The Black Forest - Said The Spider To The Fly

Egypt Central; White Rabbit

Heimdall led the way and Loki tipped a brow as he watched another fox strolling along. The hare tried to keep him from moving forward looking at the odd attire the fox was wearing. "Loki, look at what they wear. They do not seem to fit all we have seen here."

Loki curled his brow agreeing. "That is why I am curious. I wish to know what it is upon his head."

Heimdall sighed as Loki yelled to get their attention. The fox turned with a curious brow as the cat beside him nearly knocked him over from stumbling. Loki cocked his head to the side as he got close enough to see the cat swaying. "Is he ailing with something?"

The fox sighed and shook his head as he used a paw to steady the small cat. "No, just too many spirits."

"Spirits?" Loki asked as the other fox turned his eyes to the hare beside him and smiled slowly as Heimdall looked them over.

"My friend, what manner of rabbit are you to be so white?"

Heimdall curled his lip watching the cat hiccup several times as his eyes fell to a lazy glaze. "I am a hare, not a rabbit. We should away from this Loki, we have no time to…"

"Oh," The fox shot as he shook his head. "Why be in such a hurry?" he looked back at Loki smiling as the fox kept examining his hat. "Honest John, at your service. Do you like it?" He plucked the hat off his head and handed it to Loki, chuckling as he stuck it under his nose sniffing at it. "I wouldn't do that too much if I were you."

"Why?" Loki asked as Heimdall scowled at the cat who had climbed into a tree grinning like an idiot as he rolled over.

"Loki, we should leave and be on our..."

"Where are you going?" The cat asked as Heimdall curled his lip.

"We do not know, we simply need to find a place to stay for the night and take a bath."

The cat rolled over laughing as Heimdall scowled and Loki looked at it as the fox took his hat back. "If you don't know where you are going, what difference does it make which way you go?"

Heimdall scowled at the feline. "That's terribly helpful. Who are you anyway?"

"I am Gideon Cheshire." Loki chuckled as he watched his brother frowning at the cat. "What is your name?"

"I am called Hare."

"That is your species. Do you not know who you are?" the cat asked still grinning as he jumped, disappearing into the shadows for a moment before his face reappeared in another part of the tree.

Heimdall scowled and tried to coax Loki to leave again as Honest John chuckled. "If you are in need of a place to stay and a bath, come to my parlor! I will show you of the hats you like so much." Loki glanced back at Heimdall and the hare rolled his eyes. "Come now, curiosity never killed anyone, Hare!"

Honest John prodded Heimdall and he sighed as Loki waved a paw. They watched the cat fall from the tree and stumble into the fox before they walked a path that had them both raising their ears at the laughter coming from within a parlor. The place was brightly painted, an unusual sight in the black forest as Honest John opened the door, bowing as he held to it open to allow them in. Heimdall and Loki curled their noses at the smell. "What is that?"

Honest John chuckled. "Mercury. It is a foul substance, but the only way to make the hats."

Loki raised a brow as several foxes looked up from a work station, giving them a disbelieving look as they tossed hats around. They scrambled around the table grabbing teapots and cups and Heimdall shook his head as Honest John waved them to a seat. "Come and have tea with us."

"There are no seats! There is no room!" One of the foxes barked.

Heimdall looked at Loki shaking his head and lowered his voice. "They are all mad! Look at how they act as children, pretending the teapots dance around!"

Loki frowned as he watched them moving from seat to seat, moving the teapots as if they were alive. "Then I see no reason to upset them. A cup of this tea will not harm us Heimdall."

Heimdall groaned as Loki took a seat and watched the foxes around the table give them a funny look as Honest John sat with Gideon and passed them a brightly colored tea pot. "Have a bit of tea, I shall have them make you a tailored hat and cape like mine! You will be the grandest of foxes and hares in these parts! Would you like sugar?"

Heimdall shook his head. "No." Loki looked at the hat Honest John was wearing and leaned towards Heimdall as the hare made a noise that hadn't caught anyone else's ears. "Something about this place is not right, Loki. No one in this world gives things away."

"So, why is he?" Loki asked watching the fox talking to the cat as he poured the tea.

"Make these fine fellows something that will show others they are the highest of society!" Honest John smiled as he passed the cups, watching the other foxes bickering as they shied away and tried to hide themselves and what they were doing.

Loki curled his lip up eyeing the foxes as he watched their paws shake, while they kept trying to hide the fact that they weren't moving the way a normal person would, and displayed odd traits that made it obvious their minds were not in the right place. He looked back at Heimdall as the hare looked at the cup and shook his head. "It is too hot."

"It will cool if you are patient." Honest John cringed as Loki looked into the tea cup. "Do you not know that good things come to those who wait? Time will pass quickly enough."

Heimdall tipped a brow watching the foxes, they were all enthralled with the pocket watch Honest John was looking at before he started swing it back and forth. Loki looked around and sighed as Heimdall watched the cat slip away from the table. He leaned towards his brother and the hares ears shot up as the fox lowered his voice. "You can cool this, I do not wish to be rude, but I would like to leave as the smell is very unpleasant." Heimdall sighed looking at the foxes and cringed as he grabbed both cups, cooling the outer shell. Loki smacked a paw to his head after lifting the cup when the tea fell out and landed in a solid chunk on the table. Honest John sat up wide eyed as the Heimdall fought not to twist his ears together. "Brother, have you no control over that?" Loki mumbled as Honest John stood, marveling at the ice.

"I have not used this ability in such a small manner before!"

The fox in a silk hat and long cape stepped closer and smiled as Heimdall and Loki cringed. "Look friends! Our pal makes ice! Something only seen in the cold months and here it is March, Hare!"

Heimdall and Loki looked back at Honest John a little shocked as the other foxes perked their ears and watched. "You do not fear this?"

"Pah," Honest John waved a paw as he sat his watch on the table and leaned closer. "The Black forest hides many secrets. Are you gifted with other magical abilities like this, Hare?"

Heimdall shook his head. "It is not magic, just something I was born knowing how to do. I do not hold any magic."

"It is a type of magic, as no one else can do such a thing. And you?" He asked as Loki looked back at Heimdall shaking his head.

"I cannot do anything like this." Heimdall turned his head trying not to smile. It wasn't a lie, Loki couldn't do anything with ice, but he said nothing in regards to being a God, having sway over fire, or the many types of magic he knew and held.

Honest John chewed his lip as the hare examined the frozen chunk of tea that had fallen out of Loki's cup and curled his lip. Heimdall stood scowling as Loki tipped a curious brow. "It is not sugar - What is in this tea?!"

Loki tapped the frozen tea and raised a brow as it split, revealing several chunks of small while crystals. He looked at the foxes and narrowed his eyes as the same tod shook his head. "There are no seats! There is no room!"

Loki snarled. "You lure them here with promises of gifts that will make others see them as something they are not and poison them to make the things you sell?! They have not even enough mind left to speak true words to warn others even when they try! You make them mad to make the hats! You wished to make us mad, enslave us to do your work?!"

The fox in a silk hat sneered in an evil smile and shrugged. "The only way to get what you deserve is to take it. No matter the cost."

Loki stood growling and Honest John shrank against a wall as he lifted his paws in flaming balls of fire. "You will get what you deserve." Honest John lifted his paws as Loki tossed the table aside. Heimdall jumped behind him waving to the other foxes as he tried to get them to leave. They stood there like deer in headlights, not really understanding anything he said and he looked around trying to find anything to persuade them as Loki growled loud enough to set his ears. The hare spotted the pocket watch that had fallen when Loki tossed the table aside and picked it up, swinging it back and forth. The foxes all froze watching the shiny object as Heimdall stepped closer to the door. "Look, see how shiny it is? I will give it to you if you follow me." He jumped back and forth in an erratic pattern as they kept their eyes on the watch and followed him blindly as he led them outside. Heimdall cringed as the parlor burst into flames. Looking around for somewhere to get the foxes so they wouldn't be harmed. He found a hollow under a tree and crawled in, poking his head back out and waving the watch around before the foxes dove in after him. He tossed the watch into the deepest part and crawled back out, watching the parlor explode as Loki walked from the flames, dragging Honest John by the collar.

Heimdall cringed as another small blast sent things flying and ducked as several shards of broken mirrors flew over his head. Looking back he jumped away and watched Loki shove the stunned fox against a tree. "You will never speak again, for your words are only worth a ton to make others an ass! No fox shall be a foul fellow and lead others astray!"

"LOKI!" Heimdall cringed as Loki looked back at him with flaming eyes. "You can use your magic to undo what has happe-

"No - I cannot Heimdall. What is in their blood will burst into flames and kill them if I try." Heimdall looked back to the hole the foxes were peeking out of and sighed as Loki shoved Honest John into a large piece of shattered mirror that had wedged into the tree. He stepped closer letting his jaw drop as Honest John threw his paws against the other side of the mirror and blinked as the image shifted. Loki growled, "If you believed that appearances are all that matter, it is all you shall ever be! You believed waiting would get you what you wanted, it is all you will ever do from this day forward." Honest John changed to the reflection of Loki who kept frowning at the image as he turned. Heimdall raised a brow as the image in the mirror stayed watching for a moment longer, before it dropped its head and turned, mirroring the actions of Loki as he walked away.

Loki topped, watching the foxes shrink back into the hole and sighed as Heimdall let his chin drop. "We cannot leave them here like this. They will never survive, Loki."

Loki ground his teeth as he looked around and closed his eyes as he bent to his knees, shoving his paws in the Earth. Heimdall stepped away with his brows going up as a door grew from the roots that curled around the opening and the foxes fled inside as it closed over them. "You mean to bury them alive?!"

Loki stood glaring at his brother and pulled the door open, motioning for him to go back into what had once been a hole in the ground. Heimdall sighed as he jumped in, landing on bent knees as he looked around blinking. Loki fell next to him and smirked as the hare let his jaw fall. He stood and stepped off the blocked tiles and into a field full of flowers taller that he was, watching the foxes laughing and chasing each other through the flowers that were singing above them. "Loki…what have you.. What is this place?"

Loki chuckled as Heimdall looked around shaking his head. "Their minds no longer understand much of what they should. It is just a place that reflects the happiness they still held. What was in their minds and what they wished and thought of the most. That one thought of nothing but flowers and a garden. The vixen, she thought of singing constantly. There was always some kind of tune in her head from her childhood. The other tod, he thought of foods, sweet things. They were the happiest thoughts in their minds, all something from when they were very young, so I put them all together in this place. They will never wake from what has been done to them, they may as well stay in a place where they can be stay the happiest in their minds, because they will not survive in the world. Everything they need will be right here." Heimdall tipped his head to one side as Loki grabbed a chunk of a mushroom and shoved it in his mouth. "I believe it is some kind of cake."

Heimdall raised a brow as Loki held a piece out to him and took it warily. He nibbled on it and his ears jerked up. His eyes shot back to Loki when he snickered. "It's made of carrots."

The fox laughed as he motioned back to the entrance. "Carrot cake. There are many others here, all seem to be a different color of the mushrooms the one who liked gardens had in his mind." Loki looked back as Heimdall cocked his head to the side and chuckled as the hare curled his lip.

"You mean to leave them looking like this?"

Loki shrugged as he watched the vixen skipping around the tods, dressed in a blue and white dress that stood out against the odd attire and top hates they were both wearing. "It is what they chose for themselves. No one will ever see them. This place will stay hidden from any who could harm them. They will never want for anything as it will be created by whatever is in their minds. They are much like children now because of the…"

Heimdall cupped a paw over his muzzle as Loki choked back a growl. "And what of the one you placed in the looking glass? You cursed him?"

"I did." Loki growled as he looked at the foxes jumping around each other. "He will live in a world where anything that can be found in a mirror will be his and have all the riches he wished to obtain by damaging others. But he will never have himself. Each time a mirror shatters he will lose all that was reflected in it." The fox looked back at his brother and curled his lip. "He will never have or be anything but a reflection of what he sees, as he has made them nothing more than a reflection of what they once were." Heimdall leaned over and picked up the watch he'd used to lure the foxes and Loki waved a paw back to the entrance. "I am in agreement we should away from this. Do not leave that here, they will never understand the concept of passing time as they age and die. This place will remain until they are no more and provide and protect for them until it is no longer needed."

Heimdall sighed as he looked over the pocket watch and shoved it in his pocket. He jumped through the entrance after Loki and watched as he closed the door, leaning away as the fox waved a paw over it. The vines that had created the door twisted and grew until nothing but a large tree stood in its place. The entrance was gone as Loki turned glaring at the reflection in the shards of the mirror that were still wedged in another tree. Heimdall shook his head as he looked back and caught the last of the parlor smoking on the ground. He grabbed Loki by the shoulder, pulling his attention away from the images and back to the path as he bowed his head slightly and waved them forward again. "Yes, we are late. Let us hurry away from this….

Notes; The spider lured the fly into its lair by offering gifts, praise, and telling it how attractive it was. The fly never left the spiders lair and was ensnared by flattery. A white hare who is mistaken as a rabbit. Pal who makes ice- Alice. The term mad as a hatter was often given to hat makers who suffered from Mercury poisoning. Mercury nitrate was used to soften the pelt and felt them together, either in the urine of workers who had been using it as an ailment for another disease and later in crystal form, it's also explosive if in a gas form and exposed to heat (Why Loki couldn't fix the foxes and why the parlor exploded) Honest John is from Pinocchio, and represents the mad hatter. Heimdall also represents the march hare, they jump around in erratic patterns during the breeding season which is where the term mad a as a march hare came from. Gideon was the cat who helped Honest John fool Pinocchio and also represents the Cheshire cat, he's drunk and managed to slip away. Cheshire is a block of solid cheese that crumbles easily. The watch Heimdall is swinging back and forth to lure the foxes outside is connected with the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland but is also a nod to the three foxes who mindlessly follow a clock- a nod to the truth behind the three blind mice poem.

"your words are only worth a ton that makes others into asses. No fox shall be a foul fellow and lead others astray!"

Honest John's real name in Pinocchio is John Worthington Foulfellow and he eventually leads Pinocchio to an island that turns boys into jackasses who can't speak. These foxes have been poisoned and can't talk well enough to explain what they're trying to say. Loki shoving him into the mirror is the looking glass and Loki makes him into nothing more than the reflection of the images everyone will see in them. He created the other side of the looking glass, where Honest John is only a reflection of what appears in front of a mirror. He's the only one Loki actually curses with something that will never change because what he's done to the other foxes can't be undone.