Loki's Pain

Chapter Two- On the Run, Kinda

"Wait......" Loki muttered, pulling back slightly from the hug, "You can teleport....why the hell didn't you just teleport away from the abuse?"

"I tried." Ash muttered back, "He'd just find me later, after I fell asleep. Or he'd threaten my brother, or even use him to punish me....besides, it's difficult to visualize a place to go when your getting your head bashed in, so half the time I couldn't even manage it."

Loki nodded, understanding, tightening his embrace once more in an attempt to comfort Ash, before commenting a few seconds later, "This...hug...should probably end soon... We need to find shelter somewhere, and food wouldn't be remiss."

Ash's face burned bright scarlet at those words, and he jumped back as if Loki was on fire. "O-oh, yeah! Of course!! N-no problem!" Ash sputtered, "We are in California, Sequoia National Park near Mt. Whitney. My family visited here before..." Ash stopped dead for a moment, his flow of words silenced. Loki's head snapped around just in time to see him wiping tears from his face, before he forced a smile back to his lips and continued on as if nothing had happened, "So if you want we can teleport somewhere else, or...I...I have a small cave set up for camping nearby... We've been walking towards it already, actually..."

"A cave?..." Loki queried, causing Ash to shake his head and shrug. "I know this whole area pretty well. I've teleported here a lot in the last year. The cave is nearby, I keep it stocked so I can crash there on occasion. In fact, it might be the perfect solution....the Avengers can't find something that isn't even on the map!" Ash smiled at this comment, jogging ahead and beckoning Loki to follow. " I have food, blankets, and water already there. We wouldn't need to go anywhere for awhile, and it's so far off the beaten path no one even knows it exists!"

"Plus, if we do need something, we can just teleport somewhere to get it and then pop right back." Loki acknowledged grudgingly, not finding much fault with this plan save the obvious... that he'd be forced to sleep in a cave, "What about your brother though? Will he be safe back there?"

"He should be for now. Pops usually doesn't get too violent with him these days, he's too useful for that." Ash said as he lead Loki to the cave fairly quickly, and Loki was pleasantly surprised by how cosy it seemed. Ash had even brought in a camp stove and a heater at some point, so once they made it inside Ash had lit the burner to chase off the chill in the air and to provide some light. It was well into fall and the nights could become bitterly cold, so he knew that the heat would be more than welcome. The cave itself helped insulate from some of the chill due to it's depth and size, but not all. So he had even added a thick blanket to the cave mouth to help hold the heat inside in the winter months. This also had the added benefit of blocking any light from escaping to be seen by prying eyes.

Loki watched with some fascination as Ash set up an extra bedroll for him, and pulled out camping chairs for them to sit on before begining to cook a simple meal. All this Ash did with a small smile and a quiet hum, moving with the quiet efficiency of long practice. It was clear to Loki that the kid had practically been living in this cave, especially once he found the small stack of books in one corner. The mix of both school books and fantasy novels almost broke his blackened heart. It was then that he noticed all of the paintings on the walls as well. They were not ancient cave drawings, but beautiful landscapes and multicolored patterns, mixed with galaxy pictures. But each separate, differently-styled piece, blended seamlessly into the next. He was shocked at how he could miss them at first glance as well. Despite the brilliant colors and patterns, they had been painted in a way that blended in and soothed the eye before drawing them in to the artwork. Loki was suitably impressed.

'Why do you even care!? This kid is nothing to you, just a useful transport back to the city and off this god-forsaken rock!' Loki's mind practically growled at his sentimentality, scoffed at his sympathy, and grew irritated at his interest, 'Ask to go to New York! He can drop you off and come back to this hovel if he so desires!!....COME ON! ASK!'