The Servant Series (Loki fanfic)

Servant, Friend, Or Love? Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After one week passed, I asked Queen Frigga if I could visit Loki. With a bit of persuading, she agreed, but I had to make it fast. So here I was, entering the dungeons yet again. Loki looked up from his book, surprised to see me, to say the least. I gave him a hint of a smile and put a hand on the column between the walls of electrocution. In return, he put up a cold mask and turned back to his book. My hand clawed into the column to express the slight pain I felt at him doing such to me, but gave no other hint. I knew what he was doing.

"So what are you reading?" I asked curiously. I hoped that I could get him to open up again if I started up conversation.

"Does it matter?" Well, that went over well.

I clawed harder. "I suppose not." I gulped back some nervousness. "Is there something I can do to make you any more comfortable?"

"You could leave." he said, turning the page.

My hand began fist and I put my forehead next to it. It took several moments for me to be able to get out, "I am trying here," in a whisper. There were few times he's ever been so cold to me. When he closed himself off. With all that was going on with him, I was afraid he might never open back up.

"Why should that matter to me?" he answered in an annoyed tone.

Pathetic rage filled me and I punched the wall, turning to him with tears in my eyes. It angered me how unfazed he was. "Dammit, Loki! I care about you. You've been like this before and I'm worried. It's like whenever you're considered bad and show that you care about me you have to balance it off by being a cold, uncaring stranger." I felt all the anger vanish and I just looked at him pleadingly. "I don't why you do it, but please- stop." That last bit was choked.

He looked around quickly. There were few other prisoners in the surrounding area, none that really cared. The guard had gone up the hallways some since I was there, as well, so he could no longer hear us well. When his eyes met mine, I saw the pain and hurt.

"You are too loyal for your own good. Do you realize this? You continually want to find the good in people even if they do not hold any."

"Loki, I do not believe that about you. I never have. I never will." I stepped as I close as I could to the wall without being electrocuted. Quietly I asked, "Was it the Chitauri?"

His eyes narrowed slightly. "They merely gave me an opportunity to conquer a world less advanced but greater in numbers. If I could rule over them then I had easier access to Asgard. The Chitauri were a stepping stool."

"Even I can tell you're not telling the whole truth." In response, he turned his eyes to his fellow prisoners. I rolled my eyes at him. He knew I hated using this sort of magic.

I took deep breaths and focused on my life source. The energy that keeps me alive. Loki had seen my potential when I was 18 and he showed me a Midgardian "9-volt battery". (Just because they never noticed doesn't mean we never went to Midgard on occasion.) He told me that if you press your tongue to the two metal bits that stick out, you get shocked. Curiously I'd tested it and I was unaffected; the electricity didn't affect me.

Once I was no longer truly solid, but just flowing energy in my shape, I reached out the wall. As soon as I was sure I could just step through it without harm, I did. Loki smirked, a tinge of envy hidden in eyes as I became normal again.

"You do realize that most break out of the dungeons, not in, don't you?" he asked as he stood.

"Most also don't turn into electricity...Or control magic at all, really...Now! If you would tell the whole truth, please?"

His mockery ended and he became tense. He reached out to me and pulled me against him, my head resting against his collar bone. He bent his head down to whisper in my ear, "The Chitauri are cruel creatures. If you combined the coldness of all the hearts of the Frost Giants', the Jotuns', you'd have one Chitauri. The fact that I was a prince of Asgard did not help my position as well. Once I was in their clutches, I did all I could to gain their trust so I could use them. It came with a price. A painful, painful price. If you have ever heard of the Asgardian ways of torture then do not think of it as anything for it is mere child's play."

My eyes were wide as realization struck. "They broke you." I muttered. I felt him tense up, but since he did not speak, I knew I was right. I repositioned so my arms were around his neck instead of against his chest. I put one hand on the back of his head and gave a comforting squeeze. I wasn't his mother, but perhaps I could help. "I understand why you didn't speak up, now. If I had a choice between having to tell all of Asgard in detail how someone broke me or spend the rest of my life in a cell, I'd sooner go with the latter."

His grip around me tightened. "You and Frigga...Always such an open mind with me no matter what. Of course, she still thinks of me as her son. What excuse do you have?"

"I believe we all deserve a second chance, even if it's hard."

He let me go and looked me in the eye. "You say that as though you've had such experience."

I tilted my head with a sad smile. "I never did tell you what brought me to working here, did I?"

He looked worried, yet still curious. "That you did not." He began to sit down, pulling me with him.

"It started with a young girl named Neve..."