Chapter 3
'Where are you going?' I asked as he'd turned multiple corners.
'You'll see.' He stopped at a room, laid his ear against the door and listened for a moment.
'No.' He concluded as he moved on to the next door. After three doors he knocked on one and entered, closing it behind me. Doctor Banner looked up and frowned at seeing us.
'Haylee is very interested in the research you've done on the staff.' Loki said.
'Really?'
'I heard from Thor that it's a kind of magic. As a magician I'd like to learn from it.'
'You're a magician?' He asked sceptically.
'Do they not have magic on earth?'
'We have illusionism, it's not real magic.'
'I can prove it.' I said as I held up my hand, imagined a rune in my head and observed as a blue flame appeared above it. Doctor Banner stood, came closer and looked interestedly at the fire.
'It's cold fire.' I said as I moved my other hand through it.
'How do you do it?' He asked amazed as he carefully touched it.
'It's runic magic. If you have the aptitude for it then it's just a matter of practice and knowledge of the runes.'
'But I don't think that the staff can be compared to this. It's much more powerful, like a laser.' Banner looked sideways at Loki, who was just staring at him. I read his intentions off his face and shot the cold fire at him. He dodged, as I expected, and it splattered apart against the ceiling.
'Don't even think about it.' I said accusingly.
'I didn't do anything wrong.'
'No but you were thinking of it. Don't.' I turned back to doctor Banner and smiled.
'I apologise for that, he was thinking bad thoughts.'
'It's fine, I figured he was.'
'But the staff wasn't magical then?' I returned to the other topic.
'Well, you did shoot that fire just now and it resembled the laser a little.'
'What happened to it?' Loki asked.
'Stark took it home to do more research. He said he wanted to find out if it could be used as a power source.'
'Then we should visit him.' Without another word he pulled me towards the door.
'It's been nice talking to you. See you at the banquet.' I said quickly just before he closed the door. He walked to the second room and entered, closing the door behind me.
'Is that a custom here? Walking in just like that?' Stark asked offended.
'It's not.' I quickly said.
'Haylee said I should go pick a fight with you.'
'I didn't!'
'Oh wait... You're just a petty human without your suit.' He ignored me completely.
'Who says I don't have my suit?' Two bracelets on his wrists started glowing and the closet doors opened. Something flew out and within seconds I was looking at Tony Stark in his suit, at Iron Man.
'Hang on, guys, this isn't-'
'My my, just like tin man.' Loki said.
'I'm Iron Man, bitch.' Having said that he flew forward and grabbed Loki's collar, pulling him and me along through the door and the hallways. I felt like my wrist was going to break and quickly created a platform beneath myself. However, as he turned a corner it sent me flying off, I face planted a wall before being pulled along again. When he flew outside he threw Loki down, sending me after him. We crashed down onto the ground, leaving big holes in the ground. As an Asgardian I could take a few hits but it still hurt. Loki was on his feet again and laughed.
'You shouldn't call others that when you yourself throw like one.' Stark growled something and came at him again, it was too fast for me to create a barrier and the punch sent us flying for a few hundred meters. As we landed I turned to Loki.
'What the heck are you doing? This isn't funny anymore!' I yelled.
'Yes it is, see it as another trial. If you don't protect me then you get hurt too.' It was his sick humor, I thought he'd stopped with that years ago. I felt Stark closing in again and turned around, quickly creating a barrier. To my surprise he didn't stop but just went faster, he broke through it and I quickly ducked to avoid his fist. I let out a yell as the chain pulled me along again and sent us crashing down further away. I stood up and looked at Stark landing a few steps away.
'She's mad now.' Loki said as he laughed. 'You're dead.'
'My fight is not with you.' Stark said.
'You made it that when you attacked me.' Dark clouds formed overhead and thunder raged as a maniacal laugh escaped me. Behind Stark I could see Thor approaching.
'Seems like I can't make it very long.' I said as I raised my hands to the sky and pointed at him. A bolt of lightning came crashing down but Thor's hammer kicked him away just before it struck him.
'Don't interfere!' I yelled as I pointed to Thor and moved my arm up, raising him along with it. I flung him away and turned to Stark.
'Now, let's finish th-' Thor threw himself at me and knocked me over, pinning me down to the ground.
'Haylee! Calm yourself!' He yelled. I growled something and struggled wildly but to no avail. I calmed down and let out a deep breath, nodding at him. He got off and turned to Loki.
'You know you shouldn't encourage her!'
'Slipped my mind.' He lied.
'I should beat you to a pulp.' I stood and laid a hand on his shoulder.
'It's fine. Nothing happened, no one got hurt.' I interfered.
'It isn't fine, look at your wrist.' I looked at it and noticed that it was bleeding.
'So I got hurt, that's not important.'
'You know, it's actually all his fault.' Loki said, pointing to Stark. 'He started.'
'Is that true?' Thor asked him.
'It doesn't matter who started. Thanks for bringing me back to my senses, Thor, but this is something between me and Loki.' I pulled at the chain. He got up and smiled at his brother. I pointed my finger at his mouth and glared.
'Wipe that smile off your face or I'll do it for you.' The smile slid off his face and I nodded. 'Let's go.' I dragged him along inside.
'I can't believe you used me like that.' I said as I sat down on the bed and rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand. 'Seems like my trust in you was misplaced.'
'I didn't think he'd go for it. He wasn't so cranky back on earth.'
'That's not a valid reason!' I threw my arms up, the friction of the chain against my wrist made me recoil.
'Let me see.' He grabbed my wrist and moved the chain up my arm, I let out a yell and glared at him.
'Sorry, sorry.' He laid his hand over my wrist and closed his eyes. I felt a warmth spreading through my hand and arm and the pain receded as if it'd never been there.
'Better?'
'Yeah... But I'm still mad at you.'
'I'm used to thinking for myself. I think I forgot about you when provoking him.'
'You didn't forget me when you said that I'd get hurt too if I didn't protect you.'
'I got carried away by the moment?' I shook my head.
'I remembered how I fought him before?' I shook it again.
'You used me. Just like that, as if I'm some sort of tool.'
'I said I'm sorry!'
'You don't mean it but never mind. I'll accept the healing as an apology.' He and I both knew that I couldn't stay mad for a long time so after a few minutes it was all fine again. We made our way to the dinner hall and took our places there, watching as everyone else entered as well.
'So, Haylee.' Stark started after a small silence. 'You're advisor of the King?' I nodded as I shoved a piece of meat in my mouth. 'What does an advisor do?' I swallowed and thought for a moment.
'Well, of course, give advice when the King asks for it. But besides that it's also organizing things and acting as a middleman and therapist sometimes.'
'Thanks to Haylee the wolves haven't killed anyone anymore. She negotiated with them.'
'With wolves?' Doctor Banner asked.
'Yeah, they live in the forest beside the village. The number of murders were increasing so I decided to do some negotiating.'
'How can you negotiate with wolves?' Hawkeye asked.
'Just as you negotiate with another person, by talking.'
'Wolves talk?' Stark asked.
'I assume they don't on earth?' They all shook their heads. 'Well they don't talk here either. It's just a little shapeshifting magic.'
'Shapeshifting? As in transforming yourself into a different form?'
'Exactly, it's fairly easy. Loki can do it too.' Everyone fell silent and stared at him.
'Are you trying to say I can do it because it's easy?' He asked offended.
'Not at all. You're a much better magician than I am.'
'And this magic is conjuring things?' Stark asked.
'Among others, it's also elemental. Fire, water, earth and grass with sub categories as ice. It requires aptitude and knowledge of runes.' I held up my glass and imagined a rune, the water rose and turned to ice in mid air. Loki stared at it and started shaping it, when he was done it was the exact image of a forest wolf. The Avengers gasped and clapped in amazement. I turned it back to water and guided it back into the cup.
'I'm sorry to ask but I've been wondering about this for a while now. Why are you two chained to eachother?' Black Widow asked curiously.
'I'm supposed to rehabilitate him so he can be free again, something like that.'
'And is it working?'
'I think so, yeah.'
'How can you say that after what happened?' Thor asked.
'That's just fooling around. Don't forget that he is the God of Mischief just as you are the God of Thunder. I'm sure Mr Stark agrees.' He looked from me to Thor and nodded.
'Just fooling around.' He repeated. Thor sighed and shook his head.
'Now now, Thor, no need to worry. Haylee is more than capable of defending herself and she's just as well trained as you are.' Odin said.
'Just as well? I don't think that's true. I'm not nearly as good as him.' I said humbly. Odin stood up.
'Then we'll prove it. A friendly match between the two of you, to see whether you're equal or not.'
'You're forgetting something.' I said as I held up the chain.
'Of course! Thor will be assigned a companion as well. Let's make it fair...' He looked at the Avengers and rested his eyes on Black Widow.
'How's your fighting, Miss?' He asked politely.
'Good.' Was her brief answer.
'Then will you agree to being Thor's companion?'
'Yeah, I still have to kick his ass.' She said as she smiled at Loki.
'Then it's decided!' He got out a chain and handed it to Thor as if he'd known this'd happen.
As we stood outside, me and Loki on one side and Thor and Natasha on the other, our chains rang with every movement. Odin stood in the middle, smiling as he threw down four weapons. He took a few steps back and clapped his hands.
'Start!' Straight away we shot forward and I put up a barrier in front of them, they bashed into it and we got first choice for the weapons. There was a sword, a battle axe, a spear and a flail. He probably left a hammer out on purpose. I grabbed the sword and Loki the spear. As our opponents struggled past the barrier and took the remaining weapons, Thor the battle axe and Natasha the flail, we stood still for a moment, observing. I knew she'd go after Loki straight away but if I went after Thor that'd be highly inconvenient, we'd limit eachother while fighting.
'Both on one.' I whispered. He nodded, he made up for his lack of strength by having the brains of a tactician and the magic skills of a Master. She ran forward but Thor wasn't ready yet and the chain stopped her. She was light and fast, he was heavy and slow. That was their disadvantage. For us it was advantageous, we were both light, fast and flexible. She pulled him along and held the flail above her head, ready to swing. Clearly she'd never used one before as she wasn't using it very effectively. It was easy to dodge but Thor swung his axe sideways. We jumped up and started fighting back. After a while I didn't even think about my movements anymore, it all went automatically. We readied our finishing move and used it, Loki's spear was near Natasha's neck and my sword was at Thor's heart.
'That's it!' Odin said by way of officially concluding the match. We high fived eachother and laughed.
'Great job, guys.' I held out my hand to Natasha, she shook it and nodded. I patted Thor's back and smiled.
'You too.' I said as I gave Loki a push. He growled and held out his hand. They both shook it and retreated to the others. I bored the sword in the ground and sighed as I cracked my arms and back.
'I'm tired...' I murmured as I looked up at the sky, it was getting dark.
'Then go to bed.' I thought for a moment and then looked at him, he was grinning.
'Fine. I don't mind sharing a bed. But mark my words: if you try anything I'll murder you brutally.' I was dead serious.
'I won't. I still have some dignity left.' He was telling the truth, that eased my senses a little.
I excused us and went back inside. I followed him to his bedroom and sat on the bed, looking at my clothes. I knew from experience that it was uncomfortable but I'd just have to bear with it. I took my shoes off and looked at Loki, he was just staring at me.
'What?'
'I want to show you something, follow me.' He grabbed my arm, pulled me up and led me out of the room and through the corridor.
'Where are we going?' I asked.
'You'll see.'
'Tell me!'
'No, be patient.' I growled and decided to just follow obediently. I only hesitated when he entered the forbidden room but he pulled me along inside.
'What do you want to do here?' I asked as he walked down the steps to the Casket of Ancient Winters.
'I want you to watch closely, okay?' He looked very serious. I nodded and watched as he reached out and grabbed the handle of the shining box. As he touched it, a blue color spread over his skin. When it reached his face his eyes turned dark red and I realised what he wanted to show me. I walked up to him and touched his cheek. It was so cold that it felt as if my finger froze but I didn't pull it back, I held it in the same place and watched as the blue color started spreading across my skin as well. He released the cube and his skin turned back to normal. I looked at my hand and noticed that the blue of my skin didn't go away.
'Damn.' I said as I tried to move my fingers, they bent slowly and only a little but it caused me pain.
'I didn't mean for this to happen.' He said as he touched my hand, as he held his hand in one place the blue color faded back into the normal skin color.
'I'm cursed with this cold blood.'
'Doesn't it have advantages too? As far as I know, frost giants can also manipulate the weather.' He laughed.
'That's not an advantage. I'm a misshapen being. As a monstrosity I was left to die by my parents.'
'But you're not-'
'How do you know?' A sudden rush of anger hit him and he threw a punch at the wall.
'I know you're not what you say you are.' I said calmly. He looked up and I took his hand, laying my hand over his bleeding knuckles.
'How?'
'Because I know you. I've known you for so long and this doesn't change anything. You're still the same Loki to me. Smart, playful and mischievous.' I healed his hand and held onto it.
'But-' His voice was reduced to a whisper.
'Your blood may be different but that doesn't make you any different. Blood is just something that runs through our veins, it doesn't define who we are.' I looked up and saw that he had tears in his eyes.
'Just know that I'll never hate or abandon you because of your blood or your actions.' He nodded and smiled.
'Thanks.'
'Come on, let's go back.'