Chapter 6

Angel shifted against a soft surface as her mind spun awake groggily. Her eyes flickered open in a blurred haze that soon cleared.

Where am I? Angel wondered as she blinked the sleep away from her eyes, blinking again to make sure she was indeed awake. Confusion and curiosity sparked her newly awake mind as her eyes followed the subtle cracks and marks embedded in the metallic ceiling above her. I hate grey.

With a soft groan, the girl slowly sat up and surveyed her surroundings. She was in a small, plain room. No furniture at all, except a bed that Angel found herself sat on. The frost in the room suddenly hit Angel, shivering up her body causing goosebumps to appear on her bare arms, she was sure her bare feet had to be frost bitten by now. There wasn't a blanket or even a sheet on the bed – it was literally a metal bed frame and a mattress, so the girl was forced to wrap her arms around herself in an attempted to stop the cold touching her.

The room, Angel concluded, was very makeshift as if someone was hiding here temporarily. Even the bed she was on looked like it got stolen from a hospital.

What happened? Angel pondered.

Alarms...blue eyes... blood...

"Your stubbornness will make no difference. You will be my queen and only mine. I will take your disgusting planet in the fiery hell of war! And then you will stop being an ungrateful wretch!"

Loki.

That mad man had kidnapped her, and then had the nerve to knock her out. What did he do to her...?

"You will never know what you do to me... Will you not allow me to hold you? You may find it somewhat familiar."

Angel was flooded with disgust and terror and the thought of what that monster might have done to her limp body. Hold her? He must have done more than that.

She shivered at the thought of murderous hands squeezing hard against her unconscious frame, smirking lips, wet with evil, defiling hers, raping her mouth with his long slivery tongue. His breath caressing her skin without her knowledge. Hands bruising, exposing, exploiting her, lower and lower and...

NO! Angel screamed fearfully in her head. Whimpering silently as she wrapped her arms around her even more.

The blood soaked sceptre... the cold menacing grin... it all came back. Everything was wrong, her plan had unravelled entirely - not that she really had one. But she wasn't meant to be here, this wasn't meant to happen. She was even more lost than before. What did he want with her? Why her? Why couldn't he leave her in peace? Was she going to end up the same as her Vater and that Agent?

Am I next?

The door creaked open, allowing whatever coldness that it stopped enter into the room. Footsteps tapped into the room slowly. Then stopped.

Angel knew very well who it was. Tears of terror threatened to spill. She closed her eyes, keeping as still as her heart, afraid to even breathe. I won't look at him.

Footsteps grew closer and closer, tantalizingly slow, until Angel felt him inches away from her, she was suffocating under his shadow that cascaded her.

"Look at me Perdita." He said. His voice void of emotion. "Or say something at least."

"What did you do to me?" Angel snarled, still refusing to open her eyes.

"I don't understand."

"What did you do to me after you knocked me out?" The girl snarled harsher.

"That is an exaggeration. I did not knock you out; I merely made you fall asleep."

The bed sunk near where the girl's feet were. "I did not defile you in anyway if that's what you were wondering."

Angel stiffened as a hand grasped her foot. "I see your feet are still cold." The grasp tightened around her ankle and the panic flooded in.

Her eyes snapped open, her captured foot flicked upwards, catching the warrior on the chin, but still kept a tight hold on the foot.

Angel scuffled backwards along the bed to get as far away from the murderer as possible, still tugging her foot desperately but with no prevail.

Her other foot was caught in the mid-way of a kick, and pulled forward, Angel's body following it. Without warning, the warrior leapt forward dropping Angel's feet, and instead trapped her with his hands pressing hard against the mattress on either side of her head. His face so close, Angel could feel his lingering breath.

"Will you behave now? Or will I have to make you?" The warrior spat as his face drew closer. Angel's heart hammered and echoed inside of her.

"Please." The girl hyperventilated. "Please – don't hurt me. I..." Her small hand pressed gently against the warrior's chest, her other stroked down his sharp face and pale neck before resting it underneath the greasy hair on the back of his neck. "I'll do anything you want."

The man's brows furrowed at the sudden touch. His eyes wandered left and right before snapping back into Angel's hazel orbs. The blue of his eyes melted and bled into bright green, confusion hit his features as he looked down at his position above the girl. His head turned to where his hands lay on either side of Angel's head, and quickly pushed himself away as if disgusted, stepping away from Angel to the other side of the room with his back facing her.

Angel sat up and stared at the warrior, terror replaced with confusion.

"Your eyes." She stated. The man's head lifting as she spoke. "They were blue before... how..." Angel didn't know what to say.

After a few deep and raspy breaths, the warrior seemed to compose himself and turned around to face the girl; his eyes still a shining green.

"I am glad to see you at last awake. I apologize for your chambers, hardly fit for a queen, I know, but trust me when I say this was the best room there was."

"Why should I trust you? God of lies." Angel retorted. Confusion melting into annoyance.

The man just sighed, looking the girl up and down with a lost expression. He strolled closer – rather hesitantly – nervousness clear in the emerald orbs.

Angel stood from the bed, never taking her eyes off the warrior. "Where am I?"

"That's not for you to know." He said quickly, his features growing hard but his eyes still green. "All you need to know is that you are safe."

"Am I?"

"Yes."

"Mmm. So you kidnapping me and then..." Angel gestured to the bed. "That was meant to keep me safe?" The girl sarcastically remarked.

The warrior gave a smirking laugh. "I see you still have spirit."

"Why am I here?"

"So that when I win, you will take your place as my queen."

"Win? Win what?"

"You haven't been paying attention obviously." Loki spoke, stepping towards the girl. "Midgard, of course."

"Midgard?"

"Earth!" He snarled "Your meagre planet."

"You plan to take over earth? Why?"

"Why? Because it is my birthright, that's why!" Loki spat, his eyes flashed blue with rage. Angel stared at the sight. It wasn't the glowing alien blue like the man had, who tried to kidnap her earlier, it was a lot more subtle; but still a clear contrast from the shining green. Angel could easily see that Loki's eyes were the same shade of blue as the lasers that shot out of the sceptre. When his eyes were green he seemed so lost and out of place. Long lost sympathy returned within Angel at the remembrance of what this man had been through, especially that one nightmare she witnessed – one she hated to think about.

Angel had already seen the shadow in her dreams for a few months; she had also already moved in with her Vater and just got settled when this certain nightmare plagued her mind one night.

The shadow was caught between two other figures, from the shape of their large bulky silhouettes, they were grotesque creatures. These creatures dragged the already wounded shadow by his arms, so weak that his knees ploughed through the dust. The creatures then threw their prisoner to the ground, causing a pained gasp from the shadow as he collided with the earth; jerking with agony until suddenly becoming still, if it were not for his deep raspy breathing, you would have thought him dead.

A much larger, uglier creature stood above the prisoner that was nearly dead on the ground. A conversation ensued between the authoritive figure and the two creatures that brought the shadow in. A foreign language? Angel couldn't tell, words were always mashed and blurred together. The shadow was suddenly pulled off the ground by his hair, forced to look at the authoritive figure that held him. The shadow flailed his limbs and twisted in the air, the creature holding him gave a cold laugh at his pathetic attempt of escaping.

The shadow gasped in pain once more as he was tugged forward harshly, breathing shallow breaths as the creature pressed his mouth to his ear, whispering silently.

That's all there was – silence. But only for a moment, until the screams ripped through. Wicked cackles echoed through the air, the prisoner was dropped to the ground, still squirming and fighting as if he was being consumed from the inside. Blue lights shot through the victim's skin earning breathless whimpers of agony from him and blood curdling screams that seemed to tears out of his throat. He suddenly froze – completely paralysed, weak and at the utter mercy of his captors

He was now their puppet. Their toy. And they were going to play...

"You're being controlled." Angel realized. Everything Angel saw finally made sense. It was submission, torture. The point where everything changed for Loki.

Angel inspected the warrior who was also staring at her intently. He wasn't the same shadow who was captured by those creatures. He wasn't begging for mercy or whimpering in fear, he was completely transformed into a new identity - a hard, strong leader. But it was all an illusion, wasn't it? Anyone who had been through what he had been through wouldn't be completely unscaved. Underneath all that anger was scars of the past that could easily be re-opened with a word.

"I've seen what you have been through. Those creatures... they tortured you and they're using you."

The hardness of Loki's features softened at her words. "What?"

"I saw what they did to you Loki. Why did they-"

"Enough!" Loki snapped.

"But can't you-"

"No!" Loki grabbed Angel by the skin of her arms and shook her like a doll. "No more!"

Loki softened his grip on Angel's arms with a sigh, but still kept hold of her. "Please just- I don't want to think about it."

"What do they want?" Angel questioned. The warrior gave no answer which frustrated her. "Tell me." Angel growled. "If I'm going to be your queen you'd better tell me now!"

"I don't have to tell you anything. I don't even have to make you my queen; I could easily turn you into my whore."

"Why didn't you already? I offered myself to you a few moments ago, unless you have a short memory."

"Stubborn..." Loki let go of her fully, muttering under his breath before speaking again. "The Chatari – the creatures you saw – are giving me the throne of Midgard, my own rule."

"In return for what?"

"The tessaract." Noticing Angel's confused expression, he elaborated. "The tessaract is a source of unlimited power. Enough power to make me king."

"That's all they want?" Angel questioned, clearly unimpressed. "Seems a bit farfetched for you to go through all this trouble if all they want is a power source."

"You haven't seen it." Loki smirked with glimmer amazement in his green-blue eyes. "The tessaract is the key to getting everything we want. It will fix you."

"I don't need fixing." Angel retorted.

"Ah Perdita." Loki sighed as he cradled the back of the girl's neck with his long fingers, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs. "You are lost lamb, you're vulnerable and misguided. You don't know anything. You don't realize the pain you have caused me. You need me."

"I don't understand, what are you talking about?"

"Of course you don't understand." Loki huffed, straightening up and dropping his hands from Angel's face as if surrendering.

"I was king of Asgard. We were happy. Until you ran away and betrayed me; broke my heart."

"We were engaged." Angel remarked innocently.

"Yes. We. Were." Loki spat. "But that didn't stop you!"

Angel wrapped her arms around herself as if shielding her from the words that were beaten down on her.

"I did nothing to you." Loki continued, looking down at the girl with venom. "I cared and loved you; there was nothing I wouldn't have done for you. You were the only mortal in Asgard and when others ridiculed and discriminated you, I was there to protect you. Your friend and lover. I was devoted. What did I do to deserve this?"

"Please!" Angel pleaded, closing her eyes and ears. Her hands were pulled and she was wrenched forward, nearly tripping over. The grip on Angel's wrists burned – not like fire, like shards of ice stabbing her skin. The girl's eyes snapped open and her heart stopped in her chest.

Red eyes – blood red – stared back at her, digging into her soul. Blue skin surrounded the blood-drenched orbs, alien markings were etched on like a drawing that travelled down from the face, down the neck and disappeared under the green and black armour.

Was this Loki? It couldn't be? But her suspicions were soon confirmed.

"Was it this that scared you away?" Loki growled in an all too quite tone.

"What...h-how?"

"Does it terrify you? Knowing what I am?" Loki solemnly inquired.

"What are you?"

"I am Jotun. A frost giant. A monster hated by the Asgardian race."

"You're not Asgardian?"

Loki gave a sad laugh as he dropped Angel's wrists, now red from his ice cold grip.

"You still don't pay attention. No I'm not Asgardian." Loki said as his blue skin bled back into white.

"What about Thor? He's your brother, isn't he?"

"No he isn't." Loki snapped. "I was stolen as an infant by Odin, the king of Asgard, who already had Thor as a son. Odin changed my Jotun form into one of an Asgardian, and then I was lied to all my life. Told that I was born to be king of Asgard, taught to hate my true race. I spent all my life trying to gain Odin's favour, but it was always Thor!"

"Frigga?" Angel cautiously mentioned. "Your mother? What about her?"

"She didn't bring any light to the truth." Loki said softly. "But I suppose she couldn't if she was married to an oaf such as Odin." Realization opened his features and his head snapped towards Angel.

"You don't remember Frigga do you?"

"I told you I don't remember anything." Angel uneasily spoke. "Listen, I thank you for telling me these things but... It doesn't-"

"Frigga loved you like a daughter." Loki interrupted. "You were very dear to her."

"Was I? I know that I was a companion but-"

"She was as heartbroken as I was when you left."

The guilty feeling that was now familiar knotted in her stomach.

"Loki-"

"You were so selfish. What were you thinking? Using the Bifrost illegally and doing something so radical that caused you to lose our Child!"

"You knew?" Angel clutched her stomach subconsciously and stared wide eyed in shock.

"Yes. I. Knew." Loki spat in anger. "I have known all this time. I've known where you've been, that's why it was so easy to find you. Granted I had no idea that you sacrificed your memory-"

"And what about my Vater!" Angel roared. "Did you kill him just to get to me?"

"I was just killing two birds with one stone." Said Loki. "He had the key to something that was vital for my plans to work. The key just happened to be his eye."

"And what now? Are you going to kill me just like you did him?"

"No." Loki replied simply. "Even after everything you've done-"

"I haven't done anything!" Angel defended. "I don't know what I've done, so stop accusing me of something that I can't even remember doing!"

"Oh you don't know what you've done." Loki darkly said. "It was your fault for causing our child to die! It was you who caused me to fall into the abyss! You caused me to turn, into this! You are your Father's murderer. How many more will die at your hand I wonder?"

Angel was shaking with tears streaking down her face. She felt sick as the pool of guilt spread further in the pit of her stomach. Angel didn't want to believe it, but saw no alternative. She caused Loki to fall through hell. It was her selfishness that caused her baby to miscarry, her Vater to be brutally killed, and now she was to blame for earth being taken over by Loki. This was her punishment. This was her downfall.

Long fingers stroked the weeping girl's jaw before palms held the sides of her face. Thumbs stroking away the falling tear drops.

"And despite all of what you've done, I still love you." Thin lips pressed against the girl's. It felt strange but comforting and as the lips softened and pulled away, green eyes - fully green - stared back, it felt so familiar. She longed for the action to repeat.

"You love me?" Angel asked, her heart twisting with a strong sense of déjà vu.

"Of course I do. I always have." Loki smiled softly.

"You're lying." Angel breathed.

"I may be the God of lies, but I swear by the nine, that I will never lie when I say I love you."

"Really?"

"I would give you my heart if that's what it takes."

He kissed her once more, deeper this time but still maintaining tenderness. Angel's heart had been through a roller-coaster of emotion, it was now thundering a quick rhythm. When the kiss finally broke, Angel found herself locked by Loki's arms around her. She welcomed it gladly and hesitantly returned the embrace.

Loki's head bent down to the crook of her neck, inhaling and exhaling warmth into her hair. For the first time in a long time, Angel understood. It was still a lot to take in; she was still weighed down with trouble and questions. But in this moment Angel felt ... complete. That empty space in the jigsaw was filled. True, this wasn't exactly the ideal circumstances – he was still an unpredictable psychopath and murderer, it seems that she was too, but she could at last forget all about that and have a sense of peace, at least for a moment.

"You don't know how long I've yearned for this. I have you in my arms at last." Loki murmured.

"You don't need to do this." Angel pulled herself away to look at the warrior; his eyes still a mixture of two colours. "You don't have to take over the earth."

"You saw what they did to me." His eyes were tinted with distant fear. "Imagine what they would do to me if I failed them. They won't be merciful."

Angel could see that there wasn't an alternative to that. "Well...all they want is the tess-tesser...terack."

"The tessaract." He corrected.

"Yes that. Why don't you just find it and give it to them."

"Oh. We already have it." Loki smirked.

"You do? Then you don't need to take over-"

"Yes I do! The Chatari are giving me an army. Midgard will be mine; I've come too far, been through too much to give up now. Don't you think after everything I've been through, I deserve this?"

"No I don't."

The blue eyed warrior gave a cold laugh. "My mind is set and nothing will change it. Not even you."

Angel pushed his arms way from her in frustration. There goes her chance to try and stop world domination.

"Everything I've done was for you. Everything I'm doing is so we can be together." Loki stated with pure sincerity.

"For me? You've just told me that I have blood on my hands, and now you're saying that more deaths will be in my name!"

"Then they will be in mine if that's what you wish."

"Loki, I still...I-I can't-"

"Enough! Look at what I'm giving you; look at what I'm offering. It is more than anyone else could give – and I give it to you. Only you, my angel. I ask for just one thing."

He placed a finger under her chin and tilted her head to look at him.

"Acceptance. Accept that you are mine and that you will be my queen, that the events that will take place have no alternative. I can give you want you yearn for most."

"Which is?"

"Your memory."

Angel gasped. Her memory, no her goal, was just in an arm's reach. Every previous thought had dissolved, finally everything would make sense and every question she had would be answered. Never mind the consequences or earth being taken over, that didn't matter to Angel, maybe being queen wouldn't be too bad. This was a unique opportunity, too valuable to be overlooked. It was everything she wanted.

Loki dropped her chin and instead offered an outstretched hand, flashing a grin.

"What do you say?"

Angel hesitated; she still had a conscience after all. She could hear her Vater speaking in the back of her mind, begging her not to throw her life away like this. Why was she trusting the God of lies? Angel still didn't know what to feel for him, he acted nice but he was dangerous. But he loved her, didn't he? That struck a chord within the girl.

Angel realized that she had been right all this time, this all had to do with Loki, he held the answers and that is what he was offering her now. It was her that caused him pain and anguish, she could put it right. He deserved this.

Angel slowly placed her small hand onto the pale palm. This was her accepting her fate; there was no going back now.

"Come, my queen." Loki smiled as he grasped her hand. "We have lots to prepare for. First of all let's find you some decent footwear."

Please review if you liked this. Sorry it took so long.