Lori was confused, and in shock, but for some reason the remnants of the sedative did seem to help against that. She acted braver than she felt, that was for sure. For someone who had been kidnapped and sedated, and who had only just woken up in an unknown place she found herself acting rather strong. That strength seemed to fade the moment she closed the conference room's door behind her and realized she now stood face-to-face with the famous Avengers, Loki's arch foes if she were to believe the Internet. They all stared at her as if she were a very rare animal in the zoo.

"Err… Hi. W-We haven't met?"

"I think we have met."

The cold voice of the redheaded woman indeed sounded familiar. Lori remembered and frowned.

"You were the one who shot me."

"Yes. And I think you and I need to have a little chat. Girl-talk. Ginger to ginger."

Lori slicked. There was something about the woman that seemed to breathe danger… The woman gestured her to follow. She walked past the others, who were all still staring in complete silence. Bunch of creeps… And that was in charge of their planetary defence. Tsss… She was taken to an empty living room. Lori suspected since this was obviously someone's house and not a prison, they had no interrogation rooms. She had no doubt however that an interrogation was what she would get… They both sat down, and the woman gave Lori a piercing stare.

"Lori Lauritsen."

"Err… Yes? And you are?"

"Natasha Romanoff. I am rather curious as to how you and Loki got acquainted…"

Lori decided, interrogation or not, there was no reason to cower. If she could handle Loki, she could handle anyone. She shrugged.

"I don't really know, actually. One day he just was there when I woke up. He pulled my hair, if I remember correctly."

"So… you could see him?"

"Only in the mirror. He was really living in my head… The first time I saw him I totally freaked out, I mean, you don't find out you share your reflection with a huge creepy guy every day, right?"

"But… he was nice to you?"

Lori laughed.

"Nice? A royal asshole, you mean! If you had asked me back then what person I hated most in the entire universe, Loki Laufeyson would have been on top of my list!"

Natasha couldn't help but have the corner of her mouth tremble a bit into the likes of a smile.

"Well, I can say he definitely is on the top of many people's hate-list…"

Lori suddenly remembered something.

"You know, he speaks rather highly of you. Not that he spoke often of you, but… well, we got into a bit of a situation, and I don't recall how exactly we got to it, but he said he once knew a mortal female with red hair who had a poisonous tongue and proved a worthy opponent in battle. Coming from Loki, that is like… a huge compliment."

Natasha frowned.

"That's not exactly the impression I got the last time we fought him…"

Again, Lori shrugged.

"Loki can be a mean bastard. Doesn't mean he means every word. He is the God of Lies after all, and that doesn't only include flattery."

"Then I do not understand how you trust him. How do you know he is not tricking you? I understand it may indeed be flattering to a young girl like yourself but…"

Lori flushed.

"Don't say it like that! You make it sound like I'm some dumb little teenage girl who fell in LOVE with a creepy alien!"

Natasha's look told her enough. Lori frowned and explained.

" For one, I am not in love with Loki. I do think I love him though. But more like a brother or a very dear friend. Believe me, if you share a head with someone you get to see so much of each other there is simply no ground for falling in love. Not to mention that he's like a million years old so that would make him a total paedophile."

Natasha watched Lori's body language very intently, looking for something, a hint of a lie, an unnatural movement that could indicate mind control… But she found none. Lori continued.

"And that's also the reason I trust him. When he was in my head he couldn't hide his shit from me. Well, it was mutual, and I got it in my face quite a few times before I realized I could read him as much as he could read me, but… I trust him."

"And he has never… harmed you?"

Lori bit her lip.

"Well… there was that one time he broke my hand…"

Natasha frowned a bit, indicating her disapproval.

"And you do not hold it against him?"

She was starting to wonder if perhaps Loki's presence in the girl's head had damaged her somehow… Lori sighed.

"I sure held it against him, but in retrospect… I kind of deserved it. I was starving myself and Loki was… Let's say he underestimated his own strength. He wanted to make a point but instead he sort of punched my hand through a wall. Now I don't know about frost giant people, but they sure must have bones of steel to withstand that…"

Natasha blinked.

"You know of…"

"His heritage? Yeah. It's not for me to tell more about that though. I know you're probably a spy and stuff and trained to squeeze information from me, but please don't ask after Loki's personal things. I trust him, but that trust is mutual and I don't want to break it."

Natasha was slightly astonished by the way this young girl seemed to be not intimidated by her. Eventually she decided to ask.

"Do I intimidate you?"

"Sure. You have that look of 'I can pull a knife so fast you won't know it 'till you're dead', and that's pretty intimidating. But even intimidating stuff doesn't really help to make me shut up, ask Loki if you don't believe me."

"I believe you."

"Thanks."

"I would like to know though, what made you like Loki, if he was on top of your hate list, as you described it?"

"It's a bit inconvenient to continue hating each other if you're living so close together. So we made a truce. Sort of. And… I think it's just what happens when two people are stuck with each other. When you have no one else, you can't help but start to like each other."

Natasha thought about Clint and herself. They weren't the most compatible of characters, psychologically, but… they had been stuck with each other for so long that they indeed had started to love each other. At least, she thought it was love. If there were anyone in the world she might love it would be Clint. Lori noticed her silence.

"I know you probably think he's evil incarnate or something, but… he's not that bad. Please don't hurt him."

Natasha smiled bitterly. There would indeed be people who considered Loki the root of all evil… but that was only because they had never witnessed the things she had. Yes, she didn't trust the guy, and she liked him even less, but…

"If he does not engage us, we will not."

Lori grinned.

"Depending on what you call 'engaging'… he might. He's got a bit of a knack for bringing himself in trouble."

For some reason Natasha didn't doubt that… She watched Lori. During the conversation the girl had relaxed, not the usual effect she had on people during interrogation. But then, this didn't feel like an interrogation. Maybe she could even get some extra information from her like this…

"What kind of trouble?"

Lori raised her eyebrows and looked at Natasha.

"Really, I already said that you don't have to ask after Loki's personal stuff because I'm not going to tell you."

"Does the hair-cutting incident fall under those trouble?"

Lori laughed.

"Oh no. That was just revenge, and it went rather well I must say…" Then she thoughtfully added. "Or not, given the fact I got kidnapped and all that shit."

"Revenge?"

Lori blushed a bit.

"It started as a ploy to stop me from starving myself. Now I think about it, most of the things with Loki started as ploys to keep me from starving myself… Anyway, in exchange for regular meals he would help me take revenge on my bullies."

Natasha slowly nodded. There was clearly a whole lot about Loki she didn't know about… Most of all that he apparently was capable of speaking the truth…

(Pagebreak)

Thor and Loki sat in silence for a while. Then Thor opened his mouth, and immediately Loki held his hand up.

"No. Whatever it is, I don't want to hear it."

So Thor closed his mouth again, and they sat in silence a little longer. The silence lasted so long that eventually it lost its edge. Thor's face, usually graced by a smile, now looked tired. Loki looked at his feet when he said.

"Do you remember that time we went on a hunt together, to slay the three-headed wyvern that threatened travellers?"

His voice was soft, not accusing or angry. Thor remembered that particular hunt very well. They had travelled for days before they finally encountered the wyvern… and in the first fight it had turned out to be far too fast for even his skills as a warrior. They were only a few hundred years after all, at that time, not as proficient in combat as they would be now. Loki had come up with a plan involving a trap with bilgesnipe meat and magically suspended rocks, and they had caught and immobilized the wyvern with it, after which Thor had gracefully slain it. For Thor it was a fond memory, he recalled it was from the time he and Loki had still been friends. Loki didn't look as if it was a fond memory to him too though. Thor dared to remark.

"Yes. It was a wonderful hunt, don't you agree?"

"Do you recall the berries?"

"Berries?"

Then Thor remembered that as well. On their travels they had found strange bushes carrying thick, purple berries that looked delicious. He had immediately wanted to eat them, but Loki had stopped him, saying he could feel they were magical and might be dangerous. He had taken a few of them with him for further research. Thor bit his lip when he recalled that a few days after the hunt Odin himself had stumbled on the berries, and had immediately ordered for Loki to receive a lashing of the nine-tailed cat for practicing black magic. It turned out the berries were only used in a spell that summons evil spirits to extract revenge on someone…

"I…"

"That hunt, Thor. Story of my life."

"I don't understand…"

"We worked together to slay the beast… Yet you took all the credit. Worse, your friends spread the rumour I hadn't dared to fight the wyvern, and soon the whole court called me a coward. I was jealous of you yes, but I took it gracefully, I believe. Yet when Odin found those berries –from which I had saved you- he immediately believed I had gathered them with the sole purpose of extracting a horrifying revenge on you. He told me, you know. Every time the whip came down on my back he made me repeat this sentence: "I will not begrudge another's glory". 55 times."

Thor paled a bit, hearing that.

"You never told me!"

Loki shakes his head.

"By then I already knew you would either not believe me or discard it as my so-manieth 'imagined slight'. After all, I am the Trickster God, the God of Lies. I am incapable of speaking truth and everything I say or do is automatically with the worst possible intention. Or so the people of Asgard believe."

Loki's green eyes burned with a conviction Thor hadn't seen in a long while. Most of the time it promised nothing good…

"I admired you, you know. I didn't care that you would always be greater than me, I had already accepted that and I loved you like a little brother is supposed to. It wasn't you personally who slighted me. But at the same time, Thor… it was."

Loki's voice was sad. Thor didn't know what to say, because everything about it, even the little twinge inside himself that told him not to trust Loki, confirmed the other god's story.

"You never defended me in front of your friends or Odin. Not once you spoke well of me in public. When people spoke badly of me you let them and simply basked in all the positive attention they gave you. You didn't care, Thor. That is what made me hate you. You claim to love me but all you ever did was use me to look better yourself. I was simply the negative end of the comparison to you."

Now it was Thor who looked at his shoes. Loki's words hurt, mostly because he could see how they were true.

"I have indeed slighted you."

"You have."

"I am sorry, brother…"

Loki shrugged and gave Thor a piercing stare. Very calmly he said.

"Sorry doesn't cut it. It never will."

"I wish things had been different between us."

"So do I."

It sounded genuinely depressed, but at the same time Loki's look didn't lose a bit of its hardness. Thor tried his best to keep his sadness out of his expression, but failed miserably. Loki didn't seem to care.

"I will always see you as my brother, and I believe on some level I do love you. I have tried to discard that sentiment but it comes back at me time after time like one of those Midgardian boomerangs. I guess a couple centuries of indoctrination does that to a person."

It saddened the thunder god even further to realize that Loki thought of their childhood friendship as indoctrination… Loki continued.

"But for the same reason I don't think we will ever be friends again. Some things are just… not solvable with apologies and talking, and living in someone's shadow for years is one of those things. I… For far too long I have considered myself nothing more than an extension to your glory. It will do neither of us any good if I continue to hang around in your surroundings."

"I could be different. I could be a better brother."

Loki nodded slowly.

"I hope you will be. Not just a better brother, a better person as well. Just… you won't have me to practice on. There is nothing left for me in Asgard."

"What do you intend to do then? Stay here on Midgard, among your enemies?"

"The universe stretches itself out far beyond the nine realms. I'll find a place."

"Do you think you will ever forgive me?"

Thor said, almost inaudible. It made Loki sigh.

"I forgive you, Thor. Never thought I would, but as things have turned out I was wrong about a lot more than just that. It is not out of anger that I don't wish to be around you, not anymore. I just… Need time, and some space for my own."

It was odd. The madness that had filled his brother's eyes was gone, that disturbed glint he had seen for the first time during the invasion had faded, and the way Loki spoke was a testimony of his regained sanity. But all the same Thor felt his eyes burn in a way most unbecoming of an Asgardian warrior. His brother would never come home again…

(Author's Notes)

Damn! Writing Natasha is really hard... I know she's all sly and stuff, and if she put herself truly to it she could extract any information from Lori, but for two reasons she doesn't: A) people tend to underestimate Lori based on how she looks, and B) On request of one of my reviewers I'm going to make her like Lori, a bit. Just a teeny tiny bit though.

And yeah, no huge reconciliation scene for Thor and Loki. I know it's a classic in this fandom, but for some reason I don't think it would work here. Loki has gained a lot of insight in himself, but he needs to do some self-discovery first. You know, hitting the road trying to find himself and the likes. Thor has always been a bit too dominant a presence in Loki's life...

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I am eternally grateful for every single one of my reviewers. Each time I see a review it makes me happy, because someone cared enough to let me know they read my story.

Chocolate Whoopie Pies for: TheSillyKitten, srgthamy, Tiryn, AvengersGirl-LokisSpy, A Contradiction, giiggAwatt, Lokitty, Half-Masked, and lilirox187... Dearies, you have no idea how happy it makes me to read the same names each time; faithful reviewers are awesome!