Loki: Mischief & Sorrow

An Old Foe

Aquata was awoken the next morning by Celeste crawling in between Aquata and Loki, "Good morning can I help you?" Aquata asked Celeste, "I want daddy, no mommy allowed" Celeste said pushing Aquata away. "Oh, I see, no mommy allowed you cheeky little monkey," Aquata said as she picked up Celeste and started to tickle her, Loki awoke with all the noise coming from next to him to see Celeste and Aquata having a good time, "is there a problem here?" Loki joked alerting his two favorite girls to the fact he was up "Daddy! Save me." Celeste screamed through fits of laughter, Loki moved and started vigorously tickling Aquata to have her let go of Celeste, when Aquata finally let go Loki kept going yelling "Run Celeste, I got her, escape, run" it was at that point Loki started to have an attack, he noticed that his chest felt tight and he was having trouble breathing, so doing what he remembered Strange telling him, he reached over to the nightstand next to his side of the bed and grabbed his inhaler giving it a few shakes, he took the mouthpiece cover off and pushed down on the medicine canister twice with a big breath in, he then held it while counting to five in his head and after he got to five he released and exhaled, after a bit he felt like his chest wasn't so tight and it was easier to breathe so he put the cover back on and set his inhaler back down on the table next to him. Aquata was next to him in the bed watching the whole attack play out ready to jump in and help if needed, they were only interrupted by a knock on the door and Thor's voice coming from the other side "get ready you two its wings up in five," Aquata stood to get dressed in her armor that Loki commissioned for her to wear while on missions while he used his magic to get dressed in his armor himself without having to get up to soon after an attack, he watched his wife slide on her under suit that was like his body suits but hers was purple accented instead of green then she put her shin guards on followed by her over dress that was gold chain mail into a silver plate armor skirt and breast plate then she put her vambraces on with her headpiece being the last thing she put on, it was a lot like Loki's with the horns on the headband but hers also had fins at the end of the horns that the point of the horn looked like mermaid tails giving a nod to her water powers and heritage.

After getting dressed they were on the quinjet off to face the army of frost giants approaching the Adirondack mountains in upstate New York, Aquata looked around at the area her family use to visit for a day trip, memories flooding back to her, it was enough to bring a tear to her eye as the jet landed in the Lake Placid area. Before the door of the jet opened Thor leaned over to his brother and whispered "you may want to use your inhaler before going out there the pollen is high in this area right now and I don't want to worry about you having an attack on top of using that cursed thing" Thor pointed at the scepter in Loki's hands, Loki nodded and took his inhaler out to use catching Aquata's eye in the process, being next to Loki she didn't hear all of what Thor said but she heard enough to put two and two together, she smiled because she knew that Loki was at least looking out for himself and taking suggestions to help himself health wise, the doors then opened and the avengers stepped out on to the grass of the clearing they landed in "Alright everyone listen up here's the plan, Loki Thor and Aquata go north towards the lake up there and have Aquata lift herself up to see if she can see anything, Banner Stark and Barton go west and scout for any frost giants, Natasha Strange and I will stay here and monitor the frost giant main ship on the Quinjet, let's get a move on people" Captain America commanded, the team broke into their groups and went their assigned direction. The further north the Asgardians went the colder it seemed to get, it was to the point Loki was his frost giant form, Aquata looked into the red eyes of her beloved seeing a different side to him there was an evil about those eyes and it made Aquata uncomforted to look for long times at his eyes. The trio reached the lake to find it frozen over in the middle of summer, Thor spoke into his com to report their findings and walked back south into the woods while Loki and Aquata went to the lake shore and investigated, Aquata was able to break the ice with her powers but the ice refroze just as fast, then from the woods behind them they heard a deep laugh and a deep voice say "well, if is not the house of Odinson, come once again to try and defeat us, and look the traitorous Laufeyson is here as well with his bride and an infinity stone." A chill ran down Loki's spine he knew that voice, it was a voice he thought long dead, "why are you here Laufey, I thought you dead by my own hand." Loki said turning to meet his birth father's face. Laufey stood taller than Loki by a good six feet if not more, Aquata saw her husband getting angrier by the moment in the presence of the giant he thought he killed in their first battle and all she could do was grab him to try and keep him level headed. "Your bride clings to your arm traitor, no doubt in fear, but fear of what, fear of me or fear of losing you to your anger, yes I can see it in your eyes you feel angry but I also see fear in your eyes as well, the fear of losing her, the one of two realms like yourself" Laufey said while circling Loki and Aquata, "your weak traitor, I can tell, illness has plagued you and your family causing sorrow and pain, even now you still are weak, your breathing betrays you traitor, it is labored and not from emotion from something else..." in that moment Loki used the power in his hands Loki blasted Laufey with the scepter sending the giant flying backwards "This is not over traitor, we will meet again and it will have dire consequences mark my words." Laufey said slinking back into the trees, upon Laufey leaving the area returned to its normal season and the lake thawed, Loki collapsed dropping the scepter, the blast from the scepter taking too much energy from him, Aquata not knowing the dangers that still lurked around them put a water dome around them then froze it into a shield to keep her and Loki safe till the rest of the team arrived, the rest of the team had heard Laufey's speech through Loki and Aquata's coms and when they came into the clearing Thor wondered why the only thing frozen in the lake area now was a dome of ice over Aquata and a passed out Loki, Thor rushed over and cracked the ice dome with Storm breaker "Aquata what happened?" Thor asked falling to his knees to help her with Loki, "Loki sent Laufey flying with the scepter but it didn't faze him he just retreated into the woods over there saying Loki and him would meet again and next time would have dire consequences. Then Loki just passed out." Aquata answered Thor panicked and scared and with some sorrow in her voice Strange came over to them and checked Loki, "Let's get Loki back to the jet, he'll be just fine with some rest, it must be the power of the stone in his state was too much and it drained his energy, He should wake after his body has some time to rest, no more than a few hours." Strange said having Thor help him lift Loki to carry him back to the ship while the others went in the direction Aquata pointed Laufey went, Aquata picked up the cursed scepter, it reacted to her in a way that it had reacted to no one else who tried to hold it, the chaotic pulsating of the stone in its holder became calmer like the ripples of the waves on the lake behind her Aquata just walked back to the ship behind Thor and Strange without noticing that she tamed a stone. Once back on the jet and in the air Aquata helped Strange and Thor get Loki into one of the medical cots when Strange noticed that the scepter didn't look as chaotic as normal, "Aquata can I see the scepter for a second" Strange asked, Aquata handed the scepter over to him and the scepter went back to the rapid pulsing that it was before Aquata picked it up, it only returned to calm after Aquata took it back from Strange. Intrigued Strange walked away and Aquata put the scepter back into its crate to wait till the next meeting with the frost giants.