AH! REVIEWS! I love you folks - really.

Leo: Thank you so much, I'm really happy to see you like this story so far :)

A Nice Person: You're so wonderful! I'm trying to play up other sides rather then just stick with his angry one - nice to see people like it! (I will continue to flatter you btw.)

Megu: That's so kind of you too say! Makes me giddy to know my doodles are liked :3 (I know, I had all these feels when writing that monster part. I wanted to reach in the story and hug the shit out of him.)

Thanks guys - enjoy the chapter!

The pair exited the library together, Loki's austere mannerisms back in place, and Nora clutching the sizable book close to her chest. She wasn't sure what to make of all this, but she had a feeling that her invaders didn't choose the slave planet on accident. They knew full well what realm they were in. She turned to speak to Loki about her concerns, but she stopped when he slowly placed a finger to his lips.

"We cannot speak specifics about your people out here in the hall," He said lightly, "avoid mentioning any names, I'll let you know when it is appropriate to discuss such matters." Nora nodded at him slightly, turning her gaze back to the long corridor in front of her.

"Your skill is very impressive," Nora said, her eyes still focused ahead of her, "I'd go into details, but.." She motioned around them now, indicating they were probably being watched, and talking about spells that could hide them from said watchers was probably a bad idea. Loki chuckled, pleased by her admiration. But then again, why shouldn't she be impressed? He was very talented, a masterof the magic arts. It would be shocking for her not to stand in awe of him and his power.

"Good to know you have eyes, girl, it would be improper of you not to acknowledge a God and his talents."

Nora stopped in the hall and stared at him, her once pleasant smile now turned into a mocking one.

"You fancy yourself a God, Loki?" She said with an incredulous look.

He too now stopped, turning to her with an aura of hurtful astonishment. Had her realm really been separated that long? She was a mere mortal, how could Buri, of all people, not have shown her species their place?

"Fancy myself a God? You simple mortal, I am a God. Especially to the likes of you." He hissed, his pride obviously wounded.

"You're immortal then?" She questioned.

"More or less, yes." Loki retorted.

Nora laughed in spite of herself, only muffling her chuckles once she noticed his heated glare. He had a complex, that was for sure. Was he a prince? Yes, she could admit to that. His father was a king after all, but to call himself a God? Her people had done away with the idea of higher powers hundreds of years ago. From what her mother had told her, the only thing the Myrkviðr worshiped was their planet.

"You are fortunate, mortal, that I'm quite fond of being free from my cell. Otherwise I'd take great pleasure in showing you your place." He seethed, leaning towards her. Nora moved away from him quickly, taking a few steps backwards down the hall. He may not be a God, but that didn't mean she was foolish enough to tease him further. She did have some self-preservation instincts under all her stubbornness. However, she did have one last question. Nora hesitated for a moment, unsure if her inquiry would come off as rude.

"You said, more or less, right?" She started, doing her best to keep a good natured smile on her face. "How long do your people live exactly?"

Loki's posture relaxed and she could tell instantly that they must live a very long time. Otherwise he wouldn't look so pleased with her question, which he obviously had an impressive answer for.

He couldn't really tell if he liked this girl or not. Her incessant chatter was beyond irritating, but he couldn't exactly be upset. Her search for answers, for knowledge, was admirable. It reminded him of himself. The girl's bravery was also impressive - though bravery was just an exceedingly kind word for stupidity. A trait that she and his brother both shared.

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," Loki said cheekily, "How long does your feeble little species last?"

"I'm a hundred and five," She said, hoping for some sort of surprised reaction. When his face remained indifferent, she continued, "Which, of course, is nothing. When we lived on our planet, the Myrk-" She stopped herself quickly, remembering not to say names. "My people were known to reach six hundred years."

"Oh, so you're just a glorified mortal then - And a young one at that in comparison." Loki chuckled, "My dear, I'm currently twice that of your lifespan." He waited for her surprised reaction, which he readily got.

"You're over a thousand?" Nora gawked, absentmindedly stepping towards him to inspect his face, "You don't look too much older then I - that's incredible."

"And that's the attitude you should continue to have about me." Loki leaned up against one of the many large golden columns that lined the hall, his body, for once, looking small when placed up to such a large object. Nora was very much out of her depth - and questioned idly if she had made a mistake in dismissing his notions of godliness so quickly. Over a thousand, and he looked fantastic, lively, handsome. She scanned him now, visibly stiffening as her eyes traveled down from his face to his feet. Fine - he was very handsome. High cheek bones, intense green eyes, and a smile that would make any honest women blush. But she wasn't foolish, Loki was the type of man you admired from afar, not one you throw yourself at with reckless abandon. Nora took a breath and her gaze shot back up to meet his. They lingered like this for only a second, as if he had heard every one of her thoughts, before Loki broke the stare and looked down the hall.

"Enough chatter, I hope to get as much information as I can during this next session. It's a bit of a walk back to my quarters from here, so we should get moving."

Nora shook her head, trying to expel the haze that had overtaken it during their little staring contest. "We could just use Thor's room, right?" She said idly, her mind not fully clear, "It's just four doors down this hall."

Loki lifted his back from the column, his facial features creased in confusion.

"How, pray tell, do you know which room is Thor's?" He said steadily, trying his best to suppress an accusatory glare.

Nora turned her head towards him, mimicking his confusion - lifting a brow at him indicating the answer was obvious.

"I can smell the room from here, it's basically overwhelming. The scent almost completely masks out Sif, who stays in a room down that hall over there." She said while pointing. Nora turned her attention back to Loki, who continued to look perplexed.

"I'm going to assume you can't identify people by their smell," She said uneasily, now very embarrassed with her head clear, "Our people live mostly underground, building our homes in the roots of trees, not exactly the best environment for seeing each other." She joked, "For instance, Thor is a mix of mead and some sort of honey. Sif smells of steel and flowers, and-" Loki interrupted her now, a somewhat playful smile on his lips.

"And myself?" He asked, cocking is head to the side slightly, "Am I that easy to identify?"

Nora averted her eyes from him, feeling a slightly abashed. She'd never had to describe a person's smell directly to them, it was personal. It was like trying to tell someone the unique, quirky mannerisms they had that allowed you to spot them out in a crowd instantly.

"Leather," She began, now looking back up to his face, "mostly leather, to be honest, and mint. There's something beneath those two, though, a feeling that makes my noise tingle - like when you walk outside after it's snowed. It smells fresh, like ice."

Loki's smile dimmed only slightly at her last remark, his eyes searching her face for some type of reaction.

"You don't seem too surprised little mortal, do you know why?" He asked, stepping towards her.

"I do. Thor talked to me last night after you told me to leave. He caught me on my way back to my guest room, and got concerned when he saw how shaken I looked." Nora smoothed a few strands of lose hair back on her head, "You're a Frost Giant."

"Are you not afraid?"

"Should I be?" She questioned. "I didn't even know about Asgardians' before yesterday - I didn't know about any other races before yesterday. I think it would be rather presumptuous of me to be afraid of a species I've never met before."

Loki mulled over her answer for a moment, finding it rather refreshing to have someone not cringe in fear once realizing what he was. It was a bit of a blessing, it seemed, that her species was so severely cut off from the rest of the realms. Otherwise, her reaction would not have been the same - he was sure. Loki put his attention back on Nora, her face pensive as she tried to figure out his emotions. It was actually pathetically cute, in a way. She'd never be able to read him.

"Now what surprises me," He said suddenly, his whole demeanor changing like a light switch, "Is the mint. I have a cup of tea every morning, but I had no idea it permeated my being so completely." He joked.

"At least you have a pleasant smell," She laughed, "I had a friend once who-" Nora stopped. There was something coming down the hall to the right of them, making almost no noise. She wouldn't have actually heard the noise, in truth, if she hadn't recoiled in disgust at the stench first. She knew this smell all too well - it had encompassed her whole planet on the night of the attack. They were here. Before Loki had a chance to ask her what was wrong, Nora gripped his chest and hauled him in-between two of the large golden pillars, shrouding them both in darkness.

"What are you doing?" Loki whispered harshly, his back smashed against one of the columns, and Nora pushed flat against his chest in the tight space. She placed her book on the ground and glanced out into the hall nervously.

"Sh-sh! Be quite!" She said under her breath, her fingers reaching up near his mouth in an attempt to silence him. Loki lifted a single brow, his eyes fixated on the tiny, impudent figure in front of him. He mused momentarily on how long it had been since he'd had a women this close, and also how long since someone had actually tried to silence him. Never had he been faced with a situation where he wanted to simultaneously punish a person for their insolence, while also craving the touch of the same individual. The girl's fingers hovered just inches from his lips, and he moved his gaze away from them to steal a look at Nora's face, who had happened to be staring back at him.

"Someone's out there," She whispered.

Nora's eyes, now in the dark, were nothing but glowing orbs. Loki remembered them like this from when he saw her in the dungeons. Her wide, nocturnal eyes which had darted about in panic before - now bore into him with intense urgency. She flashed the tiny moons out towards the hall, her breathing shallow and even on his chest. The fleeting moment of carnal want passed quickly, and Loki followed her gaze - now finally realizing they were, indeed, not alone. The two peered out, waiting for whoever was in the hall to pass in front of their hiding place.

"I don't get it," Nora said in a hushed voice, "I know they're out there."

"They are," Loki replied, "look there - see how the door is warped slightly? They're cloaking themselves. A pair of them."

Loki started to inch his way out from the columns, his head beginning to poke out into the light before Nora gripped his sleeve. His eyes darted to her quickly, and the sides of his mouth turned up in amusement.

"Do you fear for me girl?" He asked, his words coming out facetiously.

"Of course I do," She hissed, "You don't have a weapon! You're going to get yourself killed."

Loki let out a short laugh before holding his hand up to her view - a long, sharp ice dagger forming in his palm. "You have such little faith in my talents." He whispered, a conceited smile stretched across his face. "Now stay put."

Nora ducked further back into the shadows as she watched Loki stalk out, his body crouched and his hand gripping the frozen weapon tightly. She almost couldn't believe how effortlessly he threw the dagger into the back of one attacker, before forming a second in his hand and stabbing the other. Nora grinned widely in the shadows. She was about to walk out and congratulate - well, gush - about how amazing that just was, when she noticed a shimmer. The same shimmer he had pointed out to her before -but it was moving towards him. There was a third alien, and Loki didn't seem to notice yet. On instinct, Nora picked up the enormous book off the floor and dashed out from the shadows, lifting it above her head and slamming it down on, what she could only assume, to be the back of its head.

The cloaking that had surrounded the creature quickly vanished, and Nora backed up in fear as it whipped around to her - its mouth opening wide to release a furious scream. The screech was soon cut short and the alien faltered in front of her - a very large ice spear sticking several inches out of its chest. Nora side stepped when Loki pushed it forward, a loud thud echoing through the halls when it hit the ground. She gawked down at the dead creature before tilting her head up to beam at him.

"Did you see what I just did?" Nora cried out, clutching her mighty, blunt weapon to her chest. Loki examined her for a second, trying to figure out if she was being serious or not.

"You mean how you moderately irritated a Chitauri? Yes, I saw." He said dully.

"Irritated it? I just saved your life." She replied proudly. "I distracted it - so you could kill it! I can't believe you were able to take them down so easily."

Loki let out a cackle and placed a hand on her shoulder, his mood brightening after a good fight. "Whatever you wish to think little mortal," He remarked, "and I'll tell you this, I will bow to Odin the day I allow something as vile as a Chitauri to kill either of us."

Nora grinned and only faltered slightly at his odd comment. "You know, you never told me why you were in those dungeons." She said slowly. Loki's eyes darted across her face - his smile still in place, and his hand still gripping her shoulder.

"A story for another time dear." Loki said, his face still pleasant but his sullen tone betraying it. "What I would like to talk about, though, are these disgusting vermin. I can't believe they had the gull to come and find me."

"Come and find you?" Nora said, perplexed. "They're here to get me. These Chitauri are what invaded my planet."

Loki dipped his head to peer down at the body, his already light skin going pale. This was not at all good. Why attack her planet? How did they manage to get portal technology? Loki's eyes widen when a key component to the puzzle hit him - Thanos.

His thoughts were cut short by the booming of Thor's voice and both he and Nora turned their heads to look at him. He was running down the hall towards them, Sif close to his side.

"Brother!" He shouted, finally reaching them. " Heimdall told me that we had intruders - but I can see you've already taken care of that." He said, looking down at the three bodies.

"Yes, I'm quite capable of dealing with a few Chitauri Thor - but I'm sure Odin will love to hear how I did it all on my own." Loki said, a wicked smile growing on his face. "You were supposed to be watching me this whole time, but I'm confident he won't mind that you let the disgraced, homicidal prince of Asgard wander around by himself."

Thor's eyes widened slightly at his remark and he ran his fingers nervously through his hair. As he rambled to Loki about being very busy dealing with issues in the other realms, and that he should not discuss his absence with father, Nora decided to give them some space. She moved several feet down the hall and turned the corner, resting her back on one of the walls. Nora knelt down onto her knees and placed the book at her side, running her fingers over the intricate designs on the leather cover. She was about to open the book to look through it again, when she heard something next to her move.

Nora's eyes shot over to the lifeless body of an alien on the floor, a small pool of purple blood forming under it. It couldn't possibly still be alive - could it? She eyed the group of three just a couple feet down the hall and crawled over to the body, being as cautious as possible. Nora leaned over the Chitauri, her fear slowly dissolving into anger. this is what attacked her planet? A foul smelling, disgusting monster? It wasn't so tough now - not after having its guts cut out by a God. Nora paused for a moment, realizing what she had just referred to Loki as. She supposed he was, in some manner, a God. Since the first strike on her people she had wished, prayed, for nothing more than revenge. He'd answered that, in a way.

"You killed my people," She spat, clenching her hand and lifting it over her head in preparation to bring it down on the dead body, "You killed my brother."

Before she was able to slam her fist into the Chitauri, its eyes opened to lock with her own. In one swift movement the creature gripped a dagger out of its armor and swiped it across her stomach, staining her gray shirt crimson. Nora let out a scream while wrapping her arms around her stomach, doing her best to stop the bleeding. The three Asgardians turned their heads simultaneously, and it was Thor who pulled his weapon, Mjolnir, out first and threw it at the creature - sending it back into a wall with an echoing crash.

"Nora!" Sif yelled, running towards the dying girl on the floor. Thor knelt down beside her and Nora, reaching out to remove her arms from her wound.

"Let me see Lady Nora," He said calmly, but she lurched away from him, her body shivering.

"NO! -No." She said shakily, her figure curling up in a tight ball. "It'll be fine - just don't touch it, please."

"Enough, you weak little mortal." Loki spat, moving in-between Sif and his brother to get closer to Nora. "We must see the wound in order to fix it girl - now remove your arms." When she did not comply, he reached out and gripped her limbs, pulling them back away from her stomach. His eyebrows raised only slightly at the amount of blood that poured out of the gash, and he pressed his hands onto it firmly.

"Go get the healer," Thor said, turning to Loki and Sif, "I will stay with the gi-"

"No." Loki hissed, "This is my responsibility. I told her this would not happen, and it did. Hurry to get the healer - I doubt she has much longer."

Hey guys! This chapter was so much fun, and things are finally starting to get intense. I really love the little moment between these two when they were in the columns - was legit so close to writing a random sexy one-shot (totes still might.)

I'll update soon! :)

Art for this chapter is on my profile! :D