Who are you? (A Loki Love Story)

Chapter Thirty - Dreams

  I stared at my hair, slack jawed and wide eyed with shock. I knew that I would look different with a odd color of hair, but... This color?! I turn to Kim, who is looking at me expectantly, waiting for my response. "What do you think?" She asks, practically bouncing. I turn to Greg, who is standing on the other side of the mirror. He studies me for a moment before shrugging.
        "I think that it actually looks really good. I was skeptical at first, but now...." He trails off and looks over at Kim. "You were right. Paired with the outfit, I doubt they will recognize her." I turn back to the mirror, still gaping.
        "Its...."
        "Its what?" Kim asks, still excited.
        "Its Green!" I finally spit out. Kim pauses her bouncing.
        "Well, technically, the box says that it's deep emerald, but basically, yeah, it's green." She smiles broadly. "What do you think? My friends say I have a knack for changing appearances, which is why they are always at my house on Halloween." She finishes her rambling, and both her and Greg continue to wait for my opinion.
        "It... doesn't actually look half bad." I admit. It really doesn't, I just wasn't expecting it. "What are you dressing me like?" I ask, curious. I really didn't know what went on in Kim's head, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to know.
        "You'll find out tomorrow morning." Greg says, and I whirl around to look at him.
        "Wait, what? I'm leaving as soon as I can." I say, looking at him, a little confused. Kim shakes her head.
        "Nope." She says, popping the p. "It's too late to make any real progress today. You are going to have to stay with us for another night." She folds her arms over her chest, looking smug.
        "I told you both, I've already stayed too long. You are both in danger now." I say, trying to scare them into letting me go.
        "Then it won't really matter if you stay another night then, now will it?" Greg says. I raise my eyebrows at him, but I don't say anything, because he's right.
        "If I'm staying until tomorrow anyway can I please know what you are dressing me up as? I swear I won't leave in the middle of the night or something." I say after a minuet. In all honesty, I really didn't want to leave. These people were so kind and I got along with them like .... a family? I really wasn't sure what real family was like.
        "Please Gramps? I want to see her reaction now!" Kim exclaims, turning to Greg, who sighs.
        "Go ahead then." He says, and Kim drags me to her room. She throws the clothes from the shopping bags at me, and I walk to the bathroom, putting them on.
        

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


        I look at myself in the full length mirror in the bathroom one last time. I was wearing the outfit that Kim had shown me last night, and I had to admit, when I added everything up, I didn't look like myself. Straightened dark green hair, black skinny jeans, tank top, black leather jacket, fingerless gloves, and boots.
        I walked down the stairs with my new big black bag full of my stuff and stopped in the hallway where they were waiting. "Do you really think that this disguise will help?" I ask, looking down at the outfit again.
        "Would you ever dress like that?" Kim asks.
        ".....No." I say.
        "Then it will defiantly help quite a bit." She says with a smile. The smile slid off her face, replaced with sadness. "I don't really want you to go. Is that weird?" I laugh.
        "No, because I don't really want to leave." I say, giving her a hug. "Besides, I'll call you when this is all over, considering you put your phone number in my bag." She looks up at me, startled.
        "You already found that?" She asks.
        "Yes, but I'm going to use it when this is all over." I say. And it's true. I memorized the number before throwing it away, but just in case, I had written it on one of the tags on my clothes. Greg hugs me next, and Kim joins in, obviously not wanting to be left out. We finally let go, and I walk out the door, not looking back, knowing that it would make me cry.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Two weeks later ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


        I carefully pick the lock on the back door of an abandoned house. I have had zero luck since I left Greg and Kim, and I have only made it about halfway through Kansas. I've only hitch hiked when people picked me up, and even then, it was never for more than a couple of hours. I had mostly slept outside, but right now it was begging to pour down rain, hence, me breaking into an abandoned house.
        I quickly slipped in and shut the door behind me. I looked around and saw that dust covered everything. I silently walked around, only sneezing about a million times, before deciding to sleep in the living room. All of the bedrooms were on the second story, and there were leaks everywhere, so I would rather sleep on a dry couch than a rain filled bed. I go through my bag, pulling out a half filled water bottle and a can of ravioli. I took off one of my gloves and heated up the ravioli in my hand before grabbing a plastic fork from Wendy's out of my bag. I had a lot of forks from there, considering they were in bags and easy to get rid of and collect.
        I finished the food quickly and made the best bed I could on the couch. I had been sleeping pretty heavily since I had ran away, probably the energy of walking for hours and hours on end, and eating less frequently. All the weight I had regained after the New York battle was slowly starting to come off again, mostly just the fat, but a little muscle too.
        I burrowed underneath a few blankets I had found in a closet, trying to shut out the cold drafts that made their way through the house, and I felt myself slowly fall asleep to the howling wind and pounding rain.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
        
        I looked around and saw that I was inside the abandoned house, except now it wasn't so abandoned. It was clean, lit up, and full of people in dresses and suits. I was in the main hallway, and when I looked to my left, I saw my reflection in the mirror. My hair was it's original blond, and I was wearing a knee-length sparkly gold dress and black heels, that (thankfully) Made me a few inches taller.
        "We are all waiting for you to perform, Miss Crest." I turn to see a man in a suit, carrying a tray with several champagne filled glasses on it. I nodded and made my way to the dining room, where all the guests were seated, and a piano was at the other end of the room. I make my way over to the piano and gracefully sit down on the bench. Now I knew that this was a dream. I never did anything gracefully.
        I start to play, and I realize that since this is a dream, I can sing as well. I quickly change the song to "Human" By Christina Perri, Because it is one of my favorites.

        'I can hold my breath'
        'I can bite my tongue'
        'I can stay awake for days'
        'If that's what you want'
        'Be your number one'

        'I can fake a smile'
        'I can force a laugh'
        'I can dance and play the part'
        'If that's what you ask'
        'Give you all I am'

        'I can do it'
        'I can do it'
        'I can do it'

        'But I'm only human'
        'And I bleed when I fall down'
        'I'm only human'
        'And I crash and I break down'
        'Your words in my head'
        'Knives in my heart'
        'You build me up and then I fall apart'
        'Cause I'm only human'
        'yeah'


        I notice that the room has gone silent, and I look up to see that everyone has disappeared. The food still sits on plates, the chairs as if people had been sitting in them, but everyone was gone. I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I jump, startled. I turn around to see Loki, standing in the suit he wore in Germany so many months ago. I smile up at him, and he raises his eyebrows questioningly, but smiles back.
        "Where are we?" He asks, looking around. I stand up and start to walk around the large dining table to get to the door.
        "In the house I'm sleeping in, except, you know, it's not abandoned." I say. He follows me from the room, and I walk towards the living room, where there is a few chairs and the couch. I smile when I see a roaring fire inside the fireplace. I look up at Loki again when he steps up beside me.
        "You are sleeping in an abandoned house?" He asks, looking worried. I laugh and nod.
        "I have been sleeping under the stars, but now it's raining, so I'd much rather sleep here." I say. We stand in silence for a moment, listening to the crackling of the fire.
        "You need to come back." Loki says in a sudden, serious tone. I look up to see him looking dead serious at me, and I laugh.
        "Great, now even my subconscious wants me to go back to you guys." I say, rolling my eyes. He keeps looking at me. "What?" I ask, glancing up at him.
        "We may be in your dream, but I am completely real." He says.
        "Whatever." I say. "I know that you aren't real, because the real Greeny doesn't have enough magic for this." I look up at him and smirk, raising one eyebrow, daring him to argue, which he did.
        "I would have come sooner, but I had to build up my magic for just this one visit." He says. "It took two weeks, and I should have waited to tell your team, because they wouldn't stop badgering me about it." He runs a hand through his hair in frustration. I try to stifle another laugh, but fail, letting a giggle slip through my lips. "It's not funny." He says, looking at me coolly. "The man of iron and the beast refuse to eat or sleep, just pour over the electric box, the Spider and Hawk have shut themselves up, refusing to talk to any of us, the Patriot refuses to stop training, and the new four have been using all of their resources endlessly to help find you. You need to come back now."
        I look up at him, shocked at his outburst. Was the team really in such a wreak? No. This was just a dream. None of this was actually happening, these were just excuses that my brain came up with because, deep down, I wanted to go back. I missed them all so much.
        "I'm not a dream." He says, seeing the skeptical look in my eye. "We may be in your dream, but I am very real."
        "Why do you even care?" I ask, catching him off guard. "Why did you come back? Why didn't you stay on Asguard? Why are you helping them look for me?" I ramble off my questions, a little more than angry. I sit in silence while he just stares at me with a shocked look on his face.
        "I-I came back for you." he finally says. I'm a little surprised by his stutter, but I don't show it, keeping my face emotionless.
        "Why? Im HUMAN! Im a pathetic mortal, so why on earth would you be here for me?!" I exclaim, my anger showing. "Why waste your precious magic on me, huh?" He grabs my flailing arms, and holds them to my sides.
        "To me, You are so much more than human." He says, looking me directly in the eyes. I see the utter sincerity in his face and I can't help myself. A feeling of something I can't explain washes over me, and I get on the tips of my toes, getting my arms around his neck, pulling his mouth down to meet mine.
        I took him half a second to recover from the shock and to start kissing me back. His lips were soft against mine, and we moved in sync. He tasted like peppermint, and his arms wrapped around my waist, pulling us closer together. We kissed for what felt like hours, what felt like mere seconds. My fingers tangled in his hair, and suddenly he flickered, like a broken TV. Loki looked around at everything, because everything was flickering as well. He looked back up at me, and I blinked.
        When my eyes opened a second later, it was too the dusty, broken, old living room. My fingers touched my still tingling lips, and I could smell peppermint in the air.
        Strange how just a dream can leave you feeling.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Loki's POV


        I was jolted out of Sophie's dream, sitting straight up on the couch I was sleeping on. My lips tingled wildly from the kiss. She had tasted like the ocean, like an open flame, like a sweet piece of chocolate, all at once. I had been waiting for that ever since I had left her in that park, standing with the others of her team. Speaking of the others..... They were all staring down at him.
        "Did you get anything?" the Patriot asked. I slowly nodded.
        "I got a look of the house she is currently sleeping in." I said, "She also said it was raining where she was, which was why she wasn't sleeping outside." Walked around, grabbing a pen and some paper, doing a sketch of the old Victorian house. Stark grabbed the paper when I was done, holding it so the entire group could get a look at it. They all studied the picture.
        "Jarvis, scan this and find any real matches. I want every single one."
        "Yes sir." The voice in the ceiling responded. It was a while before anyone spoke again, because we were all waiting for the results. We all just sat in silence, entertaining ourselves in one way or another, trying to think of something, anything other than Sophie.

        It was more than two hours later when the voice spoke up again. "Sir, there are over three hundred houses quite similar to this one." Everyone groans. "But when I factored in the rain factor from last night and today, only twenty of those houses have possibility, and when I factor in distance possibility, only three would be possible for Miss Crest to be in." Everyone's heads shoot up at the news, and the spider springs into action, talking for the first time in two weeks.
        "We split up into three groups, two of three, one of four. Who ever has the group of four automatically gets Loki." I scoff and roll my eyes, "One of the four should be on each team. I was thinking, Clint, Sue, and I as one team, Cap, Reed, and Thing as another, and Bruce, Tony Johnny, and Loki as our final. Sound Good?" No one objects, most likely because we are all a little scared of her right now. "Good. Tony, call the airport, we are taking off in an hour." Stark grins.
        "Time to catch a runaway avenger."

Her new look ----->