Loki and the Witchling

Chapter 10

A few weeks later you shot awake from a nightmare in the middle of the night. You reached automatically for your magic to create a ball of light above your bed. You'd gotten into the habit after Loki had taught you the spell. The balls of light were always the perfect brightness, unlike the lights of your room. You realized when you reached for the power that your magic was gone. Just attempting to use it made the dull ache you'd had in your abdomen explode into very full, very real pain. You cursed creatively. You had miscounted the days, or more likely just completely forgotten in all of the fun, dates, and magic lessons over the last few weeks.

Now you were in the tower without your powers surrounded by people who were not only way more physically strong than you, but most of them also had super powers as well. Logically, you knew that no one on the team would ever hurt you. Unfortunately, logic and terror were not friends and could not peacefully coexist. Even more unfortunately, it was terror that was currently hanging out in your mind.

So you bolted out of bed to find safety and comfort. Safety and comfort happened to exist across the hall. You cracked open Loki's unlocked bedroom door. Seriously, no one ever locked their doors in this tower. The logical part of your brain did question why you thought safety was with Loki when you were terrified of everyone else in the tower who had powers, but that was a problem for a different day. "Loki? Are you awake?" you asked softly as you opened the door just widely enough that you could slip inside his room. Even you could hear the fear in your voice. His shielding recognized you by now and let you in without an even token resistance. You felt ever so slightly better once you were within the shields.

"Which answer will frighten you less, witchling?" his voice was soft and he hadn't moved from his position under the covers on his bed. He was willing to pretend to be asleep if that's what it took to ease your fears.

"Awake," you answered, stepping further into the room and closing the door quietly behind you. Loki sat up slowly and the lights in the room came on at the same time. He stood from the bed and came over to you, calmly, gently, obviously attempting not to frighten you further. You ran to him and wrapped your arms around him, somehow trusting that he would keep you safe. "Can I stay here tonight?" you asked him in a small scared voice.

"Of course, darling," he soothed, holding you gently to him and petting your hair. "I will keep you safe," he added the promise.

"How-?" you looked up at him. He seemed to already know what was wrong.

"Your magic is Asgardian, little witch," he reminded you, gently teasing. His voice was light and soft, comforting. "It is only natural you would have the same limitations as the rest of the Asgardian ladies. I am perfectly aware of what ails you." Somehow while he was talking he had managed to lead you to the bed and had you tucked in before you even realized what he was doing, much less before you could protest. "You are safe here, with or without me with you-"

"Stay please," you begged before he could continue his thought, more terrified to be alone. He chuckled and joined you in the bed.

"As my lady wishes," he replied. You should have been embarrassed to share his bed, but that was just one too many emotions for this night. Plus this wasn't sexy, this was comfort from fear.

"Do you have any-?" before you could finish the question, a giant slice of chocolate cake appeared on a plate in your hands and a hot cup of tea appeared on the nightstand on your side of the bed. "You're awfully prepared," you commented seconds before digging into the cake. It was an overly chocolaty creation that you would have to demand the recipe for later. It was perfect for your current state.

"I was expecting this," he reminded you dryly. "My mother, as well as most of the court ladies are the same way the days that are without their powers. Lady Sif does not have that problem, however, and just punches everyone she can find until she feels better. We do not encourage the other ladies to follow her example." His story earned him a small laugh. "They are generally less terrified, since they plan a safe companion for those days,"

"They trusted the Trickster God with their safety?" you asked, surprised.

He rolled his eyes. "Of course. I'm not a monster. Fun, chaos, and mischief do not inherently make me dangerous. I was one of the 'safe' males because I am a prince. Though most only came by just long enough to request a cup of healing tea, while pretending that I did not know why they were asking for it. It was common knowledge that my tea was better than the healers." You could hear the pride in his voice at that. "Yes, that is the same tea," he chuckled, answering your question before you could ask it. "Cake first, then tea," he said firmly before you could ditch the cake for the healing tea which was heavily implied to make you feel better. You obeyed, though, sure there was a reason for his order. Whatever the reason was, it wasn't important when finding out opposed delicious cake. "Darling, how have you managed since you have lived here? I assume it wasn't so bad until you lived among such strong housemates."

You nodded your agreement with that last statement. "It was a lot less terrifying among the humans, even though I know no one here would ever hurt me," you admitted. You hated the fear you felt among your teammates.

"It is the vulnerability. It is perfectly normal to feel afraid and defensive," he commented, his voice reassuring and calm. You had finished your cake and moved on to the hot, soothing cup of tea.

You nodded again and continued your explanation. You knew he wouldn't stop pestering you for it until he'd gotten an answer. "I spent the first month terrified, but pretending everything was ok. After that I took to not sleeping for those days except for naps while everyone was out of the tower. I didn't leave my room except for school, told everyone that I was a werewolf and would bite them if they tried to bother me, and that I couldn't heal them on days I transformed into a wolf,"

Loki laughed. "They believed that?" he asked incredulously.

You shook your head. "Not one bit, but they didn't try to bother me for healing and respected that they wouldn't see me for three days. I think Nat and your brother know what's going on, though. Thor always comes by. Often. And brings food with him as a peace offering for checking on me,"

"Of course he does. He knows perfectly well, since he also recognized your magic as Asgardian," Loki replied. "And Lady Natasha knows everything. I did not notice you disappearing for days since I have been here," he commented too innocently. He was asking why you hadn't come to him for comfort and safety before.

"Well when you first got here, Tony had insisted on interrogating you for days about New York," you reminded him. He nodded. "He picked those days for the interrogation..." you hadn't wondered at the time why Tony had picked those days, but you were curious now how he'd known. Jarvis was probably keeping the dates for him.

"Of course he did," Loki rolled his eyes.

"And last month I shadowed Nat for three days straight. She told you it was 'round the clock weapons training." Nat hadn't said a word about you wanting to share her bed or follow her around for days. You figured she knew exactly the reason why, but she hadn't complained or questioned it.

"Thank you for trusting me," Loki said softly. You were feeling too warm, too heavy. You just looked at the tea, wondering why it had become so heavy and why your eyelids were drooping. The terror you had woken with should have kept you up the rest of the night. Loki took the cup from you before you could drop it and spill tea all over the bed.

"You put something in the tea?" you asked him, voice fuzzy and sounding so far away, looking over at him with disbelieving confusion. You hadn't asked him what was in the tea. You should have.

"Nothing harmful. Never, darling. It was just a healing tea, something to help you feel better, relax, and get some sleep. That is all," he told you firmly. At least he seemed to know it was fear talking and not distrust of him. "Rest, witchling. You're safe now," he bid you gently, somehow convincing you to lie back on the pillows as he pulled the blankets up around you.