The Trickster and the Mortal- LOKANE

Twelve

Your savior is here!" Loki announced loudly over the voices of the terrified Asgardians. They would believe anything, and Loki found it satisfying to be someone other than the villain for once. He slashed his scepter through at least four undead warriors, and lazily smashed another approaching warrior from behind. Thor appeared to still be on the balcony fighting Hela in the distance, and behind Loki was someone- or rather, something Loki had never wanted to see again. Fenrir. 

And even more surprisingly, the mortal scientist, Banner, was fighting him. Loki would normally have been more surprised that a mortal could survive more than a minute's worth of fighting an Asgardian creature that the gods feared, but he had seen enough of what mortals really were capable of. Loki threw a small ball of magic to a particularly large group of warriors, who fell back, pushing those behind them off the bridge completely. Another ball of magic grazed his head as it flew past him, hitting one of Hela's warriors in a way similar to how Loki had used it. "That was good." He said. He continued making his way through the warriors. Jane grinned and, taking a sword from the pocket dimension, she slashed her way through the warriors that Loki had left. Then, without warning, the balcony crashed down as Thor's lightning struck it and covered Asgard's with a net of electricity. Thor dove toward the Bifrost, his eyes glowing white. He charged his way through Hela's warriors, sending them off the bridge like they were rag dolls. The traitor, Hela's executionist, began rapidly firing the midgardian weapons, with his sudden change of heart, but Loki didn't care much for whatever he was doing. Loki simply stood, smiling, watching Thor crush his enemies. Like he always had. But before he finished watching Thor, he spotted the Valkyrie heading his way and, since he wasn't an idiot, he chose to live and began speeding toward the Grandmaster's ship. Flicking the controls on as quickly as he could, he soon figured out how to use the ship. 

---

 Loki glanced out the wide windows of Odin's palace. The people had managed to get onto the ship, but Hela had stuck one of her gray stakes through the bottom of the ship. He would have to act soon. He raced down the golden halls, the halls that he had loved, but now hated. Everything in the palace now brought up some bitter memory, and yet he wanted to have it, to possess all of it, in mere spite of Odin, and then someone behind him was breathing loudly. 

Like a mortal. 

She didn't. 

She couldn't have.

 "Why do you feel the need to follow me everywhere?" Loki shouted.

Jane smoothly caught up to him, which was impressive. "You'll need help." She answered coolly. Loki forced the door to Odin's treasury open. He sped past everything, in search of Sutr's crown.. then he spotted it. The cube hummed softly, calling him.

 He could take it. 

It would be so easy.

The mortal wouldn't be able to stop him.

Would she?

Loki stared, unblinking, into the cube. A beautifully eerie light emitted from the center. 

"Loki." Jane said. Pleaded. Called. Loki stood still.

"There are people dying, so make your decision faster." Jane added. 

"You're not trying to stop me." Loki pointed out. 

"No." Jane shifted and patiently waited for Loki's choice. 

"You're a very strange woman." Loki muttered.

"Would you be kind enough as to go back to the ship?" Loki asked quietly.

"Lok-"

"Go to the ship." His voice was sharp, commanding. 

Jane did not leave. Loki looked at her through the corner of his eye, staring thoughtfully at the mortal. Sighing, Loki flung Sutr's crown into the Eternal Flame. "You are risen." He whispered.

"Run," he told Jane. And they bolted.

---

The ship glided smoothly past the palace, where Sutr crushed each tower, each golden peak, with fire. The flames burned high, just barely flickering below the Grandmaster's ship. Loki steered it towards the enormous container they called a ship, and, since the place couldn't fit the ship as well as all of Asgard he beckoned Jane to jump through the doors with him. 

Here was his answer: "You're crazy!" 

Loki couldn't help but chuckle. "Don't you trust me?" He asked, even though he knew the answer. "If you die, perhaps you may land in the most beautiful waterfall in the universe." He added with a mock solemn voice. 

Jane held her arms closer to her sides and shook her head. "No!" she said with a stubbornness that Loki could tell would be impossible to crack. He lifted her up in his arms as she curled herself up tighter. Loki hopped across twenty feet effortlessly, onto the larger gray ship and set Jane down. Jane fluttered her eyelids, and glared at him reproachfully as she brushed invisible dust off of her sweater. 

"You're very welcome, and I accept your thanks." Loki answered before she said anything. He squeezed past the crowd, and came to Thor's side.

 "Where to?" Heimdall asked. Thor glanced at the Valkyrie and Loki. Loki straightened his back and looked back at him, but said nothing. They decided to go to Midgard, to a

the small field where Odin died, where Loki watched Hela appear. Personally, he would rather not be on the miserable rock again, but what Thor said had always been and always would be the favored choice. Jane would like it, though. The cursed woman. He could he had it all. Everything he had resented the rest of his family for having. But Jane.. Loki smiled in spite of himself. Jane. He distinctly remembered mocking Thor for loving the mortal, but he had been foolish for it.