Working Title : Loki & Annie

Chapter Seven

It was dark outside as Thor stood on Annie's balcony and looked through her doors at the scene inside her home. The lights had all been turned on, every last one. Even from a distance he had been able to see the lights from the windows, no other buildings in the area were tall enough to block the sight. Despite that she must have moved while he was gone, it appeared that she had moved right back to Loki's side.

Annie heard the door to her balcony open and she raised her head to see Thor step through. He looked even more exhausted than he had when she first saw him but he was dry and she realized that the rain had stopped.

Now she was sitting on a stack of pillows on the floor, her upper body leaning on the couch. Now she looked down at Loki and moved her arm back from where she had been resting it lightly in his hair. She had been gently rubbing small circles in his scalp, she thought his breathing had gotten smoother when she had started, but maybe it was just wishful thinking on her part. 

After her discovery of what the cape had hidden she'd had what she would consider a slight melt down. She hadn't thrown up again but not for a lack of trying, there just wasn't anything to bring up. When she had returned to the doorway of her room she had come to a stop and stared at the back of the couch. She had just stared, she didn't know for how long but she didn't want to go back out there and see what had been inflicted on that child's body.

So she had gone back into her room and pulled off her now disgustingly moist clothes then pulled on warm sweats. She ignored her hair, there was nothing to do about it at this point short of a shower. She turned on her bedroom lights. Then she went through the rest of her apartment and turned on every light there too. Plus the outdoor lights. All the while she kept her eyes from landing on Loki, she kept her back to him, ignoring him.

Until she no longer could.

She stood across the entire living room from him and still his little body's trauma was right there like it had a floodlight shining on it. Black bruises. Purple. Green and yellow. Wounds that were in all stages of healing while some had healed into scars. Long thin ones were probably lashes, round ones looked to be puncture wounds. Others looked to be burns. There were even cuts that appeared to be writings in an unknown language. He was literally injured from the bumps on the top of his head to the burns on the bottoms of his feet.

By the time Annie realized she had walked over to the couch her hand was trembling as it reached for the cape. She was crying as she pulled it back up to his neck, hiding that collar around his neck as well. As she grabbed a bunch of pillows to sit on so she was tall enough to lean over the top of Loki's head she was sobbing in both grief and pure raging hatred.

While she heard Thor walk closer she tried to sniff but her nose was still stuffy, there had been some ugly crying in there too. Plus she felt the burning of her eyes, so she was sure her eye lids were red like she had pinkeye. She probably was all blotchy faced too. Because, sure, why not look your best when you have a god in your living room? Then she felt like a horrible, shallow person for even thinking about how she looked when Loki was laying here.

Thor heard Lady Annie take a deep shaking breath. He had seen proof on her kind face that she had spent some of his time away crying. He was in awe of this woman. No lady in Asgard would shed a tear for Loki, save their mother.

Annie tried to speak then had to clear her throat first. It was still raspy when she said, "How could anyone do this to a little kid?"

Thor cleared his own throat but for different reasons. "It was his punishment. For his crimes."

Annie gave a noise of angry disbelief, "this is a kid. Whatever the adult Loki did, this kid doesn't deserve to be punished for his crimes."

Thor frowned. "But this is the adult Loki. Just in a child's body."