Ugh, this chapter took FOREVER to write. I couldn't make it sound good in my head. Also, student teaching is kicking my butt. Sorry for the delay!
To prove how much student teaching has taken over my life, no less than four vocabulary words I'm currently teaching made it into this chapter. There is no escape...
Anyway, I am so sorry this took so long to get updated. The next chapter may take a while as well. I have never written anything close to action-packed before, so please bear with me. And words of advice would be greatly appreciated. I have loved reading all the reviews and I'm so glad you all are sticking with this story! It means so much to me!
Disclaimer: I only own original characters, the rest belong to Marvel.
Chapter 15 – The Shadow
The scars were healing though still deep around Loki's mouth. He had wrapped a strip of material from his clothing around his face to soak up the blood and hide the torn flesh, but the gashes peeked out from under it reminding Kiera of the horror she had witnessed weeks ago. Without the benefit of his magic he had been unable to heal the wounds. It had pained her so much to watch what had been done to him and even worse to bear witness to the jeers and hisses flooding the palace. Whether or not Loki deserved it, it was truly horrible.
Some scars, she knew, would never heal.
Kiera visited Loki's cell every day, and every day was the same. Loki sat in the darkest corner of his cell, mouth bound with bloodstained cloth, silent. Sometimes she would try to get him to talk to her. Sometimes she would tell him stories or Midgardian fairy tales. Sometimes she would only sit and say nothing at all. Each time she visited, she left a single ball of fire for him as a reminder of how she still felt about him. She hoped that one day he would believe it himself.
The fire was always the same, always warm, always bright. It illuminated every corner of the prison, filling it with a warm glow. Every day, Loki felt the ice encasing his heart melt a little more. Still, he could not speak to her. He could not admit his fault or reveal his guilt. He did not wish to feel that pain again. He loved and hated the flames she gave him. He wanted to deny any feeling that may or may not have been inside him all along. It was so much easier to be empty and callous. Feeling made him weak. But the flames made him strong.
However potent the light of the flames, they failed to illuminate every corner of the prison. One corner remained untouched by their light. Only one shadow lingered, hidden in plain sight…
Kiera took a deep breath before knocking. She felt small and uncomfortable standing outside Jadef's study. After the terrible things she had said to him she would not be surprised if he did not answer the door or slammed it in her face. How long had it been since that night? It felt like an eternity, but she could still see the hurt on his face. She had been so angry at him when she had confronted him that she could not admit to herself that he truly had not wanted to use her as a pawn. Ashamed, Kiera knocked once more, determined to mend what she had broken.
The door opened slowly. Kiera looked at the floor, unable to face him.
"Can I come in?"
"Of course, Kiera." Jadef moved aside to let her step into the study. It was much messier than usual with books strewn all over. The table was once again piled high with volumes of books and notes. Several burned-out candles lay about the room.
Jadef sank into a chair. "I did not expect to see you."
Kiera gulped. "I – I'm sorry."
Jadef buried his face in his hands. "No, Kiera. I am the one who should be sorry. Though I had no inkling of Odin's intentions it was wrong of me to hide what I knew from you."
"But, I was awful to you. What were you supposed to do? You couldn't disobey a direct order from Odin. That would be treason!"
"I betrayed your trust, Kiera. I could have convinced Odin that telling you everything was the best choice, or at least tried to do so. Especially after what happened with Loki…I should have learned."
"You're being way too hard on yourself. You did what you thought was best. Chances were pretty good that I would never find out anyway. If that Fire Demon hadn't broken into the palace and told me what I was, I never would have known and none of this would be happening. Nobody would have cared."
"Something like this always has the potential to happen. If I would have told you - "
" – it would not have changed anything about me." Kiera crossed to Jadef and took his hand. "I'm okay with it now. I mean, now everything makes sense. I can learn to control my power even more now that I know what I am."
"So you are not angry?"
"Not anymore."
Jadef looked at her searchingly. "What exactly did the Fire Demon tell you?"
"Well, he told me that my father had been banished from Muspelheim, concealed his identity, and married my mother, a human. Has that ever happened before?"
"Possibly, though I would guess that such a marriage would be very rare, especially considering the nature of the Fire Demons. Did he say anything else?"
"Then there was all the stuff about why Odin decided to bring me here instead of letting me die. The Fire Demon tried to convince me that you were all in on it."
"Manipulative devils," Jadef muttered.
"I did believe him at first, but the more I let it sink in the more I realized he was only trying to get me to change sides. I think they're planning to go to war against Asgard."
Jadef thought for a moment. "Are you prepared for war should it come?"
"Yes."
"And do you wish to continue with lessons in magic?"
"Yes."
"Good." Jadef stood up suddenly and began searching through the large pile of books on the table. "Odin has received a series of messages from Muspelheim hinting at war as you said. The inhabitants of Muspelheim are extremely dangerous and have power beyond what many in Asgard are prepared to deal with, including the warriors. We may be able to hold them off in a battle scenario for a short amount of time, but I feel that our best hope against them is you."
"Me?"
"Surtur and the Fire Demons are very skilled at manipulation," Jadef said, continuing to rummage through books and sheets of notes. "They have to be, especially considering their power relies on their emotional control. They are very good at twisting words. I was afraid for a moment when you stormed into my study claiming one of their spies had spoken to you that you had joined their side. I am not saying that what Odin did was the right thing, but I am glad you saw through the fog and remained loyal to us. It must have been a very difficult decision after what we put you through."
Kiera smiled. "It wasn't that hard. Once I calmed down it was pretty simple. I couldn't let what happened to Loki happen to me."
Jadef looked across the table at her and grinned. "You have been visiting him?"
Kiera nodded.
"I never doubted your character, Kiera. You are the sort of person who would associate with the very lowest. You have a good heart."
"It's what any decent person would do."
Jadef shook his head. "You and I both know that is not true. How is he?"
"He hasn't said anything. I mean, with what happened during the trial he couldn't talk for a while, but I think he just wants to be left alone."
"Are you going to, then?"
"Am I going to what?"
"Leave him alone?"
Kiera smiled. "Not a chance."
Jadef laughed. "Good girl. Now, help me sort through all of this. We need to find out as much about Muspelheim as we can. I fear war is imminent."
As they talked and sorted through mountains of paper, neither of them noticed a shadow lurking among the shelves of the study's many books…
"Loki?" Kiera sat outside his cell one day weeks after the trial had taken place. Loki did not even bother to glance her way. He knew she would keep talking regardless of whether or not he appeared to be listening.
"Loki, I know you can hear me, I'm not an idiot." Kiera scooted closer to the bars that separated them. Loki sighed in exasperation.
"You've been sitting in that same spot for weeks. You don't have to talk to me. But could you please move a little closer?"
Loki gave her a scathing look that said absolutely not.
"I just want to take a look, make sure it's healing."
Loki just curled farther out of sight. She had expressed this wish before. It had to be more out of morbid curiosity than actual care. That was what most of the people who came to gawk at him wanted.
"Please? Just to make sure you're alright?"
Loki did not move.
"Loki."
The way she whispered his name made him look up. He could see the hurt in her eyes as much as he tried to ignore it.
"Please."
It took several minutes, but finally, Loki stood up. He walked stiffly to where she sat, muscles aching from being confined to the same position for too long. As he approached her she stood too. She barely reached the his shoulders in height which almost made him laugh. He had forgotten just how small she was.
Kiera reached up timidly to untie the strip of cloth covering the wounds. He flinched at first, not wanting to expose the disfigurement just yet, but then relaxed and let her do it. She let out a small sound when she pulled it away revealing the lesions underneath which had morphed into angry, jagged scars. He closed his eyes and began to turn away, embarrassed by his weakness and inability to heal the wounds, when he felt her warm hand on his cheek. She gently traced one of the scars from his upper lip down to his chin. He opened his eyes and looked down at her, her stunning gold eyes looking right back at him. She stood up on her toes and softly kissed the places where the thread had done its damage. Loki unconsciously reached through the bars of his cell and pulled her as close as the chains around his wrists would allow. He suddenly realized how starved he was of anything that came close to resembling love. Within a moment, he was kissing her too, forgetting all about his disfigured face. His hands made their way to the base of her neck so he could twist his fingers through her long hair. For a little while it was as though nothing, not the threat of war or the bars of a prison, even existed. Everything was as it should be.
Unbeknownst to Loki or Kiera, Sulnir emerged from the shadows of the prison. Swiftly, he followed the labyrinth of turns toward the weapons vault. He had a message to deliver…
For being such a prized and secured item, the Tesseract was surprisingly easy to steal.
Sulnir arrived in Muspelheim without so much as a struggle. The guards had not even seen him coming. He had always been good at concealing himself, but it was laughably simple to break into the weapons vault and dispose of the guards. If anyone saw them, Sulnir thought with a smirk, they would assume the guards of Asgard were sleeping on the job.
He breathed in the dusty air of Muspelheim and sauntered to the edge of a charred mountain range. The sky was tinted orange and the ashen ground let out billows of smoke from fissures in the ground. Here and there, embers glowed from a recent burst of flames from deep within the ground. A river of lava flowed in the distance, hissing and boiling.
Sulnir stepped into the cave in the wall of the mountains in which Surtur the ruler of Muspelheim currently resided, casually tucking the glowing blue cube under his arm.
"What have you found out?" a voice boomed from a dark corner of the room.
"The girl has been bred against us," said Sulnir. "Odin has plans to use her as a weapon."
"As I suspected." A hulking figure stepped out of the shadows with red skin and piercing eyes. "You have been monitoring her for over a month, correct?"
"Yes, my lord."
"You are positive the half-breed has taken Asgard's side?"
"Yes, my lord. I have heard her speak of it firsthand."
"And she continues to be trained in fire conjuring?"
"Yes, by the master Jadef, my lord."
Surtur chuckled. "Does she have talent?"
"From what I have seen of her, she could last against only a few of our warriors, but I have not seen her when provoked. I fear she could be as powerful, if not more powerful, than some of our best if the need arises."
"More powerful? A half-breed?"
"It has been said that Midgardians possess a deeper range of emotional capacity than our race," Sulnir replied. "Her parentage suggests that she may yet prove a very…difficult opponent if aggravated."
"Weaknesses?"
Sulnir sneered. "I can think of one."
Surtur stalked toward Sulnir menacingly. "And what might that be?"
"From what I have observed, she seems to be enamored with the traitor."
"Loki?"
"Yes, my lord."
"And is this infatuation mutual?"
"I am quite certain both the half-breed and the traitor possess feelings for each other. They were not aware they had an audience, my lord. It was not very difficult to deduce."
Surtur paced to the opposite end of the cave, thinking hard. "Just how…enamored is she with him?"
"Enough that I would not be surprised if she were willing to risk her life for him."
Surtur turned and smiled. "Come then. Gather our mightiest warriors. Tonight we march on Asgard."
Kiera's door opened with a loud bang.
"Loki is speaking to me again."
"THOR!" Kiera dove behind her bed. "Learn to knock, please!"
"Are you indecent?"
"Now he asks." Kiera quickly grabbed a tunic she had left on the floor and pulled it over her head before emerging from behind the bed. "You know, you're supposed to ask if a woman is indecent before you enter her room."
"I just came by to congratulate you on whatever technique you used to cause my brother to change his ways. You must teach me how."
Kiera almost spat in his face with laughter. "Somehow I don't think the effect would be quite the same coming from you, Thor."
He cast her a look of pure confusion.
"But Loki's talking to you again? That's great!"
"It was quite a feat. My brother is not one to admit when he has committed a grievance. Perhaps there is hope for him after all."
"I sure hope so."
"And what is a young lady such as yourself doing on such a fine day as this?"
"Lessons," Kiera said with a small groan. Since the day she had spoken with Jadef she felt lessons were the only thing she ever did. "Do you want to come with? I'm sure Jadef wouldn't mind and it would be great to have some company. Lessons have been pretty lonely since…well. You know."
"I would be honored to accompany you, Lady Kiera."
"Oh, Lady Kiera? To what do I owe the honor of that title?"
"For being the only person who holds power over my brother."
Kiera smiled as they made their way toward Jadef's study. Then without warning a blast knocked them off their feet and sent them flying into the wall of the corridor. Rubble and smoke rained down on their heads. Kiera looked up through a hole that had been created by the explosion and saw that the sky appeared to be ablaze.
The Fire Demons had arrived in Asgard. The war had begun.
2013 EDIT: More description was added, and I think this chapter makes a lot more sense now. Yay for making sense.