(Author's Note: Sorry this one took so long to come out! I've been kind of busy and had a little writer's block. But here it is! I'll try to get the next chapter out soon :) Also, there's a little Tony/Pepper in this one, which I like, so if you like those two as much as I do, you'll like this chapter. PLEASE REVIEW! It means so much to hear what you think, and I'm open to questions/suggestions!)
Chapter 10
"Odin you bloody arsemonger!" said Loki as he and Emmeline stumbled into the observatory in Asgard. Emmeline stayed sitting on the floor as Loki stood up, aware that she still did not have any pants on. It was as if Loki read her mind, because he looked down at her and used his magic to equip her with Asgardian armor. When Emmeline stood up, she realized that the armor was very short and covered little. She looked at Loki, who was smiling mischievously. She raised her eyebrows at him and he used his magic again to give her more modest clothing.
Odin was standing in front of them, with two guards who were about to seize Loki, when Emmeline held fire in her hands in front of him. The guards backed away as she threatened them.
"Don't touch him," she commanded.
"You do not belong here!" said Odin to Emmeline. "I sent only for my son."
"If you send for me, you send for her," said Loki. "Surely you must understand, having been in love with mother. Or maybe I'm wrong, considering you let her die!"
"Silence!" ordered Odin. "The Chitauri are expected in Asgard any day, and I will not have you idling on Midgard when your own realm suffers from your actions!"
"All-father Odin," addressed Emmeline with respect, "I volunteer to fight the war on behalf of Asgard, so long as Loki does the same." Odin turned his attention to her.
"Do you swear to be loyal to Asgard? Be mindful that your lack of loyalty will result in your own death."
"I do, sir," Emmeline replied, kneeling.
"Very well," said Odin. "You will both aid in the war. If you do not remain loyal; you will die. But until the war has begun, you will both be contained in Loki's chambers."
The two guards came and escorted Emmeline and Loki to Loki's "chambers", which Emmeline concluded was his bedroom before he decided to take over the universe.
"Why did you do that?" Loki asked her on the way.
"Isn't fighting the war what you wanted? Or would you rather I had let you and Odin continue your petty bickering?" Emmeline replied, smirking at him. Loki smiled a little.
"It would have been more fun," he snickered playfully.
The guards left Emmeline and Loki in his chambers, and the first thing Loki laid eyes on was the golden chalice on his dresser. His thoughts drifted to Frigga, who had given him the chalice when he was a child. He could remember the exact day.
Loki was playing with Thor, Volstagg, and Sif in the garden, and they were pretending to be in battle—Thor's favorite game.
"Let us see who is the strongest!" said Sif. "Whoever can throw this rock the farthest wins!" Sif picked up a large rock and chucked it into a nearby tree. She smiled proudly, looking to the boys if they dared compete with her. Thor was the next one to pick up a rock; his was larger than Sif's. He threw the rock and it sailed in the air until it had flown out of sight. Sif and Volstagg cheered, and Thor held up his arms. Loki, who had been watching from a few feet behind, ran up to the group.
"Let me try!" he exclaimed. Sif laughed.
"You'd better get a small one!" she sneered. Thor turned to his younger brother.
"Stand back brother, you are too much of a weakling," he said, showing off to his friends. Loki scowled and Thor pushed him to the ground, the rest of them laughing. Loki felt tears well up in his eyes, and refusing to be humiliated in front of his friends, filled with shame, ran inside the palace. Little Loki was trying to wipe the tears off his face and did not look where he was going when he bumped into his mother. He looked up to see her calming face smiling down at him. She frowned when she saw his tears and knelt down to him, her hands on his face.
"My darling, what's wrong?" she asked. Loki sniffled.
"They all think I am weak," he said. "I cannot throw big rocks like Thor." Tears fell from his flushed cheeks and Frigga held him close.
"Oh darling, don't listen to them," she said. "With gifts like yours, you don't need strength."
"Gifts?" Loki said. "What gifts?"
"Come, I will show you." Frigga led him to the sitting room and pulled a golden chalice from her hand.
"How did you do that?" asked Loki.
"Magic," said Frigga. "You can do it too. You would be wonderful. You must practice it though."
"Will I be better than Thor?" asked Loki.
"You both have unique gifts. Thor has his strength, but this Loki…this is yours." She placed the chalice in Loki's hands.
"Oh mother will you teach me?" said Loki, his eyes twinkling with hope.
"Of course my love," Frigga said. "But you must promise to use your power wisely."
"I promise!" said Loki, his mother pulling him into her arms to cuddle him.
"You must never think yourself less than Thor," said Frigga. "You are very special Loki."
As Loki remembered, looking at the chalice, tears formed in his eyes. Similar to the tears he cried that day in the garden, but different, for these were tears of longing. He noticed Emmeline suddenly, looking at him with compassion. He took the chalice and tucked it into a drawer.
"It's okay to miss her, Loki," said Emmeline. Loki didn't look at her. He sat on the bed and fought his tears from falling, though they did.
"If I had only been there…" he shakily muttered. Emmeline sat beside him and wiped his tears with her thumb.
"You are very special Loki," she said. But to Loki it was more of an echo.
The next day, a guard came to Loki's room in the middle of the afternoon. Loki went to the door and Emmeline got up to see who it was. Loki turned to her.
"Thor has summoned us to the training room," he said. "We must be ready for battle." Emmeline was excited to get out of Loki's room. They had been sitting in there for a while.
"Alright," she said. She took Loki's hand and the guard led them to a room full of weapons and people in protective suits, and Sif and the Warriors Three along with Thor were present. Thor smiled when they entered.
"Emmeline, I'm so glad you're alright," Thor said, greeting Emmeline with a hug.
"Control yourself brother," said Loki. "Keep your eyes on Jane Foster." Thor laughed.
"Loki my brother, don't be jealous. You have nothing to worry about." Emmeline smiled at Loki.
"I'm not jealous," he said defensively. Emmeline squeezed his hand.
"Emmeline, you can train with Lady Sif," said Thor. "I will take Loki."
"I love you," Emmeline said to Loki before they separated. She kissed him quickly and he smiled after her.
"I love you more," she heard him mutter as she walked over to Sif. She smiled to herself.
When Emmeline approached her, Sif was twirling her double-bladed sword as if she was fighting an opponent.
"Thor says I am to train with you," said Emmeline when Sif acknowledged her.
"Alright then," Sif replied. "Let's see what you've got." Emmeline wasted no time and froze Sif in place up to her neck. Sif gasped, and Emmeline quickly melted the ice. Sif looked at her uneasily.
"I see you need no weapon," she said. "Maybe it would better suit you to learn stealth; to learn how to not get stabbed." She smirked. "Come with me."
Sif led Emmeline to where Volstagg and Hogun were training, and addressed them.
"Gentlemen," she said. "Your worthy opponent." She gestured to Emmeline.
"What?" Emmeline said, turning to Sif.
"Don't attack this time, just dodge and watch your back," Sif replied. "Watch what I do." Hogun began fighting Sif and when he threw a blow, she ducked and swung the wooden part of her double-bladed sword into Hogun's legs, causing him to fall over and Sif held her sword at his neck. She looked at Emmeline.
"See? You have to have your eyes all around you so that you can see any attackers coming at you. And you must have swift reflexes. Volstagg," said Sif, gesturing for Volstagg to strike Emmeline. Volstagg hesitated.
"You don't look well…" he said. Emmeline raised her eyebrows and held a flame in front of his face.
"Just swing it," she said with a proud smile. Volstagg smiled back at her and swung a wooden staff at her. She ducked and used her leg to knock Volstagg's legs out from under him.
"Maybe I don't have to teach you much after all," said Sif. Emmeline smiled, and looked over to the other side of the room where Loki was training. He was fighting a man in a protective suit, and the man tried to hit him when Loki flipped around and grabbed him by his neck, throwing him across the room as hard as he could. Emmeline let out a sigh. Seeing him fight was a turn on.
She also saw Thor reprimand Loki about actually hurting the trainers and laughed to herself when Loki rolled his eyes. She looked over at Sif who was engaged in battle with Volstagg and Hogun, and decided to go off by herself to see Loki.
"Hello love," said Loki as he knocked a trainer to the ground with his fist. He turned around and smiled at Emmeline.
"How is your training going?" he asked.
"Good," she said. "And may I say you look extremely hot beating the shit out of people." Loki smiled.
"You like that?" he asked. Emmeline nodded and put her hand in his. "Well then we will have quite the celebration once the battle is won." He looked at her and smiled mischievously.
After training was over for the day, guards escorted Loki and Emmeline back to Loki's room and he shut the door after them.
Emmeline suddenly felt her armor vanishing off of her. She looked up at Loki, who was smiling mischievously at her again. She smiled back at him.
"What are you doing?" she said.
"What you wanted," Loki replied, putting his hands on her waist. He pulled her into him and kissed her.
"You were so alluring when you were fighting Volstagg…" he said. "I was watching you too." He pressed his hands into her back and Emmeline felt wonderful. She loved him so much; kissing him felt like heaven. She could have kissed him forever.
"May I tell you something…undisclosed?" said Loki, holding Emmeline in his lap as he sat on a chair.
"You mean like a secret?" said Emmeline, running her fingers through his hair and kissing his neck. "Yes."
"I've had no woman before you." Emmeline sat up and looked at him; his eyes staring intently into hers. "I mean it. And you never cease to amaze me. Your caress is my weakness."
Emmeline pressed her forehead to Loki's and closed her eyes.
"You are and always have been my only one," she whispered.
"Promise me," Loki whispered back, lifting her up while she was still taken in his embrace.
"I promise."
Loki kissed her again, and suddenly Emmeline felt something change. Loki sighed quickly and let go of her.
"I'm sorry; I can't," he said.
"What's wrong?" she asked. "You started it." Loki didn't acknowledge her question right away; he looked far away for a moment. "Loki? Loki what's going on? Are you okay?" He snapped out of his trance and fixed his gaze back on Emmeline.
"Nothing darling," he said, emotionlessly.
"You kind of…killed the mood there."
"My apologies," he said. "But I am very tired." Something wasn't right; Emmeline could sense it. But she let Loki go to bed without any questions.
"Stark, I don't have time for this. What do you mean they're gone?" said Agent Coulson. "Are you playing a joke, because we don't respond to that very well here."
"No. I mean they're gone Phil. Literally beamed up into nowhere. Come on, I'll show you." Tony led Agent Coulson into the surveillance room and showed him the cameras. "Do you see them anywhere? I don't think so. Look." Tony looked at the footage on the computer and went back to a couple minutes ago. He played the moment they disappeared and looked back at Coulson.
"Oh," he said. "You're right. They're gone."
"Good. We've established this."
"We've got to tell Fury," Coulson replied. Tony followed him out of the surveillance room.
"He's not going to be very thrilled," he said as they made their way to Fury's office.
"Mr. Fury sir," said Coulson as he entered the office. "We have a situation." Fury stood up and walked over to Tony and Coulson.
"What kind of situation?" he said.
"Romeo and Juliet are gone," said Tony. "This beam of light just took Reindeer Games up to Asgard or whatever and he grabbed Red on his way out."
"Well as long as he isn't down here we don't have to worry about it," said Fury. "But make sure if he comes back we know about it."
"Yes sir," replied Coulson.
"But what about Emmeline?" said Tony. Coulson turned to him.
"There's nothing we can do," he said.
"I wasn't asking you, Phil!"
"There's nothing we can do," repeated Fury, shutting his door. Tony sighed in frustration.
That night, Tony retreated to Stark tower, where Pepper was waiting for him. She put her arms around his neck as he sat on the couch.
"I missed you today," she said. Tony leaned his head back to kiss her.
"Me too," he said. "Is there champagne in the kitchen?"
"Rough day?" asked Pepper on her way to the kitchen.
"Yeah," Tony replied. Pepper brought champagne for the both of them and sat next to him on the couch.
"What happened?" Tony took a sip of his champagne and turned to Pepper.
"I got assigned to watch Reindeer Games and Mrs. Hot and Cold on camera today."
"Reindeer Games, is that what you call him?" said Pepper, laughing. Tony smiled at her.
"He has that big hat with the antlers on it!" he said. Pepper smiled.
"Go on," she said.
"Thank you. Anyway, so they were chillin' in their house, and all the sudden, this bright beamy thing comes down and snatches up Loki and Emmeline. So…they're gone. Up in Asgard or wherever he came from. It doesn't sound like a big deal…but I don't know, I'm worried about her."
"But Loki loves her, doesn't he?" said Pepper, finishing off her glass of champagne.
"Yeah, but the last time she came back from Asgard, she was burning to death." Pepper put her arms around his neck.
"I'm sure she'll be fine," she said. "You need to relax." Tony closed his eyes and kissed Pepper, letting her take away his stress.
"You always make me feel better," he said.
Battle was approaching. This time Asgard would invade the Chitauri realm so no more Asgardian blood would be shed. But Thor worried about Loki. Thor did not completely trust his brother. Loki could betray him; and Thor knew he would be considering it. But what could he do? And would Emmeline go along with him?
Thor decided that the best plan would be to talk to Emmeline. Because if Loki had a plan, chances were she knew about it. He would go to his father and get Emmeline away from Loki for a while to ensure the safety of Asgard.
"I am worried about Loki," said Thor, approaching his father on the balcony in his chambers.
"As am I," replied Odin, without turning to address Thor. Thor stood next to his father.
"What if he betrays us?" he said. Odin looked down, and then at his son.
"We must be prepared. If he betrays us, he will be returned to prison. Such a crime is worthy of execution, but…for the sake of his mother, I cannot."
"What of Emmeline? If Loki has a plan, she would know of it."
"Are you suggesting we interrogate her of Loki's schemes?" asked Odin.
"I believe it would be wise," Thor replied.
"What makes you think she would tell us?"
"…She loves Loki, but she cares for me as well. She cares for the innocent people of Asgard."
"Do what you feel is right. But…make sure she knows that if she betrays Asgard, I will throw Loki in prison, but I will not have such mercy for her."
"Yes father," said Thor. He left Odin's chambers to find Emmeline.
