Emma Joan Tallis

chapter thirty-one: Trust Rage

"A Brother may not be a Friend, but a Friend will always be a Brother."
~ Thomas Jefferson

~*~

"I told you that you were forgetting something," I said angrily to Thor when he couldn't get the darn ship to turn on.

"I thought you said you knew how to fly this thing," Loki said.

"He doesn't," I said flatly.

"I thought he said he did," Loki grumbled.

"I said, how hard could it be?" Thor muttered as he continued to try to get the thing to fly.

"They're on the ship!" Loki warned dramatically. "Well, whatever you're doing, brother, I suggest you do it faster."

"Shut up, Loki."

"I'm with Loki on this one, Thor!" I shouted at him as I started pressing buttons.

"You must have missed something," Loki said sarcastically.

"No, I didn't, I'm pressing every button on this thing," Thor said as he smacked said buttons.

"No, don't hit it, just press it gently," Loki said as he all but kicked something.

"I am pressing it gently. It's not working!" Thor said, and then I noticed a flip. Suddenly, the ship came to life. Thor laughed triumphantly, and I rolled my eyes as Loki made a face.

"That wasn't even you," Loki said in a sing-song voice.

"Doesn't matter!" I snapped as we rose into the air. "What matters now is that Thor doesn't kill us!"

"I believe he'll fail on that account," Loki said as Thor mostly flew through the air. "I think you missed a column."

"Shut up!" Thor snapped.

"Look, why don't you let me take over, I'm clearly the better pilot," Loki volunteered.

"Is that right? Well, out of the two of us which one can actually fly?" Thor asked, and then Jane passed out dramatically.

"Oh, dear. Is she dead?" Loki asked.

"That would make our problems go away," I whispered harshly.

"Jane," Thor called out, and she looked up weakly.

"I'm okay.

"Thor, look out!" I shouted, but he still took off part of a building. Loki and I shared a look and were about to make a sarcastic comment when Thor glared at us.

"Not a word."

"I think the look implied the sarcastic comment," I said crossing my arms. "At least there are less things for you to hit now."

"Now they're following us," Loki said lightly. "Now they're firing at us!"

"Yeah, thank you for the commentary, Loki! It's not at all distracting!" Thor said angrily, and then he decapitated his grandfather.

"Well done, you just decapitated your grandfather," Loki said, voicing my thoughts.

"Not a pleasant experience, let me tell you," I muttered as I rubbed my neck.

"You've been beheaded?" Thor asked in wonder.

"Not the time to talk about it!" I snapped as I opened the door so we could jump out. "I hate you both right now!"

"You know this is wonderful. This is a tremendous idea. Let's steal the biggest, most obvious ship in the universe and escape in that. Flying around the city, smashing into everything in sight so everyone can see us. It's brilliant, Thor! It's truly brilliant!" Loki said, and then Thor pushed him out of the ship.

"Thank you, I thought he'd never shut up," I said as I jumped out of the ship right after Loki who had landed in a heap.

"I see your time in the dungeons has made you no less graceful, Loki," Fandral said with a laugh as I landed right next to him.

"Well done," I told Fandral as I kissed his cheek. "Making sure you caught us."

"If I had known that was how I was to gain your favor," Fandral mused as Thor landed with Jane.

"You lied to me. I'm impressed," Loki said to Thor.

"I'm glad you're pleased. Now, do as you promised. Take us to your secret pathway," Thor ordered. Loki complied with a smile.

"We've got company," I reminded.

"Fandral," Thor said.

"Kiss for luck?" Fandral asked me.

"No," I said bluntly.

"Right," Fandral sighed as he picked up a rope and stepped up to the edge of the ship. "For Asgard!" I held onto Loki as we flew, because Thor was taken. But he was heading somewhere that I thought would result in us being a pancake.

"Loki!" Thor and I exclaimed in panic.

"If it were easy everyone would do it," Loki reminded as he aimed at a very specific spot in the side of the mountain.

"Are you mad?" Thor demanded.

"Possibly," Loki said as we went right through the mountain and entered a portal to Svartalfheim. "Ta-da!"

"I must admit, I'm impressed," I said after we bounded off of the ground slightly.

"My life is complete."

~*~

"What I could do with the power that flows through those veins," Loki said with a sigh.

"It would consume you," Thor warned.

"She's holding up alright, for now," Loki said.

"She's strong in ways you'd never even know," Thor replied.

"Say goodbye," Loki said darkly.

"Not this day."

"This day, the next, a hundred years, it's nothing. It's a heartbeat. You'll never be ready," Loki said. "The only woman whose love you've prized will be snatched from you."

"And will that satisfy you?" Thor asked.

"Satisfaction is not in my nature."

"Surrender not in mine."

"The son of Odin," Loki mocked.

:No, not just of Odin!" Thor argued. "You think you alone were loved of mother? You had her tricks, but I had her trust!"

"Trust. Was that her last expression? Trust? When you let her die!" Loki shouted at Thor.

"What help were you in your cell?" Thor asked.

"Who put me there? Who put me there?!" Loki demanded.

"You know damn well! You know damn well who!" Thor shouted back as he grabbed Loki and raised his fist to punch him.

"Enough!" I shouted at I put my sword between the two of them. "You two are like children, and Frigga would be dissapointed."

"She wouldn't want us to fight," Thor agreed.

"Well, she wouldn't exactly be shocked," Loki said, and they both smiled.

"I wish I could trust you," Thor said sadly.

"Trust my rage."

~*~