Chapter 38: Living with the Consequences

Several days later, Mayura had become comfortable with the auras of the house and local area. As a test, Loki had taken her out for the whole day blindfolded asking her where they where at different intervals. To anyone who asked what they were doing, Loki politely informed them that he and his wife were participating in a blindness awareness compaign, and at the end of the day they had collected a can full of 50 and 100 yen coins. One lady had even donated a 1,000 yen bill. It was the next day that Mayura walked into the study to find Loki busy writing something.

"What are you writing Loki?"

"A letter to the Blindness Awareness Association telling them I'm donating 20,000 yen to their cause. Do you realize we received 19,250 yen yesterday? I hadn't expected to get that kind of a response. So, I'm donating their money like it should be."

"And people call you evil," teased Mayura hugging him. "You should really do something about that."

Loki turned his head to kiss Mayura sweetly before going back to his letter. "It doesn't matter as long as the people I love don't think I'm evil. Besides, it would be pointless to change it now."

"Why's that?"

"About six hundred years ago, the gods decided that it was easier to let the mortals of Midgard believe whatever they wanted instead of constantly coming down to prove that we were the gods of the nine worlds. They just die and forget so quickly, unlike the elves, fairies, dwarves, ogres, trolls, giants, ex cetera. It seemed like every generation we'd have to put on some big display to make them believe in us again. Since we're just legends of a people long dead, Odin doesn't get anymore petitions to win wars; neither does Freya, or Tyr, or almost any other warrior type god you could think of. Instead they get to pick what side they want to support. I was never considered the warrior type, which suited me just fine—don't care about such things anyway. I usually received petitions when something important needed to be hidden or during the winter months for warm fires. Now I just get the occasional 'Please destroy the world, I hate my life' petitions which I ignore of course."

"But do the gods still hear all the petitions of mankind?"

"Nope, and believe me, it makes sleeping a lot easier. And we all get a lot less headaches. That time of the month for Freya with a petition headache is not a happy sight. I swore that if anything, goddess PMS would cause Ragnarok."

"Loki! Not every female mood swing is caused by PMS. Men!" grumbled Mayura throwing up her hands.

"You've never seen Freya with a bad case of cramps and a petition headache either."

"Whatever... how do you still hear petitions then?"

"I hear them if they call me by name, so naturally I don't hear a lot of them. And being the 'god of evil' really does help, as crazy as it sounds. Although there is a rise in my actual worship," Loki mused. "Some mortals have gotten so tired of modern society's constant grid that they want a bit a chaos and mischief in their lives. I can't blame them."

"How come you told me you were a god eight years ago if all the gods had decided not to tell the 'mortal realm' huh?"

"Every god is entitled to tell whomever they want. It's looked down upon though. Too many people knowing about the gods could cause a religious revival. The unwritten rule is that we don't tell anybody. And telling you didn't really count because I was planning to have your memory erased a moment later. And I would have too, if you hadn't laughed and said I sounded like Loki-kun."

"Oh"

Loki folded the letter and placed it and a check in a pre-addressed envelope. Adding a stamp, Loki stood up. "Ready for the next step in your training?"

"I guess. You seem to think I am."

"Walk with me to the mailbox? This next part will have to be done outside anyway."

Thirty minutes later, Loki had the backyard set to his liking. He had drawn a twenty foot diameter circle made with chalk on the grass and three weird symbols around its circumference. Inside the circle was another one of fifteen feet, and a five point star inside of that.

"What are those?" asked Mayura pointing to the symbols.

"Those are wards, and in that large circle is where I'm going to summon an evil creature. The wards will confine the creature and stop its evil aura."

"Is that safe? Calling something evil?"

"Not exactly, you need to be confident it your ability to control the creature. Normally, I wouldn't use any wards for a summoning of anything smaller than a fire elemental, but with this being your first encounter and all... If a summoning fails, you get nothing or sometimes a lesser creature. When I summoned ecchan, I wasn't trying for a shikigami," Loki added lamely.

"You messed up a summoning?" asked Mayura incredulously.

"Hey! I was in reduced form, and it was a spur of the moment kind of thing," Loki defended looking hurt.

"What were you trying to summon then? Wasn't it to scare papa?" Mayura tilted her head to the side.

"One of the wandering dead, the demonic beast, Audram, and yeah, I was trying to scare him. It was right after he yelled at me for filling your head up with stories of ghosts and evil spirits. Like I did that... I kept on telling you that you shouldn't look for the stuff."

"And now you're teaching me."

"And now I'm teaching you."

"In fact you're forcing me to take these lessons," she stated placing her hands on her hips.

"You're the one that decided you wanted to deal with these abilities Mayu-chan," Loki replied nonchalantly. So you have to take the lessons. I'm not about to let a budding chaos goddess walk around Midgard without training."

"Chaos goddess?"

"What else can I call you? These aren't exactly mortal powers you're growing into. And chaos because those will probably be the first ones you pick up. They're easier. The trickery part comes from the use of your old noggin," stated Loki as he rapt Mayura's head.

"Oh..." Mayura sighed. "There's so much to learn!"

"Well, that's why we're starting now. But don't worry; you're still developing normal human abilities right now. It'll be awhile before the first chaos abilities start coming in."

"How do you know they haven't already?"

"Trust me... when the chaos and fire powers start to emerge we'll know." Loki laughed. "We'll definitely know."

"How do you know that?"

"When I was young, I had to grow into my powers too you know. Just because I'm a god, doesn't mean my abilities came with an instruction manual, or that they were instinctual. Let's just say there was a lot of trial and error." Loki scrunched his face in distaste as Mayura laughed. "You get it easy because I'm here to teach you. Alright now, what should I summon? I know, I think I can call him now."

"But Loki, it's getting dark," stated Mayura as she looked at the setting sun. "Shouldn't this be done in the daytime?"

"I don't want to hurt the creature Mayu-chan, and sunlight for the jaki using beings can be quite harmful."

"But I thought you got rid of jaki—killed it or made it go away. Evil energy is bad."

"In places it doesn't belong, you're right. Evil spirits hiding in Midgard or jaki controlling objects in the mortal world must be destroyed. But there's nothing wrong with jaki if it is where it belongs."

"Jaki has a place to live?"

"Umhmm, remember reading about Nideavellir and Svartalfheim? The dwarves live on Nideavellir, the dark elves live on Svartalfheim, and the dark fairies live in the connection between those two worlds. They call it Nidalfheim—although it's not an official world. And we leave them along if they stay in their given world."

"So you don't want to hurt the creature you're summoning because it's not its fault for being somewhere it doesn't belong?"

"Right, and I have this to give the dark fairy I'm going to summon as payment," stated Loki holding up a thin shiny silver colored metal."

"But that's tin foil!"

"Yes, but a dark fairy won't care. They're ever so covetous of shinny objects. I'd give him a whole roll, but he'd probably drop dead in pleasure." That said, Loki walked towards the center of the five point star he had made in the grass, being careful not to touch any of the chalk lines. "I here summon one of the Nidalfheim brethren. King Stevrion, come forth to me!" annunciated Loki. Slamming Laevatein into the ground, a puff of smoke surrounded him.

Through the smoke, Mayura saw Loki walk backwards towards her. When it had finally cleared she saw a two foot tall flying man with black wings. He looked like a miniature vagabond since his clothes were made of bits and pieces of different glittery material, although he did have a dull metal crown on his head. "Who dares to summon me with such a ridiculous language?" asked the flying man holding his head up high.

"I do King Stevrion," stated Loki undauntedly.

"And who would you be?" commanded King Stevrion.

"I am the god Loki."

"Loki!" King Stevrion backed away in shock. "But I thought you were exiled into a diminished form."

"A few things have happened since then."

Flustered at when he realized he had backed away, King Stevrion flew towards Loki confidently. He looked quite angry as he ran into the circle of wards holding him in. "I demand you to let me go at once. I have done nothing against you Loki! Why have you summoned me from my rightful domain?!"

"You were summoned here tonight for my wife's next magic lesson. You should be honored to be the first creature of the nine worlds besides Midgard and a handful from Asgard to meet Mayura."

"I will not be used for such a degrading..."

"Not even for this?" asked Loki holding up the piece of tin foil.

"Give me, give me, give me!!! I must have shiny metal! Must have shiny!" begged the king.

"Alright..." replied Loki, handing the dark fairy his piece of tin foil.

The king snatched it out of Loki's hand and held it in awe. "Pretty shiny... yes you are. You're such a pretty shiny. What should Stevrion do with pretty shiny? His clothes are very much shiny already!" The fairy looked mightily concerned about his inability to find a suitable place for his newly acquired shiny object. "I'll make my crown shiny! Yes, shiny metal to cover ugly dull crown!" The king immediately began to apply the tin foil around his crown, but was only able to make it half way. He put it back on his head happily.

"If you help us well, I'll give you another piece of shiny metal, to finish your crown perhaps?" prompted Loki.

"Yes, yes"

"But you're going to have to behave."

"Me behave. Me behave for shiny."

"That's a king?" asked Mayura incredulously.

"Mayu-chan, I like you to meet King Stevrion of the dark fairies. King Stevrion, this is Mayura, my wife."

"A pleasure to... to met you," replied Mayura timidly.

"Come closer... I can't see you."

"Why?" asked Mayura looking at Loki to see if it was okay to do so.

"Dark fairies have bad eyesight but extremely good hearing. He would be able to see you by your aura as well, but with all the wards I've put up, that ability is probably diminished," Loki informed Mayura.

"It sure is. Where am I, a bastion? ....... Ah, so this is your wife. A mortal fancy eh?" asked Stevrion coming to the end of the circle to inspect Mayura closely.

"She's becoming immortal."

"You're going to cause lots of ruckus up in the world of the gods again, aren't you?" asked King Stevrion, looking past Mayura.

"I try."

"Yes, you sure do."

"Onto the lesson, Mayu-chan, do you feel his aura? Can you feel that he's close by?" questioned Loki, moving next to his wife.

"Yes"

"This is what very small pieces of jaki or very weak sprits feel like. It's important to know the difference between the feeling of a weak dark energy close by and strong dark energy a distance away. You can get into a lot of trouble if you don't. Even weak creatures if you're not paying attention can be harmful and potentially deadly. The next part of your training will be purifying these types of sprits on Midgard."

"You're not going to purify me are you?" asked Stevrion as he backed up into the center of his circular confinement.

"Of course not. I summoned you here to show Mayu-chan a dark aura, and I didn't want to worry about it trying to kill or possess her. When we're finished I'll let you go, or I'll send you back if you want. I don't want any quarrels with your people."

"Yes, killing me would anger my people wouldn't it," mused Stevrion like it was a new idea to him. "So young Miss, excuse me... young Missis, how did you manage to catch the trickster of the gods? He's so hard to impress and not very talkative. But somehow you've managed to not only impress him, but got him to flap his lips at someone long enough for it to be considered a conversation. I must congratulate you on you're accomplishments."

Mayura blushed. "I don't know what I did," she admitted.

"Being your annoying and over exuberant self," commented Loki, wrapping his arms around her from behind and kissing her neck.

"If I'm going to get a show, can I at least get some ale, or that new fangled popcorn stuff? It's not shiny, but it does taste good."

Loki let go of Mayura and walked over to one of the three wards. Raking his foot across it, the ward's energy sputtered and faded. Loki waited for Mayura to become used to the stronger aura before continuing to speak. "This is what the common evil spirit possessing jars, vases, or haunting attics feels like." Loki walked to one of the remaining two wards and broke it as well. But unlike last time, the ward didn't slowly fade away. It died quickly, allowing a blast of dark energy to wash over Mayura. Loki once again let Mayura become accustomed to the increases aura before he continued. "This is the aura of more advanced cases of jaki possession found on Midgard. However, with more power comes a slight bit of intelligence and as such they are much more difficult to deal with. Some may even be able to suppress their aura—such as that doll you found the day we first met. Stevrion, would you fly up? I'd like to see how large Mayu-chan's range is."

"I'll get the shiny?" he asked beseechingly.

"Yes King Stevrion, I wouldn't lie to you."

"Alright, here I go!" he yelled. "Signal me when I'm high enough up!" Stevrion soared up into the sky.

"Mayu-chan, I want you to concentrate as hard as possible on his aura. Tell me when you can't feel it anymore, okay?"

"Uhuh..." answered Mayura distractedly. Her face crinkled in concentration before she stated, "I can't feel him anymore Loki." She wasn't sure how he did it, but Loki must have signaled the king because she was soon able to detect his aura coming down towards her. "How did I do Loki?"

"About a third of my range. Not bad considering your abilities are still growing, along with the fact that you're new at it. In time your range will increase due to familiarity if nothing else." Mayura sighed in disappointment or exasperation, Loki wasn't quite sure. "Don't worry, you're already as sensitive as Thor, if not more so. I have the longest range of all the gods in Asgard."

"You should. You had enough chances to practice as a child," added Stevrion as he landed on the ground."

Mayura rushed over to the edge of the chalk circle and knelt down. "You knew Loki as a child?"

"I sure did." Loki gave the king a look. "Ow, all right... no, I personally didn't know Loki as a child. One of the many previous King Stevrion's was his foster father. But I carry the memories of all the King Stevrion's of the past, so it feels like I knew him as a child."

"I thought Loki was a giant, not a dark fairy," stated Mayura.

"He is. A rather short giant no? But a giant nonetheless. His mother Laufey and his father Farbauti couldn't take care of him when he was very small. Can you imagine giants the size of your skyscrapers taking care of a new born the size of a human baby?"

Mayura giggled. "Not really."

"So they brought him to... I think it was the first King Stevrion, maybe the second... I'm not quite sure. Neither are we quite sure why they didn't kill him right after he was born. Perhaps they knew he was special... Anyway, we raised him until his thirteenth year, when he all of a sudden he started to grow straight up. By his fourteenth year, he was too tall to live in our tunnels. So he went back to Jotunheim to live with his parents. Fortunately by that time he was old enough to fend for himself and yet still small enough to escape giants who wanted to cook him."

Mayura giggled again. "I know all about his thirteen through sixteen growing spree."

"Ah, I was wondering why his aura seemed younger than I last remembered it to be. You're physically eighteen and half now aren't you?" asked Stevrion looking at Loki.

"Yes"

"And you're wife's twenty-two. Stealing from the cradle a little aren't you Loki? You should probably add the word thousand to her age to get yours eh?" teased Stevrion.

"Did you say twenty-two?" asked Mayura worriedly.

"Yes, I'm sorry if you're still twenty-one. I round to the nearest half year." King Stevrion was shocked when this statement didn't ease Loki's wife. If anything it only increased her anxiety.

"Loki, how did I lose another year in just a couple of days?!"

"Huh? I'm confused. You want to be older?" inquired Stevrion scratching his head.

"If you're losing these years because of my immortality, you should stop de-aging at twenty. That's my eternal age."

"You're going to grow some more?" Mayura asked in disbelief.

"No... I still need to fill out a little, but I'm as tall as I'm going to get."

"That's good." Mayura stood up and walked towards Loki.

"Oh?" he questioned. "And why's that Mayu-chan?"

"Because right now you're at the perfect height," Mayura replied as she rose up on her tip-toes and wrapped her arms around Loki's neck. "...to do this," she finished right before kissing him. Loki, not inclined to refuse any affection from Mayura, kissed her back enthusiastically.

Stevrion laughed heartily until they had finished kissing. "Much different from the little Loki I remember running away from the girls screaming about girl germs the entire way through the tunnels."

"I wasn't afraid of girl germs. They wanted to wash my hair, and I hated getting wet," replied Loki airily.

"But your hair was and is so shiny when it's clean." Stevrion paused, "We always used to wonder about that as he was growing up... getting older. He didn't actually grow up until later."

"Ha ha."

"Loki is a frost giant by heritage, so we expected him to like the cold and snow. But he absolutely hated it. Getting him to leave the tunnels when it was winter or raining was next to impossible. He didn't mind the dark though, which we thought was kind of odd, since the night is generally colder than the day. But we assumed that had to do with our nocturnal lives as dark fairies. Then his fire abilities started to emerge and everything made sense. Those were some pretty exciting times. Never knowing what fire-brand would do next. I could tell some pretty interesting stories..."

"Don't you dare," warned Loki in Old Norse.

"What was Loki like as a little kid?" asked Mayura excitedly.

King Stevrion smiled at Loki gloatingly, knowing that Loki wouldn't do anything to him now, since it was Loki's wife who had asked him to tell stories about the god's childhood. "He was a quiet baby, named after Utgortha-Loki although some people have this weird notion that they're the same person or something. I don't get it. Anyway... he was always bigger than his playmates as he grew up and there was the normal sibling teasing about his height, and bullying too. Loki was a child of few words and often used his mind instead of physical violence to get back at them. I think it was in the children's ward where he developed his sense of humor and love of tricks. It was evident that he was growing intellectually much faster than our own children and consequently we had to keep placing him with older and older children. By the time he was eight, all the young girls had a crush on him and wanted to wash his hair—not that he washed it unless he got caught...'

"Why did all the girls want to wash his hair? I met him when he was ten..." Mayura turned to Loki. "You must have been so cute when you were eight."

"I'm sure he would have looked cute, if he was clean. But Loki hated taking baths; and we weren't about to force an eight year old one and a half times our size to take one. We hadn't been able to force him into one after his fifth year. No, that frenzy had all started after an accident with his chaos abilities. One night, a whole mud puddle—out of nowhere mind you—fell on Loki's head. Forced to admit that he needed to take a bath..."

"I found the hottest hot spring waterfall I could find and jumped under it," interrupted Loki.

"Yes, well however he decided to clean himself, Loki came back spotless, and as he sat by the central fire which was a common practice for him to do, all the girls noticed how his hair sparkled in the light. Getting closer, they instantly fell in love with his good looks. It only took a matter of days however, for Loki to return to his good old dirty self. The young ladies, distraught at his relapsed appearance endlessly tried to get him to wash his hair, and if they caught him, tried to get him all the way clean."

Mayura giggled. "What did you do with a gaggle of fairy girls wanting to give you a bath Loki?"

"I ran away. It was during one of their chases when I got trapped into a corner that created my imprisoning magic, Veeru Ugokurox."

"Yes, but trying to find the un-imprisoning word took a lot more effort as I recall."

At least we found Kyubas before Kerios," Loki mumbled under his breath, looking away.

"Why, what does Kerios do?" asked King Stevrion, hearing what Loki said anyway.

"Destroys the prism."

"Ouch..." was all Stevrion said before he continued his story. "A year or so later, we began to worry if Loki would ever mature. He was already intellectually as advanced as our young adults, but was quite obviously still a young child physically, and mentally."

"Were you a precocious child Loki?" teased Mayura.

"No, dark fairies are the most immature reproducing species I have ever seen. By the time a dark fairy has the wits of a sixteen-year-old, they're already past their reproducing stage. That's why the community takes care of the children as a whole and not the parents."

The king ignored that last comment completely, knowing it wasn't wise to argue with Loki, especially when what he had said—although not tactfully—was true. Besides he really wanted that shiny metal to finish covering his crown. "I wasn't until he was twelve did his fire elemental powers first appear. I don't know what had angered him, but something made Loki snap and his eyes turned a crimson red. Then he started to glow until he was engulfed in flames. But he wasn't harmed by them at all! Anything next to him was scorched, but Loki... Loki was untouched. That's when we realized just how powerful and important Loki was going to be someday. He was the god of fire! No wonder he hated water, and coldness... but he loved the dark because that's when fire is its most beautiful and passionate."

"Yeah, he's passionate enough at night alright. Although he doesn't really seem to care what time of day it is," teased Mayura.

"Can we get back to the lesson now? Yes? Good..." Loki walked over to the last ward and raked it over with his shoe. And although this was the largest increase in dark energy, Mayura recovered faster than the other two previous times. "I'm proud of you Mayu-chan. You're quite the learner with this stuff. You barely even flinched that time."

"So this is what a dark fairy's aura feels like?" asked Mayura.

"This is the strongest they get. Remember, Stevrion is the king. Younger or less important dark fairies have weaker auras. If you spend enough time around them, you can tell apart each individual through their aura—along with their age and rank."

"Wow, fushigi mystery!"

Loki laughed. "Now I know you're accepting everything just fine."

"Shiny! I want shiny now. You promised," commanded Stevrion.

"Oh, sorry... I didn't mean to keep you waiting." Loki pulled out a second piece of tin foil and handed it to Stevrion. The king quickly took of his crown and finished covering it with his second piece of shiny tin foil. Waving it in front of Loki and Mayura, Stevrion flew up into the air and disappeared.

"Oh... and Mayu-chan, if you ever feel something stronger than that... run and duck for cover. That's what the rest of us will be doing as Thor beats it to death with his hammer. Or have lots and lots of wards... or worst comes to worst... hope it doesn't find you tasty."

Author's Notes: Another one done, still so many more to do. Geez, I still don't know at what chapter number this story will end! Kowai desu ne? Oh well.

To Bibliomaniac: Loki tolerates Yamino calling him Loki-sama because: one, Yamino is very formal person to begin with and two, its part of his disguise as Loki's caretaker. Another example would be Wei calling Syoaran, Syaoran-sama in CCS. However, none of his other children ever use –sama. Even Yamino calls Loki chichiue (another word for father) in his true form. Loki really disliked Mayura calling him Loki-sama because it was already putting a cold distance in their relationship. And his mistress wouldn't have called him Loki-sama either because they would have spoken to each other in Old Norse! But yeah, if she was in Japan, I think she would have used Loki-sama too. But (at least for this story) there is no love lost between Angerboda and Loki.

To dnangelgirl: He is rather lucky isn't he? But I think he deserves it.

To LittleGreenWolf: Oh, the impending doom... I mean drama will be coming soon. Sorry about the math class thing. I'm in Calc V and still math class is difficult to sit through. Except for this year... but then again my professor admits to being insane so... Anyways, yeah, I took a lot of time to think about everything said in the last chapter. I didn't want it to be 'because the author says so' kind of a fic.

To Ytak: I wanted to write Freyr a little differently. In the mythology he's definitely nowhere near the way he acts in the tv series. Don't worry, I'll explain all about Freyr's problems. But bare with me, you won't know for 10-15 chapters! You'll understand why soon. Sorry about the confusion, writing these chapters has really been a toll on my patience.

To ruby-dream: hasn't been nice to me either. The formatting has gotten even stricter. But, remember it is free. We should be thanking the team for the huge fanfic data base they run. Thanks for loving my story. It really warms my heart.

To ruby-dream (again): Loki's a little hentai, or should I say a big hentai now that he's back in Kakusei form?

To Neru: It was definitely all Mayura's fault. She was just begging to be eye candy. As I told Ytak, I'll explain more into Freyr's character, but you're going to have to wait for it k?