Poor Loki. And Anna. You guys won't be disappointed with this next one. I certainly hope it will meet everyone's expectations of awesomeness. I won't give too much away, but expect to see some "old friends" appear somewhere near the end. ;) That's all I'm going to say. By the way, if you like this fic, check out my newest one, Invasion. I personally think that it is better-written than this one, so you guys might like it better. It's a Star Wars/Avengers Crossover.
AaylaKit: I'm going to try to update all three at once from now on. Hopefully that'll make things easier for everyone.
Pergjithshme: I know. :( I was all sad and stuff when I wrote it.
Loki was certain he was dead, but why did death hurt so much? He felt like his entire body was on fire. His head especially. Maybe he should try to move. He willed his eyes to open so that he could look around and figure out why he still existed when he should clearly have died. His eyelids felt like lead. They would not open. I can't feel anything, he thought, beginning to panic. Is this what death feels like? Pain and numbness combined?
All he could do now was wait and see what would happen. It was awfully boring. Just when he thought he couldn't stand it anymore, a voice cut into his thoughts.
"Stay in the car, Emily. Oh gosh, oh gosh…I almost hit him! Is he alive? Please be alive." There were shuffling sounds. "Sir?"
"He looks like he just came back from a comic book convention on Norse Mythology," a young girl's voice remarked. "Look at those clothes!"
"I told you to stay in the car."
"His outfit is so weird, though, Mama. Did you kill him?"
Loki felt a presence by his side, and then a pair of fingers on his neck. A voice said, "No, I didn't even hit him. He's breathing, and I feel a heartbeat. That's a good sign. Hand me my phone. I'm calling 911."
I'm breathing? Loki thought. How is that possible?
"Hello? Yes, I found a man in the middle of the road. No, I didn't hit him. He's just lying there. He's alive, but badly beaten up. Um, let's see…black hair, pale skin, strange armor, green cape…" She began to describe Loki to the best of her ability. Loki didn't even know what she looked like, much less what state he was in.
"Mama? He's shaking."
Loki did feel himself begin to tremble. He felt cold. Unnaturally cold. Usually low temperatures didn't bother him, but now he felt like his skin was made of ice.
"Emily, don't…" the woman protested.
Loki felt a hand on his face. "He's freezing cold, Mama," the girl said. "It's like touching an ice cube."
"Get back," the mother warned her.
There was silence for several moments. Then, out of nowhere, an ambulance sounded. Loki recognized the sound because he'd learned a lot about Midgard. They were going to take him away to a hospital that would smell of disinfectant and sickness. He did not want to cooperate, but did he have a choice in the matter? Curse this immobilized state.
"He's over here," the woman said.
"Help me get him onto the stretcher," a man said. "We must be gentle."
A hand touched his. He wanted to recoil, but he could not move. "Feel his skin! It's icy cold," a female voice said. "Nurse? You should take a look at this."
Loki wondered why a nurse was on an ambulance. Didn't they only work in hospitals? He didn't know much on the subject, so he pushed the question to the back of his mind.
"Nurse? Why are you standing there with your mouth hanging open like an idiot? You were the one who wanted to accompany us on this case, though you wouldn't say why. Come make yourself useful."
"Y-yes. Right away." The nurse joined the team of people that Loki had mentally put on his Strangle List. The way they poked and prodded was irritating to him.
"Can you tell what's wrong? Is it safe to move him?" the male asked.
"He can hear everything you're saying," the nurse said. "He's conscious, just immobile. And I don't think he appreciates the way you're poking him."
"How do you know?" the woman asked.
How does she know? Loki wondered.
"I just do. Don't question me. Just let me handle this. I work better alone, so all of you get in the ambulance while I examine him. Go on, now." Loki felt a wave of relief as the crew reluctantly left them alone. He wondered what this nurse was planning to do to him.
The nurse's voice was gentle when she said, "This won't hurt. I promise." She took his hand and squeezed it lightly. He felt warmth spread through his body. Slowly, he was beginning to get feeling back, though everything still hurt like crazy. How he felt pain without feeling his body parts, he could not guess. "How do you feel?"
Loki opened his eyes. There was a blurry figure leaning over him. He couldn't identify the mortal, but she was distinctly human. He tried to pull himself up, but the world spun and pain shot into his head when he tried.
"Don't move," she warned him.
Loki tried to object that he could do what he wanted, but the words would not come out.
"You look like you fell off a ten-story building," she remarked.
I fell much farther, he thought, remembering why he was where he was. Thor. Asgard. His father. He had lost everything.
"Why are you here, Loki?" the nurse asked intensely. "Something happened in New Mexico. Was that you? Were they Asgardians?"
Loki's head shot up and he struggled to get into a sitting position. Who are you? What do you know? How do you know my name?
She placed a hand on his chest and laid him back down. "Look at me," she whispered.
Loki worked harder on focusing his vision. What he saw shocked him. Blue eyes and straight, shoulder-length blonde hair. On her chest was a pin that read "L. Jefora."
"Liri…" At last, Loki was able to find his voice.
"Loki, you must let me take you to the emergency room. You are in critical condition. I don't know how you got like this, but you must let me help you." Loki shook his head in negation. Liri sighed. "At least come to my home. I will take care of you."
"I don't need help," he scowled.
"Really?" she asked sarcastically. "So you're not lying in the middle of the road, injured and practically immobile? Are you going to tell me that this is an illusion? Loki, please. I can't leave you here. You helped me twice. I was shot in the leg, nothing more, and yet you still took me in."
"You are a mortal. I am not. I do not require assistance." Loki had trouble getting the words out, but he refused to show it.
"It's either this or the hospital. They won't leave you here. They'll insist on taking you away."
Loki considered this. "Let them try." He attempted once again to get up, then collapsed. "I…see your point. I suppose it would be acceptable to go with you for a day or two."
"It's settled, then. I'll be right back." She left to take care of the technicalities of it. A little Jedi Mind-Tricking did the job perfectly. She had them convinced it was a false alarm and to go back. When the ambulance left, she returned to Loki. "I drove behind them in my car, so I have transportation. I'm going to use the Force to help you to your feet. Don't be alarmed, okay?"
Loki nodded, starting to shiver again. Why was he so cold? "Let it be known that I object to this," he said.
"Too bad." Liri eased him upright with the Force. She took his arm and led him to the car, continuing to assist him with the Force. "It looks like you can't walk on your own." She eased him into the car. He recoiled. "Loki, you need to cooperate. I don't have a horse, nor are you fit to ride one."
"I will not ride in that mortal vehicle," he growled.
"You have to. I know you don't like to be contained or dependent on someone else for your safety. But you've got to trust me. I won't let you get hurt." Liri looked deeply into his eyes. "Do you hear what I'm saying? You are safe with me."
Loki narrowed his eyes, but finally complied. "I hope you are good at driving that thing," he said nervously.
"I've had practice," Liri assured him. "It's way easier than navigating spacecraft. Did you know that the human race hasn't gotten beyond their own moon yet? They send satellites out all the time, but a man hasn't been farther than their single moon. I wish I could introduce them to modernized technology, but I can't reveal myself as a Jedi. Their government would go nuts. I have to hide my identity behind the life of a nurse, but I also work as an undercover agent, bent on making the world a better place…"
Loki listened to Liri ramble all the way to her dwelling. She updated him on her life and what she has learned about Midgard. She seemed so comfortable with him that he didn't have it in him to interrupt. He was too exhausted to fight her help anymore, so he let her assist him out of the vehicle without comment.
"I know it's not amazing. Certainly not as extravagant as Asgard. I didn't exactly expect to entertain a guest." She smiled warmly and led him into a small room. "You can rest here if you want. Lie down here. I will get my medical supplies." She left the room quickly, leaving Loki alone with his thoughts.
He thought of his mother. He remembered how she had looked him in the eye and said that she didn't want him to feel different. That he is her son. His father was in the deep sleep he had fallen into after confessing the truth. The truth that had hit Loki like a million knives. Finding out why Odin always loved Thor more.
"Hey there," Liri said, stepping into the room. She sat down on the edge of the bed where he lay. "Your thoughts are troubled," she murmured, running her fingers through his hair. He allowed her to do this because he was too weary to object. The gesture was well-intended anyway. "Your thoughts are troubled," she continued softly. "Why are you here? Really?"
Loki shook his head. He was not ready to tell her. It would reveal the soft spot that he preferred to keep concealed. "I fell," he said simply.
"There's more to it that that. You're hurting inside." She took out her supplies and started dabbing something onto his scratches and bruises. He winced at the sting. "Hey, it's me. You can tell me. Loki Odinson, you—"
"Laufeyson," he corrected.
"What?" Liri did not expect this.
"Odin is not my father. I am the son of Laufey the Frost Giant on Jotunheim."
Liri gasped. "You—but—how long have you known?"
"My father told me after he banished Thor to this realm. He took me as a baby and raised me to believe I was an Asgardian like everyone else. He fell into Odinsleep after he told me, and—"
"Wait. Thor was banished? Odinsleep? Start over."
Loki started at Thor's coronation. He told her about the Frost Giant interruption and the attack by Thor and his posse. He explained everything up to the moment he fell to Midgard. "I couldn't hold on," he said quietly. "Everything was lost."
Liri had tears in her eyes. "Oh, Loki…"
"Please do not have pity on me," he said.
"How can I not? You've been through some terrible things. You've lost everything and yet you tell me not to pity you?"
"Pity will not help me," Loki responded.
"But a friend will." She placed a hand on his arm. "Let me in, Loki. Let me help you." Loki did not reply, so Liri ceased her work and sat still awhile, pondering what would help her get through to him. Finally, she said, out of nowhere, "My Little Pony."
Loki looked at her as if she'd gone nuts. "What?"
"That game of Anakin's that Anna threatened him with when we were kids. It was My Little Pony."
This lightened Loki's mood a bit. "Ah. No wonder he tried to hide it."
"I know. He made us promise never to tell. Now that he's…you know…I thought it was okay to tell you." She smirked. "What I would give for his stack of games right now."
Loki nodded. What he would give for a reason to be happy. But thought he felt a hint of a good mood form Liri's outlandish statement, he couldn't fill the empty void that he had had his whole life. His father and brother had successfully made that void significantly bigger. Liri worked so hard to fill it, but it could not be filled. At least, he didn't think it could. What would? Was there anything left for him?
"Your thoughts are becoming troubled again," she said, resuming her work on healing him. "Maybe you should sleep now. Put some distance between yourself and what happened." She dabbed a cut above his eye. It stung, but he did not wince this time. "Let me make a few more adjustments here…" Finally, she was satisfied. "I'll do more tomorrow. You have enough treatment done for the time being." She stood up. "Sleep as long as you need to."
Loki appreciated her help. He was eager to get out, though, so that he would not burden her any further. Plus, the whole dependency thing did not suit him well. When she left, he closed his eyes and shut out the images of his adopted family. Sleep would not come easily tonight.
Loki did not sleep at all that night, nor any other night in the duration of his stay. Though he wanted to so much, he simply couldn't. Liri worried about him a lot. Why wouldn't he rest? What was wrong? How could one be physically exhausted and be unable to fall asleep?
"How are you feeling?" she asked one day.
Achy. Hurt pride. Exhaustion. Humiliation. "Do I have to answer that?"
"No, you don't. It's written all over your face and mind." She closed her eyes. "Something is going to happen today. I can feel it." Pause. "I'm going to work. I took the whole week off to take care of you. Don't feel bad," she added quickly. "I chose to do it. Will you be all right?"
Loki nodded. He had been walking around a little bit in the past couple of days. Her care was paying off. "I'll be fine. Thank you for everything. I know it was not easy for you."
She smiled. "Did I say that?" Wink. "Okay, then. Do what you like, but don't go anywhere. You are not fit to leave yet."
Loki snorted. "I do what I want," he said.
"Yeah, but I'm a nurse. And a Jedi. I know what's best, so just take it easy, okay?" Se looked at him worriedly. She knew he wouldn't listen to her, but she had to go to work. "See you later." The door closed behind her. Loki was alone.
"She's grown up so much," he mused. "I am a stranger here. She needs to live her life, and I need to live mine." He stood silently until he was sure she had gone. "Time to go." Loki used his magic to make his Asgardian clothes transform into the outfit he had worn that day he had visited Thor on Earth when his brother was banished. Though his magic was as weak as he was, he could pull off the simple spell. He slipped out the door and took a couple of shaky steps before running head-on into a dark figure. "How dare you—" he began. Then, his gaze took in the army.
There, surrounding the house, was an army of clone troopers.
Cliffhanger, yay! Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, Thor, or any of the characters except Liri and whatever mortal humans happen to show up.