Thanks so much for all the lovely reviews! I don't have time to respond to any of them right now but I promise I'll get to them next chapter! Now, onward!
ONE STEP FORWARD, FOUR STEPS BACK
A THOR/AVENGERS FANFICTION
CHAPTER TWELVE: Loki's Day Out
It was around eleven at night when a knock was heard at Jim and Beth Foster's front door. Wearily, Jim crawled out of bed and stifled a yawn and headed toward the door. He opened it and peered out of it.
"Greetings," came the loud voice of a man. Jim looked up and his eyes met with the bright blue ones of a man younger than he. Jim's eyes narrowed in confusion as he stared at this mysterious man.
"Can I help you?" Jim asked tiredly.
"Yes. I know Jane and my brother and I require lodging for the night. Will you help us?" the man asked. Jim shrugged and opened the door all way, allowing the man and his brother inside. Jim looked over and was surprised to see that this man's brother was quite a bit younger than the man, the boy in his strong looking arms.
"He's a young one," Jim commented, flipping the lights on. The lights revealed that the man had unruly blonde hair and the little boy had black hair and bright green eyes. They also looked nothing alike at all.
"Tell the man how old you are," the man told the boy. The boy grinned and held up one of his hands, all the fingers outstretched.
"I'm five," the boy told Jim proudly. Jim smiled and gestured for the man to sit down.
"You said you know Jane. What's your name?" Jim asked.
"I am Thor son of Odin from Asgard. This is my younger brother Loki, also a son of Odin." Jim's eyes narrowed. This guy seemed a little crazy. Everyone knew Thor and Loki were just myths right?
"Right…and how do you know Jane?" Jim questioned.
"She hit me with her vehicle my first time on Midga-Earth." Thor said, correcting himself on the last word.
"And does she know Loki as well?" Jim asked. Thor shook his head.
"Nay, she doesn't," Thor replied. Loki let out a huge yawn and rubbed his sleepy looking green eyes.
"'M tired, Thor," he moaned softly. Thor shushed him and looked back to Jim.
"You just need to stay the night, then?" Jim asked. Thor nodded.
"Aye. Possibly two nights after. Hopefully no longer than that." Jim really wasn't sure if these people were who they claimed they were, but he couldn't just throw them out into the desert. He'd call Jane first thing in the morning to see if these people met their claims. Jim stood up and told Thor to follow. He led them to the guest room and apologized for them having to share a bed. Thor said it was no big deal and that they were used to sharing anyway. Thor told Loki to get ready for bed and looked to Jim.
"May I speak with you?" Thor asked. Jim shrugged; make it quick, he thought. Jim followed Thor out of the room and Thor looked him straight in the eyes. His blue gaze was so strong it was almost intimidating.
"What do you need?" Jim questioned. He really just wanted to go back to bed.
"I just need to let you know somethings about Loki," Thor said. Jim nodded wearily and urged Thor to continue. The sooner this was over, the sooner he got to sleep.
"Well first of all, Loki wasn't a boy four weeks ago. Four weeks ago, he was a man. Second, the man Loki caused all that destruction in New York, but the boy has no memory or knowledge of that occurring. Loki is an innocent boy and I want him to be treated as such. Third, my father Odin tortured him for two weeks and he is traumatized to say the least. Be gentle with him. Lastly, he's been wetting the bed, so I apologize if he does so tonight." Thor said, keeping his voice calm and steady. A million things were running through Jim's head; that battle of New York was that cute little boy's fault? Torture by his own father, his own body manipulated by some outside force…. Jim sighed and shook his head; Loki's had a rough month.
"Alright, thanks for letting me know. My wife and I love kids, so it shouldn't be hard to treat your brother right." Jim said, hoping he could truly mean his own words. A look of relief that Jim had never seen before washed over Thor's face and Thor smiled brightly.
"Thank you so much Mr. Foster," Thor said gratefully. Jim waved his hand.
"Please, call me Jim," he told Thor. Thor nodded and bid Jim goodnight. Thor went back into the guest room and found Loki jumping on the bed. His laughter was filling the room and Thor had to fight the urge to laugh as well. The owners of the house were sleeping after all.
"Loki, stop that now," Thor scolded lightly. Loki stopped and his face fell a bit.
"Do I have to?" Loki whined. Thor nodded.
"Yes. It's time to sleep now." Thor told him. Loki groaned and got under the covers.
"But 'm not sleepy, Thor," Loki pointed out, dark circles forming under his eyes. Thor gave him a look and began dressing for bed.
"Really? Are you sure?" Thor asked as Loki yawned loudly. Loki blushed and put his head down on the pillow. Chuckling, Thor continued getting ready for bed, Loki still trying to fight off sleep. When he was finished, Thor came and got into bed and Loki instantly snuggled into him.
"G' night Thor," Loki said tiredly. Thor kissed his little brother's head and drew his little body closer.
"Good night Loki," Thor replied, falling asleep almost instantly.
The next morning came around much too soon for Thor's liking. Loki had been plagued with nightmares worse than any other night on Midgard. Collectively, Thor figured that both he and Loki only got around four hours of sleep that night, making Loki extremely cranky when he woke up that morning. True to his word, Jim and his wife Beth were very kind to Loki in the morning when Loki had to explain his soiled sheets. Beth said she would take care of it and didn't deny Loki's offer to help; she seemed pleased by it. Jim was making coffee for everyone (except Loki of course) and was telling Thor what he did for a living. Jim was teacher at the local middle school (Jim had to what explain middle school was to Thor) and he loved what he did for a living. When Thor asked what Beth did Jim told him that Beth had a degree in childhood psychology and was actually worried about Loki.
"She has a ton of questions for you," Jim said over coffee. Thor raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?" Thor asked. Jim nodded.
"Yeah. She wants to know if he's been withdrawn or has had any emotional breakdowns during the day and stuff like that." Jim explained. Thor wondered why those things would be of importance to Beth. Thor wasn't even sure what having a degree in childhood psychology even meant. But since he already felt stupid because he asked about middle school, Thor decided not to ask Jim and he'd figure it out on his own.
Shortly after Jim left for work, Beth and Loki returned, Loki chattering with her. His face was rosy and he was wearing a huge grin. That made Thor smile. Beth helped Loki get his food, take his medicine and once the boy was settled in, she gestured for Thor to get up and follow her. Thor told Loki he'd be back in a minute and left, Loki eating his food quietly.
"What is it maiden?" Thor asked.
"Please sit. I have a few questions regarding Loki." Thor sat and Beth got out a notebook and paper.
"Jim might have told you this already, but I have a degree in childhood psychology and I work part-time at a psychiatrist's office specializing in children. Jim tells me that Loki has been through a lot and I'm worried about him. No one should have to go through that, but for kids it's different because they don't process, understand and express emotion the way adults do. So, I just want to ask you a couple of questions about Loki and I would also like to spend the day with him. Is that alright?" Beth explained. Thor had to admit he was impressed. Someone other than himself was concerned for Loki's emotional well-being and actually wanted to do what they could to help. That was all the reason to say yes.
"Aye, that's fine. I have been worried about my little brother for some time." Thor admitted. Beth nodded.
"That's perfectly normal. Just answer my questions as honestly as you can." Beth told him.
"Alright," Thor replied.
"Sorry to bring this up right away, but how long was Loki tortured for?" Beth asked, not wasting any time.
"A little over two weeks," Thor answered, that flood of painful memories flowing through him.
"Okay, has he really talked about it?" Beth questioned.
"No, not really. He often talks of someone he calls 'not-Thor', but I have no idea who that is. Loki hasn't spoken once to me of his sufferings." Thor replied. Beth's hand went flying across the page; the only sounds heard were pen against paper.
"Okay," Beth began, "did Loki wet the bed the first time he was a child?" Thor thought hard on this. Don't all children? But did she mean consistently, like what was happening now? Banking on the second thought, Thor had his answer.
"No. It was only occasionally like most children." Thor answered.
"Okay, what about during the day?"
"No," Beth continued writing and her eyes didn't meet Thor's again for some time.
"Alright," Beth finally said meeting Thor's eyes, "Does he ever just start crying and not have a reason why? For instance, do you ever catch him crying but he doesn't or can't tell you why he is crying?"
"Not that I know of. He usually cries after a nightmare, accident or when he's been yelled at or teased. He hasn't really just broken down and cried." Thor replied. Beth began writing again and her face looked worried.
"Does he like to color?" she asked.
"Yes," Thor said slowly, not understanding why she would ask such a random question.
"What colors does he use?" Beth questioned.
"A lot of black, red and gray. Sometimes brown and blue, but mostly dark colors." Thor answered, the question still not making too much sense. Though Bruce did mention something about traumatized children using dark colors….
"Does Loki ever talk about his nightmares?" Beth asked.
"No," Thor replied.
"Do you ever ask him about his nightmares?" Beth asked. Thor blushed a little and shook his head.
"No, but should I be?" Thor asked.
"Only if he seems like he wants to. You don't want to force him to talk about it if he doesn't want to. Eventually he will, but you can't press too hard or he never will." Beth explained.
"That's good," Thor said relief in his voice. He was worried that he was somehow failing Loki by not making the boy talk about his experiences. Beth smiled warmly at him.
"You really care for him," she commented, setting her notebook aside. "That's all I have to ask for now. I'll tell you my findings after I spend the day with him. And don't worry; I'll take good care of him." Beth assured Thor, who was worried about leaving Loki's side.
"Alright, but he's been clingy and he can get cranky if he doesn't take a nap. He really likes sweets but don't let him eat too many and take lots of breaks, his body is still recovering. Oh, and-" Thor rambled until Beth held up a hand.
"Thor I have raised a child before," she teased lightly. Thor blushed slightly and shut his mouth. Beth patted his leg and stood.
"Enjoy yourself today," she said, leaving. Thor, not sure of what to do, decided that he would take the opportunity to sleep just a little bit more.
Beth reentered the kitchen and found Loki playing with his eggs. She poured herself more coffee and sat down next to Loki. The boy looked up and smiled at her, his fork still poking the yellow eggs.
"Not hungry?" Beth asked. Loki shrugged.
"Yeah. I don' really eat much anymore," Loki commented casually. Beth smiled and took his plate away.
"Alright, that's fine," she said, scrapping the uneaten food into the trash then placing the plate in the sink.
"Where's Thor?" Loki asked.
"Around. You and I are spending the day together. Won't that be fun?" Beth told him, a smile on her face. Loki's lip trembled slightly.
"Can' Thor come too?" Loki asked. Beth put a hand on his shoulder.
"It's alright, Loki. You'll see Thor later. We're going to have a lot of fun together." Beth said gently. Loki wiped his nose on his sleeve.
"What are we gonna do?" Loki asked curiously.
"Get dressed in some real clothes first and I'll tell you," Beth teased. Loki glanced down and his pajamas and scowled.
"But Mrs. Foster, regular clothes hurt me," Loki told her.
"Loki, you can't go where I want to take you if you are wearing pajamas," Beth said more sternly. Loki sighed dramatically.
"'Kay, I'll go," he said, sulking out of the kitchen.
Loki returned to his and Thor's room and began to rummage through his clothes. In his memory, he had never picked out his own clothes and was actually excited to do so. Midgardian clothes were much more interesting than Asgardian garments, and that excited Loki as well. He eventually settled and got himself dressed (with some difficulty) and left to go brush his teeth. Loki's hair was sticking up in some places, but Loki didn't mess with it. If Beth wanted it to lie down, she'd get it to. Loki wasn't even going to try. Once his teeth were clean, he left the bathroom and entered the kitchen where Beth was waiting for him. She looked him over and smiled.
"Ready to go?" Beth asked. Loki nodded.
"Uh-huh," he replied taking her hand. They walked out to the garage and Loki remembered that Beth had never told him where they were going.
"Mrs. Foster?" Loki asked.
"Yes," she replied, strapping Loki into the car.
"Where are we goin'?" he asked her.
"We're going to a place called Castles ~n~ Coasters. It's an amusement park. There are games and rides and good food for us to eat." Beth explained, knowing that Loki had never been to one before. Loki's face shone with excitement.
"That does sound like fun!" Loki giggled. Beth shut the door and secured her purse. She brought extra clothes for Loki, just in case. Beth also stuffed Loki's ram inside of it in case he was nervous or scared. She got into the car and started it up, Loki's happy chatter filling her ears as she drove.
The car finally came to a stop in the parking lot of Castles ~n~ Coasters and Beth killed the roaring engine. Loki was still talking a lot, his excitement bouncing off the walls of the car. Beth grabbed her purse and went to let Loki out. He jumped out of the care and Beth had grab Loki to prevent him from running off. She took his tiny hand in hers and began leading him to the front gate. As the got closer, she could feel Loki slow down, his excitement dwindling into anxiety. Before they reached the gate, Beth pulled him aside.
"What's wrong?" she asked. Loki's green eyes were wide and mixed with excitement and nervousness.
"I dunno. This place seems real big." Loki told her. Beth smiled.
"I know it is. If you don't run off, nothing will happen to you." Beth said.
"Are the rides scary?" he asked.
"Not really, but if they scare you we won't ride. Besides, you'll be too short to ride some of them anyway." Beth explained. Loki smiled.
"'Kay. Let's go!" he cried happily. Beth smiled and led him to the gate, where security was waiting. The security guard smiled at Loki warmly and then took Beth's purse. Loki looked outraged and was about to say something when Beth shushed him.
"It's alright; he's supposed to do that. He'll give it back to me." Beth explained. Loki huffed a little.
"He still shouldn' look in your handbag. Mother tol' me that's rude." Loki said.
"Well she's right, but he has to. It's his job to check all the bags that come into the park to make sure no one is carrying anything dangerous." Beth told him. Loki shrugged.
"Fine. He still should of asked, though." Loki muttered. Beth smiled and took her bag back from the security guard. She gripped Loki's hand and led him away from the security gate. Beth bought the tickets and took Loki inside, the boy vibrating with excitement.
"What are we gonna ride first?" Loki asked happily.
"How about we go potty first," Beth told him. Loki groaned; he went before they left! Grown-ups were so weird.
"Fine, but what are we ridin' first?" Loki asked.
"Whatever you want to as long as you're tall enough," Beth said.
After making a bathroom break, Beth and Loki wandered around the park looking for something to ride. Loki wasn't sure what to look for having never been at an amusement park before, and Beth made some suggestions. She knew that Castles ~n~ Coasters had a good miniature golf course and figured Loki would enjoy that. Loki didn't know what miniature golf was but was eager to try. They played the entire course, Loki getting two hole-in-ones from it. After the miniature golf, Beth suggested going to the arcade. Loki wasn't sure what that was either, and when Beth explained it to him, Loki didn't seem interested. When Beth said they could win prizes, however, Loki immediately became fascinated with it. As it turns out, neither Beth nor Loki are any good at video games and Loki was becoming very frustrated that he wouldn't be able to win anything. He glanced over at the prize table and his eyes went wide. The top prize was a gigantic stuffed wolf that looked just like a real one. He tugged on Beth's pant leg to get her attention.
"What is it?" she asked. Loki pointed to the wolf.
"That's what I wanna get," Loki told her. Beth read the plaque underneath the wolf and grimaced; the wolf was ten thousand tickets. She and Loki combined only had about one hundred. Beth glanced back down at Loki who seemed to understand their predicament.
"We don' have enough do we?" he asked sadly. Beth looked to Loki's disappointed face and back to the gigantic stuffed wolf.
"No we don't," she began, Loki's green eyes dropping to the floor, "but we'll get enough to win it for you." Loki squealed happily and darted off to play another game. While Loki was playing one of the arcade games, Beth found a machine that would transfer dollars to tickets. It was a fair price; ten dollars for ten tickets, and Beth had to try. Loki meanwhile was getting very frustrated indeed and was accidently using magic. When the game was over, he got over a hundred tickets even though the screen said ten. Loki, who couldn't read anyway, was ecstatic, his dream of the huge wolf slowly becoming reality. He kept playing the same game, thinking it was lucky. Beth went to stand by Loki, over one hundred dollars in ticket in her hands. She was startled to see how many tickets Loki had won in just a few minutes.
"Hey Loki," Beth said. Loki glanced up and a huge smile spread out across his face.
"Mrs. Foster," he cried happily, his fingers clutching the tickets, "look 'ow many I got!" Beth smiled and patted his head.
"Good job!" she praised. "Look how many I have." Loki looked up and squealed a little.
"That's a whole lot, Mrs. Foster!" Loki said gleefully. Beth smiled and began playing the game next to Loki's, his magic helping them both a little along the way.
It took almost an hour to win Loki's stuffed wolf, but they managed to do it. Loki refused to put in the package pickup, wanting to carry his prize around with him everywhere. Beth reluctantly agreed. After the arcade, Beth suggested the go-karts. Loki was excited to try until the worker told him he was too short to drive. He left fuming and wishing he knew a spell that made him taller. Loki began complaining of being hungry, but Beth told him to wait until they had ridden some rides first. Loki agreed, pointing out a roller coaster called Desert Storm. Beth the height requirement and saw that it was forty-two inches to ride. She had Loki stand up against the ruler and saw that he was forty-two on the nose. Excited, Loki ran off without her, and Beth had to run to keep up. They stood in line for a few minutes and Loki spent that time admiring his wolf.
"What are you going to call it?" Beth asked.
"I dunno. It's a boy, though," Loki told her.
"I'll think of good names for him while we ride, okay?" Beth said. Loki nodded.
"'Kay," he replied. The workers looked irritated about the wolf, but didn't say anything about it. Loki at first didn't understand why his wolf couldn't ride too, but quickly agreed to let it stay behind when Beth explained that he could lose it on the ride. The workers helped Loki strap in and the boy was getting antsy.
"Are you scared?" Beth asked. Loki nodded.
"A little," Loki admitted. Beth took his hand.
"It's alright. Nothing can hurt you." Beth reassured him. The ride began to climb its first hill and Loki's eye watered.
"I don' wanna ride anymore," he frantically told Beth. He had a death-grip on Beth's hand.
"It's too late now, Loki. I'm sure you'll love it," Beth told him. The train reached the top of the hill and before Loki could say anything else, the train sped down the hill and Loki screamed. He fought to keep his eyes open as the train glided along the track and a smile played on his lips. His terrified screams became laughs and woops as the ride continued, Beth never letting go of his hand. The train came to a stop and Loki was smiling and panting. He had never had such fun in his life! Roller coasters were amazing and he couldn't wait to tell Thor about it.
"Let's ride another one!" Loki said as he bounded out of the car, grabbed his wolf, and ran out of the station. Beth giggled and chased after him.
The rest of the day at Castles ~n~ Coasters went smoothly, Loki never complaining or whining the entire time. The boy was on his best behavior and the two managed to eat lunch and ride all the rides Loki could ride before dinner. After the amusement park, Beth picked up some food and went to a park to have a picnic with Loki. Loki was excited and asked to bring his wolf with him. Beth agreed and Loki sprinted out of the car.
"Wait sweetie! Can you help me carry something?" Beth called after him. Loki nodded and came back, his massive wolf under his arm.
"What can I carry, Mrs. Foster?" Loki asked. Beth pulled a blanket out of the trunk and placed it in Loki's arms.
"Now wait here until I say it's okay to go," Beth instructed.
"'Kay," Loki replied. Beth got the rest of the stuff out and let Loki pick a spot to eat. He found a nice spot under a tree and helped Beth unfold the blanket. He placed his wolf on top of the blanket then helped Beth unpack the food. She made him a plate and Loki made her make a plate for his wolf. The two then ate, Loki chatting about his favorite rides in the park. Beth listened and talked back, Loki eager to have someone other than Thor talk with him. When he was done eating, Loki asked if he could go play and Beth said yes so long as he stayed in sight. Loki bounded away, leaving his wolf on the blanket with Beth. It was much too big to be played with at a playground anyway.
Loki had never been to a playground before and realized that this day was one of many firsts for him. He saw some other children on some of the equipment and quickly got the idea by watching the other kids. Some of the other children came and introduced themselves, and Loki quickly became playground friends with them. He played with three of them for a long time until the children he was playing with froze in fear.
"What's wrong?" Loki asked one little girl called Heidi. She pointed to a larger boy who wasn't any older than twelve with a shaking finger.
"That's Mason, the playground bully. He picks on the younger kids like us." She explained in a hushed whisper. Loki looked at him and huffed a little. He didn't look so bad.
"He doesn' look that big," Loki told Heidi. She shook her head and stood up.
"I'm gonna go find my mom," she said, running off quickly. Loki crossed his arms, pouting that Heidi ran off. The other children were beginning to run away as well, and Loki didn't understand what the big deal was. The bullies on Asgard were five times Mason's size and a lot more frightening. Loki got on his feet and walked over to some equipment near where Mason was. He casually climbed on it, his green eyes fixed on Mason. Loki was just wandering around, watching the older boy carefully. So far, Mason had done nothing that Loki would consider bullying. The older boy had kicked up some dirt and tossed some rocks, but hadn't done anything particularly menacing. Loki was losing interest and was about to go find some other children to play with when he heard the cries of a child followed by laughter. He glanced back at Mason to find he had pushed over a little boy around the age of two over and the boy was crying. Loki's face burned in anger and he thought about what Thor would do. He figured that Thor would do whatever he could to stop the clear injustice. Puffing out his chest, Loki jumped off the playground equipment and darted toward Mason at full speed.
"Hey!" Loki called when he was close enough to be heard. Mason turned slowly and a smile broke out when he saw Loki. Loki's courage dwindled when he got closer to the older boy and saw just how big Mason really was. Quickly putting on a brave face, Loki made eye contact with Mason, Mason's face set in a scowl.
"Whadda you want?" Mason snapped. Loki had to stop his knees from shaking. He cleared his throat and looked Mason in the eye.
"You shouldn't push other kids. It's mean." Loki told him. It was a real effort to keep his voice steady. Mason was scarier up close. Mason smirked at Loki and stepped closer, causing Loki to stumble and fall down.
"You think its mean?" Mason mocked. Loki gulped and nodded, not looking Mason in the eyes.
"Well, yeah…" Loki replied.
"Don't be stupid. I can do whatever I want and you can't stop me." Mason said coolly. Loki scowled.
"I don' think that's true. My mother always said-" Loki was cut off by Mason's sudden laughter.
"Aw, did your mommy tell you to be nice to everyone? What else did your mommy tell you?" Mason teased harshly. Loki's face reddened.
"Don' talk bad about my mother!" Loki yelled, standing up and looking Mason in the eyes. Mason's brow lowered angrily.
"What are you gonna do about? You're just a baby." Mason retorted.
"I'm not a baby!" Loki cried, pushing Mason to the ground. Mason's face was frozen in shock for moment, then it twisted up in anger.
"You'll regret that," Mason said darkly. Loki stood his ground.
"I'm not scared of you!" Loki told him. Mason stood up and towered over Loki, who had begun to quiver. Maybe he was a little scared of Mason. Mason lunged for him and Loki sprinted off, Mason following after him. Loki ran to a tree and tried to climb up it, but he was too short to reach any of the branches. Before he could run again, Mason had caught up to him and grabbed Loki's shirt.
"Let me go!" Loki cried, squirming desperately to get away.
"You think you can push me over and get away with it? You said it yourself that it was mean." Mason mocked, spitting all over Loki's face. Loki's bottom lip trembled. Mason glared at him.
"You gonna cry now, huh? You gonna cry like the big baby that you are?" Mason asked harshly. Loki shook his head and had to fight to keep the tears from falling.
"No," Loki said, his voice cracking. What would Mason do to him? Loki was beginning to panic, his breath shallow and labored. He didn't know it, but he was having a panic attack.
"What's wrong with you?" Mason asked, not understanding what was happening. Loki hid his face and began squirming again.
"Don' hurt me! 'M sorry!" Loki cried, not caring if the tears fell or not.
"You should have thought about that earlier," Mason said, preparing to strike. Before Mason could hit Loki, Loki had accidentally created a glass barrier with his magic. He didn't know it had happened so when Mason began howling in pain, Loki was very confused indeed. Loki glanced over and saw that Mason's hand was bleeding, shards of glass scattered across the grass.
"What the hell?" Mason cried, his hand bleeding heavily. Loki felt himself fall to the ground, Mason still glaring at him.
"You keep glass on you or something?" Loki blinked. What a strange question to ask.
"No…" Loki answered. A middle-aged woman came running over and took Mason's hand in her own.
"What happened Mason?" she asked.
"That kid shattered a glass bottle on my hand, mom!" Mason cried. Loki stood, a look of shock on his face.
"What? No I didn'!" Loki cried, outraged that he was being blamed for this. The woman, Mason's mother, glared at Loki menacingly. Loki was beginning to see where Mason got all his charm from.
"Don't lie to me. Where's your mother?" she asked angrily. Loki bit down on his trembling lip.
"Um…not here," Loki answered, sniffling. The woman glared.
"Then who are you here with?" she asked, clearly angry and annoyed with Loki.
"Mrs. Foster," Loki replied, a few tears running down his face. He didn't want to get in trouble for something he didn't do. He didn't know why Mason got hurt, but he did know that it wasn't his fault. Mason's mother grabbed Loki's hand and demanded that Loki take her to Beth. Loki obliged, scared that Mason's mother may try to hurt him if he didn't. Loki led the woman to Beth, who was reading a book when they approached.
"Excuse me," Mason's mother said rudely. Beth looked up from her book and smiled.
"Hi," she said, putting the book down.
"This boy hurt my son. He hit my son with a glass bottle." Mason's mother said, pushing Loki closer to Beth. Loki met Beth's gaze and saw anger and disappointment. She scowled at Loki and grabbed his hand.
"I am so sorry. I should have been keeping a better eye on him. Say you're sorry." Beth told Loki firmly. Loki met the woman's eyes.
"'M sorry," Loki said. The woman huffed and walked away. Beth turned to face him, her face angry.
"Loki," she began, her voice heated.
"I didn' do anything! I didn' hurt her kid, he tried to hurt me! Honest!" Loki explained frantically, the pressure in his chest building. Beth scowled at him; she knew better. Loki was the king of lies. There was no way he was telling the truth. Beth angrily packed her things and practically dragged Loki to the car. She told him to strap in and he did, panicking the whole time. She got in the car, but didn't start it. Instead, she turned to face Loki, her face softening a bit when she met his pale and frightened looking one.
"We aren't leaving until you tell me what happened," she said, her voice calmer than before. Loki nodded and tried to calm down, but couldn't manage to do so. At this point, he wasn't upset over being blamed for Mason's hand. He wasn't even sure why he was crying. Loki only knew that he was in fact crying and couldn't bring himself to speak. Beth dug in her purse and found Loki's ram, handing it to him. Loki cuddled it and he slowly calmed down, Beth waiting patiently the whole time.
"Can you talk now?" she asked gently. Loki nodded.
"Uh-huh," Loki replied, wiping his nose on his hand.
"Okay, can you tell me what happened?" Beth asked. Loki nodded again and began to speak, not really slowing down at all to breath. It wasn't until Loki reached the part were Mason grabbed him when Loki's eyes widened with shock. He realized what had happened and was ashamed by it; he lost control of his magic and created a glass barrier between himself and Mason. It was then that he realized that he did in fact hurt Mason and Mason's hand was bleeding because of him.
"Loki?" Beth prompted, Loki staying silent for several minutes.
"'M sorry! It was me!" Loki blurted out suddenly. "I swear, I didn' mean to!" Beth was taken aback. How can you accidently bust a glass object on someone's hand?
"Please explain, Loki," Beth said calmly.
"I can do magic, and sometimes when 'm scared or in trouble, I lose control of it. I made a glass wall so that Mason couldn' hurt me, cause he was gonna, Mrs. Foster. I didn' know it happened, honest!" Loki pleaded, his eyes swimming. Beth wasn't sure how to respond. Her child never had issues with controlling magic. What was she supposed to do or say?
"Well talk to Thor about it when we get home," she told him.
"Are you mad at me?" Loki asked over the roar of the engine.
"No, I guess not. But next time come and find someone when another kid is bullying you, okay?" Beth told him. Loki nodded.
"'Kay," he told her, a yawn sounding from him. He was asleep before the car exited the park.
Loki was still asleep when the car pulled into the garage. Beth picked him up and put him in bed after changing him into pajamas. She then unpacked the picnic things and put them away and went to search out Thor. Thor wasn't too hard to find. He was in the living room watching television with an intrigued sort of look on his face. Beth sat down next to him and he looked over.
"How did it go?" he asked, turning the television off.
"It went fine. I have a ton of notes to look at. But there was an incident at the park," Beth explained, Thor's brow lowering.
"An incident? Is Loki alright?" Thor questioned heatedly.
"Of course. He lost control of his magic and hurt some other kid." Beth explained. As she finished, a look of relief came over Thor's face and she was really confused.
"Is that it? I was afraid he had hurt himself with his own magic." Thor told her.
"Oh, well Loki's fine and that kid should be fine," Beth said.
"That's good. That will happen from time to time. Father's sorcerers used to say it was because Loki has a really high magical energy. He couldn't control it when we were both small either. It's a learned and practiced skill." Thor explained. Thor thought on it for a moment and wondered how in the world they were to move forward from here. They had no sorcerers of any kind to teach Loki how to control the magic within himself. Would this accidental magic continue? Thor had no way of helping Loki with this problem at all. Not that Thor was any real help with anything else, though. He couldn't make the nightmares end. He couldn't take away the bad memories or boost Loki's self-esteem. Thor sighed; he had never felt so useless.
"What sort of notes did you take?" Thor asked. Beth took her notebook out and flipped to the right page.
"Long story short; Loki's traumatized. He has no real sense of who to trust and who not to trust. He is trying to deny the way he feels for some undetermined reason, and the only way he'll express himself is through coloring or when he's in trouble. Whenever he's in trouble, Loki will actually express how he is feeling. He is also calling out for attention. I think Loki misses his mother and wants people to care about him. I would suggest just talking with him to let him know that what he has to say matters to you. The only other advise I can give you is to be patient and understanding. It's going to get worse before it gets better and Loki's been through a lot." Beth said, reading off of what she had written throughout the day. Thor nodded thoughtfully, feeling more and more helpless. There was no way that he alone could possibly fix all of the emotional scars that Loki now had. And what if someone told Loki of his more recent past? How further downward would Loki fall? Thor didn't know, but didn't want to find out. He knew that he had to tell Loki eventually, just wasn't sure when would be the right time. No matter what happened, Thor would be there for his little brother, no matter what.
Many people had pointed out an error within the dialogue referring to the use of the last name "Laufeyson". I went back and fixed it so the error is no more! Thanks for pointing it out! Sorry it took so long for me to fix it. It really didn't make since for Beth to call Loki by that name when neither of them know who Laufey even is. Thanks again and enjoy the rest of the story! :)