The King and The Lionheart (Loki fanfic V:1)

Stay Alive Part 24

     Thor raises the ship higher, turns it around and we can see and feel him smashing a few columns in the process. Loki sighs "I think you missed a column."

"Shut up!" Thor commands and we burst out the wall into free air. Even though we're free Thor is clearly not good at this and we're bumping everywhere.

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

"Is that right? Well, out of the two of us, which one of us can actually fly?" Thor retorts and almost hits the ground which people are walking on. On yet another turn for the rose we start getting fired at and almost crash into water trying to avoid it.

Jane suddenly falls to the floor and Loki asks sarcastically "Oh, dear, is she dead?"

"Jane!" Thor calls.

"I'm okay," She says softly raising her hand towards us.

"Still breathing and be nice," I teasingly reprimand Loki.

We suddenly get hit by a few shots and I've had enough "Oh for the sake of the gods. Move!" I yell before shove Thor out of the way and take the controls. I narrowly avoid the pillar Thor was about to crash into.

"Not a word," Thor says to Loki.

Some airships start to follow us and Loki says "Now there following us." We get hit once and I avoid the other shots they took "Now they're firing at us!"

"Yeah, thank you for the commentary, Loki, it's not at all distracting," Thor argues for me.

"No back seat driving, love, ok? Thank you," I say and narrowly avoid the statue of Bor.

"Well done, you almost decapitated our grandfather," Loki says playfully. I fly out from under a bridge and we start getting fired at more heavily and it's harder to void but I do miss most of it. "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!" While Loki was ranting about our bad flying Thor opens the side door. He then pushes Loki out the door and he yells on his way down.

"You're lucky I know the plan. Take the controls," I say and then jump out after Loki and onto the small ship that Fandral is piloting.

Fandral laughs and says as Thor lands holding Jane, "I see you're time in the dungeons has made you no less graceful, Loki," Loki gets up off the floor and shakes the hairs that got free in the fall out of his face.

"You lied to me. I'm impressed," Loki says to Thor with a smile.

"I'm glad you're pleased. Now, do as you promised and take us to your secret pathway," At this Loki grins and take control of the ship, suddenly someone is firing at us and Loki manages to avoid every shot. "Fandral," Thor says.

"Right. For Asgard," He says and uses the rope on the hover ship and swing down onto the people that were firing at us that are now below us. "Nothing personal boys," I hear him say to the guards as we make our escape.

We're now headed right for a mountain and Thor says "Loki."

"If it were easy, everyone would do it," Loki explains still heading straight to the mountain.

"Are you mad?" Thor asks turning to him.

"Possibly," replies Loki.

I take his shoulder to brace for impact and slightly out of fear "Probably," I say and earn a grin from Loki which I respond to with my own unsure smile. Thor hangs onto Jane out of fear for her safety and we go right through a cave in the mountain I didn't see until now. We are only in there for a spilt second, scraping against both sides of the walls, before we go through a portal and into some new realm.

"Ta-da," Loki sings and our hover ship starts to crash onto the ground.

"And you said you're a great pilot!" I complain as we continue to bump onto the ground before he's able to pull the ship off the ground. We pass through the ruins of a city and Thor puts his cloak over Jane's sleeping form.

Loki sighs and says "What I could do with the power that flows through those veins."

"It would consume you," Thor reminds him.

"It would consume any of us," I realize quietly as I watch Jane with sad admiration. I feel Loki's eyes on me and I turn my gaze to meet them. I find him considering me, as if he's looking into the future and wondering just how things are going to work between us.

I know that look, he had it so many nights when Thor was sent away to Midgard. He's planning something, I tilt my head in curiosity but my eyes narrow to consider him back. If I were to ask he wouldn't tell me so I maintain eye contact with him, like maybe I could read his mind if I stared hard enough. Maybe it was just what I said about Jane with the Aether.

I also can't help but then think about what I would do with that form of power. I would make it so that none of this every happened. I would make it so that Loki never tried to take over Asgard, that he never faked his death. Most of all I would make it so that he never left me.

"She's holding up alright," Loki argues. "For now."

"She's strong in ways you'd never even know," Thor says and I see Loki glance in my direction as if thinking the same could be said for me.

"Say goodbye," Loki advises him.

"Not this day," Thor says sadly.

"This day, the next, a hundred years, it's nothing. It's a heartbeat. You will never be ready. The only woman whose love you prized will be snatched from you," Loki says and I can't help but feel he's not just talking about Jane and Thor here. I look at him but he refuses to even look in my direction.

"And will that satisfy you?" Thor asks as if also feeling the double meaning.

"Satisfaction is not in my nature," Loki says.

"Surrender is not in mine."

"The son of Odin," Loki chuckles.

Thor raises angry now and says "No, not just of Odin. You think you alone were loved by Mother? You had her tricks, but I had her trust."

"Trust?" Loki hisses "Was that her last expression? Trust when you let her die?" he says glancing at both me and Thor. I look away not able to let him see my unending sadness or the anger I'm trying to control that sprung up from his words.

"What help were you in your cell?"

"Who put me there?" He takes a moment before yelling "Who put me there?"

"You know damn well! You know damn well you!" Thor says and I hear a thud and see he has Loki pinned in the dashboard wanting to punch him but he's hesitating. If either of them throws a punch then I'll step but this could be a moment for revelation. By the look in Loki's eyes that I'm right, I can see he is only now seeing the change in Thor. I place my hand on Thor's shoulder and he back down. "She wouldn't want us to fight."

"Well, she wouldn't exactly be shocked," he says and chuckles causing me to chuckle as well.

"I wish I could trust you," Thor says and goes back to Jane.

Loki then gets up and says "Trust my rage." Him saying this reminds me all too well of what happened while he was gone. I become lost in my own thoughts until Loki draws my attention "Care to share?"

I look a Thor who's caring for Jane, clearly trying to give us privacy, and I shake my head. "Nothing, just reminded me of something."

"And? What was it?"

"Nothing," I insist and look up at him as I keep my head tilted down. He looks at me for a moment with frustration written all over his face but he doesn't insist. He softly puts his hand on the small of my back and I can't help but tense up at his touch. It's so unfamiliar that it takes a moment for me to allow myself to lean into his touch.