Faith

Faith: complete trust or confidence in someone or something

"Argh", A collective groan grew in the metal ship as Thor landed roughly against the floor, holding Jane in one arm and his hammer in the other. His blue eyes met the crimson stain against Fury's pale skin, hardening toward the dark haired man at the back of the craft.

"Loki, what did you do?!",

"If I may interject", Loki widened his eyes to Thor's approaching rage.

"My landing was about as smooth at yours", Fury halted the God of Thunder with her hand against his chest.

"You lied to me, I'm impressed", Loki commended, moving so Thor could lay Jane down. Fury stood next to Fandral, watching the argument with peeled eyes.

"I'm glad you're pleased. Now, do as you promised. Take us to your secret pathway", Loki took over the controls, aiming them toward a mountainside.

Fandral tied off the rope he had concealed under the secrecy of the ship's padded seats. His silver armour glistened under the sun that poured down on him in a stream of light. He was silent, focused. Like there was writing against the colourful sky that only he could see. She liked when he was silent. Albeit his words were brave and reckless to say, she found him increasingly less irritating than Loki. Fandral rebounded back to her like she were a gravitational pull that had him in her grasp. He raised his hand then lowered it again, struggling in his words that seemed to elude him.

"If we are to die, I cannot do so without knowing". A deafening silence lay still on the ship, eyes watched the towering man capture Fury's lips in a desperate kiss.

An uprising of anger swept through The God Of Mischief, settling in his chest. She was his plaything and god help whoever touched his toys. Fandral breathed out dramatically, his hand lingered on her cheek. It was a sensation that was ripped away with the flick of Loki's wrist, violently projecting Fandral off the side of the ship in a wisp of green energy.

"Is he dead?", Loki smiled, ridding his presence from the witless oaf. Fury met Thor's stare with a matching expression of question. Loki's aggression was shown with a plain expression, something he had become fluent with. But why? Why had he reacted at all?

Fury's eyes widened to the rope that had been ripped from Fandral's grasp in the harshness of Loki's trick. Her feet rushed to the edge of the ship, jumping after the man without thought.

Loki stood to watch the blonde haired woman with peeled eyes, she was indeed impressive but nonetheless stupid. "If you'll excuse me", Loki pushed in front of Thor who would so courageously go after her. "Loki", Thor warned, seeing his brother disappear before his eyes.

Fury had caught Fandral with only a few seconds to spare before his death became more reason for their banishment. She tossed him onto an enemy ship that fired mercilessly at them. The boosters on her boots struggled to fight against the vicious wind that sought havoc upon her.

"For Asgard!", Fandral called, mounting the ship that followed.

"Argh", Fury grunted at the pain that came at the mercy of the rounds fired by an unmanned ship, knocking her from the sky.

She didn't fall.

Her eyes widened to the green mist that cradled her gently, swirling around her in its protection, creating a platform to stand on.

"My dear Fury, you must learn to protect yourself", Loki's voice spoke sharply, holding off the oncoming bullets with a veil of green energy. She fell to her knees, clutching her armoured chest with breathlessness. He saw the charred mark on her right side where she had been struck with but not wounded by an energy blast, knitting his eyebrows with confusion.

"Time to go", He lowered himself to grasp her hand. Through her veins, he felt an overwhelming increase in the energy that protected them, yet it was his curse by doing so, to feel her anguish. Her expression questioned his unblinking stare, she watched his face contort with pain at the feeling of her skin. Too disorientated to stop him. His armour raised in his trance, dissipating his leather-bound appearance for his golden horned helmet and armoured plates against his chest and shoulders.

He felt threatened, angry. Then suddenly nothing.

"My, you are a mystery", Loki breathed out, An interest piqued in his voice, cocking his brow with an idea. And what an idea it was. She didn't like it already, yet the feeling of his power sent excitement down her spine. She stood with his slender fingers softly at her wrist.

They were surrounded by Asgardian ships that fired upon them in orange shots from the unmanned crafts. The fin-shaped crafts created a circle of black around them, each ship with a more devastating gun than the next. Escape seemed the least of their problems. It was loud. Deafeningly loud.

"Set them on fire", Loki's silky voice entered her mind above the deafening shouts and bullets that bounded off Loki's shield. She wouldn't have heard him had he opened his mouth to speak. She didn't trust him. It was clear between them. But she found no other way out.

An incredible sense of power surged through her veins, euphoric in the sight of the eight ships exploding into dust from the motion of Fury's hand. Loki's eyes expanded at the sight, he had expected one or two ships to catch flame. Unparalleled was their combined strength and with her, he could be unbeatable.

An unsure smile curled at her lips that matched the excitement in Loki's eyes. What he could do with such power would be infinite. He watched her smile, envious of her innocence to dark sorcery. His magic was all that she had shown such enthusiasm for. It was the only occasion in which he had been responsible for her awe.

In the swiftness of a blink, he moved them back to Thor, releasing her wrist into the safety of the silver ship. She was weakened from the hit that burned in her chest, laying against the spare bench with a growl of pain.

"Did you find what you were looking for?", Thor's hand gripped at his shoulder, violently directing him back toward the ship's steering. The God of Thunder had watched Loki's show, anger built in his chest from it. He used his power to hound Fury, to find her secrets.

"Loki!", Thor hissed, unbelieving that his brother was to steer them through the small crevice in the treacherous mountainside.

"If it were easy everyone would do it."

"Are you mad?"

"Possibly."

"Argh", Loki heard Fury groan, Opening her eyes to see the once blue sky fade to darkness. He had found a portal of sorts that shook their craft violently before it settled, hovering above the dead ground with a whirring hum. Her body shot up to overlook the desert surrounds, allowing Thor to pass by her in her stride to the pointed front end of the silver ship.

"Ta-Da!", Loki's childlike excitement shined through in his brilliance. He had done it again. His brother didn't share his happiness.

Thor tended to Jane, touching gingerly around her face with a love he had shown only a few. He was worried, a feeling of pressure build deep within his chest, waiting for the moment when she would be safe, at home, away from his chaos. Loki's eyes swept over the human, she was weak and pitiful. He thought his brother smarter than to fall for something so fleeting. Fury noticed it, his lingering stare that sparked the mischief within his eyes.

"Do it and those shackles will be the last of your problems", Her voice was pained in its tone from the bullet she had deflected in just time, yet it left its sting at her side from the force. Though her voice was weak the warning in her electric blue eyes was not. Did she think herself mischievous without the chaos? What had changed? Or was it that the subject of humiliation would be the impeccable Thor. Beloved by all.

"And what do you suggest, dear Fury?", His smile overcame the bitter anger that swirled in his mind like a disease he couldn't overcome.

A dead breeze swept Fury's dishevelled side fringe, lifting the layers in a wave-like motion. Blood stained her once pristine locks of silver with a faded red at the temple of her skull. "Sit down and most importantly shut up", She voiced with effort, like he were a misbehaving child.

Silence overcame the company, if only for a second. Loki's eyes searched the cracks in the earth as they passed by, his hand tapped gingerly against the metal with a small clinking sound. The sound was infuriating to Fury. Her eyes narrowed with intolerance toward the God's side profile that ignorantly tapped away. A small beam of light illuminated the bewitching beauty of his razor sharp cheek bones and jaw line that complimented the symmetry of his nose which curved almost at a point and matched the sculpted point of his chin. His midnight black locks had become dishevelled in their flight, bringing shorter strands of hair to the ridge of his brow. He was a beautiful pain.

She didn't ask for the object in his hand, knowing he would never yield it. Instead, she swiftly reached forward and swiped it from his fingertips, like he expected her to. A simple look at the object forced a snarling growl to consume her chest with a hollowing realisation. He had pocketed the grey protection charm from around her neck and she hadn't even known it.

"Did Frigga know that the fire within your blood is poisoning you like it did your mother? Did she know it when she trained you to be the one to put down her beloved son? That you may die before you got the chance?!", A growl escaped his voice, taunting closely to Fury's face. She may have fooled Thor and Odin but not him. He had known it from the moment he touched her skin, in her weakness all sorts of secrets came flooding out. He wouldn't have lowered himself to touch the monster otherwise.

"Yes", Her answer was simple yet it cut him with the sharpness of her blade. Fury backed away from the breath against her cheek, breaking the murderous stare he held towards the blue eyes. She leaned against the side of the ship with the most distance she could find, basking in the silence once more.

"You think a monster can defeat a God?",

Fury snapped her sights back to Loki, her eyes blatantly glaring at the hand cuffs at this wrist then back to him with a smirk. "Evidently",

"You two were impressive with the guard ships, I think it wise to join your forces", Thor intervened with crossed arms, overhearing the conversation.

"Do not trust him to not betray you. Leave the sorcery in my hands", Fury spoke without delay, thinking his idea ridiculous. Loki's face shrivelled in mockery.

"You think you know of sorcery? A goat is trained with more grace",

"Then, as a show of goodwill teach her what she need know and she will free your hands", Thor smirked, meeting Loki's cocked eyebrow. He saw within Fury the willingness to learn that Loki had once shown. She held the qualities Frigga had wanted within Loki but had failed to see. A means to an end.

"Typical all knowing Thor, her strength lies within fire manipulation. Do you see me setting things on fire? No? I wonder why that is. Perhaps she doesn't hold the same power",

"Enough, Loki." Thor silenced his brother's mockery, disheartened by his disability to grow. "It will be you, Fury, you will be our source of illusion", Fury bowed her head in understanding. She was good but she wasn't Loki.

"Then you will die", Loki spoke bitterly.

"Teach her or shut up Loki, it is you who cannot be trusted!", Thor growled with defeat. He despised that he couldn't trust his own brother to come through in the end, that he would be let down once more. That his love be unrequited.

Silence weaved it's way through the ship once more, leaving the angry tension where it stood.

"Fury, mother told me you were a mercenary before a protector of the two worlds, what was that like?", Thor drew his attention to the blonde woman who breathed out with discomfort, shuffling her boots against the floor. Loki rolled his eyes, did Thor really care about the vampire?

"You don't know what a mercenary is", Loki intervened, proving his intellect above his brother's. Fury raised her hand, kindling a blue flame with a threatening glare toward the man who tested her greatly. "Enough from you", She hissed, unsure if her fire would even injure a frost giant. He closed his mouth with a smirk.

"I was a finder of criminals that hid within the galaxy. For a price I would return them to whoever asked, dead or alive.", Fury's hands trailed over her holsters of various weaponry. "Hence all of this", She explained with a sigh, picking at the buckle around her thigh.

"Why the weapons, you seem well learned enough in sorcery?", Thor's question piqued the interest of Loki, who couldn't resist an opportunity for chaos.

"You see, dear Fury here is slowly succumbing to the fire in her veins. It seems she holds a vampire's affinity to die by flame. It is ironic indeed", He smiled, noting the pity that swarmed his brother's face.

"I am 300 years old Thor, and I have lived a life surrounded by the love of my friends and family. Don't show me your pity" Fury spoke with a sharp tone of anguish. She was bitter on the subject.

Thor's eyebrows knitted with thought, she looked young, no more than 25 in human years, she had more life to give. More than her body would allow. It saddened him to think that it was her curse to die when his brother who had been nothing but a chaotic disaster lived on at over 1000 years of age.

"The monster's morality is outstanding", Loki softly clapped his hands together with a smile. "You could learn something from it", Thor surrendered back to Jane, followed by his brother.

"You cannot tell me that you are mad because Fury lied to you, that mother lied to you. The God of mischief.", Thor gripped his brother's shoulders in a low tone.

"Frigga found someone to put me down like a diseased beast. To reforge the son she had claimed to love so much!", Loki hissed back in return.

"Did you leave her any choice?! It was Fury or an axe...You think you alone were loved by mother? You had her tricks, but I had her trust!"

"Trust. Was that her last expression? Trust? When you let her die!"

"What help were you in your cell?"

"Who put me there? Who put me there?!", Thor grabbed Loki with a deep burning rage.

"You know damn well! You know damn well who!", The God of Thunder raised his fist in fight, "She wouldn't want us to fight.", his hand lowered by his side.

"Well, she wouldn't exactly be shocked.", Loki's comment forced a smile on his brother's face.

"I wish I could trust you."

"Trust my rage"