Loki stayed in Alice's house and under her care for a while, slowly healing. Of course, slowly to him was far more quickly than it would have been for any human. Alice had questioned him on it when she'd noticed his bizarrely quick healing, and, after relentless questioning on her part, Loki had eventually given in.
He told her who he was, and had even told her of his origins on Asgard- though he conveniently managed to leave out anything about Jotunheim. In truth, Alice had thought that he was a little insane, perhaps having suffered a head trauma or something. But she'd nodded along as if she did believe him. Stranger things had happened, after all.
For his part, Loki had spent enough time with the Midgardian woman to discover that she was sufficiently strange enough to be labelled crazy should she try to tell anyone about him. No one would believe her if she said a word against him and he was a good enough liar to dispel any story that she might try to create even if it was the truth.
And it had got Alice off of his back, stopped her constantly questioning him. After that, Loki didn't speak much. She did, but he didn't pay her much mind. It was better to let her ramble on and just concentrate on his own issues.
Alice kept talking about things that he didn't care to know too. Some hero from a large Midgardian city; a man of metal. A hero from many years ago that fought in some war; a Captain so-and-so. Her job. Other nonsensical things. He really wasn't listening to her babble on.
Besides, he had far more important things to think about than the state of the weather. What he had heard the organisation say about the Tessaract was far too valuable information to ignore. He had to think about getting his hands on it. It was the only way he could see that he might regain the power that was meant for him. And that he could take his revenge against his brother.
There was only so much planning a man cold do, however, and Loki found his thoughts drifting. The woman caring for him was pretty, and amiable enough company, even if she did talk quite continually. After so long, she had become somewhat bearable. But she was no Sigyn.
Sigyn. He wondered what she was doing back on Asgard; if she hated him. No, she couldn't hate him, could she? She loved him- she was the only one that truly did love him. But look at what happened, a voice in the back of his mind said. Thor and Odin could have poisoned her against him by now- and he wouldn't even know about it...
But that thought only caused him pain, and Loki had to force himself to think about other things once again.
Weeks went by and Loki's strength was returning quickly enough. Eventually, Alice made him go out, just to see how much he could walk in his recovery. She wanted him to get out of her house since being cooped up in there for so long probably couldn't be helping him get better.
Alice had bought him some clothes the last time that she'd been in town- a pair of jeans and a simple shirt. He didn't like them at all, but supposed that if he had to venture out of the house then he would look more normal on Midgard than in his own attire.
With his agreement, Alice took Loki shopping to the local convenience store. As he had predicted, he was bored out of his mind. But while Alice was browsing for food that she didn't even want or particularly know how to cook, he was using his time to be as productive as possible.
Loki was practicing his magic; just small things at first. While she was worried about his walking, he was more focussed on the recovery of his powers. He needed to know how well he was regaining control of them- and, in his opinion, he was doing quite satisfactorily.
The first thing he tried was knocking over a can of beans at the end of one aisle. Loki was pleasantly surprised as the can rolled across the floor and into the back of a man's foot. He stared at the can for a moment, confused, and then looked around as if someone had seen what happened.
He briefly met Loki's eyes, since he was the closest person to him, but a shrug from the God of Mischief made the man shake his head and turn back to his shopping. Of course, Loki couldn't resist leaving the man alone then- it had been so long since he had had his share of amusement.
Though his fun ended when the man tried to leave the shop and Loki managed to frame him for shoplifting. The man was so confused when security approached him and fished the unpaid for can of beans out of his bag that Loki couldn't help but chuckle. Just a bit of fun.
A little bit of mischief to test his power had been just the pick-me-up that he'd needed. He barely noticed that Alice had paid for her groceries and was already heading out to her car to pack them into the back. Loki followed slowly, lingering in the shop for a moment.
He watched as Alice unlocked her car and slid the brown paper bags into the backseat, but from his vantage point he could also see two men sauntering over to her. Loki couldn't hear exactly what transpired between Alice and the men but he could hear the yelling, and he watched as the two men came upon her.
It was clear that Alice was in some trouble and Loki could not help but step in. The situation reminded him of when Sigyn had been surrounded and attacked. It angered him so much that Loki refused to let such a thing take place. Unfortunately, for Alice, his solution was to approach quickly and kill her attackers with his daggers.
He also saw it as a debt repaid. She was healing him, and he had saved her. One kindness repaid with another. Alice stared blankly at Loki, and then at the bodies on the ground.
"You killed them," she whispered eventually.
"They attacked you."
"They were trying to steal my bag," Alice reasoned.
"By attacking you," he countered.
"I'm not complaining... just... just wondering what I'm supposed to tell the police when they arrive."
"The truth."
That sounded odd coming from his mouth, he thought.
"And when they ask for your identification?"
He paused.
"Tell them you killed them in an act of self defence."
"Right; um, and when they want all your weapons? And they wonder why I've been carrying around a couple of daggers?" she asked, running a hand through her hair in exasperation.
Loki waved a hand and the marks his weapons had left become gunshot wounds- and the gun that she had tried to threaten him with appeared on the floor at her feet. Alice could barely stop her mouth from falling open. Apparently Loki had been telling the truth. He was that Loki... The God... With magic.
"Oh, okay, magic, yeah... That makes more sense," she added sarcastically. "And I guess it explains the reason that you were carrying around a couple of daggers."
She cringed as she moved to pick up the gun and Loki frowned.
"Are you alright?" he asked, somewhat intrigued by her health.
Alice stood up straight and ignored the question. Loki didn't fail to notice the red liquid blossoming on her light blue shirt.
"You're bleeding."
"It's nothing. I'll be fine," she replied dismissively.
"What happened?"
"One of them had a knife. I'll be fine though, honestly.
"We should go, that needs to be cleaned."
"Honestly, I'll be fi-"
"You need to avoid infection," Loki countered, using the same words that she had used on him
Alice paused, her mouth still open.
"Touché. But trust me, I don't."
He stared at her for a second, his eyes exploring hers for an explanation.
"I guess you explained stuff to me; it was bound to be my turn soon enough. Let's go home and I'll tell you what you want to know."
Loki frowned and allowed her to postpone her explanation until they reached her house again. This was sure to be interesting.
Author's Note: So Loki's on his feet again and Alice has some secrets of her own. Any thoughts on what they might be? ;)
Hope you like it and would love to hear what you think! :)
Kit xx