Flightless (LokixReader)

Chapter Fifteen

(Your Pov)

The search ended just as it began, with the brothers clueless as to where the beast could have possibly crossed realms. The dragon, as the answer came after one of your many questions. This whole quest stemmed from a vision of some oracle in Asgard, but really? It was the king who told them that the monster would somehow be Asgard's doom.

You had no interest in Asgard, in traveling between the realms, nor ever revealing your heritage just to be struck down. Asgard's doom? While you would love to see it burn for their acts of genocide, you wouldn't dare risk your own life.

"Loki?" You peek in his room, back at the tower after the expeditions all day. And while exhaustion weighed on your limbs from the action, the ache in your chest begged for a solution. You've always had magic. Perhaps not to any considerable or usable degree, but you did. Now without it... The cavern in your heart burned where its flame used to be.

When no one answered, you couldn't help but sigh. Where else would the dark prince disappear to? "Jarvis?"

You looked up to the ceiling in hopes that the AI would be able to answer you. Going to the team would only cause more harm than good, especially with the accusations that created your imprisonment here in the first place. What would the Avengers think if the "alien in disguise" was searching for the one who commanded the alien army?

"Yes, Miss L/N?"

"Do you know where Loki is?" You just hoped that the system wouldn't rat you out.

Jarvis silenced for a few seconds, "The library. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"That's all, thank you!" You chime back, starting your way toward... the library... "Jarvis?"

"Yes, Miss?"

"Where is the library?"

*

(Loki's Pov)

Loki scoured the tomes piled upon shelf after shelf, searching for his target. This path that Thor insisted on conducting their quest was leading nowhere. After hundreds if not thousands of years since the presence of the serpent, the clues that the Thunderer hoped to find were long destroyed. Which meant all the magic that Loki, and now Y/N as well, spent trying to track the forgotten trace of a lost trail was wasted time and time again.

However, the dark prince had an idea for a different plan. Instead of starting at the beginning—somewhere that even if they managed to catch a glimpse of it, would still take an eternity to find this dragon in the present—he would start at the end. Or at the very least, near the middle. Loki noted any title related to Midgardian theology, mythological beasts, even the more modern "hunters" who tried to find these dragons in today's world. Perhaps one of these stories would be more than just an old wives' tale.

"Loki? Are you in here?" A familiar voice called, reminding Loki of the other reason he found himself here in the first place. After the incident earlier that day, the magicians needed to find a better solution to this problem. The I-don't-know-how-to-control-my-god-like-powers problem.

"Over here, Y/N." He piped up, waving his free hand in the general direction of her voice. The other, and furthermore his attention, was preoccupied keeping the accumulation of books balanced atop one of the desks for later reading.

He heard as she stepped up behind him, forcing her curious expression into the prince's field of vision. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to balance..." With the top books starting to lean, Loki gave up the idea of a singular stack and split his collection in two. "I was trying to keep these balanced." Y/N glanced over the titles of his first stack, then the second as he set them down.

She laughed, "Puff the magic dragon? The World Mythology book one? The complete book of dragons? Did Thor put you up to this?"

"He didn't, actually." The prince responded, "Thor is hard set on tracking the beast like we're hunting a boar. It's not getting us anywhere, so..." Loki gestured to the books, hoping for some strange reason that she would agree with his logic. Even be impressed by it. "I'm trying a new method."

"Smart." She nodded, looking over the titles with a touch more interest. For the most inexplicable reason, the single word sparked a strange confidence within him. "This doesn't happen to be connected with magic at all, does it?"

He smirked, "Well, dragons are known to be practically made of it; so it has crossed my mind." When her expression faltered, Loki dared continue. "But it's not the focus of our lessons, don't worry Darling."

He didn't know why this petname had stuck, but it proved as a reminder that for all her power, nor even the incidents, Y/N never meant him any harm. And he would keep doing it, if only to catch a glimpse of the small smile trailing her lips with every utterance of the word. She hummed in agreement, settling on one of the armchairs in the room. Her gaze pierced his own with an unspoken expectation.

"I'm not removing my spell."

"Oh come on! Why not? How can I learn magic if I can't even use it?"

Loki chuckled, sitting on the chair across from her. "I'm sure you know by now, magic isn't something you can turn on and off by will alone. You need to know how to even find it." His words soothed her accusatory glare, as Y/N tilted her head in interest. "Until you can manage and control your power on your own, there needs to be a barrier so that it cannot simply use your body as an outlet."

She nodded. "Then... how do you control yours?"

"It's... sort of like a box. I open it, take what power I need, then I can close it back off." The prince thought for a moment, "You've only had this problem recently, yes? Is there anything you can think of that might have changed so you lost your hold on it?"

Y/N grew silent, toying with the answer. "Not really?"

"Are you asking a question?" He supposed her hesitancy must mean that her powers were intertwined with her true identity, and Loki knew better than to pry. Not after last time, even if her powers were bound now. "Let me ask this way, how did you use to control it?"

"I didn't." Y/N said, faltering when the answer came more quickly than she expected. "I... Let's just say I've never used magic all that much."

Loki fought to keep his confusion to himself, he really did, but the thoughts slipped between his lips before he could decide otherwise. "What do you mean, you didn't?" Magic did not come and go from one's body as it pleased; you either felt a connection, or you did not. He couldn't help but think back to what he knew of this Midgardian. This power had to have come from somewhere. "You have always had magic, haven't you?" An unexpected appearance might explain the sudden onset of troubles, but what mortal device could do such a thing? To give this much power... She took his question more cautiously than he would have liked. "Haven't you?"

"It's complicated."

"Uncomplicate it." She recoiled from his remark, "Y/N, I just need to know what kind of issue we are dealing with."

She thought for a very, very long time. Long enough that Loki started to doubt whether this waltz around the truth was intentional or not. He already told her he had no interest in indulging the team. What other risk was she trying to avoid? Y/N sighed, "What would you do if an Asgard-ling... If a young Asgardian suddenly came into their powers? With no prior training? And it's not that they have never felt magic, but that they never put a name to what they were feeling: let alone use it or know if they did."

The god could tolerate games and word play. Loki knew how to navigate his way through those things. But the way Y/N presented her situation sounded all too much like one of the riddles Frigga use to try to teach him with. "It would be... complicated." He hid a chuckle, catching Y/N's own hidden smirk. "The tutors would have to take the child through every step of her journey until she felt strong enough to handle it on her own."

Y/N nodded, satisfied that they had a plan. But such a situation was far more than just complicated. On Asgard, it wouldn't have been possible. There would have been enough minute signs in the child's development that training could be taken up sooner to prevent such a problem in the first place.

So what was she?