Stolen Stars:
Chapter Ten
This one's for the lonely, the ones that seek and find
Only to be let down time after time
This one's for the torn down, the experts at the fall
Come on friends get up now, you're not alone at all
(Comes and Goes – Greg Laswell)
0o0o0o0o0o0
Rose was used to foreign cultures and foods and languages of all sorts. Hell, there was practically nothing that could shock her or put her off as "strange" at this point. But there was always the small concession that Rose had a home to go back to whenever she wished. The longest Rose had been apart from T-Too, at least after her last days in her first body, was that week-long stint in the luxury gardens of Al-Pasquez. And even then she would have been able to go back to her TARDIS any time she wished. She was just too busy with the multi-armed masseuses, to be honest.
No, this separation from her ship was beginning to wear on her. If the ill-fitting clothing wasn't enough for Rose to plan an escape to bring T-Too within reasonable accessibility, the ache that was the old camaraderie had grown to a point of madness.
She almost went to Loki to ask for assistance. His knack at diversion and escape was second to none, and Rose knew that he was itching to break his bonds. But involving Loki in any activity that would land him in the prison once more was something Rose wished to avoid at all costs. So she continued to plot on her own.
Besides, the further she could place Loki from the location of T-Too the better.
She chose to slip away from Hermod's watch at the crack of dawn the morning after Loki's outburst. The homesickness was too much for her to bear, and while most of the Aesir in the palace had begun to adjust to her presence, Rose needed to escape the eyes of her constant guardians for an hour.
Rose convinced Hermod to take a break, that she was off to speak with Fandral about yesterday and would return to her room. Little did he know that with one button on her sonic, the room was barred and a make-shift alarm was set if someone would knock. A recording of her voice would play out to dissuade visitors. It was an experiment of magic and science bourn of all her hours pouring over books of magic and runes in the library.
An invention that the Doctor would be proud of, Rose thought wistfully as she split from Hermod.
Careful to conceal her face with the hood of her cloak, she stole away to the stables. Years of sneaking with the Doctor made her senses sharp, and Rose was able to saddle and escape with a horse within minutes.
If she was lucky, she (or the horse) wouldn't be missed for at least an hour.
She stopped a good distance from the prison, hid the saddle and bit, and swatted the horse to make its way back to the palace. The stable keepers would probably just think it escaped. After the week of visiting the building, she had a good idea of the layout and, more importantly, the window of Loki's old cell.
Dodging the eyes of the warriors was easy enough, and Rose reached the barred opening on the side of the stone wall. She slipped a hand into her pocket and made quick work of loosening the bolts with the sonic. A stuttering beep and a glance at the scanner indicated another issue; runes. It took another few moments to adjust the settings to disarm them, but soon the bars came free. Rose quietly laid the bars on the ground and hefted herself through the opening.
No one was in the cell, luckily, but there was a guard pacing outside the cell. She waited for him to round the corner, and then unlocked the door.
Fingers fumbled with the sonic to the correct settings, and the green box blinked back into existence. Rose breathed a sigh of relief. She very well could have accidentally sent it into the Vortex without hope of returning.
Footsteps were returning, and Rose dove through the door. Dancing around the grating, Rose sent T-Too into the Vortex, aiming for her quarters.
She had time now, and the sentience of the TARDIS that Rose had become adjusted to so long in space and time alone soothed her, welcoming her back as an old friend.
Rose walked through the corridors, soaking in the hum of her ship, running a hand fondly over the corals and the walls.
"Missed you," she murmured. A brush on her mind returned the sentiment. Tinny sounds of laughter and familiar voices followed Rose through her rounds as she checked the ship. Ghosts of the voices of her children and her Doctor kept her company, and for once in a long time Rose was able to forget the unease she had kept hidden away in her heart.
Eventually she brought herself to land T-Too. Reluctant as she was to leave, Rose knew she still had work to do. She was just sonicking the ship into its time-bubble when the door opened.
"Rose, sorry to intrude but—Oh."
It was Loki. Rose spun, certain that her deer-in-headlights eyes gave everything away.
"Loki! Erm, hello. What are you doin' here so early?"
"Hmm. It seems our presence is requested at the dining hall this evening. Was that the TARDIS?"
Rose grew anxious. Well, the whole keep-Loki-away-from-T-Too plan was out the window.
"Yeah," she said shortly. "Dinner, eh? What time are we expected?"
Loki wasn't so easily swayed.
"Where did it go?"
"S'none of your business." Some of the old chav came out when she was irritated. "Is there anything else you needed?"
"Yes. Our appointment was six hours ago. Or did you forget?"
A string of shame wrapped around her heart, and she berated herself for not keeping better time—and for her misjudgment of temporal accuracy.
"Not that I mind particularly," he said lightly, though his clenched fist betrayed him. "Hermod just assumed you were in here. The door was locked. You had more important things to attend to, I'm sure."
"I was just…I needed to get away from the castle. T-Too is the only home I have now."
"Missing your old life before you had me dumped on your lap?" he muttered.
"More just keeping it within reach," she corrected.
"Yes, I'm sure you are eager to leave once your task is finished here."
"What are you gettin' at?" Rose snapped.
"Nothing, my dear Rose," Loki replied, his face calm. "It was good for you, those fifty years with your Doctor. So much more knowledgeable, wise, caring."
Rose knew without a doubt that he was baiting her, but even in fifty years and a new body she couldn't help but turn around and plant him with a withering glare.
"Was it good, knowing that you could leave and forget the alien you slept with for another? Because honestly, even I find it slightly…inhuman."
"Are we really gonna talk about this now?" Rose exclaimed.
"How long did you wait to bring him into your bed, I wonder?" he asked, the livid tone only barely concealed. "I'm sure it was easy enough. A poor abandoned alien, lost in a new world. Probably just went directly to your room once you found that I was out of the way."
"Shut up," Rose hissed. "You have no idea what happened."
"Oh, but I do, Rose," he said, stepping closer to her. The only indication that the trickster was suppressing violent emotion was the tremble in his left hand. "I had two years with your life streaming before my eyes. Two years to watch you and your precious Doctor live and fuck and die."
"Fifty years I had no clue if you were alive or dead!" she protested, unflinching under Loki's icy gaze.
"So what it worse then?" he mocked. "Fifty years of your uncertainty but relative happiness with the man you loved, or two years of torture you can barely imagine? And I am not just talking about the Other."
Rose was speechless.
"I am a god, Rose Tyler. Neither you nor your dear dead Doctor could ever conceive what I can. Don't you…" Rose watched him swallow, and then take a step away from her. "Don't you dare think you know me as I know you."
"You knew how much I loved him, then," she said, her heart clenching in anger and the beginnings of betrayal. "You knew that I would never turn my back on him."
"Forgetting the night you tied me up, then?" Rose gasped, her mouth open to protest. "Oh, I would've loved to stay behind and meet this incredible Doctor of yours—"
"Loki—"
"—just to see the look on his face when I told him what a frivolous whore you really are."
Rose stopped breathing for a moment, feeling like Loki might as well have struck her. But a century of being in a myriad of overwhelming situations kept her from crying. It wasn't, after all, the worst thing she had been called. With care, she pushed all her emotions to the back of her mind, letting only slight irritation through to taint her voice.
"Fine," Rose said shortly, arms crossed. She jutted her chin out haughtily, trying desperately to believe that it was the poison talking—oh please, just let it be the poison. "Go to dinner on your own, then. Make conversation. Try not to burn down the curtains. Or kill anyone." Loki huffed irritably, baring his teeth. "M'serious. You need to learn to clean up after your own mess instead of blaming others. Prove to me you can still act like a relatively civilized ass; I know you can."
Rose surprised herself at her own words. Because she did know. Or at least she wished he could be. After what he just said though, she couldn't be sure anymore.
Loki seemed to have run out of insults, because he just stared at her. Rose stood her ground, however, and kept eye contact. She took a shaky breath in, steeling herself.
"Get out."
At first Loki looked like he was going to continue his rant, but Rose refuse to give him the time.
"I have done nothing but help you, and this is all you think of me? I don't want to hear anymore. Get out, or I'll ask Hermod to throw you out."
Something other than malice and self-righteousness passed across the prince's face, but he didn't voice his thoughts. Rose was glad for it, because as understanding and patient as she prided this regeneration to be, she was truly about to slap him.
Perhaps in a strike of wisdom, Loki left her room without another word.
As soon as he was out of sight, however, Rose bit down hard on a fist to keep from screaming in hurt and anger. She would not let this man, this broken and twisted alien, break her. Of all the years she spent with another, she knew just how much self-hatred can tear at a relationship.
Rose would not allow it, not now. Loki could too easily chew her up and use her if he wished to. She would leave Loki behind forever before he could ever get the chance.
0o0o0o0o0o0
He almost didn't go to dinner.
After the spat with Rose, Loki went straight to the training grounds. He very nearly felt his natural strength returning as the rage boiled inside him well enough that the sturdy training dummy snapped under a particularly vicious blow.
As the anger dwindled, however (the poison was not enough for him to blame his actions on entirely), something like guilt began to weigh in his heart.
She shouldn't have dangled her perfectly normal and happy life in front of me. It was cruel. Didn't she realize? His thoughts were disgruntled, and he couldn't shake the feeling that he was wrong. With a sigh, he flung a dagger.
Thwap. Outside ring, his aim an indication of his state of mind.
At least you know where the time machine lies now.
Thwap. Just outside the red. Strategy always did help his focus.
But she knows you know. She might move it, and that would be useless to track down. How are you supposed to pilot the thing, anyway?
Thwap. Bullseye.
Get back into her good graces? Convince her that I can be trusted and fly off together into the great unknown? Try to toss her out after she teaches me how the ship works?
Loki scoffed at the thought, and his anger melted into desperation. If only he could get to the Tesseract…Rose wouldn't have to be involved at all. In fact, she would be free to leave and live as she pleased.
As she deserves, he added solemnly, another dagger flying from his fingers to embed itself into the red center of the target.
In any case, he needed to go to dinner. While Rose is his advocate, the true controller of his destiny was Odin. The dining hall simply included Frigga, Thor, and Odin. It was a pathetic attempt at normalcy, but Loki kept such sentiments to himself. Loki bowed sharply at the All-Father, and then took his seat beside Frigga without comment. Even if he was to be forced into this charade, it did not mean he would concede to play house.
"Where is Lady Tyler?" Frigga asked him quietly. "Did she receive our invitation?"
Hermod stepped into the room, and Loki was relieved he did not have to answer. Frigga had a disconcerting way of seeing through his lies at times.
"Lady Tyler has requested to inform you that she is feeling unwell. She sends her apologies."
"Is she in need of a healer?" Frigga asked. The guard shifted, looking uncomfortable.
"She claims it is simply a human female condition."
Frigga, the embodiment of womanly wisdom, took the information with a calm smile and dismissed him.
"How is our mortal guest taking to Asgard, Loki?" she asked, turning her attentions back to him. Loki bit the inside of his cheek in annoyance as the rest at the table turned to him with varying degrees of interest. Gossip was ever the Aesirs' entertainment of choice.
"Well enough," he answered evenly. "I am not familiar with the particulars of her daily treks about the castle, but she praises our library often."
"I spoke with Rose in the kitchens the other day," Thor said. "Apparently she is as eager about our food as our texts. I think Volstagg is going to enjoy her suggestions. I do not think I have ever seen the cooks so attentive."
"Lady Tyler told me of her experiences of foreign realms outside of Yggdrasil," Frigga added. Loki's attention sharpened. Rose spoke with Frigga? When? Why? "I suppose some of the culinary arts she cultivated would be useful."
"Her tales are quite fantastic," Odin said. "The handmaidens seem to gossip about them more and more each day. I wonder how many are true. Some of the monsters she describes…"
"Oh come now, Father. Rose is one of the most humble and sincere women I've had the pleasure of meeting. Would you not agree, Loki?"
"She is certainly…earnest," Loki conceded. The praise Rose was receiving by his adoptive family, well-deserved even in her absence, made Loki's stomach twist again in remorse. He was beginning to suspect that someone overheard his spat with the Midgardian and tattled.
"A remarkable woman, indeed," Odin murmured.
Thankfully the topic of interest soon turned to happenings in the other realms. Loki noticed they purposefully ignored the point of the difficulty of travel and gaining information since the destruction of the Bifrost. He allowed the rest of the evening's conversation to go on without him as he dined in silence. He excused himself as soon as he could, unable to ignore the resounding otherness he felt at the table.
As the hour grew late, he found himself unable to sleep. So he read an old magic text from the library to distract him. It helped only to remind Loki of his lack of power, and soon it was tossed to the ground and he slumped in the armchair by the hearth and brooded.
It wasn't long until he felt a familiar tug at his mind.
Not tonight, Rose, Loki thought wearily. Why must you torture me so?
But the visions were persistent, and began to worsen. The content of her dreams were never of him, but nonetheless Loki could not shake the feeling that the demons that plagued Rose's sleep were due to his words.
Unable to ignore her pain in his mind for long, Loki eventually reached out along the thread of connection—such a strange thing it was—and tried to replace the horrors with sweet memories. With an unconscious sigh from the other end, Loki retreated.
Rose would awake refreshed and calm, still oblivious to the soother of her nightmares.