"
"But…" Thor protested, "Father said he would not allow Loki to heal his injuries, but I thought that he meant from the Hulk, from the battle?" His heart sank as he could see Fiona's fury and his brother's set, pale face refusing to look at anyone. "Brother," Thor managed, "is this true? Was it...?
"I let go that day at the Bifrost." Loki's voice whiplashed around the room, causing even the strident Fiona to turn to him in shock. His beautiful face could have been carved from carrera marble. "But it matters not if I let go. If I was dropped. Whether I was tortured into invading Midgard or no. What concerns us now is that I have betrayed Tha-" he paused, square jaw tight, "I have kept the Tesseract from Thanos. I have hidden two others of the Infinity Stones."
"Now why did you do that, Reindeer Games?" Stark asked, the first ugly tones of suspicion creeping into his voice.
Loki looked at him as one would an especially simple-minded dog who couldn't figure out how to fetch a stick. "Because," he answered slowly, "I was keeping them from Thanos and the inevitable decimation of your planet."
"Keeping them from Thanos, or keeping them for yourself?" questioned Hogun. Loki felt a mild sense of disappointment- Hogun was usually the sensible one. The one of the Warriors Three who would sit and listen without speaking, analyzing shrewdly. Loki's surprise made the warrior shake his head. "We have spoken with Heimdall and the AllFather," he said, "we are here to bring their intelligence to this war council- Heimdall watched you take the human to the Bifrost- you allowed her to touch it- sing with it." There was a ripple of shock that went around the Asgardians.
The worst part of jaw-dropping was from Thor. "You took a mortal to the Bifrost?" he gasped, "Why would you?" he cut off as an expression of suspicion battling with disappointment covered his face. "You were testing if- you were testing her to see if she could somehow compel it... weren't you, brother?"
Natasha's voice was like a snake strike. "You were testing Fiona to use her as a weapon?" She made a disgusted noise. "You haven't changed."
Fiona's head was turning rapidly in each direction, trying to catch the flow of the conversation as it leapfrogged from one accusation to the other. She turned to look at Loki, eyes wide and hopeful when his cold jade gaze met hers. "Was it-" Loki's level expression was giving nothing away. "Loki-" she questioned, "is that why you took me there? I was singing the song of the universe, and you were testing me as a weapon? Tell them that's wrong." She waited but her cold, inscrutable daddy said nothing. Fiona felt like she'd been punched in the heart. She would never be anything more than the pitiful creature Kahn had made her- no one would ever want her for more than for the harm she could cause others, for the greed of those who controlled her.
To his credit, Steve stepped into the middle of the accusations. "Everybody!" he shouted, and the girl was astonished. She had never heard him shout at anyone. "All of you just… shut up for a moment. This is not how we handle discussions in the Avengers circle. What I know is Loki has hidden three Infinity Stones at great risk to himself and until I know differently, I'm going to believe he did it on behalf of the earth."
It was then that Fury lived up to his name, his rage crowding over Roger's earnestness. "Do what you want, Captain Rogers, but I'm taking that screeching freak with me and I'm sending Loki back to his daddy's dungeon. I've had enough. But first..." The director of S.H.I.E.L.D began walking, slow and deliberate steps towards Loki the sound of his boots quite loud in the suddenly quiet room. "First you're going to tell me the location of those three stones in case we have to negotiate with this... Thanos asshole." The Warriors Three, Sif and Thor burst out in protest, trying to educate the rest to what they'd dealing with.
"There is no negotiation!" Loki's suddenly amplified voice flattened them all, "There is no negotiation with the Titan- he wishes death, he craves it and he will not rest until he is killed us all." He looked at Fury. "Imbecile!" he snapped, "Thinking you can negotiate with Thanos? Believing that I am the worst of the monsters you'll face?"
With a furious gesture from Stark and Fury at the same time, several armed guards began approaching Loki who looked at them all, disgusted. "So eager to capitulate..." He instantly disappeared, grabbing Fiona and taking her too. It was the worst feeling- Fiona gasped, waving her hands out frantically, much worse than anything. There were voices in the Dark- howling and screaming in agony, spidery fingers grasping at her hair, her neck, tearing at her clothes until a violent pull that felt like her spine was being yanked through her stomach. Fiona landed on her knees. Looking up at Loki, who was straightening his cuffs, she chuckled bitterly. "At least you picked my turf this time," she said, standing up and shakily putting herself to rights as she stared at her daddy- a man she did not quite recognize after that terrible morning. Fiona blinked, finally shoving the huge lump of grief in her throat back down. "Come on, then," she managed, walking down the street, "we're going for tea."
Surprisingly, while looking around Loki simply followed Fiona to just outside the little town to a farmstead, where a silver-headed woman met them at the gate, smiling fondly at the girl. "It's been a long time, my Fi," she said, "and you look somewhat worse for wear." Her eyes traveling to Loki, she paused for a minute, leisurely examining the dark prince from head to foot. "My, my Fiona," the woman grinned, "stay for the day," she said, "this one certainly welcome."
"How do you know each other?" Loki said charmingly during the woman's leisurely tea service. With her flirty smile, she kept dropping extra lumps of sugar in his tea, making it indigestible.
"Mavis here is the local witch," Fiona said proudly. "We've worked together in the past," they looked at each other and burst out laughing as Loki raised his elegant brow before quickly emptying his cup into a potted plant by his elbow.
"I did not think this was where you were from, darling," he said.
"I'm not..." Fiona's burgundy locks- while tangled still curled around her pretty face, which was alight with happiness from being away from the concrete confines of Stark Tower and the ugliness, and back to a place where she at least felt like she belonged. Just a bit. "I'm not dumb enough to lead them straight back home," she scolded, "that's the first place they'd look."
This made Fiona and Loki come to the sudden realization. "You directed the jump..." he said incredulously. "How?"
She shook her head and eyes wide. "I didn't. I didn't know," she said, "I just knew where I was thinking of- somewhere that felt safe." Looking at the god who looked ridiculously oversized in the witch's little chairs, she said, "Has that ever happened before?"
Loki looked at her with disgust, as if she'd just spat on his boots. "You think that I would allow someone else to direct my seiðr?" he said, his tone was utter repugnance. Mavis chuckled and got up to pour them more tea, Loki noting with some disappointment that she didn't skimp on the sugar again for him. Really, he was quite thirsty, and a decent cup of tea…
"The two of you fit so well," she said, sitting down and then patting their hands as if they were an engaged couple there to seek her blessing.
It was then that Fiona remembered the tests that Loki had conducted with her during the most beautiful moment in her life, now soiled with the knowledge that it was all simply part of his game- which then made the girl question everything.
"I can feel it coming," Mavis said, snapping them both out of their despondency. "I knew there was something bad- there have been birds flying into the cliffs- dashing themselves senseless, falling like rocks. The ley lines..." she struggled, "they're not… clean. There's something in them- something infecting the purity of this place."
Fiona nodded, rubbing her forehead tiredly. "I saw the same as we were flying over Eastern Europe and into Siberia," she agreed. "Whatever it is, it's sending some sort of location beacon- some sort of infection."
"It is not a 'something,'" corrected Loki, placing in his hands flat on the table and speaking deliberately. "It is Thanos, the last Titan. He worships Death. He intends to kill us all- slaughter us all as his gift, his tribute."
Fiona wanted to ask him about the Infinity Stones, if they would help them, but she didn't want to speak- not even in front of her old friend if Loki was unwilling to offer the information. The skies outside suddenly darkened as if huge clouds and thunder were rolling through the countryside. They could hear the frantic barking of the dogs outside, the bleating of sheep. Fiona rose so fast in her chair that she knocked it over, running for the window and then looking back at Loki who had not moved. "Is it him?" she managed, her mouth dry and her tongue felt swollen to twice its usual size.
Loki finally looked up, his face pale and vulpine, his green eyes beginning to glow red. "It is the advance scouts," he said calmly, "they will seek to prepare the way for their Master. Thanos is close."
Fiona sat down, all the strength suddenly leaving her legs. "Then... we're out of time," she managed. Loki did not say a word.
Loki's revenge speech: not surprisingly, from Shakepeare's Hamlet