Hello my readers! I apologize for the slight cliffhanger at the end of my last chapter, and I will try and make this one longer and more detailed.

666Silvermoon: *looks at Loki* I apologize for what I'm about to do to you in this chapter.

Loki: *scowls at her* Why? What are you going to do to me?

666Silvermoon:*smiles sheepishly* you'll see.

Chapter 3

Loki yelped, and then groaned as he roughly landed on the ground, a carpet of grass, leaves and twigs barely softening his landing. He lay where he fell for a few moments, before slowly sitting up and surveying his surroundings.

A forest of greens and browns assaulted his eyes as he looked around. Tall trees were evenly spaced apart with various other plants growing between them, and as he looked down he saw a blanket of long dead leaves and twigs covering the forest floor.

He scowled as he saw he was barefoot. "They didn't even leave my boots on my feet. How barbaric. " He muttered under his breath as he looked around once again, and then chose a random direction and started walking.

For the next hour he yelped and cursed whenever he stepped on a sharp rock or twig, and he tripped over a root he would've sworn hadn't been there before he finally just gave up and sat down and leaned back against a tree.

His scowl deepened at the pain in his feet and the emptiness of his stomach. Mortal bodies are such weak things; he thought sourly, this would never have happened if I still had my magic.

Loki looked at the soles of his feet and cursed as he saw that they were bloody and covered in dirt and leaves. "Well that's just wonderful." He said sarcastically.

He looks around, not noticing anything different about his current scenery from where he just walked from. For some reason this irritated him incredibly, so he grabbed the thing closest to him, in this case a rock about the size of his fist, and threw it as hard as he could with an angry yell. It sailed through the air for a bit before hitting a dense patch of brush, with something inside it giving a pained whine.

Loki raised an eyebrow as what looked like a small black cub of some sort ambled out of the brush, a cut along its forehead dripping blood its fur. A matching cub ambled out with it, crying out at its sibling's pain.

His eyes widened as a deep roar came from the brush, and a large version of the cubs, their mother he realized, emerged from it and roared at him, her canines flashing at him. She must weigh at least twice as much as him he thought.

He cursed as she charged, and he turned and ran, the mother hot on his heels. However, luck was not on his side as the female creature quickly overtook him and snapped her jaws around his calf, causing him to fall flat on his face.

He yelled out in pain as her teeth dug into his leg, tearing at the flesh and muscle before he turned on his back and kicked out at her head with his foot. She growls angrily, shaking her head with his leg still in her jaws. Pain clouds his mind as he screams out, her fangs digging deeper into his calf as his blood soon covers the forest floor.

He kicked out at her head again, catching her in the eye and she releases his leg, growling in anger as she shakes the pain away, his blood flicking from her snout onto his tunic and the leaves around him.

He crawled backwards until his back hit a tree, and stared in terror at the animal when she roared at him again. She lumbered towards him, teeth bared and flecked with blood as she growled.

He figured this was the end for him, but the Fates seemed to be on his side.

He caught something larger than the creature in front of him but just as black running up from his left fast, and soon it was in front of him and rearing on its back legs.

It was a large black horse, it front legs striking out at the creature as she herself got up on her hind legs, roaring at the horse. The horse wouldn't back down though, its neigh loud and deep as it kept striking out at the creature, the feathering around its hooves flying and its teeth bared as it tossed its wavy mane, no doubt hitting its rider in the face. Speaking of rider, he couldn't see who was riding the horse, as they seemed to be wearing all black as well, even with some sort of black hat, obscuring the color of their hair and their gender. Whoever it is, they seem to know what they're doing, he thought as he watched the creature backing down and ambling away, her two cubs at her side.

The horse came down from its rear, stomping a front hoof in triumph, tossing its head and flicking its tail. Its rider gently patted its neck with a surprisingly slim and pale looking hand, saying something in a low voice that Loki couldn't hear.

His vision started to grow dark as he looked down at his bloody leg, his trouser hanging in tatters around it. He looked up as the horse started to turn around, his eyes seeing a flash of red under the rider's hat, and a pair of icy blue eyes staring back into his before his vision went black and his body fell back against the tree.

Half an Hour Earlier, Diana's P.O.V

I yawned as I finished cleaning out the last horse pen of my stables. The horse who resided in the pen, a gentle bay mare by the name of Cinnamon, softly whinnied as I covered the clean floor of her pen in fresh straw. I smiled, softly laughing as I brought the very pregnant mare back into her pen, gently patting her withers as I left and closed the door behind me.

"Won't be long now girl," I said with a smile, "till that foal of yours is ready to come out." The mare tossed her head in agreement as I turned and walked down the stable's aisle, looking in on my various horses as they dozed in their stalls or as they ate the last bit of their lunch.

I laughed as I stopped in front of the pen of my favorite riding horse. Apollo's Vagabond, or just Apollo when he's not competing, is a Friesian horse I rescued from a rather cruel owner when he was two years old. Now, at five years of age, his once dull and dirty coat that showed his ribs from malnutrition is now as bright black as the new moon, with his weight back to a healthy 1700 pounds.

The horse in question tossed his head, neighing in excitement as I got his lead out. "I see you're ready for our daily ride, huh Apollo?" I said while laughing as Apollo tossed his head again, agreeing with me. I attached his lead to his bridle and soon led him to the exit of the stables.

I tied his lead off and then heave up my English riding saddle and buckle it into place over his black saddle blanket. I gently ease his rubber bit into his mouth and untie him before stepping up and swinging my leg over his back, seating myself onto the saddle.

I pull up my mass of blood red curls out of my eyes and tie it up with a bandanna of the same shade of red before topping my black cowboy hat onto my head, completing my look of black jeans, black boots and black long sleeved shirt. I decided a long time ago to wear all black whenever I'm out riding, since it's harder to see dirt, sweat or anything else in the fabric then in the more colorful items I own.

I click my tongue and gently press the heels of my boots into Apollo's ribs, making him go forward at a steady trot, heading towards one of the many trails leading away from my farm and stables.

The Redemptio Farm and Stables has been in my family ever since my great grandfather Brogan Sullivan came over from Ireland back in the 1900s. He, being the youngest son in a family of 8, wanted a place to raise a family of his own in the land of opportunity. He ended up meeting my great grandmother, who was also Irish, in the middle of Brooklyn back in 1910, and it wasn't long before they were married. They had their first child of many a year later, and kept having them until eventually my great grandmother died during WWII. By that time my grandfather, Cormac Sullivan was ten years old, with four older brothers and two younger twin sisters.

Two of his older brothers died soon after his mother, fighting over in Germany while the other two stayed at home and helped out around the farm. My grandfather ended up taking over the house, cleaning and cooking when he could but mostly taking care of his younger sisters, Ella and Elisa. Eventually his older brothers, Cody and Liam, left the farm to make their own families. Liam went back to Ireland while Cody went farther west, making his home somewhere in California.

Ella and Elisa however, stayed in New York with my grandfather, until Ella met a handsome suitor and moved away to Louisiana and Elisa moved to Ireland to get back to her roots. My grandfather married my grandmother Katrina after inheriting the farm when his father passed away in the late 1950s, and they had my father Donovan Sullivan in the early 1960s after my uncle Connor and my aunt Sarah came along. My father moved to Ireland when he was 20, and soon met my mother and married her three years later. They had my twin brothers Aiden and Lucas a year later, and had me two years after them.

I smile as I remember all the things we got into when the three of us were kids, and always getting caught in the act by mom. We moved back to the states when I was eight and they were ten, so dad could help granda on the farm. Mom found a job at the local bakery in town, and she now owns it after the owner passed away a year ago. Lucas went to Law school and now lives in Virginia with his own practice, while Aiden lives in town and helps me run the family farm when not working at the local fire station, though I do most of the work myself, since my father died three years ago.

I hear a bark behind me and I turn in the saddle, seeing my chocolate Labrador Kida and my German Shepherd Taboo wagging their tails and looking at me with pleading eyes.

"I'll play with you two later, back in the house!" I called, making them whine but go back inside all the same. I shook my head with a laugh and lead Apollo down one of the lesser used southern trails. I bring my hat lower over my eyes, shielding them from the sun. My eyes are one thing I always get attention on, both negative and positive. They're an icy blue, almost white, like a Huskie's. Some people say my eyes are creepy, while others say they're beautiful.

I'm told I get them from my mother's side, with her own blue eyes, if a darker shade, and yet her hair is blond like wheat. My dad had chestnut brown hair, though it shined red in sunlight, and his eyes were as green as emeralds. My brothers gained their hair colors from our parents, with Lucas gaining dad's brown hair, with Aiden getting mom's blonde hair, though they both gained mom's darker blue eyes. Dad always moaned in disappointment because none of us gained his eyes, but he was proud of us none the less.

I sighed as a pang of sadness hit my chest, but I mentally brushed it away. My father would want me to remember the good times I had with him. I smiled as I pat Apollo's neck. My father was the one who helped me rescue Apollo from his previous owner, and I've been thankful ever since.

I ease Apollo up to a fast canter, wanting to get the jitters out of his legs and feet from being stuck inside his stall all day. Being a spirited horse, he only ever lets me ride him for some reason. He bucks off or evades Aiden or any volunteers he brings along every other week. I don't know why, he never let my dad ride him either, and he helped save Apollo.

After ten minutes of a fast canter, I ease him back into a walk to let him relax a bit and for me to take in the scenery. I breathe in the air deeply, sensing the slight crisp that signifies fall is approaching. After the mild spring but sweltering summer of this year, I'll be glad when fall and winter are here. I always preferred colder weather, ever since I was a little girl in the Irish moors.

Apollo stops short, head rising and his nostrils flaring as he snorts. I look at him in confusion and worry. "What is it boy, something dangerous nearby?" I say in a whisper. His ears swivel in a direction off trail, and I hear a faint scream, a human scream. Without thinking I dig my heels into Apollo's ribs and giving him his head, make him full on gallop towards the sound. I lay low over his back and neck, avoiding low branches and vines as Apollo gets closer and closer to the sound, till I can faintly see a man on the ground wrestling with something the size of a rather large dog with black fur. Holy shit! That's a black bear! I thought in horror as I saw the bear had a grip on the man's leg with its powerful jaws.

I spurred on Apollo harder, and with a burst of speed we were in front of the bear as soon as it let go of the man's leg with the man pressed himself up against a tree. I brought Apollo to a rear and he took over, striking out at the bear with his hooves and neighing loudly in a challenge. The bear roared as it stood on its back feet, baring a blood flecked muzzle at Apollo, but Apollo bared his teeth back, neighing louder. Within seconds the bear stood down and lumbered away, two little cubs following after their mom.

Apollo came down from his rear, stomping his hoof in triumph and tossing his head as I softly laugh and pat his neck. "Good boy Apollo, you might just have saved that man's life." I say softly before turning him around, just in time to see the man's eyes cloud over and close as he blacks out. I gasp softly, because I've seen him before, though it was nearly a year ago and on the news after the whole Manhattan incident. "What in the name of all that is holy is the villain Loki doing in upstate New York being attacked by a bear?" I said softly to myself as I slide from my saddle and slowly walk to him and then squat down in front of him, looking him over with narrowed eyes. He's paler, and thinner then he looked when he was on the news. His hair is longer as well, and he's not even wearing any boots or shoes. He looks like hell, I thought to myself as I analyze him. I then look at the leg the bear had a hold of, and see it's rather torn up and bloody, with blood still sluggishly pumping from the wounds.

I make a quick decision and grab the pocket knife I keep in my boot, and cut off both of my sleeves. I cut the sleeves into strips and quickly bound his leg with them, temporarily stopping the bleeding until we got to my home. I decide against taking him to a hospital, seeing as how he's a wanted criminal. Plus, I wanted to know the reason he was here.

I tied the last strip around his leg and then got next to him, grabbed his arm and tossed it over my shoulders, grunting slightly as I brought him up, his feet dragging as I brought him over to Apollo, who brings his nose over to Loki, taking in his scent. I pause, wondering what Apollo's about to do, before he snorts and folds his legs up under himself, lying down on his stomach. My jaw nearly drops, because he's never accepted carrying someone that easily. I don't think too hard about it as I gently ease Loki into the saddle, and sit behind him. "Glad I didn't use my western saddle," I mutter as Apollo stands up, jarring Loki so he falls back against me from lying against Apollo's neck. Through his thin tunic I can feel his spinal vertebrae, and as I wrap one arm around his waist I feel the outlines of his ribs. I frown slightly as I steer Apollo north, in direction of home.

I lead Apollo through the woods towards home, with Apollo doing his best not to jar Loki around too much, though I do tighten my hold on him a bit now and again. We soon reach the ranch, and I lead Apollo straight to my front door, where I slide from the saddle and then ease Loki down from Apollo's back, the air being knocked from my lungs as he hits me, still being careful to not jar his leg too much.

"For a man with his ribs showing, you sure weigh a lot." I muttered as I semi-carried Loki up my front steps and through the front door of my pale green Victorian style house. I slowly moved him to one of the guest bedrooms downstairs, grabbing a towel from the linen closet and laying it on the navy blue comforter before laying him down on the bed, positioning his wounded leg on the towel. I quickly got my first aid kit, a basin of warm water and clean rag and re-entered the guest room. I put down my supplies, and then took the thin scissors I keep in my first aid kit and cut away the tatters of his pant leg, and the cut away at the strips I made of my sleeves around his leg. I put down the scissors, but a groan coming from Loki's sprawled form stopped me in my tracks. I looked up at him, and saw his eyelids fluttering open.

I nearly bit my tongue off to keep from gasping as I saw his eyes. They were so beautiful, so green and yet so full of pain and sadness, and confusion. He looked around the room, no doubt taking in the pale blue walls and the white ceiling before those emerald eyes of his landed on me, and his eyes darkened in anger and even more confusion, before his lips parted and he spoke, his voice carrying a faint British accent.

"Who are you? And what am I doing here? If you think you can keep me prisoner-"

"I am not trying to. I'm only trying to patch you up enough to where you stop bleeding on my towels." I interrupt him, dipping the rag in the warm water and wringing it out. His eyes narrow at me, but my own eyes stare back, too concerned to be impressed. In his silence I take the liberty to start cleaning the wet and drying blood from his leg, which had thankfully stopped bleeding.

"Oh, where are my manners, I'm Diana Sullivan. I'm sure it'll be a pleasure to get acquainted with you, Loki."

Ok folks, that's chapter three, where Loki and Diana first meet! I hope you enjoyed it and I do apologize for the wait, I've been busy and haven't had access to the internet, and a special shout out goes to my first reviewer, Serafina, for saying I got Loki's personality brilliantly. I do hope to gain more reviews with people telling me what they think. J

Loki: *glares at 666Silvermoon* A bear?! I got attacked by a bear?!

666Silvermoon: *facepalms* oh boy, here we go…

Loki: Why a bear?! Couldn't I have just happened upon "Diana"?

666Silvermoon: *glares at Loki* No, because then it wouldn't have been dramatic enough, plus you might have tried to take over her farm or something. At least now you owe her a debt of gratitude, so you'll be less inclined to be evil to her. *mutters* Fat lot of good that'll do…

Loki:*glare darkens* I heard that!

666Silvermoon: Get over it ya drama queen!

Read and review people, and I might just write the next chapter faster!