Chapter 11

Loki

He was uncertain whether to be annoyed by her naivete or amused by her idealism.

She's human, he reminded himself as he glanced at her from time to time through his eyelashes across the table. They have to be ideal, their lives are so pathetically short that there has to be something that they hold on to in order to make it worth living.

Whereas yours is far too long and yet you tried to end it anyway, a dark voice whispered in the back of his mind. His fingers tightened on one of the pages he was holding and he had to will himself to hold it lightly so that it would not tear.

It wasn't the same thing.

They were polar opposites.

She was light and full of joy and wonder at every new thing she was shown. And he…well he wasn't.

Loki steadily turned another page, making a notation in the parchment beside him but not really seeing what it said or what had needed to be marked in the first place. In the back of his mind, he knew he was distracted but with her words still running through his mind like a broken record, it was difficult not to be.

She was fascinating.

He had never heard mistakes and desires summed up quite so….succinctly before.

But then he had never spent much time around humans and the last time he had been on Midgard had been several centuries before when developments had been far different than the modern age.

He glanced up one more time to see her perusing the books with an air of fascinated intent. No doubt she didn't understand much of what she was reading, but her desire to learn was endearing to Loki. Coming from a world as primitive as Planetos was, it was refreshing to see someone wish to better themselves with knowledge.

There were so few these days who cared for higher learning or books of any kind. It was nice to have a…friend…who did so.

Then again, she was likely overwhelmed by the sheer vastness of everything that she had seen thus far. For a human it would be an awe inspiring thing. He did find her candor refreshing, though he had found himself surprised to see her tears.

She seemed so…grateful to see everything and awed beyond words to be learning new things and to have the privilege of seeing those things.

Her humility towards what she did not know…was fascinating.

For a human, she had surprisingly little pride.

Humility and idealism…it was a disarming combination.

He shook his head slightly and turned back to the tome in front of him. Norns, he was losing his mind.

A sudden gasp drew his attention from the page he was attempting to concentrate on and he looked up to find Daenerys staring at her hand in shock. "What is it?"

The blonde didn't answer for a moment, her breathing slightly uneven, prompting Loki's eyes to narrow in something akin to concern. "Daenerys?"

She took a deep breath and raised wide violet eyes to meet his and he noticed that her hands were trembling. Slowly he set the book aside and gave her his full attention. "I am certain that whatever has happened has not robbed you of your ability to speak my lady."

The blonde shook herself slightly as if he were ridding herself of her stupor and then leaned back in her chair, nearing slumping into the backrest. "This is insane," she murmured.

Loki found himself beginning to become irritated. He did not like secrets for good reason and being kept in the dark about even the smallest things was grating on him. "What. Is. It?"

Daenerys shook her head again and then before he could lose his mind from curious rage, she leaned forward slightly and reached out a hand towards the book that she had been looking at. "Watch."

He was about to say something, likely something scathing about her ability to communicate when he focused completely on her and saw something that stole the words from his mouth.

Daenerys had reached for the book like she was intending to pick it up, but instead, her hand had passed through the book completely.

Loki blinked again, wondering absently if his eyes were playing tricks on him and then looked from her hand back to her face in such a rapid-fire succession that he was certain it would have been comical for anyone else watching.

Very slowly, Daenerys lowered her hand to the book again and they both watched with wide eyes as her hand once more sunk through it, almost clear through the table itself.

Daenerys jerked back as if she had been burned and there was a mix of horror and shock on her face. "What's happening to me?"

Loki thought furiously. It had all but been confirmed at this point that he was in possession of an Infinity Stone. And he was beginning to have a suspicion of which one it was.

"It uncovers all illusions, shatters all lies…it reveals the soul."

Norns…he was an idiot.

"Daenerys," he said faintly, glancing down at the page where he had been looking at a very base description of the Infinity Stones. "I don't think there is any need to search any longer. I know what we are in possession of."

The blonde didn't look any more comforted by his words and in truth looked almost on the verge of hysteria. "And what exactly is that?"

Loki didn't indulge her with an immediate response. "Come. I believe it's time that we head back to Qarth. I will explain all once we arrive."

W

And explain all he did.

In truth, Loki wasn't sure that he had ever given such a detailed speech on the history of the cosmos and all its powers to one so enraptured that she scarcely dared move or even breathe for hours.

Upon their return to the great city, Loki had called for refreshment to be brought to them out on the terrace and the pair sat there and quietly supped for a time before speaking. They had only been gone a few hours by Qarth's time and though night had fallen, the trickster had called for lights to be lit and watched with absent concentration on the water where he knew Jormungandr was likely to be.

He had left Qarth a few times during his year on Planetos, always ensuring that the spell concealing him from Heimdall's gaze was intact. His motives for departure were purely self-indulgent and in doing so, he was able to go on errands of industry for when he inevitably decided to take the land for his own.

Much preparation was needed for conquest, especially in a realm as primitive as Planetos. By the time he was finished with it, Loki would make it great.

He would never rule Asgard, but at the very least he would have a place to call his own, with people who looked to him and respected him for everything he had never been honored for there.

It was a consolation prize…but he would make it a good one.

"My lord?"

The god blinked up to find his house guest looking at him with something akin to concern. "Yes?"

She blinked and cocked her head to one side as she watched him. Loki felt somewhat uneasy at the reminder that she could read him quite well now thanks to the Stone's influence. This newfound vulnerability was inadvertently causing him to raise his walls higher. There were, after all, many things that he did not wish to be seen.

"You paused for a long time," she said with a hesitant smile. "I wonder if you had lost your line of thought."

Truthfully, he had, and Loki had to bite back a grimace when he realized he was drifting close to paranoia. "Ah, it seems I did. My apologies my lady. Where did I leave off?"

Daenerys rolled a fig back and forth between her hands before returning it to her plate. "You were ruminating on the direct natures of these six singular entities that make up the fabric of the universe."

"Indeed," Loki said without missing a beat. "I believe I was explaining the properties of the stone referred to as the Aether, or reality. The bearer of this stone – "

"But that's not the one we have," Daenerys said and he would have snapped at her for interrupting him had her words not brought him up short. Truthfully he had been avoiding talking about the one entity they were in possession of because it was the most obscure of the six of them and because of what it had done to him upon first coming into contact with it.

"No," he said tightly, "it's not."

And then on impulse, he reached within the folds of his pocket dimension and pulled the stone in its crystallized container, into reality.

Daenerys blinked when a smooth glass orb containing the glowing orange stone was placed on the table in front of her. She didn't appear frightened however which either made her very brave, or incredibly foolish.

"Would you tell me which one you think this is?" she asked. "I have my guess as you have explained much already, but I think I would rather hear it from you."

Loki blinked, a bit surprised at how ready she was to defer to him. It had never been done before.

"I believe this to be what is called, the Soul Stone," he said in a slow voice. "I had briefly considered the Mind Stone due to its…revealing properties and the new abilities it has gifted you with…but now after what we have discovered, it can be nothing else."

"The Soul Stone," Daenerys said slowly as if she were tasting the word to see how it sounded. "And what exactly are the capabilities of the Soul Stone?"

And this is where Loki wished he had spent more of his education when he was younger, but then he had had no reason to and thus deemed it a curiosity for another time.

"There are rumors," he explained, "but aside from its counterparts whose abilities are known and have been used, the Soul Stone is the least known of all of them. There is an air of mystery to it that inspires…caution."

"It uncovers all illusions, it shatters all lies…it reveals the soul."

Though he was certain now, he still had trouble admitting to the reality of what it was he had discovered. Perhaps that was due to the volatile nature of the stone, it's almost sentient like state that had the ability to remove his glamor from him. But whatever the case, Loki found himself far less excited than if he had discovered the space stone or the time stone.

Could he control this stone like he would have one of them?

For the first time in his very long life, he was unsure of his ability with magic, especially with something this…aware.

"Well, that certainly seems to make sense given the fact that it affected me to a state that I have never seen before," Daenerys said holding up her hand for perusal. She seemed to have calmed now that she had consumed some food and wine and appeared more curious than strictly terrified.

"Yes," Loki said, getting back to the subject at hand. "Your…alterations as it were are also a telling thing. I might have been tempted to believe this was the mind stone were it not for your ability to sense intentions and emotions instead of thoughts. You can't tell the mind of another, but you can sense what they fear, what they desire and what they feel."

Her face was curiously blank and when he looked her over. "It is a unique and very useful tool for a future queen to have."

The blonde nodded but her hands twisted together in her lap. "Perhaps. But it's also a lonely one I think."

Loki stilled. "How do you mean?"

Daenerys spread her hands. "Suppose I was to exercise this ability while being on a throne? There would be no threats in my kingdom, all assassins would be disposed of any trade agreements I made, I would be able to see the manipulations of any man or woman who comes before me would have their feelings laid bare before me."

Loki raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to get to her point.

"And the kingdom might be peaceful," Daenerys went on slowly. "Any strife might be easily dealt with; any wars might be easily quelled before they begin. And yet, people would know what I could do. They might not know specifics or what has happened to make me this way; they might say it is a product of my Targaryen blood or that I am mad like so many of my ancestors. Either way, I would be powerful…and feared…but never loved. I'm not sure that I want that."

Loki blinked, unsure whether to laugh at her simplistic view of the true nature of power and a crown, or frown at her suddenly maudlin sentiments. She had also appeared as someone rather bright and joyful to him. He liked seeing her awe when she learned knew things, her eagerness to pursue her magic to further her own control.

She had seemed so happy when he had shown her the cosmos earlier. He wondered at the true source of her discontent now.

"You fear isolation," he said finally and though his words were not framed as a question, Daenerys took it as such.

She gave him a small sad smile. "What good is power if you have to be alone to have it?"

He barely caught himself from flinching at the truthful parallels her words drew between them. This girl knew nothing…and yet somehow knew everything as well.

Loki didn't know if this was the stone's influence or her own worldview allowing her to see truth in the same way that he saw lies.

He hoped she wasn't seeing any truth on his face right now.

"Well, maudlin sentiments aside," he drawled in a voice that did not betray the inner turmoil he was feeling. "You have been changed by the stone in such a way that it could be none other than the Soul singularity. If I wasn't sure before, I most certainly understand now after your little demonstration."

Daenerys swallowed hard and set her wine glass down with a thump. "Yes, and that's another change that makes even less sense than the first."

"Does it?" Loki asked leaning forward with slightly narrowed eyes. She frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

He tented his fingers beneath his chin. "Consider the following. In the last few hours of hour hunt for knowledge of the Stones, Soul in particular, I have learned a few things. The first is that the stone itself can circulate life and death forces on a planetary scale."

Daenerys paled. "You mean to say that it can –"

"Wipe out life on a size and dimension that is unrivalled to anything you have ever seen?" Loki asked with something akin to sick relish. "Yes. Picture the destruction of Valyria but a thousandfold and all across this land and Westeros as well. In the right or perhaps I should say wrong hands, this stone would be able to kill any being where it stood. It could wipe out armies, raise the dead and being the bearer control over any and all life."

He paused and took in her nearly white face and gave her a small humorless smile. "I see you are beginning to understand just what it is that we have stumbled upon."

"How," Daenerys began in a faint voice, "in the name of the Seven…did the warlocks get their hands on something like this?!"

"That I do not know," Loki said in a grim voice. He would have liked to have asked in retrospect, but he had burned the House of the Undying to the ground the second he and Daenerys had exited the place, having no desire to ever see it again.

Such knowledge might have been useful to him, if not at the very least, interesting.

But then he remembered the woman, the female warlock, being sucked into the stone, her body disintegrating into orange liquid, her soul now contained within its depths.

An idea began to germinate within his mind.

"My lord?"

Loki looked up to find Daenerys watching him, something akin to concern on her face. "The stone is energy," he said slowly as the reality of it all began to come to him. "Energy cannot be created or destroyed; it simply exists. It can however…be transferred."

"My lord I'm afraid I don't understand – "

"Do it again," Loki said suddenly, and Daenerys blinked at him. "I beg your pardon?"

"When you were able to phase your hand through the book in the library. Do you think you can do it again?"

The blonde blinked at him for a moment, processing the request, but thankfully didn't ask for clarification. "I…I don't know. I suppose I could…try."

Loki nodded and she reached hesitantly for the plate in front of her. Her touch was careful almost as if she were afraid that the dish would leap and bite her. Loki had to stifle a snort.

And then, almost as if it were responding to her touch, the finger that the blonde placed on the dish vibrated for a moment, before passing right through the porcelain.

Daenerys yanked her hand back with a gasp, clutching it almost as if it had burned her and her eyes looked to Loki, full of desperation for understanding.

Loki meanwhile…was intrigued.

"Is it energy transference?" he murmured as he looked at the plate. "Or is it matter manipulation?"

"I don't know!" Daenerys exclaimed, still clutching her hand. "But whatever it is, I don't want it! How do I make it stop?"

"Don't be a fool," Loki snapped. "You've been touched by one of the greatest cosmic powers in the universe. There is no "giving it back. I know of no others who have been touched by an Infinity Stone and survived. You should be honored."

Daenerys glared at him. "Is that what I should feel? Honor? I no longer have any idea of who I am! Everything that I though I understood is now turned on its head by this….this…Infinity Stone. You are the greatest sorcerer that I have ever seen and there is no doubt in my mind that you would rival anyone in the cosmos, surely you can remove these…abilities."

Loki was unsure whether to be flattered by her assessment of him or amused that she thought such a thing was possible.

"Such an attempt would likely kill you," he said smoothly. "And even I for all my greatness, as you put it, no of no way to extract the powers of an Infinity Stone from a human being because it has never been done before."

"Shouldn't you be the first?" Daenerys asked with a cajoling smile.

Loki blinked, was she attempting to manipulate him. He barked out a laugh. "Your attempt at flattery will do you no good my lady. It cannot be done. Nor if it were possible, do I think that I would wish to."

Her eyes went enormous and before she could open her mouth to protest, Loki held up a hand, his eyes on hers, intent. "Do you understand how utterly fascinating this is? Being able to sense the intentions and desires of others is not so uncommon an ability where I hale from, but, if my suspicions are correct, you have the ability to manipulate your own molecular density. That means, if I have my guess that with time, practice and no small amount of patience on your part, you will be able to either phase through solid objects at will or else be able to withstand the strongest of impacts with no injury to yourself. Do you have any notion…any concept…of how utterly unique that is?"

Daenerys was silent at long last before slumping a bit back into her chair. "And there is no getting rid of it?"

Loki nearly threw up his hands in frustration. Humans! They seemed to have such an insatiable desire for power but when presented with a true taste of it, they shied like sheep.

He was almost disappointed. He had thought in many ways they both shared a common ground in their desire for power. She had almost been a kindred spirit.

Perhaps he had been wrong.

"Would you tell me why you wish to?" he asked and then blinked at the words coming out of his mouth, they almost sounded gentle, far from his usual cajoling or drawling tones.

Daenerys looked at him for a long time before she swallowed hard and then seemed to come to an understanding within herself.

"Because there are forces once again that are out of my control," she said softly. "I have not had much control in my life since I was born. Everything has been decided for me and I have been simply swept along for much of it. This is yet one more thing that I have no sway over."

Loki couldn't help him, he laughed.

Daenerys blinked and then glared at him but before she could chastise him, he had held up a hand to speak. "Do you not understand that while you may be out of control for a short time, this is a way for you to have ultimate control later? With abilities like this, you will be safe from any and all assassins! Anyone who raises a hand to you will have their sword shattered because of your ability to control your own body. As long as you maintain your awareness you will never have to fear another threat."

"Except perhaps poison," Daenerys grumbled into her wine. "There is still that."

Loki waved a hand dismissively, "there are ways for dealing with the threat of venom and the like."

Daenerys looked at him before slowing shaking her head at him, incredulous. "How are you so excited by this?"

Loki smirked at her. "Because you my lady, have just become infinitely more interesting. I fail to see how you could be so maudlin about your own new abilities."

Daenerys let out a breathless laugh. "I find I am rather insulted my lord that you seem more interested in my new "abilities" then me."

Loki blinked at the abrupt change. "I have always enjoyed power my lady. Why should I not be fascinated by yours?"

The blonde regarded him for a moment and then reached for her glass of wine before she thought better of it.
"Will you help me?" she blurted out suddenly and Loki paused, the food in his hand halfway to his mouth. "Help you?"

"To control," she said and then tore her eyes away from his and out to the dark sea as if looking at him was too uncomfortable. "If what you say is true and I will be able to control myself to such a degree, I will need assistance to get there. Can I count on yours?"

Her tentativeness surprised him. He had already offered to help her with her magic which she was still learning, this was simply a new kind that he was fascinated by.

Finally he smirked, and tipped his head at her. "My lady, I will have you know that I never back down from a challenge and at long last, I have found one that is worthy of my attention. We shall begin tomorrow."

W

So seeing as how the Soul Stone has many capabilities, I thought that it would be fitting to allow Daenerys an ability that I haven't seen much of in the Marvel Universe. It makes sense to me that she would be able to manipulate her own body in a way since the Soul Stone can manipulate the essence of a person.

Also, I rather liked the idea of Loki attempting to reassure Daenerys in this chapter since she did so in the last chapter. Romance will be coming soon folks. I think they've gotten to know each other well enough at this point for the chemistry to become more...prevalent. But one more secret has to be revealed first.

Don't forget to review and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!