Okay, for starters, I am a complete ASS for letting this take so long. I have been completely absorbed in moving to a new town and getting my Husband where he needs to be so my time has been full of stressful dumb crap that has kept me from writing. I've given you guys a nice long chapter to make up for it so I hope you like it. A lot happens here cause I wanted this to be kind of a jumping off chapter so LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! Reviews of any kind are good but I would prefer something with some substance, a little constructive criticism maybe? Anyway, big thanks to:
heylinprincess
Kaikitty165
Badwolf432
kitsunlover
You guys rock. Sorry if I missed people but I've recently switched e-mails so I'm trying to get everything transferred over. Anyway, enough from me. I'm gonna try to get a chapter a week out, since I'll have not much of anything to do while my husband goes through his training. Just LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! Anyway, on with the chapter!
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A Death. A Dream. A Danger
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Loki's body materialized silently into the small alley behind the hovel where his prey resided. He felt a grim smile stretch his lips as he watched the shadows play across the crude window coverings, giving him an exact location of the inhabitants within. He had been on the hunt for several hours, tracking various small remnants of energy left at the scene of the attack, and they had all led him to this tiny place. It was a wonder to him that someone could be so ill equipped to defend themselves and yet survive in this world. The boy, for he was not yet a man, did not even have the presence of mind to remove his shoe prints from the side walk. But that was not the extent of his idiocy. He had made a deal with a devil, the very same devil they had been en route to meet when this whole fiasco began.
Loki hadn't believed it at first, finding the idea to be too ridiculous to even contemplate, but the energy signature that had been left in the boy's shoe print had been unmistakable. It would seem that the would be thief was in fact a would be assassin. Hired, it turned out, by one of Malekith's brood. The boy must have been paid well for his failure, if the music and raucous shouting coming from the apartment were anything to go off of. Loki would have preferred a silent meeting, perhaps in an alley like the one where he currently stood, but a grand show of force would do just as well.
With this thought in his mind, he faded from the tiny side street, appearing just before the young man's door, taking a deep breath as he gathered his energy into himself. It would not do to forgo a spectacular entrance, even if all who witnessed it would shortly be either unconscious or dead. He reminded himself that he was playing the side of good at the moment, but corpses tended to pile up quickly in a large group fight. He tried to feel bad about that, in deference to his brother and young Riley, but he found that he couldn't. He was, after all, a very bad person at heart, and bad people did bad things.
He unleashed a whip of frigid air at the fragile door, blowing it into splinters as he stepped through. It must have been truly impressive for every single eye turned and stared. He let his most viscious grin spread across his face as he raised his hands, daggers pointed skyward. The silence stretched for a moment, the reality of the situation trickling slowly through the haze of alcohol in the young people's minds. Then the screaming started. It was the shrill, unrelenting sound of a young woman, something he'd always hated. He located the source of the sound and silenced her with a simple shove. Her small form fell back, her mouth shut and her body shaking as she curled in on herself.
"There now, that's better. Before we begin I would ask that no one do anything rash. I am not here to hurt you, well, not all of you at any rate. I am looking for the young man that owns this." He held the small knife in his fingers, letting all the people in the room see it. He watched as eyes moved toward a relatively small man in the corner, people moving slowly away from him. He didn't seem to notice, engrossed as he was with blending into the wall paper, but his gaggle of followers, enticed no doubt by the money and "refreshments" he had provided, were turning on him. "Ah, thank you."
He dropped the knife to the ground, moving across the floor with the super human speed he'd learned to use so well against the weak willed. It was showy, something that was good for shock value only. In a true battle, it would be foolish to use, but against weak little mortals like this man who have no spine and hide behind a naturally young face, it was quite effective. There was the sound of gasping around him as air rushed in his wake and in the next moment, the rattle of the knife still ringing in the air, the young man as hoisted off his feet and pinned to the wall he had been so absorbed with melting into.
"Please man, don't hurt me. I'm sorry!" His eyes were squeezed shut, as if this would defend him against the bloody death that was standing before him. It turned Loki's stomach to watch him.
"Silence, boy. Did you use that knife on a young woman outside the shopping center. I will know if you lie." He tightened his grip, cutting off the boy's airflow just slightly.
"Yes! Jesus I'm sorry! I had to!" He had begun to thrash, feeling the imminent strangulation.
"Had to?" Loki prompted, giving his grip a little slack. The boy seemed to take this as a sign of safety as his body began to relax, his head turning back to face the now outwardly calm god.
"Yeah, yeah, this weird guy in some kind of raver suit came up to me and handed me a note. It said that I was supposed to go to the mall and attack the girl that was sitting outside. He had a gun, and when I tried to run away, three more of em jumped me. So I went and I cut her, but she attacked me. She was supposed to just back down and gimme her bag, not come at me like some kinda MMA chick. So I stuck her." He tried to smile innocently, thinking perhaps that Loki would be impressed with his quick thinking. But he was met instead with a look of pure, icy vengeance as on of Loki's daggers sunk through his neck and into the wall behind him.
Loki pulled his dagger back with a jerk, immediately regretting giving the boy such a quick death, he deserved something much more painful, but it would not due to fall back into bad habits when his enemy seemed to be gaining strength. He let the body fall, turning as it fell with a dull thud, watching as the people in the room backed into the walls. He felt the familiar thrill of instilling fear rush through him. He could command them all to jump from the highest tower they could find, and they would do it, simply to be spared his wrath. It felt good. It also gave him an idea.
"One more favor and I will leave you in peace. I want you all to find this "weird man" that our departed friend spoke of. I will return to the alley behind this hovel every two days. Leave any information you find there for me. Oh, and should they ask you to harm, in any manner, a woman by the name of Riley..." he allowed his gaze to drift to the fallen boy's corpse, now slowly being overtaken by a pool of blood, "well, I wouldn't." He allowed one last lazy grin to grace his lips before he vanished from the center of the room.
Riley was tired of feeling tired. She knew that her only other option was to be in intense pain from now until her wound closed, but damn that morphine had a kick. She'd been drifting in and out of consciousness for the better part of a day, remembering glimpses of the visits she knew she'd had with Jane and Thor. But she would also catch snippets of whatever it was Loki was up to, usually in her dreams. She would feel like she was flying, the skyline of the city always flashing below her. She remembered a pair of impossibly green eyes, staring into a pool of recently fallen rain, a small footprint glowing faintly under the light of magic. But this last one had been a real doozey. It had been so vivid, full of screaming and blood and anger, so white hot and burning that she thought she might drown in it. It was so strange, so unlike the Loki she knew that she was beginning to think that it was just her own mind playing with her. But then she remembered that first visit. It was so fuzzy, like something out of an old film, all muffled voices and hazy pictures, but one thing stood out to her, clear as a bell. It was a small smile on his face, so like the one she had shared her soul with in her dream world, soft and sincere, all trace of scorn and anger wiped away as he gazed down at her.
It was so unlike how she knew him to be, but it had happened. Jane and Thor had both verified that Loki had been the first in to see her. Perhaps he was changing. Thor had confessed to thinking the same, after seeing how tenderly he cared for her outside the mall. But is that where this white hot anger had come from? Is that the new evil side of him? She shook her head at that thought. Given the choice, she would much rather have the cold and calculating Loki to this new, uncontrolled version.
She was shaken from her thoughts by the sound of her door opening. It was late, past visiting hours. She felt her heart begin to speed up, her hand inching to the IV needles sunk into her arm. It would hurt like a bitch, but she was ready to rip them out and run if she had to. A shadow moved in the relative dark of the room outside her curtain. She tried to make herself still, breathing through her nose to muffle the sound and tensing her muscles. If it was someone who meant her harm, she wanted a fighting chance at getting away, which meant rabbiting the moment she could. She knew that her chances were horrid at best, but she wouldn't go down without a fight.
She heard the footsteps stop just outside her curtain. The silhouette turned sideways, showing long ropey braids and an angular face. Shit. She bit down on her sleeve as she ripped the needles from her arm, wincing at the ripping sound the tape made in the stillness around her. The head whipped back around, the figure stilling like a cat, ready to pounce. Riley pushed the oxygen away from her nose, laying the hose down on the bed softly, dropping one leg off the side of the bed and waiting. They stayed that way for a moment, silhouette watching silhouette before the dark elf moved, pulling the curtain away from the railing. Riley moved at exactly the same moment, launching herself weakly from the bed, barely keeping her feet as she began to hobble across the room.
Another shadow appeared out of the darkness, blocking her path, pushing her back against the wall. She screamed, pushing a fist against the thing's face, making a dash for the door, only to be blocked once again. Three figures now blocked her way, backing her slowly toward the open wall of windows. They were unarmed, from what she could tell, but they wouldn't need weapons to do her in. So she made a choice. She turned, screaming down the link between herself and the god she'd just been dreaming of and breathed, taking a runner's stance as she barreled toward the glass, sailing through it and into the air.
Loki was ripped from his musings by the all but physical pull in his mind. Riley was in danger. He caught images, elves in her hospital room, the punch she landed on one of them and the plan she'd come up with to escape. The reckless woman! He materialized beneath her, gathering himself for a leap as she fell, glass sparkling around her. He left the ground with more force than he'd ever felt before and caught her, their bodies falling back toward the earth. He oriented himself to the pavement below and prepared for landing, his armor crushing the cement below him. He looked down at the woman in his arms, intent on making her regret her little stunt, only to find her once again unconscious, her face locked in a grimace of pain.
He felt his blood boil at this thought. His conscious mind beginning to slip under the primal need to protect the to whom he was linked. He looked up, watching as the elves followed him down, landing in a surrounding formation, faces blank, weapons ready. He grinned, gathering a blast from his core, the place every Jotunn has. A place so frigid that, should it be unleashed fully, none could survive it. These pissants would know his wrath.
They began to advance, one after another taking a swipe at Riley, attempting to grab her, or slay her, whichever was easier. They kept their gaze on Loki, but it did them no good. When the blast wave hit them, it was like righteous anger given form. It was a force so cold it burned as it invaded them, freezing every piece of skin it could reach and burrowing shards of ice into them until they simply fell apart.
Loki released a breath, readjusting his grip on the woman's body before walking calmly through the nearest door. He stopped an orderly, informing him that the woman in his arms had been attacked and thrown from her room's window. The man paled, stumbling to a phone on the wall and calling for hospital security and the ICU physician on call. Before long, Riley was bundled onto a gurney and wheeled to an examination room where she was checked over for any new injuries. Other than a few cuts and bruises, she was declared out of the woods and moved to an observation unit where Loki was "allowed" to stay. The truth was that no one had the courage to move him once he'd settled in the overstuffed chair in the room. Between the armor, still bearing the blood of his first victim, and the look of cold fury on his face, no one would even approach him to make sure he was comfortable.
The phone in the apartment started ringing, breaking the sleepy silence that Jane and Thor had fallen into. Jane groaned, gathering the sheet around her from the floor and shuffling over to the wall where the land line was mounted. She answered with an irritated "What?" before her face paled, the irritation being replaced with concern and anger as whoever was on the other end of the line spoke. Thor was at her side like a shot, his gaze following hers as emotions played across her face. It wasn't until the line was hung up that her face fell into something resembling heart break.
"What is it? What is wrong?" Thor held her close as she shook.
"Riley was attacked in the hospital. She dove out a window. Loki just barely caught her in time. It was Malekith's soldiers." Jane looked up at the god she loved, feeling the guilt crush over her. All of this was her fault. If she'd just left well enough alone, the Aether would've remained hidden and no one would have been hurt. But she just had to keep digging into things didn't she? She just couldn't leave well enough alone.
"Jane. Whatever you are thinking, stop. We must get dressed. I do not trust my brother alone with Riley while she in such a fragile condition." He kissed the top of her head, holding her close for a moment more before moving around the room and collecting their clothes from where they had fallen, or been tossed. Jane just nodded dumbly, grabbing her clothes from the pile he'd gathered and grabbing the keys to Riley's car as well as her own purse.
It didn't take Riley long to come around. Loki had been in her mind while she was unconscious, getting the full account of what had happened from her memories. She was dimly aware of his approval, radiating between their link like the first beams of sunshine in the morning. She tried to push away what she'd seen, knowing it would tarnish this moment, but he was too skilled and, after a moment of digging, the memories of her dreams flashed before his mind's eye. It was that moment that woke her. She had been expecting anger or simple derision, but instead she felt a faint kind of sadness followed by cold detachment.
She blinked slowly as her mind came to full wakefulness. It was a strange sensation to be coming out of a shock induced sleep, like your body is being woken up from outside yourself. It's like your brain is the last thing to come back from the blackness that is all you know when you sleep. If anyone asked, she would blame that feeling for everything she did next, including the little giggle that alerted the God of Mischief to her now conscious state.
"And what is it that you find to humorous?" His voice was clipped and angry. Guess he didn't like being used as a discount Clark Kent.
"Just that you are the first literal knight in shining armor I've ever met." She held her side as she continued laughing. It hurt like hell but, on an emotional level, it felt good to laugh.
"Ah, more trite mortal humor. Honestly, you would laugh at anything." He tried to continue sounding like the whole situation were beneath him, but something about her laugh, unadulterated as it was, warmed him inside and made him want to join her.
"Yeah well, I'm drugged, so bite me." She stuck her tongue out at him as her eyes drifted closed.
"It didn't seem to stop you from diving out a window. Honestly, what were you thinking? What if I had decided not to catch you? Or hadn't heard you?" He looked at her, watching her face as it cycled through expressions. He was expecting it to settle on anger or fear or realization that perhaps she had put her trust in the wrong person, but the quiet confidence was a pleasant surprise.
"I knew you would catch me. As to if you hadn't heard me, well, then I guess I would be dead. But better dead by my hand than theirs, or worse, taken prisoner." She said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world and Loki felt his heart warm slightly at the tone she used. It was like choosing to save her would be the only logical choice.
"Yes well, I suppose you have me there. You hold a fair amount of my power and it would be a bother to lose you before I retrieve it." His voice sounded almost condescending, but there was an underlying playfulness that made Riley smile.
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind the next time I jump out a window." She opened her eyes slowly, the lids clearly heavy and anxious for more sleep. Her gaze met his, eerily clear despite her drugged state. "You don't fool me Lie Smith. I know I'm more to you than just a nuisance." She grinned sleepily, watching the carefully schooled expression crack slightly, revealing genuine shock.
"And how is that little witch?" He leaned closer, his helm shadowing his eyes and giving him an almost palpable menace.
"Are you so unaware of yourself that I have to tell you?" She tilted her head to the side, feigning shock.
"I am merely interested in seeing how deeply your delusions run." He sat back, answering her smile with a grin.
"Ah, well, in that case, I think I'll wait, let you come to it on your own." Her smile went crooked, mimicking his grin with a smirk as her eyes finally closed. She settled back into the pillows, gasping softly as the motion jostled her wounds. Loki moved forward, without thinking, helping her to get settled before returning to his seat. Neither one mentioned it, simply letting it hang in the air between them, the link pulsing a little more strongly than before as Riley slipped into sleep once more.
Jane and Thor arrived at the hospital just after sun up. It had been an ordeal trying to find the place. Jane wasn't used to big cities and kept getting turned around on the side streets the GPS kept pointing her down. It wasn't until she threw the cursed piece of machinery into the back seat and called 411 that she got reliable directions to the visitor's parking lot.
They stopped in the cafeteria, grabbing coffee and breakfast food, unsure who exactly would be in the room when they got there. It was with no small amount of shock that they found both Loki and Riley sound asleep, one carefully cushioned with what looked like spare pillows from her home and the other resting comfortably on a chair that looked much too big to be in the room.
Thor held back a smile as he set the small plates of food down on the small counter that held the room's sink. Jane, for her part, was too shocked to form an opinion on much of anything. Here she was expecting to find Loki holding her new friend hostage, keeping her from getting her rest with interrogations and antagonizing comments, only to find that he'd not only let her rest, but made it easier for her to do so. It was something she would expect a friend to do.
"Hello brother." Loki's voice broke into her thoughts, bringing her back to ground level. She watched as he stretched languidly, looking almost like a snake, or a cat. She found herself checking him out for a moment, the loose sleep wear he'd decided on fitting him in all the right places. She preferred Thor's muscles to Loki's lithe build, but there was no denying the man was gorgeous. She swallowed slowly, her gaze moving instead to focus on the smaller figure in the bed. She looked a little worse for wear, a few cuts on her face and one just barely visible along her chest. She also had bruises around her arms, oddly shaped and thin.
"Loki. Thank you for informing us as to Riley's change in condition." Thor gave him a plate of fruit and small glazed dough balls. He had been told their name, but it escaped him at the moment. He knew it would suit Loki's palette better than the protein heavy meals he preferred. He passed over a small cup of coffee, something he'd been trying to introduce into his brother's diet for the better part of two weeks now. The younger god simply sighed and took the cup, the liquid within changing to a dark tea.
"I thought it best to keep you informed. Malekith is growing in strength, faster than we anticipated. The attack on Riley is proof of that." He wished he could take the comment back the moment it left his mouth. Jane ignored it, caring too much for the well being of her friend to care what the god was saying, but Thor was not nearly so oblivious. They exchanged a silent conversation of looks, Thor demanding an explanation and Loki resigning to tell him when they were alone. It happened within seconds, something that had been absent from their relationship for a long time. Both brothers felt a small warmth grow in their hearts at the thought that it was still possible. Outwardly, however, they were just as cold as ever.
"So, what exactly happened? You said she jumped out a window? Why would she do that?" Jane's voice was trending upward again, the shrill quality dancing across Loki's nerves.
"I can only assume that the elvish soldiers attacked her in her room and block her only exit. I was in the area, tracking the elves when I saw her dive through the glass. She is lucky I was there to catch her." Loki tried to put on the arrogant persona she expected from him, grinning as she flashed him a disgusted look.
"You couldn't have done it a little more gently? She's black and blue all over thanks to you." Jane stood, her voice hard.
"She is alive thanks to me. Perhaps if one of you had been there, as you said you would be.." He let his sentence drop, directing his look at Thor, conveying his anger at his older sibling.
"Well what about you? Are you exempt from watching over her? Is it beneath you to make sure that the woman who has taken you in and fed you is looked after?" Jane was lashing out in guilt, Loki knew it, but the comment still stung. He had done far more than either of the others to keep her safe.
"Careful, mortal. You do not know the danger you are in." His voice was soft and cold as he spoke, his eyes promising all manner of horrific death if she didn't watch herself. Thor's form came in between them, his gaze hard and cold.
"Enough brother. Mistakes were made on all sides. Placing blame does not undo the past nor does it solve our problem." He backed up slightly, "accidentally" knocking Jane back into her chair. Loki followed suit, sinking into the now ordinary chair, his clothing fading into the mortal outfit he'd worn the day before. Everyone ate in silence for a while, each lost to their own thoughts. Only the beeping of the monitors behind them broke the silence.
Riley was dreaming again. It wasn't like the snippets she'd been getting recently. It was the dream beach again. Loki was there, the Loki she'd come to know. He was grinning at her, his hands behind his back as he stood, hair blown back by the wind, armor gone. In its place was a long green tunic and black leggings. She smiled as she took in the sight of him, running toward him, only to leap into his arms. She heard his low chuckle, his arms wrapping around her middle.
"You must be careful, you are not yet fully well Little Witch." He grinned, his hand hovering over her side. She looked down at herself for the first time and saw that she was in a simply white sun dress. The skirt was a little fuller than she was used to, but that wasn't what caught her attention. There was a bloody wound on her side, right where her body had been stabbed. It looked gruesome next to the snowy white of the cotton dress and she found herself wanting to scrub it clean.
"What is it?" She looked up at him, panic rising up in her as she realized that something was wrong.
"Do not panic Riley. It is merely a wound. It will heal." He passed a hand over the red stain, clearing it from the dress.
"But, I thought physical stuff didn't matter here?" She stepped back, looking into his eyes, her disquiet simmering just below the surface.
"They do not. But you were not simply physically wounded. The knife, it cut more than just your flesh. Outwardly it was a simply pocket knife, something I'm sure you own yourself. But Malekith has many weapons. He could not allow your full power to continue, so he crippled it. This is the representation of that." His voice was calm as he spoke, pulling her back from the rising tide of panic.
"How do we fix it?" She tried not to focus on the gnawing feeling in her gut, she could feel the loss, now that he'd explained it. She felt like something had been carved out of her, the edges of the wound jagged and sharp.
"You must close it, as your physical wound was closed. But you cannot do it alone. The one who shares your power must help you." He gave her a knowing grin, watching her face pull up into an irritated grimace.
"You mean you don't you?" She shook her head, pausing for a moment. "Wow, that was a confusing sentence. You mean the other Loki right? The one you came from?" She looked up into his face, watching the smile grow.
"Very good. You learn quickly Riley. And yes, I mean the man you took me from. I am not him, per say. The power he holds is not wholly his. He has accumulated strength over a very long time, taking bits and pieces from his various instructors. I am what remains of his mother's magic."
"Oh, yeah, that explains a lot. So you mean, you were originally part of Frigga, and when Loki was learning from her, you shifted?" She watched as he nodded slowly, sitting down in the sand with a grunt. "This is confusing." She rested her head on her hands as her mind spun.
"Try not to think of me as belonging to any one person. I am the power than has been passed from parent to child for ages. I take the shape that is required of me to aid the being that I serve. For now, that is you. But I am also a shadow of the beings I have served in the past. I am Loki, and yet, I am not." He moved behind her, pulling her back against him. "I am sorry I cannot be more for you. But know that, as there is a part of Loki within me, there is a part of me within him as well. He is not beyond hope Little Witch." He smiled as she turned, nestling into his embrace.
"Can't you two switch places. I wouldn't mind having his trapped in my brain if it meant I got to hang out with you." She laughed softly as she felt his arms close around her.
"That is not the way it is done Riley. You are the key to his redemption, but you must take him as he is, not as you wish him to be." He ran his hand up her back slowly, watching as her body began to relax. "I will show you a glimpse of his past, perhaps then you will understand." His hand came to rest on the back of her head.
Riley looked up at him, intent on arguing, but all she saw were two impossibly green eyes and then she was falling down a dark tunnel. She stopped, suspended in air above a room where boys were training. All but one that is. A small raven haired boy sat to the side, rubbing his hands together intently. She watched as he rubbed faster and faster, smoke slowly beginning to curl before his hands were forced apart by a bright orange flame. He let out a laugh of success and called to an aging man standing beside a blonde haired boy. He ran up, carefully guarding the flame in his hands. He called to the man again, waving his free hand. But the man barely acknowledged him, turning just as the blonde extinguished the flame. A look of disappointment crossed the man's face as he turned his back on the raven haired boy.
The scene shifted, racing away from the training room to a small tavern. Thor was there, younger, though not by much, and Loki was there as well. Thor was loudly proclaiming his prowess, both on and off the battle field, while his brother watched the crowd, his eyes glued to a young woman. She was a real beauty, long brunette curls, pale skin, trim waist. She carried herself differently than the other women in the tavern, she was confident and sure of herself and she passed over every man that dared speak to her. She passed close to Loki, and Riley watched as he gathered himself to speak, only to be, once again, overshadowed by his brother, who reached down and scooped up the young woman, placing her on the table beside him with a laugh. Riley saw the affection glowing in the young woman's eyes as Thor sang her praises, but it was a purely platonic praise.
The scene shifted again and again, showing her times of battle where Thor would be given credit for Loki's work. She saw more romances never given time to start as the blonde god stepped in. She saw how Loki fought and scraped for his father's affection, nearly dying simply to get the man to acknowledge him. It was heart breaking. But something didn't fit. Through all these scenes, Thor was always there, giving his brother a hand, helping him in a mission, singing his praises when all the light was shed on the wrong brother. Why did Loki hate him so? Maybe that's what she needed to figure out.
She felt herself being pulled back out of the vision, her mind slamming back into her body with force enough to rock her in Loki's embrace.
"Okay, no more doing that without warning. Seriously dude, talk about vertigo." She shook her head, falling back against his chest as her world spun.
"I apologize, it was not my intention to stun you. I believe you have seen what you came to see." He pushed her forward gently, standing and offering her his hand.
"Aww, I don't have to leave so soon do I?" She took his hand, standing from the warmth of the sand.
"You have been sleeping for over sixteen hours. Your companions are worrying for you. Fear not Little Witch, I will be here, should you need me." He smiled, leaning down and placing a soft kiss on her lips. Riley closed her eyes, enjoying the soft warmth of the kiss, only opening her eyes again as Loki pulled away. She watched as the scene around her began to fade. She focused on his eyes as they faded.
Loki was beginning to lose patience. He could feel a mixture of emotions through their link, but her mind and body remained still. She was rested, he could tell that, but she was refusing to wake. He was mid stride when she made a small noise of frustration. He was at her side in a moment, standing at her bed side with a carefully schooled expression. She groaned, her hand moving to her side as her nerve ending woke up.
"Ow! Damn stitches." She fished around for the bed controls, jumping softly when a slightly cool hand passed them to her. Her eyes cracked open slowly, the world coming into focus. "Oh, thanks." She pressed the small up arrow, making the bed whir and move until she was sitting up.
"Riley!" Jane came through the door, snack bag in hand. She dropped her stuff in the chair by the bed and all but tackled her friend.
"Ow!" Jane pulled back quickly, grinning sheepishly. "Hi Jane. Please try not to rip my stitches." Riley grinned, lifting her less sore arm and allowing the smaller scientist to snuggle under it for a hug.
"Good afternoon Riley, it is good to see you conscious again." Thor carefully removed the bag of snacks and took the chair they had been resting in. Riley smiled, looking between the Jane and Thor. Her eyes wondered slowly over to the odd man out, standing with his back slightly to the group. She smiled up at him, unaware that he could see her.
"Hey guys, do you think I could talk with Loki for a second, alone." She caught Thor's eye, trying to convey that is was important.
"Of course." Thor smiled at her, all but hauling the young scientist out of the room.
"Hey, could you sit down for a second, looking up at you is starting to hurt my neck." She smiled softly, trying to get around his shell. He pulled his chair over, seating himself as if he were in a throne and fixed her with a cool stare.
"Were you, in my head at all? I mean, did you see what I was dreaming or anything?" She tried to sound confident, but ended up sounding more anxious than anything.
"I was privy to your emotions only. Something was keeping me from your mind." He sounded angry, like it was something she was doing on purpose.
"Well, I have something I need to tell you, but I want you to promise me you won't get mad." She felt her resolve wavering as she watched the emotions play behind his eyes.
"Riley."
"Please, I have a lot to say, but I can't if you're just gonna freak out." She knew cutting him off would just make him angry but she wasn't feeling up to a battle of wills right now.
"Very well, you have my word." He leaned forward, obviously expecting an immediate explanation.
She took a breath, closing her eyes and remembering how it felt to be held by him, even if it was just a figment of him and launched into her story. It took the better part of an hour to get it all out, starting with when she'd first met figment Loki and going through all he'd shown and taught her up till now. Loki, for his part, stayed quiet and calm, as per his promise, his mind reeling at the information being given to him.
He was amazed that she was trusting him with this information. Did she not know what kind of weapon she was giving him? If he chose, he could rip her mind apart with all that she was telling him. Perhaps she didn't know the tool she was giving him. Perhaps she was unaware that she was drawing him a map to the most vulnerable points in her mind. Either way, he would guard this with every ounce of power he had. He would see to it that no one knew of this weakness.
Riley waited with baited breath as she finished her diatribe. She hadn't meant to be so specific. She hadn't meant to be so detailed about how figment Loki made her feel. But it felt necessary to say. She had tried not to say it, tried to keep her explanation purely informational, but it had forced its way out. She felt the silence like a physical presence around her as she watched his face. Gone was the mask of indifference, replaced by an expression she couldn't quite place. It was like a tired kind of excitement.
"And this figment, it is where you got this information?" He looked up at her, face open. It was a strange expression on him, after all the time she'd spent looking at his stoic cold expressions.
"Yeah. He's the one that told me how to tap into my power and also gave me the cliff's notes version of your life. Sorry again, by the way, I didn't really have a choice with the whole memories thing." She felt like a child, floundering in a situation where she was severely out of her depth. She felt like she'd done something wrong by telling him, but at the same time, it felt like the right thing to do. It was all too confusing for her to think on so soon after almost dying...again.
"Riley, you must tell no one else of this. Do you understand? Not Jane, not Thor, no one." His voice was deadly serious and all she could do was nod as his eyes pierced into hers. "This information is a weapon, in the right hands, that is capable of undoing your mind." His voice sounded almost pained at the idea of that coming to pass and Riley found herself wanting to reassure him, but something stopped her.
"Roger that, no blabber mouth. Anything else?" She tried to laugh, but it came out sounding kind of pathetic.
"Yes, if any more dark elves come for you, call me before you jump out the window." He grinned in return, getting up and letting the others back in the room. The questions started almost immediately, Jane more than Thor badgering her for any answer she would give, but Riley wasn't really present in the conversation. All she could think about was the soft smile he'd given her and the warmth that spread through her. Perhaps she could do this after all.
Well, there you have it. Like I said, lots of stuff happened here so let me know what you think! Thanks in advance to those who review and I'll see you again in chapter 10.