Warning: Overly long AN at the end. That is all.

Scars

Kenna slumped against her bathroom wall, breathing hard. She gripped the simple little human device in her hand with such intensity that the plastic casing started to crack and splinter. A knock on her bedroom door shook her out of her intense thoughts. She immediately stood, grabbed a large amount of toilet paper off the roll and wrapped the pregnancy test with it before disposing of it in the waste basket. She then quickly checked her appearance in the mirror, straightening her hair in places before striding quickly from the bathroom. The knock sounded again right before she pulled the door open.

"Lady Kenna." Thor began, looking both concerned and bashful. "I don't mean to disturb your rest, I understand you just returned from your healing." Kenna held her breath. He would only be here for one reason. "But my brother has refused to drink or eat ever since your last meeting." Kenna tried her best to keep her face blank but she wanted to roll her eyes. It was a farce; even if he wasn't eating, Loki would never do anything to seriously jeopardize himself. Prince Thor was too easily swayed by his sentimentality for his brother. "He says he will again if you visit with him." Thor looked so hopeful that Kenna could do little but close her eyes.

"Of course, my prince." She hoped he understood why she suddenly used his title rather than his name as he'd asked her to use in the past. He needed to know that she was agreeing to this because her prince had asked it of her and not as a favor to a friend as he seemed to think they were. He was foolish for thinking that. A woman so far below his station could never hope to be. Simple requests would never be just simple requests. A friend could say no, she could not but she would let him continue to believe in their 'friendship' as it could only benefit her in the future.

"Thank you." The amount of relief in his voice pointed to the fact that her use of his title had gone completely over his head. She repressed the desire to both sigh and roll her eyes. "When would be best?" Better to get it over with as soon as possible.

"We can go now." And so they did. Far too soon, she stood outside of Loki's current prison. She took a deep breath as she heard the automatic locks release. They posted no guards outside of his doors, too worried that he could somehow influence them. She knew he could not however. She stepped inside and refused to show any kind of emotion to this man.

"Little one." Loki said with a sickening smile. "I'm so pleased that Thor was able to convince you to come." She stepped into the room.

"He tells me you refuse to eat." She gestured with her chin toward the platter of meats and fruits that sat in front of him. She watched as he reached out to pluck a bunch of grapes from their resting place.

"No longer that you have come." He held them out to her. "Perhaps you would like to feed them to me as you did once before?" Kenna openly scoffed at his, letting lose an unrestrained, sardonic laugh. She made no move forward. "I thought not but it was worth a try." He chuckled and brought the bunch to his mouth on his own. "Please, sit." Kenna debated if she should or not but after determining that the seat was too far away for him to grab her, she acquiesced.

The moment she sat down, she wrinkled her nose. "You smell." Loki did not look amused. "It really does remove you ability to use even simple magic, doesn't it?" She knew he normally maintained his cleanliness using simple spells which would mean that he'd been stewing here for weeks with no relief.

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious."

"You asked for me and since I can not speak about anything I do without raising your ire, I chose the obvious." Suddenly she stood and moved away. Loki watched her with an immensely perturbed look on his face but Kenna made a decision. She sighed at her solution but she needed to get near to him as it was. She needed to tell him without informing the watchers of this room. She walked to the door, heard the locks again and left.

Loki just stared at the door as it closed. Four days of fasting had earned him less than a minute. Irritating. He looked at the food in front of him and sighed. He was incredibly hungry; he could begin another fast tomorrow, for now…

Some time later the door opened and in walked his false brother. He had no patience for him at the moment after the dismal failure of luring Kenna here. He couldn't help the confusion and curiosity he felt however, when he saw the items Thor carried into the room: several cushions, a large basin and a large plastic container of some sort. Then he couldn't suppress his surprise at seeing Kenna follow him inside carrying a bag filled with unknown items. Thor drew near and set the items down before looking pointedly at the man still pinned to a metal cube.

"Do not take undue advantage brother, I will not request her to come again if you do." Loki made no move, too confused to know just what the hell was going on but annoyed that Thor refused to stop using the familiar moniker of 'brother' when he knew the truth very well. The golden god then turned without waiting for a reply and left the room, leaving he and Kenna alone once more.

"What is this game?"

"I said you smell. Would you like to fix that?" Loki sat stunned before he heard an odd sound in the room. It took a moment to realize that it was his own laughter.

"You… you are going to bathe me?" Now it was her turn to look perturbed.

"Only what you cannot do yourself." She corrected tersely. Loki just smiled widely at her and held out his one free hand. "By all means, bathe me my darling little Kenna." He didn't care that she rolled her eyes and squared her shoulders. He watched as she gathered the basin and cautiously approached him. She had no reason to fear him at the moment. There was no way he would jeopardize this brilliant scenario for anything. She set the basin down on the end of his bench before grabbing two of the cushions and laying them in front of the large bowl. "Lay down."

"As you command." He rested his upper back on the cushions and let his head hang over the basin, as he knew she wanted him. How long had it been since someone had washed his hair? Far too long and that thought that it would be her doing it. Fuck sexual fantasies, this would keep him satisfied for days. He closed his eyes, knowing that blocking out the visual of the ceiling above him would only enhance the delicious feelings he was fully expecting to experience soon. "Why you? Surely you could have pawned this task off on someone else… saved you the detestable task of touching me." He heard her sigh but since he wasn't looking at her face, he wasn't sure exactly what it denoted.

"It was either me or your brother."

"He is not my brother." He corrected quickly but with a better forced calm than he had the last time. "Remember, you've been fucking a Jotun, not an Odinson." He heard her movement stop completely for a moment before resuming in her task. She continued as if he hadn't spoken after a short pause.

"They won't let any humans near you. Since you are completely unrepentant about the deaths you caused, they fear you'll kill any that come near you."

"That would serve no purpose. I do not kill mindlessly." Another pause in her actions. So that statement affected her? Interesting. "You think I would kill them simply for sport?"

"I don't try to guess your mind." He didn't like how quickly she dismissed his question without even answering it. He held it in however as she poured water over his forehead and into his hair. He relished the feel of her talented little fingers coursing through his hair and doing her best to wet it down before squeezing some sweet smelling liquid into his hair and working it into a lather. Never in his life did he think the embarrassment of unseemliness would actually work to his favor.

"Your hands have always been expert." He almost moaned. He didn't even mean it as a sexual taunt, just a statement of pure fact. He couldn't help recall how deftly her hands worked when messaging the flesh of his back. Now he began new machinations centered on how best to coax such a task from her. She said nothing concerning the compliment. Too soon she was rinsing his ebony hair of the cleaning foam. He remained as she removed the basin, pouring the dirty water into one of the empty jugs before marginally drying his hair with a towel. It had been so long since he hadn't used magic to cover all of these tasks that he forgot how good the simple actions could feel.

"You can sit up now." She stated mechanically and he did so without comment, his wet hair feeling pleasantly cool as the remaining water evaporated slowly into the surrounding air. He watched her as she moved the basin to the table and refilled it with clean water before adding soap and a cloth. It was clear she meant to clean more than just his hair; suddenly, he became a little apprehensive about the rest of this endeavor. She moved next to him, and moved to begin the process of removing his leathers. She'd grabbed at his left vambrace when he tugged his arm away from her. She sighed but didn't look at him. She hadn't really looked directly into his eyes the entire time he now realized; in fact, he was certain she'd avoided it entirely.

"You confessed to being Jotun, the scars should mean little." The words stung and he started to question her 'truths' again. He was still confused whenever he tried to recall just what was fact and lie in their shared past. For the most part, he just avoided thinking of it and thus avoided the headaches that resulted from the effort. He knew now that The Other had done something to his perception of the past but he had no way of knowing for certain what had been tampered with and what had not. It was frustrating to say the least and maddening to say the most. He refused to give her his arm a second time when she reached for him again. It earned him another exasperated sigh. "I will not return to see you if you smell as you do now. So you have a clear choice."

Loki looked at her face then, her eyes were averted, staring at the arm she kept trying for. She couldn't even look at him; he disgusted her that much. So even if his recollections of the past were untrue, where he remembered her recoiling from his touch back in Asgard, it no longer mattered because it was a reality now. If, at this very moment, he could kill her quickly and easily, he might consider doing so. As it was, even a female Asgardian would prove a challenge as he was now and Thor would stop him before he could finish her off. This was the only way he wanted to think of her not returning to him, due to the release of death, and since he could not accomplish that, he held his arm out to her. He would see her again. Loki looked to Mjolnir as she set to her self-imposed task.

Piece by piece, she removed the different parts of his ensemble; anything with sleeves was bunched around his right wrist and left there. Before too long, his torso was bare to the room and the watching eyes of the cameras. He made it a point to keep his line of sight well away from the camera's lens. Despite his dark thoughts from only minutes before, he slowly let himself enjoy her physical touch as she pulled the warm, wet cloth across his marred flesh. The scars didn't actually bother him to the degree they used to when he'd first learned of their existence. At first, the very idea of them made him feel physically sick but now… they just announced to his enemies that he could handle far more than they ever could. The morning before the invasion, he'd shown them to Kenna as a simple declaration. That this was the length he would go to in order to find her once more. He'd expected her disgust but had earned her pity instead. That was far worse. Of course, now knowing the outcome of that battle, he wished he'd let her pity him. He wished she'd pity him now. It seemed that emotion extended only to the evidence of physical pain and not his uncontrollable heritage. He was pulled out of his thoughts when she moved to stand in front of him, starting on his chest.

"Now you won't be remembered for being the odiferous god that tried to enslave them. That's not a legacy I would wish on either of us." He ignored her taunt until he noticed that her hands had quieted in their work. It had the effect of bringing his eyes up to her. She was looking at him for the first time since she'd come to see him and it only took a second to realize that her words hadn't been a taunt, they held a hidden meaning. He ran her words through his mind once more.

'… not a legacy she would wish on either of them.' He thought to himself as he let his eyes flit down to her abdomen for the briefest of moments before looking into her eyes once more. She gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head and then her eyes fell away from his once more as she got back to her work. So that was it. He'd failed yet again. He laughed then, humorless and cold.

"I will get you one day." He said in a deadly sounding whisper. He saw her body tense but she didn't stop her ministrations. He knew she understood.

"I don't know why you would want to."

"No, you wouldn't, would you." He said cryptically. He tried to make himself enjoy the remainder of her time with him as she finished with his torso. Then she'd replaced the water in the basin a third time, provided him with a new cloth and informed him that he could manage the rest one handed. She'd left without another word. It didn't take him long after to realize that the entire bathing scene had been a ruse in order to get close enough to him and to tell him of his reproductive failure. The initial sting of it was gone and he decided that it was for the best. He'd failed in his quest for a Kingship for the moment so his need for an heir was no longer a pressing need. He would have plenty of time for that later. In the mean time, he would continue to lay the foundations with his brother that would ultimately lead to his permanent acquisition of the lowborn noble bitch. He did hope that his little Kenna had not let herself be deluded into thinking that she would ever be anything but his.

XxX

AN: Ok, I got a humorous PM from a reader asking an odd question and I can't help but give my answer here. "Please list the main cast of the avengers in descending order of hawtness, including Tom Hiddleston of course and why." LOL, sure, why not. Here goes. This is entirely my personal preference as far as this silly question is concerned. :)
1. Robert Downey Jr. – Where most women have a fan girl crush on Hiddleston, I had a similar one to Downey as a young girl, I bought 'Chaplin' on VHS for cryin out loud.
2. Mark Ruffalo – This guy is just the epitome of adorable
3. Jeremy Renner – I have a thing for pinch-faced men.
4. Tom Hiddleston – Just plain classic looking but it's his voice that puts him this high on the list.
5. Scarlet Johansson – So gorgeous. I don't swing that way but for her… yeah.
6. Samuel L. Jackson – This guy is all machismo man and you gotta respect that.
7. & 8. The Chris's – Nice looking men but too boyish faced for me
And there's my list. I like older fellows even though I'm more in line with the ages of the younger cast members and I prefer then under 6 foot if we are going on all physical aspects… I'm five foot nothing so anything too tall would just be awkward. ROFL. What a goofy freakin list… but fun for shits and giggles. Now the list would be different if asked about favorite characters, in that case… yeah, Loki would be #1… duh.

gameofshadows: If by Easter egg you mean preggo test… then yes. HAHA, at least you never have to wait too long with me. Aww, thank you. He was fun to write.
jnotjane: I'm glad my Banner and Stark were descent substitutes. And you're favorite scene? That's so cool. Well, you're mix feelings can get unmixed now. It would have been a HUGE amount more drama and I thought just the possibility would be good enough. Never hesitate to criticize. I will never take offense and while it won't change my plans for the story, it can provide excellent chances at introspection and could make the story better. Thank you!
caitysays: Yeah, I like how they portrayed him in the Avengers so it was fun to write him here. Will we be going back to Asgard? You won't have to wait too long to find out. And yes, if it happens, it will be very sad.
AvalonTheLadyKiller: ROFL. Thank you for that vote of confidence. I mainly just wanted to deal with the drama of it having been a possibility and to demonstrate just how distasteful Kenna finds the idea in her present mindset. Once we move past those areas, I'd love to hear your theories! I'd find any readers hypotheses fascinating. And I answered one question anyway so call off your coppers!
KeeperoftheNine: Woot! Tony is a hoot to write. It's not always easy to think up snarky lines but once I grab one it's fun. You know Tony would be all over Jane even with Thor around. I'd love to see something like that in the actual movie-verse, lol. Bruce is one of those sweet guys, is he romantically sweet on her? Hmmmm.
OhMyDearTwistedWishes: Wow, thank you! I love that you are enjoying my plot especially since I only added it originally as a cheap reason for a bunch of Loki pron. And any time someone likes my OC, I'm completely thrilled. I really try to avoid any Mary Sue-ness. Also thrilled that you like my interpretation of Loki, everything you said was incredibly flattering. I have had a fun time tweaking his character based on the movie timeframes and happenings. Stark is by far my favorite of the hero characters, he's just so much fun and I'm glad I didn't butcher him. Thank you so much for letting me know what you thought!