Chapter Five

From bad to worse

Breakfast had never been so awkward at Stark tower. Things were quite tense due to the fact that Thor was so angry he was literally shaking as he consumed his gargantuan stack of pancakes while Freya shot him a murderous look, her blue-purple eyes narrowing until they were almost slits. Not a single word was said for the longest time. The silence itself was infinitely worse than any shouting; any fighting that could be done. Finally when it became too much to bear Tony broke the words.

"How about the weather today, it looks pretty sunny-"

"What were you thinking, Freya?! He is your brother!"

"That doesn't stop others at home, Thor!" Freya slammed her silverware into the table, causing everything to shake.

"Do not raise your voice to me, Sister!" Thor growled, standing with anger. His eyes bore into the younger goddess' as he spoke. "As heir to the throne of Asgard and your eldest brother-"

"Until you are my king you have no control over my person nor my actions!" Freya snapped, standing as well. "And you will certainly not tell me around like I am some child!"

"Silence!" Thor's voice boomed through the floor, his anger getting the better of him. "What you two have done is unforgivable and I cannot accept it, nay, I will not accept it! Until I have brought you both to Asgard you are forbidden to go near him without being under surveillance! I will not have such-"

"Go ahead," Freya hissed, "Say it! Describe what we have done!"

"Incestuous acts happen between my siblings!" Thor shouted, his face going red with anger.

"You are a fool, Thor!" Freya's voice was growing raw from shouting and her beautiful eyes clouded with tears. "And you will regret your words!"

"Silence! Now, be gone from my sight!"

Freya paused, the tears balancing precariously on the edge of her eyelids, trembling as she shouted. "I loathe you, Thor Odinson! From henceforth you are no longer my brother!" She turned swiftly, leaving the room as the tears spilled down his face.

Thor's eyes widened in shock as he watched Freya go, his heart sinking. He sat down in his chair, crestfallen. He loved Freya dearly and tried to protect her in any way possible… He remembered the day she was born and he had seen her smile up at him that he would be the best big brother to her that he could be… Now he had lost his baby sister.

"Um… I have a question." Tony spoke, raising his hand slightly. "Does anyone else think this is kinda like Star Wars when Luke and Leia kissed?" His comment was met with Natasha hitting him upside the head while Steve stared in horror, too appalled by the word "incestuous" to even ask what Star Wars was.

Freya had disregarded Thor's orders- his direct orders- and immediately rushed to where she knew her raven haired lover was locked inside a room, likely still knocked out from Thor's punch. She managed to slip inside and cross to where he was laying on the bed, his eyes now open but focused on the ceiling.

So the truth had finally come out, eh? It would be amusing, Loki thought with bitter contempt for himself, were it not happening to him. Alas, fate took sadistic delight in torturing him so. First he had found himself in love with his younger sister, then he was forced to cast away her love which caused her to leave, now he finally had her back and she was to be torn from him again. Idly he wondered if this was to be his fate- an eternity of suffering simply because he was born.

"Love?" A soft voice interrupted his thoughts and he gingerly turned his head to look at the woman single handedly responsible for the misery in his life… and the joy. He sighed softly as she came to kneel at his side, her pale hands resting upon his face. "Are you alright?" Her voice was gentle, like the snow that would fall during the winter night.

"You ask me such a ridiculous question after watching Thor hit me? Freya, I've known wild beasts to be gentler than he." It was a futile attempt to make the goddess laugh or at least smile but he felt it needed to be done. "I shall recover and be well once more, I have known worse pain, after all." He looked into her sapphire eyes, his blue-green eyes meeting hers.

"Loki…" She breathed, laying her head beside his, "this is my fault, isn't it? If it weren't for me none of this would have ever happened," she looked angry at herself. "If I had never tempted you none of this would have ever happened and you would be happy with someone else-"

"Enough!"

Freya lifted her head, staring at him in silence. She swallowed, watching as he sat up, his emerald gaze fixing her in her place. "Do not ever," Loki hissed, "blame yourself for my actions. I made my choices without any persuasion. I knew perfectly well what I was doing when I took you into my bed. I had planned to take you somehow, to make you love me as I love you." He looked in her eyes, "I am a monster not worth being loved."

"Why do you insist you're a monster?!"

"BECAUSE I AM, FREYA! LOOK AT ME!" She gawked at him as his skin turned blue and his eyes reddened. A frost giant… She let her face become neutral as he continued, "I….am a monster. Unwanted and unlovable. Just another relic to be had by Odin." He closed his eyes as his head bent. "What would you have with me now that you know what I am?"

"I thought you smarter than this, Loki." Freya told him. "But you must really be thicker than Thor if you cannot see that no matter what you are I am yours because I love you." She watched him as she touched his cold skin. "We are all monsters on the inside, even I am. It only matters if you let your monster control you instead of you controlling him." She slowly stood. "And if you aren't willing to fight for yourself then I will fight for you."

"I'm a lost cause."

"Nonsense." Freya told him, shaking her head. "There are no such things as lost causes, only people who give up without truly trying." She leaned in and pressed her lips against his forehead, feeling his skin warm as she did. Without even looking she knew he was returning to the state of being of which she had known her entire life. She smiled as she stared in his eyes as she watched him sigh, calming his plethora of emotions. "And I, Loki, am not one for giving up quite so easily. After all, if I did I'm sure I would have never been able to become head of the Valkryie."

Loki gave her a small half smile before asking, "yes…but then you left. When did you intend to come back?"

"I do not know, honestly. I hadn't thought of it for awhile. I was trying to piece my heart back together. I thought if I came to Earth and tried to forget everything for awhile-"

"Forget? I don't see how you could. After all, you're a goddess, sister of the perfect Thor," his voice was beginning to grow bitter as he continued. "and perfect daughter of Odin-"

"I was not perfect," Freya interjected, frowning.

"Oh, but weren't you?! You had everything, all that I could ever ask for and you threw it away! You were trying to forget about it as if it were worthless!"

"Don't turn this on me, Loki!"

"You knew that affection and attention was what I had craved the most and you discarded it like a goblet of wine drained of its contents! You left all of it behind- me, behind! You said you were trying to forget it all, but what you really mean was you were trying to forget me, don't you?!" He was standing by now, shouting at her, his face contorted with anger and tears spilling from his eyes. He had no idea why her words cut him so deeply but to know that she was trying to forget him hurt worse than all the times he had been cast aside by Odin in favor of Thor. Oh, he could take the old man's rejection, the blasted fool. He could stand to be thrown to the prison of his brother's shadow. This…this hurt worse than anything he had ever known before. If she had been so willing to forget him what was to say she wouldn't abandon him again. For all he knew she could be playing some sort of twisted game with his heart- the heart that only she knew existed.

"YES!" Freya screamed at him, standing, her eyes flashing as tears fell. "I wanted to forget you so that I would no longer feel the pain you gave me!"

"You know nothing of true pain!"

"Don't I?! All these years I have listened to your problems or his and forced my troubles back. I've played your counselor for far too long without any guidance of my own." Freya hissed.

"So all the pretense of you caring for me was a joke, wasn't it? You couldn't care less if I bared my heart to you?" Loki asked.

"Heart?" Freya scoffed with seething fury and hurt, "sometimes I believe you don't even possess one." She stared angrily into his eyes, unflinching. Suddenly he did something she would have never expected. He grabbed her by her jaw and pinned her to the wall, eyes flashing and teeth bared in the most primal of snarls.

"Listen here, princess, you will not speak like that to me ever again. From henceforth leave me be and wallow in your own petty vanity elsewhere. You may be Asgardian but you are nothing," he emphasized his point by squeezing her jaw, "compared to me. Goddess of love? More like goddess of whores…." He laughed wickedly as he saw her eyes flash. "Now go," He released her, swinging her toward the door so that she stumbled. His eyes were cold as she moved out of the room quickly. Once he no longer heard her footsteps he sank down onto the floor, rejecting the comfort of the bed. His head was bowed and he stared at his hands before he rested his head in them, shaking.

"There. She ought to be better off now…" He whispered brokenly to no one in particular. He knew that if he continued to try to spend her time with him she would only keep getting hurt by him. It was an endless cycle and he would rather her hate him then destroy herself trying to save him. The only way he could do this was to sever all bonds between them like one severs a limb that cannot be saved. He had to make her see he was truly a selfish monster, incapable of feeling anything for anyone but himself. The comment about his heart… how he wished it were true. The pain he felt at seeing the love die from her eyes was killing him, and unfortunately not fast enough. He forced a bitter smile as he ran through her words about lost causes. In Midgardian Christian terms he was a sinner, doomed for Hell.

After all, there was no salvation for the damned.

Damn. That was a lot of effort… and such a short chapter too. Okay, so starting soon I should be having a lot more time to write. I'd like to thank those of you who actually take the time to read this story and I promise more will be coming soon. It looks like Loki is in a dark place with no love from Freya…. Freya has alienated herself from Thor and now Loki…Thor has been disowned by his siblings…Steve still doesn't know what Star Wars was! Hahaha, hey, this needed some humor! Please, continue to keep reading and leave reviews! Flames will not be responded to.

11/1/13- OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: There will be sort of a spin off from Salvation. Actually, it's more like a prequel depicting Thor's, Loki's and Freya's lives prior to Salvation and it begins Pre-Thor. I'm pretty excited to begin work on it and there will be a lot more drama to it. I haven't decided a name yet but I'm thinking of creating a poll of a few names and having readers vote for the name.

Adios muchachos!