Loki's dreamer: you don't mess with Diana. :p

Doctor Loki love: oh the shit is getting deeper.

Sidney loves fiction:don't freak out! Hehe I love cliffhangers.

Poodle warriors: shocking but its time shit started to get heavy.

Chapter 90: Consumed

Loki sat staring off into nothing. His hand under his chin in deep thought. It had been his only moment of calm since Diana had come back to the palace wounded with Sif. At first he thought a training accident but when Cephera healed her daughter and Diana had calmed down she had told them as quickly as she could about the servant girl.

The three guards in the room had left to go to the training grounds and brought back the dead girl. Loki recognized her uniform instantly. The embroidered insignia on her dress was of Cally's household. Instantly Loki left and invaded her home and found it empty. No servants. No Cally. No sign of where she had gone or why or even how long. Loki quickly became angered all the more with the amount of planning this seemed to take.

First his unborn child, then his son, his wife's guardian and now Diana. This had to stop. Loki was aware of the sound of his wife's footsteps but he didn't look at her or acknowledge her arrival. "Loki." She said calmly. "Loki come to bed. You've been holed up on here all week." She said calmly but sadly. Loki didn't reply. He didn't even twitched. He felt more detached then he ever had from the life he was sitting in right now. "Loki." Her hand rested on his shoulder and Loki grabbed it harshly and dropped it away.

"Leave me be." He told her, his tone blank and his expression emotionless.

"No. You need to leave here. You need to get away from these endless, fruitless thoughts." She said her voice was stern.

"I said leave me be woman." He growled but still didn't look at her. He heard her sigh deeply and he was indifferent when she left. Loki's mind was on one thing and one thing only. Finding and destroying the person responsible for hurting the people dearest to him. He was sick of not having the answers. Sick of being unable to avoid or stop the attacks. Loki stood from his seat and looked out the window. The sky was dark and the days were muddled in his head. He was sure Cally had a part to play in all this. His wife didn't agree and her constant barter with him against the idea was irritating. They had barely spoken since he had begun an all out search for the missing woman. In fact the only person he saw often was Thor who had been trying to hurry things along.

Loki was highly irritated and angry at everything lately. Nothing would or could go back to normal until justice was served. And by justice Loki meant death. He meant to kill Cally and whoever was helping her, leaving no one behind to harm his family ever again. This was something he knew Cephera would also not agree with and so he hadn't mentioned it to her. He spent his days in his tower pondering what to do, where to go, who to threaten. So far he drew blanks but something had to give at some point.

Cephera lay in the kids room curled up with Diana. With Loki refusing to leave his tower at night she was lonely and found herself once more finding some comfort with her kids. Devian was not asleep. She could tell by his breathing even from across the room. Seria was also awake laying in her own bed they had made room for until her room was finished being fixed up. Her big green eyes were staring into the darkness.

"Will he ever come down?" Devian finally broke the silence.

"I'm sure he will." Cephera told him trying to be more optimistic about everything.

"Or maybe he's gone completely nuts and will never leave." Diana said bitterly. Cephera frowned. Loki had not seen the kids since Diana had come rushing in injured almost two weeks ago. Diana was unhappy with her fathers disappearance and his disconnect from his family. Her attitude shining though at the worst of times.

"Don't say such things." Cephera chided. No one said anything else.

Sleep didn't come easy. It was difficult for all those old enough to understand the danger they were in. Every night was the same way lately. It took hours for everyone to fall asleep.

When Cephera woke the up the next day she get up and ready as usual and went to the tower and found Loki gone. He hadn't left it for days and she wondered what brought it on. Kat stayed with her kids while she ventured off to look for Thor. She found him in his own room and loki was not with him. "Thor." She said after opening his door when he told her to enter. "Do you know where Loki is?" She asked.

"Come in sister. I have been meaning to talk to you." He said. She sat in the chair he indicated and he sat across from her. "Loki had left Asgard. He has traveled to Cally's last place of residence before coming back to Asgard." He told her. This was not surprising and so she was wondering why Thor looked so forlorn. "I fear for Loki. I fear for what his mind is concocting." He said to her taking her hand in his.

"I know he hasn't been himself lately. He's frustrated." She said calmly.

"It's not that. He's losing himself. I've seen Loki and his vengeance before. I fear he is losing all his rationality. If he finds Cally I fear he will kill her despite the lack of evidence against her." Cephera wasn't sure what to say. "He pushed me away once for his jealously and vengeance raged harder then our bond as brothers. I fear he may do the same to you. I know of his distance from you all and I do not like the way it is heading. I think you need to talk to him. I think only you can talk him down off this edge he has stepped up on." Cephera thought to the tower. The way he spoke to her. The way he treated her touch. She wanted nothing more then to think Thor might be wrong but everything shouted at her that he was right. She was losing him and would continued too unless she could make him see reason.

"I'll try." She told her brother in law. He gave a polite nod and let her hand go.

"I hope for everyone he will see reason and forget this foolish chase." She agreed with a nod of her own and left. If Loki was gone she had no where else to be but with her kids.

Three nights later loki had come home once and had said nothing before leaving again. When she slept one night she sleep with Seria and Diana. Seria turned to her wide eyed and frowning. "When's daddy coming home?" She asked. Cephera swallowed hard.

"I don't know." She said truthfully. She didn't know how else to answer. For too long she was making excuses for him. Her daughters question only strengthen her resolved to put her husband in his place. This situation was consuming the man she loved and in his place was a man she didn't know. And her eldest daughter was having doubts about herself. Killing someone is no easy task and Diana was feeling the guilt of it. Thinking of things she could have done instead. Cephera tried to explain to her that in times of fear bad things can happen and even told her about her own first and only kill. It seemed to soothe her daughter but not by much. They needed their father. They needed his support, his advice, his reassurance.