Be Thou my Vision

An Unexpected Ally

Chapter 5

"No," Odin replies sternly, and there's a pause before Thor nods.

"I agree, father. Loki is probably playing some game. El and I shall go back to Midgard."

I frown at the thought of Loki, of how he killed Dom, of how it was his fault that all of this started in the first place. I'm quite happy with the decision to never see him again.

I follow Thor out of the side room and back through the throne room, when both of us hear a ferocious scream. There's silence after it, before the scream is repeated, and I realize that whoever is making the noise is actually screaming my name. Three guesses who it is.

"What is Loki doing this time," Thor growls, though he turns and begins stalking towards another door. Stairs lead downward, and we step down, down, down, until we reach what I suppose is their prison. I spot Loki in the nearest cell, and when his eyes land on me, they widen.

"El!" he shouts, and I glare at him.

"Loki, what are you doing?" Thor bellows, and the god of mischief rolls his eyes.

"If it wasn't obvious, brother, I'd like to speak to Alienor. Privately."

"Yea, not happening," I snap, and there's his sly grin again.

"I like you, El," he says, and I clench my teeth.

"Well I don't like you."

"I rather figured that."

"Enough!" Thor interrupts, and he places a hand on my shoulder. "We're leaving, Alienor."

"No!" Loki exclaims, and there's enough worry in his voice that I stop and consider going to talk to him. "Please, El."

I sigh. There's a very sophistocated wall of... something... between myself and Loki, so what harm could it do?

"If it'll shut him up," I mutter as I stomp back towards his cell. Thor groans in protest, but I ignore him and cross my arms in front of Loki.

"This better be good," I say, and Loki nods quickly.

"First of all, I am sorry for killing your boyfriend."

"I highly doubt that," I snarl. "And he wasn't my boyfriend. You killed him before that could happen."

"Like I said, sorry."

"Get on with it," I say.

"Well, that wasn't the reason I wanted to talk to you. I'm also sorry for getting you mixed up with the Tesseract. That wasn't supposed to happen, but past that, I'm guessing Odin told you to accept it?"

"Yes," I say uncertainly, not sure how he knows this.

"That's a lie," Loki says bluntly, and I laugh.

"And I'm supposed to believe this? Who to trust, the king of Asgard, or the god of mischief? Hmmm, tough decision, but I think I'm gonna go with the king of Asgard."

"No!" Loki practically yells. "Listen to me, if you stop fighting it and let its power flow through your veins, it will consume you, and you will be its slave. Gem of destruction or not, you'll be an unstoppable weapon. I've seen it happen, not with the Tesseract, but with another substance. You have to learn to control it, and always fight it. If you accept it, you won't be in control, it will."

I ponder Loki's words.

"But why would Odin tell me that? Does he want me to be unstoppable?"

"I think he wants to use you. If not, he just wants you out of the way. You'll most likely die if you accept it, with that much power running through you."

I slump my shoulders and swear. This makes everything so much harder. But my gut tells me to trust Loki, so I'm just gonna follow that. Who knows what the hell I'm getting myself into.

"Fine," I agree. "I'm going to trust you on this, but if you're wrong--"

"I'm not."

"Whatever. If you're wrong, I will personally come back to Asgard and kill you."

Loki grins wickedly. "Oh, yes. You can definitely handle this."

Thor pesters me all the way back to Earth--Midgard--but I won't tell him what Loki told me. I don't know how he'll respond to the fact that his father lied to me, and I don't want to take any chances. He drops me off at Stark Tower; apparently he has to go back to Asgard and get a few things done. I briefly talked to Aimee before I left, and she decided she wanted to stay in Asgard, though I don't know what Odin thought of that.

I ride up the elevator alone, and stare at my hands. Hidden just beneath my skin is a power that I have no idea what to do with, let alone control. Loki's words of 'wisdom' also circle through my head. I chose to trust him, and while I can feel the energy pulsing through me, I haven't accepted its pull.

Another thing I don't understand is why he chose to help me. He destroyed my hometown of Manhattan, killed my best friend and countless others, and suddenly wants to help me? It all seems suspicious.

The elevator opens at floor 38 and Tony joins me.

"You have a problem answering your phone," I tell him, and he looks surprised.

"What? Nah..."

"Yes, you do," I say. "The first time I called you Clint answered for you, and this time you didn't answer at all. I had to call Pepper." I think for a moment. "Doesn't Jarvis tell you when someone's calling?"

"No, I have that setting turned--"

"Sir, you have a call from Ms. Romanoff pending. Shall I answer it?"

Jarvis's electronic voice fills the elevator, and Tony's face turns red.

"Yea, go ahead," he says. "Hello?"

"Stark."

Instead of Jarvis, it's Nat's voice that can be heard now.

"Romanaoff," Tony replies, and I sort of block out their conversation until I hear my name.

"Is El back from Asgard yet? Fury's been asking about her."

Fury? As in Nick Fury, head of SHIELD? I groan internally.

"Yea, she's actually standing right here, listening to our whole conversation," Tony says, and I can almost see Nat roll her eyes.

"Brilliant," Nat sighs. "You should bring her in."

"Will do," Tony replies, and ends the call. "Jarvis, take us down to floor one."

"Of course, sir," the bodiless voice responds, and the elevator slowly stops and begins going downward.

"Tony, I need to change," I say flatly, and he grins.

"Oops. Nevermind, Jarvis, we gotta go up."

"Make up your mind, sir," Jarvis says, and Tony raises an eyebrow.

"We have to adjust your sass levels, Jarvis."

"I am sorry, sir."

--------------------

hey guys!!

this is a short chapter, hopefully i'll get more up soon!

also, if you love the hobbit and lord of the rings, check out my other fanfic Torn Between and the sequel, This is the Truth!!

ps. i hope im accurately portraying the characters! please tell me if you think im not

--gracie