W I N T E R

Fools

Thor had been a distraction, Loki realized that a little to late. He moved from the pillar he had been leaning against in a sudden rush, his heart leaping into his throat. He started to shout, started to warn Oleald. His voice wouldn't work, and he watched as she fell to the ground, struck down by a metal contraption. Tony Stark's doing, no doubt. He cursed, moving toward her fallen figure. He should have known they would be looking for her, once they found out where she had fled to. She was a lethal weapon. To misplace her would be a blow on the Avenger's prowess. They were here to take back what they believed was theirs to keep under lock and key. Loki wasn't about to let that happen. He looked at Thor, who was watching with a solemn look upon his face. Loki cursed. The fool! He had set this up, no doubt. Oleald was still down, though struggling to gain back her footing. The contraption was on her head, a web-looking metal device. It was moving, growing down her back. It snapped in place around her wrists, stopping there. Once it stopped its descent, Oleald fell to her knees once more. From the doorway behind her, a figure Loki knew too well approached. It spoke, in a voice well known to Midgardians. The voice of Tony stark. Oleald glared upwards at the man in the suit. Her hair began to raise, and her head shook back and forth three times. After the third time, her head dropped down. When it rose, her eyes were matte, staring straight into the red and gold face above her. She muttered something in a different language Loki didn't understand. She had summoned the darkness, and if it wasn't for the vise around her she could have and would have torn the ugly suit before her apart with her bare hands. Loki watched with intent eyes, fear sparking deep within him. All the while he had been moving towards Oleald, desperate to help her. He jumped slightly as a hand grasped his shoulder. He hissed, unsheathing the dagger that had been clasped in his belt. Enraged, he drove it into the hand. The voice of Thor bellowed in anger, and with Mjolnir he struck Loki down. The last thing Loki saw was Oleald, her face turned towards him, and fear in her eyes. 

Thor was on one knee, his face twisted into a grimace. He looked to Tony, who was in front of the gray-skinned Skaxin. 

"You have some explaining to do, Stark."

He hefted Mjolnir, then directly glared at the metal suit as he strode over to it. He knew how intent Tony had been to get Oleald back in their grasp. The government hadn't been happy that they had lost such a radioactive being. If Tony didn't find a way to retrieve her from Asgard, it was promised more intense ways would be used to exterminate her. Tony had no response, only continued to watch as Oleald was weakened by the cuffs, so much so that she eventually lapsed into unconsciousness. Only then was the suit compelled to move. It lifted the gray skinned woman from the ground, glanced once at Thor and Loki, then flew back through the doorway from which it came. Thor glanced at Loki as well. He was half-rising from the ground now, rage etched onto his face.

"You were a fool to come here. To lead that blasted Stark here. A fool! I promise you, you will pay for hurting Oleald."

Thor only shook his head, letting a few moments elapse before replying.

"What does she mean to you brother? What do you feel for her? Be honest, for then I will truly know what I have done wrong."

Loki was silent for a minute. He calculated whether he should say the words he had often thought of what Oleald was to him. Would it be too much to share with Thor, or too little? Finally, he spoke.

  "She is sugar, curiosity, rain. Her voice is honey to my ears. She is a rose, though at the same time an instrument of war. In her kiss I taste the revolution. She was here, but yet lost in her mind at the same time. It is part of her beauty, this quality of not being there, almost dreamlike. And so, I think I am in love with her. No, I know I am in love with her."

Thor smiled, turning his head so Loki could not see. There had been a deciding factor when Loki had fought with her, and for her. Thor was happy for him, yet melancholy at the same time. He knew what Tony had in mind for her. What the government had in mind for her. He could only tell Loki this.

"Get her back, Loki. You won't want her to suffer in the hands of Midgardians for long. They have cruel, ruthless things planned for her. I fear for her in the hands of the humans. Save her, Loki."

Then he turned, and went out of the Asgardian palace after Tony.