Reign

Chapter 27: Phase Ash

What were these voices? They sounded so familiar.... Why was it so dark? Maybe she was in the warmth of a deep sleep. Or maybe not. Maybe it was a nightmare... The voices only continued to grow louder.

"Is this how you mortals react to your ruler? You simply sit and stare as fools? Kneel before me!" She could identify that voice... It was Loki...

"Ash, listen to me. It's okay. He's gone." Natasha...

"Are you stupid?! What made you think trusting him would ever be good for you?! God of Mischief! Does he need to wear a sign that tells you he's a cold hearted monster?! Agh, idiot..." Her brother.... Jeremy?

"I have given her what power she contains, I do not require affections!" Loki, once again. All of these words. All of these were reflections her mind chose to pin on Loki. She wanted to cry out, to end the hurt that was caused by these words.

"That fool will never understand freedom. He'd crush the human spirit." Wasn't that the man from the subway? She hoped they were okay...

"If you were not so useful to me have no doubt that you would be unable to handle myself against you." Loki. The threatening tone of his voice struck her like a bucket of cold water.

Ash jolted awake as she was asleep in Loki's throne, though it obviously hadn't been a heavy sleep. She hadn't slept well since he left. She had only been anticipating the day of his return.

She rubbed her face attempting to rid her mind of doubts. She then sat up after hearing a 'whoosh' noise. She looked around noticing that Tony and Steve were still standing beside the throne, giving her concerned looks due to her abrupt awakening. Tony asked, "Another nightmare?"

Ash nodded her head, looking down at the floor with a sigh. "I'm fine..." Her eyes shot up as a figure entered the room. "Loki..." She jumped from the throne and rushed down the stairs towards him.

He took her into his arms and held her so tightly as she was almost smothered in his soothing presence. His lips met her forehead as he whispered, "I've missed you, love."

"I was so worried about you." Her arms were wrapped around his neck as her head was snuggled against his chest. "I didn't know if you were going to come back today or not."

"It is still unsettled... I will, unfortunately, have to return later today." Loki suddenly looked up as though noticing something. "Where are Thor and your guards?"

"I... You should come with me..." Ash held an uncertain look on her face as she led Loki to their room. As soon as they were in she closed the doors, leaving Tony and Steve outside of the room. She locked the doors just in case as she told Loki quietly, "You might not like what's happened recently..." She slowly walked and sat on the bed as Loki stood in front of her almost menacingly.

"Ash, what's happened?"

"Don't leave again. Please... Stay with me." She looked up at him, tears steadily building within her eyes. He calmed down at seeing how torn she really looked. He sat beside her with a hand over hers, waiting patiently for her to continue. She choked out, "I... I couldn't stop them... I'm sorry Loki... I- I love you..."

Loki didn't say anything. He didn't respond to her. It was a dark silence before he spoke, "What are you not telling me?" She could clearly tell that he was trying not to shout or speak angrily to her.

Ash stood and walked out onto the balcony as she tried to catch some fresh air. She had her hands placed on the railing as she closed her eyes and said, "I... Loki... They want to get Asgard involved..."

"What?" The word sounded almost venomous as he uttered it. It clearly didn't take him long to connect the dots. Ash was obviously the only way that Thor or anyone else could get anything of the sort done. He questioned in an almost betrayed tone as he wanted so desperately for that not to be the case, "You helped them?"

Ash shut her eyes, trying to hold back her deep emotions. "If I wouldn't have helped them they would have done it anyway... but they wouldn't have given me a choice. They would have taken me to Asgard and they would have taken me away from you!"

"So you helped them!" He shouted back angrily.

Before he could even walk towards her, a lightning bolt flew between them and Thor landed just between them. He defended, "She speaks the truth brother! She did not wish to betray you! She did so by our command." 

Loki pointed an accusing finger at him, "It's your fault she is against me!"

Searching for Loki's understanding, Ash pleaded out, "I wanted to help you! I didn't want to lose you!"

The Warriors Three and Sif entered the room and Iron Man flew beside the balcony where Ash was standing. He landed behind Thor with his hand threateningly towards Loki.

Loki had a scowl on his face as he looked at Ash.

Tony wrapped a hand around Ash's midsection causing her to shout, "You said I could stay with him!"

He responded, "Thor said if anything got out of hand that you should be taken out of the trouble."

She couldn't struggle much, especially when he lifted her from the ground and flew her away from the room where the Asgardians were. As he took her into the skies she saw the outline of war around the perimeter of the castle. The Asgardian armies were taking their stances against the Frost Giants.

Tony then began to descend on the opposite end of the castle where the other Avengers were waiting in their full armor. He landed and announced, "Thor and the other Asgardians are handling Loki. Now it's our turn to free the minds of the people that Loki's turned into his personal slaves." He put Ash down and added, "You stay here and if anyone enters the gardens then you hide."

Ash nodded her head and the other Avengers followed suit. They were all quick to leave to their missions, not giving any second thoughts to Ash.

Except for Natasha, of course. Ash saw something like that coming. Natasha stood beside her with a concerned look. After a moment of silence, she asked, "Are you sure you'll be alright here by yourself?"

Ash took in a deep breath and replied with confidence, "I'll be fine. But Natasha, isn't there any way I could-"

Natasha stopped her right there. She knew what Ash wanted to ask. She shook her head. "No. I know you want to help but... we can't risk it. You're too emotionally compromised with the situation at hand. If anything happens all that we worked so hard for could be lost..."

"I'm not a kid, Natasha!" Ash lowered her tone and calmed herself before speaking again, "I'm sorry... I just felt like there was more I could do..."

"You've done a lot for us already. We just want to keep you out of danger." Natasha placed a hand on her shoulder before turning and walking away. "Just stay here! Listen to Thor. He knows what he's doing." She nodded her head, leaving the gardens.

Ash stood there for a moment, still and contemplating before finding her way to the center of the garden. She wasn't just going to sit around with all of this destruction around her. She needed to end this to get back to Loki as soon as possible.