#loki's daughter

[imagine-loki]

Loki's Daughter

TITLE: Loki's Daughter CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 16: The Curse AUTHOR: travelling-classicist ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Avengers: Endgame AU Loki that gets away with tesseract has been using it to explore the universe. During his adventures, he comes across a little girl with developing but oppressed magical abilities. Intrigued (and subconsciously lonely) Loki keeps her around.

AO3 Link: Here RATING: Fic is M for violence; chapter is T NOTES/WARNINGS: None

Chapter 16: The Curse

“Stop fussing,” Loki said. “You won’t even feel it.”

“No!” Kuna cried, pressing her back against the wall of their hollow.

“Kuna, I am not letting you walk around with a microchip in your back!”

“No!” she cried again.

“Please? I promise, I’ll be very quick. You won’t feel a thing.”

“No!”

“Kuna, do you want those masters to know where you are? Do you want them to find us?”

Kuna stopped crying and looked at him in terror. “They can do that?”

“That’s what this is for,” Loki lied. “To find you if you run away.” He wasn’t entirely sure it had that capability since they had been in this system for nearly a week without seeing a soul. “Do you want them to find you?”

“No!” Kuna cried again.

“Then, let me take it out!” he said.

Kuna buried her face in her hands and turned around to let Loki near her back. He had gotten so far for her to take off her shirt before she realized what he was trying to do and ran from him.

“It won’t take a minute,” he said. “Take a deep breath.” He gently cleansed the area by her left shoulder blade. He knew a spell for numbing the skin and applied it to the area. Kuna whimpered and her back shuddered.

“Kinda cold?” Loki asked.

She nodded.

“That’s good. It means the spell’s working and you won’t feel anything there.”

“Ever?” Kuna cried.

“Ugh,” Loki sighed, exasperated. “No, not forever. Just a few hours. You’ll be fine.”

He made a small incision in her skin and revealed the chip. He gently pried it free with some tweezers and tossed it in the dirt, smashing it with his heel. Using another spell, he stitched up the small incision with glowing magical thread.

“There,” he said, placing a small bandage over it. “Finished.”

“That’s it?” Kuna asked, sniffling.

“That’s it,” Loki replied. “See? You didn’t feel a thing, did you?”

She shook her head and turned around to hug him. He rubbed her back, being careful to stay away from the incision.

“The magical sutures will dissolve when your skin is healed and you’ll be good as new,” he said.

Kuna sniffled again and nodded.

Loki’s own injuries had healed after his run in with Kuna’s mother. Kuna had tended to him constantly for the last week, despite his protests that he was fine. Now, that they were both rested, he was ready to face this wizard.

At Loki’s mention of removing the chip before their next mission, Kuna had gone berserk. She tore apart their hollow in a fit of crying and screaming. It was entirely out of character, but Loki had expected it.

Loki had been studying up on curses more and more while he was forced to be bedridden by Kuna. The books warned of signs that a curse had become sentient, or aware of its host. Kuna was exhibiting them all. Tantrums, changes in mood, emotional, sometimes violent outbursts that ended with Kuna balled up in pain.

It was time to remove this curse, but Loki did not want to spring it on her so suddenly. He had already harassed her enough today by removing the microchip.

“Let’s get this place cleaned up,” Loki said.

Kuna sniffled again. “I’m sorry!” she cried, cowering.

“Kuna, don’t be sorry. It’s not entirely your fault. Let’s just pick up in here and then we can do something fun.”

He helped her to her feet, and they began picking up the mess. Kuna straightened their hammocks and picked up her toys and blankets she had thrown on the floor. Loki picked up his scattered books and tucked them away in his pocket universe.

When they were finished, Kuna crawled into her hammock and curled up.

“Are you sleepy?” he asked.

“No,” she said, sadly.

“Do you want to do something fun?” he asked.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Do you want to play a game?”

She turned over and looked at him, “What game?”

“I don’t know,” Loki shrugged. “We could play hide-and-seek or tag?”

“Tag?” she asked, sitting up.

“You’ve never played tag?”

“No,” she said.

“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised, given your upbringing,” he said. “We need to fix that.”

He stood. He hadn’t played tag or any childish games for centuries. He shuddered at the memories of playing such games with his brother. Pushing the unsavory memories aside, he looked down at Kuna.

“Tag is very simple,” he explained. “There is someone who is ‘it’ and then there is everyone else. The person who is ‘it’ tries to tag someone else. Once tagged, then that person is ‘it’. Get it?”

Kuna looked blankly at him.

“Okay. I’ll be ‘it’. You try to keep away from me. Can you do that?”

“I think so?”

“Alright, well get going or I’m going to tag you!” he said.

“Oh!” she said. She climbed out of the hammock and took a few steps towards the little hole that led out of their hollow. She turned to look back at Loki. He smiled and gave a start at her. She squealed and ran out the little hole of their hollow.

Loki followed. He straightened up to see which way she had gone. He caught a glimpse of her behind one of the great trees.

“Aha!” He ran after her. “I’m gonna get you!”

She squealed and ran away, giggling. They chased each other through the brush. Loki did his best to keep up with her, but she was surprisingly nimble.

He cast duplicates of himself and made them spread out. Kuna caught sight of two Lokis chasing her and frowned.

“You said there was one person who’s it!” she cried.

“Technically,” Loki said, leaping over another root. “We are all one person.”

Kuna ran around another tree and dodged the Lokis that chased her. She laughed as they struggled to keep up with her. One split off from the other and ran around the trunk of one of the giant trees. The other chased right on Kuna’s heels. In front of her, she approached an ancient root that formed a large, rounded arch. Through it, she could see the other Loki, running towards her. Behind her, she could hear a Loki gaining on her. She smiled and jumped up onto the massive root. The two Lokis crashed into each other underneath.

Kuna laughed and slid down from the root. The two Lokis sat on the ground, rubbing their heads. She rounded a corner, still looking over her shoulder at them, and ran right into the real Loki. She fell back on her bottom.

“Tag!” he said, tapping her nose. “Now, you’re ‘it’ and you have to catch me.”

“Okay,” she said, smiling.

Loki turned and ran off as fast as he could. He weaved and dodged, expecting Kuna to come at him from all sides. But she wasn’t. He stopped and looked around.

“Kuna?” he panted. There was silence. Loki’s heart fluttered for a moment as panic sparked in his mind. “Kuna? Where’d you go?” He turned on the spot, searching the bushes for her.

“Yahh!”

Kuna slammed into Loki from above, knocking him down. She had been clinging to the bark of one of the trees. She jumped up and tapped him on the nose. He laid there, stunned. He had not heard her nor seen her. He was impressed. His duplicates walked over, one of them snickering.

“Shut up,” Loki grumbled at him.

“You’re it!” Kuna said and then ran off.

Loki stood, brushing himself off. Kuna turned and leapt up onto a tree trunk and started climbing. He walked up to the base of the great tree. Climbing was not his forte. Kuna had already scaled a few stories of the tree and perched herself on a high branch. She waved at him.

He jumped onto the tree and slid down. Hoisting himself up, he looked for good handholds. He began climbing, slowly. His arms began to burn, and his legs were shaking. He looked down. He had to be nearly there.

He stared down at one of his clones who looked up at him with a crooked smile. Loki was only a few feet above his head.

“What are you looking at?” the real Loki spat.

The clone chuckled and disappeared.

“Ugh,” he groaned as he slid down the tree. “Okay, new rule. No climbing!”

“You can’t just change the rules!” Kuna cried from her perch on a branch above him.

“I'm afraid you might fall,” he lied. He really wasn’t afraid she’d fall. Kuna was an incredibly skillful climber. He was more worried he would fall if he got up there.

“I won’t fall,” Kuna called down to him. She stood and walked a short way out on the branch and jumped up and down on it. It creaked and groaned as it swayed up and down under her.

“Kuna! Stop that! I can’t put you back together if you do fall!”

She blew a raspberry at him.

“Oh, that’s it!” he grumbled.

He summoned the tesseract’s energy and portalled to the branch she stood on.

“Eeep!” she cried and ran off down the branch.

“Oh dear,” Loki said, steadying himself on the swaying branch. “I may have miscalculated.” The branch was the size of a large tree on Asgard. It rocked under Loki’s weight and made his head start to spin.

Ahead of him, Kuna leapt off the branch, falling for a brief moment before landing gracefully on another big branch on the adjacent tree.

“Ha!” she laughed, straightening up.

Loki smirked. It wiped the grin off Kuna’s face. He ran a few steps and then jumped, portalling in midair to Kuna’s new branch. He wobbled a bit on the landing.

Kuna smiled. The two of them faced off, staring each other down. Kuna broke first. She jumped up to smaller twiggish branches that sprouted from the trunk of the tree. She used them like monkeybars, swinging from branch to branch until she climbed up to the next big limb.

She pulled herself up to see Loki’s boots in front of her.

“Aha!” he cried and reached down to tag her.

She let go just before his hand touched her head. She fell onto a lower branch. The falls didn’t seem to faze her. Loki was aghast. He portalled down to her. She sat, half-crouched on the branch just as she had landed, her back turned to Loki. He ran up and tagged her shoulder.

“Tag! You’re it!” he shouted, laughing.

Kuna didn’t move. Loki nudged her. “Kuna? I tagged you. You’re it now.”

A guttural growl filled his ears and sent shivers down his spine. He looked up at the tree across from them. A kapka clung to the tree, upside down, staring right at Kuna. Its dark scales blended in almost perfectly with the tree. Lighter grey stripes across its back, mimicked the scraggly branches that crisscrossed the trunks of the trees. It hung just a few feet above them. Kuna was stock still.

The kapka growled again, a low rumbling snarl that ended with a menacing hiss. Its mouth opened wide, showing them its venomous, pointed fangs. Its tail whipped back and forth in jerky movements. Loki noticed two dorsal flaps that protruded from the base of the kapka’s tail likely to help it rutter during big jumps.

Loki saw its muscles tense. In the instant the kapka began to leap, Loki grabbed Kuna around the middle and portalled away. They found themselves on the forest floor at the base of the tree. Loki heard claws scraping on bark. He looked up as the kapka was sliding down the tree with its razor-sharp claws. Bits of bark rained down on them.

Kuna grabbed Loki’s hand and dragged him away. She ran back towards their hollow. The kapka reached the bottom of the tree and was bounding right on their heels. Loki turned and let loose a blast of magic. There was an ear-splitting roar and Loki felt a thump through the ground as the great cat-like creature plowed into the forest floor.

Kuna dove into the hollow. Loki stood outside waiting for the beast to regain itself. He could hear Kuna racing about inside the hollow, no doubt gathering their belongings.

“Any time now,” Loki said, impatiently.

The kapka’s head appeared out of a bush in a flourish of growls. It roared at him and charged. Kuna emerged from the hole, the stuffed satchel at her side. Loki felt her hands wrap around his leg. He lifted his hands and summoned a portal as the kapka launched itself at them.

Kuna squeezed her eyes shut as she felt them lurch through space. Another portal opened and they fell through. Kuna landed hard on her side and felt a crunch. The breath left her lungs. She gasped and turned onto her other side to relieve the pain. A mouth full of vicious teeth greeted her as she turned. She sucked air back into her lungs and let out a scream, kicking at the beast's face, trying to find traction to get away. Loki laid a few feet away. Kuna clawed her way up his legs.

“Ah!” Loki let out a cry as well at the sight of the kapka. He grabbed Kuna and pulled her towards him. He looked around. He had no idea where they were. They were surrounded by dusty plains, marked by tall rock spires that covered parts of the landscape. It looked like a petrified forest.

The beast lifted its big ugly head after being battered in the face by Kuna’s kicks.

“It’s still alive!” Kuna cried, latching onto Loki.

Loki felt his heart jump as he frantically threw out his hand. He cast a net spell over the beast which writhed and roiled to get out.

“Kuna,” he said, eyes on the kapka. “I need you to portal us to Ypintu. You know where we’re going.”

“Me?!” Kuna cried. “I can’t! You know what happened last time.”

He looked down at her. “You can do it. I know you can. You just have to concentrate on where you want to go.”

Breaking every rule he had made for himself, Loki pulled the tesseract out of his pocket universe. After their run in with the Nova Corps on Tenanci’i, he had been far more careful of how often he revealed it. He held the cube in front of Kuna. She stared at it for a moment. She apprehensively set her hands on it. A portal opened and swallowed them.

They exited the portal, sitting on smooth, green grass. He looked around. Kuna was still beside him and there was no sign of the kapka. Not bad, he thought. That was actually very smooth. He stood. They were surrounded by miles of rolling green hills, just like the ones on the empty, green planet they had once visited. His heart started to sink.

“Kuna,” he said. “This isn’t Ypintu, is it?”

He heard a stifled giggle from her. He looked down at her. She had her hands over her mouth, trying but failing to muffle her laughter.

“What did you do?” he asked suspiciously.

Kuna looked down and wrung her hands. “Well, I just... I just thought that we really liked the green planet and... and we had a lot of fun here... so maybe we could stay here... for a while... maybe.”

Loki stared at her for a moment. “No,” he deadpanned.

“But I like the green planet,” she whined. “Please?”

“No.”

She walked up to him and hugged his legs. “Pretty please?”

“Just because the please is attractive does not change my answer. No.”

“Five minutes?”

“No.”

“Three minutes?”

“Still no.”

“Eight minutes?”

“Now we’re going up? No.”

She smiled at him and slowly started to turn around.

“Kuna, don’t,” he warned. She skipped off through the grass. Loki sighed and begrudgingly followed her.

“We’re not staying here,” he said.

“I can’t hear you!” she sang.

“Ugh. What am I going to do with you?” he groaned, rubbing his face with his hands.

“Play with me!” she said. “Let’s play tag again! The kapka’s gone so we can keep going.”

“Not now,” he said. “We need to be on Ypintu!”

She dove onto the ground, rolling in the grass. She pulled out her toys from their satchel at her side and played with them, rocking them through the air.

“You’re very cute,” Loki said. “But we need to go.”

She ignored him. Loki rolled his eyes and bent down, picking her up.

“No!” Kuna cried, struggling in his arms.

“We need to go.”

Kuna sniffled.

“Don’t do that,” he said, turning to look into her big, sad eyes.

A sob left her mouth. She started crying. Big tears poured down her face.

“Your crocodile tears do not faze me,” Loki said, undeterred.

“I don’t wanna go!” she cried, pounding her fists on his shoulders.

“This is really not very becoming of you, Kuna,” he said.

She cried louder, trying to wriggle free of his grasp.

“I’m going deaf,” he groaned.

She began screaming.

“Do you want me to wait until you lose your voice?” he snapped, putting his other hand on his hip while she wailed.

She stopped suddenly, putting her hands over her mouth.

“That’s better! See, we can talk like regular people. You don’t have to scream and cry when you don’t get what you want. This isn’t like you at all.”

She shook her head, keeping her hands clamped firmly over her mouth.

“Now, let’s just--” he trailed off. He noticed that Kuna was not looking at him, but past him. “What are you--?”

He turned and took a step back in alarm. A figure was standing alone in the field of grass that had been empty moments before. The figure was tall and lanky, with pale brown skin. It stood, swaying ever so slightly in the breeze, watching them. Another figure rose from the grass, closer to them. Loki took another step back, staring at the creatures.

The closest one took a step towards them. It was nearly three meters tall by Loki’s estimate. Its skin was stretched thin and tight across its body. But it was the face that disturbed Loki the most. The face was white and mask-like with hollow, black sockets where eyes should have faced him. A singular opening for what he assumed was a mouth was opening and closing in an odd rhythm but made no noise. More of them rose up from the ground, seemingly appearing there like long shadows across the grass.

“Uh,” Loki breathed. The other creatures were beginning to move towards them. Some of them dropped down on all fours with wicked looking arched backs and stick-thin limbs. Loki could see their ribs and vertebrae through their skin. He took a few more steps back. He did not get the feeling that they were friendly.

Kuna whimpered. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Shhshhshh,” Loki said, trying to keep his cool. “We need to leave now.”

Kuna nodded. He slowly lifted the tesseract in front of her again and she touched it. The portal opened. At the sudden burst of blue the portal created, all of the creatures flew at them at once, leaping across the field in long, jerky bounds. A hissing shriek began to rise from the creatures’ mouths. Loki felt a lurching feeling in his stomach. He jumped through the portal and felt a strange pull through his navel. He expected his next step to fall on land but instead his foot fell through nothing.

Wind whistled in his ears as he fell through the air. He was only briefly able to register water beneath him before he slammed face first into the surface of waves. Blackness filled his vision for a moment before he came to. He surfaced with a gasp and looked around frantically.

“Kuna!” he cried. “KUNA! Where are you!”

A storm whirled above him, and the sea roiled. He felt a shadow cover him. As he turned, a massive wave pummeled him. He was dragged under the water, swirling about in the undertow the wave created. He regained himself, and with a boost from his magic, shot back up towards the surface.

He looked around again for Kuna. The water around him was bare save for vicious waves and foam. The water was black as night and rain pelted his head. A small ring of bubbles fizzled a few feet away from him.

“No!” he gasped. “No!”

He dove back below the surface. In the dimness of the deep, he could see a small black figure sinking quickly into the darkness. Loki gathered his magic and gave himself a boost down to her. Kuna was clawing at the water with all her might but moving nowhere except down deeper. Loki wrapped an arm around her. She felt heavy in his arm.

A blue glimmer caught his eye.

It was also sinking fast into the depths. He cried out, releasing a blast of bubbles from his mouth. He reached for the cube, using a summoning spell to pull it back up to him. It flew up from the depths and landed in his hand.

Loki swam back to the surface with Kuna and the tesseract in his arms. He coughed as he broke the surface. He looked for land anywhere around them. A wave lifted them up. Lightning cracked above them, and thunder tore into his ears. It made him flinch, but for a split second, as the light faded, he saw the shadow of a mountain, veiled by stormy clouds and sheets of rain. He turned towards it and noticed a faint red glow in the clouds as the streaks of lightning faded.

It didn’t matter now, he thought. He needed to get Kuna to safety. He shifted Kuna to his back and started swimming. He used his magic to help propel him to the beach. The waves made deep valleys and high peaks for Loki to swim over. Between the pounding rain and the stinging waves, he could barely keep his eyes open to focus on the dark line of land in front of him.

When he reached the beach, he crawled across the black sand and laid Kuna down gently on her back. She was motionless, eyes closed and pale.

“Kuna?” he panted. “Kuna, darling, please speak to me!”

Loki’s heartbeat quickened. He touched her cheek. Her head lolled to one side.

“No, no, no! Please, don’t do this to me.”

He primed his magic and waved his hand over her chest to her mouth. He could feel a blockage in her throat where water pooled. He made another motion with his hand, moving towards her mouth, drawing the water out. A flood of water poured from her mouth, but she still did not move.

“Come on, baby,” he cried. He put his hand on her cheek and pushed hair out of her face. Tears blinded his eyes. His chest heaved. “No, please.”

He placed his hands on her chest to begin compressing but Kuna suddenly jerked. She coughed. Loki gasped, blinking back tears in relief. Kuna sputtered and spat out more water.

“That’s it, darling,” he said, gently helping her sit up. “It’s okay. I’m right here.”

Her lip quivered as she started crying. She covered her face with her hands and curled up into Loki's chest, shaking like a leaf.

“It’s alright, it’s alright,” he repeated, rubbing her back and hugging her close.

She coughed again. “I’m sorry!” she said, barely able to separate the words through coughs and sobs.

“No, no, no,” Loki comforted her. “There’s nothing to be sorry for.”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me!”

“There’s nothing wrong with you, my little raven,” he said, cradling her.

He rocked with her, trying to console her. She took shuddering breaths and pressed her head harder into Loki’s chest. Rain was still beating down on top of them. He scooped her up and stood.

“Let’s get you out of the rain,” he said. She continued crying into his shoulder.

He looked around. The beach was empty. The land around them was strangely flat but in the distance, Loki could make out where the land began to rise sharply into high cliffs. They rose high into the clouds, their peaks well out of sight in the dark storm. He set off down the beach. His feet sank with every step into the wet, black sand. He looked out across the water. Windswept sea stacks towered above the waves. Now and then a large surge would slam into their sides and send sea spray high into the air.

The terrain to his left was mostly treeless. He couldn’t see much in the way of vegetation beyond scattered mossy boulders. It was dark out with the storm, and he suspected it was night or early morning.

Kuna sniffled and pointed weakly in the direction they were heading. “There’s a town down there, I think.”

“Alright,” he said. He pulled up her hood. There was no use trying to dry it. The rain was pounding down on them. “Have you been here before?” he asked, Kuna.

“Mmmhmm,” she muttered. “I was a slave here.”

Loki sighed. “I’m sorry, darling,” he said. He was ready to get her out of this system for good. He hated forcing her to relive these terrible memories.

He walked for some time looking out at the scenery. It was rather boring. Ahead of him, a few scattered trees sprouted from the mossy rocks. He squinted into the rain, trying to see more but kept blinking at the rain drops that blew into his eyes.

Then something caught his eye. Great black towers rose from the high cliffs on his left. He would have started that way to take shelter if it weren’t for the state of the buildings. There seemed to have been some sort of catastrophe as one tower was crumbled in a heap of rubble and the other had a great crack through its middle. It looked as if it could topple at any moment.

“They were abandoned when the volcanoes erupted,” Kuna said, quietly, seeing where Loki was looking. “There were diamond mines there. They say they’re haunted now.”

Loki looked up at the peaks that rose above the clouds. “The Ember Peaks. Of course, why didn’t I realize. They’re volcanoes,” he said, unamused. The glow he had seen in the sky before must have been from the eruption above. “They’re still going?”

“Mmm-hmm,” Kuna said. “They’ve been erupting for almost a hundred years.”

“Wow,” Loki said.

He squinted into the rain at the cliffs. He could see little veins of glowing orange running down the sides. He did not like the thought of having to scale these volcanoes to find this wizard who may or may not actually be there. A sinking feeling began to overwhelm him. Perhaps he had not thought this through as much as he had wanted.

Another light caught his eye ahead. The strip of orange glow ran from the cliffs to the sea across his path. As he approached, he could hear a harsh hissing noise from the water to his right. Steam boiled up from the waves.

“Is that lava?” he asked.

“It’s the lava canal,” Kuna replied, sleepily.

He walked up to the canal. It was built of dark basalt bricks, likely the only material they could find that could withstand lavaflow for so long. He peeked over the edge. The heat was atrocious and made his blood curdle.

“Is there a way across?” Loki asked.

“There should be a bridge. That way,” Kuna said. She pointed to Loki’s left.

“Alright,” he said. He shifted Kuna slightly on his back and walked in the direction she had pointed.

“Can I get down?” she asked.

“Do you feel okay to walk?” he asked, pausing.

“I think so,” she said. He set her down on her feet and steadied her as she wobbled a bit.

“I don’t mind carrying you,” Loki said, a little worried.

“I’m fine,” she said, sniffling and wiping her nose on her sleeve.

Loki could tell she was exhausted. She took his hand, and they walked a short way. Loki spotted a bridge built over the canal. He could not immediately identify the material it was made of. It seemed to be some kind of stone. The lava popped and stung as rain hit its surface. Even through all the rain, the surface of this lava river had not hardened and flowed with some force.

“That’s a lot of lava,” he said.

“That’s why the Masters had these canals built,” Kuna said. “They wanted to keep it away from the farms and towns. I heard one Master say that the Peaks will never stop erupting. Ever.”

She walked up to the bridge and started up the steps. Loki caught her arm.

“That doesn’t seem safe,” he said.

“It is,” Kuna said. She peered over the edge of the canal. “The lava isn’t very high.”

Loki let out an unconvinced laugh. He held onto Kuna’s arm to keep her from going any further across the bridge. He could feel the heat on his face even from this distance. He looked down into the lava and his eyes teared and burned. He shook his head.

“You know what? We’ll just portal over. Where’d you go?” He realized suddenly that Kuna was no longer in his hands.

He looked up, frantic for a moment. She was already halfway across the bridge.

“Kuna!” he shouted.

She flinched and stopped, turning back to face him.

“Come back to me, please,” he said, trying to calm his voice.

“But I’m halfway across,” she replied. “Are you scared?”

“No,” he said, forcefully. “Get back over here, please.”

She walked back across the bridge towards him and hopped down onto the ground. She walked over to him tentatively but took his hand. She gently pulled on him, walking towards the bridge.

Loki didn’t budge. “Kuna, I’m not walking across that thing,” he said.

“It’s safe. It’s just lava,” she said.

“’It’s just—It's just lava’? Do you hear yourself? There is no way that thing is structurally sound.”

“You are scared,” she said. “It’s okay. I’ll hold your hand.” She pulled gently on his arm again, but he didn’t move. Loki was trying hard to keep himself calm. He summoned the tesseract’s energy to make a short jump to the other side.

Kuna looked up at him and smirked.

“Shut up,” he said, frowning.

She giggled. “I didn’t say anything.” She walked on ahead of him. He looked back at the lava canal and shuddered.

“I’m not afraid of it,” he continued, catching up to Kuna. “I just don’t like boiling hot lava rivers underneath me. That’s a natural reaction.”

Kuna shrugged. “Okay,” she said.

He picked her up again. “You need to have a healthier fear of dangerous things. Like heights and lava and not listening to me.”

“I’m afraid of water,” she offered.

“Well, we can fix that. I’ll just teach you how to swim.”

“But I can’t swim,” she said.

“Right,” Loki laughed. “I’ll teach you how.”

Kuna plopped her head on his shoulder and mumbled something unintelligible. Loki smiled and shook his head a little.

Finally, he saw signs of a town. A small path led up from the stony beach they walked on, to a smooth road. In the distance, he could see the soft glow of torchlight. A stone wall rose in front of them. The brick was the same black basalt that they had seen at the canal. A giant gate was poised between two guard houses. Loki could see torchlight through the window of one of them.

He pushed on the gate, but it didn’t budge.

“Pah, locked,” he said. He took a step back and looked up at the gate. He supposed he could portal through it. But he had already used the tesseract too much today. The thought always lingered in the back of his mind that his escapades with the tesseract weren’t untraceable. He was starting to regret using it for their silly game earlier and for the lava bridge.

The door to the gatehouse opened, and a man in a dark cloak stepped out, holding a torch. In the dim light, Loki could see a short white beard and long curved nose from under the hood.

“What do you want?” the man asked, gruffly.

“To get out of this rain, sir,” Loki said.

“Travellers?” he nodded to Kuna who had shifted to Loki’s back again.

“Yes, sir,” he said. “Please, may we enter? I need to get her out of the rain.”

“Where’d you come from?” he asked.

“The beach,” Loki answered.

The man’s hood lifted slightly to reveal grey eyes that glowered at him.

Loki was about to make up a quip about the weather turning bad when Kuna spoke up. “Please sir, we just arrived from Ynatu.” Loki closed his mouth and listened.

“Through the spaceport?” nodding in the direction they had come.

“Yes, sir,” she said. “The Portmaster told us to come here because the storm waves were too big.”

“Ach, very well,” the man spat and pulled out keys to open a door in the gate. He muttered to himself, grumpily about Portmasters and storms and travellers. He unlocked the door and pushed it open, stepping through to hold it for Loki.

Loki stepped through, ducking to protect Kuna’s head. The cobblestone street was completely empty. It surprised him but it did appear to be the middle of the night in a thunderstorm. He nodded to the gatekeeper and walked past him. The street was lined on either side with shopfronts and various signs. They walked past darkened windows. The signs creaked overhead in the wind, dripping from the rain.

“Kuna,” Loki whispered after they walked for a short time. He was quite surprised to hear her lie. He had never even heard her utter a tiny fib before.

“I’m sorry, I lied,” she said, quietly in his ear. “I didn’t think he was going to let us in. Gatemasters are strict.”

“It was very convincing,” Loki said. “Spaceport?”

“It’s how people go from one planet to another. Through these portal gates. It’s past the town, the other way.”

“Ahh,” Loki nodded. “Still, I’m impressed. Seems you’re a bit of a silvertongue yourself.”

“I feel bad for doing it. It feels naughty,” she whispered.

“Seems to be a new look for you,” Loki laughed.

She groaned and put her head down on his back.

They walked for a bit through the town. The buildings were a similar mix of old and new, like the ones Loki had seen on Ynatu. Some buildings looked as if they’d been there for centuries while others looked brand new, decked out in shiny, new-looking tech. There was a soft, ever-present rumble in Loki’s ears. He glanced up at the peaks above them. The red glow at their tops glimmered ominously.

Kuna yawned sleepily from Loki’s back.

“Is there an inn around here?” he asked.

“Mmm,” she murmured, groggily. She lifted her head and looked around from under her hood. She spotted an inn sign above a door and pointed for Loki, “That way.”

Loki walked ahead. Eventually, he saw a hanging sign that read ‘Molten Mugs Inn’. He shrugged and walked inside. There was a burst of noise and light and warmth as he entered. People were singing, laughing, and clapping. He set Kuna down. She swayed a little, grabbing ahold of his pant leg for support.

“Is the lil’ one drunk already?” a man shouted at them. Laughter followed.

Loki gave a small smile. “No. We are not doing that again.”

He took Kuna’s hand and approached the bar. A fat barkeep walked towards them from the other end. He had red hair and a bushy red mustache and eyebrows. His nose and cheeks were round and rosy. He held a mug in one hand and a cloth in the other. The mug glowed with orange light that trickled through the mug from brim to bottom like rivers of lava. Loki raised his eyebrows. Molten mugs, he thought.

“What can I do for ya?” the barkeep grunted.

“We need a room, please,” Loki said. “And two warm meals as well.”

“Mmm,” the barkeep nodded. He turned to a pegboard behind him. There were a few keys scattered over the many pegs. He picked one up and handed it to Loki. “Number 7,” the man added. He turned away and grabbed two bowls from under the counter. He walked over to a large kettle hanging over a fire and dipped in a ladle. He spooned out a stew into the bowls and returned to Loki, setting them down in front of him. “Mmm, 450 turans for the room, 100 for the stews.”

“Uh,” Loki laughed, slightly embarrassed. “Would you take gold instead?”

The man raised a bushy brow. Loki conjured a coin purse from behind his back. He reached inside and pulled out two golden shapaks they had gotten from Tenanci’i. He put them discreetly in the barkeep’s hand. The man quickly turned his back, no doubt inspecting the gold away from prying eyes. It was more than enough to pay for their room and meal and probably the entire tavern. Loki pulled out another and handed it to him.

“For your discretion, if you will,” Loki said, softly.

The man grunted agreement, nodding his head. He slid the key towards Loki and took the additional shapak.

“Thank you, sir,” Loki said, politely.

“Thank you, sir,” Kuna repeated, quietly.

The corners of the man’s bushy mustache rose in a warm but hidden smile at the girl’s politeness.

“Here, love, you carry the key,” Loki said to Kuna. “I’ll get our dinner.”

Kuna stood on her tiptoes and reached over the counter, pulling the key towards her. She and Loki walked towards a staircase and went upstairs. They reached room 7 and Kuna put the key in the lock and turned it. Loki pushed the door open, and they were met with a simple room. There were two beds, a small table with a couple chairs below the window, and several candles that lit the room. He set their bowls down on the table and Kuna climbed into one of the chairs.

She helped herself to one of the bowls which glowed with a similar orange light to the mugs Loki had seen downstairs. They looked like little rivers of lava cutting through the wood of the bowl.

“How’s the stew?” Loki asked, sitting down opposite her.

“Good,” she said, solemnly. A drop of water fell from her soaking hood and landed on the table. Loki had hardly noticed how soaked he was until this moment.

“Oh,” he said. “Let’s get you dry first.” He flicked his hand towards her, and she felt instantly dry. She pulled at her braid. It was no longer damp. Loki did the same to himself. “Ah, that’s better.”

Kuna nodded again. She still looked depressed. She ate slowly. Loki took a spoonful of stew himself. It was hardy, filled with vegetables and spices. It had a slightly sweet taste at the end of each mouthful.

“When you’re finished, why don’t you go lie down. You’ve had a rough day.”

She nodded and pushed her bowl back before climbing into the smaller of the two beds.

“What are you doing over there?” Loki said, affectionately. He nodded towards the bigger bed. Kuna’s eyes widened and she jumped off the little bed and dove into the big one. Loki stood and tucked her in under the blankets.

“Are you going to bed?” Kuna asked.

“In a bit,” he replied.

“Can you lay with me until I fall asleep?” she asked, sheepishly.

“Of course,” he said. He kicked off his boots and got under the blankets next to her.

“Do you think those monsters were on the green planet when we were there last?” she asked.

“I can only assume they were,” Loki replied. “We just didn’t bother them enough for them to show themselves.”

“They were really scary,” she said, pulling the blankets up over her mouth.

“They were rather creepy, weren’t they?”

She nodded. “I’m sorry I...” she sighed and covered her whole face with the blanket. “I’m sorry I was naughty,” she mumbled.

“It’s okay, Kuna,” Loki said, lowering the blanket. “You don’t have to apologize.”

“But I was being so rude and impolite. I don’t know why I made us go there. I just wanted to go somewhere nice and not here. But we coulda lost the tesseract all because of me.” She put her hands over her face.

“The tesseract is fine. You’re fine. I’m fine. That’s all that matters,” Loki said. “And you weren’t naughty or rude or impolite. I think this ‘misbehaviour’ if that’s what you want to call it, stems from this curse. Dark magic like this can make you do things that don’t align with who you are.”

Kuna sank further into the bed. Loki stroked her hair, pushing it out of her face.

“Loki, I’m scared,” she said.

“Why is that?” he asked.

“I’m scared of... this place. My head does funny things when I try to think about it.”

“I bet it does,” Loki said. He sighed. “But I’m here with you. We’re going to do this together. And after, you’re going to feel so much different. So much better.”

She looked down. “How are we going to find... him?” she asked. Loki could tell she was trying very hard not to say things that might make the curse hurt her. She was beginning to learn what triggered it. It likely wasn’t easy. He understood why she felt scatter-brained.

“Well, I’ve been thinking about that,” Loki said. “He’s in a cave. That’s all we really know. Is this island very big?”

Kuna shrugged. “It’s sort of small. I don’t really know. I worked on a farm here for a little bit and I know some of the towns.”

“Mmm.”

“I belonged to a nice Master. He had a big farm where we made wine from pollans. It’s a fruit that grows here.”

“I’m not sure I believe that any of your masters were nice.”

“No, he was,” Kuna continued. “He never hit me or beat me. He gave me all the food and water I needed, and we lived in a warm little barn.”

Loki cringed as she spoke about what she believed was a ‘nice’ life.

“I learned a lot of things from him,” she continued. She paused for a moment, remembering him. “But then, the Masters decided that the lava canals needed to be built to protect their farms. My Master sold me to help build them.”

Loki’s brow furrowed. “You mean, you built that thing? That canal we crossed?”

“Well, not that one. But a few of the others. There’s lots of them around the island now because the volcanoes have been erupting for so long. There’s a lot of lava to get rid of and all that lava makes the island bigger so the canals have to get bigger too.”

Loki’s heart sank. “That’s awful, Kuna,” he said, caressing her cheek. “It’s awful that you had to work like that. These Masters have magical abilities, but they made you and other slaves dig their canals.”

Kuna nodded.

“Pfft,” he scoffed. “I hate them even more.”

“What’s gonna happen when we do find him?” she asked, thinking now about the wizard.

“I’m going to make him remove the curse,” Loki explained.

Kuna pulled the blanket up over her mouth and closed her eyes. That seemed very scary. She didn’t know how to feel. She just felt queasy. Loki seemed to sense it.

“But right now, the only thing I want you to worry about is getting a good night’s sleep.” He conjured her stuffed animals, drying them quickly, and gave them to her. She cuddled with them and closed her eyes.

Loki blew out the nearest candles to the bed so she could sleep more soundly. When she had fallen asleep, he crept out of the bed and back to the table. He set their empty bowls aside and conjured the cursed book of curses they had taken from Odin’s library. He needed to read up again on Kuna’s curse and the ritual to undo it. He wanted to be absolutely sure that this wizard could not injure Kuna further by doing some other dark magical ritual.

He studied the ritual over and over. The book’s own curse began to weigh on him just as it had before. A squeezing, almost suffocating feeling surrounded his magical aura. He did his best to combat it. He was a strong sorcerer; he knew what he could handle. He flipped through the pages and landed on an interesting curse he thought he could use against this wizard, Atorius, should it come to that.

“Loki?” Kuna asked.

Loki didn’t move. She gently tugged on his sleeve.

“Hmm? What?” he asked. He blinked rapidly and looked around. Light was pouring in through the window. The sun was fully up.

“You never went to sleep,” Kuna said, in a small voice. “At least, I don’t think you were sleeping. You weren’t moving but your eyes were open.”

Loki sighed. He glanced down at the book and jolted. The words on the page were rearranged in a bizarre pattern. He remembered the book doing that the first time he had read it.

“Please, close it,” Kuna said. She was scared.

“It’s... it’s fine,” he said, staring at the page, unable to pry his eyes away. He heard a ringing in his ears. Through the din, he thought, for a moment, he could hear a woman’s voice whispering to him.

The book suddenly slammed shut as Kuna flipped the cover closed.

“Kuna!” Loki said, angrily.

Kuna recoiled, flinching hard, and pulling her hands up to her neck in fright.

“I... I’m sorry,” Loki said, coming to his senses. He rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I shouldn’t have yelled.”

“I don’t think you should read that book anymore,” she said, quietly. Her hands picked at the scars on her neck. “I don’t think it’s safe.”

Loki looked down at the book. “You’re right,” he said. He put the book away.

Kuna stared at his hand and inched towards him. She gingerly took his hand. He looked down at her, but she kept her eyes away from his. She tugged on his hand, and he stood. She led him to the side of the bed and waited for him to get in, but he didn’t. She walked around behind him and pushed on his back to make him lay down, but he didn’t budge.

“Kuna, I’m fine,” he said, chuckling a little as she pushed on him. “I don’t need to lie down.”

“Yes, you do!” she grunted, turning to put her back against his legs to push harder. “You didn’t sleep.”

“I’ll be fine,” he said, stepping aside. Kuna slumped against the bed and folded her arms. Loki laughed at her. “Why don’t we go downstairs and get some breakfast?”

“Fine,” she said, standing. She was never one to turn down food. “But then you go to sleep.”

“I’m the one who gives orders around here, pipsqueak,” he said, putting his elbow on her head. Kuna mocked him, mouthing his words with her hand.

He followed her down the creaky stairs. The tavern was much emptier now, but the barkeep still stood behind the bar.

“Sleep well?” he grunted at them as they walked up.

Kuna gave Loki a withering look. He ignored her and smiled. “Yes, thank you,” he replied to the man. “Do you, by chance, serve a morning meal?”

Kuna rolled her eyes at Loki and placed their empty bowls from the night before on the counter. “Thank you for the delicious stew, sir,” she said, politely.

He gave her another soft smile. He stooped down behind the counter and picked up some plates that glowed in the same way that the bowls and mugs had the night before. He walked to the cooking station and plated heaping portions of something Loki assumed was eggs and a side of crisp meat.

“Thank you, sir,” Kuna said, happily, taking the plate from him.

“You’re welcome, little one,” he said. “You need to eat. You’re too thin.”

“Yes, we’re working on that,” Loki said, smiling.

They took their plates and walked over to a table in the corner. Loki sat with his back to the corner. Kuna plopped down on the bench beside him and dug into her food.

“What are we eating?” Loki asked, poking at the eggs with his fork.

“These are ula eggs,” Kuna said, her mouth full. She swallowed and then continued, “They’re a bird. Lots of farmers keep them because they have good eggs.”

“We have birds like that on Asgard; they’re called chickens,” Loki said. He took a bite. The eggs were deliciously rich, more like duck eggs than chicken eggs. “And what’s this?” He asked Kuna, pointing to the side of crispy meat.

“Gostehog,” she said. “I’ve never actually tasted it before, though. Slaves aren’t allowed to eat meat,” she added.

“At all?” Loki asked, astounded.

She shook her head. “The first time I had any was with you.”

“You never told me that,” Loki said.

“I was just happy to try it,” she said. “And you didn’t seem mad when I did.”

“Well, we’ll get to try this together then,” Loki smiled.

They both took a bite of the meat. Kuna’s eyes lit up. Loki smiled. The taste was almost exactly the taste of Asgardian bacon. Loki recognized it immediately. He could taste some differences, of course, but he enjoyed it, nonetheless. It reminded him of home.

“Like it?” he asked.

Kuna was chowing down. She smiled and nodded between bites.

“Well, slow down and enjoy it,” Loki laughed.

Kuna swallowed and tried to eat slower. It was all so good. She had never had such delicious food. It was hard to control herself. She finished her breakfast and let out a happy sigh, sitting back in her chair.

“Good?” Loki asked.

She nodded, patting her belly.

They both stood and gathered their plates, returning them to the counter. The barkeep smiled at them both. Loki slid another shap’ak over to him, but the barkeep refused to take it.

“Nah,” he said. “You don’t owe me nothin’.”

Loki was surprised. “Thank you, sir,” he said.

They left the inn and walked out onto the street. It was much livelier now than it was last night. People walked up and down the street. Vendors shouted from their stalls that were set up in front of the shopfronts. It was a typical town market.

“Kuna, we need a map,” Loki said, looking down at her. “Is there a library around here?”

“Yeah,” she said, hesitantly.

“Where?” Loki said, impatiently.

Kuna looked around the street and then took Loki’s hand. She led him to a big ornate building near the centre of town. Like the auction house on Ynatu and many of the stone buildings on this island, it was made of black basalt bricks. Large statues acted as pillars, holding up the building’s roof. The statues were clearly of Masters; elegantly clothed in flowing garments, hands held aloft, issuing what Loki imagined were blasts of magic that wound their way to the building’s pediment. They walked up to the door. There was a big red sign on it that read

NO SLAVES MAY ENTER HERE ON PAIN OF DEATH

Kuna hid behind Loki. “I didn’t know what it said until now,” she whispered. “I’m not allowed in buildings with red signs.”

“Kuna, we’ve been over this a thousand times,” Loki said. “You’re not a slave. You can go in. Come on,” Loki said, taking a step towards the door. She pulled back on his hand, but Loki didn’t stop.

She held tighter onto his hand, and he led her inside. There were two large gates either side of the door that hummed softly as they entered. It dawned on Loki what they were. He leaned down to whisper in Kuna’s ear.

“Those things would have gone off if you still had that chip in your back. They’re like giant scanners.”

Kuna gasped and glued herself to Loki’s side. He couldn’t help but smile.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “You’re fine!”

The building smelled of old books and dust. Shelves created a maze of books and scrolls through the library. It was significantly smaller than the Great Library on Asgard, but Loki could see there was quite a bit of knowledge shelved here. A few people were looking at books or studying at tables.

They approached a desk at the centre of the big atrium. There was a young man sitting behind it. He looked up at them with a blank expression.

“Hello,” Loki said. “We’re looking for maps of this area.”

“Over there,” the librarian pointed, lazily.

Loki hesitated a moment, waiting for the librarian to get up and show them but he did not. “Thanks,” Loki said, flatly.

They walked over to a line of short shelves filled with scrolls. Loki knelt down and pulled a scroll off the shelf and unrolled it. He could not make sense of what was on it. Squiggled lines and dots with no legible markings filled the scroll. He turned it upside down, but it still made no sense. He rolled it back up and put it back, grabbing another. He shook his head and tossed it back.

“What on Asgard is this cataloging system?” he said to himself as he looked through the shelf. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

Kuna stood close to Loki as he leafed through the scrolls. She glanced around. There were some tables situated between the shelves. A man was studying a large book at one of them. His red robes made him stick out among the wood shelves and tables. Kuna caught his eye for only a moment. She suppressed a gasp and immediately looked down at her feet. The feeling of being watched did not leave her. She could see out of her peripheral vision that the red-robed man was watching them closely.

Loki was grumbling about the scrolls as he yanked each one out, unrolled it, shook his head, and put it back.

She turned around and looked at the shelves behind them which held books. She ran her fingers over the spines. Then she realized she was actually reading their titles. She danced in place with excitement. She had read lots of things, of course, since Loki taught her, but these books were written in her language. The language she had always seen but never understood.

She tugged on Loki’s sleeve.

“Yes, darling?” he said as he continued looking through scrolls.

“I can read the books!” she whispered, excitedly.

“I should hope so. You’ve been practicing, haven’t you?” he said absent-mindedly.

“Yeah, but it’s different! These are books from my system!”

“Ahh,” Loki said. “Yes, your Allspeak helps with that.”

“Can I read one?” she whispered.

“Sure, just remember where you took it from so you can put it back.”

“Okay.”

She turned back to the shelf and started browsing. All these books were boring. She read one title, silently sounding out the word: ‘Cartography’.

“What is that?” she asked herself, quietly. She supposed it was the study of carts. It was a thick book. How many carts could there be to study? She shook her head and moved on. Geography, topography, topology. Boring.

She walked around the end of the shelf and continued reading the spines. Nothing looked interesting. She continued wandering around the shelves, walking down the aisles, reading the end caps. She looked forward, down the aisle she was walking. At the end, she saw an iron gate. She cocked her head to one side, puzzled. What was an iron gate doing in a library?

To be true, she had only ever been in two libraries in her life, but it still seemed rather odd and out of place.

She looked around to make sure she was alone and then snuck up to it. There were still more shelves behind it. She could see glass cases too, that looked like they had glowing objects inside. She took a step back and read a sign over the gate.

RESTRICTED FROM FREEPEOPLE

AUTHORISED MASTERS ONLY

“Hmm.” She looked through the gate again. A large book on the bottom shelf nearest her, caught her eye. She could see an image of a dragon carved into the leather cover. Her eyes widened.

She looked around and listened, waiting to hear footsteps or pages turning. When she was sure she was alone, she looked back at the gate. The bars on the gate were wide and she was very small. Turning her head and shoulders, she slipped through the bars. With one last peek around to make sure she was still alone, she picked up the big book and tucked it under her arm. The cases at the back of this section drew her attention. Through their glass tops a faint greenish blue light glowed.

Kuna stood silently for a moment, stock still, listening for anyone who might be lurking around this section to catch her. After a few moments of pure silence, save for a single sneeze in a distant section, she decided she was completely alone.

She was intrigued by the glowing cases at the end of this line of shelves. She walked over to one and stood on her tiptoes to see into the glass. To her surprise, there was a staff inside the case. It glowed with a magical light. She walked to the next one. Inside, there was a deadly looking mace.

She walked down the line of cases, each containing different weapons. The row of cases stood all along this back wall of the library. At the very end, Kuna spotted a closed door. She walked up to another case and peeked inside. A silver whip lay on a red velvet cushion. She gasped at the sight of it and ran away, back towards the gate. She slipped through the bars and ran back to Loki.

He was now surrounded by a pile of scrolls, sitting cross-legged at the centre, furiously ripping more off the shelves.

“This library is weird,” she said.

“You’re telling me,” Loki growled. “They just put whatever they want to on these shelves. Who cares if a fishing map is next to a map of space?”

“Can I help?” Kuna asked, eager to help Loki by reading.

“No,” he said. He paused. “Why do you think this library is weird?”

“There are weapons behind that gate,” she whispered. “I think they’re magical.”

“Gate?”

“Yeah, it said ‘Restricted from freepeople, authorised masters only’,” she recited. “Does that mean only books written by masters are back there?”

“No, authorised means ‘permission’. Only masters with permission are allowed back there.”

Kuna’s eyes widened. “I need to put it back before they catch me!”

“No, no,” Loki said, taking her arm. He smiled. “It’s alright to ignore that sign. Books should not be off limits. What did you find?”

Kuna showed him the book. The dragon on the front cover looked like it was snarling at them.

“Ahh, well, I see why you couldn’t resist,” he said, smiling at her. “I’m still looking for this damn map so, why don’t you find a place to sit nearby and read your dragon book.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

There was a little desk tucked between two shelves with a small chair. She crawled up on the chair and laid the big book across the desk.

She ran her fingers over the flying dragon carved on the cover. His teeth were bared and his eyes wide. His wings stretched from spine to page. It looked like he was flying right at her, ready to fly right off the cover.

Opening the cover, she was met with another dragon, this one drawn standing on the ground, its wings raised high. She turned the page. The title was ‘The Dragons of Ardula’.

“Ohh,” Kuna breathed.

She turned the page again. There was another motif of a dragon she recognised. The thorny-tail dragons from Maserona, the largest planet in Ardula, her solar system. She had glimpsed one just once. She remembered seeing its massive wings flapping up a sandstorm in the Therulian desert on Maserona. Her Master had quickly called them back from the fields they were working to avoid angering it.

She read the page. It was a rather boring introduction to what the book was going to talk about.

Why do I need to read an introduction? she thought. I’m just going to read the book anyways.

She skipped it and turned the page. This page talked about where dragons come from with a large drawing of a dragon egg. She settled into the chair and started reading.

Loki was still furiously reading through scrolls. After one that mapped out a house in the region rather than the region itself, he tossed it back and stood in a huff, upsetting the pile of scrolls he was sitting in. He walked over to Kuna.

“I’m going to ask that lazy librarian to find me a map.”

“Okay,” Kuna said. She watched him walk towards the desk and talk to the librarian. She looked at the shelves, wondering if she could help him find it, since she could read now too. As she looked around, her eyes landed back on the red-robed man studying at the table down the row of shelves. He was watching her again. She looked down out of habit.

Loki returned with the librarian who gestured exasperatedly at the pile of scrolls Loki had made.

“Well, if you had just shown me where to find the map in the first place, I wouldn’t have made such a mess,” he snapped as he began picking up the scrolls and shoving them back onto their shelves. The librarian rolled his eyes and easily pulled out a scroll from the shelf depicting a map of the island.

“Thank you,” Loki said, snatching it from his hand. Kuna could hear venom in his voice. He was not pleased with the librarian. The man harumphed and walked back to the desk.

Loki walked over to Kuna. “Insolent fool,” he muttered. “How’s the book?”

“It’s amazing!” Kuna said. “Did you know that-that dragons can grow to be like-like thirty stories tall!”

“Some taller than that depending on where you are in the universe,” Loki said. “I’ve heard of some reaching the heights of mountains.”

“Woah,” Kuna breathed.

Kuna looked back down at her book. She caught the red-robed man’s eyes again just as she turned. A bad feeling washed over her. She gestured for Loki to come closer.

“I think that man is watching us,” she whispered.

“Where?” Loki asked. “Don’t point. Just tell me where without looking at him.”

“Behind us, at the table.”

Loki stood and laughed. “I’m glad it’s a good book,” he said.

Kuna was a little confused. She looked back up at Loki. He turned and began walking away.

“Take it with you and you can read it when we get home,” he said. “Come along, darling.”

Kuna quickly closed the book and hopped down, tucking it under her arm again. She caught up to him and took his hand. It took all her courage not to look again at the man as they passed but she could not help it. She turned back and looked but the man wasn’t there!

She looked around for him. Her heart stopped as she saw him standing at the front desk whispering to the librarian. Loki led her right past them. He was walking fast towards the door.

“Hold on a moment, you two,” the librarian said.

Loki stopped and turned. Kuna whimpered.

“You haven’t checked that book out,” he said.

The red-robed man walked past them, out the door. Kuna felt Loki tense.

“Oh,” Loki said with a charming smile. “Our mistake.”

Kuna noticed Loki had hidden the scroll the librarian had given him. They approached the desk. Kuna was stiff as a board.

“Do you have a card?” he asked.

“No,” Loki answered.

“I’ll get you one.” He turned away and opened a drawer. He turned back a moment later, holding a card. Kuna noticed his hand shaking. He sat down again at the desk and looked up at Loki.

“Whose name can I put this under?” His voice cracked a bit at the last word.

Loki opened his mouth to speak but was cut off.

“I knew I recognized you!” a voice rang out through the library. They turned to see the red-robed man flanked by several guards. “They’re the ones from Ynatu!” The guards stormed into the library, weapons raised, aiming at Loki and Kuna.

There was suddenly commotion. People leapt up from their reading spots and began running and screaming. Tables flipped over and books flew through the air. The librarian lunged over the counter and grabbed Kuna by the arm. She screamed and did the only thing she could think to do. She sank her fangs into his arm. He let out a deafening scream and let go of Kuna’s arm.

Loki grabbed her around the middle, tucking her under his arm, and ran into the stacks.

“Run, run, run, run,” he panted, dodging blasts from weapons and magic alike.

“That way,” she shouted, pointing in front of Loki. He took a step out into a crossing aisle. In a split second, he felt a ripple in his aura and stopped on the spot. Kuna was pushed forward by his momentum but he yanked her back just as a blast of magic whizzed by them.

He set her down and peeked around the corner before dodging another blast that splintered the shelf they hid behind. Kuna glanced around and remembered the door she had seen in the restricted section.

“We have to go that way,” she cried, pointing down a line of shelves. She tucked her dragon book under arm.

Loki stepped around the corner and fired off two blasts of magic towards their attackers. Two blasts were returned. He grabbed Kuna by the shoulders and pulled her back. It was a standoff.

Kuna’s heart was pounding in her chest. They needed to get to that door. She took a step around the corner.

“Kuna!” Loki shouted.

She stepped back as blast of magic flew past her ear. Grabbing Loki’s hand, she ran across the aisle, dragging him behind her.

A flurry of blasts followed them across, but none hit their marks. Kuna continued to lead Loki through the shelves towards the restricted section.

More blasts slammed into the bookshelves around them. Kuna covered her head as she heard one hit a bookshelf near her. She looked up. Books rained down on them as the shelf began to topple. The shelf leaned dangerously before tipping into the next shelf, knocking it over. Shelf after shelf toppled to the floor.

Kuna dove forward as the shelf to her right fell flat. She expected to hear a crash when it fell but it never came. She turned. Loki was using his magic to hold up the shelf as he ran the last few meters. He let it fall, crushing several of their pursuers. Kuna led him to the gate, still clinging tightly to the dragon book tucked under her arm.

She slipped through the bars. Loki jumped up and climbed over the gate. At the end of the aisle, she turned one way, but he turned the other. Kuna leapt back and grabbed the end of his cape, hauling him towards the door. There was a bright flash of light in front of her and she slammed into what felt like a brick wall. She fell backwards. Her skin stung from the impact. Loki picked her up and, in the same motion, flung a spell at the nearest soldier.

The blow sent him flying into the shelves. Loki turned his attention to the force field blocking their path. He began hitting it over and over again with his magic. Kuna could see cracks forming in the field, growing larger with each blow.

She heard movement behind them and straightened up. She grabbed her dagger from its sheath. Her eyes darted around, trying to find the soldier in the rubble of the shelves. More soldiers began to flood in through the aisles. Loki hit harder at the field. It was close to shattering.

Kuna was frantic. She only had one dagger and there were at least a dozen soldiers now bearing down on them. She glanced to her right and saw the staff in a glass display case. It was locked but she threw her elbow into the top and the glass cracked. Another blow and she was grabbing at the staff, ignoring the pain in her elbow.

She aimed it at the soldiers. Some of them dove out of the way in fear. She had absolutely no idea what she was doing. She just wanted to stop them.

“Shoot!” she commanded the staff, but it did nothing.

She heard laughter from the soldiers. Heat rose in her cheeks. She shook the staff up and down and suddenly a great blast flew from its tip. The force knocked her back. She felt pain tear through her chest and cried out.

One soldier was hit point blank and disintegrated into a pile of dust. Those that were closest to him were set aflame and ran through the shelves, screaming. The rest scattered into the still-standing shelves, calling for back up.

Kuna cried and clawed at her chest, trying to stop the pain. Her vision filled with little black spots. She writhed as the pain began to slowly ebb. Regaining herself, she shoved the staff away from her.

“Don’t let go of that!” Loki said between blows to the force field.

Kuna shook her head. Her chest still stung with pain from the blast. She grabbed the staff and her book and stood. A great shattering noise echoed through the library. Loki had broken through the force field. He grabbed Kuna’s arm and hauled her out of the building. They fled through the town. People jumped out of the way and shouted as they passed. Kuna grabbed Loki’s cape again and pulled him towards an alleyway.

“This way is faster!” she said. Loki followed her. He could hear blasts of magic behind them. Bricks on the building above them suddenly exploded, sending a rain of rubble onto them. Loki cast a spell onto the ground behind them that trapped their pursuers in a magical web when they tread upon it. A wall of boxes blocked the alley, but Kuna quickly scaled them and hopped down the other side. Loki followed. They shimmied past barrels and boxes until the alley ended at the town wall.

“Can we get up there?” Kuna asked, panting. She pointed to the top of the wall.

“We don’t have to,” Loki said. He grabbed her and portalled through the wall.

“We couldn’t have done that earlier?” Kuna shouted back to him as she kept running. The terrain was rising fast, becoming a steep hill.

“I don’t want to hear your sass!” Loki panted.

They could hear blasts and men shouting but the echoes began to die away as they ran further away from the town. After they had run some distance, they stopped behind some scraggly bushes. Loki assumed they were starting up one of the Peaks, looking up the steep hillside. Kuna was breathing hard. She doubled over and put her hands on her knees, still holding the magic staff in her hand. Realizing she still had it, she tossed it on the ground.

“I don’t like that thing,” she said. “It hurt me.”

“It’s alright,” Loki said, picking it up. “Staves like this require one to use their magic to power. That’s why it hurt you.”

She shook her head and held her elbow, wincing as she now noticed the pain.

“Let me see,” he said. He rolled back her sleeve and examined her elbow. There were several large cuts, and her elbow was already turning deep shades of purple. However, there didn’t look to be any pieces of glass in the wounds, and they weren’t deep. He dug into the satchel that was on Kuna’s side and pulled out a roll of clean cloth. He wrapped her arm up and replaced her sleeve. “It’s not too bad. It will heal quickly.”

She nodded and sniffed. He gently touched her face to console her.

“I think we’ve lost them.” Loki pulled out the map and studied it. He looked around and then back at the map. “We’re pretty close to a trail that leads up the mountains,” he said.

“Can you put this in your pocket?” Kuna asked, holding the book up over her head.

“You kept it? Through that whole mess?” Loki exclaimed.

Kuna frowned, afraid he was upset. “Yes,” she said. “I still want to read it.”

Loki shook his head and smiled, taking the book from her and poofing it away into his pocket universe. He ruffled her hair. “Well, I’m not paying your late fees,” he joked.

“Okay,” she said, shrugging. “I don’t want to go back to that library anyway.”

“Yeah, I think we may have burned it down, actually,” Loki said, looking over his shoulder at a rising pillar of smoke coming from the town.

“Ooh,” Kuna winced. “My bad.”

Loki chuckled, hugging her close to his side as they walked up the hill.

The terrain was steep and pebbly. All vegetation had disappeared. Old, long-hardened lava flows dotted the hillside. Kuna walked silently beside Loki as they walked, hugging herself. The image of the man disintegrating into a pile of ash kept playing in front of her eyes.

Loki glanced down at her. He could see the look in her eyes. The look after one’s first kill.

“You did what you had to, darling,” he said, gently, touching her shoulder. “You thought quickly on your feet. That’s what good warriors do.”

He took her hand. Kuna did not look at him. Her eyes were searching the ground.

The terrain continued to change as they elevation rose. The path was made of pumice that crunched under their feet. A smell of sulfur began to waft through the air.

“Ugh, gross, Kuna,” Loki said with a cheeky grin, holding his nose. “You at least could have warned me.”

“Ew! That’s not me!” she said. “It’s you, stinky!” she pointed, laughing.

They laughed as they continued up the path.

***

  “Why did they have to be volcanoes?” Loki whined. They had walked for miles. At the lower elevations, they had not encountered much lava and what they had seen was rock hard. Now, lava rivers flowed across the path at various points, pooling in great lakes of lava that would spill over into falls.

“As soon as we’re done with this bastard, I’m pushing him into the lava just for living here!” he complained.

Kuna giggled at his murderous threats. Loki’s body temperature had been slowly rising. His jotunn blood prevented him from sweating enough to keep the heat at bay. Meanwhile, Kuna skipped on the lava rocks, jumping from one to the next.

A lava river flowed only a few meters away from her. Their path had begun switch backing up the mountain. It zigzagged between two massive lava rivers that appeared to be canaled.

“Kuna, please, be careful,” Loki said.

“I am,” she replied, jumping down to walk next to him. “How much further?” She took his hand.

He removed his hand from hers. His hands were slick, and it made him uncomfortable. “I’m not sure. I’m guessing we’ll know it when we see it.” He pulled his hair back into a messy bun to keep the heat off his neck. It wasn’t helping. He’d already removed his cape, jacket, and armour. There wasn’t much more he could remove.

He glanced down at Kuna. She hadn’t even broken a sweat.

“Aren’t you hot?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Mmm, a little, I guess.”

“We’re surrounded by lava, and you’re not hot!” he exclaimed. “Ugh, I’m boiling!”

“Sorry,” Kuna said.

“I don’t understand,” Loki continued groaning. “All the lava tubes and caves we’ve seen so far have been completely empty. Gods, I hope he hasn’t moved on.”

“Well, all those tubes were pretty easy to see,” Kuna offered, skipping back up onto a row of lava rocks.

“What do you mean?” Loki asked.

She jumped to the next one, holding out her arms to balance herself. “Well, you said he was hiding because he’s a bad guy. Wouldn’t someone who’s hiding want a secret lava tube?”

“They’re great big holes in the mountain, I hardly think they’d be that hidden. He’s probably been able to stay hidden for so long because no one is crazy enough to come up here.”

“We are,” Kuna said.

Loki chuckled. “That’s true.”

There was a loud explosion in front of them. Loki grabbed Kuna by the shoulders and pulled her back. A steam vent had just erupted in the middle of their path, spraying steam and fumes into the air.

“Woah,” Kuna said, admiring the heat she felt on her cheek.

“We are not messing with that,” Loki said.

“But the path goes that way,” Kuna said. “I think we’re close to the top.”

Loki looked up and squinted. He couldn’t see the top. The ground curved deceptively upward. They could still have miles more to go.

A great rock wall rose to their right. It leveled off with the next switchback of the trail before rising again. It was too steep to climb. Loki turned back to the steam vent. It had calmed and now released small puffs of steam into the air.

Loki fought with himself. He could use the tesseract to get them across, but something was warning him not to; a feeling deep inside him. He was becoming too reliant on the tesseract’s powers. Someone was going to take notice, if they hadn’t already.

“Fine,” Loki said. “Stay close to the wall. We’ll go around it.”

Kuna put her back up against the wall and followed Loki as they snuck past the vent. Kuna watched the little puffs of steam. There was a kind of rhythm to them. Puff. Puff. Pause. Puff. The final puff rose in a little ball and then unwound, stretching downward, back into the vent. A breath caught in Kuna’s throat, and she shoved on Loki as the vent exploded again. She felt her cape whip upwards in the violent burst of steam, gas, and heat.

Loki grabbed her under the arms and yanked her up, away from the steam. He set her down and frantically assessed her.

“Where are you hurt?” he asked, panicked. “Where’s the burn?”

“I’m not burned,” she said.

“What?”

“I’m fine. That was scary.”

Loki sighed and then coughed. He covered his mouth with his arm. His eyes began to water, and he felt a burning sensation in his throat. Kuna covered her mouth as well in a fit of coughs. Loki walked past her, taking her hand, and dragging her up the path.

He stepped and felt the ground sink beneath his foot. He tossed Kuna forward as another vent began to belch steam and gas from under him. With his other hand, he cast a ward, trying to protect himself as best he could as he jumped off the vent. His leg felt like it was set ablaze, and his head spun with pain and toxic gas.

Kuna took his hand and led him at a run to the curve in the path. He could hear more steam vents erupting from all around them. Finally, as they reached the switch back, the eruptions stopped. Loki sat down on a rock, leaning back against the wall. He coughed, uncontrollably. The tears stung hot in his eyes. He grabbed at his throbbing leg.

“No, no, don’t,” Kuna said, stopping his hands. “You’ll make it worse!”

Loki’s head spun again. Kuna pushed him back and he leaned against the sloping rock wall behind him. He groaned.

Kuna pulled a small waterskin out of their satchel. She and Loki had been sharing it as they walked. It was now only half full, but it was all the water they had. She opened the cap and began to pour the water onto Loki’s leg. She feared moving the cloth of his pantleg. This was all she could think to do.

When Loki realized what she was doing, he sprung forward and stopped her.

“No, Kuna,” he said, his voice raspy from coughing. “We don’t have anymore water. We can’t waste it.”

“But you’re hurt,” she said, a quaver in her voice.

“I’ll be fine,” Loki panted, leaning back again. “I just need to sit here for a moment.” He paused and breathed raggedly. “Maybe a few moments.”

Kuna sat back, capping the waterskin and putting it away. She looked back at the field of steam vents, puffing their treacherous rhythm. Occasionally, one would blow again setting of the ones nearest it, making both Kuna and Loki flinch.

After a while, Loki sat up and slowly got to his feet, testing the weight on his leg. He winced with as he put weight down but walked through it. Kuna watched.

“Maybe, we should go back—”

“No,” Loki said, cutting her off. “We need to do this. We’ve come this far. We must be getting close. This would make most people turn back and I’m sure that’s what he’s counting on.”

Kuna got up and walked to his side. She wanted desperately to hold his hand, but she knew he didn’t want her to. They started to walk, Loki limping heavily. It was slow going and silent as they walked up the trail.

They followed the trail up two more switch backs. Finally, they came up to the top of a rise where one lava river oozed down from above them in a massive lava fall. A spindly bridge, formed of black rock, crossed the lava river. Loki could feel the heat on his face from where they stood. Kuna walked towards the rock wall below the lava fall, staring beyond it.

“Please, don’t get too close, Kuna,” Loki said. He surveyed this bridge. What he would have given now to have the one built over the canal.

“I think there’s a cave behind the lavafall,” Kuna said, pointing.

“What now?” he asked, getting closer to her.

“Look!”

Loki took shaky steps towards the lavafall. There was a small gap between the curtain of lava and the cliff. As Loki leaned to one side, he could just see an opening into the mountain, hidden perfectly behind the lava. He was not happy about how small the gap was between the wall and the lava. Kuna stood obediently at his side, hugging herself. She glanced up at him and then at the lavafall.

Loki hesitated. The heat was becoming far more than he could bear. On top of the burn and the sting he felt in his lungs with every breath, he now felt dizzy and lightheaded standing this close to the lava. He noticed his breath coming faster too. He wasn’t confident in his ability to squeeze behind the curtain of lava into the cave.

“I think, maybe, it’s cooler inside the cave,” Kuna offered, quietly. “It was in the last one.”

“I’ll go first,” he said, stepping in front of her.

“Are you sure?” Kuna asked, uncertainly.

“Not really,” Loki said. He swallowed hard and concentrated. It would be cooler in the cave, Kuna was right. He just needed to make it past this curtain of lava. He took a deep breath.

Putting his back to the wall, he began to shimmy along the thin stretch of rock that separated the wall and the pool of lava at his toes. Kuna followed him. The heat cooked his skin beneath his light clothing. He may as well have been swimming in the lava. His vision began to blur. His ears rang and his breath caught in his throat.

“Loki?” Kuna said. Her voice sounded far away. “Loki!”

His vision went white and all he could feel was heat.

Suddenly, water splashed over his face. His hand instinctively grabbed at the source. Kuna squeaked as he snatched the waterskin from her hand. Loki opened his eyes and sat up, draining the water from the skin. He was on his back.

“You passed out!” Kuna said. “You almost fell into the lava!”

Loki looked around. They were several feet from the entrance of the cave. He put his hand to his head.

“How did I get all the way over here?” he asked. It was impossible for Kuna to lift him, let alone drag him this far.

“I portalled us inside!” she said.

“You what?” he asked. His voice echoed off the walls of the cave. Kuna flinched instinctively.

“I-I just grabbed hold of you, and we appeared in here,” she looked away from him and tapped her fingers together.

It took Loki a moment to process that Kuna had used the tesseract while it was inside his pocket. He wasn’t sure it was even possible. He looked down at the waterskin in his hand.

“Have you had any water?” he asked her.

“I’m okay,” she said, softly. “You need it.”

Loki shook his head and gave her the rest. “Drink it,” he said. She took a few sips but did not drink all of it.

The air was slightly cooler in the cave. It was deep and very dark. Loki conjured his orb of light to help them see. It flickered and dimmed like a burnt down candle wick before lazily floating above their heads. Kuna helped Loki stand. The orb barely cast enough light for them to see the walls of the lava tube.

“I told you, you should have slept,” she said.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he said, waving her off of him as he straightened up.

Kuna frowned and folded her arms. He stood for a moment, breathing deeply, trying to fill his lungs with as much cool air as he could. Then, he turned to face Kuna.

“I’m not sure how you did that, but I’m glad you did,” he said. “Death by lava, while an admirable way to go, is not the death I want.”

“I don’t want that either,” Kuna whispered.

Loki conjured the staff Kuna had taken from the library. They started walking down the tunnel further into the cave. Their footsteps crunched on the pumice that made up the floor as they walked.

“Hardly stealthy,” Loki whispered. He turned to Kuna. “I want you to stay behind me. Understand?”

She nodded.

The deeper they went into the mountain, the cooler it became. Loki was grateful for it. He thought his brain had poached in the heat. He just hoped this was the cave the wizard was in. He wasn’t sure he could take another stroll through the lava fields.

Kuna suddenly latched onto him. “What? What is it!” he hissed, startled.

“I see a light,” she said, pointing ahead of them. Her eyes had clearly adjusted better than Loki’s had.

Loki switched the staff to his opposite hand, pushing Kuna behind him with the other. He used his magic to return his armour to his body. He did not want to go into this unprotected. They approached the light at the end of the cave. Slowly, an opening came into view and then a room beyond. Loki felt a strange sense of déjà vu as he stepped into the same room he had visited in Lemora’s memories. The table that Kuna had been tied to was gone, leaving a large empty space in the centre. Loki could see sigils drawn on the floor in chalk.

Kuna made a strange sound behind him and hid behind his legs. He could feel her shaking. He put a hand down on her shoulder to comfort her. He gave the circle of sigils a wide berth as they entered the room. It could be a trap. He had used similar ones on the soldiers.

The room had a few tables and benches pushed against the walls, piled with books and other assorted magical implements. There was a bookcase and desk lit by a strange mushroom-shaped lamp. Loki noticed another opening that must have led further into the cave.

“I don’t often get visitors anymore,” a voice said. It seemed to come from everywhere at once. Kuna flinched and whimpered.

“Show yourself,” Loki demanded.

The man appeared, walking out of the opening. It was the same old man from the memories Loki had seen. He looked as though he had once been tall, but age had hunched him forward, giving him the posture of a question mark. His long grey beard was tied in knots. It was decorated with beads and trinkets, Loki even thought he saw a bone or two poking out from the hair. Kuna was latched onto Loki, hiding under his cape. Little whimpers escaped her. She could not control her shaking.

“Oh, I wondered if I’d ever see that little one again,” the man said, almost fondly, pointing his long nose at Kuna. She moved to hide herself completely behind Loki.

Loki looked at him questioningly. He glanced down at Kuna and then back up at Atorius.

The wizard smirked. “I didn’t choose to live in an active volcano,” he said, gesturing to the cavern they stood in. “But it has made for quite the secluded home since our last meeting. I’m sure you’re here about the curse I placed on her. Not my best work, I admit, but as I said, it’s difficult to work when a volcano erupts on top of you.”

“You’re going to remove the curse you placed on her,” Loki growled.

“It might be difficult,” Atorius said, seemingly unfazed by Loki’s menace. “The curse was imperfect. I’m surprised she’s survived this long, to be honest.” He began to hobble over to the small desk.

Loki was dumbfounded. The wizard’s cool demeanor was causing him to let down his guard. Loki raised the staff in warning.

“Don’t move,” he warned.

Atorius put his hands up. A slight grin crossed his face. “Of course, of course. I just need to consult this book to ensure I have what I need for this ritual.”

Loki paused for a moment and then nodded, not moving the staff from Atorius’ direction. He felt Kuna shake her head and pull away from him. He grabbed her arm before she could run.

“Mmm, yes,” Atorius mumbled, not looking up from the book he studied. “You may want to secure her.”

Loki ignored him. He held onto Kuna’s arm. She clawed at his fingers, trying to pry them off.

“Kuna, it’s alright,” he said.

“No!” she cried. She pulled harder but Loki had a firm grip on her arm. Her feet scraped on the black sand of the floor as she tried to pull away. She turned back and opened her mouth wide to bite him.

“Don’t you dare, young lady!” Loki said.

She bit down on his metal bracer and recoiled. Loki rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I bet that felt nice,” he said. Kuna rubbed her jaw with her free hand. “Now, we know not to bite me. Hurry up, old man.”

“Yes, yes, bring her here.” He nodded towards the center of the room. Loki hesitated for a moment. The wizard noticed his hesitation.

“I will be making a trap sigil to, well, trap the curse while we give it a new home.”

“And who will be the new home, exactly?” Loki said suspiciously.

Atorius chuckled. “Not who, lad. What.”

He turned away again and picked up a small box from a table against the wall. He brought it over to Kuna and showed it to her. There were dozens of small gems and crystals inside.

“Pick one,” he said to her. “One that calls to you.”

She shook her head and grabbed at Loki’s hand again, trying to pry it off. He gave her a gentle nudge towards the box.

“It’s alright,” he reassured her.

She stared up at him for a moment and then turned to face Atorius. She reached a shaking hand into the box. There were so many kinds of stones. A beautiful green stone caught her eye. Loki liked green. So did she. She picked up the pretty stone. It had a marbled, deep green surface. As she looked closer, she could even see tiny flecks of gold in the green.

“Ahh, a good choice,” Atorius said. “Good for ridding the soul of negative energies. And goodness, me, do you have a great negative energy in your soul.”

“Be nice,” Loki growled.

The gentleness in Atorius’ voice made Loki uneasy. This man was not gentle. He was sadistic. Loki saw what he had done to Kuna before. There was nothing good in him.

Atorius took the stone from Kuna’s hand. He picked up a tall stand with a receptacle at the top and placed it in the centre of the sigil circle. He placed Kuna’s stone in the receptacle. He waved his hand. A piece of chalk flew over to him. He twirled his finger in the air and the chalk zipped across the floor, drawing more sigils around the circle.

“The stone will serve as a vessel for the curse once it is released,” he explained as he worked. “If we succeed in locking it in there, that is.”

“If?”

“Indeed,” Atorius nodded. “Curses are unpredictable even in the best of circumstances. An imperfect curse is substantially more volatile. Unstable, temperamental, and potentially deadly.”

Kuna yelped at his words and hugged Loki’s leg. Loki glared at the wizard. He was saying these things on purpose to scare her.

“Bring her here,” Atorius said with a smirk. “To the middle of the circle.”

Loki started to walk Kuna towards the circle.

“No! No!” she cried, pulling on the arm Loki held.

He stopped and knelt down in front of her. He made sure Atorius was still within his line of sight.

“Kuna, listen,” he said. Tears were streaming down her face. She shook her head and pulled hard on her arm. “Listen,” he said, running his hand over her hair. His soft touch made her stop. “You are stronger than this curse. I know it. He’s going to lift the curse and then we’ll leave this awful place. Forever. Alright, my love?”

“No,” she whimpered.

“You’re a strong little girl. I know you can do this,” he said. Her lip quivered. She wanted to believe Loki. No one had ever believed in her. But a storm swirled in her head that made her whole body ache. She just wanted it to stop.

“It’s alright,” Loki said. “I’m here with you. I won’t let anything happen.” He stood and walked her towards the circle. She repeated ‘no’ over and over again as they stepped inside. He let go of her arm. She stood, shaking in the centre of the room, holding her hands under her chin. “It’s alright,” Loki repeated to her.

He looked back at Atorius who gestured for him to leave the circle. Loki took a step or two back. Kuna wanted to follow. Loki put his hand up and gently told her, “Stay.”

“Please,” she pleaded.

“Everything’s going to be fine,” Loki said, in his softest voice. “I’m right here.”

Atorius looked between the two of them, listening intently. Loki turned his attention to Atorius.

“If you try anything,” he began. “If you harm her, I will destroy you.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” the wizard said impatiently with a wave of his hand. Loki took a step back, leering at the old man as he began to chant in a low voice. The words made no sense to neither Loki nor Kuna. The sigils on the floor began to glow a harsh white.

Kuna covered her eyes. She thought her heart would beat out of her chest. She wanted to run away but her legs felt like they were glued to the floor. All at once, she felt heat, hotter than any lava, blast through her entire body. She felt a suffocating feeling begin to envelope her. Her vision darkened and her breath caught in her throat. She tried to cry out, but her voice was caught too.

Loki’s heart shattered as he saw her writhe in pain. He knew it would be painful for her. But he also knew it was the only way she would be safe. He fought hard to keep the tears out of his eyes. He had to focus. He had to keep his guard up.

Kuna collapsed. Her back arched painfully. She felt a searing pain running down her arms. She held them out in front of her and watched as inky black sigils began to appear on her skin. A heat began to rise inside her. She turned over, propping herself up on her arms.

Loki watched in horror as a black mass erupted out of her back like the steam from the vents. She collapsed onto her side and her body stilled. Loki lifted the staff. The wizard held out a hand to stop him. The black fog continued to pour out of her. It began to move in undulating waves. Loki could see it slowly taking form.

First legs, then arms, then a head. Loki was astonished as he watched it form into a mirror image of Kuna herself. Eyes appeared on its dark face, yellow and menacing. White sigils glowed in sparkling bands around its arms, torso, and legs. It stared right at Loki.

It lunged forward but was stopped as it hit the edge of the sigil circle. A hissing sound rose from its mouth. The sigils on the floor brightened as the curse-Kuna slammed into the barrier created by the sigils. It let out a shrieking howl that made Loki’s bones rattle.

Atorius lifted his hands and moved them in ornate patterns. The sigils rose off the floor in white ribbons of light and began to spin around the curse-Kuna. They tightened in around it. The curse backed away from them, lashing out in attempts to escape. Each hit against the enclosing sigil field caused it to cry out in pain. Kuna laid motionless beneath its feet.

The wizard glanced at Loki. In an instant, Atorius threw down his arms and the sigil ribbons released the curse-Kuna.

“Kill them both!” he shouted.

The sigils disappeared and the curse-Kuna flew at Loki, tackling him. He felt a sting of pain on his side as it hit him. He heard the crackle of magic hiss through the air as it landed another clawing blow at his chest. It raised its fist again, glowing with the deep purple light of its own magic. Loki raised his hand and blasted the curse-Kuna off of him.

It flew back into the sigil circle beside the real Kuna. A thin tendril of black smoke connected the two. The curse-Kuna rose and primed another blast.

Below it, Kuna stirred. Sitting up, she felt her head spin. She looked up and cried out at the sight of her dark double beside her. It let loose the blast in Kuna’s direction.

“Kuna!” Loki cried. “Get out of there!”

The blast slammed into the floor as Kuna dove out of the way. She scrambled on the black sand, trying to gain her footing to run away. A zap of red light snapped next to her before she could take a step. She covered her eyes and staggered sideways. Her curse tripped her up and she fell onto her back.

Loki snatched the staff up and pointed it at Atorius. The wizard let out a powerful spell as Loki fired the staff. The blasts hit each man at the same moment, sending both flying into the walls of the cavern. A great crack formed on the floor where Loki hit the wall and stretched to the other side of the room where Atorius lay, motionless.

In the sigil circle, Kuna tried to regain herself, but her curse leapt onto her. They rolled, each trying to throw the other off. The curse-Kuna landed several blows on its host. Kuna cried out, fighting back by throwing her own fists. They simply fazed right through her double, singeing Kuna’s hands as they passed through the curse’s chest.

A horrible hiss rose from the curse-Kuna once again. It sounded like laughter. The curse-Kuna looked over at Loki who was struggling to regain himself after Atorius blasted him.

Its shadowy skin began to bubble and boil. Shades of colour began to ripple to the surface. Its hair turned brown, its eyes green, even its clothes bubbled into the sky blue of Kuna’s Asgardian clothes. The curse-Kuna looked like her exact twin.

Kuna took the pause to throw a fist into her double’s face which was now solid. In turn, the curse grabbed Kuna’s hair and yanked and the two had begun to fight once again, tumbling about on the floor.

Loki was breathing hard. His chest ached. His vision still swirled. He couldn’t keep the two of them straight. He stood, bracing himself on the wall of the cave. The staff in his hand smoked. The end was shattered, and great cracks ran up and down the shaft. He tossed it aside and looked up at the two fighting girls.

The curse was clever, it had stopped using its magic to hurt Kuna and with its new look, Loki could hardly tell the two apart. Now, the two of them fought in a blur of fists, feet, and teeth.

“Loki, help me!” one of them cried.

“No!” said the other. “It’s her! It’s her!”

One of them produced Kuna’s dagger. Loki focused on the other, his mind racing.

Surely Kuna has the dagger, he thought. The curse could not conjure that in its copy of Kuna.

She raised the blade as Loki raised his hand. The other looked him in the eye.

“No!” she cried “It’s me!”

Loki realised too late. The spell had already left his hand.

“No!” Loki cried.

The spell slammed into Kuna’s chest and sent her flying back against the wall. She collapsed in a heap. Loki went on the offensive. He hit the curse with blow after blow until it was backed up against the receptacle that held the stone. He held it there, tears flooding down his cheeks. The curse fought back, ditching its disguise to focus its magic on Loki.

Loki struggled to push the curse back into the circle. It was strong. He looked down at the floor as he put all his magical effort into pushing it back. The smoky tendril that connected Kuna to the curse was fading. He groaned with exertion.

The curse took another swipe at him, clobbering the side of his head. He took the hit, shaking the sting out of his ear.

He suddenly felt a tremendous heat behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Kuna rising. Her skin was charred and blackened, as if burned. Her veins glowed shades of red, orange, and yellow. She looked the surface of a molten lava lake. Her eyes were glowing orange. Her hair erupted into flames and smoke that traveled down her back in lapping tongues of fire.

Loki’s heart was pounding. He felt the weight of the curse become heavier. It lashed out at him, knocking him back. He fell hard beside the real Kuna. Lava dripped from her arms and pooled at her feet. Loki felt frozen to the spot. Kuna let out a roar that nearly burst Loki’s eardrums. The whole mountain began to shake.

The curse-Kuna cowered, taking a few steps back but halting just inches from the stone. Kuna took several jaunting steps forward and threw her hands out in front of her. A jet of lava burst from her hands and slammed into the curse. The curse did its best to block the force of Kuna’s blow with its arms but was pushed back.

Loki got to his knees and watched, dumbfounded, as Kuna pushed the curse into the stone. The curse howled as it was sucked into the green gem Kuna had chosen. Loki leapt to his feet and performed the sealing incantations he had read in the cursed book. He drew sigils in the air which wrapped themselves around the stone in tight knots, glowing white hot as they burned themselves into its surface.

Kuna swayed. Loki turned to catch her. He felt a searing pain through his hands and cried out as he lowered her to the floor. He pulled his hands back and looked at them. They were black and red with burns. He hissed at them and looked down at Kuna. Smoke billowed from her skin, blinding Loki momentarily. When he was able to look again, she had returned to her normal form.

Loki pushed as much healing magic as he could into his hands. The mountain was still rumbling all around him. Pieces of the ceiling were starting to break free in chunks and cracks snaked through the walls.

He grabbed the green stone from the receptacle and shoved it into his pocket. He dodged a falling rock and returned to Kuna. Her body was hot to his touch and the heat made his burned hands sting. He summoned what was left of his magic to portal away from the cave. They appeared on the black

Loki heard a tremendous explosion and looked up into the sky. Both volcanoes erupted with such fury that he could see their tops explode and crumble down the mountainsides. The billowing cloud of ash and rock was racing down towards them. Lava spewed from the tops of the volcanoes, raining back down towards the earth. Loki saw the shockwave ripping across the land.

He closed his eyes. He felt the sting of the tesseract’s energy race through his body. The heat of its energy burned through him. He cried out as he opened a portal. He did not care where it went, he just had to beat the avalanche that was racing towards them.

***

Frigga gasped as a shock flashed through her body. She dropped the book she was reading with the start. She put her hand to her chest to stop the pounding of her heart. She stood and walked to the balcony, looking out into the night. The city sparkled below her.

She looked up at the sky, blinking, studying the array of stars above her. A glimmer caught her eye as a streak of blue jetted overhead and out of sight.

She turned on her heel and ran.

#Loki #God of Mischief #Father #Imagine #Submitted fic #submission #loki's daughter #chapter 16 #travelling-classicist

[otaku4life16]

The MILF/DILF Saint Loki (Marvel Prompt Request)

Loki is living a new life with his rescued kids(the ones from myths)(and maybe new babies) in New York. Loki now has friends, neighbors that love him (he baby sits some times), a high paying job where he is adored, and finally get to live with his amazing kids in a really big apartment.

Now I’m thinking:

 Peter Parker lives in the same apartment complex and is close with one of the kids (like BFF’s)

Peter is always over and sees it as a second home and Loki as a second mom (maybe he even stays there if something happened to may)

Loki probably stays as a girl to help hide his identity

Loki probably works at a museum, university professor, as an actress, an interpreter, or something like that(Loki is ridiculously smart, knows how to play people, and would honestly have a high end job like that)

Loki has so much experience raising kids that she is the go to babysitter

Loki is an activist in the community (he had a very hard/shitty time growing up in non-progressive Asgard so he wants to help people by setting up rallys, therapy groups, and all forms of awareness/help)

So after being the big bad villain Loki is now the Saint of the community (he’s supermom)

Some other things to possibly add

Loki could meet Tony at some kind of mandatory function that he had to go to for his job. Loki looks hot so Tony hits on her. Loki then stares at him and tells him that she has # kids I don’t have time for a one night stand (it would be very funny). Or she could be late like “sure. I’m a single mom of # young kids by the way. I’m sure you would be a great dad” and she says all of this just so he would walk away (hahahahaha)

Shield and the Avengers find out about Loki and take him away. They later go to his place to find out any dirt about him and find out about his kids. His neighbor’s tell Shield that he was a nice person, happy to help, a person that never gave anyone trouble,and baby sat for the neighbor. The neighbor’s may even bad mouth the shield agents for taking away a caring mom to prison away from her kids. 

might add a second part to this later or something like it

as always let me know what you guys think. also tell me if you guys want to write any bit of this idea for me.

#loki #Loki Laufeyson #loki's daughter #loki's children #happy Loki #parent loki #prompt #prompt request #female loki #lady loki #hela #Fenrir #Jormungandr #Sleipnir #Avengers #Steve Rogers #captain america #Iron Man #tony stark #clint barton #hawkeye #thor #natasha romanoff #black widow #hulk #bruce banner #peter parker #spiderman #saint loki #activist loki

[spells-and-liquid-luck]

I'm having a rough time right now, is there any chance you could write about the Avengers confronting Loki's daughter about how 'she's a psycho' and she gets super angry about it because that's what everyone Odin, Thor, Frigga called her. Her dad is the only one who understands though and that she's not a psycho but he's locked away on Asgard. She gets pissed and goes to let off steam in the woods outside of the city. shebasically lets loose an explosion of magic, screaming at the top of her lungs and punching a tree until her knuckles bleed

lol angsty

You Think I'm Psycho? - Loki's daughter

Warnings:angsty, mentions of blood and mental breakdown.

A/N: i know it's a bit short,, but personally I love the way I wrote it. I really hope you feel better, love I send my hugs and good wishes to you! To anyone reading this Please take care of yourselves and treat yourselves with care and love. You deserve it 💕

"You're acting psychotic!" Natasha yelled in frustration. "You're just like your father." Thor muttered in disappointment. She was standing in the middle of a circle surrounded by the Avengers who looked at her like she was some villain who deserved to be eliminated. She took a step back with a hurt look on her face. Her eyes filled with angry tears as she clutched her right hand in a tight fist resulting in her knuckles going pale. She remembered being in Asgard and how not only Thor had called her a psycho, but also Odin and Frigga. All because of her father Loki, whom she loved very dearly. She stared at them with pure anger as she stormed out in long strides hurrying to get as far away from them as soon and as fast as possible. She needed release, an explosion of everything she was feeling at that moment. The anger, the hurt, the constant feeling of not being good enough for anyone. She ran as much as she could, ignoring street signs and passerby until she landed herself in a forest just outside of the city where nobody could her. Her heavy breathing was full of exasperation as she let out a scream that was overflowing inside of her like a water dam slowly breaking letting her emotions crash in a fury. With quivering lips and shaking hands she let the green lights of fiery magic escape her palms as she screamed with everything she had. Tears of rage rolling down her face as she destroyed everything around her. Trees were uprooted, ground was burned, her heart was still pumping with adrenaline from the pure chaos she was constructing around her. "I'll never be enough!" She screamed as she punched a tree that still happened to be intact. "I'm just like my father, and you hate that! You hate that I'm not like you! You self righteous God's! You hypocites!" She screamed again with more rage as she punched the same tree with more force as the skin of her knuckles began to bruise and bleed. She kept going and going until she she had no more energy left. She fell to the ground and broke down. She began wailing. Tears flowed down her cheeks and she clutched her knees to her chest surrounded by her very own destruction in the darkness that consumed her.

Tag list:

@flamey-0

#avengers #loki's daughter #thanks for the ask! #angst

[sigyn-obsessed]

NEW STORY CHARACTER (Loki's daughter, Frigga)

Frigga 

MIDDLE NAME: Liv

BIRTHDAY: December 17th

ZODIAC: Sagittarius

DUE DATE: January 17th WEEKS ALONG: 36 TIME BORN: 4:47 am WEIGHT: 6.1 lbs HEIGHT: 19.5 inches EYE COLOR: green HAIR COLOR: blonde HAIR TYPE: wavy FAVE ANIMAL: snakes FAVE COLOR: yellow FAVE MOVIE: Finding Nemo FAVE BOOK: Charlotte's Web FAVE LULLABY: Very Full

FAVE FOOD: watermelon FAVE DRINK: apple juice FAVE CANDY: chocolate HOBBY: drawing/reading/gardening PRIZED POSSESSION: HERITAGE: Jotun/Vanir/Dwarfish

#frigga liv lokidottir #sigyn #loki #loki's daughter #loki x sigyn #fanfic #loki/sigyn #thor #logyn #loki laufeyson

[brocedesbenz]

I hate to break this to you, but mobius is actually a girl dad. You guys are just choosing to avoid the truth

#i can totally see mobius having a tea party #he's so gentle #he would let his daughter put makeup all over his face and then pretend to be an old rich lady at this tea party. always fully on character #just him and his daughter gossiping about mobius' imaginary rich family like an old telenovela #do you see The Vision or am i insane????? #mobius #loki series #loki #lokius #don't even get me started on girl dad lokius. she would be SO spoiled #love them for that tho #loki x mobius #loki laufeyson #mobius m mobius #loki season 2

[worstloki]

following the theory that loki intentionally banded the avengers together so he could sicc them on thanos later, after he took the throne in T:TDW, i think he'd be so angry at the events of civil war like:

loki as odin: hello heimdall, how do earth's mightiest heroes fare as of late?

heimdall: they have disagreed on many subjects and split up two days ago

loki:

heimdall:

loki: they haVE WHAT?

cue loki coming down to earth and bonking everyone's heads together until they all get along again

stark: how the heck are you alive???

loki: skills. listen here, i did not pour my blood, sweat and tears to form this team for you idiots to throw all my hard work out the window!

loki, grabbing rhodes and stark by the wrists: now, we are going to get your little friends out of prison, understood?

like an exasperated kindergarten teacher, y'know?

Loki, hitting Steve over the head with a newspaper: he's your friend, of course he's upset you lied to him about something like this

Tony: hah!

Loki, giving Tony a death glare: did you have to fight each other about it

#Loki should lecture them on morals good sportsmanship lying loyalty and self sabotage #Loki @ Scott like 'and what are you here for??' #and Scott is like awh he doesn't know me. uncool. #Loki: I just don't see why you're risking your right to see your daughter over some skirmish you have no business with #Scott: uhm #Loki: do you WANT to update your criminal record bc there are better ways to do it. #Scott: -__- #Loki: ways that don't involve parasocial relationships and blind loyalty to some national icon you had never ?? met in person before???? #Scott: I just wanted to be included #Loki: eat the rich when it doesn't involve damage to public resources next time #Bucky: hi #Loki: i have no notes #Peter: 0-0 #Loki turning back to Tony: and the CHILD--

[winters-hysteria]

Sam: L is for the way you look at me

Loki: 0 is for the only one I see

Tony: V is very, very extraordinary

(y/n): E is for everyone shut the fuck up it's 2am go to bed before I kill you all

#loki x reader #mcu loki #loki laufeyson #loki of asgard #mcu #mcu incorrect quotes #mcu x reader #mcu x you #marvel mcu #marvel #marvel x reader #marvel men #marvel incorrect quotes #tony stank #tony stark #tony stark x daughter!reader #sam wilson #sam wilson is my favorite avenger ever he and redwing can do no wrong #sam wilson x y/n #sam wilson x you

[katebishopsbaefy]

Soup and Sniffles

pairing: natasha romanoff x reader (can be read as platonic or romantic)

summary: you're sick and dont want natasha to find out. she finds out, fluff esues.

word count: 961

notes: hey everyone this is the first fic im posting pls no hate 😄😘

You practically fall through your open window onto the floor of your bedroom, knees almost buckling underneath you. You’re able to catch yourself in just enough time to stop your face from slamming into the ground. The impact from your sort of fall is still loud, though, and you pray Natasha couldn’t hear it.

You realized you were sick two days ago, but only today had you really started to feel the full effects of your illness. School was a nightmare with a stuffy nose and constant headache, and with no time in between classes and patrol, you were absolutely miserable. But, not wanting to worry Natasha or risk being labeled as “useless”, you kept it to yourself and stuck it out. One fight in particular left you stumbling and sneezing, the guy’s ice powers making you feel even more sick. You’d managed to make your way to your shared apartment with Natasha. You couldn’t wait to take a much needed nap.

A knock on the door makes you jump up from your spot on the floor, which you happened to be very comfortable in. Natasha’s voice is muffled by the door.

“Y/N? What the hell was that?” she asks. Shit.

You panic. Clear your throat as quietly as you can, hoping to sound much less congested than you are. “Nothing! I’m ok, I swear.”

“I’m coming in,” she states, and she’s next to you before you can even begin to protest. She notices the carpet moved out of place under your feet and smirks. “Did you fall through the window?” 

“Maybe,” you reply. She quirks an eyebrow at you. “Rough ni-” you start, but a cough racks through your body and you’re forced to double over. You recover as quickly as possible, shooting back up with a sniffle and a smile. “Rough night,” you finish. You break eye contact with her once you see the concern laced in her green eyes. 

“I can tell. Did you get hit?” she asks, looking up and down your body looking for an injury that could be the source of your cough. She takes your face into her hands and studies the cuts littering it until your own hands push hers away.

“No, I’m fine. Well, I did get hit, but I’m fine. No problem.” You smile at her. It doesn’t reach your eyes.

The back of Natasha’s hand finds your forehead before you can react. Your mind tells you to pull away, but your body leans into the contact in search of comfort. She frowns as you sniff again. “You’re sick.”

“No I’m not,” you argue, finally finding the strength to pull her hand away from you. It drops to her side and her eyes search yours.

“Yes, you are. How long have you been sick for?”

“I haven’t been sick because I’m not sick.”

“Then why do you sound so gross?”

“I’m not gross.”

“You’re pretty gross.”

“I’m not sick, Nat! Jesus,” you swipe your hand under your nose and sniffle miserably. Her fingers find your face once more and she turns your chin to look at her, thumb swiping away a tear you didn’t know had fallen. Natasha looks at you, really looks at you. You’re shivering under her touch, just slightly, but enough for her to notice. Your eyes are sunken and red, as well as the tip of your nose and your cheeks. She looks back into your eyes.

“What’s wrong?” she asks softly, barely above a whisper. 

Tears fill your eyes and you let them. “I don’t feel good,” you tell her, and the wall breaks. She pulls you into her and kisses the top of your head. You're very aware of the grossness you're getting on her shirt, but she doesn’t care. 

“I got you,” she whispers over and over into your hair, rubbing circles on your back as you sob. Eventually your legs simply give out, but she’s there to hold you up. Drags you over to your bed and pulls away, forcing you to look at her. She hands you a tissue to blow your nose into.

“Gross,” she comments. You giggle tearily and she smiles at you. “I’ll make you soup if you wanna go shower.”

“Mkay. C’n you do tha’ thing where you put m’ clothes in the dryer so they’re all warm?” you look up at her with the best puppy eyes you can muster. This time she giggles at you.

“I guess so. Try not to take twelve hours in the shower, I want hot water too.”

You know she really wouldn’t care if you took forever, as long as it made you feel better.

You jump in the shower, and when you’re out (45 minutes later), there’s fresh clothes sitting on the toilet for you, plus a fluffy towel. You throw on the clothes and ring out your hair, walking towards the kitchen to the smell of soup. 

Natasha watches you and shoots you a small smile. “Better?” she asks.

“Yeah. Less gross,” you reply honestly. Your nose is a lot less congested and your shivering stopped for the most part. You plop yourself down in your spot on the couch and Liho, Nat’s cat, jumps up with you. You pull her into your arms and lay down on a pillow given to you by some distant relative, paying little attention to the sitcom running on the tv.

Nat turns to bring you a bowl of soup, but sees you passed out on the couch, snoring quietly. She walks over and grabs your favorite blanket from over the top of the couch, draping it over you and kissing your forehead. Notices you’re a lot less warm than before, smiles down at you. The soup could wait for later.

#whoopsies idk what im doing #this is kinda bad but its okay #im sick i want her to take care of me #idk if lihos a boy or a girl but oh well thats okay we all make mistakes #i guess im just a fake fan #my blog up to this point is contradicting because my user is kate bishop but my pfp is loki but my only post is natasha romanoff oopsies #natasha romanoff #black widow #marvel #mcu #marvel sickfic #natasha x reader #natasha romanoff x you #black widow x reader #natasha romanoff fluff #natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff x daughter!reader #natasha romanoff x sick!reader #natasha romanoff sickfic #the avengers

[mymelodymia]

HELLO, hope you're having a great day. can I request a loki x daughter reader (age 16) where she has many insecurities and worries and he realizes it and helps her? If this is a hard limit, please ignore it 💘

Here for you // Loki laufeyson x daughter reader

Summary: loki comforts you after finding out your insecure :(

Warnings: insecurities, hating body, being mean to loki (kinda),

Age: 16

🩰˚˖𓍢ִ໋ ♡🎧✧˚.🎀༘⋆+•°+💕*°•+

You frowned as you lifted your shirt up slightly in front of your mirror. Turning to see your side profile. Staring at your stomach.

You thought no boys/girls would ever show interest in you if you looked like this. Although your body was completely normal for your age. Sighing as you felt a tear fall down your cheek.

You continued staring at your body, to which you hated, when your father, loki, suddenly burst through the door. Usually he'd knock and you'd have a second to jump into your bed and put on a fake smile. But you didn't this time.

You took in a sharp breath, whipping around to face him. With his eyebrows scrunched, he tilted his head in confusion as to what you were doing.

"Ww-What are you doing?" He asked as you felt your cheeks turn red. With your head downcast, you felt tears come to your eyes. You backed up slowly until you sat down on your bed.

Your father walked over and sat down next to you. placing his hand over yours in order to comfort you. "What were you doing darling?"

You sniffed before letting out a small sob, loki threw his arms around you as a reflex to this. You continued to sob into his chest for a while. He rocked you back and forth as ran his fingers through your dark wavy hair. Shushing you from time to time.

Eventually you calmed down. Pulling away from your father, you looked at him tearfully. He looked deep into your emerald green eyes before asking the question again.

"What were you doing?" He asked in a soft tone, his asgardian accent ringing in your ears. You took in a deep breath before confessing.

"I...really, hate the way i look." Loki looked surprised at this, brushing a strand of hair away from your face. "Why?"

"Im afraid that if im too fat I'll never get a partner...and if i dont loose some weight no boy/girl will love me..." you said sadly. Your father again, looked shocked at this.

"Y/n, darling, your not fat, your not even overweight in the slightest...did, someone tell you these lies?"

"No, not really i just...i want boys/girls to like me, and i just, I just dont like the way i look. Its ugly and-"

"I beg your pardon?" Loki interrupted, 'Ugly' he hated that word. "Tell me, why in the world you would think that?"

"I dont know! Okay!?" You shouted, "i dont know why i feel this way! Just go away!" You yelled in frustration. He placed a hand on your shoulder. Remaining calm as your mood switched quickly.

He sighed and pulled you close to him, you again started to sob into him. He pulled away from this gentle touch for a moment to lie down on his back, extending and arm to invite you in.

You rested your head on his chest as he held you close to him as you both continued to stare at the ceiling.

You allowed yourself to drift off in his arms, your chest rising and falling as you slept.

He had a maid draw you a warm bath when you awoke from your deep slumber. He also made you your favorite meal when you got out of the tub.

Over a few weeks, you felt at peace with your body, with your soul, with your mind.

🩰˚˖𓍢ִ໋ ♡🎧✧˚.🎀༘⋆+•°+💕*°•+

A/N: i hope you liked this loveeeeee! P. S, please ignore my inactivity lol

🩰Tags🎀

@animealways // @white-wolf-buckaroo // @tonystark-au // @yummyangy // @zebralover // @carellmcu // @mariasabanahabanabana //

#loki laufeyson #loki laufeydottir #loki x daughter!reader #dad!loki #Dad!loki laufeyson x daughter!reader #reader insert #daughter!reader #fluff #x you #x reader #x y/n #insecure #insecurity #the avengers #avengers x reader #Avengers #mcu #marvel #marvel cinematic universe #loki of asgard

[inlovewhithafairytale]

POV: Y/N Stark...

#tony stark #tony stank #yn x avengers #x yn #badass yn #marvel #the avengers #avengers x y/n #avenger x reader #avengers x reader #tony stark x y/n #tony stark x reader #tony stark x daughter!reader #tony stark x you #tony stark x steve rogers #stony #steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #stucky #steve rogers x bucky barnes #steve rogers x y/n #steve rogers x you #loki x reader #loki x you #loki x y/n #loki x mobius #loki x sylvie #loki laufeyson #loki laufesyon x reader #yn x bucky barnes

[imagine-loki]

Loki's Daughter

TITLE: Loki's Daughter CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 15: Lies & Corruption AUTHOR: travelling-classicist ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Avengers: Endgame AU Loki that gets away with tesseract has been using it to explore the universe. During his adventures, he comes across a little girl with developing but oppressed magical abilities. Intrigued (and subconsciously lonely) Loki keeps her around. RATING: T for graphic violence/PTSD

AO3 Link: Here NOTES/WARNINGS: TW: PTSD

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 15: Lies and Corruption

Kuna hesitated, her hand hovering just above Loki’s arm. He was fast asleep. In his hand, he held the scanner they had stolen. She did not like the sight of it. It made her feel queasy. She brushed the feeling away and lightly shook his arm.

“Loki?”

His eyes snapped open, and he grabbed her wrist in alarm. Kuna pulled back hard; her breath caught in her throat.

“Oh,” Loki sighed, letting go of her wrist. “I’m sorry, darling. A bit jumpy, I suppose.” He yawned. “I shouldn’t have fallen asleep.” He was exhausted.

“I found us a place to sleep that’s better,” she said quietly, staring down at the ground.

“You did? You mean you went out there by yourself?” Loki looked around. The wild forests of Torileena were not at all safe. But Kuna knew them much better than he did.

“I-I didn’t go far,” Kuna said, afraid Loki would be upset. “I made sure nothing came to eat you.”

“Oh well I’m glad for that,” Loki said, smiling weakly. “Well, let’s see what you found.”

He stood shakily. He was surprised at how very weak he still felt. Their fight on Ynatu had been more than draining for him.

The scanner they had nicked lay on the ground by the roots of the giant tree they had been sleeping under. Loki stooped, picking up the scanner and tucking it away in their satchel. Kuna eyed him nervously. He looked tired, almost sick. He had a big cut above his eyebrow, and she knew he was battered from the battle.

Kuna took his hand and led him through the thick underbrush of the forest. They climbed up and over roots and wound their way through a maze of strange plants. Loki supposed he had not had much time to study the flora of Torileena the last time he was here. At least the underbrush wasn’t his focus when he had first seen the towering trees that populated the forest. Even the forest floor was strewn with tall plants and trees that seemed to thrive in the ever-constant shade of the canopy.

They approached a large root that Kuna climbed up on. She froze, her head swiveling. Loki watched a moment and then glanced around. Had she seen something? He did not want another encounter with Torileena’s ferocious fauna. Kuna’s stillness was becoming unnerving. Loki was nearly about to speak when she turned and looked down at him.

She offered him her hand to help him climb up the root.

“Did you see something?” he asked, taking her hand.

She shook her head. “I thought I heard something, but I think it was just a keelaroo.”

Loki sighed. “Please, tell me that’s not something that wants to eat us.”

Kuna giggled. “No, it’s like a, um… it’s like a little rat with bouncy legs and little, tiny horns.”

Loki looked around. Kuna continued. “They’re small and they hop around on the forest floor looking for bugs.”

“Ahh, I see.”

“They make a lot of noise, though, for such a tiny creature. Their footsteps are loud. Sometimes they can sound like a kapka with their loud feet.”

Loki heard a sudden rustling from somewhere close by. Kuna looked with him. “There’s one!” she cried.

Loki followed it with his eyes. Kuna was right. The creature was small, no bigger than a squirrel with some similarities. It had a long skinny tail covered in fur and a rat like body. Its legs were long and rigid, allowing it to hop along the ground with some speed. On its head were two tiny twigs of horns. It sat up at Kuna’s exclamation and screamed at them. The call was high pitched. Loki noticed huge, sabre-fangs in its mouth. He jerked at the noise and grimaced. The keelaroo took off into the forest.

Kuna laughed at it. She took Loki’s hand again and helped him down from the root. It was warm on the forest floor. There was no wind. The giant trees seemed to catch all the wind in their branches hundreds of feet above them. Loki gazed up the enormous trunks. It made him dizzy to look all the way up to the top.

Before long, Kuna stopped in front of a massive stump. The tree that had once occupied the space had fallen. Its hollowed-out and rotting trunk lay several meters away. The trunk was big enough to fly a skif through, Loki observed. He looked up at the surrounding trees and found that many of the plants and saplings around the trunk had burst upward and were climbing at dizzying heights to reach even a lick of sunlight.

Kuna led him up to the stump. She pushed a few loose leaves and branches out of the way and revealed a hole near the bottom of the stump where two roots had separated. She crawled inside.

“Come on!” she called from the hole.

“Okay,” he said, smiling. He crouched and crawled in behind her. He wasn’t overly fond of tight spaces. He wasn’t sure this hollow would be a good idea, but he didn’t want to upset Kuna.

He crawled in and his mouth fell open. The hollow was massive! More like a cave than the inside of a tree.

“I made sure nothing lives here,” Kuna said. “I think something did once. There were bones. But they were really old and there wasn’t a path leading out like there is to an animal den.”

“Very smart,” Loki commented. “Plus, I don’t think a kapka could fit through that little hole.”

The hollow was cool and smelled like wet earth and moss. Kuna had made hammocks out of vines and strung them between exposed roots in their subterranean den.

“You did all this while I was asleep?” Loki asked, still looking around the hollow in wonder.

Kuna nodded. “Oh, and I gathered up a little bit of food too. Look! There’s some fruit and nuts and I even found some mushrooms!” She showed him a small pouch she had made out of a large leaf. She opened it, revealing her bountiful forage.

“Goodness, you were busy! How long was I asleep?” Loki asked.

“I don’t know, I think we slept for a few hours. I didn’t want to be outside when night came. Nighttime is scary here. I don’t like the dark.”

Loki looked down at her, a sad expression on his face. He had not wanted her to feel the need to do this. She had a habit, no doubt beaten into her, of taking care of more menial tasks like cleaning and setting up their camp. Loki had tried to get her away from doing that lately. He wanted her to experience a childhood, not employment.

He sat down in his hammock. She walked up to him and put her hand on his knee. He smiled at her.

“Thank you for doing all this, my love,” he said. “You didn’t have to. I should have been awake.”

He looked down at her. The scrape on her forehead had bruised and the marks on her neck from that wicked net were still bright red, turning blue and black in some areas.

She reached up and touched his face. “You have a cut on your eyebrow,” she said, softly.

“Oh,” he said, feeling it with his hand. “Don’t worry about it, my love.”

She frowned. She was worried about it. He looked tired. There were circles under his eyes and his eyelids drooped low.

“You look sleepy,” she said.

“I am,” he said, chuckling a little.

“You should sleep!” she replied. “And I’ll cook up some mushrooms. Here, you can eat what’s inside!” She handed him her little leaf bag. She took out the mushrooms and then pointed to the other fruit inside. “Those are azuronia, and that’s a needle-nut, those berries are frostvines.”

Loki smiled at her knowledge of these fruits.

“These are called summercaps,” she said, holding up the mushrooms. “And I think I saw some trundleweed outside that would go really good with them.” She took off out of the hole.

Loki stood and followed her. He wasn’t going to let her go out by herself again. Not if night was falling and the woods were filled with so many deadly beasts.

“No!” she cried when she saw him. “You need to sleep!” She pushed on his legs to make him go back into the hollow.

“I’m fine,” he said. “I’ll sit out here with you. What can I help with?”

She frowned. “You sit,” she ordered, pointing at the hollowed-out trunk of the giant tree that had fallen. Loki rolled his eyes, smiling. He walked over to the tree and sat.

Kuna bustled about collecting stones and sticks. Loki picked up a few stones from around his feet and rolled them to her. She looked up and glared at him.

“I can do it!” she said.

“I know. And I can help,” he told her.

She grunted in frustration and knelt down. She made a circle out of the stones she had gathered and dug up the leaves and needles from the center of the circle. She gently placed in some sticks and larger branches, then stood and began searching for something on the ground.

“What are you after?” Loki asked.

“Sparkstones,” she said. She stooped and picked up a little rock and tested it against another.

Loki looked around quickly and then flicked a finger towards the firepit. A little green flame shot from the end of his finger and landed on the kindling Kuna had stacked inside. He smirked as smoke tendrils started rising up from the branches.

Kuna heard the pop and crack of burning wood behind her and spun around. Little flames were starting to lick their way around the edges of the branches.

She growled and glowered at Loki. He was looking around, pretending he had not just lit the fire. He looked back over at her and gasped.

“How did that happen?” he asked with false surprise.

Kuna pursed her lips and stood. She walked over to a small tree and broke off a long twig. She pulled her dagger out of its sheath and stripped it of its bark, tossing the pieces onto the fire. Before long, she had all the mushrooms spitted on the stick and had propped it up over the flames.

Loki came over and sat down opposite her. She pulled out a handful of a plant from her pocket. The leaves were long and had dozens of smaller, blade like leaves jutting out the length of the stem. She stripped these little leaves and mashed them up in her hands before sprinkling them over the mushrooms as they cooked. Loki could smell an earthy aroma rising from the flames. It made his stomach growl.

Kuna must have heard it because she pointed at the leaf bag he still held and ordered, “Eat!”

He opened the bag and pulled out a blue, egg-shaped fruit. It had the fuzzy texture of a peach on the outside but was a sky-blue color.

“That’s azuronia,” she said again. “It’s my favourite.”

Loki bit into it. Recoiling, he stuck out his tongue at the foul taste that filled his mouth. Kuna laughed.

“You’re not supposed to eat the skin, silly!” she giggled. She stood and joined him at his side. She took his fruit and peeled it in quarters, revealing an even deeper blue fruit flesh dotted with hundreds of tiny black seeds.

Loki eyed Kuna with suspicion. “Are you trying to trick me into eating something nasty?” he asked. “Because if you are— “

“No! It’s good, I swear! Watch.” She took one out for herself, peeled it, and took a bite. “Mmm.”

“Alright,” Loki said, taking a bite of his azuronia. The contrast between the bitter taste he had just experienced and the overwhelming sweetness that now filled his palette was intense. He had never tasted anything so sweet. The fruit was so ripe, its juices flowed from the corners of his mouth. “Oh my! That’s delicious.”

“That’s why they’re my favourite!” Kuna said. She put the rest of her azuronia in her mouth and stood again. She turned the mushrooms on the spit.

Loki watched her. “Who taught you about foraging?” he asked.

“The other slaves,” she said with a shrug. “When I started living with Masters in the wild, like on Torileena, I had to find all the food myself, so the other slaves taught me what was good to eat and what to stay away from.”

“Do a lot of Masters live in the wild?” Loki asked. “They sort of struck me as the homebody, snooty type. Though I guess the ones I found you with here were hicks.”

“Mmm, sometimes,” Kuna explained. “Torileena is mostly wilds. They can’t build any big cities here because the trees are always moving.”

Loki choked on his fruit. “They’re what now?”

“They have to migrate. So, it makes it hard to build anything. They build a town and then the trees come through and tear it up. Trees don’t obey magic and if they cut them down, the trees get mad.”

“The trees migrate,” Loki repeated. Kuna nodded.

“Yeah. To places with more water or better soil.”

Loki raised his eyebrows and shrugged. “Smart trees.”

Kuna nodded.

“Did your education come only from slaves?” he asked.

“I don’t have education,” she said, sitting down next to him. “Just what you’ve taught me.”

“You know how to forage and how to make a camp and a fire. You know far more about this planet’s ecosystem than I do. You knew a lot about Ynatu as well. This is all education; things you know.”

“Mmm, well, the Masters didn’t call it that. They went to school. They got education there. I’m—I wasn’t allowed to go to school. Slaves can’t go to school. Freepeople have their own schools, but I don’t know what they learn there. Maybe how to work in fields and factories?” She shrugged.

“And you don’t remember what your parents were? Masters, Freepeople, or slaves?”

Kuna shook her head. “I think maybe they were Freepeople. They couldn’t be slaves because slaves can’t sell themselves. And I don’t know why a Master would sell their own child to slavers.” She sniffled. “All I can remember is when my parents brought me to the auction. Everything before that is fuzzy.” She rubbed her head.

Loki nodded slowly. He presumed the curse that had been placed on her was partially responsible for her lack of memory. Trauma did its own damage. A curse on top of it, especially one so effective as Kuna’s, was enough to erase any memory.

“Well, we’ll figure it all out,” he said.

Kuna’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know if I want to.”

“I understand,” Loki said, putting his arms around her and lifting her onto his lap. “It’s hard to think about.”

She nodded and pressed herself back against him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

“Why did we need to get the scanner?” she asked.

“Because we want to know where your parents are,” Loki reminded her. He found it peculiar that the curse seemed to affect her recent memory as well as her past memory.

“But why?”

“I think they are responsible for cursing you. Or they know who does. So, we’re going to go to them and make them lift the curse.”

“But if they were Freepeople, they couldn’t curse me. They can’t have magic.”

“’Can’t’ and ‘don’t’ are very different,” Loki said. “I think they do. I think, they had learned how to hide their magic from masters but perhaps they couldn’t hide yours. So, they cursed you to hide it.”

Kuna stared at the fire. She clamped her jaw shut. A little whimper escaped her lips and then she whispered, “I don’t have any magic.” She clamped her jaw shut again before she could add, ‘sir’, which she knew Loki didn’t like to be called.

“This curse forces you to say that,” Loki said, gently petting her arm. “When I was reading that book on curses, that’s what I learned.”

“The cursed book?” she asked, flatly.

“Yes, that one. The curse you have makes you do a lot of things you don’t realize. It makes you forget things relating to magic. And even to the curse itself. Curses are like this, you see. They’re like parasites. They don’t want their host-that’s you-to get rid of them. It feeds on your magic. It makes you weaker while it gets stronger, making it impossible for you to use your magic or talk about it and so on.”

Kuna sighed. She was still not accepting of the fact that she was cursed. Loki had told her, but it didn’t seem real. But Loki was smart. Much smarter than her or even the Masters. She believed him but it wasn’t easy.

The mushrooms began to sizzle on the spit. She hopped up and pulled them off the fire, happy to get away from the uncomfortable conversation. She grabbed another big leaf and dropped a few of the mushrooms onto it, handing it to Loki. She took a bite of one of hers right off the spit.

Loki took the mushrooms. They smelled delicious. Kuna kicked a bit of dirt onto their fire, slowly putting it out. The forest was beginning to darken with the falling night. Loki stood and followed Kuna into their hollow once the fire was out.

Loki settled into his hammock and took a bite of one of his mushrooms. It made his mouth water with the delectable taste. Whatever Kuna had seasoned them with made it even more enjoyable. He ate slowly to try to savour it.

“You’re an amazing cook,” he said. “This is delicious.”

Kuna blushed. “I like them,” she said in a small voice. She still was not used to receiving compliments.

When Loki had finished, he laid back in his hammock. His eyes were growing heavy again. He was completely exhausted. The fight on Ynatu had depleted his magic almost entirely. He needed to rest to recuperate. He imagined Kuna was just as tired but was hiding it for his sake. He glanced over at her hammock. She stared at the ground, one foot hanging out of her hammock to gently rock it.

Loki took his satchel from his side and pulled out Kuna’s toys. She let out a happy gasp at the sight of them. He handed them to her, and she cuddled with them. Slowly, she fell asleep, Loki not far behind.

***

  “What do you say, want to try this scanner on your chip?” Loki asked. For the first time ever, he was awake before Kuna. She knew what he was going to ask when they got up.

She pretended to be asleep.

“Kuna?” he said in a sing-song voice.

She pretended to snore.

“I know you’re awake,” he said. “You never snore.”

She stopped snoring and squeezed her eyes hard. He reached out and tickled her side. She giggled boisterously.

“You can’t be asleep and laughing,” Loki said, laughing along with her. “You’re not asleep!”

“Okay! Okay!” she said, pushing his hands away.

“Come on,” he said, sitting down on her hammock.

Kuna shrank a little. “Okay,” she said in the smallest voice.

“Are you scared?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Why is that?” Loki asked, a pang of sadness in his tone. “It doesn’t hurt, does it?”

Kuna shook her head. “No. But--” she sighed. “But--” She shook her head again. Her shoulders slumped. She looked up at Loki with big, sad eyes. Tears rimmed her eyelids. “I don’t want to see my parents again.”

“I can imagine,” Loki said. He set her on his lap. She turned into him and laid her head on his chest. “Anyone who would give up someone as smart and cute as you have to be a complete monster.”

She buried her face further into his chest. Her back shook a little with her tears. Loki stroked her hair.

“They’re mean,” she whined into his shirt.

“Yes,” he said.

“You’re not gonna give me back to them, right?”

“Of course not, my love. I would never give you away,” he said, looking down at her. He gently lifted her face with his finger. “We’re going to wherever this says your parents are, so we can find out who cursed you. Then, we’re going to go find them and make them take the curse away.”

Kuna whimpered a little and put her head back on his chest. After a moment, she turned around so her back faced Loki. He picked up Kuna’s toys and dangled each one over her shoulders, gently dancing them in the air to get her attention.

She grabbed them, hugging them tightly to her chest. Loki picked up the scanner and pointed it at Kuna’s back where she had shown him the chip was embedded. The scanner beeped. The screen lit up and a picture of Kuna filled the screen. Loki scrolled:

“No. K.43695

Age: 206 yrs

Height: 107cm

Sex: Female

Class: Slave

Current Owner: Master Ridolo Spontzi of Torileena

Previous Owner: Master Thelaneus Machaluci of Ynatu”

He tapped at a few things. Tapping on the owners let him see more about them which only disgusted him and made him hate them more. Tapping on Kuna let him see more about what she was considered ‘good’ at doing: cleaning, cooking, housework, laboring, gathering, even mining.

He looked up at Kuna. He felt an immense sadness and anger. What sort of people forced children to work like this? Asgardians had long since abandoned old traditions of keeping thralls, but even the thralls he had read about in old stories were treated better than this. He sighed and continued reading.

Finally, his eyes landed on a tab labeled ‘Ancestry’. He tapped on it. A web of info bubbles popped up on the screen with Kuna’s number in the middle. A family tree of sorts.

“Perfect,” he said, tapping on the bubble containing Kuna’s parents.

Father: Adres Kiranus

Mother: Lemora Kasiore

Location: Ynatu; Region: Vinaari

Coordinates: 61°21’36”N 96°02’43”W

“Kuna, I found them,” Loki said. “I love how precise this is. So organized.”

Kuna peeked at the scanner. She shook her head and looked away, muttering to herself.

“Ynatu,” he sighed. He wasn’t looking forward to going back there. “In a place called Vinaari. Do you know it?”

Kuna paused. “It sort of sounds familiar. I don’t know.” She put her hands on either side of her head. “Everything is so confusing. My head feels funny.”

“It’s alright, love,” Loki said, removing her hands from her head. “Don’t worry. We’ll go and talk to them –or I will, at least—and then we’ll go from there.”

Kuna groaned. She did not want to go. She did not want to see her real parents. Making a curse go away seemed hard and scary and maybe even painful. A cold feeling washed over her.

“No,” she said.

“Hmm?” Loki asked.

“No. I’m not going!” she cried and jumped out of the hammock.

“Kuna, wait!” Loki called after her.

“No!” She ran out of the hollow.

Loki grunted in frustration and followed her out, grabbing their things on his way. He burst out of the entrance hole and looked around. Leaves in the underbrush were parting quickly in front of him, showing the way she had run. He took off after her.

“Kuna, stop!” he shouted.

“No!” she called back.

“Urgh!” Loki tried to think quickly while dodging low hanging leaves and branches. He knew the parents' coordinates. Maybe that would be enough for the tesseract to get them there. He summoned the tesseract’s energy and projected it in front of them both with a thrust of his hands.

Kuna ran through the portal before she could stop. She looked over her shoulder, seeing nothing but darkness behind her. Upon turning to face forward again, a house appeared in front of her. She skidded to a stop as she stared at the unpresuming stone house.

She remembered it. Flashes of memories flooded her head. She was frozen to the spot.

“No, no,” she huffed.

Suddenly, she felt arms under her own, lifting her up.

“Come on,” Loki said. He carried her to a line of trees beside the house. He practically threw her onto the ground and ducked behind a bush. She peeked out and saw a group of men walking towards the house from another direction, that Loki had no doubt seen as well.

She sat back down. “No, no, no,” she repeated, thumping her head with her hand.

“Shh! Stop!” Loki hissed, grabbing her hands. He glanced at the group of soldiers approaching the house. They were dressed the same as the ones they’d seen in Yaarai.

He looked back down at Kuna. “Listen to me!” he said, harshly. She looked up in utter terror. He tried to calm himself. “I’m going over there. You are going to stay right here; do you understand me? You’re not to move.”

Kuna shook her head in agreement but was too stunned to say anything.

“Do not move from this spot, okay? I’ll be back to get you. Stay!” he ordered as he stood. His appearance changed in front of Kuna’s eyes.

His clothes transformed. His hair shortened and turned a dusty blond colour. Kuna’s eyes widened as he turned back around, and she stared up in the face of her Master Spontzi, the one Loki had saved her from. She opened her mouth to scream but Spontzi grabbed her.

“Don’t!” he hissed. “It’s me! It’s Loki. I’m going over there. Stay right here!” He let go of her and stomped out towards the house.

Kuna was left in the bushes, whimpering, holding her head and shaking.

Loki walked with purpose towards the group of soldiers. They turned and looked surprised. “What are you doing here?” one of them asked.

“Looking for my slave,” Loki replied. This was his plan. To fool these soldiers and to fool Kuna’s parents. It was hardly a plan. Kuna had ruined any chance he had had of planning this out. “I figured she may have tried to come back here.”

“Of course. You must be Master Spontzi,” another soldier said, making a bowing gesture with his head. The group nodded in agreement.

Idiots, Loki thought.

“Indeed, shall we?” He gestured towards the door. They approached and Loki banged on the door three times. “Open this door!” he shouted.

They waited a moment. Loki could hear scuffling inside.

“Can you believe he’s from Torileena?” Loki heard one of the soldiers whisper behind him.

“Not what I expected,” another whispered back.

Loki ignored them. He raised his hand to knock again, when the door opened. A woman’s face appeared. She was petite with brown curly hair the same as Kuna’s. He could see the resemblance in her eyes. They were big and green. The same eyes he always looked into when Kuna was sad.

“Are you Lemora Kasiore?” he asked, gruffly.

“I am,” she said. Loki could hear exasperation in her voice. He could sense her nervousness. “What’s this all about?”

“Where is your daughter?” one of the soldiers asked.

“I-I don’t have a daughter. We sold one years ago. For the money.”

Loki’s eyes narrowed on her. “You will let us in,” he growled.

Lemora opened the door and stepped aside. The men entered. The house was small; only two rooms. Loki looked around. On one side of this room there was a kitchen with a stone oven and counters, pots and pans hanging from hooks on the walls. On the other side was a table with benches. The centre of the room was dominated by a long hearth.

Loki focused his magic on Lemora. He was searching for any sign of magic but he felt none.

“Who else is here?” he asked. He needed to know what to expect. He did not know what Kuna’s father might be like. He did not want to be surprised.

“No one,” she said. He detected a lie.

“And your husband?” a soldier questioned.

“Out working in the fields,” Lemora replied, quickly. Loki could sense she was not lying about this. The husband wasn’t here. He suspected she was lying to protect another child hiding somewhere inside. “What’s going on here?” Lemora asked.

“Your daughter was spotted in an altercation at Yaarai’s auction house,” the soldier explained. “She was with a foreigner with powerful magic. She is a runaway and belongs to this Master.”

“I... Well, she’s not come here if that’s what you think,” Lemora stammered.

Loki smirked and then turned to face the soldiers. “Thank you very much, gentlemen. I’ll take it from here.” They stared at him, confused. “I won’t be needing you anymore,” he growled and flung his hand toward them. Conjured daggers shot out towards them, targeting their vulnerable throats. They all fell limp to the floor with barely a sound.

Lemora started to scream but Loki slammed his hand over her mouth, pinning her up against a pillar near the hearth.

“You’re going to tell me, right now, what you did to that little girl,” he growled in her ear. “And don’t think of lying to me.”

***

Kuna was still shaking. Every now and then, she would peek through the bush she hid behind and look at the house. The men had entered with Loki-Spontzi and the door had closed behind them. Now, all she heard was silence. Except, that is, for her heart which was beating in her ears.

For just a moment, she had seen a woman’s face. When she looked closer at her, a flood of confusing memories overtook her. She could hear her voice in her head, yelling at her. And then pain. The vague memory made her wince. It was hard for her to believe that she had forgotten what they looked like but the moment she saw her mother, she remembered.

Now, she watched, trying to calm herself. She wanted badly to get up and run away but Loki had been so forceful she was too scared to move. She fought with herself, her thoughts going around and around. Her mind felt shadowy. Her memory was shrouded in the murky lake of her mind. Here and there, a shadow would surface in flashes of painful memories before diving back into the darkness.

Kuna saw snippets of her life flash before her. Rather, she felt them. She felt herself being beaten. Fists, feet, rocks, sticks, she felt them all. Each blow of a memory made her flinch and wince. Vague images of faces appeared in her mind’s eye. They felt familiar but also brought on intense emotions of fear. She tried to follow their faces as the disappeared and reappeared in the darkness of her mind. It was as if light would just illuminate them before they vanished again. She tried hard to remember them; to focus on them.

A sharp pain suddenly tore through her chest like she had been stabbed. She folded her arms around her and whimpered. Her mind suddenly went blank. She looked around, confused. Where am I, she thought. How did I get here? She put her hands to her head and felt the little horned crown she wore. The one Loki had given her. She was suddenly reminded of why they were there.

She looked back at the house and crouched further behind the dry bush that was her cover. Despite her best efforts, the memories started to leak back into her mind. She put her hands on either side of her head to stop the flow, but it didn’t work. More and more memories poured into her mind, playing out in front of her eyes.

Then, she heard her own screams in her head. More pain washed over her. She could hear a man’s voice chanting something. She felt a burning sensation deep inside her as the chanting continued. It brought tears to her eyes.

She squeezed her hands harder against either side of her head, trying to stop the flood of memory. Gritting her teeth, she tried to open her eyes, but the world spun and spun. She hugged herself, rocking on the spot, trying anything to make it stop.

She was too overwhelmed to see the big shadow that crept over her.

“What do we have here?” a voice said. Her breath caught in her throat.

***

“Who was it?” Loki said, sharply. “Who cursed her? Was it you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Lemora cried.

“I said, don’t lie to me!” Loki had her pinned to the pillar in the house. He pressed the tip of his dagger to her throat. He held her head back by her hair. “Tell me!” he shouted.

“You’re no Master,” Lemora said, her face was wickedly expressionless.

Loki glowered at her. He transformed back into himself. “How clever you are,” Loki snarled.

“Who are you?” she asked, trying to hide the shakiness in her voice.

“I’m going to rip you apart if you don’t tell me who cursed Kuna,” he said.

“I’m not telling you anything,” she said.

“You want to do this the hard way?” Loki said, a villainess smile crossed his face. “We can do it the hard way.”

He placed his hand on her forehead, keeping a good grip on the dagger in his hand. She pushed back on him, but it did nothing.

At that moment, the door burst open, and a man stepped through. Loki jerked away but still kept a firm hold on Lemora.

The man at the door was large and had to duck under the doorframe as he entered. He dragged Kuna through the door, kicking and clawing at his arms.

“Put me down! Let go of me!” she cried.

“You don’t talk to me like that, runt!” He swiftly boxed her on the ear, and she stopped struggling and covered her face.

The man hauled her inside and slammed the door shut with his foot. “Look who I found skulking about outs--,” he cut off at the sight of the bodies on the floor. “What in hells is going on here?”

Loki dropped Lemora, who slid down the post into a heap at Loki’s feet. He turned towards her husband with venom in his eyes. The man glanced down at Lemora who was recovering herself on the floor.

“You must be Adres,” Loki said.

“Who? I ain’t no Adres,” he said. Loki raised his eyebrows and glanced down at Lemora. “What were you doin’ to my wife?” he asked.

Loki ignored him and addressed Lemora. “He’s not Kuna’s father?”

She hissed at him, “Don’t!”

“Ah,” Loki breathed, smiling. “Someone’s been rather naughty.”

“What’s he on about? What’s goin’ on?”

“Would you kindly let go of her” Loki said, pointing the tip of his dagger at Kuna. “She belongs to me.”

“You?” Kuna’s father growled. He looked down at Kuna.

“Caeso, don’t!” Lemora cried but the man let go of Kuna.

She ran to Loki and grabbed his arm. Loki pulled away from her and pushed her aside. She cowered behind him, her thoughts racing.

“You idiot,” Lemora shouted at Caeso. “He’s not a Master! Look at him!”

Loki could not help but laugh. Lemora and Caeso both turned to him.

“Your wife and I were just having a little chat,” Loki answered Caeso’s question, innocently. “She was just about to tell me who cursed this girl. Do you happen to know?”

Caeso’s eyes widened to the point Loki thought they would pop out of his head. He opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again. He looked like a fat fish.

“Any ideas?” Loki jeered.

Caeso glanced down at Lemora. Loki waited for them to make a decision.

In the silence, Loki heard a familiar but sinister sound of sharpened metal moving out of leather; a blade from a sheath. He rolled his eyes.

“Yahh!” a boy leapt towards him from the second room, screaming.

Loki turned and swiftly caught the boy by his raised arm. He held a knife in his hand in a clumsy position. Even if he had succeeded in surprising Loki, he would not have done much damage. The blade was not even pointing towards him.

“Interesting approach,” Loki said. “And after you’d slapped me with this butter knife,” --Loki wrenched it from his hand-- “what were you planning on doing, you little rat?” His grip tightened on the boy’s arm. He squirmed and cried in pain.

Loki turned back to the parents, still holding the boy off the ground. “Start talking. I’m losing my patience.”

Both parents stood frozen to the spot, looking back in forth between each other and Loki. Kuna had moved to a hiding spot when her brother had attacked, cowering behind a chair.

“No care for any of your children, it seems. Very well,” Loki said, breaking the silence. He tossed the boy to the ground. He landed in a heap, clutching his arm. A flash of green lit up the room and the child disappeared. Lemora screamed. Kuna looked closer at the place where her sibling had been just a moment before. In his place was a rat, scurrying about. He hadn’t disappeared at all. Loki had turned him into a rat!

Loki scoffed and turned towards Lemora. She tried to make a run towards her husband, but Loki caught her by the arm. He slammed her back against the post.

“I’ll kill yo--” Caeso was cut short. Loki had flicked his wrist in his direction. With another flash of green, Caeso was now truly frozen to the spot. His hand outstretched, in mid-step towards Loki, his eyes darted back and forth but the rest of his body was still.

“Where were we?” he snarled at Lemora. “Ah, yes, Adres. An old flame?”

“He’s the one that gave her the magic,” Lemora confessed. She sighed, heavily, searching the ground for words. “I wanted to raise my station. I seduced a Master. I had hoped he would make me his mistress, but he was so drunk, he didn’t even remember me! I carried his disgusting child anyways. I told Caeso it was his. I hoped that it wouldn’t have magic and at first, I thought she didn’t. Then strange things started to happen. Things would fly off the wall when she was crying. Furniture would burst into flames! She was demonspawn!”

Kuna whimpered behind Loki. Her mother’s words were venom.

“Caeso blamed me,” Lemora continued. “He told me her magic was my fault. He thought it was from my side of the family. I couldn’t tell him what had really happened. That I’d been unfaithful. With a Master! So, I convinced him we could get rid of her. It’s not like it’s uncommon for children to be sold away. She was useless! We needed the money anyways. But her magic could never be traced back to us. They’d kill all of us. My son, my family, his. No one could ever know,” she said.

She lowered her head. Loki waited for her. He was impatient but at least now she was talking.

“And no one ever will know,” she growled. She lunged forward and Loki felt a searing pain in his abdomen. He let out a grunt as Lemora ripped a small knife from his side and rammed it back in.

“NO!” Kuna screamed.

Loki grabbed hold of Lemora’s wrist, yanking the knife out. Her wrist snapped like a toothpick in his grip. She gasped in pain as the knife fell to the ground.

He forced her back against the pillar once more, placing his hand on her forehead and forcing his way into her memories. Loki concentrated his magic. He held intense eye contact with her now terrified eyes.

He rushed through her memories. They passed him by like scenes out the side of a racing skif. He didn’t particularly care for any of these recent ones. He steered his way through her mind, focusing on Kuna. She had to be here somewhere. Then he saw her, and the scene he found her in was bizarre. There was a flash of a cave and Kuna. Like stopping a rewinding tape, he focused on this memory.

Kuna was tied to a table in the cave. A man stood over her. Loki’s skin prickled at the sight. Lemora stood nearby, watching, as Loki could see through her eyes.

Kuna struggled with the bonds that restrained her. She was frantic and terrified. Loki wished he could help her. He wanted to reach out and snatch her away from this terrible scene, but Lemora stood resolute.

The man turned and bustled over to a shelf filled with bottles of various colours and liquids. He was old and his body bent in awkward angles. He had a long grey beard that would have dragged the floor if it weren’t tied up in several knots. Charms and other trinkets decorated it. Loki even saw a bone or two poking out of the hair.

“So, you wish for me to take away her magic, is that right?”

“Yes,” Lemora said.

The man laughed. “You people are all alike,” he said. “You have no understanding of even the basic principles of magic.”

Lemora grunted. “What are you talking about?”

“You cannot simply ‘take away’ someone’s magic. It’s simply not possible.”

“We were told you could take her magic away.”

“Then you were told wrong, child. I cannot take magic away. I can only suppress it.”

“Then do that. What difference does it make?”

The wizard chuckled. “Do you know what happens when magic is suppressed?”

“Stop wasting my time, old man. Can you do it or not?”

He ignored her. “When magic is suppressed by something like a curse, one of two things can happen. The subject either submits to the curse or their magic fights back, oftentimes consuming the subject in the process. Neither turns out well for them.”

“Does it look like I care what happens to her? I don’t care what you do. Just make her magic undetectable.”

“Why is it that you wish to do this?”

“She’s dangerous. She could get us all killed.”

“Why not just kill her?” the man asked. Kuna gasped and tried harder to escape.

Lemora scoffed. “And have every Master from here to Honerquin asking why she disappeared? Our neighbors know who she is. If she suddenly disappeared without explanation, they’d become suspicious. Especially with that reward they’re giving out now for turning in lower-class sorcerers.”

“Afraid to be caught with a sorcerer in your family, hmm?”

“You know what would happen! I was told you’d keep our secret for a price. I gave you what you wanted, now do it!”

“Hmph,” the old wizard grunted. He hobbled back to Kuna. “Very well. The ritual is quite simple, but very effective,” he said. He had a high, rasping voice.

“Over time, the curse will begin to force her magic into submission by causing her pain with any urge to use or think about it. On the surface, I suppose it seems as though her magic has been ‘taken away’ but in reality, it is just being masked.

“A curse is like a parasite. It must feed on something. And curses love magic, particularly that of young ones. Such raw power at this age. The curse feeds off of the magic. Her magic fuels the curse which in turn suppresses her ability to use the magic outwardly and so on and so on.”

Lemora rolled her eyes impatiently.

“But I warn again. This can be highly dangerous. Her magic could become corrupted by the curse and overpower it, and her. The force it creates can be dea--”

“I told you, I don’t care. She’ll be well out of our hands by then.”

“Very well,” the wizard said.

Loki felt a growing darkness surround him. Lemora’s hatred for Kuna was seeping into him. He needed to get out before this wave of emotion overtook him. He felt a swirling sensation around him as he removed himself from her mind. Just before surfacing, he heard Kuna’s screams fade into the darkness.

He snapped back to himself. The pain in his abdomen seethed. “Who is he?” Loki demanded.

“His name is Atorius,” Lemora said. She was crying. “He lives on the Ember Peaks, on Ypintu.”

Loki let go of her. She choked and coughed as she fell to the floor again. Loki had not realized he was choking her. He did not care. His feet seemed to take him towards the door without his asking them to. He shoved the still frozen Caeso to the ground. He walked out the door without so much as a sideways glance at Kuna. His mind felt clouded with a dark, swirling storm. His breath came sharp. He shook his head, trying to shake the feeling but something inside was stirring.

Kuna scurried after him, glancing back at her distressed family. Her mother lay in a heap. Her father or at least the man she had known as father, teetered awkwardly on the floor, still frozen like stone. The rat that used to be her brother was still running around, occasionally leaping up on his mother’s leg.

Kuna stepped gingerly around her father’s statue body, giving him a wide berth and then ran out the door. Her nose and lip were bleeding from where Caeso had hit her. She wiped it away and ran to catch up with Loki.

Loki was at war in his head. He heard Lemora’s venomous words filling his ears. Then another’s.

She’s right, you know, that wicked voice said. She is useless. We’ve entertained this for too long. We’re leaving.

A blue portal opened in front of him. His foot lifted to step through without his command. He stopped, fighting every fibre of his body.

Go through! the voice rang in his ears. Stop fighting!

Loki grit his teeth. His whole body was shaking, trying to fight against himself. Lemora’s voice swirled around his head as well. He could feel her hatred still. He put his hands to either side of his head.

“Loki!” Kuna cried, adding to the noise swirling around him. “Wait for me!”

He felt another lurch in his body that forced him to take a step forward. The pain in his side was growing. The evil voice in his head was shouting, Lemora’s hatred was welling in his chest, Kuna’s screams rang in his ears. All of this happened in a split second. It was too much for Loki to take.

“Go away!” he exploded.

Kuna skidded to a halt. She gasped and tears welled in her eyes. Loki turned to face her. She was breathing fast and the look on her face was pure fear. He expected her to run away. Everyone ran away from him.

But Kuna clenched her fists and walked towards him. Loki’s eyebrows raised. There was silence in his head. All of him was surprised by Kuna’s bravery. She didn’t make eye contact with him. She grabbed his hand and led him through the portal. He allowed himself to be led. He felt a shift in the tesseract’s energy which he was using to keep the portal open. They appeared on the other side of the portal back on Torileena, back by their hollow.

Kuna let go of his hand. His other held his bleeding side. She walked away from him to the base of one of the giant trees and crouched down. He could see she was doing something but not what. He slumped against the outside of their hollow. He felt his head which now seemed to throb with a raging headache.

Kuna appeared in front of him. She had two fistfuls of moss in each hand. She crouched down beside him and reached for his side.

“Don’t touch!” he said, the words echoed in his head. Kuna turned away at his voice. “Gah!” he shook his head, putting it down between his legs. The anger that had been silenced moments before was creeping back up.

Kuna took a deep breath and reached for his side again. She pulled on his armour. The knife had slid through a small chink in the metal where his waist bent. He reached for her hand to pull it away but was taken aback when Kuna grabbed his wrist.

This time, their eyes met, and even though Kuna’s eyes were filled with tears, they were serious and unwavering. Kuna had never looked at him this way before and it caught him off guard. Or rather, it caught his other half off guard.

Kuna pushed his hand away and reached for one of the clips that held his armour together at his side. She freed it and pulled the armour off. Lifting his undershirt, she gently placed the moss on the bleeding wounds.

Loki took a deep breath and sighed. Her kind touch seemed to clear his mind. Tears suddenly flowed over his cheeks.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry for what I said. It-It wasn’t me. I mean, it was me but not...” he choked on his words. Kuna looked up at him. Her eyes were softer now. “I shouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t have yelled at you or grabbed you like that. I’m so sorry, Kuna.”

Kuna said nothing.

“Please, forgive me!” Loki cried, putting his face in his hands.

He felt her arms surround him. It made him cry harder. Her embrace was warm. It felt like golden light shining on his darkness. She pulled away and looked him in the eyes again. He was breathing hard. She stood and helped him up, leading him into the hollow. Getting inside was slightly difficult for him as he had to crawl in but once inside, she made him sit in his hammock.

She picked up one of his feet and pulled the boot off. He kicked the other one off and laid back on the hammock. Kuna began bustling around; sometimes picking things up off the floor of the hollow, others dashing out the small entrance and back again.

She came to Loki’s side with a bowl of water and a cloth. She removed the moss and gently pressed the damp cloth against the wound. She cleaned around it with the utmost care. The bleeding had slowed to a trickle. She ducked down and popped back up with a different container and gave it to Loki. It had water inside.

Loki felt numb. Never had he lost his cool like that before. Ever. He felt dirty. He had always prided himself on being the calmer one. Thor always lost his temper. Often in the most damaging ways. Loki was composed and levelheaded. Not prone to outbursts of sheer anger. But this voice in his head, which he had heard almost constantly since his time with the mind stone and Thanos, was getting out of hand. He had always been able to push it down before; always able to lock it away somewhere deep in his subconscious, but no matter how hard he tried, it always resurfaced again, angrier, stronger, and more forceful than before.

Kuna popped back up beside him, bringing him back to the present. She pushed the cup towards his lips. He drank. She handed him an azuronia, already peeled and quartered. He smiled, weakly and took a bite. He knew why she liked them so much. The sweetness was hard to ignore.

He looked down at her. She was vigorously rubbing her hands together. Now and again, she would crouch out of Loki’s sight and stand up again, rubbing her hands.

Loki wanted to ask what she was doing but he was afraid if he opened his mouth to speak, the voice would take over again. So, he stayed quiet and watched. He shifted a little in the hammock so he could see what she was doing when she crouched down.

On the floor, she had placed a large, flat rock. She had emptied the bowl of the dirty water after she had cleaned his wound and refilled it with fresh water. On the rock was a paste of green mush he could not identify. She picked up the bowl and poured a little bit of water onto the paste before picking it up and rubbing it together in her hands. A grassy aroma wafted into his nose.

She repeated this process several times before standing and pressing the paste on the wounds. It stung for a moment but then felt cool and soothing. She pressed a large leaf over the wound site.

Kuna washed her hands in the remaining water and then her face. Her nose and lip had stopped bleeding. She stood and started to clean up, but Loki reached out and gently touched her back. She turned quickly but then stepped closer to him.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “I’ll be fine.”

She took his hand and held it.

“I’ll never yell at you like that again. Ever,” he said. “I promise.”

He took her pinky in his. She smiled and hugged him again. He held her, closing his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Kuna said.

“Why are you sorry, darling?” Loki asked, looking up at her as she pulled away.

“I’m sorry for getting caught by... my dad.”

“Don’t be,” Loki said. “Let me look at you. Are you alright?” He pushed some hair out of her face. Her nose looked fine now that the bleeding had stopped. She had a fat lip with a little cut.

She nodded. “It’s not so bad,” she said. “I’m sorry my mom stabbed you. I was frozen. I didn’t know what to do.”

“Don’t worry, love,” Loki said. “I heal a lot faster than you do. I’ll be fine in a day or so.”

“Is the angry you still in your head?” she asked.

Loki sighed. “You don’t have to worry about that either,” he said. “I won’t let that out again. It’s a part of me I don’t want you to see.”

“But it’s a part of you,” she said. She shrugged and stooped down to pick up the stone and bowl. She crawled out the hole.

Loki closed his eyes and sighed.

#Loki #God of Mischief #Father #Submitted fic #travelling-classicist #chapter 15 #Loki's Daughter

[lokisrealpurpous]

words hurt like a blade

pt1

father!loki x daughter!reader

warnings: bullying, sh, mentions of sewersl*de, mentions of scars, description of blood and wounds, angst, mention of weight.

description

when loki finds out his little girl isn't dealing with things well, falling into dangerous habits that he once did too, he does everything to try and look after her.

☆ please please do not read this if you find anything in the warnings list at all triggering, keep yourself safe and I'm always here if anyone needs me or just needs someone to message ☆

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

your pov:

After my father had gained the trust of the Avengers we've stayed at the tower, it was a new start which meant: new schools, new people and a completely changed routine, it was draining.

I joint the high school that Parker went to, he was a close friend, being the only other kid my age on the team, and tried everything he could to help me fit in, but as fate leads the path, I was the target of everyone that walked into my life.

As the days moved on antagonisingly slowly it got worse and worse, it began with names, roumers, nudges and smirks but was becoming more than just a lurking shadow, it hurt, it was exhausting.

"sort your face out"

"you alright fatty?"

"just kill yourself"

"cut your arms open"

It was the same threats everyday, along with fights and pushing and shoving and arguments.. getting worse... and worse as the weeks went by. It wasn't just a voice i could ignore anymore.

I began to not go into school, I stopped eating or I ate too much, I struggled to brush my hair, brush my teeth, shower, all the hope of that once little girl inside me had been burnt. Words hurt like a blade..

2 years clean.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

lokis pov:

I knew something was going on. The circles under her eyes were painted black, her hair was in dreads and her body was slow and achey. She refused to go into school and she rarely came out her room, and every now and then she'd be sick, but ive just brushed it off as anxiety.

I missed my little girl, my todler running in fits of giggles around The Gardens of Asgard Castle. The way her face was always illuminated with joy, the only tears that every stained her face was from happiness or a graze. I had gone wrong.. I know I have at some point, she's in pieces that neither of us know how to put back together but I'll always be there with the glue to seal the cracks.. she's my princess and she always will be.

The setting sun casted a golden brushstroke across the towers corridors, I haven't heard from y/n all day, not for food, nor anything, so I slowly paced down the silent rooms to her door, knocking gently as I twisted the handle.

your pov:

My breath was caught in my throat, strangled as the harsh words tangled in my head. I gasped for air as tears flooded down my crimson cheeks, desperately rummaging through my beside drawers with shakey hands.

where was it...

I mumbled, merely a whisper.

where is my b..

there it was. I felt the cold metal against my fingertips, the small blade burning my skin with fear and defeat.

2 years clean.

I pulled up my sleeve desperately and stared holes into my arms, only then to press the small razor against my arm.. deeper and deeper... then dragging it across the frail skin which cried sepia teardrops.

My eyes winced in pain, but my shoulders fell in relief, like the tension breathed through the cuts that patterned my arm. 1...2...3...4. The sence of control betrayed me as I cut over and over again, they faded white before they painted my arms red and the salty tears that clung onto my lashes fell with no sympathy as they sung the fresh cuts.

14... 15... 16...

then there was a knock.. shit.

I fumbled with the stomach twisting scene before me, the blade fell onto the icy wooden floor and the once white bedsheets were ruined with the blood of self pity. I gasped between clenched teeth as I pulled down my sleeve over the deep cuts.. and grabbed a book off the table next to me.. it was too late to grab the razor below me.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

lokis pov:

my heart sunk to my legs. the sheets were red. her eyes were irritated and rashed, her hands were shaking violently and her lip was quivering subtlety. Swiftly my eyes wandered over to see the blood dripping knife on the floor.. a small puddle dripping through the floor boards.. my angel.

I went to walk towards her but my body was trapped in a paralysis of fear and guilt, seeing her eyes overwhelmed with such emotion tore me to peaces. How could she have done this to herself.

what have you done..

I whispered, loud enough for her to hear me, evident when her voice cracked into antagonising sobs.

I ran over to her vulnerable frame and took her limp, exhausted body into my arms, protecting her in a tight embrace. I felt the blood stain my shirt as it seeped through the fabric of her jumper, but ignored it as I rocked her shaken figure back and forth.

oh my angel

I said as I brushed strands of hair behind her ears.

why.. why would you do this...

All I could hear was whimpers and sniffles coming from her, tilting her chin up to look at me.

I'm here... I'm here...

I say softly and I hold her face in my cold hands.

May I?

I ask as I hold the end of her sleeve, when she nods I slowly pull it up, my eyes widening and my throst strangling me as the deep cuts were revealed.

your pov:

as he rolled up the sleve guilt drowned me.. I felt sick as I saw how deep the cuts were, and the terror on my father's face. My head felt faint and the blood continued to stream down my arm.. the last thing I saw was the corner of my eyes bluring black and myself falling into my fathers tense arms.

The next time I woke up, bright lights of the healers room pieced through my eyes, my head was pounding and everything was spinning in parades of colour and movement. my eyes trailed off to my arms which were bandaged, underneath I could feel the stitched that were sown through my wounded skin. To my left there was a moniter and my iron levels, they were life threateningly low, also told by my exhaustion, pale colour and excruciating headache. Then my eyes landed on my father, he was sat asleep on a chair infront of me, in the same clothes he was in the night it happened... however I had no clue how long ago that was. As he felt my consciousness he woke and rushed to my side.

are you alright princess?

he asked, his worry stabbing my heart. I nodded weakly and gave him a soft smile as he ran his hands through my hair.

you're safe.. you're going to be okay... I'm here I promise. Angel please come to me before you ever do anything like this... no matter what I am doing you come to me and I can help you.. I know what it's like.. I've been close to where you are and darling I cannot bare to loose you. I love you.

His voice broke and he clung onto me as to never let me go.

I knew then that I was safe with him.. but I had alot to question for once better.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

#loki #loki laufeyson #loki x you #loki x reader #lokis daughter #lokidottir #tom hiddelston loki #tom hiddleston #aesthetic #bbcsherlock #benedict cumberbatch #fanfic #celebrities #alot of angst sorry yall #angst #sh #mental health #bpd #depressive episode #loki odinson #loki season 2 #art #bbc sherlock x reader

[spells-and-liquid-luck]

yay! would you do loki's daughter basically inducing herself into a magical coma after infinity war because she was devastated by his death, but the coma sh put herself in basically lets her live out the life she dreamed of in her mind and basically when the avengers figure out they can go back in time, they have to wake her up and she's just very disoriented. she's really close to hawkeye though and even after he kinda went all rogue he still cares a lot for her and treats her kinda like a daughter

Sorry for the wait, but I hope that you enjoy this. I'm really grateful for anyone who takes the time to read these 💕

A World Like She Knew - Loki's Daughter Reader

The picture of Thor with tear stained eyes telling her that her father was gone has replayed in her mind for days now. At this point, all she wanted was to escape to a place where nothing could hurt her anymore. She wanted to not only silence her mind, but to shut out her entire world. So, there she was surrounded by migraine-inducing white walls and sitting up on a bed that looked as comforting as a stiff board, but yet still inviting. She placed the needle swiftly and painlessly into her skin and she watched the liquid contents trail down the tube and into her veins. She let the medium sized fluffy pillow cradle her head. As one tear trailed down her sleep deprived face , she closed her eyes and fell asleep. The coma was supposed to completely knock her out and leave her dreamless, but instead this coma transported her mind to a completely different world. This world was familiar to her. She had only ever seen it in her dreams. She turned to thr right of her at the sudden sound of pans clanging together. She squinted her eyes in confusion as she walked in a cautious manner unsure if this was a nightmare or maybe it could just be a dream that her brain refused to wake up from.

"Hey you're back early." A familiar voice said. It couldn't be. This isn't real. She thought to herself that this was just mistaking someone else's voice for his due to the grief that had eaten up her soul. She looked up to where the voice was coming from and her eyes nearly popped out of her skull. "Why are you looking at me like that?" He asked while standing among a small pile of dishes with a hand towel draped over his left shoulder. "Um, where am I?" She questioned, the confusion still washing over her face. He laughed and looked as if she had just told him a very strange joke. "You're home, silly. Here I made you something. Eat it. You look famished." He handed her a chocolate chip muffin and began to eat one as well. She took it as she continued to stare at him in utter disbelief that he was actually standing in the same room as her. She remembered Thor saying that he was dead, but yet here he was eating a chocolate chip muffin that he had make himself in a kitchen that she had never actually been in before. How could this be? She was on the verge of hyperventilation, when she was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts by her fathers hand resting on her forehead. "Are you sure that you're okay?" Maybe you should sit down. He offered her a chair with a worried look. "I'm just— I'm fine." She replied as she sank on the wooden chair. The sudden silence was suffocating to say the least. Was she really dreaming or was this all real? Her brain began to slowly adjust to this world as she got lost in her thoughts that Loki soon pulled her away from. "Do you want to see something?" Loki asked with a warm smile. She looked at him with a questioning glance but followed him anyway. He led her to a room. Her room. It was decorated most beautifully. The color of the walls were a comforting green and the scent was of fresh linen that really made it feel like home. The furniture was exactly how she imagined it would be. "I know you wanted the room painted. The original color was a bit too..downright horrific as you had put it." Her father said with a light chuckle. She looked at the unfamiliar yet familiar room, but couldn't recall when she had that conversation with him. Maybe it just didn't stay in her mind. She had only seen this place in her head. Like a daydream, but this didn't feel like a dream. It felt real— almost too real. Was this real? The idea of being her was cathartic, so why not enjoy it. Don't question it. This is a reality that was better than any feeling that she wanted to chase away. What was that feeling again? She tried to remember but the smell of the room kept bringing her away from whatever she was thinking. She didn't quite remember exactly why she wanted to be here in the first place. All she knew was that she could breathe without it hurting. She could live without the pain in her chest.

"Time travel?" Tony and Natasha questioned in unison. The avengers were in a circle discussing the subject. "Is that really possible?" Bruce asked in disbelief. "You're the scientist" Tony replied in his usual snaeky tone. "So we can save Loki?" Thor chimed in with hope radiating off of his face. "Yes, we can. Speaking of where'shis mini at?" They all looked around for her, but she wasn't there. "I'll look for her." Hawkeye volunteered and sped out of the room. He eventually found her and he saw what she had done to herself. His face dropped. She was frozen still and she had injected herself with something that he couldn't quite identify. He quickly ran to her and checked her vitals. "Thank God she's still alive He whispered to himself. He wasn't sure how to wake her, so he ran to get someone who hopefully could.

"Bruce!" He yelled as he ran through the halls. "She's put herself into some kind of coma." He finally said breathless and he reached them. The avengers all stood wide eyed as Bruce quickly ran to her aid. "Do you think you can get her to wake up? Hawkeye asked. Bruce sighed. "It seems to be magic. I can do everything that I can, but she has to either come to herself, or get a little help by making her realize wherever she is at is not real." They all looked a little confused. "What does that mean?" Hawkeye asked. "It means she's stuck in a dream-like state that caters to her wants. It's like being in a dream that you never want to wake up from." He explained. Thor sighed and put his hands on his head. "All we can do is wait." Bruce finished.

She was absolutely loving her home. Being with her father and living joy she had always wanted to. She had completely forgotten how she ended up here, but she didn't care. "In order to properly use telekinesis, you have to picture the item going to you and concentrate on that. Picture it in your mind first, and then it will be your reality." She was currently practicing her skills with her father. She was just as talented as he was, but he'd always say that she was more gifted. The green apple that she was currently fixated on from across the room soon made its way to her. She smiled up at him. "I did! I actually did it.!" Loki looked at her with a proud expression. "See you can do anything that you set your mind to. You're my daughter after all."

"Can you hear me?"

"Are you listening?"

"If you can hear me, please wake up."

Those words sounded like echoes deep inside of her brain. She squinted and touched her temples with her fingertips. "Are you alright?" Loki asked. "If it's too much practice, I think we should quit for the day." His voice suddenly sounded like it was coming from miles away.

"Huh?" Was all she could say in her dizzy state.

"Please wake up. I know you can do it."

"Just listen to my voice."

This voice became much clearer than her fathers mow and she began to pay more attention to it as she realized who this voice belonged to. "Hawkeye?" She muttered. "I really think you should lay down for little bit." Loki said trying to get her attention back on him. "Hawkeye." She said again. Her surroundings began to distort as she began to come to. She closed her eyes as if she was about to pass out, but instead the sound of beeping was heard.

"You're awake." Hawkeye mumbled with a smile of relief. "I'll go get the others. We have things we gotta do. It's urgent and we need you healthy." He got up briskly and went to fetch Bruce.

"Where am I?" Where's my father?" She asked with irritation as Bruce walked into the room. "You don't remember?" He asked in astonishment. "I just saw him. He was with me. Everything was perfect." She began to panic.

Hawkeye quickly came to her side. "Sweetie, your dad is gone, remember? The only reason why you're here now is because I kept talking to you in hopes that you'd wake up." Hawkeyes spoke with so much care in his voice as he reached for her hand. Out of everyone, she trusted him the most he treated her like a daughter, and the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her or set her off in anyway. She blinked a couple of times processing what he just told her and wiped a few tears off of her face. Everyone stayed quite for a few minutes as a way to let her process her emotions.

"We can change that, though" Tony said with sudden enthusiasm. "We need your help to get him back." She carefully sat up still feeling a little dazed. "How is that?" She questioned.

They all looked in unison at each other and said in unison.

"Time travel."

Tag list: @flamey-0

#Loki #Avengers #Loki's daughter

[lovebugspots]

peter man?

chapter one: a not so fun necklace.

Peter Parker x Winterwidow/Buckynat's daughter! reader.

Dreams, by the Cranberries.

"Oh, my life is changing everyday... In every possible way."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Her eyes darted between her father and her mother. Another staring contest, fun.

Her mothers green eyes staring into her father's icy blue ones.

Y/n just stood up and carefully walked out of the compound kitchen and into her room and saw Peter already there and she sighed, kicked her slippers off and jumped onto him, since he was laying on his bed and snuggled into his side.

"Hi Peter man." She said teasingly and earned an audible groan from him.

"Why are you calling me that..." he mumbled and wrapped his arms around her body and let her snuggle into him.

He had learned that snuggling was her way of coping with her past in the Red Room, a way to learn that physical contact can be okay.

"Because it's funny, Spider Parker." She giggles and looked up at him with her soft Y/e/c eyes and looked into his warm and comforting brown eyes.

But he can't be mad, he never wanted to not be snuggling her.

But that doesn't mean he can't get annoyed by her.

He groans loudly and rolled over on top of her, earning a loud 'Oomf' from her.

He laid on top of her, putting his whole body weight on her.

"Oh you asshole." She groans and he chuckles as he laid on her.

"C'mon, you enjoy it, don't lie." He said cheekily, and he put his hands on her stomach. His hand going her her shirt a bit, he felt her scars...but they made her fucking beautiful to him.

She rolled her eyes and held him tightly.

"Shut up..." She mumbled into his hair as he had his face in the crook of her neck. He giggles and traced her scares lightly, his rough and calloused hand on the scar tissue felt delicate.

He felt to coolness of her right bionic hand on the nape of his neck, people would beget all weird by it, but like how Natasha was with Bucky, he saw through the arm and just the person, the person whom they both truly love.

It was dinner time, all of the Avengers were sitting down eating.

And dinner always consisted of Bucky and Sam Arguing, Tony wiggling his eyebrows at Peter, Natasha glaring at Tony, Wanda reading the teens minds and giggling, Loki not caring for the young Peter but always giving encouraging smiles to Y/n, Thor not knowing whats going on, Bruce not caring really, Steve trying to calm down Bucky and Sam, Clint not caring and trying to eat, Somehow Vision even knows the love between Y/n and Peter.

In a nutshell it was normal until Pietro started something quiet interesting...

"Peter, Y/n?" He asked, his accent thick as he stood up. Everyone raised their eyebrows s he grabbed a fistful of pasta and threw it at Y/n.

"I declare, a food fight."

Everyone's eyes widen and Thor immediately threw garlic bread at the speedsters face. Tony lets out a cackle and threw a meatball at Steve's face.

Then a war had begun. Peter and Y/n had hid under the table with cookies in hand as the adults were throwing pasta all over each other.

Y/n giggles and Peter sighed and looked at her, her delicate features. And she turned and they made eye contact

And that was when it felt as if everything slowed down. Their eyes looking into one another, and they just felt so connected. And slowly, inch, by inch they leaned in... and they got so close, that only their noses touched.

He could smell her perfume, the addicting coffee, lavender and vanilla.

She was just addicting to him.

His left hand went to her cheek and the back of her neck, inching closer and closer...

Then Thor lifted the table up, and the two pulled away quickly and sh threw a cookie at him and jumped up, then helped Peter up, their faces bright red. Now, EVERYONE knew.

But, being the two hopeless idiots they didn't.

"Man of spiders! Lady of Metal Arms! I have found you!" Thor boomed happily and gave a knowing grin and wiggled his eyebrows in very, very obvious way.

Y/n was currently on her bed, with her mother, Wanda and Pepper stopped by to see what she missed since she missed dinner.

"You two almost kissed?!" Pepper yelled and Wanda shushed her and Natasha sighed.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y, can you sound proof the room?" Natasha said to the AI and the room became sound proof.

Natasha takes a deep breath then she started.

"Y/n Rebecca Barnes, you have to tell him you like him!" She yelled and stood up and started pacing while she spoke to her daughter.

"If you don't tell him he will never know!" Pepper nodded and added to Natasha.

"It is so clear he is in love with you!" Wanda nodded and also added.

"You know, I have never felt so much love for a person then he does for you..."

Y/n sighed and rubbed her temples and laid back on her bed, and groans, the metal of her hand helping her nerves.

But little did she know, that in Peters room. There was all of the boys trying to comfort a very, very anxious spider.

"Kid, if she didn't like you should would have pulled away or not lean in at all." Steve sighed and Bucky just looked uncomfortable.

Tony puts his hand on his shoulder and said.

"You should have made out with her quicker-"

"Stark! Do you forget that she is my daughter?" Bucky snapped and Tony chuckled and whispered to Peter.

"Don't forget about Papa-Bear." And Steve sighed as he had to restrain his childhood best friend.

"B-Buck! Don't you dare make me get Natasha." Steve said firmly and Bucky stopped and whispers.

"You wouldn't dare to get Natalia." He seethed out and Steve sighed and yelled.

"Natasha! Bucky is trying to kill another Stark."

Tony grimaced and everyone else had to stifle down a laugh. And Bucky just rolled his eyes as Natasha walked in and started speaking in rapid Russian with Bucky.

"Seriously, James? What did he do this time?" Natasha asked in Russian.

"He was talking about how he should have made out with our daughter earlier!" He responded.

All she did was let out a small chuckle and said.

"He has a point, James."

"Natalia, no."

"Natalia yes."

He scoffed and rolled his eyes as she dragged him out of the room and eventually all of the others walked out as well. After a few minutes, Y/n sneaked into his room, like usual, in her pajamas and snuggled into his side.

Something they do nightly, his arms around her waist and he face in his chest as she listens to his heart beat.

"Peter..?" She mumbled softly into his chest and he looked down at her and whispered.

"Yeah, princess?" She looked up and sighed as she nuzzled into him more.

"I'm scared..." she mumbled and he sighed and held her tightly.

"The nightmares?"

She nodded and he thought for a moment and he got close to her ear and whispered.

"You wanna stay with me?" She looked up and nodded, solace was what she needed.

He smiles and moved her so she could get under the sheets and blankets, he practically engulfed her with blankets and himself.

She giggles and nuzzled into his chest and mumbled.

"Good night, Peter man."

He didn't roll his eyes but he kissed her forehead and whispered.

"Good night, Stargirl." She blushed a deep magenta when he said her hero name, and when he kissed her forehead.

Lord he knew how to make her melt like a candle.

And just like that, she fell asleep.

In the arms with the one, and only guy she wants.

But the nightmares of her getting choked by The Winter Soldier and his metal arm will always come.

How his hand was a not so fun necklace.

#peter parker x you #bucky #james bucky buchanan barnes #peter parker x reader #peter parker #marvel #tony stark #winterwidow #buckynat #mcu x reader #spider man #peter parker imagine #iron man #may parker #aunt may #daughter #spider man x reader #tom holland #loki laufeyson #mom natasha #natasha romanoff #natalia romanova #steve rogers #pietro maximoff

[worstloki]

Tom Hiddleston once suggested Sif's actress Jaime Alexander could have played Loki instead of him.

Do you think your feelings about Thor 1 and 2 would change in any way if Loki were cast as a woman? (if the plot stays exactly the same or minor differences)

I feel like it absolutely would change my thoughts about Thor 1 and 2 but hear me out because the gender change in the context of what I understand of Asgardian society would mean Loki starts out as a younger sister thanklessly expected to mediate Thor’s violent tendencies and by the end of the movie she’s turned into what is basically Hela

#I think throwing Loki under the bus by making her a woman but not changing the plot would have a lot of implications #like as a man/prince in asgardian society there was the whole warrior life thing going on as an expectation #and idk if that pressure would be more or less if Loki was a girl? #I’d assume the pressure is less but if Loki is still struggling to be loved/respected it’s like. of course she’s trying to be a warrior too #Loki would 🤝 with Sif a lot more directly in terms of situation #Sif having no solidarity for that would be wild but could make sense I suppose #if magic use was frowned upon even if Loki is a woman it would be ‘oh of course she should be allowed to she needs to make up for lacking X’ #competing with Thor would be so much more savage fr #like you’ve told a stolen/fostered daughter that she’s got the same shot for the throne as your son. in a patriarchal warrior society #in a place where men and women have different cultural expectations and the person on the throne should always be ready for war #like. bruh #also Odin saying he wants to forge peace between their realms obv means the possibility of Odin wanting to marry Thor and her at some point #unfortunate

[tired0artist]

| you’re not alone now |

once again @arleniansdoodles new chapter was just perfect and i couldn’t help myself but draw a scene from “Of Atreus and Calliope”

i am obsessed with them. i am just shsnbskemsns—- i love their dynamic and just how soft atreus is with calliope 😭 these two hold my heart and soul 💗

THEY’RE A SET. DO NOT SEPARATE 😡

i also just know that kratos would be so proud of his boy and so so happy that his daughter has someone like atreus… DAMMIT this makes me want to cry 😭

as always, i want to thank the writer and urge everyone to RUN and read this beautiful piece of work 💗

#god of war #gow #kratos #atreus #calliope of sparta #calliope #calliope gow #calliope and atreus #fic inspired #gow loki #gow atreus #siblings #sketch #drawing on paper is a pain in the ass #art #gow ragnarok #god of war ragnarok #kratos daughter