Hello, lovelies.

Thank you so much for your support.

I'm still unsure of my skills as a writer, because the story seems so good on my head, but I don't seem to be able to put it on words as it works on my head and I get a little frustrated. But your support makes me go on. I plan on finishing the fic soon. It wasn't even meant to be that long lol, but some ideas kept coming, and the plot bunny wants what the plot bunny wants. So, I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Loki or Sif, Marvel does (unfortunately lol).

Chapter Six

"What the fuck do you mean you can't find my wife?!" Loki was yelling to a trembling young guard at the diner room as a violent storm raged outside the window.

"I'm… I'm… Your Majesty, I…" His words were caught on his throat by Loki's violent grip.

"Loki!" Frigga rushed to his side. "It's not his fault. Let the boy go."

"Not his fault? His job is to guard her and he doesn't know where she is! He sounds guilty to me!"

She put her hand gently over his arm. "You know her." She smiled reassuringly to him. "If she wanted to get out, she would, this poor boy couldn't stop her if he wanted. Let him go."

Loki stared into his mother's eyes and reluctantly let him go. The poor guard gasped for air, grabbing his sore throat as the king turned to the other occupants of the table.

"Do you know anything about this?" He spat to the Warriors Three.

"If we had, we wouldn't tell you, would we?" Fandral grinned. Loki narrowed his eyes at him, but before he could say anything, the blonde warrior went on, rolling his eyes. "She gave you her word she wouldn't back down about the agreement of the wedding, didn't she? She wouldn't just escape like this. Something must have happened."

Loki thought for a minute and grabbed the still recovering guard by his collar. "Get her handmaiden here. Now!"

The woman stumbled inside the diner room. "I'm… I'm here, Y-your Majesty."

Loki stopped his pacing and strode to the babbling woman. "Ingrid, Sif is missing. Do you know anything about this?"

Ingrid fell to her knees, sobbing. "Please, Your Majesty, forgive me! She ordered me to say nothing!"

Loki took a deep breath, trying to remain patient, as he grabbed her arm and pulled her up. "Stop crying, Ingrid, and tell me what you know."

She sniffed, using the hem of her apron to wipe her tears. "I… She said something about a waterfall... a place she liked very much… She said she wanted to be alone for a while and made me promise I wouldn't say a word. Your Majesty… I swear… I didn't think…"

Loki raised his hand as a sign for her to be quiet. "That will be all. You may go."

As soon as she left, Fandral got up. "I know where it is. We used to play there when we were kids. Let's go!"

He was stopped as a double Loki blocked the exit. He turned around to look at the real one.

"I know where it is too." He said. "I'm going after her. You, all of you, are going to stay here."

"But…"

"I'm going after her and that's final." He said, his voice so suave and calm, nobody imagined the turmoil on his head, thinking about Sif alone on the raging storm outside. "As far as I'm concerned, this could be part of a little plan."

Volstagg laughed. "That's funny. The Trickster is afraid to be tricked?"

The Silver-Tongue looked at him intently. "Not afraid. Just taking precautions. Besides, if you try and trick me, you're the ones who will get punished. That's the deal." He smiled. "Cheer up, Warriors. If you all go, my poor mother is going to be on her own, and we don't want that, do we?"

Frigga shook her head. "I'll be fine. But, Loki, going out on this storm… It could be dangerous!"

He took her hands in his. "That's why I must go, Mother. What kind of a husband just leaves his wife out there on weather like this?" She smiled, caressing his cheek. "I'll be fine." He kissed her forehead, letting go of her, and turned to a servant. "Get me a horse ready."

Sif huddled on the far side of a cave behind the waterfall, listening to the rain falling outside. A bonfire crept in front of her as she shivered, trying to keep warm, a difficult task since her clothes were soaking wet. Her horse neighed next to her and she caressed its mane. She cursed her luck as she thought back the day.

She had decided to go to the farthest side of Asgard, close to the forests and fields, so she could ride her horse without a direction, something she hadn't done in a long time. She loved the wind blowing through her hair, the smell of fresh air, the adrenaline running in her veins.

She paid a visit to her favorite place as a child: the waterfalls. Making sure she was alone, she took a bath in the nude, reveling in the feeling of the cold water. As she prepared to go back to the palace, all of suddenly, a furious storm lashed out on her and she was forced to hide inside the cave to wait. As the hours went by and the night fell, she was trembling violently from cold and started to worry. They would miss her in the palace, but how could they go after her like this? Someone had to be crazy to do something like that.

She stopped her wandering thoughts and listened, startled. She could have sworn she heard her name faintly out in the woods.

"SIF!"

Now she was sure she heard it clearly. She ran to the cave's entrance and, through the clear waterfall, she saw a silhouette from across the lake. Slowly sliding out from the cave so she could be seen, she waved frantically, yelling. "Over here! Hey!"

The horse the man was on pranced and galloped fast towards her. She sighed, relieved, and returned inside the cave. Her mysterious rescuer entered pulling his horse carefully inside. It was dark, the only light was the bonfire on the far end of the cave, where she sat.

"Finally." She managed to choke out, her body trembling so hard her teeth chattered.

The man stepped into the light and her eyes widened. "Loki? What are you…?" She bracketed her legs with her arms, trying to suppress her trembling.

He kneeled next to her. "Are you all right?"

"I'm cold, what do you think?" She snapped.

"You have to get out of these wet clothes." He got up. "I have a blanket here somewhere."

He searched inside his saddlebag and pulled a blanket, still dry due the thick leather the bag was made from. He went back to her and she hadn't move.

"Sif, you'll have to take your clothes off. You won't grow warm if you don't."

She remained still. Loki sighed, throwing the blanket angrily on the floor and turning around. "Better now?"

Sif looked at him, then looked at the blanket at her feet. Slowly, she removed her boots and clothes, quickly wrapping the blanket around herself.

He turned back around and took her clothes, throwing them at on top of her horse's saddle, which lay next to the fire. He took his own clothes, keeping only his pants on, and put them to dry next to hers. Sitting by the fire, across from her, he stared at her.

"What were you thinking? And before you give me one of your usual acid retorts, I mean it, I want to know. You're many, many things, but you're not irresponsible. What if no one knew where you were? What if I couldn't get here in time? Did you think this through?"

She stared at him, surprised at his outburst. Lately, all of his outbursts surprised her, because she saw parts of him she didn't know existed. It was the only time she felt he was being sincere, and not the sarcastic façade of the Trickster.

"I needed to get away."

"From me? Are you that desperate you would risk your life just to run away?"

"I told you I don't run from you, Loki. I wanted to leave the palace. It's so limiting there, suffocating. There are people watching your steps and asking what you want, what you need all the time. I just wanted freedom, even if it doesn't last. Even if it's an illusion." She tightened the blanket around herself. "I wanted to be alone, to enjoy myself a little. How could I know this storm was coming?"

Loki grinned. "You're a remarkable woman, Sif."

She looked confused. "What? Why?"

"So many people would love to have servants, to have people doing what they want all the time, and you just want simpler things, just ride out in the wind, just bathe on a waterfall, just smell the fresh air." He shook his head, smiling. "That's rare."

"Oh, don't get me wrong. It's nice to have people helping you to get dressed and put your shoes on, since these things are so hard to do", she said in a mockingly sweet voice, and they both chuckled. "…but really, it's not my thing." She paused. "You should try it, Loki."

"What? Simpler things? Oh, I did. Believe me."

"Really? And how did that go?"

He gazed at her intensely. "Bad."

"Oh." She pursed her lips, trembling. "Damn, it's cold."

"You know how you would get warm faster?"

"Don't even think about it."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm not talking about that. Exchange of body warmth."

"That's exactly what I thought. Don't even think about it."

He shrugged. "Whatever you say."

Loki woke up startled. Sif was asleep, but she was shaking violently and chattering her teeth again. He walked up to her and felt her face, realizing she was stone-cold. "Bloody stubborn woman", he thought to himself, as he removed the rest of his own clothes.

Sif only woke up when she felt the blanket move around her. She opened her eyes to see Loki almost completely naked taking the blanket from her.

"Hey. Hey!" She was wide awake now and gripped the blanket tight. "What are you doing?"

"Sif, you need to get warm. You can get sick, even die, if we don't you get warm fast."

She tried to protest, still gripping the blanket, but she was so cold she didn't have the strength to stop him from taking it.

He sat on the floor beside her and, resting his back against the rough walls of the cave, he pulled her to his arms, enclosing them both in the blanket. He rubbed her arms frantically and she gave up resisting. She was really cold and if he could get her warm, what the heck. It wouldn't kill her.

Sighing, she rested her back against his chest as he kept rubbing her arms. "That's an interesting turn of events."

"What is?"

"It's not every day you get to be warmed by a Frost Giant." She chuckled.

"Great. Now you're making jokes. I think you may be a little delirious from a fever."

"No, I'm just…" She yawned. "…tired."

"Try to sleep."

"U-huh." She replied, sleepy, and kept mumbling. "Why can't you always be like this? It would be so much easier…"

He stopped his hands. "Why do you say that?" No response. "Sif?" He sighed, realizing she had fallen asleep.

Carefully not to wake her, he shifted them so they were lying down on the ground, his arms still around her as he straightened the blanket to cover them both. He buried his nose on the crook of her neck, and took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet scent of her hair.

Thank you again for reading/reviewing/favoriting.

You're all awesome ladies!

See you next chapter.