Sacrifice | Loki

The Fall

That night, Loki spent the night in my chambers. For the first time since Thor was first cast out onto Midgard and Loki found out his true heritage, sleep did not elude me. Instead I slept peacefully for the better part of the night, with the trickster at my side. When we finally woke, it was to a knock on the door. I slid off of the mattress and my heart raced as the cool air of the room washed over me.

"Lady Anna, it's just me," Thor called out, nearly inaudible as he attempted to keep his voice down.

I glanced back at Loki to see him sitting up, his bright eyes staring into mine searchingly. A sigh left my lips as Thor knocked once again. With an annoyed groan, I opened the door only slightly and pulled the prince in with one sharp tug.

"We're leaving now. Get ready quickly and we need to get Loki-" the god's voice trailed off as his gaze scanned my bedroom and fell upon the other visitor.

"Already done," I interrupted, snatching clean clothes from my closet and heading towards the bathroom.

I shot the princes a pointed look, catching both of their attention and tearing them away from their glaring contest.

"Behave yourselves," I warned, eliciting a scoff from the dark haired man on my bed.

"Loki," I snapped, causing his eyes to widen in surprise at my tone.

Once sure the two were able to keep away from each other's throats in my absence, I rushed into the bathroom and tugged on a pair of pants as well as a thin shirt. After I was sure I was entirely decent, I left the bathroom to retrieve my armor. As soon as the door shut behind me, my armor was hovering in front of me. It was then that the brothers caught my eye, making me roll my eyes in annoyance as I saw Thor's hand wrapped around Loki's throat.

Groaning, I channelled enough magic to send my left gauntlet flying at Thor and allowed it to strike his arm hard enough to surprise him as well as cause him to release his grip.

"Enough," I spat, "This plan of yours only ends poorly for me so at the very least you could behave yourselves."

As the two gods stood down, I was able to slide into my armor in peace. It was when I strapped my bracer into place that a hand grazed my own. My gaze shot up to meet Loki's as he stared at me with a hint of concern in his eyes, and I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze before checking the straps of my bracers for the last time.

"Let's go before I think too hard on the misfortune this will bring me," I sighed, taking Loki's arm in one hand and Thor's in the other before heading for the door.

"We're taking the ship they crashed into the throne room. Loki will bring us through one of the rifts in Asgard and into Svartalfheim," Thor informed before shoving the door open and heading down the hall.

Loki and I exchanged a shared look of disbelief before jogging after the elder prince to catch up with him. Despite my doubts regarding our plan, I kept silent as I was sure my worries could bring unwanted attention from nearby guards. When I pulled myself from my thoughts, I saw that Loki was doing a perfectly good job of attracting attention himself as he transformed into Captain America.

"Do you wish me dead?" I hissed, placing a hand over his mouth and pushing him against a pillar before Thor had the chance to.

As a small group of guards passed a few yards in front of us, I felt Loki tense and jumped when his arm rested on my shoulder and his eyes filled with unsaid apologies. I shook my head silently and backed away as the guards disappeared, only for my place to be taken by Thor who snapped handcuffs on the trickster. A silent look of disapproval silenced Loki's complaints as we continued on our way to meet up with Jane. As we approached, I saw a look of realization cross her face as she took in the raven haired man's features. My mind reached out briefly and felt her intentions before she ever lifted a finger. As her hand raised to slap him, I caught her wrist and held it tightly in my grasp.