- Disclaimer: Matantei Loki Ragnarok belongs to Kinoshita Sakura.
Ah, My Loki-sama!
written by Kurosu
- Chapter Forty-Four.
Every inch of his body felt like dead weight, and the pain in his head wouldn't stop throbbing, the faint sounds of worried voices lingering in the back of his mind, but he refused to open his eyes, not wanting to face the reality of his helplessness. He really hoped it was all a dream, so in another hour when he felt better to get out of bed, he could return to his duties as caretaker of the house.
He heard a soft voice calling him, "Jormungand-ani..."
'Don't give him any sympathy, Hel,' Fenrir kept his tone quiet, 'it'll just make him weak.'
"I don't think that will be the case, ani-ue."
Yamino sure felt weak, but he wouldn't let that stop him. Now that his siblings' voices were much clearer, he cracked an eye open and attempted to sit up, but a gentle and pressed him back against the pillows. Something wet and cool fell upon his forehead, and he opened his eyes fully to see his father had dropped a moist cloth on his burning skin.
"Don't get up, Yamino," Loki insisted, "You're sick and in no condition to do anything today."
"But Loki-sama, there's much to do..." he whimpered, silently cursing his ailing state.
"We'll take care of it."
"..."
Those words did nothing to lessen his worries, but Yamino couldn't protest, being forced to leave all chores to the rest of the household residents. He closed his eyes and could hear the uncertain replies that agreed with Loki, along with some encouragement for him to get lots of rest, followed by the soft close of the bedroom door. If they insisted, he shouldn't fight against fate - perhaps this was a sign that he needed a break from his diligent work - but the nagging feeling of something terrible wouldn't leave the pit of his stomach, or maybe he was just hungry.
Outside Yamino's bedroom, with door closed, the whispers of those living in the agency remained hushed, but visible panic was strewn across their faces. These were the desperate expressions of the uselessness of pretty people - though Hodur was the exception since his was always at default - who had been too reliant on the ever multi-talented and dependable Yamino.
Sure, they realized how pathetic they were, but they weren't just anyone normal. They were gods, high-ranking and elite gods of Asgard, who had great powers and commanded hundreds to thousands of servants, if only the dream of having that many servants was real because only Odin, king of the gods, was able to have that. But now they were just digressing in thought, as a group, standing in the hallway like lost sheep.
Spica, for once, looked horrified at the predicament, holding her sign shakily in the air: 'What about breakfast?'
While Hodur was staring off in to elsewhere, Loki, Hel-chan and Fenrir sweatdropped and swallowed hard because who in the household had culinary experience to actually cook something without burning the mansion down. With the process of elimination, Hodur and Fenrir were out from the nomination, which left the rest staring each other down with quick, dramatic shots of beautiful eyes involved before Hel-chan volunteered herself.
What sort of daughter was she if she were to let her parents slave over the stove, but she was also pretty sure neither of them could make anything edible, not that she had any experience herself. She, several minutes later, looked at a curry packet in one hand while holding a large knife in the other, and a whole, frozen chicken sitting on the cutting board, on the counter top. A bit to the left, a pot of water was sitting on the stove for some reason, threatening to boil over the top, and next to that was a skillet warming up with nothing in it.
Curry chicken for breakfast was odd, but by the time Hel-chan was done with it, it would probably be lunch time, not that it bothered anyone, as long as there was something to eat in the house.
While her daughter was handling the entree, Spica was staring at the coffee maker, wondering how the contraption worked. She shrugged and popped a hand full of ground coffee in to her mouth, just to spit it out a second later. Amazing enough, Spica refused to consume such a product and stuffed the coffee in to the slot of the maker, along with water in to it, but without proper supervision, it wasn't going to bode well for the residents of the agency. She flipped the switch on, and if the appliance was alive and animated, it probably would be choking to death, dramatically, about now.
Turning back to Hel-chan, she crammed all the large pieces of butchered, still frozen chicken in to the pot and poured in different, unnecessary spices without measuring any of them, followed by poorly chopped up vegetables that were on hand in the refrigerator. The boiling water overflowed, and the kitchen was filled with steam and smoke and sounds of coughing and destroyed appliances, turning in to a war zone that Fenrir fled for his life from.
The puppy streaked across the hallway in to the dining room and found Hodur attempting to clean the house as part of Yamino's daily chores. He sweatdropped at the sight of the blind god surrounded by fallen picture frames, knocked over chairs and broken vases and decors. For some reason there was a large impression in the opposite wall that looked like Hodur's head fit in to it, and never mind several broken glass panes of the window too.
Fenrir shook his head, turning around to the hallway, only to sweatdrop at the sight of Loki looking down at him and hoped that his father hadn't seen the craziness he caused in the yard. It was usually Yamino who would nag him like a mother about messing up the yard, digging holes and burying dead squirrels and rodents, uprooting bushes and flowers because they were in his way.
Loki smiled, "How about we go visit Mayura, Fenrir?"
'Yes, daddy!' he wagged his tail. Anything to avoid the chaos, and his father had thought the same way - like father, like son?
"Wh-What's going on?" came a nasally voice, followed by a sneeze.
Loki and Fenrir glanced over to the top of the stairs and sweatdropped at the ill Yamino leaning on to the banister, but all the poor, young man could register was the loud crash coming from the dining room, that was reminiscent of a cabinet of china falling over, with Hodur's cry for help.
All could imagine the poor god buried under the weight of fragile china dishes and cups, but it was the state of the house that brought Yamino's body swaying dangerously back and forth, like a flower about to snap at its stem. He lost consciousness and slowly fell to the side, but Loki was able to catch his son before he fainted to the floor.
"Odin-sama," Urd stood among her sisters, before the Almighty God of the gods who gave his full attention to them to hurry them through the meeting because he wanted to see what laughable shenanigans would happen to Loki and company on Midgard, "this grave matter with Ragnarok must be addressed immediately. We are still uncertain of what this event entails, but we know this will involve all of the gods of Asgard, from Aesnir to Vanir.
"This catastrophic event will be the final judgment of the gods."
Skuld mumbled, "Onee-sama is being a bit dramatic..."
"When will this happen?" he inquired calmly, though almost giddy over the fact that Loki's home was about to burn down in flames by his own family's clumsiness.
Verdandi spoke up, "The time and place is unclear, but the vision has been recent. We must be alert and cautious, for the three signs of an unnatural winter will signify a series of events that will lead up to Ragnarok."
The sisters fell in to silence to allow their words to be processed by their... king, lord, commander, boss, whatever he felt like being. His eyes were closed, and he seemed to have made a deep hum sound from his throat - the seriousness over the matter and not a cover up of a snore, because he wanted to take a quick nap without anyone noticing, nor the fact that this ploy might get rid of the Norn sisters, so he could figure out the solutions to this Ragnarok without a second opinion.
Skuld, standing to the right of Urd, elbowed the older woman in the side, whispering, "Are you sure it's okay to tell him this?"
She was very unsure if the alphabet soup, that they had for lunch spelling out Ragnarok, was really a sign of bad things to come for them. After all, the word was just created by a bunch of edible letters swimming in a delectable broth of a meal, so who would take that seriously?
The youngest sister continued to ponder, "What are the odds of 'the fates of the gods' being foretold in our lunch?"
"One in infinity," Verdandi spoke matter-of-factly, to which the other two sweatdropped, and added, "At least things will be interesting around the office now."
The three nodded at the truthfulness of the remark, because ever since Loki and the other popular gods left for Midgard, nothing had been happening in Asgard, and the other immortals have been bored out of their minds, and not to mention the sales in the Asgard Daily papers have dropped slightly. This wouldn't affect their own jobs, but still, they all wondered if it was all right to find enjoyment in the gods' misfortune.
The goddess of the present gave a sharp nod, "As long as we're not involved, then it's okay!"
Meanwhile, the front door of the agency creaked open, and a curious Mayura poked her head through the strangely unlock and ajar door. She opened it wider and straightened her posture, giving a loud greeting to a creepy, empty-like house but quickly noted the muddy paw prints through the front door and all over the wooden flooring, followed by the lingering opaque cloud of smoke from the kitchen.
She tried again, voice a bit louder this time, "Hello!"
Within seconds, all the residents of the house, excluding the very sick Yamino, appeared together from various rooms and floors and threw themselves at the baffled mortal girl, giving her the best house welcoming ever. Hel-chan and Spica embraced her body, at her sides, while Hodur and Fenrir rubbed their cheeks against her legs, failing at not being creepy, and Loki just stood in front of her with a long sigh and a tiresome smile, even though he was happy to see her and wished it was under better circumstances.
Mayura sweatdropped at their obvious desperation, having understood from Loki's call that they needed her assistance at the agency but didn't think it was that bad, and knew she was in for a long weekend. After calming them all down, she smiled brightly and glanced at the kitchen, "Is anyone hungry?"
They shouted positively in unison, while Spica answered with her sign in big, bold letters. The girl's smiled twitched for a moment, and then she took command of the sinking ship, ordering her small army to line up. She paced in front of them, with hands clasped behind her back, "All right, we will start in the kitchen first! It must be cleaned up before we can cook!
"Hel-chan and Fenrir, you will go to the store and buy the food," she said, giving them a list of ingredients to get, and after they saluted her, they were off on their assignment, which left Loki, Hodur and Spica waiting attentively for her next orders, "Spica-sama will clean the stove top and nearby area. Loki-kun will clear the floor and... um, Hodur-sama can... sorta help... right! Let's do our best!"
"This is all Loki's fault!" Odin cursed, jumping to his feet, snapping the sisters from their quiet conversation, "Lately all the bad things that have happened involved Loki... somehow! It's like... he is the star of a television show or something!
"He must have plotted this... Ragnarok thing!" Odin's hands were gesturing wildly in the air as if his raging articulation didn't emphasize how much of a problem it was. He did not want to die just yet either, because there were still goals for him to complete, like collecting all the Lucky Star cast figurines, or watching Die Hard XX, or winning the onigiri eating contest, or piloting a giant, generic robot of the future.
Being an otaku was serious business, so he had to stop Ragnarok from happening at all costs, but to do that, he would have to get rid of the key to it all and somehow decided that Loki was the culprit from his warped process of assumption - or was it deduction?
"Yes, we will have to get rid of Loki," he grinned, rubbing his hands with great anticipation and that glint of evilness in his eyes.
"Odin-sama, are you sure-?"
Skuld was silence by an elbow of Verndadi to her ribs, since she was daring to question the Allfather, and frowned, whispering to her sister, "But I can't imagine Loki-sama wanting Ragnarok to happen."
"Odin-sama," Urd started, a bead of sweat dripping down the side of her face, "When you said 'getting rid of Loki,' does that mean what I think it means...?"
"Yes, you are correct."
After much cleaning and recovering of the mansion, Mayura had finished a lunch feast for the household, for a job well done, and the place could almost look brand new, overlooking a few plastered walls and smears of super glue on the windows and definitely the duct taped china cabinet in the background of the dining room. She was just content that nothing else had been destroyed in the process of the clean up.
Everyone had settled down in their usual seats at the table, with Yamino's chair remaining vacant, but Mayura had already brought up some warm okayu - a perfect porridge dish for the sick - and medicine to the ill, bed-ridden caretaker, which sounded a bit ironic, who almost had a mental breakdown on top of that. They were famished and ready to dive in to the meal, with their collective cheer, "Itadakimasu~!"
This scene was just too perfect and quiet, enough to be very wary about, and one should always trust instincts because a completely new Eir, version 2.0 to be precise, crashed through the dining room window - more like taking down seventy percent of the wall - interrupting the once lovely, peaceful afternoon meal. She stood among the rubble of destruction at her feet, the gaping hole of her android body in the background mocking the group, who had poured sweat (and some tears from Hodur) in to patching up the window, only to have it destroyed in three seconds.
So, it wasn't a surprise that they greeted their nemesis coldly, with dark glares, but an apathetic Eir took little notice of it and the negative energy about to spiral in to a massive meteor shower directed at her. Loki was out of his seat first, followed by the rest with the exclusion of Hodur and Spica who were digging in to their meals, barely acknowledging the interruption at all.
For those who didn't have food on their minds, the appearance of the android at the doorstep raised much suspicion, and Loki demanded answers, "What are you doing here?"
He was ready to defend his family and home if need be, and after much work put in to restoring his home, he wasn't about to pull another shift of manual labor, even if his cute mortal begged him to - what sort of begging was debatable and definitely going off on a tangent.
Still lacking any expression or reaction, Eir stated flatly, "My mission is Hodur-sama."
Everyone looked at the speechless Hodur for a moment, holding a fork halfway to his mouth, with a piece of meat skewered on the end, and since Eir hadn't attacked them yet and had a reasonable purpose, Loki dropped his guard slightly. They took their seats again, but the immortals were still wary of the enemy in their territory, not able to forget the past so easily. Though Mayura, being the sweet, forgiving person that she was, lowered the tension with her innocent question, "What do you need with Hodur-sama, Eir-sama?"
"I am to escort Hodur-sama back to Asgard."
"Re-Really?!" Hodur dropped his fork in surprise, looking very happy with the news, "I... I thought (sniffle) father and mother (sniffle) had forgotten about me... (sob)" He cried in to his arm, rubbing the sleeve of his dark robes against his teary eyes.
"If they did not care, then they would not have sent me to fetch you, Hodur-sama."
"It sounds suspicious," Hel-chan whispered.
Mayura smiled to her friend, "They are family after all. So if Hodur-sama is happy, then we should be happy for him."
The goddess appeared downcast, but what Mayura said was true. She could be suspicious of Odin all she wanted, but he was still Hodur's father, and if returning to his parents' side made him happy, she should be content with that and wish the best for him. It wasn't like she was losing her best friend either, so there was no loss, but there was a strange nagging feeling at the back of her mind that all of this seemed too convenient.
"I'm so happy!" he managed to sob it out in between his tears of joy. Too excited and overjoyed, he didn't finish the lunch, not that anyone else had manage a bite, and stood up, "Thank you, Loki-sama, and everyone, for your hospitality. I have truly enjoyed my vacation here."
"Please visit us again," Mayura insisted.
A sweatdropping Loki added quickly, "Just not too soon."
Hel-chan stood up too and walked over to her friend to give him a hug, "Have a safe trip."
Being very emotional, Hodur wept again at having to part from his best friend, even though it wasn't permanent, and after another warm squeeze, Hel-chan let him go. He turned away and walked forward, promptly tripping over a pile of mess. When he got up and made his way for the exit, he smacked in to the wall, which earned many sympathetic sighs, and Eir then escorted him properly through the large hole in the wall.
With the two out of sight, everyone remained where they were, staring straight ahead except for Spica who continued to eat through the whole ordeal, and no one said another word either, afraid that whoever first addressed the partially missing wall would be the one to fix it.
Fenrir was the first to resume their interrupted meal, and then one by one, they fell back in to their seats and picked up their utensils, a sort of content relief filled the room... only to be disrupted again by the loud ringing from the hallway. Hel-chan quickly got up, volunteering herself to answer the phone, and when she picked up the receiver and spared a amicable greeting, her expression hardened at the news.
With Hodur returning to Asgard, Eir was halfway to completion of her mission, and all she had left was to find Thor and convince him to return as well, per Odin's orders. She stood dramatically atop a random rooftop, with her cropped hair not even billowing in the wind and neither did her clothes which were pretty much pieces of metal that were painted on to her body to appear like fabric - whoever did that work must be applaud for its realism. Still, that did not stop her from attempting to take center stage (of the chapter).
She scanned the area with her awesome, thermal, holy beings DNA detecting laser optics, which were upgraded when her head was attached to a new body, making her feel like herself again, just with more fun and dangerous options added. She at least hoped so, since she wasn't able to test all her functioning capabilities when the mission was given to her, and one of the dwarves had misplaced the manual, so she would have to surprise herself.
It only took five minutes for Eir to pinpoint Thor's whereabouts, his tiny form four blocks away riding casually down the street...
As if one could really call Narugami speeding down the sidewalk like a madman, swerving between the crowded streets, the most casual thing in the world, because he was totally late for another delivery. It didn't help that he was forced to screech to a halt on the bicycle when Eir dropped out of the skies, literally, and right in his path, breaking the concrete ground in several pieces and causing the mortals to scream and stumble... from a surprise attack?
Someone had the nerve to ask aloud, "Where'd she come from?"
"More like, what the hell is she?!" Another smart guy shouted, pointing to the destroyed pavement that rippled a few meters from her landing point, extending in to the roads, causing car accidents too.
"Aliens are attacking!" came a random conclusion, which elicited more screams of fear and desperation as the crowds attempted to flee for their lives, creating mass hysteria. The situation left Eir and Narugami to sweatdrop at their awkward reunion at the forefront of an apocalyptic-like scenario, as if it was right out of an action-pack movie.
Narugami coughed, "I really don't have time for a fight..."
"Negative. I have been sent here to escort you back to Asgard."
"No thanks! I'm happy with the way things are, even if I have five different part-time jobs."
His current living situation might not be idealistic, but he did not want to return to Asgard just to be thrown in to a marriage of convenience, because his father was pretty stubborn when he set a decree out. He was kind of surprised there wasn't a bounty on his head for his rebellious action, but then again, there was barely anyone in the Nine Worlds that could defeat him...
Except, maybe a robot, like Eir.
"Your opinions are rejected. Odin-sama has commanded me to bring you back, no matter what, and he does not mind if you are brought back 97.5% dead."
Narugami sweatdropped, not sure if he saw a smirk from the brief twitch of her lips, "Err, that is practically dead..."
"Do not fear, Thor-sama. I've been programmed with high skill levels of medical emergencies and carry a first aid kit in preparation for such situations." She pressed a finger at her right side, and a metal plate flipped open at her chest area, revealing a compartment that held said first aid box for most medical needs.
He couldn't help but stare at her chest, or what comprised as one, his mouth agape, and with his brain disconnected from the muscles of his mouth, he uttered to himself, a bit too loudly, "I knew she wasn't real, but I didn't think 'they' were completely useless..."
Eir calmly closed the metal panel to her supposed chest and returned to the mission at hand, which meant that she could contently beat the impertinent god to an inch of his life - for the comment that totally did not bother her at all because she was a well composed, emotionless machine - and lug him back to Asgard by his hair. The image in her head pleased her greatly, and she twisted the index finger of her left hand to turn on the concealed, laser-beam-like sword.
The remnants of curious onlookers, for whatever reason they remained behind to watch, fled from the scene at the sight of a snack kiosk sliced in half by the long, sci-fi-ish, energy blade that came from Eir's left hand. After the little display of not playing around, she fell in to an offensive position, to which Narugami began to appear mildly concerned. He wasn't worried about having to fight for his life but the fear stemmed from the fact that this was his last chance to prove to one of his employers that he was a reliable, hard worker, but the cursed android had to ruin it all.
He, with a right hand placed on the hilt of the wooden sword that was slipped in the slot of his belt at his back, had to think fast, to avoid a long drawn out battle, and both neglected the public display of their conflict. He eyed her right foot taking that first step, and still without a plan, his voice blurted out, "Hold it!"
She immediately stopped at the command, before her attack program could enter the next phase, practically an automatic response because of the similarity of his voice to Odin's that her body recognized.
"I'm still in the middle of my job, you know," he sighed, trying to draw out the inevitable seconds as much as possible so he could come up with a plan to beat her without breaking a sweat, though his brain was working overtime.
"Your current predicament is obsolete. My orders-"
"What exactly were your orders?" he asked curiously.
Eir coughed, to clear any obstructions to her vocal systems, and stated in Odin's exact voice, or maybe she was just replaying the message, "... go to Midgard and bring back Thor and Hodur, by any means. I don't care if they're missing an arm or a leg, or bleeding profusely. Just bring those idiot sons of mine back here..."
Narugami sweatdropped, because Odin was still ranting after he issued the command, about this and that, non-related to Eir's mission, and then smirked, and she took notice of it right away. It was clear to Narugami that there was a tiny loophole that he could take advantage of, and he pointed his index finger at her in triumph, "I am not Thor!"
"..."
Eir, once again, ran a full scan of his form, analyzing every inch of existence, and he was indeed the Thor that she was ordered to seek out, yet he stood there, on the mortal two-wheeled transportation, claiming otherwise, which baffled the knowledgeable android.
"On Midgard," he paused dramatically, "I am Narugami Tohru!"
"..."
She stared at him, deadpanned, at the announcement, and admitted silently that he had a point. There wasn't much of a struggling debate in her head, when her target was Thor of Asgard, not Narugami Tohru of Midgard, but from the lack of expression, it was hard for Narugami to decipher a win or loss. He braced himself for her next move, having stalled her long enough that a possible fight might break out on the streets of Tokyo and later shown on the late evening news. He could already hear the ear full from Loki and Mayura, reprimanding him on his carelessness.
"I concede."
He blinked and poked a finger in his ear, making sure that nothing obstructed his eardrum, but it was definitely not part of his imagination when he watched her turn the laser sword off and whirled around dramatically and walked away, an admittance of her defeat.
Now that she was gone, Narugami replayed the scene in his head until he was able to sigh with much relief, but this minor setback had put him behind his delivery schedule. He immediately pedaled off, praying that he still had the job at the end of the day, and hoped no one had the idea of dubbing him the god of tardiness either.
After Eir and Hodur left the agency and Hel-chan received an urgent phone call, the young goddess returned to her family, appearing dejected, from the bad news that she was forced to share with the others. It had been a long distance call from Niflheim, more specifically from her office in Helheim, that required her immediate return to the Underworld. She had been on Midgard for a while now, and it was about time she headed back to her realm too, as much as she loathed parting from her loved ones.
The room was filled with Mayura's voice chattering with everyone, and occasionally Loki or Fenrir would interject, the latter loudly. The atmosphere had returned to its usual brightness, despite the practically non-existent, dining room wall in the background, but when a brooding Hel-chan stepped through the doorway, the mood shifted, and the silence fell upon them.
Of course, Mayura was the first to voice her concern, "Hel-chan, what's wrong? Who was on the phone?"
"Ah, it was Ganglati," she saw the confusion on her friend's face and explained, "He's my assistant." She stiffened in her spot, preparing herself mentally before resuming with great calm, doing the best to hide her emotions, "There's an unexpected influx of souls in to the realm, so... I must return soon."
Mayura's face was also the first to fall in to sadness, already missing her classmate and best friend, sometimes forgetting that the people she became so close to were not from her world. The girl stood up and walked over to Hel-chan, bringing her in to an emotion hug.
Hel-chan closed her eyes, returning the affectionate embrace, and smiled faintly. She knew her family was much more understanding, knowing very well of her position in charge of all of those who died across the worlds, especially her father who was important to Asgard too.
"Do you really have to leave now?" came Mayura's soft voice.
The goddess pulled back and tried to cheer the girl up with a bright smile, "I don't want to trouble my staff any more."
"I-I see..."
Mayura yelped when she felt her right cheek being pulled, and Loki of course was the culprit, appearing behind her, reprimanding her, "You can't see Hel off with that look."
She blinked and attempted to apologize, trying to pull Loki's hand from her face, "Sowwy, Hel-chan!" She gave a funny, crooked smile, "Puwease hafe a shafe trip ah-n come back shoon!"
Loki released Mayura's cheek and patted his daughter's head, smiling warmly, "Take care, Hel."
'Be good, Hel,' Fenrir barked.
"Please tell Jormungand-ani my goodbye," she bowed.
Spica's sign: 'See you in another century.'
Hel-chan giggled and thanked everyone, and Loki and Mayura with Fenrir walked her to the front door, and when they opened it, a strange woman in a maid outfit stood there about to ring the doorbell. She blinked at the people inside the house and then silently bowed and handed a white envelope to Loki. It had Spica's name on it.
Fenrir scurried back towards the dining room to bring the news to his mother, and both reappeared in the foyer, the visitor bowing deeply before Spica, who was still chewing on a piece of buttery roll. She stuffed it in to her mouth before a sweatdropping Loki handed the envelope over to her. She ripped it open and read the message within seconds. She nodded to her loyal messenger and held a sign out to the others: 'Looks like my trip ends here. Needed in Jotunheim.'
Ever since Loki was promoted to godhood, given the honorable title of Aesir, and moved to Asgard, Spica, or Angrboda in the other realm, inherited everything in Jotunheim from him, also becoming the de facto ruler of the frost giants - what a nice severance package in the separation!
'Now mom's leaving too!' the eldest son whined.
Mayura tapped her chin in thought, "Strange... First Hodur-sama, then Hel-chan... and now Spica-sama?"
Loki nodded, looking rather serious himself, "I have to agree, this just isn't coincidence. Odin must be up to something."
"Chichi-ue, I will send word," Hel-chan reassured him, "if I discover something."
"Both of you be careful."
Spica's sign: 'Of course. See you.'
The remaining occupants of the agency stood on the front porch, Mayura and Loki were side by side, arms barely brushing against another, with a sad Fenrir in between them at their feet, the three watching the last of the visitors disappear from sight. Somehow, their hands found their way to each other, fingers interlocked, as Mayura raised her eyes to the partly cloudy skies, the distant gray clouds would arrive in the next hour or so, and wondered if this was really a sign of something foreboding to come.
"Ne Loki-kun," she called softly.
"Hm?"
As much as he loved his family, Loki was finally able to enjoy a peaceful moment with his precious mortal, though the troublesome departure of his daughter and ex was still at the back of his mind. He just hoped it was his luck working again, the usual work recall for those with actual duties, and not some imminent doomed fate dangling in the background.
"We'll be okay, right?"
Notes: Ah, here begins another story arc... Update will be longer, because I don't have much time as I used to. Anyways, expect new faces... from old Norse mythology to appear! Haha...
Ah, Krisaku mentioned Loki being all flirty... so this being an AU story and Loki isn't exiled in to a child's body, I think he would be who he would usually be given a different circumstance? *smiles* At least that's what I'd like to believe. His kindness and politeness can be misunderstood easily by all the females, of course - doesn't mean he "loves" them. I think because Mayura treats him like a normal guy, he finds her to be an interesting human initially, but there is much more to our Mayura, ne?! Of course he'd get smitten by her pure heart! *gushes* And she, with him! All the teasing and flirting are super cute! *grins madly*
Anyways, my ramblings... I promised Love Me and More... but I'm not satisfied with what I have, so parts are being rewritten. And then other stories to be worked on... aaah... -kuro.