Clock's Ticking

Stormsvasrte

By the time we are finished with our song, Loki and I are inches from each other and everyone in the bar is watching us, no one is clapping but they're all watching. I look up to Loki, "are you gonna remember this when you sober up?"

"I hope so."

"Do you have any favorite songs from your... past life?"

"I do have one actually."

"Care to share with the class?"

Loki snaps his fingers, causing a woman with an odd looking cello to appear and begin to play. As she does, Loki brings to clap his hands to the up beat rhythm. When he begins to sing the others in the bar begin to clap to the beat with him.

"Når hun synger, hun synger 'kom hjem.
Men trainer dander og fossense stanser
When she sings, she sings 'come home'
When she sings, she sings, 'come home'

Men traner danser of fossene stanser
Når hun synger, hun synger 'kom hjem'
Men traner danser of fossene stanser
When she sings, she sings 'come home,'
When she sings, she sings 'come home,'
When she sings, she sings 'come home,'
When she sings, she sings 'come home'."

I chuckle and shake my head, thinking I was insane to think that Loki, the God of Mischeif, would have anything other than a party song as one of his favorites. Loki looks around to everyone and shushes them, putting a finger to his lips as he does. Once everyone is quiet, he begins to sing again, this time, instead of to the entire bar like he had before, he has turned to me and is smiling.

"I stormsvasrte fjell, jeg vandrer alene
Over is tar jeg meg frem
I eplehagen står mourn den vene
Og synger 'Når kommer du hjem?"

I smile back to Loki as he looks into my eyes still standing a few feet away. I'm not sure if he knows, but since I speak every language on the timeline, I can understand him. This part meaning, 'In storm-black mountains, I wander alone. Over the glaciers I make my way. In the apple garden, the maiden stands and sings, when will you come home?' This quiet, almost kind and romantic moment only lasts for a moment before Loki begins to sing the more party versus of the song again.

"Men traner danser of fossene stanser
Når hun synger, hun synger 'kom hjem'
Men traner danser of fossene stanser
When she sings, she sings 'come home,'
When she sings, she sings 'come home'."

When he is finished he lifts a glass in the air and smiles, "to Kamaria, everybody!" The small crowd beings to cheer as Loki downs yet another drink, before smashing it on the bar, "another!"

Before I can do anything Sylvie, whom I'm guessing woke up during Loki's song, pulls him back over toward me, "are you two drunk?"

"No," Loki pants, "I'm just full. But bear in mind, I'm very full." He takes a few deep breaths.

Sylvie then looks to me and I shake my head, "I'm fine." I shrug, "maybe in the tipsy side, but still much better than him."

"Now, I need you to try this," Loki offers a pasty to Sylvie. "It pairs very nicely with the Figgy Port." He then looks around, "who's got the Figgy Port?"

I place my elbow against the bar and lean on it, "you drank it all."

He then turns back to Sylvie, "well, you'll have to take my word on the Figgy Port. But..."

Sylvie crosses her arms, "where's your uniform? We're meant to be laying low."

"Nobody cares. It's the end of the world."

"I think somethings happening," Sylvie turns to me and the look on her face almost immediately sobers me up.

"What?" I stand and step toward her and Loki.

"Something is about to happen," Loki nods, pointing up through the sun roof in the train car, "uh, that planet is about to crash into us."

"Don't be an ass," Sylvie rolls her eyes. "I saw some people looking at you weirdly."

"Well," I chuckle a bit, "singing and dancing in the middle of a bar can be a little weird."

"Yeah," Loki leans against the bar and knocks the tray and sweet he had just offered Sylvie onto the floor. He looks down to it but decides to pretend it didn't happen. "When did you get so paranoid?"

"Oh," Sylvie shrugs, "I guess it started when I spent my entire life running from the omniscient fascists you two work for."

Loki sighs and looks back down to the pastry on the floor, "it's a shame to let that go to waste." Sylvie and I shake our heads, "hey! Change of subject." He walks over to me, "I thought of an answer."

"To what?" I look up to him confused.

"Your question." Loki stands there for a moment looking into my eyes, "love is a dagger." He holds up his hand and with a flash of green one of his daggers appear. "It's a weapon to be wielded far away or up close. You can see yourself in it. It's beautiful." He then takes the dagger and turns it over, pointing the blade down and toward himself, "until it makes you bleed. But ultimately, when you reach for it..."

I reach for Loki's dagger, but when I touch the hilt it vanishes, "it isn't real..."

"Yeah..."

"Love is an imaginary dagger?" Sylvie rolls her eyes yet again.

Loki looks around a bit before looking back to me, "doesn't make sense, does it?"

"No," Sylvie answers, "terrible metaphor."

"Damn, I thought I had something there."

We look around us as we hear both doors open. Then a man, who I thought I had seen in the bar before, walks in with guards and points to Loki, "that's him."

"Stay cool," Sylvie looks between Loki and I.

Loki puts his hands on his hips, "it's gonna be fine."

"Sir," one of the guards approaches us, but only speaks to Loki, "can I see your tickets?"

Loki chuckles, "you again. Hello. Um, tickets. Yes, of course. Here they are," Loki holds up his hand and sends fireworks into the air. Even he looks to his own hand confused, "oops. Still, it looks lovely, doesn't it?" The guard closest to Loki grabs his arms, "look, is this really necessary? There is a simple explanation..." A guard puts a hand on Loki's chest, "hey." He and Loki copy the other a few dozen times, putting their hand on the other's chest.

I shake my head, "just let him go, alright, he hasn't done anything to anyone." As I step away from the bar, another guard grabs me, pulling me backwards, "hey."

"Get your hands off of her," I turn toward Loki, seeing him smack the guard he had been toying with in the face before breaking the arm of the one holding him. He then elbows another guard who comes after him. While he fights the guards near him, I kick the one behind me, causing him to let me go.

"Get out of the way," another guard orders as passengers begin to rush toward the exits.

The three of us go about fighting the remaining guards, Sylvie even takes off the metal horned headband she had been wearing and uses it as a weapon. Loki ends up kicking one of the window, to which two guards respond by throwing him out. Sylvie and I to each other and seemly have the same idea, "TemPad." The two of us hurry to the window before jumping out of it, chasing after Loki.