Cut and thrust

Throughout the night Loki tossed and turned, plagued with feverish dreams.

He dreamt that the TARDIS wanted him dead and had sent an assailant to kill him. The assailant had him on the ground and was about to plunge the knife when a shot rang out and the assailant fell to the ground. Loki looked up, Nell stood a few meters away with a smoking pistol. She lowered the gun and gave Loki a grim nod. Loki rolled the body over to see who his attacker had been, only to be confronted with his own terrible hateful face. Loki began to scream. Then the world began to twist around him. The TARDIS alarm wailed. There was a blinding flash…

Loki woke up with a start, bathed in sweat. With a gasp he sat up in bed and looked around the room as though he expected it to be full of assassins. But the room was dark, silent and still. He estimated that it was early morning but dawn was at least an hour or two away.

Loki covered his face with his hands, flung himself back on to the pillow and waited until the TARDIS ghosts that plagued him had retreated back into the shadows of his nightmares. He lay still and thought of what he had seen on the TARDIS screen. Could it be possible? Ah, if only he could lay his hands upon it, what he could do with that power. And yet… and yet a small part of him cried out in morality 'No! You must not!'

Loki glared at the ceiling of his bedroom. "You've infected me" he accused the ceiling, "you've infected me with humanity, but what good does it do anyone when I am trapped here? I am as useless as you are without your TARDIS, Doctor".

As Loki rubbed his eyes and waited for his heart to stop racing, he heard the creak of floorboards in the hall.

Curious, Loki climbed out of bed and peaked around the door, catching sight of Nell's blonde head as she disappeared down the stairs. Slowly, with catlike tread, he trailed behind her until she reached the door of Madame Vastra's training room which she opened with a small key.

Loki, still unseen by Nell, leaned against the door frame and watched the young woman take a rapier from a rack of blades and begin practicing her technique. As he watched, Loki was impressed at her skill level. He knew already that she had received combat training, she had once attempted to kill him, and perhaps if she had known her opponent better, she may have even been able to land a blow. However, he could also see that while the skill was there, she was also out of form.

"Pay more attention to your foot work" Loki finally spoke out loud causing Nell to yelp and throw the rapier. It spun through the air and stuck in the wall beside Loki's head with a thud.

Loki did not flinch. Instead he casually looked at the trembling blade and smiled "I'd be more impressed if you had meant to do that".

"Once upon a time I would have done" Nell told him, "what do you want? I'm not in a mood for your derisions".

"You never are" Loki replied, "That's what makes it fun".

He kept his eyes trained on Nell and avoided looking at the closest door behind which the TARDIS lay. "What are you doing?" he asked.

Nell reddened a little "just trying maintain my skills".

Loki looked at her with a raised an eyebrow "maintain? If you went into battle waving your blade around like that, you'd probably cut off your own head". It was an exaggeration he knew, but Nell's withering glare gave him a good deal of satisfaction.

"You could do so much better, could you?" she said.

"What part of my being raised by a warrior race don't you understand?" Loki grinned.

"I can still hold my own" Nell replied defiantly.

"Oh really?" Loki asked. He pulled the rapier out of the wall and pointed it at her. "Let us see if your assertion is correct".

As dawn rose over London, the sound of clanging metal echoing from Madame Vastra's training room. Amidst the clanging, voices could be heard.

Clang! Crash!

"Hey wait! Oww! I wasn't ready!"

"Oh I apologise, how rude of me. Certainly most opponents you encounter would have waited until you were 'ready'".

Clang! Crash!

Nell staggered backwards and used the sword in her hand as a crutch to steady herself.

Loki twirled the sword in his own hand and looked at her with a bemused smile "I thought you had wielded a sword before?"

"Yeah, well it's been a few years since I've needed to pick one up" Nell responded, "I'm a bit rusty".

She assumed a fighting stance and pointed the sword at Loki. "OK go again".

Loki didn't even have to move his feet, he casually swung his own sword and knocked Nell's blade from her hand. It clattered to the ground and Nell gave a frustrated groan.

Loki shook his head disapprovingly "how on Earth did you survive your career as a pirate?"

Nell glared indignantly at Loki "firstly, none of my opponents had centuries of combat training, and secondly, people generally didn't get close enough to me to use a blade".

"Ah yes, you're a crack shot aren't you?" Loki rolled his eyes, "That may be fine for human opponents, but bullets won't help you against many other beings".

"Like yourself?" Nell stated more than asked. She titled her head and looked at him quizzically.

Loki smiled "like myself, yes".

He picked Nell's sword of the ground and handed it hilt-first to Nell, "again".

Nell held the sword and was about to swing when Loki held up his hand and sighed. "No. Stop. You're not gripping the hilt tightly enough and your footing is all wrong".

"Well how should I be standing then, genius?" Nell demanded impatiently.

Putting his own sword down, Loki walked behind Nell. He pressed his body up against hers and gripped either wrist with his hands.

"Look down at my feet" he said in her ear, "steady, but not rooted to the ground. I am ready to move lightly and pivot".

"You mean like dancing?" Nell murmured.

"Just so" Loki agreed, "now about your arms. Grip the hilt tightly. The sword should be an extension of your arm, and don't swing it so clumsily. It's as though you think its Thor's blasted hammer. Your movements need to be fluid, yet firm".

He moved Nell's sword arm back and forth in broad, smooth strokes "cut and thrust". Nell tried to move her right hand to place on the hilt as well but Loki held it firmly. "No" he said, "one hand only. You can keep your other hand free for a second sword, dagger or even one of your little pistols".

"If you saw me shoot, you wouldn't belittle me" Nell said in a huff.

Loki chuckled "perhaps. And it is important to play your strengths. You're a human after all. You have physical limitations and you break easily. You need to use your speed, and yes your marksmanship too, if you're as good as you claim".

Nell could feel his warm breath on her neck. She tried to ignore Loki's body pressed up against hers; it felt a little too nice. "I'm tougher than you think" she told him.

Loki scoffed, "if someone threw you off a cliff, you would shatter. If I was thrown from a cliff, it would be a minor inconvenience".

"Like when the Hulk tossed you around like a rag doll?" Nell asked teasingly.

She felt Loki's grip tighten on her wrists. "That was different" he said, "I was caught off guard".

Nell giggled "Dr Banner beat the tar out of you".

Slowly and purposefully Loki moved Nell's sword arm until she was holding the blade to her own throat. "Do you really think it is wise to antagonise someone who is controlling a sharp, pointy object, is it?"

"You're not going to kill me" Nell said confidently.

"No?" Loki asked in his smooth, silken tone, "and why is that?"

"If you wanted to kill me you would have done it ages ago" Nell replied, hoping she was right.

"Ah but Eleanor" Loki said as he released his grip, "I'm a patient man; there's no sense in rushing things".

Nell turned to face the Asgardian. "Just when I think I'm starting to figure you out" she said shaking her head, "sometimes I think you're my enemy, sometimes I… I don't know what I think you are".

Loki gave her a cold smile "I like to keep everyone guessing, especially you".

He turned and put the sword back on the rack.

Nell looked at the door which concealed the TARDIS, then turned back to Loki with a stern look "you saw something in the TARDIS didn't you? I don't know what it was, but you saw something."

Loki kept his back to Nell, but his smile wavered a little. "Nothing of consequence" he lied.

Nell tilted her head to the side "I can see it now you know. I can see what Madame Vastra told me weeks ago. You're afraid."

Loki stiffened a little "I fear nothing".

"The words you cry out in your sleep say otherwise" Nell told him, "the walls in this house are pretty thin you know".

"Nightmares?" Loki turned and faced Nell, "you must have your fair share too. How often have you dreamt of Alex I wonder?"

There was the sharp crack of skin hitting skin as Nell struck Loki across the face with the palm of her hand.

"Enough!" she said sharply, "stop using his name as a weapon. I don't know if you do it because you hate me or you hate him or if you are just simply jealous of him, but he is gone! I have mourned him as I would mourn the loss of any friend; now let me focus on the living!"

"Why would I be jealous?" Loki hissed.

"I've absolutely no idea" Nell said and tilted her head thoughtfully, "but you are, aren't you? Why?"

Loki glared at her "perhaps it is because he no longer has to endure your company".

He turned on his heel and started down the hall.

Nell's cheeks were flushed and she trembled with both anxiety and rage. "Do you want to know how I know that you saw something in the TARDIS?" she called in a low accusing voice, "You have never seen me carry a gun. So how do you know I'm a crack shot?"

Loki stopped and was silent for a moment. "The TARDIS talks in her sleep too". As he continued down the hall Nell could hear him softly singing a tune which made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"For the voyage is done and the winds do blow and it's time for us to leave her..."