Author's comments: day late, dollar short, and very confused because I could've sworn I posted this chapter last Tuesday. o.O

Okay, so here's the plan: Updates for TAgg every Tuesday, schoolwork permitting. Suggestions and/or special requests shall remain open for always, hurrah, and I'm half sure there's something else I'm supposed to say but I can't remember it so that's all for now.

xvii.

"Ah, Thor, there you are," Fandral said as he approached his longtime friend. Thor turned around to face Fandral and, as expected, gave a similar greeting in response.

Fandral rocked on his heels, hands clasped behind his back as he wondered just how he could say this without sounding like a complete twit. "I was walking past Loki's rooms—making certain that all was well, you know—and, you see…" His voice wandered away and he fidgeted again. "It is somewhat difficult to relate, I'm afraid."

"You can try, Fandral," Thor replied. "If there is anything I know about you, it is that you like the sound of your own voice."

Indeed, but not so much when I sound like a buffoon, Fandral thought to himself. "Well, when I was going past his rooms, I noticed that…" His voice trailed off once more and he gestured vaguely, nose wrinkling. "His room… smelled strange."

Thor's brows furrowed into each other slightly. "Smelled?" He paused. "Perhaps that cobbler the Captain of America sent didn't agree with Loki's stomach," he mused.

"No, no, not like that," Fandral said quickly. "I mean, it smelled like something rotten. Eggs, maybe."

Thor sighed heavily. "Loki's up to something."

"I can't even figure it out," Fandral confessed, hands spread helplessly. "Just come and see, and do try to prevent." He paused and added, "I think I saw steam coming out from under the door."

Thor muttered something incomprehensible (Fandral may or may not have caught something about accursed malicious curiosity and green-pelted perceived menaces) and shook his head, releasing another sigh, and followed after Fandral grimly.

He broke into a run when they reached the hallway which held the doorway leading into Loki's chambers. It was filled with a scalding white mist which caused Fandral to recoil, but when Thor roared a frantic and terrified "LOKI!" he knew he had no other option but to follow after his comrade.

He and Thor reached Loki's door, Thor with Mjolnir and Fandral with his blade, and with a bellow Thor crashed the hammer against the door and broke it in. Fandral was somewhat taken aback by the sharp contrast of the stale-aired room and the steam-filled hallway outside.

Something was off, though, and Fandral couldn't quite put his finger on it. Loki and his cat seemed fine, though, not a hair out of place on either of them. Fandral would never be foolish enough to say it to their faces, but secretly he thought the both of them were vainglorious creatures. Really, they deserved each other.

"Loki," Thor said, his tone surprised and bewildered, "what happened to your things?"

Oh, that was what was wrong. Though Fandral looked, there wasn't an object in sight. No furniture, no miscellaneous things lying around. There was, however, lots of black dust.

"Apparently sorcery and acid do not make a great combination," the cat remarked.

Loki scowled. "How was I supposed to know that would happen?" he grumbled. "The idea was for the acid to eat you away in a matter of seconds, not for it to devour all my belongings."

"Well, when you try to create a new ultra-corrosive chemical in your homemade magic lab, you can expect things to go wrong," the cat replied.

Fandral frowned, irked by only catching half the conversation. Ordinarily he wouldn't care what Loki was talking about, but since his skin was starting to peel and it hurt like fiery needles, he would like to know what was going on.

He wasn't the only one. "Loki," Thor said, "As I cannot hear the secret conversations between you and your cat—"

"Why do these ignorant Asgardians continue to presume I'm your cat?"

"—I would appreciate it if you explain to me what is going on." It was clear from the last few words that this was not a request, but a command.

Loki smiled charmingly. "It is not of import," he growled through his friendly-seeming teeth.

"Just another failure, that's all."

Loki's hand shot out to the side and grabbed the cat by the throat, lifting it several feet from the floor. "I would appreciate it if you would cease punctuating my words with mordant remarks," he snarled.

"Appreciate? You? That'll be the day."

The long-suffering look on Loki's face almost made Fandral feel sorry for him. More than that he wondered what the cat was saying that aggravated the Jotun so. Why couldn't the telepathy thing work with more than one mind?

"Loki…" Thor said, warning that his patience was running out.

Loki's swallow might have been produced by nervousness. "It was an accident, Thor," he explained. "Shan't happen again." His fingers clenched around the cat's throat more tightly. "Will you shut up?" he hissed.

Fandral took on an expression of offense, then realized he was talking to the cat. It was hard to tell sometimes; Loki treated everyone with nearly the same level of disdain. Loki gathered his composure and continued, "I was—"

"Playing in my homemade magic lab, trying to create a highly corrosive chemical, when everything went 'BOOM!', big brother."

Loki's eye twitched. Obviously the cat had just said something.

"I was attempting to create a highly corrosive chemical with which to demolecularize the cat's structure."

Thor blinked. "And that means…?"

Loki sighed impatiently. "I was trying to make acid to melt the kitty-cat, Thor," he said derisively.

Thor frowned, not approving of Loki's mocking tone. "And what went wrong?"

Loki hesitated. "Well, I was using magic, and… well, you know sorcery can be unpredictable sometimes."

Oh, Fandral knew. The horse incident he remembered particularly well. The horse incident that was never to be spoken of and still gave Fandral horrible dreams on occasion.

"So, instead of melting the cat, the acid ate away everything else in this room," Thor summarized.

Loki deflated. "Yes."

"Including my bed, which I am not very happy about," the cat added. It looked over at Loki. "Mostly because Dr. Really-Strange over here definitely won't make me a new one."

Loki made a face at it. "Oh, no one cares."

"Not true: Thor cares. Thor cares about ev-er-y-thing."

Loki rolled his eyes. Fandral once again found himself irritated at the fact that all the conversations between Loki and the cat, at least the parts he heard, were always completely out of context.

xxviii.

"Is that an anvil again?" the cat inquired, watching as Loki struggled forward with a rope. "Loki, if you can't even think of new ideas anymore, I'm sure it's time you just gave up."

"It's not an anvil," Loki grunted. "It's a cube."

"Ah, and that makes it completely different."

"Completely."

The cat's lip curled upward in a smirk—because Loki had indeed confirmed that the cat could smirk—and it said, "Well, have fun preparing. I'm off for fish."

Loki's brow furrowed. "But you hate water."

"And that should make a difference?"

"Yes."

"The reward is worth the risk."

Loki paused briefly in his hauling, feet anchored on the floor. "You're having Thor catch the fish for you," he stated, disgusted.

"And what of it?"

Loki shook his head. "Coward," he muttered.

"Says the one who can't even face up to a Midgardian balloon."

Loki shuddered. "Those things can't be truste—" His head whipped around and he stared at the cat. "How do you know about that?"

The cat didn't answer and saucily walked off. Loki growled angrily and continued hauling away. Later, he was yelling at the cat to get into position on the target positioned where the cube would land. Loki would ordinarily tie the cat up and drop it there, but the cat was in a mood and quickly dodged aside whenever Loki approached.

"Would you just get beneath the block?!" Loki demanded.

"I have fish to get to, I already told you," the cat replied. "You'll just have to do this later."

"Get. Underneath. The block."

"No." The cat smirked. "And as I have already demonstrated, you can't make me."

Loki glared at it. "I hate you."

"That has long been established."

"Get underneath the block."

"Didn't we go through this little bit of conversation already?"

"GET UNDER THE BLOCK!" Loki roared.

Something above him snapped and then the cat was thrice its size, staring with wide eyes at the giant block that had taken Loki's place.

"Now where did that come from?" it wondered. It looked up, saw the frayed end of the rope. "Oh." Its fur gradually flattening against its back, it stretched out a paw and poked the block. "Loki?"

"Mmmmrphr-uuuuh…" a groan issued from underneath the block.

"I do declare, Asgardian," the cat said, "this is your biggest backfire yet."

"Shhuuuuuu uuuuuuuup."

The cat gave an amused purr and turned around. "I'll go get Thor," it told Loki as it left.

xxix.

"If it's so easy for you to get off Asgard, little Jotun, why do you even bother going back?" The cat was surprisingly expressing a measure of interest in Loki's doings. "It would be such a simple matter for you to escape and never return."

Loki tossed the cat a glance and didn't answer, for once his reason not only being contempt for the cat. He swung his ax up and it thudded against the thick trunk of the tree. The cat watched from its location inside of a barred cage, tail swaying tranquilly.

"You are a puzzlement, Asgardian," it said. "Doggedly persistent, yet your reputation states that you would be the first to take the easy way out." It settled down, paws tucking underneath its body. "What changed, I wonder?"

"Why…" Loki panted, jerking the ax out of the trunk and lifting it again. "…would you…" The ax reentered the tree. "..care?"

"Oh, I don't know, we've only been suffering each other's company for nearly eight months, I'm just curious to know a thing or two about this funny little creature who's trying to kill me."

Its head tilted slightly. "Oh, and incidentally, I don't care. I merely want to know."

Loki nodded, a bitter smile curling his lip. "Of course," he said. "A quest for knowledge should never be mistaken for a desire for empathy."

"Precisely."

"You're a cat," Loki continued. "Empathy simply is not within your capacity."

The cat didn't reply. It watched as Loki continued to hack away at the trunk of the tree, observing the rocking as it was slowly removed from its foundation. The cat was fully aware that the tree would land squarely on its cage, and only after gaining an impressive amount of momentum. It was hardly an alarming prospect.

The tail it had curled around itself twitched some, nearly reaching its chin. It was amusing, Loki's determination to destroy a single creature that he surely knew he couldn't. The lengths he had gone to already were, to everyone other than the cat, terrifying. But he was still going at it from entirely the wrong angle, so the cat had nothing to worry about.

And with Loki's doggedness giving him the tendency to fall into tunnel vision, there was no way he would stumble onto the right path.

The ax thudded against the trunk again, and this time there came the resounding series of cracks that announced the tree was seconds away from falling. Its last connections to its roots were lost and the tree came hurtling down, rushing toward the ground at a terrific speed.

With an ear-ringing clang! it hit the cage. And stayed there. Loki stared in outraged shock. The cage was so strong, and designed in such a way, that even this wooden behemoth couldn't crush it.

The cat looked up, whiskers stretching forward to brush against the bark just visible through the cracked top. "Well, that's a little different," it remarked. It perused its surroundings, then took note of one bar and pushed it out.

The tree thoroughly crushed the cage. Loki's eyebrows lifted hopefully.

"I just had to know," the cat explained from its squished position. Loki groaned and crumpled his fingers around his face. "Would've lost sleep over it otherwise, and I hate losing sleep."

"Sleep…" Loki mused. Hm, there was a Midgardian drug called caffeine, used to power the body with energy—

"Don't even think of it, Asgardian," the cat said warningly. "Nothing comes between me and my naps, and I would find your drugs an hour before you planted them."

Loki only gave the fallen tree trunk a devilish smirk and turned away.

"I also know where an eel breeding ground is to be found."

Loki paused. He really hated those eels, but… eels versus the cat's death? Caffeine was worth a try. For death. Loki walked off, leaving the cat to commune with its tree trunk.

xxx.

"But why, Loki?" Thor demanded. "Do you know no reason?"

He and Loki were arguing heatedly—again—but at least this time they weren't trying to physically kill each other. The cat watched from its vantage point on a distant ledge, eyes set to their near constant half-cast. The constant quarreling between the brothers bored and somewhat amused the cat. It didn't understand how people could say the two had possibly gotten along.

Loki laughed scathingly at Thor, face twisted in a sneer. "What have you said to the Midgardians, Thor?" Imitating Thor in a way that could only be intended as mocking, he continued, "'Loki is beyond reason.'"

Thor frowned. "Loki, stop this madness. You cannot truly desire to pursue this—"

"I do what I want, Thor!" Loki snapped.

The cat laughed. Well, outwardly he released an abrupt and rather high-pitched yowl, but in Loki's head there was a resounding hoot. The Asgardian turned and glared up at the perched cat, comfortably resting where he had thrown it a few hours ago.

"I fail to see what is so humorous," he said to the cat, and Thor looked confused, as he always did when Loki stopped talking to him and started talking to the cat.

"'I do what I want, Thor!'" the cat repeated Loki's words in a nasally tone. "Do you have any idea how much you say that? And how ridiculous you sound? It's hysterical!"

Loki scowled. "It is not."

"Is so!" the cat chortled, a loud purr rumbling in its throat.

Loki's fists clenched, and he directed a fearsome look upon the cat. "Is not," he growled.

The cat just kept purring, eyes closed in amusement. Loki shook his head in disgust and turned back to Thor. The other Asgardian looked at Loki in bewilderment. "What have I missed this time?" he asked.

Loki shook his head again. "Nothing you need to know."

"Yup, because then he'd be laughing so hard he'd break one of his indestructible ribs," the cat pointed out.

Loki rolled his eyes. "Oh, please."

Thor shook his own head in disgust and gave up, walking out of the room. "You're grounded for the week, Loki!" he called behind him.

Loki started, a protest instantly forming on his lips. "What! But—"

Thor looked over his shoulder and popped an eyebrow as he smirked. "I do what I want, Loki."

Loki fumed.