The Soldier

for kings and soldiers

„Are mortals really that sensitive to being teleported? That is utterly ridiculous.", Loki said while keeping a bit more distance to his hostage.

She was weird, he decided.

When he saw her agreement before, he wondered if there were really mortals out there who knew, that they needed a king, that they needed him. Maybe she did know and accepted that he was that king. She was a soldier after all and used to follow orders. And there was something about her...

„What- ?", she managed, as she stumbled to her feet, carelessly using the sleeve of her coat to clean her lips.

„What did you put in it?", Tessa asked warily, taking a couple of steps backwards, keeping a somewhat safe distance to her kidnapper.

She still felt kind of dizzy when she looked around, making sure there was only him and none of his helmet friends here.

Loki just watched her panicked behaviour, searching for an escape when clearly that was not a possibility she really considered. She saw what he did, and even though her conscious mind was still neglecting it, she had an idea of how unlikely it was to just get out of here.

His face was cold and he just kept watching her, to which Tessa once again insisted: „What did you put in my drink? Or was it some kind of gas? What did you do?"

Her voice sounded fierce, but the little, barely noticeable begging touch in it bothered Tessa as much as it amused Loki.

„I did not do anything at all. What proved to be a loss in hindsight, actually. You put up quite a fight, did you not?", he mocked, knocking at his armour.

„But you were my soldier, good as gold nevertheless, so I can not complain.", he added and Tessa couldn't believe what he was saying there, snorting in lack of a better response.

„I was not -"

„What? Not my soldier?", Loki provided, mockingly staring in her direction, while his armour slowly vanished, leaving him in a suit.

How did that even work? Was she hallucinating?

He did not seem as threatening anymore, and Tessa was not sure what to make out of his changed behaviour. She carefully observed him as he sat down on the only furniture – a black, large sofa – Tessa saw in this room.

„You are disappointed and angry, are you not?" His voice sounded almost caring now, a melodic tune to it and Tessa forgot for a tiny second who she was talking to.

„Well, being kidnapped isn't actually one of my favourite activities, so... yeah.", she answered through gritted teeth, immediately regretting it after she said it.

But Loki smiled at her, not in the threatening way she knew already, but more amused than she imagined someone like him to be. He chuckled and shook his head.

„No, you are not angry or disappointed because of that. You are scared. There is something else that makes you agree with me and my view on freedom.", Loki explained, offering her some space beside him on the large sofa.

Tessa stood still, valuing the distance between her and this madman exactly as big as it was, if not possible to get away any farther.

„Come on, I will not harm you, why should I? You have done nothing wrong until now. Do not make me reconsider that choice by acting so stubborn suddenly."

He did not sound exactly threatening but Tessa's intuition told her it was better to just sit down.

Besides, these couple of feet between her and Loki would not keep him from hurting her anyway. She needed to get out of here alive and while cooperating seemed wrong, disagreeing sounded life-threatening.