As soon as Loki was released from his cell, the first thing he did (whether she wanted him to or not) was hug Christie. She certainly didn't see it coming, and neither did Thor - but it didn't even matter. She couldn't deny how wonderful it felt to be in his arms again. The spark was still somewhat there between them, strong as ever…although deeply suppressed.

Loki rubbed her back in smooth circular motions with one hand, and tangled the other in her hair as if he couldn't bear to let go. It was almost like he'd been waiting for this moment for so long and now it was finally here. Christie was fighting everything within her not to give in to his touch - but it just didn't work. She had completely melted into the hug and everything she had against Loki for over a year almost disappeared – but then he let go again and that stupid smirk came back instead. "Christie, would you mind walking ahead to see if anyone's coming?" Thor asked her quietly. She took a moment to regain her composure before giving a stiff nod and speeding off in front of them, feeling Loki's eyes trained carefully on her.

The first person she collided with was, of course, Jennie.

"Annerledes!" she breathed as Christie grabbed her arms to stop the collision. Her dark chestnut hair was messily flailing and all over the place and her eyes were wild. She hadn't spoken a word to her since Frigga's death, so seeing her now was a bit of a shock. "I passed Sif in the corridor whilst I was looking for you, and she told me of a plan of utter madness to work with Loki in order to help the girl? Personally, I think it's an awful idea - so I've conjured up a list of pros and cons of freeing the beast, and hopefully it's not too late!" Christie's eyes widened and she spun Jennie round by her shoulders so that she was facing the other way instead, giving Christie the opportunity to see if Loki and Thor were coming.

"Jen, I'm so sorry-"

"Pros of letting him out…none! Cons however - the list is endless!" Jennie hissed, shaking the written list in front of her face for added effect.

"Jen, it's too late," Christie muttered. She snatched the list from her as she spotted Loki and Thor approaching them.

"Hey! Too late? Why?" Jennie frowned as she attempted to grab the list back.

"Hello Jennifer," came the sudden smooth voice of Loki from behind her. Jennie bit down on her jaw and spun on her heel to see him standing there calmly.

"Oh may the gods watch over us all," she murmured, already fighting the urge to slap him. "Just in case it wasn't clear, Loki - I still very much hate you."

"The feeling is incredibly mutual, dear," Loki hummed casually as he strode straight past her. Jennie looked just about ready to full on kick him in the shin, but decided to let out a small frustrated scream instead before angrily storming off to tell Sif, leaving Christie to shove the list into her back pocket and walk over to Thor. He was now a few paces ahead with a guard, who Christie assumed was Loki in disguise. Then, much to her annoyance, Loki then decided to have some fun and transform Thor into Sif. "Oh brother, you do look ravishing," Loki murmured in mock lust.

"Charming," Christie muttered under her breath as she tied her white-silver hair in a high ponytail.

"Oh hold the jealously, Annerledes - I could still have you any time I wanted," Loki remarked to her cheekily, receiving a glare in response.

"I love how convinced you are," she muttered under her breath.

"Could I not?" Loki hummed, stopping dead in front of her instead. Christie gulped and looked him in eye. She had to keep her cool, she really did.

"No, you couldn't. Not unless you tell me the truth about the deals-"

"I have not MADE any deals with darkness," Loki hissed loudly, so involved in defending himself that he didn't hear the guards walking down the corridor towards them. "Why-"

"Shut up, idiot!" Christie hissed urgently, suddenly shoving Loki behind the pillar. Her hand was slammed roughly over his mouth and she was now pressed up very close against him.

"Well, we haven't been this close in a while," Loki whispered through Christie's slender fingers as those beautiful green eyes studied her face intently. But she didn't even notice. She was too busy staring at Thor, waiting for him to give the all clear - so when she looked back to see him in a slight daze, it threw her off.

"Well whose fault is that?" she murmured back quietly, her lips barely moving. Loki's dark, lust filled eyes flickered down to her mouth before fluttering back up to her eyes again.

"I don't know, Christie - whose?" he muttered to her. Christie ran her tongue over her teeth and quickly let go of him, trying not to let his bitter use of her first name get under her skin.

Both of them were silently blaming each other for the mess that was the ruins of their relationship. They also both seemed to forget that they could read each other's minds again.

Christie took a few moments to compose herself before rushing ahead to where Sif and Jane had collided with Thor and Loki - just in time to see Jane bless Loki with a hot slap around his face.

"Nice," Sif hummed in surprise.

"Well? Are you just going to stand back and let her do that to me?" Loki muttered back to Christie through gritted teeth as he cupped his jaw.

"Seriously? I'm tempted to ask her to do it again on my behalf," Christie snapped back angrily, causing Sif and Thor to exchange little looks.

"Leave it Loki - Christie, could you take Jane to-" Thor began loudly. But they were already on a roll.

"What, you can't hit me yourself now?" Loki scoffed.

"No - I'm just aware that if I do it, I could keep going until you're dead," Christie hissed, before steering Jane away by her shoulders onto the large spaceship that was awaiting them amongst the rubble.

"Woah. What the hell is that?" Jane groaned shakily, her voice verging on a panic attack.

"That, is our ride outta here apparently," Christie replied with a frown.

"You are kidding me, right?" Jane murmured as her own eyes grew wide.

"I wish," Christie sighed tiredly, her eyes getting heavy. "I just wanna get this over and done with so that I can go home. I've had enough." Then she began shoving Jane into the ship, which was horribly dark on the inside. They sat together in silence whilst they waited for the boys to join them. At this point, Jane was feeling a little light headed, so she went to lay down in the corner and decided to curl up into a ball instead. Christie stood there and watched over her with concerned eyes.

"What was it like?" Jane suddenly asked quietly, although her eyes were squeezed shut to help with her the dizziness. Christie frowned at such an ambiguous sudden question and her fair eyebrows furrowed together.

"What was…what like?"

"Being in love with Loki," Jane mumbled tiredly. Christie gave an internal groan - of course this had to be the topic of discussion.

"Oh, it wasn't anything special," she hummed back. "I guess…I mean, at the time he was just…a normal guy."

"He was?"

"Well yeah, give or take all the magic stuff. I mean, I didn't see him as a villain or anything…otherwise I'd like to think I wouldn't have dated the guy in the first place."

"No, I totally get that. Eric told me about the whole 'mind possession' thing…I'm just saying that for someone to be that evil, for someone to be that cruel - that kind of evil has to grow and manifest. Surely, it always had to be there and the mind control would've been egging him on to do what he's always wanted to," Jane explained, her voice getting weaker by the word.

"Yup," Christie sniffed back, running her fingers through her wispy side fringe and pushing it out of her face. "I came to that conclusion a bit too late, though. I didn't see any signs or anything." It was a fair point.

"Don't beat yourself up about it, Christie. You live and you learn," Jane sighed, sensing her sad silence. "Do you think he still loves you?" Christie glanced at the ship entrance as the boys came in. Loki trailed behind Thor, now looking considerably fed up.

"No," she whispered to Jane. Her voice cracked on the word. The men didn't hear her response but Jane certainly did, and she glanced up at Christie with a saddened look on her face after picking up on the blatant hurt in her voice.

"Aw. How sweet - both the ladies having a little catchup," Loki cooed dryly as Thor attempted to get the ship started. "This is a great form of bonding."

"Shut up Loki," Thor grunted distractedly.

"No but I truly believe that we should all bond a little more. I mean we're all committing treason of the highest order - the punishment is that of great severity," Loki continued, sensing it was riling his big brother up.

"Loki, you're not helping!" Thor hissed. The controls were starting to stress him out, and it was becoming apparent in his voice.

"He knows he's not helping, Thor!" Christie called over with a roll of her eyes. "Why do you think he's purposely getting under your skin? He gets off on irritating people!" Loki let out a small growl and turned to face her properly.

"Are you just going to shoot snide comments my way for this entire journey?" he challenged her.

"Am I not well within my right to do so?" Christie snapped back. Suddenly, the control panels lit up.

"Aha!" Thor nodded triumphantly, obviously very proud of himself.

"Good job, mate," Christie sighed in relief as Thor finally got the ship started. He caused a little more destruction than planned as he managed to get out of the pillars that the ship was lodged in between. Jane attempted to sit herself up - but just ended up crumbling in a heap again, the weakness now getting to her. All three of them noticed her fall, and Christie rushed over and crouched down beside her. She shielded Jane's head from knocking about by laying it in her lap.

"How dramatic," Loki tutted unsympathetically, crossing his arms. "Is she dead?"

"No, Loki, she is very much alive," Christie grumbled to him, moving Jane's hair out of her face. "Give it a bloody rest." Loki turned back round to face Thor expectantly.

"Remind me again why we had to take her with us?" he hissed to him. Thor, who now shamelessly reversing out of the palace walls whilst destroying nearly everything in his path, took a deep breath before answering.

"We had to take her because she's an Avenger and she's helpful. Look, I'm sorry that your relationship ended the way it did, Loki," he told his brother once the ship had started to level out again. "But you could at least attempt to be nice to her, just for today at least. It would make everything easier." Loki nibbled on his bottom lip and kept his eyes solely focussed on the view ahead of them.

"I've missed her," he whispered to himself. "Still do, in fact." Thor took the time to glance at him, taking his eye off the control panel for a second, just to see if he was being honest.

And within seconds he could tell that yes - he was.

"You...what as in...you still have feelings for her?" he had to double check, now in disbelief at what he was hearing. It was a shock. All this time Thor had seen Loki as a confused, lone wolf who just couldn't grasp the concept of love and emotion. Now he was hearing him practically confess the entirety of his ice cold heart to his brother, and he didn't know what to make of it. He didn't want to start probing into it too much, he just wanted Loki to release without being afraid of judgement.

"I don't even know why I'm telling you all of this. It hardly matters now, she clearly can't stand the sight of me," Loki mumbled, already feeling embarrassed at his vulnerability. Thor let out a scoff of agreement at his words.

"To be fair, neither do I - you can clearly see that I'm trying to steer this ship out of Asgard without-" Loki suddenly grimaced as Thor accidentally slammed the ship straight through the head of a palace monument. "Lovely! For future reference - that's why this is the wrong time to have a heart to heart," Thor announced loudly as the ship took a sharp U turn.

"We are not having a heart to heart," Loki interrupted him sharply, raising a finger into the air. "Believe me, out of everything this could be - it's not that."

"Loki, it's fine to admit that you have some form of emotion in your body. You don't have to be this cold all the time," Thor muttered distractedly.

"It's not a heart to heart," Loki repeated once more, a little louder than before, "because to have a heart to heart, both participants need to have a heart. I am convinced that I do not. At least not anymore." Thor didn't even have the time to ask what he meant, because he quickly noticed that there was now more than one Asgardian ship after them. "Thor?! Did you not- ARGHH!"

With that, Thor shoved Loki off the ship out of the open door, and Christie finally glanced up from where she was sitting with Jane.

"Thank you," she breathed, gently lifting Jane up from under her armpits. Thor quickly rushed over to them and easily swooped Jane into his own arms instead.

"He misses you, you know," he told Christie with a little brotherly smirk. He gave her a little playful nudge before leaping off the ship too, his blood red cloak billowing behind him. Christie bit the insides of her cheeks uncomfortably before following him down and safely landing on a smaller open top ship that was hovering mid air, where Loki was sprawled out at Fandral's feet.

"What an expected landing from yourself there, Loki! That was truly satisfying to watch. Best of luck Thor, Princess," Fandral chuckled with his short blonde hair flowing wonderfully in the wind. With that he saluted them and jumped off, leaving the original four sitting there together. This was when Loki's talents actually came in handy, as they had no idea how to make it safely without either being crushed, shot at, or being seen.

"Your time, Loki?!" Christie shouted at him hurriedly. Loki sighed and grabbed a hold of the stick, his eyes glinting excitedly as the feeling of freedom rushed through his veins. Christie noticed the brief change in his eyes and had the most vivid flashback of Manhattan. It chilled her to such an extent, that she physically stood up from where she was tending to Jane in Thor's arms and walked over to Loki instead, crouching down beside him. She was right up in his face, physically studying his eyes with not an ounce of shame. Loki, who was now swerving and directing the ship into what appeared to be a giant wall of rock, briefly glanced at her and blinked a few times before rolling his eyes and looking away again.

"My eyes are completely green, Annerledes," he told her darkly. Christie swallowed and backed away from him slightly.

"Can you really blame me for checking?" she muttered under her breath. Loki looked at her properly then, for once, looking sorrowful.

"No," he shook his head. "No, I can't."

…

Jane was far too weak to even sit up, she was still laying in a heavy sweat. Christie sat at her head and stroked her hair in comfort. She was sitting in silence - but Thor clearly didn't want that. He wanted to sort out his brother and Christie's issues once and for all, whilst he still could.

Life was too short not to.

"So," he began quickly before another argument could escalate. "I take it that you are both no longer…together?" Loki rolled his eyes at the question and Christie raised her eyebrows, but both of them stayed completely silent. "Look, I'm trying to help you guys," Thor frowned irritably.

"Well, perhaps you shouldn't bother," Loki muttered without looking up. "She's clearly not prepared to listen." Christie's head shot up at such a stupidly triggering statement and she shot daggers in his direction.

She could barely believe the cheek of it.

"Loki, don't start with me," she warned him shakily, trying to keep her cool. "That's a lie and you know it. I'm honestly not in the mood for your petty games."

"Were you ever?" Loki shot back. His eyes were getting darker again - there was clearly no stability left with him whatsoever. The cold musky air from the land of the Dark Elves were starting to sting her senses, and she was so uncomfortable that it amped her feelings by about 100. The emotions were all building up and now she was fit to bust. So she could either choose sadness, or she could choose rage.

She chose rage.

"I can't believe you," Christie murmured in disgust, looking him dead in the eye. "You're acting all big and tough now but really, Loki, you're weak."

"I'm weak? Tell me, beloved - how many people have you killed on your great 'assassination mission in Asgard'?" Loki spat, her words clearly having no effect on him. Thor winced at his tone and shot his eyes back over to Christie, unsure of whether he should interject or let them hash it out.

"I've killed far less than you have - and that was my profession," Christie hissed, her pale cheeks flushing red and her heartbeat increasing. Thor frowned to himself, deciding to stay quiet. Loki was pushed to his own point of rage - and it didn't make sense. Thor watched them in wonder, worried about why they looked about ready to kill one another.

Then Loki broke completely.

"So then, O Powerful, where were you when my mother died? WHERE WERE YOU?" he sneered suddenly. His heart was racing non stop and his eyes were rounded with desperation.

Desperate for answers?

Closure?

Were they not one in the same thing?

"Loki!" Thor barked roughly. "That's enough."

"I..." Christie attempted to defend herself - but found herself lost for words. Her eyes were stinging, but the one thing she didn't want was for Loki to see her cry.

She'd honestly rather die.

"Exactly," Loki hissed cruelly once he received no answer. "You could've saved her. You are trained to protect those that needed protection and you were not there when she needed you the most. Perhaps if you did something for once, instead of sitting prettily in that palace, my mother would still be alive today. So don't you dare, don't you dare call me weak when you can barely do your job."

Thor sat there uncomfortably, completely regretting starting this conversation, whilst Christie sat there in silence. She knew what those symptoms meant and she didn't like it. She couldn't let the tears fall, that would make her look pathetic and she knew that - but she couldn't deal with hearing just how much Loki blamed her for his mother's death. No wonder he was so being so snide with her. She wasn't to know that Loki was the one that told the killer to take the stairs to the left. She wasn't to know that Loki had shouted at Frigga beforehand and told her that she wasn't his mother.

Of course she blamed herself - and he went ahead and let her do it.

The silence was only interrupted by the whirring of the engine as they came closer to their destination - but by that point, Christie couldn't keep it in any longer. As soon as she felt one tear pooling in the corner of her eye, the rest of them followed at such a speed that there was no point in her wiping them away.

Thor was frozen rigid. He had never seen Christie cry like this before. He had always admired her for her emotional strength, so when he saw the tears he didn't to know what to do.

Then Loki glanced at her, and once he saw the tears, he didn't know what to do either.

He didn't mean to make her cry…

…did he?

...

:( i remember writing this section of the story all those years ago and my heart still breaks. and my dear animefaerie2, it's only three chapters because this particular part of christie and loki's journey is coming to a close...

but never fear! for they shall be back - many new fanfics on the horizon x