The next morning… was awkward. Awkward in the sense that Lori woke up snuggled close to an armour-bearing frost giant with a ridiculous helmet, who also had his arms wrapped around her. The moment the notion she wasn't alone in bed penetrated her sleep-dazed mind she jumped up and yelped.
"WAAH!"
This caused Loki to wake up as well, making him utter an equally unmanly squeak.
"AAAH!"
A moment, they both sat up in bed, staring at each other. Then the realization came through.
"Loki?"
The god scowled.
"Who else?"
Lori's shocked expression was replaced by a huge smile. Before Loki knew it she had wrapped her arms around him in a tight, happy hug.
"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that…"
Loki just hugged her as well. His body felt strange, unfamiliar. His height, his long fingers and the lack of rounded forms… it would take some getting used to again. Not to mention the odd feeling of not having to share his thoughts with someone. For a while they just sat there, holding ach other tight on Lori's bed. The realization was still slowly seeping into Loki's mind; he was free again, Odin's punishment had been revoked! At long last Lori let go of him. Loki observed the way she looked at him. It was strange, not knowing how she was feeling… he missed it.
"I have no words for how strange this is."
"Well…"
"Does this mean you're… free?"
Loki bit his lip. He had attacked this girl's planet; he didn't think she would find it suitable punishment…
"I don't know. I believed that I was to spend a mortal lifetime here on Midgard…"
Lori chortled.
"You mean you would have been in my head for all my life? Wow… That… That would have been seriously awkward. Now I think about it like that, I'm kind of happy you're out of there… just imagine I would have had to listen to your comments while having sex… Brrr…"
Loki raised an eyebrow at the slightly rambling Lori.
"'Now you think about it like that'? How did you think about it before then?"
Lori blushed.
"I… Err… It's… I mean…"
Loki filled in.
"That it's kind of lonely in there now?"
Her mouth fell open.
"Okay. So you can read my mind even when you're not in there. Creepy and unfair advantage, Loki!"
Loki laughed.
"Oh mortal…"
Then he said, while ticking against his own head.
"I can't read minds. But… It IS kind of lonely inhere too."
Lori hugged him again. She had the feeling Loki had never been hugged enough…
The general strangeness of Lori's life was so high already that sitting in her PJ's in bed hugging a fully armour-clad Norse god didn't really stun her anymore. But after a while she did realize there would be quite a few practical problems now that Loki had his body back. For one, it was pretty much impossible to hide an almost 2meter tall Norse god. She contemplated if he would fit in her closet, but discarded the idea. Too many very bad jokes in that one…
"You look in deep thought, little poison-tongue…"
"Just… thinking where I'm going to hide you."
Loki had thought about that too. It was nice to have his body back, but he was still a wanted war criminal here and Lori's body had been a great disguise… Without it they would locate and catch him in no time. Yet if the punishment really had been revoked, then Odin, or at least Thor, wouldn't allow the humans to imprison him. Perhaps he shouldn't hide… The sooner they found him, the sooner Asgard would have to intervene. He looked at Lori, who was biting her fingernails. He couldn't allow the Midgardian warriors to hurt Lori… and he knew very well they would if they would find him with her. They were already after her for the hair-cutting prank, but for as far as he knew they had no idea he was involved in it. If he just disappeared and showed himself somewhere else, somewhere far from Lori's house, she would be free of suspicion, and after a while SHIELD would realize Lori didn't possess any magic and leave her alone. It was a perfect plan… He softly took Lori's hand and brought it away from her mouth. She looked up.
"What?"
"Don't bite your nails, it's gross."
That was not what he had wanted to say, and Lori knew it. She rolled her eyes.
"Come on, spill. What is it?"
"I will have to leave."
Lori had come to that conclusion as well. The All-mighty Asshole had freed Loki from her mind, so now he would probably have to go back to his home. The thought that she would probably never see him again though… that made her bite her nails.
"I know. But… Do you have to leave immediately?"
"Better as soon as possible. I don't want to bring you in trouble."
Lori grinned.
"Now that's a first!"
"Mortal!"
"Puny!"
It was just friendly banter. Friendly banter with an edge of discomfort, because they both knew it could be the last time they got to fool around with each other like that…
"You know Loki… I… I don't really want you to leave. I mean… I will miss you so much."
She knew Loki was not a fan of sentiment… But now it was him who pulled her close.
"I will miss you too, little mortal…"
He didn't know why exactly, but it was the truth. Being with Lori had learned him so much, and he was grateful for it. Seeing the world through different eyes had opened his own to a world of possibilities. He had come to like Lori, her big mouth and her drama and her insightful take on many things… Yes, he would miss her, that little mortal. But he had to leave, for her own good. She was in much greater danger than she probably realized, and every minute he stayed with her he made the danger bigger.
"You should prepare for school."
"It's gonna be so boring without you…"
Lori dressed, and then noticed the silk scarf that was neatly folded on her desk.
"Your scarf… now you can take it back."
Loki shook his head.
"Keep it. So you'll never forget me."
"As if I would be able to do that… You're quite memorable, you know. Hard to forget those horns…"
That earned her a poke. She started laughing.
"Oh my! I can't believe you POKED me!"
"I picked up a few things."
They laughed a bit, and then Lori became serious again. She wrapped the scarf around her neck.
"Thank you Loki. I will always, always remember you. Always."
There was a moment of silence. Loki was still sitting on Lori's bed, feeling a bit lost.
"I will never forget you either, Lori. Until Ragnarok comes I will always remember you."
"So… then this is goodbye? I… I guess you won't be here anymore when I come back…"
"I'm afraid so. It is better if I leave as soon as possible."
"Better wait until my dad's out of the house… He's still sleeping now I guess…"
Loki got up, and Lori just hugged him again. Lots of hugs in a very short time, but Lori knew she had to make the best of the time she got. Loki noticed she was crying.
"Don't cry, you silly mortal! I will reconcile with Heimdall so he can tell me all about what you're doing. Maybe he'll even let me visit you some time…"
Lori smiled through her tears.
"Really? Could you like… come to my end prom?"
"I'll try my best."
"And what about my birthday?"
"Heimdall is tough to banter with, little mortal…"
"Don't bet your head, okay? Or any other limbs… Just… stay out of trouble?"
"Did you just ask the god of mischief and lies to stay out of trouble?"
Lori nodded very seriously.
"Oh yes. I don't want anything bad to happen to you."
Loki decided not to tell her he was destined to instigate the end of the world. That might just cause a bit of a freak-out he wanted to avoid.
"Don't worry about me. Now run to school, okay? Don't be late!"
Lori gave him a last hug and then stormed down the stairs, leaving the god to his own devices in her room. Loki thought about places he could go… and then he remembered Lori had said her father was still in the house. Perhaps he could give the little poison-tongue one last goodbye gift…
(Pagebreak)
Mr Lauritsen stumbled downstairs for a fresh cup of coffee, and did a rather unexpected discovery. Lounging on one of his kitchen chairs sat a tall man with a bizarre helmet, a cape, armour, and a fearsome looking staff. He immediately recognized the characteristics of the world-conquering alien psychopath Loki of Asgard… The kitchen door slammed close behind him, and he found himself trapped with the god, who didn't look too friendly. Scrambled against the door he uttered.
"W-who are you? W-what do you w-want?"
Loki gave him his demonic smile.
"You know very well who I am, Mr Lauritsen. My name is Loki, and I need to speak with you about your daughter."
Lori's father went pale.
"Lori… w-what did you do to her?!"
Loki frowned.
"I did not do anything to her, Mr Lauritsen. What I mean to discuss is what YOU did to her."
The red-haired man was clearly highly shocked and confused. Before he could stutter something, Loki continued.
"You, Mr Lauritsen, have an amazing daughter. She is highly intelligent, kind-hearted and funny. She's a better person than most of you pathetic humans. But she thinks she isn't worth anything; she hates her reflection and thinks she's ugly, and do you know why that is?"
Mr Lauritsen shook his head, and Loki poked him with his staff, suddenly standing before him with an angry frown.
"Because. Of. You."
"B-but…"
"Hearing time after time how she is fat, how she is ugly, how she can't wear pretty clothes because she's fat, how she is lazy and unhealthy and at fault for her own looks… do you think that goes over without consequences? And then I'm not even talking about the way you treat her. Deeds speak louder than words, and your deeds tell her that she means nothing to you."
"That's… that's n-not true!"
"When was the last time you praised her for her intelligence, for her good grades, for the way she cares about others?"
Mr Lauritsen's eyes widened a bit further.
"Uhm…"
"I thought so. When did you last introduce her to your friends and acquaintances with pride? Did you know she believes you're ashamed of her because she's ugly? She thinks you deliberately ignore her or talk past her when in company because you don't want people to think you belong with her!"
"T-That's… T-that's n-nonsense! L-Lori doesn't like t-to be t-talked about! She's shy, s-she always hides on parties!"
"And tell me Mr Lauritsen… Why do you think that is? Why do you think a smart young woman hides instead of having fun?"
"I… S-she…"
"Because you NEVER do any effort at all to make her feel like she's NOT an outcast because of the way she looks! She calls herself the elephant man. She considers herself deformed. She starved herself for two weeks after you took her to that doctor without asking first! Don't you see that how you treat her is not how a father should treat a child?"
Mr Lauritsen looked pale like a corpse.
"H-how… how d-do you know t-this…?"
"Because in opposite to you I have interest in what's below the outside, Mr Lauritsen. I have gotten to know your daughter as someone whose potential is being smothered by the people around her because they don't see anything past a few pounds of superfluous flesh. Someone who has a kind heart that is slowly being poisoned by the words of others."
Loki bent closely to Mr Lauritsen, barely a few centimetres from the man's face.
"Treat her right now you still can, Mr Lauritsen… Or she may end up like me."
With that he teleported away, leaving Lori's father panting and trembling against the kitchen door.
(Pagebreak)
Clint and Natasha had been following Lori walk to school in their inconspicuous grey spy-car, when suddenly a device started beeping.
"We have a magic reading.."
"Is it the girl?"
"No. It's in a nearby park."
"Alarm SHIELD."
(Pagebreak)
Loki looked around him. This was not Central Park… Then his eye caught on a little name sign. "Central Park." Great. Of course, most villages and towns had a place called Central park… Loki couldn't believe he had made such a rookie mistake as to not specify which Central Park he wanted to go to. The spell had him brought to the closest location with that name, so he was still in Lori's neighbourhood. When the bushes rustled and armed men surrounded him, he knew he was in very, very deep trouble… Clint got to see how Loki looked at the men around him, and…. face-palmed. It would have been comical if not for the circumstances.
(Pagebreak)
Lori knew something was wrong when she walked through that one alley and felt as if someone was following her. Oh, how she wished Loki were still in her head to distract her from this probably irrational paranoia… But irrational or not, she couldn't shake the feeling, and that turned out to be for good reason. She felt a sharp pain in her leg, and when she looked she saw a thin metal dart sticking out of it.
"Oh fuck…"
Then she suddenly felt very dizzy and dropped to the ground of the alley. Second time to go down there, crossed her mind… Vague she heard voices, a man and a woman.
"She's out of it?"
"Soon she will be."
That was the last thing Lori heard before her mind went blank and she lost consciousness...
(Author's Notes)
So Loki and Lori have been separated at last! Unfortunately, that doesn't end too well, with SHIELD interfering... I hope you liked what Loki did to Mr Lauritsen. I just felt like he had to do that; perhaps if someone had done that to his family he wouldn't have ended up in such trouble...
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