So it goes with saying that only things I own with any connection to MARVEL I bought on Ebay or Etsy. MARVEL COMICS & MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE are their own creatures and I have nothing to do with either of them aside from the fact I enjoy reading or watching them, and am grateful for the ability to play in their world. I claim nothing, and I receive nothing for this, expect the pleasure of putting something out into the world.
You can also find this story on ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN under the same title and pen name along with a place to post suggestions.
Don't forget to check out the Photobucket album listed on my profile page too. (My apologies. I didn't realize FF removed the links. I have corrected the problem in what way I can, so for those who like the visual additions, feel free to check them out.)
DAY THREE
CHAPTER EIGHTY TWO
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1448 HOURS
OHIO STATE REFORMATORY
MANSFIELD OHIO, USA
LOKI
There is a softness to the wood resting against the bare skin of my back, alternating stripes of polished planks and air registering distantly as I sit in the abandoned rocking chair, my body testing the strength of it as my conscious tests the strength of my resolve.
She shifted recently in her sleep, the movement stirring the dust, and the sunlight streaming into the room making it shimmer in the light that reaches out to touch her skin. More than six hundred and twenty years I have wished for a sight like this, and for six hundred and two I consigned that desire to the realm of impossible.
I knew her for less than a quarter century, yet somehow she fixed herself in my mind so completely in such a short amount of time. Mother once said I was so obsessed with the idea of her because the the idea, just like her, was something unattainable. And mother may have been right, then. But I 'attained' Arnora, and I want her no less now that I have her.
She did not stir when I left the bed and reclaimed my trousers. A cantrip, something Asgardian mothers use to help restless toddlers sleep through the night, and physical exhaustion made it fairly easy for me to slip out from under her arm, the only reaction to my absence was a shallow stretch before she pulled on the blankets and snuggled with those instead.
She said she was afraid to sleep, or specifically she was afraid of the dreams sleep would bring her and I understood that. I also knew though that she would need to recover as much strength as she could for what was coming next, and while the cantrip could not guarantee she would not dream, it was designed to give whoever it was cast upon a deep and peaceful sleep for is long is their rest lasted.
It is a pity I did not know a trick to force peace on a waking mind, I would prefer such thoughts to the troubled ones I have.
My nature is suspicious, even before it became 'spiteful and malicious' according to my detractors, it was always suspicious. I was a Prince, and even if I was the second born 'son'... Damn Odin for being a better liar than I ... I was still a Prince. I was a means to further other's aspirations, the good favor of a Prince could get you very far in life.
My nature is still suspicious. When she asked me to show her what love was like, I had my doubts. I had them too when she said she believed that child was ours. My nature had me looking for her deception, it kept a small part of my mind dedicated to that task, studying her every action and word for the signs of a lie.
But when she whispered she loved me, in the very bed she sleeps in now, after what she gave me, there is no doubt in my mind of her sincerity. My Arnora may be many things but she is not that kind of woman. No, the doubtful creature occupying that corner of my mind has been replaced by a disgusted one, and it aims all of its judgement at me.
She loves me. I have had her for three days, and I have made her love me in such a short time. She has given me something I have never thought I would truly have, and outside this room there are preparations underway that I still have not cancelled. Preparations involving her.
I have captured Arnora, but I still want to claim the 'idea' of her. I want to own her magick too, the woman who loves me is still not enough. But can I really do that to her now, have I fallen that far?
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1450 HOURS
OHIO STATE REFORMATORY
MANSFIELD OHIO, USA
NORA
I think it was the sound of a knock at the door that was actually what woke me but it was the softly hissed words "If you think her worthy enough to be the last thing your eyes behold, then by all means, continue to look." That really made my consciousness reammerge.
I don't recall the moment or act of falling asleep at all, which is in stark contrast to the fact that I remember 'everything' else with stunning clarity. Remembering however isn't where my focus is at the moment, it's on the fact that I can feel the breeze stirred by the door opening all the way down to the small of my back.
Gathering the stiff sheet to my chest I roll over and shift into a sitting position, carefully wrapping the excess around me in an attempt to reclaim the modesty my unconsciousness swindled from me.
Loki proves an even greater guardian of my modesty then I am. No doubt having realized I was awake after only a single breath, I find him back at my bedside by the time I finish maneuvering, and his fingers tracing a quick line over a loose end of the linen.
The cotton starts moving on its own before even a millimeter of air fills the space of his retreating hand. It isn't as impressive as when he transmuted the Ball jars into wine glasses, but I think that is just a matter of his annoyance translating into impatience.
The weave of it tickles over my skin as it slides with an almost liquid quality over my shoulders and across my legs as four corners form and interlock into two loops over my stomach before I can feel the strange tingle of his magick evaporate out of the fabric, leaving it somewhere between a toga and a kaftan.
It's only after Loki holds out his hand to help me up, and presses a kiss to those same fingers in an affectionate but not particularly possessive gesture that the man who he threatened amount ago finally dares to speak, his timing not only appropriate if he wants to continue living, but his tone as well.
It's the blonde doctor who looked after Clint and Erik, probably oversaw Clint's surgery, and who I stabbed with all the consideration of a boiled root. He wisely keeps his eyes averted, avoiding Loki's angry gaze and the sight of so much as my ankles as he apologies for walking in on me while I was exposed like that.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1451 HOURS
OHIO STATE REFORMATORY
MANSFIELD OHIO, USA
TERRANCE
I knew even as my eyes were tracking toward the bed that it was a dangerous decision, though decision implies there was some control behind it.
I knew Agent Pierce had some history with the woman, just like I knew his father considered her incredibly valuable to HYDRA, even before she ended up being kidnapped by the alien prince our unit was loaned to. That's about as much as my clearance level allowed me to know, but I knew other things, mostly through guesses.
If she was important to HYDRA, then there must be something unique about her, perhaps she was an enhanced or empowered individual. Something HYDRA intended to exploit for their own purposes. That theory was strengthened when an invader whose best course of action was to run, took the time to forcefully collect her, and then again when Alex said we had to steal her back from a 'god'
A god who ended up catching me by the throat and almost putting the tip of his spear through my ribs when I made the mistake of struggling. Since then I've been very aware I'm not dancing on my own strings, but I don't mind it. There is so much knowledge in my head.
For my part in the ritual he has planned, he showed me what she really was, what he was, and the physician in me is fascinated. The potential advancements we could make if we could study them! Disease, infection, tissue degeneration, all of that would be a thing of the past. Cancer would cured in a matter of weeks. Forget bionic hearts, new organs could be regrown within patients while they slept, with no need for invasive surgery! And that was just scratching the surface of her potential!
That's why when I saw her, sleeping so quietly there in that bed, with that scar running up her back I couldn't help it. The Red Skulls HYDRA knew that the medical breakthroughs they could achieve through her would be outstanding, which is why they cut out part of her spinal column. But their methods were so crude and primitive they almost killed her taking those samples, if I could have her on my operating table today...
And that's when his eyes noticed where mine landed. I may have just been thinking as a biologist, but I was staring at his woman as she slept naked in his bed. His anger wasn't a surprise.
Her smile and acceptance of my apology was though. If she knew, if either of them knew the thoughts in my head, I wouldn't be breathing right now. Her ignorance is actually doing me a favor. That and her affection. "You're Clint's doctor aren't you?"
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1451 HOURS
OHIO STATE REFORMATORY
MANSFIELD OHIO, USA
LOKI
When he knocked, I was willing to forgive him for that mistake because there was no way he could know what mood he was disturbing me in. I was forgiving too when she started to wake, even if the degree was lesser. I could not let her sleep forever, even if I spoke in whispered tones to delay the inevitable. But when his eyes trespassed, sliding slowly along the skin that dipped beneath those sheets I very much entertained the idea of hollowing out his eye sockets.
Her head thankfully is the cooler one. While I still have it in mind to mutilate the man, there is a logic to her forgiveness I have to concede. If I continue viewing them as expendable resources, I am going to run out of people capable of completing the work I need done, and mortals are very easy to kill, he would likely not survive such maiming.
After that I intended to find out why he bothered us in the first place and send him off immediately. Those plans changed to patience however when she asked about Agent Barton. I owe her the right of those questions now, and I myself am curious on the subject too, since I still need him healthy for the next set of tasks.
"Yes ma'am. He's doing fine." He no doubt throws in the honorific as an act of repentance. "The bullet to his side missed his ascending colon and small intestines. It only required some stitches. The bullet that went through his leg also missed anything important, though there was minor inflammation from the lack of disinfectant, we put him on an antibiotic though so that will clear up soon."
Since I never let go of her fingers I can feel the small tremor in her hand at those words, and steady them with a light squeeze of my own."The biggest issue was his lung. Most of the bullet was embedded in his shoulder blade but a small fragment of it managed to pierce the bone and was cutting the top of the lung when he inhaled. We removed the fragment, and inserted a drainage tube through his ribs. Now we just need to wait for the fluid to finish draining."
While he continued talking I let my gaze drifting down to the bruise on her wrist, the pattern of it making its creation very clear. "What about Erik?"
"Dr Selvig is fine. He actually is why I came, he wants to see you, sir." At this he hesitates to add more, unsure where the line is about how much she knows, or if there is a line at all.
"Tell the Doctor I will come find him soon." The HYDRA operative is smart enough to recognize the dismissal for what it is, and with a respectful nod to Arnora, that may double as another apology he shuts the door quietly behind him.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1452 HOURS
OHIO STATE REFORMATORY
MANSFIELD OHIO, USA
NORA
The latch had barely finished clicking into place before Loki's fingers woven into mine lifted my hand into view, and then trailed down my skin to settle into a set of shadows that lingered from last night.
He doesn't stop there. Even as his left hand does that his eyes contain to move over me, and eventually they guide his right hand to push back the shoulder of the 'dress' I'm in, another 'shadow' stuck in the skin of my collar bone. "I hurt you."
"It's just a bruise Loki." His response to that is a tense expression in silence, before he pushes the cotton farther, passing it over the curve of my shoulder, revealing four light scratch marks and at least two more fingerprints. "I was too rough, where else are you injured?"
"Loki, really, it's fine." I try again, and I can practically read the reprimand of my name just through the arch of his eyebrow alone. "It's only a few bruises. I'd rather you heal Clint's wounds than waste your supply on something that small."
His expression settles to neutral in a moment of surprise at those words, then the expression shifts lower to something between sadness, amusement, and shame. He lets out a frustrated breath, that changes its tone with a tight smile for a moment. "Those words were spoken heated, but not sincere."
His steps are soft, and so are his eyes as they rest somberly on the bruise his fingers left on me last night. Those fingers are soft now too, and warm as they slide beneath the cotton to cup the slope of my shoulder, the side of his thumb trailing a caress over the base of my throat. "If I use it for you, then nothing is wasted?"
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1453 HOURS
OHIO STATE REFORMATORY
MANSFIELD OHIO, USA
LOKI
My plea is answered by the way her eyes close under the feel of my skin ghosting against her's, and the way her head drifts unconsciously to the side, the movement making the cotton surrender another inch of her tan skin to my sight.
The vision makes my lips hungry for the feel of her skin against them again. I feel like a man who has been walking through a desert before the ground cracked beneath me to drop me into an underground lake.
I feel half a millennium younger. I want to scoop her up in my arms again, and loose myself with her back under those sheets. I am searching my mind for a way to stop time just so I can spend it memorizing her skin. But I know she would not welcome it again, not this soon, not after that doctor reminded her there was life going on outside these walls.
I hate him for that too, for reminding me what I want to do and what I need to do are very different.
My first brush of my finger makes her flinch a bit, the goosebumps explaining the cause. I summoned up a stone and after crushing and cradling its dust in the palm of my hand, I coated my index finger in it to paint over the marks. In my distracted state of mind I let the spell that warmed me fade, leaving my skin markedly cool to the touch.
I barely reclaim a few of those lost degrees before she tells me to stop. A soft smile as her expressions answer to my own confused one. "You don't have to do that, the cold isn't painful, it's just part of who you are."
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1454 HOURS
OHIO STATE REFORMATORY
MANSFIELD OHIO, USA
NORA
He took two breaths without blinking, a flurry of emotions in his eyes and then the next thing I knew there is a wide tingling smear of the stone sinking into my shoulder as he was kissing me again. The kiss was soft, but it still caught me off guard enough that my body immediately took a half step backwards before his other hand and the tension of his arm pulled me back against his chest.
I forgot how much acceptance matters to him. Raised to hate a race that he was part of, the fact that I don't loath the coolness of his skin must seem almost divine to him. But I would rather have him as him, then an imitation of something else, something I can deceive myself with. I remember his reaction when he showed me his real skin, he looked like he was truly waiting for me to be sick at the sight of him. It's heartbreaking to think how horrible his life must have been.
Bringing my hands up to cradle his face in them seems to be taken as encouragement on his part. The fingers at my waist pressing deeper into the small of my back, making me curve farther into his invading form. The coolness of his chest finding its way quickly past the cotton into the skin of mine, something he doesn't miss by the soft shiver of sound that follows.
It isn't until I feel myself lifted up, his hands adjusting their hold onto my hips as the knobs of the dresser press into the back of my calve, and the leather pants against the inside of my knees that I consider and act, my hands leaving his face to press carefully against his chest. "Lo-ki."
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1455 HOURS
OHIO STATE REFORMATORY
MANSFIELD OHIO, USA
LOKI
She spoke my name, dividing it distinctly into two syllables, but I heard what she really said. 'No, not now, please stop, Loki no.'
The male in me has its own opinion. Ignore her, keep going, you want this, you can persuade her, it is okay. It is probably right, I am no stranger to how easily hormones and the right touches can change a person's mind. But she is not some court whore, not someone whose opinion I can disregard and whose body I can claim on a whim. The very thing my desire would have me do now, on a linen chest no less. "I am sorry."
"It's okay." My cheek takes comfort in the warmth of her neck as I force an end to the kiss. The way her hands are trailing reassurance over the ridges of my back have less of the calming effect she is probably hoping for, but I will not say a thing to stop her caress, I am too selfish for that. "I understand."
I chuckle at that a little, the breath rebounding off her caramel flesh and ghosting back over my own before I lift my face to her's, each of my hands pulling hers from behind me so I can place a kiss on her knuckles. "Of course you do, you are very good at that." Then those hands serve a different purpose as I step back a pace and pulling lightly help her slide off the dresser and put her feet back on the floor.
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1456 HOURS
OHIO STATE REFORMATORY
MANSFIELD OHIO, USA
NORA
I barely finish arranging the 'skirt' back into a modest arrangement before I feel the magick tickle my skin again.
This time the former sheet shifts into a crisscrossing pattern of wide folds over my torso, that covers my shoulder while leaving my collar bone exposed, even if it slopes to the left and the waist rises in a triangle. The skirt portion of the dress is an evenly floor length drape of slightly whiter thick cotton with no split to be seen. Either Loki was no longer satisfied with his earlier transmutation, or this is his attempt at something more modest.
"You didn't have to." The statement comes out automatically, perhaps in part do to my lingering practical view on clothes and money, but it's met with a bit of a smirk from him as he continues to appraise his work on my clothes, and the return of his own. "My dear, I am not known as a paragon of self restraint."
Right, because I was wearing a bed sheet. The next sentence I utter is filled with embarassed sense, which is better late than never. "Thank you it's lovely."
THURSDAY, MAY 3RD 2012
1456 HOURS
OHIO STATE REFORMATORY
MANSFIELD OHIO, USA
LOKI
"While, you are wearing it." My verdict draws the color out in her cheeks in a delightful way, her embarrassment rising despite the truth of the matter. A beautiful dress is only as beautiful as the woman who is wearing it, and while it is not the hue I prefer her in, the style of it evokes pleasant memories of our past.
"Now I need to go see what the doctor called me for." But as much as I would love to reminisce I lack the magick to stop time. I have things that need to be done, and a Titan with monsters to appease.
"Please eat..." Her gaze turns from mine, drawn instinctively by the shimmer of magick on the night stand. A decanter of Jiafanjiu, a ceremonial Vanir wine gifted to me from a nobleman is sitting there along with a tea set and warmer to serve it properly, and another bowl of 'Idunns' apples. "...and drink something while I am gone."
Her curiosity at this addition to the room held her attention for a moment, but not longer then she realized I was planning on leaving. There is a moment in her eyes that looks like hesitation to let me, rather the idea of being alone upsets her or the idea of me being with them does, I do not know.
"I will return as quickly as I can, and... I will heal your 'brother'." This time the emotions in her eyes are plain. Relief and gratitude. Gratitude that earns me more than words. Rolling onto the tip of her toes slightly and using my arms for support she gives me another kiss, one I cherish even as I force myself to keep it short.
Before I shut the door, both to the room and a point in my life I ask her if she would like a bath when I return. I play at normalcy as I make promises to arrange for hot water, and insuite the idea of company while she washes.
I can feel my will to see these plans I have for her crumbling every second I linger in her presence now and if I do not force myself away the last three days of preparation will have been for nothing.
The blond doctor who interrupted us earlier is waiting for me silently outside the door, patiently waiting for me to lock it before he chooses to speak. "Should I tell the medical team to cancel the preparations?"
"No." She said an apple is what the Devil used to trick a woman and bring sin into the world "The ritual will proceed, she will be ready very soon." Now I am using one to trick her, to sin against her.