Working Title : Loki & Annie

chapter three

Thor watched the woman standing on her balcony, staring at them. She stood there, unmoving until her hand came up in that little wave. And he huffed out a shuddering breath he hadn't known he had been holding. He had gathered his cape in his arms and in a moment was standing before her.

Annie had backed up, not so much in outright fear as in self preservation. She had no desire to be squashed flat on her balcony in the rain by a unknown, leaping person thing. And now she found herself staring at a really tall, blonde haired man holding the red bundle in his arms while staring at her.

"You're not Santa."

Thor slowly shook his head. "No. No, I am not. My name is Thor." He gave a slight bow that wasn't awkward at all even though it should have been. With the fact that he had appeared on her third floor balcony by jumping there. In the middle of a thunder and lightening storm. While his arms were full of something hidden by a red piece of fabric.

Annie frowned. Thor. Thunder and lightening storm. Thor. Her eyes widened. "Thor?" She looked into the rain. "Of course you are. Because," she shrugged, "god of thunder bolts and lightening." She swallowed and whispered, "very, very frightening."

Now it was Thor's turn to frown. "There is no such thing as thunder bolts. And I apologize for frightening you, my Lady. This," he looked up, "happens when, I'm agitated." He glanced downwards to whatever was hidden in the red cloth. There was loud thunder above them but thankfully no lightening.

Annie nodded. "Oh." She wiped at her face. It didn't help since she was in the rain.  "I'm Annie." She pointed to the stitching on her shirt, "goddess of household appliance repair." She wanted to laugh but was sure it would come out in a rather frightening giggle more appropriate for a homicidal cheerleader. "How about we go inside rather than stand out in the rain? In,  your thunderstorm?" She headed towards the door, or at least out of the rain and under cover.

Thor looked at her, his own hair clung to his head, hanging down in his face. He was soaking wet. He knew he looked like the last person a woman should allow into her home. He gave her a nod and followed her when she walked to her doors and held one open. Walking through he moved to the side so she could walk past him.

Annie ignored the thought of her beautiful wood floor for a moment as she pulled the door shut. She walked further into the room then turned to stare at her guest. "Um," she looked around for a few seconds. "I'm going to get some towels, you can set your," She waved her hand at what he was carrying, "friend down."

"Friend?" Thor's arms tensed.

Annie raised an eyebrow, "It's obviously a person by the way you're carrying them. Probably a small one. So maybe your kid?" She pointed to the couch. "There's fine."

"He's wet."

Annie snorted. "We're all wet."

She turned and disappeared through a door that Thor could partially see into. It was a small bathing chamber and she was grabbing towels. He could hear her speaking to herself and felt more tension ease in his chest as he looked around while listening her low voice.

The apartment, he knew that's what it was called, was simply furnished with the basic requirements. He saw into the kitchen area across the room that there was a small dining table with two chairs. Here along with the couch were two leather chairs. They didn't match but they looked comfortable and he knew he could easily fit in either one. He noticed the floor had many colorful rugs on them, he looked down and noticed one near his feet, he took the few steps and moved so he would drip on them instead of her wooden floor.

"Okay. Thor. Thor. God of Thunder. Avenger guy. Dripping water on my apartment floor because, sure, why not? What am I doing? Towels, Annie. You're getting towels because, soaking wet. Geeze, you're a mess." She grabbed every one off the shelves including every hand towel and wash cloth because, why not.

The woman came back and seemed surprised he was still standing.  She dumped everything on one end of the couch then took several and spread them out on the other end. Once she had tucked the sides in she motioned, "is that okay?"

Thor nodded, his lips moved in what could have been a faded smile. He came forward and gently set the bundle on the couch, slowly dropping to one knee as he did. One hand reached for the cloth and searched for an edge. Once he found it he started to pull it down then stopped.

Annie met Thor's blue eyes as he turned his face to look up at her. His jaw clenched and a rumble of thunder shook the walls. "My lady, this is my brother, Loki."

"Loki?" Annie frowned, then shook her head. "I didn't know you had a brother."

"It's not something generally known unless you have an interest in me and my family. It could be something found in your worlds myths, if someone wanted to read that. Most people don't." Thor opened his mouth to say more, Annie could see there was something else he wanted to say but instead he shook his head and pulled the red cloth down.

Annie knew from Thor's words that Loki was his brother which meant that Loki was a boy. And she knew right away that he had black hair, because that's what her eyes told her brain. However that information seemed to vanish as her eyes took in and sent an overwhelming amount of information to her brain.

Thor heard the woman's gasp and looked up at her. He had revealed nothing more than Loki's face, even the magic suppressing collar wasn't visible. If the woman saw Loki's face and demanded they leave then they would, he saw no need to traumatize her more if Loki's face alone would do it. The woman had covered her mouth, her shock had been clear on her face. He quietly sighed and began to reach for his brother.

A hand on his shoulder stopped him, her fingers dug into his flesh. "What are you doing?" Annie's voice was slightly muffled from behind her hand. "Don't move him. God, what happened to him?" She shook her head, "No, wait. Let me get my first aid kit, first." She turned away. Her mouth was still covered by her hand. She headed towards her bedroom.

Thor looked down at Loki's face, he had seen the damage several times now and was still horrified himself. But now he tried to see it as if for the first time.

Loki was obviously a young child but the sharp angular lines all over his face made him look older. Cheek bones stood out. His eyes were sunken so the curved bones under them were prominent. His chin was pointed as was his nose. Blood and dirt filled every line and crevice. Dark black bruises littered his translucent skin, purple, green and yellow as well. There was very little of the pale skin untouched and visible. Cuts were scabbed over, others fresh and still weeping blood, all were filthy. Infected.  Even though Thor made himself take these multiple injuries in first, they were all secondary. What was primary was the most obvious. Loki's lips were sewn shut.

Annie made it to her bathroom toilet before vomiting. Which she was really glad of because she needed to get back out to Thor with the first aid kit. And if she had to first clean up barf then, oh God, who would do that to a little kid? Who would do that period? Who would do that? 

Her stomach empty, she had dry heaves for a while but she kept telling her stomach to hurry up because she needed to get back out there. She flushed the toilet then at last went to the sink and drank straight from the flowing water. She rinsed and spat over and over then splashed water on her face. She stared at herself in the mirror. Looking hard into her eyes.

 What in the Hell had she gotten herself into? She knew one thing for sure. She was damn well going to find out.

She took several deep breaths in through her nose and went to find her first aid kit.