Breakfast with the Avengers was exactly as uncomfortable as Loki assumed it would be. They kept glaring at him and speaking subtle threats toward him. The only people at the table who didn't look like they wanted to leap over and attack him were Thor, Jane, and Maisy. And even Maisy was acting more coldly, though he supposed she had good reason.
It had truly been an accident and a blunder on his part, but he couldn't help feeling just a little smug about the whole ordeal. It had been pleasant to wake up with her warmth beside him and he wondered if he'd ever experience it again or if he'd ended all touching in their relationship forever by his one mistake. With how rigidly she was acting right now he wouldn't be surprised if she increased the platonicness of their marriage tenfold.
He put the thought out of his head and tried to focus on the conversations happening around him.
"Did you ever take any Judo?" Jane was asking Maisy, "I remember a few moves that might help you out if you want me to teach them to you before the big event today."
"That'd be awesome, Jane, thanks!" Maisy smiled and stuffed a huge bite of pancake in her mouth. Having some Midgardian food appeared to be improving her mood.
"If they beat you don't feel bad," Rogers commented, "This is just one of many events. We've got plenty of time."
"I even heard that Father is considering using one sport from each of the participants' homes as an event, to give everyone a bit of an advantage at something," Thor grinned, shoving about four whole pancakes into his spacious mouth.
"That's so cool! I wonder what sport he'll pick for Midgard. It would be nice if he chose archery, eh Hawkeye?" Maisy smiled and Barton beamed at her.
"Except for the fact that Tzefira has probably trained with a bow since she was able to lift one," Loki commented.
"I was just saying that it might be cool," Maisy said stiffly.
"Did you ever play any sports in school?" Natasha asked.
"Eighth grade through senior year I played soccer, I wasn't the best on the team," she shrugged, "It was fun though."
"Soccer? I shall suggest it to Father," Thor winked.
"I wonder what other competitions are in store," Stark was fidgeting with a piece of his armor, occasionally taking a sip of juice, "Will Odin ever let us know?"
"Doubtful," Loki said, "He prefers to keep people in the dark."
"Brother," Thor warned, "Don't turn the conversation sour."
"Just stating facts!" Loki chirped, sending a sly smile in Maisy's direction. She was blatantly ignoring him, chatting with Banner on her other side about the Hulk, probably unaware that it was a sore subject for the man.
Breakfast continued awkwardly until there were no more pancakes and it was nearly time for Maisy to be at the arena. She was already dressed in her battle garb from the previous day so they headed straight there. Loki and Thor were probably not supposed to travel with the Midgardian representatives since it showed favoritism, but they didn't particularly care at the moment. Thor was engaged in conversation with Jane and Loki didn't feel like leaving Maisy's side. He suspected Egil meant to try something to get her attention and it would not be wise to leave her alone. Even if the Avengers had her back.
When they got to the arena guards quickly approached Maisy. She smiled politely at them at first, but they quickly clapped their hands on her upper arms and started dragging her away. She yelped and reached out for her entourage, succeeding in grabbing Loki's hand and shocking him a bit.
"What is the meaning of this?!" He demanded, but the guards merely pulled harder and Maisy soon vanished with them. The Avengers went to race after her and Loki was already following, but more guards got between them and told them what was going on.
"No contestants are allowed to speak with their entourages from this point forward in today's event," the guard said, "Please go to your seats."
"I am not part of her entourage," Loki said, trying to look over the man's shoulder and locate Maisy.
"Well, the Allfather said you especially weren't allowed to talk to the contestants, so I'm going to have to ask you to go to your seat as well, Your Highness."
"What about me?" Thor asked, giving a winning smile.
"No."
All of the Avengers and Loki muttered grouchily but did as they were asked and went to find their seats. Loki was made even more irritable when he found that he was to be seated with all of the proud parents of the contestants. Aoiba's mother and father were smiling happily, Tzefira's mother nodded kindly at him, Die-An's mother acknowledged him amiably, but Mr. Sichore was openly displaying his anger. Obviously Melantha's family was dead and Blaze didn't seem to have any present either. But it was still far too many chatting parents for the trickster to deal with. And they all wanted to know what he thought of their daughters. It was a good thing he was the god of lies or he might have started a few wars.
"Yes, Tzefira truly is a delicate and lovely girl!"
"Aoiba is such an interesting conversationalist, I agree."
"How could I not notice Die-An's caring nature?"
On and on the lies went until the event finally started and he was finally allowed to be quiet and the parents were forced to shut up about how wonderful their daughters were and what good wives they'd make.
"First fight!" The herald announced, "Die-An of the Kree versus Aoiba of the Krylorians!"
The women stepped out into the center of the arena, both dressed in battle garb. Aoiba looked distinctly nervous when faced with a snarling Kree warrior. They shook hands and the herald read the rules, stating that they could not kill each other or give permanent injuries or scars. Die-An looked slightly disappointed at this and Aoiba looked relieved.
Then a trumpet blared and both women launched themselves at each other. Loki couldn't help wincing when Die-An's fist pummeled Aoiba into the ground and knocked her out in one punch. The Krylorian princess was down so fast that it took a moment for the herald to blow another trumpet blast to declare the end of the match.
"Oh, is it over?" Die-An sounded disappointed and the Asgardian audience laughed and cheered for her. With her impressive battle skills, she was winning over the battle loving realm. Even Loki was amused by her. The only ones not smiling were the Krylorians and the king and queen appeared to be peeved that Loki was smirking.
"Hand to hand is not her strong suit," the Krylorian king snapped, "And she stayed up later than she should have, so she really wasn't in her best shape today."
"I'm sure," Loki responded as medics carried the girl off to be tended to and Die-An was led to a victor's seat. He was anxious to see who was up next. He'd been hoping that Maisy would be paired with Aoiba since they seemed somewhat evenly matched in the area of hand to hand combat. Now he could only hope she was paired with Melantha. While he loathed the Dark Elf queen, he also knew she was a woman of honor. She would stop the attack when she'd won and not keep going until Maisy was passed out in the dirt.
He huffed and rested his chin on his palm when he realized at this point he was rooting for the girl that's greatest victory would be surviving a sparring match. Not that he didn't want her to win, but he couldn't help wishing he'd been stuck with someone a bit more capable.
When the next contestants came onto the floor he wanted to groan. Melantha and Tzefira were facing off, which meant Maisy would be left with Blaze. He just hoped that Egil had instructed his sister in arms to go easy on the Midgardian. Of course, there might not be an arena left to battle in by the end of the current match, as the Light and Dark Elves would probably go all out in trying to destroy one another.
The herald blew his horn and the crowd went absolutely bonkers. Most of the people were cheering for Tzefira, considering the majority of the audience was made up of Asgardians. Perhaps they weren't cheering so much for the Light Elf as they were cheering against Melantha. It really was a wonder that the Dark Elves thought it would be a good idea to come to the place where they'd caused so much grief. Frigga had been beloved by all and the wound was still fresh.
Tzefira seemed to get charged up on the applause and she grinned as she and Melantha wrestled around the arena, kicks and punches being thrown with loud grunts and howls. Melantha remained composed as she blocked the other woman's hits and when Tzefira started to wear down she struck, leaping at her middle and knocking her to the ground. She looked ready to deliver a blow to Tzefira's face, which would effectively end the match, when Tzefira rolled. Melantha was suddenly underneath and Tzefira did not hold back. There were several hits before the Svartalfheim representatives began shouting for the herald to step in. The herald hesitated, probably glad to see Melantha taking a beating, before he finally blew the trumpet.
Tzefira didn't stop though and eventually Odin ordered two guards to go forth and pull the women apart. Before the guards could do anything Tzefira grinned maniacally and looked as if she was going to try and kill Melantha with her bare hands.
"For Queen Frigga!" Tzefira shouted, going in for the neck. The guards paused at this and no one else made a move until Melantha screamed and fired off red lightning. Tzefira was flung backwards, smoking slightly. The Dark Elf queen spat black blood from her mouth and slowly rose to her feet. Even though she'd lost the match she still held herself with great dignity. Sending a glare in Odin's direction, she slowly made her way to her seat. A medic should have offered to take care of her wounds, but none stepped forward and Loki got the impression that she wouldn't have accepted their help anyway.
Her advisors began muttering to her immediately, but she silenced them all by lifting her hand. They probably wanted her to declare war on the Light Elves, but she simply stayed quiet and stared ahead. Even though he almost wished that Tzefira had finished her off, he couldn't help but admire her stoic expression. An expression decorated by cuts, bruises, and blood.
After a few moments of shocked silence, Tzefira picked herself up from the ground with a cough. She dusted herself off and went to sit next to Die-An in a victor's seat. That seemed to shake everyone again and the herald remembered to announce Blaze and Maisy.
Blaze, ever the entertainer, cheered with the audience as she took her place in the middle of the arena. She was wearing black warpaint in streaks across her face and her eyes seemed to glow heinously as they found their way to Loki. He frowned at her and she had the nerve to blow him a kiss. This seemed to remind everyone of what she'd done the previous day and the audience chuckled.
Maisy walked, shoulders back and chin up, to the middle and offered her hand to Blaze. The girl from Muspelheim raised a brow, but shook the Midgardian's hand. They both took a step back and squared up to fight. Maisy's stance was so painfully amateurish that he could scarcely stand to watch. When the horn blew Blaze leapt at Maisy, but Maisy ducked and rolled away. She rose to her feet, fists up, and scowled determinedly at her opponent. Blaze laughed and made to attack again, but Maisy sidestepped her and threw a punch of her own. It was a good one and landed right in Blaze's gut.
"Ha, that tickles," Blaze gasped, clearly winded. She took the moment of Maisy's success and turned it on her by sweeping her leg and knocking the other woman to the ground. She made to jump on her, but Maisy rolled away and attempted to get back onto her feet. Blaze saw it coming and grabbed Maisy's green hair and yanked her onto her back.
With a pained yelp, Maisy reached for her scalp, forgetting to to defend herself. Blaze was quick to kick Maisy in the stomach and when the Midgardian couldn't move except to clutch herself in pain, Blaze laughed triumphantly and socked her opponent in the eye. She looked like she wouldn't have minded bashing Maisy's skull in, but there was a sharp whistle from Muspelheim's box and, like a well trained but defiant dog, Blaze settled for one more kick. She looked to the herald, he blew the horn, and Blaze skipped over to her victor's chair, baring her teeth at the other girls.
Maisy looked as if she was about to start crying from pain and Loki wanted nothing more than to scoop her up and carry her to safety, but the medics beat him to it. They gently helped her to her feet and walked her away. Loki sighed with relief, which surprised him because he hadn't thought he would ever get so worked up over a simple Midgardian's safety. Yet here he was, wanting to leave the arena to go check on her.
He couldn't, obviously, or else Odin would throw a fit and lecture him about not showing favoritism. So he sat and listened to the parents babble some more before the final fight began. All three women who'd won would be facing each other and whoever won would be awarded a huge number of points. Loki barely paid attention to the fighting. He clapped when Tzefira won - she'd done so by knocking out Die-An and then swinging the Kree girl around and releasing her into Blaze's face - and when Odin finally declared an end to the day's activities, he made a quick get away by leaving an illusion to chat with parents.
He found his way to the arena infirmary and saw that the Avengers were already checking up on Maisy. He was about to enter the room and see for himself what damage had been done, but a hand squeezed his shoulder and he turned around to find a battered Aoiba. She grinned flirtatiously at him and started a conversation. He had no choice but to talk with her for a bit and tell her she did quite well for not being in her best form. She hooked her arm with his and led him back to the palace, much to his annoyance. They ended up in a little garden and she blabbered at him for near on an hour.
When she was finally done, saying she really ought to get ready for dinner, he smiled politely and when she was gone he leapt up to go find Maisy. However, a guard grabbed his arm.
"What?!" He snapped.
"The Allfather says you and Tzefira are to spend the rest of the day together."
"Why in the nine realms would I do that?" Loki sneered.
"Well," the guard grinned a little, "She did win the competition today. Didn't your father tell you that you were her prize?"
"I can't spend the day with her-"
"You can, or else I've got orders to get the rest of my boys and we'll drag your ass down to the dungeon. Your choice, traitor."
Loki grumbled and followed the guard to go meet Tzefira. He was nearly sick at the thought of spending the day with her, but he'd do nearly anything to keep out of the dungeon. And perhaps it wouldn't be so bad.
A note from the author: a thousand apologies for the lull in my updates, friends! I have been busy and now a tad ill and then my computer decided it wasn't fond of my and I had to coax it into working long enough for me to post this. I hope I didn't keep you in too much suspense. ;) Thank you for your patience!
As always, I want to take a moment to thank the lovely reviewers. So thank you very, very much to Eliza, ferbette, Lwolf, and the guest reviewer! Your reviews all made me smile!
And something I'd like to start doing is just giving a brief thank you to everyone who has favorited or followed or both! I can't believe how many of you there are! :)
Until next time!
