Ok people, I'm back! Yes, I know I have been gone a while, but I am sorry. Silver here with the next installment of Key To Redemption!
Silver: *turns to Loki* You know what to say.
Loki: *glares at the author, green eyes flashing* No, I refuse to give out that virtual shout out.
Silver: *eyes narrow* Say it or else Loki.
Loki: Or else what? What more could you possibly do to me?
Silver: *tackles Loki and ties him up like a calf in a rodeo, wrists to ankles*
Loki: *struggles against his binds* Untie me this instant! I'm not a stag that's about to be roasted!
Silver: *holds up a long white feather* Say it or else Loki!
Loki: *shakes his head, baring his teeth in anger* Never!
Silver: You leave me with no choice. *whips off his boots and starts tickling his feet*
Loki: *starts thrashing even more, his face turning pink as he starts laughing* NO! St-stop tickling m-me! Hahahaha! Stop it!
Silver:*keeps tickling his feet, moving the feather up the back of his calves under his pants now* Give the shout out and I'll stop.
Loki: *keeps laughing before finally giving in as his eyes water and his face turns red* Ok-k! Alright! I'll g-give the bloody sh-shout out!
Silver: *smiles happily and stops tickling him*Good. *sets him on a chair while still tied up*
Loki: *growls softly but turns to the audience* This special shout out is going out to RaynesBlood669. She correctly guessed that the quote in the previous chapter that the quote came from Dumbledore of the Harry Potter book series.
Silver:*smiles happily and tosses a virtual cookie to RaynesBlood669* Good choice, now then. Here's Diana with the disclaimer!
Loki: Wait! Aren't you gonna untie me?!
Silver: Not yet, now the disclaimer!
Diana: *looks up from her sketchbook with a wide grin* 666Silvermoon is in no way, shape or form the owner of anything in the Marvel Universe. The only things in here she owns are me, my animals, my family, and any other future OC's she makes. She is not making any money from writing this story; it is purely for her own amusement and to entertain others. Enjoy chapter 9!
Chapter 9
Diana's P.O.V
"Taboo! You overgrown fluff ball! Get back here!" I yelled out as Taboo ran from me down the stairs, his fur still wet from his bath. I raced down the stairs, towel in hand as I take the stairs two at a time. He turned left at the stairs, heading to the kitchen and I followed after him.
I spot Loki coming in from outside and I yell out, "Close the door!" He looks up from the book in his hands and sees Taboo and I charging towards him, Taboo dripping water onto the floor and me with my hair pulled into a messy bun, wet clothes and facial expression showing annoyance. He closes the door seconds before Taboo can even get his nose out of it. I sigh in relief before grabbing Taboo in the towel and vigorously rubbing his fur dry, blowing a strand of hair from my face.
"He enjoys swimming in the town square fountain but he hates taking a bath." I mutter under my breath as I finish drying him off. Taboo whines and looks up at Loki, who kneels down and gently scratches him under the chin. "Sorry Taboo, but my fear of Diana overwhelms my desire to help you." He says, and I look up at him in surprise. "Hey! I'm not that scary!" I say only to see him grinning mischievously at me.
"What is it you told me yesterday? People assume redheads have the biggest tempers?" He says as he stands, as do I. "Hey! Not every redhead has a temper." I tell him as I fold up the towel and toss it inside the small laundry nook inside my kitchen.
"Oh really? How do you explain you coming home a few days ago while cursing up a storm?" Loki asks as he follows me with a smirk. I blush slightly as I turn to him. "Well it's not my fault that Tyler Morrison almost ran me over with his car and then tried to feel me up." I said as I tossed the towel into the washing machine and turned it on. "He's barely 20, way too young for me. And he's not even my type either. He's too brash and cocky." I shudder as I free my hair from its bun and shake it out. I spot the book in Loki's hands and my lips threaten to pull into a smile.
"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone?" I question him as I see he's already halfway through it, and his lips slightly thin out and he looks away.
"I found it interesting. Is that really so surprising?" His voice is clipped and his body is stiff.
I shake my head quickly. "No, that's not what I meant. Everyone likes Harry Potter. I just find it funny because you and Harry are so much alike."
"What do you mean?" Loki asks me curiously as he looks back at me. I smile and head out to my greenhouse, him following at my heels.
"Well, along with the both of you having black hair and green eyes, you both grow up in homes where you were overshadowed by a relative and where magic was considered strange or weak." I tell him as I enter my greenhouse with a pair of pruning shears. "Though your personality is more along the lines of Draco, and lord knows you'd be better in Slytherin than Gryffindor."
Loki looks at me in slight surprise. "Draco? The blonde Slytherin boy who's horrible to Harry?"
I nod as I snip a few sprigs of rosemary, thyme, oregano and basil from the bushes growing in the greenhouse for dinner tonight, before going to my rose bushes. Of the three rose bushes I have, one is a medium sized dark red called a Deep Secret; another is a medium sized bush with vibrant orange and gold color called Irish eye; the last one is the one I'm most proud of. My climbing iceberg rose bush is a climber obviously, so it's grown so much that it's completely covered the far wall's trellis of the same size. It takes a while to prune, but it's all worth it to have such a beautiful plant. (1)
"Your personality is rough around the edges like Draco, and just like Draco you see us humans as beneath you, simply because you see us as weak. He feels the same way towards muggles and muggleborns. But it's because it was ingrained into him by an overbearing father who placed too many high expectations on him, just like Odin ingrained hatred towards frost giants in you and placed too many expectations upon you. In the end though, he truly changed for the better." I tell him as I snip a small white rosebud from my climbing iceberg bush. I smile softly as I close my eyes and take in the bud's sweet scent, before opening my eyes and holding it out to Loki.
"Are you able to change for the better too Loki?"
Loki looks at me sharply, and his eyes hold the deep seated surprise that shows I have once again caught him unawares. He looks down at the rose, and something shifts in his eyes. His hand slowly reaches out, and grasps the rosebud gently, not quite taking it from me but holding it with me.
"I don't know if anyone will allow me to change, for the better or otherwise." He says softly as he looks back up at me, his green eyes holding what seemed to be years of pain, desperation, and sadness deep inside their depths. I study him for a moment, before taking a giant leap of faith.
I softly smile and lay the rosebud on the flat of my hand, and close my eyes.
I hear his almost inaudible gasp as the rosebud blooms fully in my hand, with just a bit of energy on my part.
"I do believe that if people like us can exist Loki, than anything is possible." I softly say as I look back up at him. I see wide eyed shock on his face as I gently take his hand and place the rose in the palm of it. I try to ignore the small spark that goes up my spine as I touch his skin.
He looks at me with a calculating but still shocked expression on his face. "What are you?" He asks me softly as he holds the rose gently in his hand.
I smile, looking down as I shake my head. "It's not the first time I've been asked that, trust me. As to what I am, most people would call me a mutant or a freak, though to some it's one in the same. However, my father had a different way of explaining what I am to me once I went through puberty." I tell him as I look around my greenhouse, studying all the flowers in bloom and thriving.
"There was a legend that was passed down in my father's side of the family from generation to generation, about a female ancestor of mine who showed kindness to an old woman that had needed shelter for the night near the middle of Ireland. My ancestor was a Celtic priestess of a local underground coven who believed in doing unto others what you would want done to you, so when she saw the old woman walking in the rain she brought her inside, gave her warm food and fresh clothes and a place to sleep for the night. In the middle of the night my ancestor was awoken by the old woman, who had transformed into an ethereal woman of great beauty. She thanked my ancestor for her kindness, and sought to repay it in any way she was asked. Since my ancestor was a smart woman, but still a woman, she was subject to unwanted attentions from the village elders for her strange ways, and so she asked for abilities that would protect her and her loved ones from attack. The beautiful woman was so taken with my ancestor's request and with the true heart that she saw inside her, she not only granted her request but also told my ancestor that the abilities would be passed down through her children, and her children's children, and so on until her line ended." I say as I cook dinner; herb and breadcrumb crusted salmon fillets on a bed of asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes. I decided on cooking by myself to better help me focus on the story I'm telling Loki.
"My ancestor, Brannagh Sullivan, ended up gaining the ability to manipulate the four elements and to shape shift into different animals. She practiced her powers in secret, and they grew in power the more she used them. But she was soon betrayed by the man she had fallen in love with. He saw her practicing one day, and went to the village elders and accused her of being a witch. Luckily, before she was tried a fellow coven member warned her, and she fled, with her lover's child growing in her womb."
"Why not just burn the village to the ground? It would've saved her the trouble of fleeing." Loki said with a sneer. "It also would've purged this world of a few narrow minded humans."
I turn to him and I raise an eyebrow. "It also would've purged the world of innocent children, men, and women Loki. Children she played with when their own mothers were busy. Woman she befriended and shared recipes and food with. Men she helped nurse their animals back to health with. She was not so black hearted to damn them all simply because of a few narrow minded old cafflers."(2) I tell him, my Irish accent becoming a bit heavier as I try to reign in my anger. I knew my eyes had also gotten a bit paler since they tended to do that whenever I got angry, or used my powers.
Loki seemed to notice that and held up his hands in a placating manner. "I meant no offense, Lady Diana; I let my anger at a fellow magic user being outcasted get the better of me." He said evenly.
I sighed and plated the fully cooked food, giving Loki an equal portion to mine. He was able to stomach larger portions now, and he was no longer as thin as he was when he first started staying with me.
"Apology accepted Loki." I tell him calmly as we tuck in to our food. After the first few bites Loki started asking questions.
"What happened to your ancestor after she fled the village?" He said before taking another bite of the salmon.
"After spending a few weeks in the wilds of Ireland, she went to another village, this one on the coast and far enough away from her previous village so that if anyone heard of a witch they wouldn't suspect it of being her. She had also changed in the weeks she had spent in the wilds. She had grown three inches, making her stand at 5 feet and 8 inches tall, and her hair had turned from a dark auburn to pitch black. Her eyes were the same shade of blue as mine, according to the way my father told me the story. You see, in our family if we inherit the magical abilities of Brannagh once we reach puberty, our hair and eye color change to represent what abilities we use the best."
"Sometimes it's barely noticeable, like with a relative of mine in the 1700s. Her hair only lightened a few shades of blonde and her hazel eyes gained a few specks of green, to show she was able to manipulate air and plants the best. Others, like me, drastically change and go through a major growth spurt. As you pointed out last week, my hair went from a dirty blonde to this red mass of curls you see, and my eyes went from forget-me-not blue to glacial blue once I reached puberty." I tell him as we continue eating.
"What powers did your ancestor use the best?" Loki asked me after swallowing a spear of asparagus.
"After spending weeks in the wilderness, she had a knack with turning into different animals, though she preferred ones with black fur or feathers, like a raven or a black wolf. She also had a knack for manipulating water to her advantage, even being able to use it to heal certain types of wounds." I tell him after swallowing my last bit of potatoes.
"What kind of variety do the abilities come in?" He asks interestedly.
I shrug as I push around a lone asparagus spear on my plate. "The abilities could be anything really, but we always have at least two. One relative of mine a few generations back could fly with wings that could retract into his back, and he could use a type of banshee screech to make his enemies' ears bleed and if he concentrated it enough he could crack stone and other materials. His eyes were a yellowish hazel, like a hawk's eyes, and his hair was caramel brown with darker brown low lights, like his wings. Another even farther back had a sort of animal like mind."
At Loki's confused expression I tried to explain. "Sometimes instead of gaining the ability to turn into an animal, a member of my family in the past would gain the mindset of one; sometimes it would be all the time while other times it would only be when their heart was pumping hard, like when they were angry or afraid. The angrier they got, the stronger and more animalistic they'd become. Their senses would heighten, their teeth would sharpen and elongate into fangs, they would gain superhuman strength and agility, and their nails would elongate and harden into claws. Other characteristics would be different, like one ancestor of mine would gain a prehensile tail in her feral state of mind, and in another ancestor his ears would become pointed and his iris would cover the white of his eyes. Today they call those kinds of abilities the 'feral mutation.' Its strength would change from carrier to carrier, and it occurred in men more often than women in my family, but it would be stronger in the women more often than not for some reason, giving them a lower control over their emotions subsequently." I snickered. "'Woe be unto any man who pissed off a Sullivan woman', my grandfather would say. Since I was pretty close to punching Tyler Morrison's teeth out for almost running me over, I think he was right."
Loki softly laughs under his breath, and his lips pull up into a small smile. My mind almost goes blank as I see it, but I push my womanly hormones aside and I smile as well.
"Is that a smile I see on the great Loki's lips? And one that hasn't been brought up at my expense at that?" I say in over-astonishment, and I watch as Loki grudgingly smiles a little wider.
"Yes, it's a smile at someone else's expense for a change. Is that so bad?" He snarks right back.
I shake my head as I pick up our cleaned plates. "Not at all Loki. If anything, it makes you look more handsome." The words are out of my mouth before I truly think them through. I bite my lip as soon as I say them and curse my loose tongue as my cheeks burn slightly from a rapidly forming blush.
I hear Loki stand but I focus on washing the dishes even as his footsteps come closer to me.
I nearly jump as he stands right behind me and moves his arms on either side of me, effectively trapping me against my kitchen sink and my granite countertops.
"You think I'm handsome, Lady Diana?" He whispers in my ear, and my body betrays me as I almost melt right then.
God damn these stupid hormones and god damn Loki for being so handsome and for whispering in my ear. I can't be this affected by him, no matter how sexy he-wait! I did not just think that in my head!
Third P.O.V
Loki had been watching Diana's reactions to his questions throughout the entire dinner as he ate and asked them. He could sense no lies coming from her, so everything she told him he deduced to be the truth. To any normal human, this would've seemed like a tale too fantastic to be true, but Loki had seen enough in his long span of life to know that anything was possible.
He smiled and softly laughed as Diana told him she had almost punched this 'Tyler Morrison's' teeth out for almost running her over. Over the past month and a half he had grown rather fond of Diana, though he still had his problems now and again.
"Is that I smile I see on the great Loki's lips? And one that hasn't been brought up at my expense at that?" Diana gently teases him as she smiles back, causing Loki to grudgingly smile a little wider.
"Yes, it's a smile at someone else's expense for a change. Is that so bad?" He snarks right back.
Diana shakes her head, her wild curls waving gently as she picked up the dirty dinner dishes. Not for the first time Loki admired the way Diana moved and looked, and though he was not going to say it aloud anytime soon, he thought she was a beautiful woman, for a human that is. He was so busy admiring her that he almost missed her next words.
"Not at all Loki. If anything, it makes you look more handsome." Loki looked up at Diana in time to notice the rapidly forming blush on her cheeks before she turns and starts washing the dishes in the sink.
Loki is stunned for a few seconds before he slowly grins as he realizes the implications and stands with minimal aches on his part. He walks forward, and stops right behind Diana, laying his hands on the kitchen countertops on either side of her, effectively trapping her. "You think I'm handsome, Lady Diana?" He whispered in her ear, the smell of the herbs she used in cooking dinner clinging to her skin. Not entirely unpleasing, and yet covering up an underlying scent that was warm and smelled of spice.
Diana cleared her throat and turned around; her hands slightly damp as she crosses them under her bust, making Loki's eyes drop there for a split second before going back up to her eyes; a shade a blue that were even paler than Thor's or Frigga's or even of Odin's eye. Her right eyebrow rises slightly and she tilts her head a bit, her blush almost fully gone.
"I do Loki. Any woman with her sight could see that, though a fair percentage of them would be too meek to admit that they think you're handsome." Diana says softly, her lilting accent barely noticeable.
"And why do you admit it?" Loki asks her, a small smirk touching his lips.
"Because I've learned that life is too short for regrets, or to dance around every little thing that some people would be too nervous or embarrassed to talk about." She replies as she licks her lips slightly and Loki's eyes are drawn to the way her tongue moves across her pale pink lips, with the strong Cupid's bow on the top one and the bottom with a bit more volume, giving it a slight pout.
I wonder what it would be like to kiss those lips and make her blush once again. Loki thought as his blood heated up a bit and headed south.
Diana cleared her throat again, trying to break Loki's sudden attention to her lips. "Um…Loki? May I get past you?" She asks, and the trance he's in is broken. He wordlessly steps away from her reluctantly, and she puts the clean dishes in the dish rack before getting out food for her pets. Once they're all fed she turns to him.
"I never showed you the rest of my powers did I?" She asks Loki, and he shakes his head.
"No, you were too busy telling me your family history." He replies, and she widely smiles before heading to the stairs.
"Give me a moment to get into some different clothes and then I'll show you my other powers, ok? I'll be right down." She disappears up the steps before Loki can say anything, and so he heads outside, and leans against the stable wall to wait, observing the sun slowly sinking in the sky.
He doesn't have to wait long, and soon Diana strides out of the house, dressed in a pair of loose fitting black capris, a brown belt to keep the pants cinched at her waist, black fingerless gloves, and a sleeveless blue tunic with a matching sash tied under her bust to keep it from billowing around her. Her hair was pulled back into a braid, and her feet were bare as she walked towards him.
"Well, I'm gonna start off with the powers that I don't have the best grasp on, and I'll slowly work my way up to those I have best worked out ok?" She says with a hesitant smile at him. He nods and continues leaning against the stable wall.
"Very well. Try and 'impress' me Lady Diana." Loki replies with a smug smirk.
Diana smirks back but says nothing, simply stepping back about ten feet from him and taking an unusual looking stance, before she starts moving, and Loki's eyes widen in amazement.
As she moves in what looks like a dance to him, he sees slight fluctuations in the air as she bends it to her will and he sees that her eyes are slightly glowing white. Her feet are light on the ground as she moves the air around her with both her hands and feet so much that Loki can almost see the air currents. She ends the dance with sending a single gust towards a lone tree hard enough to cleanly snap off a few branches along the edges. (3) She deeply breathes in and relaxes, but before Loki can say anything she gets into a different stance, one incredibly different to the first. While the first had her lighter on her feet and relaxed, this one had her feet planted firmly on the ground and her body tenser.
She soon starts another dance, this one more focused as she stomped her feet and caused the earth itself to rise up in stone boulders that she kicked with her feet or broke apart with her fists and mountains of dirt that she shifted up and down like waves of water. She even brought up spikes of stone in front of her before elevating herself on a column of earth and jumping over the spikes and flipping in the air before landing on her feet with enough force to leave solid footprints and causing the spikes and the column to go back into the ground, leaving a cloud of dust behind. (4) She quickly clears it though, and softly pants before wiping away a thin sheen of sweat from her forehead.
She slowly takes in another deep breath, before moving her body again, this time slower and more fluid than the two forms before her as Loki sees a tree that was at the edge of the forest to dust as a stream of water goes towards her. She moves it fluidly around her, manipulating it into different shapes and even turning it into large shards of ice and throwing them into a tree next to where the other one stood. They cut through the tree before returning to her and she moved them with enough force against a boulder leftover from when she was manipulating the earth she cut into it cleanly in three pieces. (5)
Diana pants a little heavier as she straightens before turning to Loki. "As you can see, my powers include bending air, earth, and water, but that's not all I can do. I can also bend the variations of earth and water."
"The variations? Like sand and metal?" Loki asks in astonishment, and his eyes slightly widen as she nods.
"Yes, and I can also…blood bend, though I despise it with a passion." She says with a frown.
"Blood bend?" Loki asks intrigued.
Diana slightly nods. "It's a basic variation of the water bending I do. Since most creatures are made up of mostly water, my ancestors experimented bending the fluids of the body, basically blood."
A squirrel climbs up a tree to Diana's right, and she turns to it and moves her hand towards it, her eyes slightly glowing a bit again. The squirrel gives a frightened shriek as it turns and floats in mid-air towards her as she moves her hand and fingers in a rigid movement like a puppeteer moving a marionette. The squirrel's own movements were rather stiff as Loki watched in morbid fascination, the wheels in his mind turning with endless possibilities.
Diana soon relaxed her hand and bent down, softly crooning to the frightened squirrel as it breathed quickly in fright. For a moment Loki's mind went hazy as he relaxed against the wall even further, his mind sensing the calming power emerging from Diana as she calmed the squirrel enough to gently pick it up in her hands and send it on its way up its tree. Only when the squirrel was out of sight did Loki's mind clear of the soothing power that was affecting him.
"What was that? What did you just do?" He demanded as Diana turned to him.
"That was what people call 'animal empathy'. It helps me calm down or fire up an animal if I concentrate hard enough. I try not to use it too much though because I find that gaining an animal's trust the old fashioned way is more fulfilling. It can also work on humans to a certain extent, but if they fight it they can. It's all about the power of will."
"Is that the extent of your powers? Water, air, and earth bending, along with animal empathy and helping the plants grow?" Loki asks, trying to hold back his astonishment at a mere mortal having powers that could rival any Asgardian's.
Diana shakes her head, stepping back from Loki a bit more. "Nope. Now it's time for the highlight of this little performance of mine." She says, and closes her eyes and starts deeply breathing.
She continues for a few seconds before she pulls her lips back from her now sharper canine and first premolar teeth, showing them off in a silent snarl as she opens her eyes. Loki nearly takes a step back as he sees the slit pupils, and her even paler irises. He then notices the claw like nails at the edges of her fingers and he remembers what she said about the 'feral minds' in her family.
Before he can say anything though, she gets into another stance like the others, but still different. She steps forward, punches her fist out, and in the next second a stream of bright yellow and orange fire shoots out into the sky. The moves that follow are like an intricate form of dance like all the other forms of bending she did, but faster and fiercer. Fire shot out of both her arms and legs at different moves, even changing colors from red to white and even blue at some points, with other colors mixed in around the edges and making all sorts of shapes like with the water. Her moves soon get more aggressive and more acrobatic as she flipped and spun, landing on her feet or her hands as she displayed her skills. Diana's mind was focused on her moves and on keeping her anger in maintaining her feral attributes under control, for if she let it get the best of her the fire would get out of control. She ended her performance with a windmill like move using her legs, causing a circle of fire to surround her for a few seconds as she flipped herself back onto her feet before it dissipated, leaving behind a circle of burnt grass. (6)
Diana panted heavily as her teeth, nails, and eyes went back to normal. Sweat covered her face and neck as she walked towards Loki on shaky legs. "Damn…it's been awhile since I used my powers that much." She mutters under her breath before looking at Loki and sheepishly smiling at his wide eyes, though not noticing the spark of hunger in them.
"Well, what did you think?" She asks a bit hesitantly, as if waiting for his approval.
Loki is speechless as he stares at her, wondering how this mere mortal woman could have so much power inside of her. All his life he had assumed that humans were simple and weak creatures, but here in front of him was a woman who defied those stigmas. In front of him stood a woman who was incredibly powerful, and had defied the odds of the world. He also couldn't say she was simple, because she had shown him that she was anything but. She enjoyed intelligent conversations with him, but she also enjoyed playing with her animals or just simply reading a book. She seemed to be like him in so many ways and yet so different as well. He thought himself cold and a loner, yet she was warm and outgoing. She had welcomed him into her home, and had been truthful with everything he asked about her. She didn't even ask that many questions of him, she just asked for the basics of something and he gave her most of the details. Whenever he made it clear he didn't want to speak about a certain subject, she never pried, unlike most of the woman on Asgard would've. Something sparked inside of him, something he hadn't felt in a long time. Desire. A desire he feels to own, and even be owned by this wondrous creature in front of him.
He smiles widely; his eyes alight with desire and hunger. "Oh you amazing woman, you have no idea how much this means to me."
Diana's P.O.V
After Loki and I went back inside as it got dark, I took a shower and changed into a pair of black pajama pants with little yellow stars and white clouds on them and a solid blue pajama top. My muscles were pleasantly sore right now, but I knew they'd be worse in the morning. I put my curly hair back into a messy bun before sitting down at the cushioned seat of my bay window, leaning against the wall and holding one of the embroidered pillows to my chest. I looked up at the night sky, my forehead slightly furrowed with thought as I studied the stars.
I had finally gotten a look at the four letter word carved into Loki's back this morning. In jagged lettering, the word 'RUNT' was spelled. It had already healed and paled up, so it was hard to see but I noticed it when he took off his sleep top for me to wash. I loathed asking Loki about it though, so I didn't, but it burned me up to know that he had been branded like that. And not too soon after that we discussed Norse mythology a bit.
I was surprised to know that the myths concerning his children were actually true, and horrified to learn that they had all been taken away from their father (or mother, in Sleipnir's case) and that most of them had either grown up alone or were dead or simply gone. Fenrir, he said was living in the depths of Midgard, chained up like a monster in his wolf form. Jörmungandr, he said had long been lost to him in the seas of Midgard. Sleipnir, he told me was the only one of his children who were treated fairly, but that was simply because he was Odin's steed. Hel, he said was still alive and ruled Helheim as its queen, but he hadn't been allowed to see her in centuries. Eisa and Einmyria, he said had been killed in a raid by dark elves upon Muspelheim, the home of the fire giants; he had tried to get Odin's permission to bring them to Asgard before they died, but Odin refused. Vali and Narfi's tale broke my heart as he told me that Vali had indeed been killed by his twin brother in wolf form, and it broke my heart further when he told me that he had in fact been chained to a rock with his son's entrails, with a snake dripping venom onto him.
"But not for the reason you humans think. I did indeed kill a man named Baldur, but he was no son of Odin. He was the son of one of the prominent Vanir dignitaries that visited the palace one day, and he may have been beautiful but he was also cruel." His eyes were as sharp as flint as he spoke, but I could see the deep seated pain inside them. "He tortured the horses in the stables, and would've hurt Sleipnir if I hadn't intervened. I ended up saving one son but killing another and driving a third away. Baldur's father and his brother Hodur demanded repentance, so Odin had no choice. When I was finally free of that accursed rock, my sight was gone and I was told Narfi had fled to escape from me because he thought I'd blame him for his brother's death, and from the mother who would've killed him had he stayed. It took me months to get my sight back, and years to get past my grief. I still have no idea where Narfi fled to."
I dug my nails into the palm of my hand as Loki words floated through my head as I imagined all of his children being taken from him in one way or another. Children with his gorgeous green eyes and his mischievous grin. Innocent children that couldn't help the circumstances they had been born into, but had still been tossed aside like garbage. My angry eyes looked up at the sky; the pupil's slit as a growl built up in my throat.
"Odin, if I ever see your face in the future I swear that you will end up hating me within seconds, because I'm ready to become your worst nightmare for all the shit you and the rest of Asgard put Loki and his children through over the centuries. You better be afraid, old man." I snarled out before turning and getting in bed, pulling the covers over my angry form and turning my back to the window.
On Asgard
Odin was worried, as was evident in how he paced his throne room. Heimdall had told him some very grievous news.
"Loki knows of Diana's powers, my king. He hungers for them, and he has told her about his children. All of them." Heimdall says calmly, and Odin's eye closes as he remembers all that happened to Loki's children, and sadness spears his heart. He turned to leave at that point, but Heimdall's next words made him pause.
"And my king, there was one other thing that I feel might be important."
Heimdall told Odin what the mortal Diana said, and how she looked when she said it. Odin felt a touch of fear go up his spine, for if this mortal was as powerful as Heimdall said she was, then she would prove a challenge if he ever had Thor retrieve Loki from Midgard again. Without a word to Heimdall Odin had turned and rode back to the palace, where he now paced the throne room.
Frigga watched her husband pace silently, her own thoughts plaguing her mind. She worried about Loki naturally, and worried about what he might do now that he knew about the Lady Diana's powers. She could only hope that Diana would be able to hold her own against her son's tongue, for Loki had earned the name Silvertongue for a reason. Granted, he'd never force himself upon a woman (or man in some cases), but he could be very convincing when he wanted to. However, she felt gladness in her heart when she heard how fiercely Diana's anger was when she heard about what happened to Loki's children.
Thor walked towards the training area, watching Fandral and Hogun spar, while Sif sharpened her sword and Volstagg munched away at an apple his wife had packed him for a light snack. Thor worried in his own way, and decided to share his worries with the Warriors Three and Sif, and maybe he'd be able to get some advice.
"My friends, may we talk?" Thor's voice bellowed out, causing his friends to stop on their tracks.
"Of course we can Thor; we always have time to talk to our favorite prince." Fandral said with a good natured laugh as he and Hogun stopped their sparring session, Volstagg tossed away his apple core, and Sif sheathed her sword. Fandral was the most happy-go-lucky of the Warrior's Three, and the one most well-known with the ladies. He was a known flirt, and had bedded more women than he could count, but he was a good friend to Thor and was always one of the first to volunteer if anyone he knew needed help.
"What is it you want to talk about Thor? Surely not about that blasted traitor Loki?" Sif said with a scowl. Sif had never liked Loki, despite him having a schoolboy crush on her when they were children, but she had snubbed him to become a warrior and because she had had feelings for Thor, and still did. Loki hadn't taken that lightly, and he ended up shearing her hair clean off her head one night. She had been proud of her long, golden blonde hair, and had been heavily upset about it. Loki had tried using his slippery ways to get out of trouble, and to get her new hair from a few dwarven smiths, but had failed and in punishment for nearly causing a war and for chopping off her hair, Loki's lips had been sewn shut for nine months. Sif felt it should've been longer, especially since her hair had hadn't grown back blonde, but instead just as inky black as Loki's.
Thor frowned as Sif called Loki a traitor. "Have care Lady Sif. Loki is still my brother, no matter how much he objects to it."
"He tried to have you killed Thor, and he tried to take over Midgard. You can't blame us for being wary of him." Volstagg said to try and placate his prince and Asgard's only female warrior to keep an argument from breaking out. Out of the Warriors Three, Volstagg was the most diplomatic one, despite his mind being on food for a fair percentage of the time, but his heart was noble and he was loyal to his friends and to his family. He was the only one of the Three who was married with two children; boys by the names of Sven, who was eight, and Destin, who was three, though he and his wife(one of the cooks in the royal kitchens) had been trying for another child.
"Add in the fact that's he's a frost giant, and you can't trust him." Sif spat out before turning on her heel and striding away.
Fandral sighed and patted Thor on the shoulder. "Don't let her get you down my friend. Now, what is it you wanted to discuss with us?"
Thor's friends followed him to a quiet corner of the training area, where he told them all he had learned about the Lady Diana and about what he just recently learned from Heimdall.
"This could be a problem." Hogun said stoically. Out of the Three, Hogun was by far the most observant and the quietest. His stoic manner made him the stealthiest out of their company, and his observant nature made him the one who gave out the best advice when it was needed.
"Maybe, but this Lady Diana sounds intriguing. She lives alone in a house full of animals and with a stable full of horses, which she all rescued and nurtured back to health, and she took in Loki no questions asked? I have to say, this sounds like a woman I'd be glad to meet." Fandral says honestly and with a wide smile.
"From what our prince has said she doesn't take too kindly to arrogance Fandral. If we ever do meet her you might want to watch yourself." Volstagg says with a smirk.
Fandral simply laughs and waves away Volstagg's warning. "There isn't a woman in the realm who doesn't find me charming Volstagg. I'm sure I'd be able to charm Lady Diana within minutes. So Thor, what does she look like? And please tell me she is unattached to anyone."
Thor laughs softly, amused by Fandral's antics. "Well, according to Heimdall she has hair as red as a Jotun's eyes, and eyes as blue as glacial ice. She's about a hand's width shorter than Volstagg and I, which is fairly tall among Midgardian and Asgardian women. She has two scars on her face, one down over her left eye and the other across her left cheek. Though now Heimdall says that she has a few new bruises on her face from being thrown by one of her horses."
"Why's that?" Hogun asks, eyes slightly narrowing, as though thinking that Diana might have mistreated the animal.
"The horse she was trying to ride has a fear of humans after being mistreated by its previous owner, so it hasn't fully learned to trust Lady Diana yet." Thor says easily, and Hogun's frown relaxes.
"And before you ask again Fandral, no she doesn't have a lover." At that Fandral's smile widened even further.
"And how did Loki look when she showed him her 'powers' Thor?" Volstagg asked before Fandral could say anything.
At that, Thor smile faded and his face showed his worry. "Heimdall said that there was amazement, but also hunger deep in his gaze. He worries that Loki might charm his way into getting Diana to help him gain power again." Thor says gravely, his eyes dark.
"Well, if that does happen we'll simply go and beat him again Thor, or we'll let those Midgardian friends of yours know." Volstagg says with a shrug.
"The thing is though, my Midgardian friends already suspect that Loki is at Lady Diana's dwelling, and in a few days' time they plan on investigating to see if Loki resides there. I'm afraid that it won't end well if they decided to take Loki into their custody." Thor replies.
"She has grown attached to Loki, hasn't she?" Hogun asked with a steady gaze.
Thor nods in confirmation. "She sees him as her friend, and he has told her of his children. She did not take the news of their fates well." At that every one of the Three flinched, for the stories of Loki's children were not happy ones.
"What did she do when she learned of his children?" Volstagg asked.
When Thor repeated what Heimdall told him Diana had said, each of the Three made different noises of surprise.
Volstagg had choked on a bun he had swiped from a passing servant's basket. "Is she trying to get herself in trouble with the All Father? She must be mad!"
"That, or very brave." Hogun, who had grunted in surprise, said.
Fandral, who had nervously laughed, looked at Thor. "Thor, you don't honestly think that this Midgardian woman would ever purposefully provoke the All father, would she?"
Thor thought about that silently for a few moments before answering Fandral's question. "I do not know Fandral. If you had asked me a hundred years ago, I would have said no. But after my recent trips to Midgard, I have found that the women of Midgard can be rather resilient and headstrong when they want to be."
As they silently mulled over the implications of that, they never noticed Sif slipping away deeper into the shadows with a scowl on her face, where she had been eavesdropping on the Warriors Three and Thor.
At Stark Tower
Tony stood scrutinizing Bruce as he packed the morning he, Natasha, and Clint were heading upstate to the small town of Granville to 'observe' one Diana Sullivan. Bruce had taken Fury's suggestion to grow a beard to heart, and he now sported a week's worth of well-groomed growth along his jaw and chin, with a matching mustache growing down to join the beard.
"I never knew you could rock a short boxed beard, Brucie." Tony said with a smile and a laugh.
Bruce simply smiled back as he packed up the last of his things that would fit into one suitcase, for he didn't think he and Nat and Clint would be staying in Granville any longer than a week.
Tony sighed sadly and then tackled the slightly younger man in a hug. Bruce, use to the melodramatics of the billionaire, gently patted his friend on the back.
"Tony, it's not like I'm gonna be gone forever. It'll only be a week at the most, even less if we actually do find Loki on Ms. Sullivan's property. I'm sure you can keep from destroying the lab without me for that long. And if not, just have JARVIS call me up." Bruce said gently as he untangled himself from Tony.
"I'll make sure to keep your number on speed dial Dr. Banner." JARVIS said, making him known.
"I know, I know. But this is your first big spy mission." Tony said with an obviously fake sniffle. "They grow up so fast…"
Bruce rolled his eyes as he picked up his suitcase and walked out of his room and to the elevator. "I'm almost as old as you are Tony." The elevator doors opened up before he got down the hall though, and out stepped Clint and Natasha.
Tony, who had been following behind Bruce, whistled in appreciation as he saw that Natasha had also taken Fury's words to heart, and she now sported straightened pale blonde hair that hung to her shoulders. She was also dressed in a pair of hip hugging jeans, an orange floral blouse under a brown leather jacket, and a pair of comfortable looking black sneakers on her feet. A black duffle bag was grasped in one hand while the other was in her jacket pocket.
Clint, who now sported a thin mustache and a well-trimmed goatee, was dressed in stonewashed jeans, a purple shirt under a black, white and grey flannel with the sleeves rolled up with a pair of black hiking boots on his feet. His own duffle bag was thrown over his shoulder.
They were a bit more dressed up then Bruce, who was in a white button up shirt, a pair of loose fitting brown pants, simple brown loafers, and a thin jacket. He held his suitcase in his hand as he walked towards them.
"You ready to go Doc?" Clint asked with a good natured smirk. "The jeep's waiting downstairs."
"Yeah, was just finishing up packing and saying bye to Tony." Bruce said with small smile of his own.
"Now remember Brucie, brush your teeth twice a day, change your underwear every day, and make sure to keep your heart rate down, unless you actually find the God of Leather himself and he needs a good ass kicking by the Jolly Green Giant." Tony says, patting Bruce on the back and making him and Clint laugh, even making Natasha smirk.
"Hey, if anyone's gonna be kicking Rudolph's ass it's gonna be me. I still have to pay him back for making me his personnel flying monkey." Clint said with a harder edged smirk.
"Calm down boys, we still need to actually find him. And if he is teamed up with Diana Sullivan then we might need a little more fire power, no pun intended." Natasha says as they head to the elevator, with Tony and Bruce right behind them with the song Rocket Queen by Guns N' Roses playing in the background. Tony had made it a staple that the elevators of Stark Tower only play classic rock.
"We have a reservation for a week at the Angel Wings' Inn in Granville. It's a bit cleaner and more comfortable than the local Motel 6, and since this is a S.H.E.I.L.D sponsored trip, we had a little extra money to spend on lodging." Clint says as the elevator starts descending.
"Plus it's in the middle of town, so it shouldn't be too hard to gather information on Diana Sullivan discreetly." Natasha adds as the elevator doors open up to the underground car lot, and the four head to a dark grey jeep wrangler. Clint puts the luggage in the back while Natasha gets into the passenger seat while Tony gives Bruce one last hug.
"Be careful up there Bruce, I want you back to helping me blow up my lab in one piece. This girl is more of a challenge than you guys think." Tony murmurs into Bruce's ear before releasing him.
Bruce smiles at Tony sadly. "I'll be ok Tony. I got the big guy on my side remember? And Clint and Natasha probably have more weapons on them than fingers. We can handle this."
"Maybe, but Natasha and Clint are only human Bruce. As soon as you spot Loki, don't engage him and call it in to S.H.E.I.L.D." Tony fires back as Bruce gets into the backseat of the jeep and Clint gets in the driver side, setting a pair of sunglasses over his eyes.
"You got it Iron Ass." Clint says good-naturedly as he starts up the jeep, and they're soon driving out of the car lot and out onto the street, out of Tony's sight.
(1) The types of roses mentioned here do exist, and you can find them here:
. .
(2) Cafflers is basically an Irish insult towards someone who is an asshole or an idiot.
(3) When this happens, basically imagine the air bending from Avatar: The Last Airbender when thinking of this.
(4) Think Toph earth bending in A: TLA here.
(5) Think the water bending from A: TLA here. And as for the blood bending think of how Hama blood bended.
(6) Think the fire bending from A: TLA here.
Silver: Whoo! That chapter took waaay longer than I thought it would. I hope you guys enjoyed it, since this chapter took longer than the last one. Again, sorry it took so long. I had even MORE stuff to do, and my internet was down for a few days. I hope this didn't have too many run on sentences or that it was too boring, what with the fake history lesson I gave you guys about Diana's family.
Loki: You just enjoy torturing me, don't you? Not only am I human, but I also have to deal with a mutant for a warden?
Silver: *Smirks evilly* Oh Loki, it's not like you're really complaining, what with the feelings of 'desire' that are manifesting in you towards Diana.
Loki: *blushes and looks away, not answering*
Silver:*Smirk widens before turning to the audience* Now then, I'd like to say again that I own NOTHING but Diana, her animals, and any future OC's or made up places that were not mentioned in any of the Marvel movies. And please people, I'm begging for a few more reviews here.