Chapter 7

Sweet Embers

"What do you see, when you look at me? What do you see in these eyes?"

"Um, deception?" Coulson paused. "Your eyes are old and tired looking but your body says different. Forgive me, how is this relevant?"

Loki leaned forward on his seat, smiled and squinted at Coulson who sat with his arms folded opposite him across the desk. They stared at each other, Loki unblinking while Phil looked on confused. He noted his luminescent green eyes and his smile widening, the sides of his lips curling into a smug grin. Coulson watched intently as Loki slowly closed his eyes, now unconsciously edging off his seat to study his face.

His eyelids seemed to flutter, his dark eyelashes and eyebrows stood out more against his pale skin, no longer out shined by his unusual eyes. Loki half opened them, only enough for him to see the desk in front of him. Coulson ducked his head to get a closer look, blinking in disbelief but he swore he could see waves of blue light emanating from Loki's eyes. Loki's eyelids fully opened, revealing what once were green eyes, to be blue and almost glowing orbs of light.

Coulson tilted his head back, shocked by the amount of light now coming from his eyes. The light really did act like waves, swirling around his pupils before drifting to the sides and fading. He had been so engulfed by it that he failed to realise Loki's mischievous grin had turned; now a look of sorrow seemed present, only enhanced by how gaunt his pale face looked against the vibrant colour of his eyes.

"What do you make of me now? Do these eyes portray me as deceptive now?"

Coulson let his past eager expression relax and instead felt his face relax. Unable to tear his eyes away from his face, Coulson saw a small teardrop appear in the corner of Loki's eye. As he blinked, the drop fell and began to run down his cheek. Coulson gulped and he took in a breath and watched as Loki looked down and wiped the tear quickly away with the back of his hand. Phil pushed himself away from the table, scraping his chair loudly on the floor and walked to the door. Loki heard him mumble as he rubbed his face with his hands.

"I'm sorry."

By the time Loki had pulled his hands away from his face, both his eyes had returned to their usual green, now surrounded by pinker flesh. He heard the lab door close and the faint sound of Coulson's feet in the corridor.

Loki lay half asleep on the makeshift bed in the cage. Neither particularly comfortable nor necessary in his case but it seemed to draw less attention than if someone walked in and found him wide awake, like he always was. He heard the hissing of the metal door as it swung back and sat up, eyes still closed with his head hung low and his arms either side of his legs. He breathed deeply and rolled his head back, stretching his legs and flexing his toes in his boots. Something unusual caught his attention; his sensitive ears tracking the sound of air being pushed aside as something rapidly flew towards his head. He reacted quickly, breath stopping as his hand caught an arrow just as its metal point had begun to gently put a dent in his skin just below his eye.

"New tactics, Coulson?" Loki spoke while he kept his eyes closed, smile hidden as he bowed his head, but Phil knew from his tone that he smiling, clearly amused, not flustered at all.

He scowled and flashed a look of annoyance to the man standing beside him. Agent Barton lowered his bow and held onto his quiver strap over his shoulder as he walked out, boots loudly stomping into the distance.

Loki held the arrow in one hand and ran the others fingers across it, beginning with the plastic nock, along the cold body of the arrow and ending on the piercing metal tip, continuingly pressing his finger into it, testing just how sharp it was. Once satisfied, he held the arrow up and waved it in front of himself.

"This could have taken my eye out you know?"

"It could well have, but you wouldn't have allowed it." Coulson answered in a mocking way.

Loki both admired and hated his honesty in not making up something, but then again, he had just fired an arrow at his head, he could hardly deny it now.

"How do you know me so well? You know nothing about me. Wouldn't someone like you have just asked me about if I could stop this from embedding itself in my skull?" Loki asked, his smile turning into a sneer only just subtle enough that was oblivious to Coulson. Even Loki wasn't aware of his heavier breathing and sweat on his brow, hands now gripping the edge of the bed tightly.

It was now Coulson's turn to smirk and infuriate Loki. He folded his arms and bowed forwards slightly, all the while keeping his eyes fixed on Loki's. "Usually, but the last time I asked a question, it seemed to strike a nerve in you."

Loki raised an eyebrow and glared for a second at his brash smugness. His scowl however quickly lightened into a smile. Slapping his thighs as he stood, he laughed, scrunching his eyes shut and handed the arrow to a bewildered Coulson, before reclining into his chair at the desk. Phil joined him, placing the arrow off to the side on the table and resting a black leather suitcase by his side.

"In all seriousness though, you are curious, aren't you?" Loki leaned back in his chair and stretched his legs, placing them on the table and crossing them. Coulson glanced at his shoes for a second and he wrinkled his nose in disgust. His sudden cheery tone worried him.

"Of what?"

"Of me." Loki snapped, drawing Coulson's attention to his now fierce expression. He tilted his head to the side while holding his gaze.

"That was part of the deal. In exchange for information, I will set you free." Coulson's voice wasn't as strong as before and he knew that as soon as he said it, Loki would know that he wasn't too confident.

Loki sat forwards and closed the gap between them, eyeing Coulson, seeking out any signs of deception. Finding none he answered bitterly. "Quite. That was the deal." He settled back into a more comfortable position and brushed his hair off his face. "Just what information are you expecting?"

Coulson smiled, oddly surprised that Loki hadn't started firing arrows himself, before at the reaching down to his case and placing it in front of himself. He unlocked and opened it so Loki couldn't see and ruffled with it's contents before holding up a few stapled papers, crisp and still warm, the ink already smudged. He placed them flat on the desk and pushed them in front of Loki. He swiveled them round and began to read the fresh print. Coulson spoke while re-locking the case and placing it back down on the floor.

"It's not just you we are interested in, it's your culture. Everything that you've experienced is alien to us. It's another part of the universe we can only dream of seeing for ourselves."

Loki shot him deadpan looks every so often, finally pushing away the papers after reading them.

"Well, everything that I've experienced..." He cupped his chin and pondered for a minute. "There's a lot, I've lived for a long time."

Loki's not so sincere tone didn't throw Coulson off his spirit. "Just the particulars, if you please. Important events, milestones in your history and significant people who may have shaped your lifestyle, culture, art, war... even you."

Sorry that it's so short but I have been bogged down and couldn't get anything else down. I felt that 2 weeks without anything was worse than if I didn't give you a bit. I will update this chapter shortly and rename it Chapter 7 when its's complete.

UPDATE 15th: I have a dilemma. Basically, I'm between two stories, maybe 3 including this one. It's been on my mind for about 3 weeks and I've been bullet pointing parts and I am more keen to write that one than this atm. I did a full tumblr post about it. My tumblr username is in my profile page.