Duplicity

Loki and Saklauss were hustled out of the prison and chastised the whole way. Loki kept his hand carefully on the boy's shoulder, making sure he wouldn't get worried or frightened. But the boy didn't seem perturbed by the circumstances in the least, almost skipping along beside the prince as he continued peering at the nekos in the cells they passed.

"Now we better not find you sneaking in again!" a guard growled as he led the prince and the child out of the front doors.

"No need; we won't be back," Loki said curtly.

"Go on, then."

Loki nodded and steered Saklauss away as they trudged off.

"Prince Loki?" Saklauss asked.

"What?"

"Why are all the nekos being thrown into the prisons?"

Loki smiled wryly. "Because they're treated unfairly, and they don't like it. Now, I thank you for your help, but I really have to go and get my broth—"

"If they don't like being treated unfairly, then why are they being thrown into the prisons?" Saklauss interrupted the prince.

Loki sighed, really just wanting to go and get Thor so that Marron might be let out of the stockades. And then maybe—maybe—something could get done. But at the same time, the boy had just helped him, and he couldn't merely send him off just like that. "That, Saklauss, is an excellent question that I don't really have the answer to. Rather stupid, isn't it?" he raised an eyebrow as he looked down at the boy.

The child nodded exaggeratedly. "It doesn't make sense."

"I agree wholeheartedly," Loki sighed. "But try telling that to the king. Now, I really need to go and help my friend," he said, crouching down to meet the boy's eyes earnestly. "You know that girl we talked to in there? Marron?"

Saklauss nodded. "She's the one I saw up close this morning getting arrested, right?"

"Right. Well, she's my friend," Loki explained. "And I really need to get her out of the prison. So… thank you very much for helping me, and I'm sorry things became a bit complicated in there with the guards and the other nekos yelling and all. Thank you for helping me find my friend. You should probably go home so I can get my brother's help in freeing my friend. Alright?" he asked kindly.

Saklauss started to nod. "Is that cat-fighter girl your lady friend?"

Loki's brow furrowed into a blank stare at this child, baffled.

"I mean, you seem awfully worried about Lady Marron," Saklauss backtracked. "And you said she's a friend of yours. Are you courting her?"

Loki continued to stare at this child. So innocent and unknowing and a complete blank slate to this world and the rights and wrongs in it. Thinking that it was even conceivable that a prince of Asgard could be courting a neko girl held in the stockades. And the pure, unbiased, uncorrupt curiosity of the boy was admirable. The question was curiosity. Not disgust or judgment. Like Saklauss thought it would be perfectly fine if such were the case. Loki steepled his fingers as one corner of his mouth lifted slightly. "No. Marron is not my lady friend. There's another girl, named Chatte Noir Voleuse," he explained. "And she is my lady friend. Marron is just a friend."

Saklauss tilted his head to one side. "Oh. So you're courting Lady Noir?"

Loki forced a smile. "No. Not exactly."

"Why not?" Saklauss asked in confusion. "If she's your lady friend, then-?"

A breath of disbelieving laughter escaped Loki's lips. "Because as much as I'd like for things to be that simple, they aren't." And he clapped a hand on Saklauss's shoulder as he straightened. "And if I want Marron to be free from the prison, and if I ever want to see Lady Noir again, then you must go home, and I must go find my brother."

The boy nodded briskly. "Alright. Good luck, Prince Loki, and thank you for letting me see the cat-fighters up close!" With that, he dipped into a tiny bow, which Loki returned with a smile of amusement. And the boy ran off down the street in a zigzag as he stopped to peer under rocks and to inspect beetles he found.

Loki shook his head in amazement and turned, heading back toward the palace at a purposeful speed.

00000

"So as far as times go, the middle of the days probably better," Blanc was explaining to Noir. "The guards and everyone here isn't on high alert, and if things go right, they won't notice you're gone for a good little bit, depending on who you're interacting with throughout the day."

"Alright, I know leaving here works best in the middle of the day because everyone here's on low alert," Noir frowned. "But the palace is on lower alert at night. It'll be far easier to go undetected there at night. Especially if I'll have to be scaling some walls to get into Loki's chambers," she mused, tracing her finger over the line on the map that illustrated a secret path into the royal gardens, and then showed convenient routes to each member of the royal family's chambers… and all of these routes involved some climbing up to a balcony from some place or another in the gardens. It appeared that the architects of the Asgardian palace had had great care in fortifying the wall around it, and had done exceptionally with the inside of the palace as well. But over the years, ways had been devised to get in, and these ways had all been noted by careful hands when making this map.

"'To get into Loki's chambers'?" Blanc repeated disbelievingly.

"What?" Noir asked.

"Gods," Blanc rubbed his forehead. "One, Noir, you called him 'Loki.' Honestly. No title or anything in front of it. Have you really gotten so close you don't have to address him with any kind of respect?"

Noir let out an offended scoff. "I treat him with plenty of respect; the respect of a good friend. And all the honesty, amicability, and teasing and verbal sparring that entails," Noir said haughtily, crossing her arms over her chest defensively. "So, no, he doesn't put me down as an inferior and require me to call him 'Prince Loki' or 'Majesty.'"

Blanc gave her a disgusted look. "And two, you're going to his chambers? Bit presumptuous and intrusive, Noir?"

Noir's eyes narrowed into a glare. "No, it's not. Because for one, it's the only place I know will be safe to be, because either he'll be there, or it'll be empty and I can wait for him to get there. And for two, I've been in his chambers plenty of times. It's not the huge fuss you're making it out to be."

She caught the critical raised-eyebrow look Blanc was giving her at the assertion that she had 'been in Loki's chambers plenty of times.' Noir felt her face flush.

"Not like that, Blanc," she growled, bopping him over the head with an open palm. "Honestly. Idiot. Marron and I were taken to his chambers when we were trying to figure out where we should be staying in the palace. And also just before the ball, we went in there to get ready." She paused. "Blast, Blanc, don't jump to conclusions like that," she shook her head, flustered. "I've never even been in his bedroom."

"…You just said you were in his chambers—"

"There are other parts to his chambers besides the bedroom!" Noir cried. "Gods, just because I've been in his chambers doesn't mean I've been in his bedroom! There are other parts to his chambers, Blanc. I've been in the sitting room, and the dressing room, and there's a bathing room, and I think there's a—"

She trailed off at Blanc's incredulous look.

"It doesn't matter!" Noir snapped. "You're getting me all distracted. Norns, Blanc, we have to focus and not get caught up on the tidbits like the fact that I've been in Loki's chambers before."

Blanc raised his hands in surrender. "Fine, fine. Where were we? Time of escape?"

Noir sighed. "Right. So, the security's more lax on the palace at night, I would think, and it would be harder to see me scaling the wall at night."

"Plus it's a bit overcast," Blanc put in. "So you might have the cover of rain as well. If nothing else, you'll at least have extra cover of darkness from the clouds."

"Mmhmm. But if I'm leaving here in the day because the security here is more lax during the day, then that suggests I'll be just waiting around the city for darkness to fall before I can head out."

"The guards are arresting any nekos they find wandering the streets," Blanc supplied. "So you'll have to keep relatively well-hidden."

Both were silently pondering for a moment, Noir poring over the map and Blanc biting his lip in thought.

"…So did you changing your last name have anything to do with the prince?" Blanc asked.

"Blanc!" Noir exclaimed exasperatedly, resisting the urge to bop him over the head yet again.

"I'm just asking," Blanc whined. "Since you changed it during the days you were spending in his company…"

"Does it matter why I changed my bloody last name?" Noir groaned. "No, it doesn't—"

"Well, it matters to me," Blanc said stubbornly.

Noir's eyes flashed. "Well, that's too bloody bad. You're being paid to help me escape, not ask questions that have nothing to do with said escape."

"I'm not being paid, actually," Blanc said under his breath.

"You're being paid in forgiveness," Noir reminded him. "And frankly, my inclination to grant forgiveness is growing rather reluctant and dwindling."

Blanc rolled his eyes. "So… what you're saying is, yes, your name had something to do with the prince," he mumbled, rubbing his thumb over his bottom lip.

Noir huffed, giving up her agitated countenance and just giving Blanc a blank glare. "Why do you care?"

"I… I just don't like him. That's all."

Noir gave him a hard look. Obviously that wasn't all. But though she had a suspicion of what exactly it was that irked Blanc so much about Noir's affection for the prince, she didn't really want to confirm her suspicion. That would just… complicate things. And they were quite complicated enough as it was. "Alright," she murmured. "So… if I'm just hiding out in the city for a while, then going to the palace…" she traced her fingers along the line again. "Tunnel here, under the wall, and emerge in the gardens. Now, if it is actually raining, then it might make scaling the palace a little more difficult."

"Maybe a bit," Blanc conceded. "But you're good enough at climbing, I bet you could do it with your eyes closed and both hands behind your back."

"Seducing me with compliments, you little coquette," Noir teased lightly.

Blanc smiled faintly. "Perhaps a bit. But I really think you could climb up the palace under any conditions. I mean…" he pointed to a small note that had been made on the map.

Plenty of handholds along outer walls.

"So I think it'll be easy for you whether it's raining or not," Blanc finished.

Noir shrugged. "Hmm. Hopefully."

"You'll be fine."

"Maybe."

"Noir, you'd better be fine," Blanc said forcefully, mock threatening in his voice.

Noir gave him a crooked smile. "I'd better be?"

"That's what I said. Or else I'd be rather upset."

"If you're worried, then you could come, too," Noir said slowly.

Blanc blinked. And opened his mouth. And he couldn't think of anything to say for a moment, taken aback. "Ah—but—I can't do that," he stammered. "Well, I mean—do you want me to come with you?"

Noir let out a breath of amusement. "I'm not opposed to the idea. Two heads are better than one in a getaway, and besides, Marron and I were rather sad that you left our group."

Blanc's face hardened again, the moved and touched expression falling away. "I didn't leave the group. You did."

Noir scoffed, immediately regretting even making the offer. "We didn't leave the group. You did. Since the word 'group' is defined as two or more, Marron and I made up the group, and you were the one who left it." Gods, she had just been trying to bridge the gap and invite him back into the group. But no, he had to be so convinced that he was in the right, didn't he? Marron and she had been sad that Blanc was gone. But Blanc was the one who left Marron and Noir, and not the other way around. "Fine, then; don't come. Gods, you're insufferable sometimes!"

"No more than you," Blanc growled in frustration, inwardly hating himself more than Noir. But hating Prince Loki more than himself. "Look, Noir, I'm sorry, alright?"

"You said that before," Noir said curtly.

"I know. My memory isn't that bad that I forgot that I apologized for no reason other than your being angry at me."

"Blanc, just…" Noir held up her hands, as if trying to figure out a way to convey her feelings by holding up her half-clenched fists. "Just stop. I don't care if you want to stay in the revolution, alright? I don't care. Do whatever the blazes you want. Just don't drag me into it anymore." She glanced away and shook her head, tail flicking in irritation. "Let's get back to planning."

Blanc let out a sharp breath through his nose. "Fine."

00000

Marron found herself pacing her cell nervously, tail flicking back and forth with her suppressed anxious energy. She looked up every time she heard footsteps down the hall coming this way, hoping desperately it would be Thor. But it never was. It was always just another guard, patrolling the corridors or taking another prisoner to their cell.

Loki said he would get Thor… and Thor cared enough to get her out of here, didn't he? Wouldn't he make some effort to get her out of here? Orr was he still too opposed to the neko revolution? He had to know she hadn't really joined the revolution…

She looked up as more footsteps came down the corridor. She waited with bated breath. Then another armored guard walked past, and her ears and tail drooped.

She returned to pacing, fiddling with her black fingerless gloves that had been provided by the rebels. He would be here soon… he had to be. She wasn't sure how much longer she could stand being in here. She crossed over to the dingy bale of hay with a dirty cotton sheet (the barely-passable "bed" in this cell) and dropped herself onto it, burying her face in the dusty, lumpy area that was supposed to serve as a pillow. She didn't move for a long time, feeling stress and hopelessness overwhelm her. How long had it been since Loki and the little boy were here? An hour? Two? Three? Time seemed to not move quite right here. Or maybe it was just her nerves.

"…supposed to be selecting likely candidates and interrogating them," a booming voice said commandingly, drawing closer. "We think some of them may have vital information about the rebels. And if we can find a neko willing to talk, then perhaps they can become our informant."

Marron lifted her head slightly, eyes wide in shock. That was Thor's voice.

"And this is the Allfather's order?" a guard asked.

"Of course it is," Thor answered immediately. The voices were still drawing closer.

"Very well. Then shall we start at one end of the hall and interrogate them one at a time?"

"I don't think that shall be necessary. It should be fairly obvious which of them has and is willing to spill information." The footsteps advancing paused, evidently stopping at a cell. "Do you know anything of the revolution?"

"I told you already! I'm not a rebel! I don't know anything!" a man's voice shouted indignantly.

"See?" Thor's voice asked to the guard, sounding quite satisfied. "Simple." He took a few more steps. "…Do you have any information for the king about the rebellion?"

"Who's asking?" a cold female voice retorted.

"Likely that one has information that she isn't willing to impart without some prompting," Thor observed.

"Shall we take her to the whipping post so that we can persuade her?" the guard inquired.

"Nay, let's keep looking. I'm sure one of them will be willing to give up their information a little more easily," Thor said nonchalantly.

Marron sat up straight, heart thudding in her chest. She knew what was going on. Apparently Loki had briefed Thor on the situation and coached him in what to do. Perhaps that was what had taken so long. Her hands shook slightly. This was brilliant. This was perfect. Thor would be able to get her out of here under the pretense of her providing information about the rebellion.

The crown prince appeared in front of Marron's cell, accompanied by a young, unsure-looking guard.

Marron fought back the urge to break into a grin at the sight of Thor. She bit the inside of her lip to keep herself in check. Thor, however, smiled a bit at the sight of her, along with an attempt at an inconspicuous wink that was painfully obvious to anyone who was looking at him. Marron resisted the urge to slap her hand to her forehead at Thor's lack of tact in duplicity. All she could do was thank the heavens that the guard wasn't looking at his prince, too busy peering at Marron.

"And what about this one, Prince Thor?" the guard inquired hesitantly.

Thor cleared his throat. "I am unsure. Neko, do you have any information about the rebellion?" He raised his eyebrows and gave her a meaningful look.

Marron swallowed and nodded. "…Yes, I have some information," she answered quietly, hoping that was the answer they were looking for.

Thor turned to the guard. "See? I told you we would be able to find an informant. Now, if you would let her out, I'll be taking her to the palace so we may confer with the war counsel and deliberate on her information."

Marron fought back a smile of relief and amusement. The guard stepped forward and began fumbling with the lock and the key ring at his belt as he mumbled a 'yes, Your Majesty' to Thor.

The door was opened momentarily, and the guard entered the cell. "S'pose you shall be off to the palace," he informed her. "Turn around so you can be cuffed."

Marron flashed a quick look to Thor, double-checking that this was all according to plan. Thor gave her a tiny apologetic smile and a nearly-imperceptible nod. Then, obediently, Marron turned around and put her hands behind her back. Cold metal was slipped onto her wrists for the second time that day, and her heart tightened with apprehension. The cuffs clicked into place, and she was firmly spun back around again and led out of the cell by the guard, who had a hand wrapped around her upper arm.

"…Will you be wanting another guard to assist in escorting her up to the palace?" the guard queried.

"I am sure that she shall cause no trouble; all will be well if I escort her myself," Thor dismissed.

Marron nodded meekly. "I won't cause any trouble," she murmured. "I don't want to escape, and I won't do anything silly."

"See?" Thor said again. "Well, then, I think I shall be off. The war counsel will be happy to have a good supply of intelligence on the enemy. I thank you for your help in this matter. I'll be sure to pass on a word to your captain," he nodded courteously to the guard, who smiled appreciatively.

"Happy to help, Highness," the guard breathed out in awe of his prince. "I hope the prisoner is as helpful as you want, and you're welcome to come back and interrogate some of the others if you need to." With a final salute, he began walking back to the entrance of the prison, an excited energy in his step now.

Thor followed the young guard, resting a hand on Marron's shoulder to lead her along and to appear as if he were somewhat wary of the neko girl.

Soon, the prince and the handcuffed neko girl exited the prison into the outside, where clouds had begun rolling in to cover the sky in gloom. Neither of them spoke for a long moment, making sure they were quite out of earshot of the guards standing at the doors to the prison. But once they were sure their conversation wouldn't be heard, Marron let out a breath of relief.

"Good to see you again, Thor," she whispered to him.

"And I, you," Thor muttered back. "Loki told me he snuck into the prison and found you, but was unable to set you free. So he told me, and together we devised a plan to get you out without arousing suspicion."

"You performed brilliantly," Marron giggled. "Have you been practicing your lying?"

Thor chuckled. "Loki and I spent some time practicing what I was to say and how to act. You think I did well?"

"Well, I'm out, aren't I?" Marron laughed softly. "So when can I get the handcuffs off?"

"Ah, about that," Thor sighed. He fell silent for a few seconds as another guard walked past, heading back to the prison to relieve another guard of his duty or to carry a message or something. Once he had left to a safe distance, Thor explained. "You see, Marron, not everything that I said in there was a complete lie. We were hoping you could be the informant for the Aesir side of the battle? Loki seemed to think you would have some information to give. Do you?"

Marron nodded. "Actually, I do. So… am I really to be brought before the war counsel?"

Correct. I shall be telling the Allfather that I went ahead to the prisons and began interrogating the captured nekos for information, merely because I am a good prince who simply wants to advance our war efforts quickly. Hopefully, my father will agree that you are to be given better quarters, as a bit of a consultant for our counsel, and shall be able to be given a room in the palace. Naturally, you'll have to be guarded, but it should be better than the prison."

"So are we to pretend that we don't know each other when other people are around?" she asked.

"Aye. No one else knows of your friendship with Loki and me. We'd like to keep it that way for as long as possible. Is that agreeable to you?"

"Yes, it is," she conceded. She paused for a moment and looked up at Thor, giving him a grateful smile. "Thank you for helping me. I'll do what I can to make sure I can repay you… I'll give the information I have on the rebellion, and I'll try to play my part correctly," she assured him earnestly.

Thor smiled and squeezed her shoulder gently. "I know you will, Marron. I'm just glad to see you again. I was quite worried sick about you and Lady Noir."

Marron glanced up at him as they continued walking. "…Noir's still with the rebels, you know. Not of her own accord, of course, but she wasn't able to escape with me."

Thor nodded. "I know. Loki told me." He smirked very slightly. "In fact, it seems to be all that Loki can think of at the moment…" he gave Marron a quick smile. "Don't worry. We'll get Noir free soon, too."

They continued the walk up to the looming palace, passing the guards at its entrance with minimal trouble. Now they simply had to pray that everything else would turn out well in the end, too.

Note from LoquaciousQuibbler: D'awww… I have to say that I may or may not kinda really like this chapter (which may or may not be why I actually got it done and updated faster than I have been recently…). We had our little moment in the beginning with Saklauss and Loki… Li'l kids are so cute sometimes, huh? He even got Loki to open up just a little and admit Noir was his "lady friend…"

And we got another Noir and Blanc moment… *sigh* poor Blanc. Such an idiot XP Noir and him have a real tenseness going on…

And Thor got Marron out of the prison! :D Lol don't ya just love seeing Thor acting half-smart about something? Heheh he managed to play his part of the "springing Marron from prison" plan halfway-decent… And the plan now? Marron shall be the informant for the Aesir on the neko plans. Are we all happy with our mild little Thorron moment we got this chapter? We haven't had much in a while… ;)

And what shall happen next? Tune in next time to find out! And until then, feel free to favorite, follow, and review!