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[loveisnotadagger]

Love Is Healing - Chapter Twenty

Chapter 20/?

Loki/ofc

Rating: T

Author’s Note: Sorry it has taken me so long to update this.  I’ve been having a lot of drama in my life recently.

Even though lunch was simple, it helped to lift Arianna's spirits even more. It definitely gave her an energy boost.

The last twenty-four hours or so had been so hectic, even before the attack. Afterwards, once Arianna had thought Tony had been killed, her emotions had continued in a downward spiral until they couldn't fall any farther.

Now that she knew that he'd been well enough to get a message to Pepper Arianna allowed herself to feel at least a little bit of hope – even though she still wanted to see him with her own eyes before letting herself believe everything would be okay.

During lunch, Arianna and Loki talked about what they should do now – or what they could do now.

For the first time in a long time, Arianna was without security detail, so that made her more vulnerable than she usually was. It would make it hard to leave the hotel. It didn't help that they had no mode of transportation aside from what Pepper could provide them.

"I could get Pepper to let Fury know about where the Mandarin guy is, I guess," she said. "But Killian is the actual problem."

Before they had come to Malibu, Tony had been planning on going to Tennessee. Arianna was sure he would still follow that trail, which would eventually lead him to Miami, Florida, which would lead to the Mandarin. Considering he was responsible for Happy being in the hospital, Arianna didn't envy the guy when Tony did find him.

"I could go back to the hospital. Someone needs to check on Happy again anyway."

"He is Head of Security, so he could help there as well, when he wakes."

"When?"

"If we're going to the hospital and he hadn't woken up, you do plan on healing him further," Loki said. "You won't be able to help yourself."

Arianna let out a short laugh. "Probably not."

"Definitely not." More serious now, "Be careful. You used an extraordinary amount of energy yesterday."

"I'll be okay. I feel fine."

"Perhaps. However, you still need to be careful. Don't ignore when your body is telling you you're doing too much. You must learn your limits."

Arianna knew he was being serious and sincere when he held her gaze with his own.

"I should have told you this before we started delving deeper in to what you can do, but we really don't know how your abilities will affect you. You are mortal; you aren't meant to have magic at all."

Loki was worried, Arianna realized. And it was true that she had to give up a little bit of her strength when she used her abilities. She had almost collapsed outside of the mansion the night before, but she had literally stopped the ceiling from falling in on them.

"I'll be more careful," she said.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." ----------

Once Arianna made it clear that she wanted to go see Happy at the hospital – since that had been the original plan anyway – Pepper set it up for them to go together. Pepper wanted to check in on him as well.

"What about Maya?" Arianna asked.

"Well, if she isn't here when we get back, we'll know that we can't trust her." Pepper said.

"Makes sense, I guess."

When they reached the hospital and went in Arianna was surprised to see the lobby and hallways decorated with strands of lights and plastic trees.

She huffed out a short laugh. "I can't believe I forgot that Christmas is coming."

Though to be fair, since moving out of her parents house at eighteen – due to relocating for her job at SHIELD – she hadn't really celebrated Christmas, or any other holiday really.

"It has been quite hectic," Pepper said.

"True."

"What is Christmas?" Loki asked.

If they hadn't been so intent on making it to Happy's room, Arianna probably would have stopped in her tracks, the question was so unexpected.

It shouldn't have been, though, because of course Loki wouldn't know what Christmas was. He wasn't from Earth.

"Depends on who you ask, but basically it's a day where people come together and have dinner, exchange gifts, things like that."

"Ah." They continued towards Happy's room. "Why?"

"That's another depends-on-who-you-ask question." Thye reached the room. "I'll explain it later."

As they entered the room, Arianna noticed that Happy was pretty much in the same condition he'd been in when she'd left the day before. He still had all the bandages covering his wounds – the ones on his arms and the one on his head. There were probably some on his legs as well, but Arianna hadn't gotten that far the day before.

She wondered if Happy had woken up at all since she'd left. She'd have to check with a doctor to find out.

"Do you need anything?" Pepper asked her. "Tony said you wore yourself out yesterday."

Loki gave her a look that said, 'I told you so,' and Arianna shook her head while smiling sheepishly.

"No, I'm okay. Loki has already warned me about not overexerting myself today."

"And he's right. Happy couldn't even breathe on his own before you saw him yesterday. You've done a lot for him already."

Arianna nodded, knowing Pepper was right.

"I'd just feel better if he would wake up."

It wasn't only for health reasons that she wanted Happy to wake up, though that was the main reason. But Happy could also let them know what exactly had happened if he was awake. He could let them know who had caused the explosion he had gotten hurt in.

"I guess we should close the door before I start," Arianna said. "The doctors still don't know how he healed enough to breathe on his own yesterday."

Pepper did as Arianna asked and Arianna took a seat by the bed. She knew that Pepper had never seen her heal anyone and Loki had never seen her heal anything major aside from her own injury – he hadn't been able to see her healing him.

"My hands may glow a bit," she warned. "It's normal, so don't freak out."

"What color does your abilities manifest as?" Loki asked.

"Gold-ish. Yours?"

"Green."

"Of course it does," she said, answering fondly.

Surprisingly, Happy hadn't broken anything in the explosion, so she didn't have to focus her energy on mending any bones.

She had focused on his lungs the day before; this time she focused on whatever part of his brain that was keeping him from waking up. There was slight bruising, which was easy enough to heal even if it did take about an hour to do it and left her with a slight headache afterwards.

She wasn't as tired as she had been the day before, though, so that was a plus.

There wasn't much else she could do for Happy at the moment, so they all decided to leave.

"We should stop and get you a new phone on the way back to the hotel," Pepper said.

"I don't have access to any of my money right now because my cards were lost in the mansion."

"It's Tony's treat. It's his fault the mansion was attacked in the first place."

It was true that they wouldn't have been attacked if Tony hadn't called out the Mandarin on national television, but Arianna still wasn't too happy with having to rely on Tony's money for a new phone. Since she'd stopped working for SHIELD and because she'd been asked to take care of Loki, she hadn't been bringing in any money. She'd had enough saved up that she wasn't worried about anything right now – especially since she was living with Tony now and didn't have to pay rent for anything, but she had been pretty self-reliant since the age of eighteen. It was hard falling back into becoming dependent on someone else.

Tony never made a big deal about it, so she guessed she could accept a new phone. That was something she actually needed. ---------- Arianna ended up getting Loki a phone as well when she got her own. He didn't really need one at the moment, but hopefully in the future their lives would be secure enough that she could get a job and then they would need a way to keep in touch with each other. It would be kind of hard for Loki to find work – he didn't have all the necessary paperwork such as a birth certificate and a social security number – but he might like to travel one day after the dust settled for everything that was going on. They couldn't be together all the time.

Once they got back to the hotel they were staying at, Pepper told them to come back to her room around 7:00 that night and they would all eat dinner together – she would have room service brought up for them.

Arianna and Loki went back to their room and she proceeded to help Loki figure out his new phone. She wanted to make sure he at least knew how to text and call. They could save the apps for later.

"I can't believe you don't have something like this on Asgard," she said. "How do you communicate with people when they're not there?"

"If it's within the realm we send a letter. Magic can help it get there more quickly."

"And if it's not within the realm?"

"If the matter was urgent enough, we would use the Bifrost to go wherever we needed to go. There are other, less convenient ways to travel, now that the Bifrost is broken. Or I'm assuming it's still broken."

"Oh. What's it like? Traveling to different realms?"

"It's not much like anything to me, I've done it so often. It's as if you're enveloped in a rainbow. There's a slight pressure, but it's over almost as soon as it starts."

"Hm. Maybe it's the human in me, but I can't even imagine hopping from world to world like that."

"It's . . . definitely the human in you."

Once Loki seemed comfortable enough with his phone, Arianna called her bank to let them know she would need a new debit card because she'd lost her other one. She was told there would be a hold on her account until she received her card and verified she'd received it. She was glad she was with Pepper since she wouldn't be able to even access her own funds for a while – not until she went back to the Tower in New York, at least.

The second thing she did was make a call to Nick Fury to fill him in on everything Maya Hansen had told them. She dropped the woman's name and Killian's name. Fury seemed aware of the fact that Killian was part of a think-tank, but he hadn't been aware of Maya or the Mandarin connection.

"Yeah, according to her, they are based in Miami. Apparently, they've been using some serum she created that was supposed to have healing properties on humans, but it actually turns them into bombs if their system isn't compatible with it. That's why no one has been able to find any bomb casings. The casings were human. When they exploded . . . the bodies pretty much vaporized."

"Human bombs. That's a new one for me."

"Yeah . . . I don't know if I trust her story, though. I believe her about the bombs, but I don't know how innocent she actually is in this."

"Thanks for the information. Be safe, Miss Grace."

She hung up and tossed her new phone on the bed. It was 6:00 now; she had an hour left before dinner.

"I'm gonna take a quick shower," she said. "Then we can go to Pepper's room for dinner." ---------- Loki and Arianna arrived at Pepper's room, and Loki immediately knew something was wrong because the door was completely open. A silver rolling cart was outside in the hallway. It had a few covered plates on it – their dinner, probably. There was a fancy dinner knife beside one of the plates, so he quickly grabbed it.

He held an arm out to keep Arianna from going forward, and was grateful when she didn't push forward.

Loki maneuvered the dagger into a familiar defensive position, just as a precaution mostly. He didn't think anyone was actually in the room as there was no noise coming from inside.

He was partly right. There was no one alive in the room. The one who had brought the meal cart was there, dead on the floor. His neck had been snapped. Neither Maya nor Pepper were there.

"Loki?" Arianna called from outside the room. "Everything okay?"

"Definitely not. But you may come in."

So she did, and he heard her gasp when she took in the body on the floor.

"What happened here?"

"Either Maya is even more dangerous than we thought, or someone took them."

"I . . . don't see Maya being able to snap someone's neck."

"Agreed. Then they were taken."

"We need to talk to the people at the front desk. I'm sure they have security feed somewhere. If I get in touch with Fury again, he can get us clearance to see it."

"Alright." Loki grabbed her wrist to get her attention. "Are you okay?"

"I'm – I don't know yet. Let's wait to see what happens."

She didn't seem as shell-shocked as when she'd found out Tony might be dead. But then, she was closer to Tony than she had been to Pepper.

Loki watched as she pulled her phone out and called Fury for the second time that day. From the one-sided bit of conversation he got from Arianna, it came down to Fury saying he could get them clearance to see security footage, but he was going to look into it as well. She refused his offer of security detail when Fury said he could send a few agents over for protection. Given that a faction of SHIELD agents was out to harm Arianna, Loki didn't blame her.

They agreed that once they were able to see the security feed, Arianna and Loki would head back to the hospital to stay with Happy. At least they would be around other people there.

@voteforevilthoughts, @purplekitten30

[loveisnotadagger]

Love is Healing - Chapter Nineteen

Chapter 19/?

Loki/ofc

Even after the shower Arianna felt a little off, but she slipped a robe on and got in bed anyway. Loki, also in a robe, soon followed. Neither of them really slept, but they did doze off and on.

At least they did until a soft knocking came from the door to the room.

Arianna groaned and pulled the pillow over her head until she realized the person knocking was probably Pepper.

Loki chuckled. "I'll get it."

"Thank you," she said, voice muffled from under the pillow.

She removed the pillow once Loki was up. She watched him go to the door and look out the peephole.

"It's Miss Potts."

Arianna sat up, though she stayed under the covers, as Pepper came in. Pepper had obviously already taken a room at the hotel, for she had obviously showered and was dressed for the day. She was carrying two plastic bags with her, which she placed at the foot of the bed.

"These are some of your things. I grabbed whatever clothes I could. I couldn't find your phone."

"That's okay. I can get another one."

Pepper breathed in deeply and let it out slowly.

"I have to say something, and I need you both to listen."

Loki sat down on the bed, near Arianna.

"The cleanup crew has been going through the rubble and there has been no sign of Tony. They're going to search the water because he did fall in. There's no way he didn't. The whole back of the house and part of the garage fell in."

"So he – he drowned?"

That was a terrible way to die, not that there were many good ways to die. Anyone would have been terrified, but Arianna knew Tony must have been extremely so. She had read the file he'd given her on him as a way for him making it up to her for sneaking around her own files.

Before he had become Iron Man, Tony Stark made weapons and sold them to the military. His company, unbeknownst to him, had also been selling their weapons to other countries. He'd only found that out when he and the convoy he'd been in was attacked – attacked by people using his own weapons.

Tony had been taken hostage in Afghanistan. The people that had taken him had tortured him when he'd refused to build them what they wanted – some type of explosive – and one of the methods they'd used had been holding his head under water, sometimes long enough for him to pass out. He'd known they weren't going to kill him that way, not when he hadn't done what they wanted, but still – not being able to breathe without taking in water, holding your breath so long your body and mind tricked itself into thinking it was dying . . .

Tony being pulled under and not being able to get back to the surface must have been horrifying.

"That's what everyone's thinking." Pepper fixed her gaze on them. "That's what I was thinking. But I was wrong."

Arianna shook her head. "What d'you mean?"

"I found one of his Iron Man mask plates."

"Okay . . ."

"Tony left a message on it. He's . . . he's alive."

"What? How?"

"I don't know. The suit, probably. But look, the point is that no one else knows he's alive and it needs to stay that way."

"Where is he?"

"He didn't say, just that he was going after the Mandarin. Right now he has the element of surprise because the Mandarin doesn't know he's alive."

Arianna almost couldn't believe what she was hearing. Why hadn't Tony just let them know he was okay after the last helicopter left and before the emergency crews and media hounds showed up? It would have saved them a bunch of grief.

"Does he know who the Mandarin is?" Loki asked. "He wasn't certain before."

"He didn't say that either. He just said he had to find the guy." Pepper shook her head. "We have a bigger problem."

"Bigger than the Mandarin?" Arianna asked.

"Someone showed up at the mansion looking for Tony. She claims she's a scientist and that her boss is working for the Mandarin."

Arianna looked from Pepper to Loki and back again as she processed Pepper's words.

"Who is this person?"

"Someone Tony knew at some point, so she claims. Her name is Maya, and she's waiting in my hotel room." ----------

Loki and Arianna got dressed quickly once Pepper left. They were planning on going to her room once they were ready because they both wanted to meet this Maya. Loki was automatically suspicious that someone connected to the Mandarin had showed up so directly after them having been attacked by the man – or group, whichever.

Once Pepper had gone, both Loki and Arianna were able to process what they had just learned.

It had been about fifteen hours since the attack first happened, which meant that the last fifteen hours had been a roller coaster of emotion – mostly the highs and lows of grief for Arianna and trying to keep up with those highs and lows for Loki.

It wasn't that Loki hadn't felt grief for Tony. Aside from Arianna, Loki felt most connected to Tony; he enjoyed the man's sarcasm most of the time and truly admired his brain. But he'd needed to put aside his own feelings so he could be there for Arianna the way she needed him to be.

As it was, Arianna seemed to be having trouble believing that Tony was actually alive, that he had survived the fall into the water. She probably wouldn't really believe it until she saw him again.

They walked in relative silence through the hotel hallway until they reached Pepper's room, where Arianna knocked softly on the door.

Pepper let them in the two bed hotel room. Whom Loki assumed was this Maya Pepper had told them about was sitting on one of the beds. She had long brown hair, brown eyes, and appeared to be in her mid-thirties in Midgardian years.

"Guys, this is Maya Hansen,' Pepper said. "Maya, this is Arianna Grace and –"

"Aren't you the guy who led the attack on Manhattan?" Maya asked, her eyes on Loki.

"I am," Loki said, allowing his voice to become softer and slightly menacing.

Pepper and Arianna knew that he'd been under Thanos's control; Maya and the general population had no clue. Maybe they could use that to their advantage in this situation.

Maya looked at Pepper. "Am I exchanging one terrorist for another? I thought you were the good guys."

"Good is a relative term," Loki said.

Both Pepper and Arianna were giving him looks full of confusion; he was just glad he wasn't giving him looks of distrust.

"Tell me more about your boss and this . . . other terrorist. Why are you working for him?"

"I didn't know I was until recently."

"What made you realize?" Arianna asked.

"The explosions. When I found out they couldn't find a bomb casing for any of them."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Pepper seemed to know the story already, but she was allowing the back-and-forth questions and answers for now.

"Because it's my fault those explosions ever happened in the first place."

"You don't strike me as the type to go around blowing things up," Loki said.

"I'm not," Maya admitted. "But the man I work for is."

"And who do you work for?" Arianna asked.

"A man named Aldrich Killian." It was Pepper who answered. "who apparently works for the Mandarin."

"Are we supposed to know who this Killian person is?"

"He's the owner of a think tank called Advanced Idea Mechanics," Maya supplied. "He bought my research and experimented with it. When he realized it could be weaponized, he sold it to the military."

"Funnily enough, he came to my office a few days ago," Pepper said. "He wanted Stark Industries to buy into his think tank. Because the research he showed me could be weaponized I had to turn him down."

"What were you researching?" Arianna asked Maya.

"I . . . created a serum called Extremis. It was supposed to be something that could help advance the medical field by years – decades even. One shot of Extremis and it could heal anything. I'm talking paralysis, cancer, amputation."

"Are you saying your serum would help people grow back lost limbs?" Loki asked. "Impossible."

There was no way a Midgardian had invented a way to regrow limbs. Even Asgard wasn't that advanced in healing techniques and they were light years beyond the capabilities of Midgard.

"It worked well enough when I tested it on plants," Maya said. "I grew them and watered them with the serum. You could rip a leaf off and a new one would replace it almost immediately. There was just a small problem."

They all waited for her to tell them exactly what the problem was.

"Whenever the plant felt threatened, it would explode."

"It would explode?" Arianna asked. "How does a plant explode?"

"The serum changed the DNA somehow."

"And what's causing the explosions now?" Loki asked, voice taking on a darker tone because he was fairly certain he already knew the answer.

"Once Killian bought my research, he went straight to human testing. He ran into the same problem. Whenever the test subjects felt any intense emotions, they would run hot and . . . if they couldn't regulate . . ."

"They became human bombs?" Arianna asked, disgust apparent in her voice. "That's what you meant about it being weaponized."

"I never wanted it to be used that way."

"Well, it is."

"The Mandarin attacks," Loki said. "Are they actual attacks? Or accidents?"

"They're caused by people who can't regulate. The Mandarin takes credit for them to cause panic, keep people afraid."

"You know who the Mandarin is?"

"I have no idea who he is, but he works out of Miami. Killian takes trips out there all the time to make sure things are running smoothly."

Arianna began to fidget beside him, switching her weight from one foot to the other as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"How do we know if we can trust you?" Arianna asked. Then to Pepper, "Is there a way we can check to see if her story checks out?"

"I've already made a few calls. I'm waiting for a response back."

"Until then, is it wise to keep her here?" Loki asked.

Pepper shrugged. "If she really is an informant, really is trying to help, then she'd be in danger anywhere else."

"And you're okay with her staying here? With you?"

"If she is who she says she is, then she won't be a problem."

"Then we need to talk," Arianna said. "In private." ---------- They left Maya in Pepper's room and went back to their own room.

Once inside, Arianna immediately said, "I don't trust her."

"Nor do I," Loki concurred.

"I don't know," Pepper said. "Yes, her research, her invention was weaponized and sold to the military, but Tony used to sell to the military too. In fact, he used to deal exclusively in weapons. Look at him now."

"That's true." Tony had even been called 'The Merchant of Death' because of all the weapons he'd created and sold. "But don't you think it's weird? Her just suddenly showing up?"

"She says she knew Tony years back. He listened to her talk about her research, even suggested ways to fix the imbalance."

"Yeah, but why wait until now?" Arianna shook her head. "If she knew her serum was being weaponized and could cause all these . . . explosions . . . why wait to come to Tony for help? This Mandarin thing is recent, but Tony's been Iron Man for years and he could have helped her even before that."

"Yet she waited until Stark threatened the man on national television and only appeared after he was targeted and presumed dead."

Arianna looked at Loki and realized the hardness and coldness that had taken him over when talking to Maya had disappeared. She was glad. He'd reminded her of the man she'd encountered when she first met him, only not as crazy, and she hadn't liked that at all.

It was good he was back to being the Loki she had gotten used to, and they seemed to be thinking the same thing: Something was fishy with Maya and her sudden appearance.

"Something else struck me as odd," Loki said. "She said that the Mandarin is operating out of Miami, and that this Killian takes trips there to make sure everything is running smoothly."

"I noticed that, too. But if the Mandarin is the one in charge, why is Killian the one running interference unless he's the one who's really in charge?"

Loki sent her a small grin. "My thoughts precisely. Maya said these explosions are accidents, something the Mandarin is taking credit for but not directly causing. It's all for show."

"I still think it's bigger than that. If . . . if the military did buy Maya's serum and if people really are becoming bombs, then the government has to know. They're covering it up – or at least whatever department that's responsible for this is."

Arianna turned her attention to Pepper then.

"If I were you, I would get a different hotel room, but if you do stay with her then be careful." ---------- Pepper left, telling them they should order room service rather than try to go out to get something to eat, so Arianna ordered lunch for her and Loki – nothing extravagant, just soup and sandwiches – and they relaxed on the bed to wait for their food to arrive. They were laying side-by-side facing each other.

"I've said it before, but you are very clever," Loki said. "You and I seemed to have caught the same slip-ups in Maya's story."

"Yeah . . . it just didn't make sense." She sighed. "Another thing that didn't make sense was the way you were acting in there. It reminded me of when I first met you."

"I didn't mean to frighten you. That wasn't my intention. But she saw me as a threat, and I thought it best to keep it that way."

"Oh. Good. And I wasn't frightened, only confused. I wasn't expecting it."

"I didn't make you think I was tricking you?"

"No." She shook her head, smiling slightly. "If anything, you were tricking her."

"Hm." He returned her smile. "Most people would call you a fool for trusting me."

She looked up at him, put a hand over his chest.

"Most people don't understand that you need to feel trusted. You usually put on the face people expect to see. Maya saw the man that led the attack on New York, so that is what you became."

"Very astute."

"I'm still trying to figure out what you think I see you as."

He grasped her hand in his, brought it to his lips, and kissed her palm. It caused her breath to stutter.

'I think you see me as . . . me. Therefore, I can be myself."

She nodded. "So far you being yourself has worked out well."

He smiled widely and genuinely, causing her to laugh at his open expression. He laughed softly along with her.

"I'm glad you're feeling better."

"I have reason to feel better."

"True enough. Yesterday was difficult and exhausting."

"It was." She quickly became serious again, and squeezed his hand. "Thank you for . . . being there. I was . . . I was a mess and you were – you were great. So thank you for helping."

He used his free hand to tilt her head up, thumb and fingers gently holding her by the chin. Their eyes met and held each other. Her breath caught in her throat again.

"Always," he said, looking at her softly but intensely. His gaze traveled to her lips and back to her eyes. "May I?"

Instead of answering out loud, Arianna just leaned her head back more and moved forward. Loki met her halfway and her response was immediate. There was the usual shot of desire she got from kissing Loki – and only from Loki, it seemed – but there was also warmth that had nothing to do with desire and everything to do with the . . . the mutual fondness they had for each other.

The kiss didn't last long and there was hardly any heat behind it, but it was still nice. It still provided the closeness they both seemed to want at the moment.

They didn't let each other go, even when the kiss ended. Loki brought her closer, kissed her head, and repeated himself.

"Always."

@voteforevilthoughts @purplekitten30

[loveisnotadagger]

Love is Healing - Chapter Eighteen

Chapter 18/?

So here’s another chapter!  I know it’s a quicker update than usual, but I am in quarantine because the person I live with tested positive for COVID, so . . . yikes.

Warning: This chapter is angsty with some hurt/comfort going on at the end.

Arianna and Loki were rudely awakened by the massive bang and the trembling of the house around them. Arianna basically shot up into a sitting position and Loki wasn't that far behind.

They had taken to sleeping in the same bed most nights since the first and only time they had become intimate, even though Loki still had his own room in the Tower in New York, and he'd been offered one there in Malibu. Loki had let Arianna choose whichever way she wanted, so they'd ended up sharing.

Considering what was now going on, she was glad she'd decided to share the room.

"Jarvis?" she called out but didn't get a response.

"Perhaps he is offline," Loki said.

"Yeah." She stood up and noticed the floor was still shaking. "We should go."

Loki was already standing. "Agreed."

They quickly made their way out of the room and were hit by the dust and smoke from something having blasted through the back wall – the one that was just one big window.

"Tony? Pepper?" she called out and reached for Loki at the same time.

She grabbed his hand and began making her way to what she knew was Tony's room even as she heard the familiar whup-whup-whup of helicopters. There was another bang from downstairs, but Arianna actually saw what had caused it this time: a missile.

Someone was shooting missiles at the house.

Without warning the floor began crumbling beneath her feet. Loki grabbed her and pulled her to his side where the ground was more stable.

"Perhaps we should go downstairs."

"Good idea," she said.

Tony had the Iron Man suit; he could get Pepper and himself out if it came to that.

It turned out that both Pepper and Tony were already downstairs - downstairs and laid out on the floor. They were both okay, just dazed.

"I told you we needed to leave," Tony said as he stood up, helping Pepper in the process.

"You did no such thing," Loki said. "But yes, we must go."

It was as they were trying to get out that the ceiling decided to cave in. Two things happened almost simultaneously. Tony, who had obviously been tinkering with his suits the past few months did something to make his suit shoot out to cover Pepper so nothing could fall on her and hit her; the other thing was that Arianna shot her hands up to direct her power and was able to slow down the rubble from the ceiling, at least enough for them to get out from underneath it.

"Hey, look at –" Tony began before another missile hit, knocking everyone but Pepper off of their feet.

The actual floor began to split and Tony was separated from the rest of them.

"Go! I'll find a way around."

Even as he said that, the house was struck again and it began to tilt down from the cliff and towards the ocean.

"Go!" Tony shouted to Pepper. "Get them outside."

Pepper hesitated.

"You have the suit! I can call it back to me once you're outside."

That got Pepper moving, Loki and Arianna following quickly behind her. Everything was fine until they reached the way out – it was blocked, and it took a few tries to get the blaster on the suit to work. It finally did, and they were able to get out.

"Tony, now!" Pepper yelled.

It was quite a sight watching the suit come off of Pepper piece by piece. It jerked her around for a few seconds, but she finally got free of it, which meant Tony now had it back, which was good because there was a never-ending barrage of gunshot being fired now.

There were three helicopters in the sky behind the mansion. Arianna could see whatever weapons being used sticking out of the sides of them. She wondered if she could take out the weapons without taking out the helicopters.

That thought didn't last long as something flew out of what used to be the back wall and hit one of the helicopters, causing it to plummet towards the sea.

The other two helicopters continued firing at the house, but it didn't take long for an energy blast to hit one of them and that one began twirling down as well, only this time it crashed into the remaining bit of mansion still hanging over the cliff. It began to crumble into the ocean, yet the last helicopter still continued to blast the cliff with missiles.

"Tony!" Pepper yelled.

He . . . hadn't come out, hadn't walked or flown out. If he'd still been in the part of the house that had broken off, then he was in the sea by now. Would he be able to swim if he was encased in his Iron Man suit? Would it even work if it became immersed in water?

The attack suddenly stopped and Pepper recklessly made her way back inside. Arianna made to follow her, but her legs decided to turn to jello at just that moment and she almost fell to her knees. She would have had Loki not been so close.

It was as if it hit her all at once – her head was throbbing, her body was shaking, and she felt all around awful.

"Steady," Loki said. "You've expended a lot of energy today."

"But Tony –"

"If he's fallen into the sea, there is nothing you can do." Loki's voice was quiet but firm. "If he's still inside, Miss Potts will find him."

Arianna allowed Loki to help her to the ground. She could hear Pepper yelling for Tony, and she was aware of the last helicopter flying away. It made her realize that Tony probably wasn't going to be found in the rubble of the house. Tony had been the target and whoever had been piloting the helicopter wouldn't have given up if there was a chance that Tony was still inside, or . . . alive and still inside.

But Loki was right. There wasn't anything she could do. She'd expended too much of herself already what with helping Happy to breathe earlier and then keeping the ceiling from falling on them just now – she didn't know how she'd done that. She just seen it happening and had reacted instinctively.

It had left her feeling more drained than ever. ----------

It didn't take long for the sound of sirens to fill the air. Not too long ago, Loki wouldn't have known or recognized what the noise meant, but he now knew that they meant some kind of emergency crew was on the way.

Why wouldn't they be? The building that used to be the mansion was basically destroyed, only half of it still standing. The rest of it had broken off from the cliff and fallen to the water below.

A lot had happened in a very short amount of time once he and Arianna had been shocked out of bed – out of their shared bed – to find the building they were in was being attacked. Not a promising thing to wake up to.

They'd made their way through the quickly-being demolished house, and they all would have been killed by the roof caving in if Arianna hadn't reacted so rapidly.

She was getting stronger and Loki was grateful that they weren't dead, but it did worry him how much of a strain using her abilities seemed to have on her. Loki remembered having what his mother called 'growing pains' when he'd first started learning magic. It had taken him years to build up the proper endurance to use magic in battle. The problem was that Arianna didn't have years. She was mortal and didn't have the amount of time to practice that he'd had when he was starting out. She didn't have an extended life span. He hoped him teaching her more wasn't shortening it.

As it was, he and Arianna were both seated on the ground outside the rubble, Arianna because she could barely stand, and Loki because he wasn't going to leave her side when she was so vulnerable.

Pretty soon the siren noises were met with flashing lights coming from different emergency vehicles: police cars, ambulances, fire trucks.

As the emergency people began to comb through the wreckage Pepper Potts came out of it. She began making her way over to them. Other than the tears in her eyes, her face seemed to be set in stone.

"Tony?" Arianna asked when Pepper reached them.

Pepper closed her eyes, tears finally falling, and shook her head.

Something between a gasp and a sob escaped Arianna's mouth and she collapsed into herself as she leaned against Loki even more than she had been.

Loki knew that Arianna and Tony had been close – after Natasha and Clint, she was closest to Tony – and Tony had even considered her as family, more than just a teammate. From her reaction, Arianna obviously felt the same way.

"This place is going to be a media circus within an hour," Pepper said. "We need to get you out of here before that happens."

Pepper was mostly talking to Loki. It wasn't exactly public knowledge that he was still on Earth. If the media saw him there, they might just think he had done this.

"Where do we go?" Arianna asked quietly. "What are you gonna do?"

"I have to stay here. There will be questions I'll need to answer. I'll call one of the security people to come pick you up, take you to a hotel. I'll meet you there later." ---------- Pepper stayed with them until a driver in a black car came to pick them up. Loki helped Arianna into the backseat and sat beside her.

Aside from the quiet crying, Arianna was silent. She had become almost despondent once Pepper had let them know that Tony hadn't been found.

Loki didn't know what to do for her. She wasn't physically hurt, aside from a few scrapes and bruises, but she was grieving and there wasn't anything he could do aside from making sure she knew he was there for her.

It wasn't until they reached the hotel and were settled in their room – their room that had more than enough room for just the two of them - that she finally spoke.

"I've, uh . . . I've seen a lot of death," she said, voice tight and rough. "But I've never actually lost anyone, not anyone I was close to."

She seated herself on the edge of the bed and crossed her arms over her chest as if holding herself together.

Loki stood in front of her, hands clasped, fingers clumsily playing against each other. It was a nervous tic he had learned from his mother.

"Arianna, I'm –" He knelt down in front of her. "Tell me what you need. I'm not sure what to do."

He'd never had to help someone with grief before. There was no sickness on Asgard, so aside from accidents, which were rare, or dying in battle Loki could honestly say this was new to him. He'd never lost anyone he was close to either.

"I'm – I don't know," she said and looked at herself.

She began wiping away at her shirt and pants.

"I'm filthy." She looked at him now. "We're filthy."

"Yes," Loki said softly. "It's the dust and dirt from when the ceiling almost fell on us."

"Right."

There were smudges on her clothes and skin, bits of dust and rubble in her hair. He probably looked just as bad.

He brought his hands up to rub up and down her arms.

"Would you like to get cleaned up? Would that make you feel better?"

"Probably, a little. A shower would be good." Her eyes widened a bit. "We don't have any clothes. We don't even have any shoes. My phone's still at the house."

"I'm sure Miss Potts will take care of everything when she has time."

"Yeah." She sighed. "Yeah, and we probably have robes here. Or we can request them."

She stood up then, legs still a bit shaky. To be honest, she was shaky in general, and Loki wasn't sure how much was from exhaustion and how much was from shock.

"You, um . . ." she looked down again. "You can come with me. You need to clean off too."

"You are requesting that I shower with you?"

"Yes. I don't wanna be alone."

"Okay."

Loki stood up, his knees protesting and popping, causing him to wince. He'd never had to worry about joint pain or other minor aches and pains on Asgard.

He took her hand when she reached for his and then followed her to the bathroom. ---------- 'This bathroom is ridiculous,' was the first thing Arianna thought when they stepped into it. It was almost as big as the actual room was.

Along the side wall were shelves of towels and robes. They looked soft and fluffy and would probably feel great against her skin when she was able to put one on.

There were also different soaps and shampoos to choose from, not just the generic kinds one would expect to find in a hotel bathroom. She grabbed a random one of each and placed them in the placeholder where the shower was.

The shower was the kind that was built so the water would come down on them like a waterfall. This was definitely not a room she could afford on her own.

She turned the knobs to set the temperature before she turned back to Loki, who was watching her carefully.

"I've never showered with a man before," she admitted.

"Well, they don't have showers on Asgard, so I can honestly say I've never showered with anyone before."

Arianna allowed a small smile to play over her lips before reaching down to pull her shirt over her head.

"Grab a couple of wash cloths," she said as she removed her pants.

Loki did as she asked as she rid herself of her underwear and stepped under the warm water flowing down. It wasn't long after that that she felt his presence behind her and she found herself becoming tense.

This wasn't like the last time she had been naked in front of him. That had been a happy and spontaneous occurrence. There was nothing happy or spontaneous about this. She was sad and weak and sore. She was also naked, and Loki was naked, and even though she had been the one to suggest them showering together, her mind was now telling her that it wasn't a good idea.

"Arianna?"

She jolted a bit when his hand touched her back, but she got herself under control quickly enough.

"We are tired and we are dirty. We need to get clean so we can go to bed." He slid his hand up to her shoulder. "Nothing else is going to happen. Not tonight, and never unless you want it to."

She sighed, her throat and eyes burning.

"I know. I know you would never –" She turned around to face him. "I know you would never do that. I don't know why I'm reacting this way."

She allowed herself to be pulled closer to him. She relaxed a bit once his arms were securely around her. She even put her arms around him.

"You're upset, overwhelmed. And we're naked."

Her face pinched up as his words sunk in and she nodded.

"Yeah."

"I can wait outside the shower, if you need."

"No." She tightened her hold on him. "I'm okay. Or I will be. Just give me a minute."

She leaned more fully against him, their chests touching, her head against him, and let herself relax even more when Loki began caressing his fingers over her back.

His lips touched the top of her head and her body sagged in exhaustion.

"God, I'm so tired."

"Hm. Let's get you cleaned up then."

"Okay," she mumbled.

Loki stepped away and grabbed one of the wash cloths and soap.

"May I?"

"Y – you wanna wash me off?"

"If you'll let me. I'd like to take care of you."

"I – uh – okay."

The warm water flowing over her skin coupled with Loki gently massaging as he cleaned her of the dust and dirt helped soothe some of her aches away. He even washed her hair for her and it felt so nice she wanted to cry again, only for a completely different reason this time.

No one had ever taken care of her before, not like this, and definitely not a man who claimed to care about her, but Loki was and she liked it. She liked him – more than liked him – and it frightened her.

She had never wanted to open herself up to anyone, not in the way she wanted to open up to Loki. She'd never felt safe enough to. And as odd as it was . . . Loki made her feel safe.

He'd somehow known just what to say and do earlier when her mind had started messing with her, had known she'd needed reassurance that nothing was going to happen if she didn't want it to. He'd even understood why she'd been feeling the way she had.

He'd said she was upset and overwhelmed, and they were naked. She usually associated negative emotions with nakedness and he knew that. He obviously didn't want to become associated with those emotions. He'd let her decide whether she wanted him to stay, whether she wanted him to touch her.

He would probably never know how much she appreciated that.

@voteforevilthoughts, @purplekitten30

[loveisnotadagger]

Love is Healing - Chapter Seventeen

Chapter 17/?

Loki/OFC

This is mostly a filler chapter, but it had to happen for the next chapter to happen. :)

Tony's plan to go to Tennessee fell through when he received news of another, more recent, Mandarin attack. This one was definitely one of his because the man was taking credit for it. Once again, he was on the news – just a voiceover – taunting the president for not being about to find him. He was even threatening the president.

The Chinese Theater in Los Angeles had been hit, but that wasn't what changed Tony's mind about going to Tennessee. What changed his mind was that Happy had been at the place when the explosion had taken place. Happy was now wounded – badly enough to have slipped into a coma – and in a hospital.

So instead of catching a flight to Tennessee, he was on route to California. Arianna and Loki were with him. Tony had heard the news of the attack before he'd found out about Happy being in the hospital and the reason why he was in the hospital. Once he'd realized how badly Happy was injured, he'd recruited Arianna to go with him to California. She'd agreed without hesitation with the condition that Loki come with them. She wasn't going to risk leaving him alone anymore than they were willing to risk leaving her alone.

They still had a few hours left of the flight – in Tony's own plane, of course – and Arianna had drifted off almost as soon as the plane had taken off.

"If I may ask," Loki said quietly, "what is the plan once we get there?"

"We have to make a quick stop at my place. Pepper's not done decorating to her liking, but it's done up enough to stay in."

Tony was speaking quietly too, since Arianna was asleep.

"She's not gonna like it, but you'll have to stay with Pepper while we are at the hospital. You look different than you did when you first came to Earth, but we still can't risk someone in authority recognizing you."

"I figured as much," Loki said. "Does Miss Potts know the situation? Is she okay with me staying with her?"

"She's fine. She knows I wouldn't leave you with her if I thought you had any intention of hurting her."

Tony watched as Loki processed the fact that he trusted him to some extent. They had come a long way.

"To be clear, what Arianna is to you, Pepper is to me. She is the thing I can't live without."

Loki's brow furrowed and his lips moved as if he were going to speak, but he never did. He didn't have to. ----------

As Tony had predicted, Arianna was not happy about having to leave Loki at the Malibu mansion.

It wasn't that Arianna didn't think it was secure enough – it belonged to Tony Stark, so of course it was secure, but she didn't like how open the house plan was. The whole back wall was basically made of glass, a whole window that looked out over the ocean. It didn't help that the house was basically built into the cliff it was hanging over. Tony had built underground so he could have his lab and garage there.

Pepper wasn't there when they arrived, but Arianna and Tony made sure Loki was settled in. There was food and any other thing he may need for the short time he would be there on his own.

Loki hadn't had to be on his own for months, not since he'd been left on Earth.

"I assure you, I will be fine for however long you're needed at the hospital," Loki said.

"Pepper should be here soon, anyway," Tony said. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah."

Tony and Arianna got in one of Tony's many cars and he drove them to the hospital. They didn't really talk much other than for him to explain what was wrong with Happy. The only thing he really seemed to know was that he was in a coma.

"Is he in a natural coma or a medical coma?"

"I think a natural one. Why?"

"I can only heal natural ones. They're caused by actual wounds. The medical ones are drug induced, so I would be able to heal his other wounds but his doctor would have to pull him out of the coma."

"Oh. Good to know."

Once they reached the hospital and went in, it didn't take long to find Happy's room. Tony seemed to have to steel himself before going into the room.

Arianna should have done the same. Happy was in a really bad state. He apparently had lacerations all over his body if the bandages were anything to go by, and his left wrist seemed to be broken, along with his right elbow. There was a bandage wrapped around his head that covered his left eye. Worst of all, he was hooked up to a ventilator and had a tube down his throat. He needed a machine to help him breathe.

"Why didn't you say it was this bad?"

"I didn't know," Tony answered simply.

"Right."

She moved forward and pulled a chair towards the bed, careful not to hit any of the machinery around her.

"Anything you need? Before you start?"

Arianna shook her head and placed her hand on Happy's arm – on a place that wasn't covered by a bandage – and let herself be pulled into him. She hated this part, but it was necessary to find out what she could do to help.

Right away she knew she would need to heal his lungs first.

"Well, the good news is that his heart seems to be fine," she said. "I think if I focus on his lungs first, he'll be able to do the rest on his own."

Relief seemed to have a physical effect on Tony as his body sagged with it.

"Do you need me to leave? I know you need to concentrate."

"No, you can stay. Just don't talk too much." ---------- It took over two hours for Arianna to expend enough energy for Happy's lungs to be able to work properly on their own. The doctors were shocked when he no longer needed the ventilator to breathe. Arianna and Tony were forced out of the room when the doctors came in to take the breathing tube out of his throat.

Tony noticed that Arianna was kind of sluggish now and her nose had started bleeding not long before the doctors had come in. He'd had to pull her away from her task when she'd appeared to not even notice the drain of her own energy. Then again, she never did seem to notice the toll this seemed to take on her.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I – my head hurts and I probably need to eat."

"Right. We're not eating hospital food. We can pick something up on the way back to the house."

"But he –"

"He can breathe on his own now, Aries."

"Well, yeah, but –"

"You said if you healed his lungs he could probably do the rest on his own. We can come back later after you've rested." When she didn't respond, he continued with, "Come on. You don't have the Tesseract this time."

"Right."

"So . . . food?"

"Food," she agreed, allowing a small smile to form.

They passed by the nurse's station on their way out and Tony let them know that no one was to enter Happy's room without some form of identification. He didn't really think anyone would come after him, but he did think it was better to be safe than sorry. ---------- A media circus was waiting for them when they reached the front doors of the hospital. It made Arianna stop in her tracks. Tony had to put a hand on her back to get her moving again.

"Just ignore them," he said.

How do you ignore a group of hungry news reporters and journalists?

It was fairly easy for Arianna because they weren't hounding her, but they were throwing questions left, right, and center at Tony.

He was able to handle it with grace – probably because he'd had years of practice – until they reached his car. Then one of the reporters basically shoved a phone in Tony's face and said something that Tony didn't respond well to. It ended with Tony threatening the Mandarin and even inviting the Mandarin to come after him. Tony gave up his address – to the press! – before grabbing the reporter's phone and throwing it away to let it smash.

"You can bill me."

Arianna didn't know what to think about that display, but she got in the car after Tony did and didn't say anything as they drove off.

Tony was the first to break the silence with, "So . . . cheeseburgers?"

The question struck Arianna as ridiculous, considering the context of what they had just been through coming out of the hospital. She couldn't help but let out a few huffs of laughter.

"Tony, you just gave out your address to the media and invited a terrorist to come after you."

"We still gotta eat."

Arianna sighed and shrugged. "Fine. I want chicken tenders, though." ---------- Loki was waiting in the living room area when Tony and Arianna arrived back from the hospital. They had a few white paper bags with them and a cup holder with four Styrofoam cups.

Loki could tell just from the way that Arianna was walking that she was exhausted and would probably need a nap after she ate. He would see to it that she got one.

Loki hadn't been alone for long once Tony and Arianna had left earlier. As predicted, Pepper Potts had come home not long after. They hadn't said much to each other, just confirmed that she, in fact, did understand the situation and that he wasn't there to hurt her. Other than that, they had both stayed to themselves.

Considering she was the CEO of Stark Industries, she might have had work to do, even if she was at home.

"How did it go?" Loki asked as Arianna reached him.

"He's . . . better. I'm going back later," she said.

"He couldn't breathe on his own before she worked her magic on him and now he can," Tony put in before putting the paper bags on the table. "Where's Pepper?"

"Upstairs."

"Ah. I'll be right back."

Arianna sighed. "You gonna tell her what you did?"

"Nope. She'll find out soon enough," he called down as he made his way up the stairs.

"What did he do?" Loki asked.

"Basically gave his address to the whole world."

"Oh. Not very subtle, is he?"

"Well, he is Tony Stark. We shouldn't expect anything else."

"Hm. Are we safe here?"

"We should be, at least for the night. It hasn't made the news yet."

"And tomorrow?"

"By then Pepper will have found out and she'll handle it. She's the only one who can talk sense into Tony."

"Oh. That must be quite a thing to see."

"Probably. I've never actually seen it, but I've heard stories."

Once Tony and Pepper came downstairs, they all went into the dining area and sat on stools that were situated around a counter.

Tony was the only one with a cheeseburger and fries. Pepper had a garden salad with a side of chicken tenders, and Loki and Arianna had chicken tenders and fries. Everyone had sweet tea. Loki didn't seem too fond of it.

Dinner was peaceful, so Tony definitely hadn't told Pepper what had happened. Loki assumed there would be some type of yelling if he had. ---------- It turned out there was a lot of yelling when Pepper found out.

"We're on total security lockdown," Tony said. "We will be fine. Jarvis is monitoring everything that moves around the perimeter I've set."

"There's only so much I can do, sir, when you give the world's press your home address," Jarvis said.

"Yeah, yeah. I've got the Iron Man suit. I can handle the Mandarin, if he comes."

"We don't have suits, Tony," Pepper exclaimed. "We are vulnerable and we should leave."

"We're safer here."

Pepper seemed to take a deep breath before continuing. "We are going, immediately and indefinitely."

"Iron Man says no."

"Tony, we are leaving this house. That's not even up for discussion."

"I said no."

While Tony and Pepper were arguing back and forth. Arianna and Loki mostly just sat back and watched, even though Arianna thought that Pepper was right in the long run. They would eventually have to leave.

@voteforevilthoughts, @purplekitten30

[loveisnotadagger]

Love is Healing - Chapter Sixteen

Chapter 16/?

Loki/ofc

Rating: T

Merry Christmas!

Also, we're delving into Iron Man 3 territory here. I'm taking liberties with the timeline, obviously, and with the plot to incorporate the fact that Arianna is in it and that Loki was never taken to Asgard for punishment. Enjoy!

----------

The next several days were spent in relative peace even if the group did have to have a pow-wow about what they were going to do now that they one-hundred percent knew that the Science and Weapons Department of SHIELD was responsible for the incapacitation serum that had been used on Arianna and Natasha.

Arianna still wanted to avoid the subject since there wasn't anything they could really do about it. It was, however, encouraging to find out that the Tower was being watched by Fury's agents since that meant Fury was on her side. No matter what he may have thought before, and no matter his feelings about Loki, Fury had obviously decided to put his trust in her again. Not that the extra security had done much the last time she'd been attacked.

It was at their meeting that Arianna learned they were losing almost half of their team. Happy was being sent to Malibu because Pepper had offered him a position as Head of Security and he would be working with her at Stark Industries; Clint and Natasha were being sent on two separate missions, though Clint was leaving earlier so he could see his family beforehand.

Bruce and Steve would continue to stay at the Tower, as would Tony, Arianna, and Loki, but Steve did mention that he'd probably start looking for a place of his own once they figured out how to keep Arianna safe on a more permanent basis.

Arianna did feel guilty sometimes about the others having put their lives on hold for her, but she was also sad to see Clint and Natasha leave – especially Natasha seeing as to how Natasha was her best friend. But she knew that the team couldn't stay together forever. There were missions more important than she was.

"What will you be doing?"

"What we used to do before we found out aliens are real. Just regular human evil," Natasha said.

"Right. I want you to be careful, all the same." ----------

It wasn't long after Happy, Natasha, and Clint left – just a few days, really – that the news began reporting on three recent bombings that had taken place around the world. The last one had happened in Kuwait. A military church had been attacked while women and children had been inside; they had been using it as a sanctuary, but it had not provided the protection they had been seeking.

The news stations had received videos of the destruction caused along with a voiceover by a man calling himself the Mandarin.

"Why are we just hearing about this guy when he's done so much damage already?" Tony wondered out loud.

"Media control so the public doesn't panic," Steve answered. He shook his head in disgust. "Whoever this guy is, he waited until the women and children were alone before he attacked. That's what a coward does."

Arianna wondered if this had anything to do with the sudden missions Clint and Natasha had been called away on. She also wondered why Steve hadn't been called away. He was Captain America, after all.

"If this is the third attack, they should be closing in on him soon," Arianna said. "Especially if he's taunting them by sending videos."

"Or they have no chance of finding him and he knows it," Loki said. "That could be another reason he is taunting them."

They had all been doing their own thing when the Breaking News story had put them all on alert and they had met up in the living room area to watch the tragedy play out on Tony's hologram screen.

"Hey, Jarvis, pull up everything you can find out about this Mandarin guy and all the attacks he's responsible for."

"Yes, sir."

Within moments Jarvis had all the information available, which meant everyone in that room knew more than the general public knew. For instance, there had been more than three attacks made by the Mandarin – they weren't just accredited to the man; he had openly admitted to them. There had been nine attacks in all. The U.S. military was having trouble finding this guy – or group, more likely – because they could never find a bomb casing to I.D. a device.

"Why aren't they asking me for help?" Tony asked. "They know I can do it."

"I was just thinking that this is probably what Clint and Natasha were pulled away for."

"They don't have the tech that I have." Tony shrugged. "I'll get in touch with Rhodey, see what's what."

It turned out that once Tony Stark said he was going to do something, he did it. He called Colonel James Rhodes right away to find out why he hadn't been called in or at least why the use of his tech hadn't been requested.

"The Pentagon is scared. After what happened in New York, they need to look strong. Stopping the Mandarin is priority, but it's not –"

"It's not superhero business," Tony completed. "Got it.

"Tony Stark isn't just a superhero," Arianna cut in. "He's also a genius inventor, engineer, science guy."

"Who are you?" Rhodey said from his place on the screen.

It was really Tony's fault that she had intervened; he shouldn't have made a video call with everyone still in the room.

She answered the man's question and he seemed to recognize her name, at least.

"You said that the Pentagon is scared." She went on. "Meanwhile, innocent people are dying. Not using available resources to catch this guy and stop his attacks doesn't seem scared to me. It seems stupid and almost like a power play. As if they don't want the attacks to stop."

Arianna noticed when Loki lowered his head to hide the small smile that had formed on his lips.

"I don't like what you're implying, Agent Grace."

"I'm not an agent anymore, and I'm not implying anything. Only calling it as I see it."

"A'right. Stand down," Steve said.

Her tone was softer when she spoke to Steve, but she still said, "I'm not a soldier either. Doesn't any of this bother you?"

"Of course it bothers me. But I'm sure there's a reason for the way things are being done."

"The last time you took something at face value, SHIELD was trying to weaponize the Tesseract," Tony said.

Steve crossed his arms over his chest but he didn't say anything.

"Not one of us has a reason to trust government types at the moment," Arianna said.

"No, we don't," Tony said. "Bye, Rhodey."

"Tony!"

Tony ended the video call and Rhodey's face disappeared from the screen. He looked at the others in the room.

"I'm gonna order pizza for lunch, and then I'm gonna continue down the Mandarin rabbit hole. Who's with me?"

"Me," Arianna said quickly.

"I suppose that means me as well," Loki said.

"Bruce? Rogers?"

"I can help with research, but I'm not sure about going out in the field," Bruce answered.

"Let me know what you find," Steve said. "Then I'll decide what I'm gonna do."

"Fair enough. Still want pizza?"

"Absolutely." ---------- Everyone took a break while Tony ordered the food and while they waited for it to arrive. Nobody went too far away; they just scattered around the large living room.

Tony and Bruce were still messing around with the technology; Steve was looking out the window; Loki and Arianna had gravitated towards the couch and were now sitting on it.

"You handled yourself quite nicely," Loki said softly. "Before, with Colonel Rhodes and Captain Rogers."

"Are you surprised?"

"No. I just thought you should know that I find that highly attractive."

"Oh."

Heat filled her cheeks and Loki grinned.

"That is even more attractive, however."

"Loki!" she exclaimed, voice hushed.

Loki placed a hand on her back to soothe her.

"I am only teasing, darling."

"I know, but still . . ."

It still fascinated Loki how Arianna could be so bold one moment and then so bashful the next. Though, to be fair, he'd never seen her act bashful with anyone other than him.

Neither Loki nor Arianna was a fan of overt displays of affection in public, but he still enjoyed getting away with whatever she allowed: brushing of hands, rubbing her back, holding hands when appropriate, even just sitting close enough together that their legs touched.

It had been almost a week since they had first become intimate. They had woken up together a few hours after and she had run her fingers over the marks she'd left on his neck. She'd had one or two marks herself and it had caused her to become slightly self-conscious. She hadn't hidden them and she hadn't pulled away from him, but Loki had been able to tell that she'd been wondering what the others would say.

She'd relaxed when no one had said anything about either of their marks. To be fair, most everyone had been distracted by the fact that Loki had no longer been blue.

Loki still didn't know why that was. Knowing his mother and her magic, it had something to do with him finding out that other people could accept what he considered the worst part of himself.

Loki and Arianna stayed to themselves until lunch arrived, after which Tony just tossed the pizza boxes on the coffee table and told everyone to dig in.

Everyone did.

Loki wasn't sure he liked pizza. There was a little zest to it that he was not accustomed to, and it was a tad bit greasy for his tastes. It did, however, fulfill the purpose of filling them up quickly. ---------- While everyone had been eating lunch, Jarvis had been compiling a more thorough database on the Mandarin. Files had been taken from SHIELD, the FBI, and the CIA. There were even virtual crime scene reconstructions.

Once everyone was finished eating, Tony pulled up the information on the hologram screen. Tony had control of the technology, but everyone gathered around to see what they could see.

"Okay, what do we got here?" Tony asked as he began scrolling through the information, which really meant he was going through the holographic pages by sliding them through the air. "His name is an ancient Chinese war mantle, meaning "advisor to the king." South American insurgency tactics, talks like a Baptist preacher. There's a lot of pageantry going on here . . . lots of theater.

"Jarvis, what about the crime scenes?"

"The heat from the blasts were in excess of 3000 degrees Celsius. Any subject within 12.5 yards were vaporized instantly."

"And Rhodey wasn't being stubborn and secretive when he said they couldn't I.D. a device?"

"No, sir. No bomb casings were found."

"Rules out bombs on the ground."

"Probably missiles, too," Steve said. "Radar would have picked them up."

"Unless there's some new stealth tech we don't know about," Bruce said.

"I make it my job to know about tech like that," Tony said. "It's gotta be something else."

He asked Jarvis to bring up the thermogenic signatures again and to factor in three thousand degrees. Jarvis was able to access satellites and bring up the last twelve months of thermogenic occurrences.

A series of red dots filled the screen as a map of the world came up. Each red dot represented a thermogenic occurrence, but there were more than nine dots.

"Take away everywhere that there's been a Mandarin attack."

One by one, the red dots began to disappear. Finally there was only one left, and that was from somewhere in Tennessee.

"Are we sure that's not one of his?" Arianna asked. "Why are the heat signatures so similar?"

"The incident was the use of a bomb to assist a suicide," Jarvis answered. "It predates any known Mandarin attack."

"Which doesn't automatically mean it's not one," Bruce said.

"No, this man wants people to know the damage he causes. He would have taken credit for it," Loki said.

"But the heat signatures are very similar," Tony said. "So good job, Jarvis. Good job, Aries. Also good question."

"Since no bomb casings have been found, could the explosions have been caused by chemicals of some kind and not a device?"

"It would have to be one hell of a chemical cocktail," Bruce said. "But it could be possible."

"We won't know unless we check it out," Tony said. "Looks like I might be going to Tennessee." ---------- Later that same day Arianna, Loki, and Steve were down in the training room . . . well, training. Steve was working out and Arianna was working with Loki – he was teaching her how to throw knives.

She was doing fairly well, though Loki thought she was aiming more with her mind than any actual skill she may have had. Either way, she was hitting her target every time.

"Your ability to focus is becoming stronger," Loki told her.

"Thanks. Still hope I never have to stab anyone, though."

"Well," Loki lowered his voice so that Steve wouldn't hear. "As long as you're with me, you can leave the stabbing to me."

Arianna let out a surprised laugh and then shook her head in amusement.

"Sounds good to me."

After a moment or two to sober up, Loki asked, "Why does Stark insist on going to Tennessee alone?"

"Well, he wants to check out the site of the explosion, see what he can find. It's interesting that the explosion was so like the ones the Mandarin is responsible for and yet he hasn't taken credit for it."

"Yes, but why alone?"

"He's the science guy." Arianna shrugged. "Aside from Bruce, the rest of us would probably be in the way. I know next to nothing about technology and neither does Steve, and you have a brilliant mind, but you haven't been taught about Earth's science."

"True enough," Loki admitted.

Loki had been learning what he could, picking things up randomly just by observing, but he definitely wasn't on the level of Tony Stark or Bruce Banner.

Then again, most people weren't.

@voteforevilthoughts, @purplekitten30

[loveisnotadagger]

Love is Healing - Chapter Fifteen

Chapter 15/?

Rating: This chapter is M

Author’s note: There is a scene of sexual nature in this chapter, so this chapter alone is rated M, but it doesn't change the overall rating of T as there won't be many sexual scenes in this story.

Loki stayed with Arianna for a while and they watched TV. They used it more as background noise than anything else. Mostly they just talked – Loki about growing up on Asgard, and Arianna about how different it was growing up on Earth.

"I can't believe you guys are so advanced in the technology department, yet you still ride around on horses," Arianna said.

"The roads are full of markets and people. The economy would be destroyed if we used land vehicles."

"As a prince, did you have many meetings about the economy of Asgard?"

"No. As a prince I mostly just followed Odin or Thor. As king, however, that was part of my duty."

Arianna, who had been lying down under the covers to counter the coldness of his skin, basically shot up into a sitting position.

"Hold on. When were you King of Asgard?"

"When Thor was banished to Earth, Odin went into Odin-sleep. It is something like what you call a coma only while he was asleep he was restoring his energy. He had been putting it off, so it lasted longer than it should have. Thor was not available to take the throne, so it fell to me.

"Oh. Assuming that didn't go well seeing as to what happened."

"No. Thor was held captive by SHIELD for a brief time and I came to visit. I told him that Odin was dead, even though he wasn't, and that he wasn't allowed to go back home. I had a plan and I didn't want Thor getting in the way."

"A plan?"

"To get rid of the Frost Giants. I thought . . . I thought Odin would have approved. Thor's friends went to retrieve him and he realized I must have lied, and so he came back. We fought and Odin woke up, got in the middle of it. That was the night I –"

"The night you fell, or let go. The night you would have died if . . . if you'd had it your way."

Loki said nothing then because she was correct. He had given up that night. He'd lost his throne, lost his brother, (which he could admit was mostly his fault, and he'd never really lost him anyway) had disappointed Odin, seen the disapproval in his eyes. He'd realized he'd never be good enough and had just stopped caring at that point.

Loki was surprised when Arianna straddled his hips. They were almost eye-level now, him leaning against the headboard, her on top of him. Her hands were on his cheeks, almost too warm against his skin, and her eyes focused on his.

"I am so sorry about all the pain you went through, and for how long you went through it. But I am glad you didn't die. I'm glad I got to meet you. Despite the circumstances, no matter how or why, I got to meet you, and here we are."

Still Loki didn't speak. He didn't know what to say, still didn't know how to react when someone showed genuine concern for him.

Her lips touched his briefly – so briefly he would have missed it had he not felt the warmth from it. Loki realized then that the reason she had basically climbed on top of him was because she was trying to comfort him. She kissed him again.

Loki was still floored that she wasn't completely disgusted by him. He didn't look human and yet she was still treating him like one.

The kiss was soft and loving, no promise of anything more. The kiss just was. In it were light and grace and healing. Everything he knew Arianna to be, and everything he needed. She was everything he was not.

She fit her lips more firmly against his. He was slightly concerned about how cold she might become like this but trusted her enough to let him know if it became a real problem.

He wrapped his arms around her waist. She tensed for a moment, but Loki didn't let her go. He wanted her to get used to his embrace, wanted her to learn he would never harm her with it. He ran his hands slowly up and down her back, causing her to sigh against his mouth and relax against him.

After a few more mostly innocent kisses, Arianna found a place to rest her head in the crook of his neck.

"Sorry, I – she started, "it happened years ago. I know it shouldn't bother me still, not like that."

"Stop." His voice was soft but firm. "If we're talking about the same thing, it will probably always bother you. I don't believe one ever gets over something like that, not completely. And that's okay, not something you need to be ashamed of. You're not weak for having moments like that."

"You're not . . . I mean . . . I told you I didn't know how to do relationships. I've never seen an example of a happy, healthy relationship. Not in people I'm close with. My parents were never really happy together, and they always argued. They stayed together because of me, but they divorced once I moved out.

"And what you think happened did happen, and by someone I thought was a friend, someone who clamed to love me. Then he did that to me, and that was my first taste of what he called love. I wanted nothing to do with it."

Loki continued rubbing up and down her back as a way to soothe her as she talked.

"Sometimes I can't even stand to be touched."

"I'm touching you now."

"Yeah, but if it's sudden or –"

"Do you think I care about that? I'm over a millennium old. My days of thinking a physical connection is more important than an emotional one are long over. That you allow me the liberty to touch you at all still astounds me after all I've done."

"It – it feels different with you. I feel mostly okay with you. With everything that's been going on . . . it just opened my mind to all of it again."

Loki's hands stilled on her waist.

"Have I given you reason to believe I am unhappy with the pace you've set?"

"No," she said quickly. "But that's just it. You've let me set the pace, and I don't know what to do with that."

Loki wondered then how the other men in her life had treated her. He knew there had been others. Arianna had said so herself, said how they'd only wanted one thing. Given the distrust she still seemed to be experiencing, she couldn't have learned much about how intimacy was supposed to work from the others.

"You do realize I despise not being in control," he said.

She let a small laugh out. "I appreciate you handing over the reins, appreciate you realizing I might need that." She moved off of him and settled back onto her side of the bed. "I actually like being held. I was just surprised."

She fit herself against his side and Loki felt as she gradually relaxed.

"Are you not cold?"

"No. Most of you is covered in clothing, so it's not really bothering me."

Loki glanced at the screen to see a man stabbing an oversized rodent.

"What are we watching?" he asked, appalled.

"The Princess Bride. One of my favorites."

Loki continued watching for another few minutes. He decided he liked Harry Potter better. ----------

Sometime between the rat scene and the end of the movie Arianna had drifted off, still against Loki. If she were being completely honest, the fact that his skin was cold was nice. She usually got overheated and sweaty when she slept under the covers. So when she woke up, still with Loki and still pressed up against him, one of his arms draped over her middle, she was surprised when she was really hot.

"Loki, it's too warm," she muttered, and pushed away from him when she didn't get a response.

She opened her eyes to find a new comfortable position and her mind caught up with her. She was warm because Loki was warm, which shouldn't have been possible. Only it was, because Loki was no longer in his Frost Giant form. He looked human again.

She jerked up and Loki still didn't respond. He was sleeping deeply and he looked peaceful. Young. Innocent. Too bad she had to wake him up, but he'd want to know this.

"Loki," she called out and began to rub his chest rather than shake him. He responded by grabbing her hand and squeezing gently. "Loki, wake up. Open your eyes."

"Don't want to."

"Yes, you do."

There was amusement in her voice. Loke must have heard it because a sleepy smile graced his lips as he allowed his green – no longer red – eyes to open. She intertwined their fingers and brought their hands up for him to see. At first he just stared, but he soon sat up and began checking himself over, almost frantically.

"Did you –" he began. "I didn't –"

"I don't know what happened," she said. "I know it wasn't me, though. I wouldn't even know where to start. I woke up and was hot. That's when I realized."

A wide, bright smile shined through, making Loki beautiful and causing Arianna's breath to catch. She'd never seen him so happy. It was a good look on him. It made her want to kiss him, so that was what she did.

She literally just grabbed his face and pressed her mouth to his. She could tell she'd surprised him, but he responded quickly enough.

Her brain shut off. All she knew was that Loki was insanely happy, which made her insanely happy. Being able to feel and not have to think was sometimes nice, and a happy Loki ended up being a playful, loving Loki. He was also a very handsy Loki, but she really didn't mind at the moment.

She also didn't mind when he basically pulled her on top of him. For the second time that day she was straddling him. This time Loki used that position to his advantage. He began trailing kisses over her jaw and down her neck.

She'd never known how much she liked that, how much the kisses could tickle, or how the nipping and sucking could cause her to shiver, cause warmth to pool in her belly.

She moaned as one of his hands found a place in her hair and began massaging her scalp, and it didn't bother her at all when he gently pulled at her hair so she'd lean her head back. He'd needed better access to her neck and throat, and she was completely okay with that.

Her hands went to his hair then, soft and smooth, only to press his mouth more firmly against her skin. His lips felt wonderful, especially when they found just the right spot under her earlobe that made her lose her breath again.

Loki wrapped her in his arms and held her against him tightly. Tightly but carefully, she noticed when he pulled her to fit against his growing arousal.

This was the part when she usually began doubting herself or began pulling away – or worse, allowed this to continue even when she didn't want it to. There had been many times when she'd let herself just fade away while whoever she was with took his pleasure from her, not caring that she wasn't mentally there with him.

But that didn't happen this time. She was very much present and she knew Loki wouldn't let her fade away – and he wouldn't continue if she did.

As it was, Loki's hands had found their way under her shirt and were gliding up and down her back. It almost tickled when he reached the waist of her pants. She couldn't help but arch against him.

She was amazed because this wasn't scary at all. This was fun and good and pleasurable, and she wasn't even the one controlling this. Loki was in complete control, and in that control he was taking care of her.

She rolled her hips against him and he almost growled her name as he thrust upwards. Giddy with the fact that she had pulled that response from him, she let instinct take over and set up a rhythm that she was comfortable with.

"There you go, darling," he said, voice soft and seductive and hitting her right in the gut.

Arianna grabbed the bottom of Loki's sweater and pulled it over his head. The look he gave her then was one of hunger, and the smile he gave her was one worthy of the god of mischief. It filled her with even more excitement. She tossed the sweater to the floor. She turned her attention to his neck. She knew she must have a few love marks, so she intended to leave some of her own.

She gently shoved him back so he was lying down again. His eyebrows shot up and she gave him a mischievous smile of her own before attacking his throat with nips and kisses. She realized her hands were shaking only when she began rubbing up and down Loki's chest.

One wouldn't know it by seeing him in clothes, but Loki was actually beautifully built, tall and lean. His skin was soft and smooth, lightly tanned, made less noticeable by his dark hair and his tendency to wear darker clothing.

She froze when she reached his jeans.

"Loki?"

"If you're looking for permission, you have it," he said breathlessly.

She relaxed then, but there was still a small problem.

"Loki, I'm not on birth control."

"Birth control?"

Loki's hands squeezed against her hips and she had to keep herself from moving against him.

"It's something a woman uses to keep her from getting pregnant."

"Oh. We have something like that on Asgard – a tincture the healers make. We don't call it birth control."

"So . . . we can't . . . you know."

She didn't have condoms on hand either. It wasn't every day she had someone she actually wanted to be intimate with.

"There are ways to make love without penetration, Arianna."

She sighed her relief because she really didn't want to stop. For once she was enjoying the closeness and intimacy of touch, so when Loki's hands slipped into the back of her pajama pants to caress the curves of her bottom she allowed herself to continue enjoying it. ---------- Loki was enjoying himself too, enjoying learning the things Arianna liked and the things she was skittish about. She didn't mind being led by him he'd realized delightfully, as long as he was careful with her – and he was careful with her. So, so careful, especially when she seemed surprised when something felt good.

Arianna had helped remove his clothing and he was now completely naked.

"I believe you have me at a disadvantage," he declared. "You're fully clothed."

"I don't know. I kind of like it this way," she teased.

She had moved to his side a while ago rather than stay on top of him, but she'd yet to lose her playful side. Loki had to admit he liked this side of her.

She removed her sleep shirt and pajama bottoms, leaving her in her bra and panties, cotton and nothing particularly special but they fit her.

Loki turned on his side and slowly reached out a hand, giving her enough time to move away if she wanted to. She let him touch her and he did so in a teasing manner. Over her stomach, against her sides, down her arms, and then they were kissing and she was pulling him half on top of her, not showing any fear while doing so. She did, however, keep her arms and legs free from his weight.

She tangled her fingers through his hair, sending tingles down his spine.

Within a few minutes, Loki had her bare before him. Her eyes were closed, but she was very much present, there with him. She'd been vocal as he'd kissed her breasts and made his way down to her thighs. Her legs were shaking and he was almost certain it was from pleasure, but he had to make sure.

"Look at me," he said, and she did. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," she said, rushed. "No one's ever –"

"Oh." He grinned wickedly. "Well, you will enjoy this."

Without further hesitation, Loki began making love to her with his mouth. She let out a small sound of surprise before grabbing his hair. She seemed to be caught between just scraping his scalp and pushing his mouth harder against her.

Making the decision for her, he flattened his tongue against her and hummed when she arched against him and opened her legs wider for him. She was realizing she could enjoy this, trust him with this. She didn't stop him when he placed his hands on her stomach to keep her from moving as much. His grip on her didn't do much against her arching up when she reached her climax. He didn't want her to feel trapped or as if he were forcing her down.

He kept lapping against her as she came down, didn't stop until her fingers relaxed their grip on his hair. Even then he stayed where he was, only moving to rest his chin on her pelvic bone. He enjoyed the view even as he tugged her hands free from his hair and then kissed her right palm.

Her eyes were closed and she was breathing heavily, trying to get herself back under control.

"Okay?" he asked even though he already knew the answer

"Brilliant." She tugged at his hands. "Get up here."

He did as requested, kissing up her body on the way. Once there, she pushed him on his back and they were back where they had started, only now they had no clothing between them. His length was sandwiched between his stomach and her folds. She had seated herself that way deliberately and was rocking gently against him. It felt divine.

"Arianna, I thought –"

"Making love without penetration, remember? Is this okay?"

"Of course."

It was better than okay. He enjoyed it, and she enjoyed it. When he was soaked from her juices she took him in her hand and brought him off that way. His climax was intense and it left him peaceful enough that he could have fallen asleep had he wanted to.

Arianna picked up her shirt then to clean herself off where the proof of Loki's climax had hit her stomach and dropped to her thighs.

"Men are so messy," she teased lightly.

Some had gotten on him as well he noticed.

"Don't mess up your shirt," he said and gently pushed her onto her side of the bed. "I'll get a wash cloth."

He groggily got up and did just that, washing himself off in the bathroom and bringing the cloth back to clean her. She hadn't moved from her spot and was almost asleep when he reached her.

He considered that a job well done.

@voteforevilthoughts, @purplekitten30

[loveisnotadagger]

Love Is Healing - Chapter Fourteen

Chapter 14/?

Rating: T

Loki/OFC

Author’s Note: There is a very brief mention of Arianna's past trauma in the form of a nightmare. It's very vague and not graphic at all.

"I don't know what I'm going to do now that I've become this creature."

Arianna was still in Loki's room, now seated on the bed with him beside her. They were no longer holding hands, but Loki had relaxed once he'd realized he could touch her without harming her. Her hand had become cold, but not so cold that it would damage her.

"I don't think it would change anything if the others found out. I mean . . . we all get along with Bruce, and he can turn into the Hulk. Bruce thinks he's a monster too, but we don't. The others don't."

"I don't think it's the same thing."

"Okay, let me run through what will happen if you don't let them know. Tony will want to know why you hid this – and he will find out. He'll use Jarvis to check in on you if you don't come out in a few days. You could say that you're sick, but he'll still check on you. You're one of us now, and . . . you care about me, so he'll check."

"And my appearance?"

"Tony will be curious because he's Tony Stark, genius, scientist, engineer person. Bruce will be curious too, but more reserved about it. Tash won't care, not after she knows it doesn't change anything else about you. Steve won't attack as long as you don't pose a threat, which you don't. Now . . . Clint might try to shoot you. I might have to warn him about the change before he sees you."

"What of Fury?"

"I technically no longer work for SHIELD. I don't answer to him. But Fury can't know that you're no longer completely mortal. It probably wouldn't end well."

A small grin briefly took over Loki's mouth.

"You may have to learn to lie, then, Miss Grace."

"I can lie very well, actually. I just choose not to unless it's completely necessary." She shrugged. "As an agent, I was trained in the art of lying. I still prefer the truth."

"Of course you do."

"And so you know I speak the truth when I say . . . If you don't want me to tell anyone, I won't. I'm behind you one-hundred percent."

She knew what it was like having a secret she didn't want anyone knowing for fear of them looking at her differently, so she wouldn't try to make him tell the others. She did know, though, that she'd been wrong.

Tony knew about her past and didn't treat her any differently. He was more protective and slightly less sarcastic with her, but she was fine with that. She supposed that Clint knew, but she had never told him. She had, however, worked with him and Natasha for the better part of a decade and she was sure there had been situations where he would have figured it out. Steve knew and, though he never mentioned it, he was supportive in every way he could be. Bruce didn't know her past, but she knew that he wouldn't see her as weak because of it.

The point was that this part of Loki would take some getting used to, but she was sure everyone would if he gave them a chance. ----------

Loki kept to himself for the next few days and Arianna brought him food three times a day, much like she had when he'd first arrived. She told the others he wasn't feeling well.

She'd even gone so far as to say he hadn't come out of his room because he was 'feeling a little blue.'

As Arianna had predicted, Tony wanted him checked over after the third day of Loki not coming out of his room. He was seriously considering sending Bruce in if Loki didn't get better, so Loki was considering letting the others know out of necessity.

"Maybe you could tell them one at a time," Arianna suggested. "Remember, they probably don't know what a Frost Giant is either, so they won't have any preconceived notions about what they are."

That would definitely work in his favor.

"I think I will tell Captain Rogers first, Agents Barton and Romanoff together, and then Stark and Banner."

"Why Steve alone?"

Loki shrugged and smirked. "Rogers is level-headed, and I think I can bring him over to my side. Three is better than two. Rogers, then Romanoff. She will bring in Barton – Agent Romanoff is key there."

Arianna smiled, almost laughed. "There's the mastermind coming out." ---------- Arianna found Steve in the gym – of course that was where he was. That was his go-to place when he was alone. Steve got about as much sleep as Tony did.

She stepped in the room to see Steve killing a punching bag. He stopped when he noticed her, and caught the bag to make it go still.

"Something you need?" he asked.

The fact that she hadn't moved to find a workout station herself must've clued him in on her wanting something from him.

"There's something you need to see."

"Okay."

She gestured for him to follow her, which he did. He seemed confused as to why she wasn't speaking as they were walking.

"Is everything okay?"

"Um . . . depends on how you take this."

"That kind of has me worrying, Aries."

They reached Loki's room and she knocked so Loki would know they were there in case he'd changed his mind.

"I need your word that you won't say anything to anyone, okay?"

"Will this hurt someone if I don't?"

"No. This won't go against any moral code you may have, but what you're going to see is something the others don't know about yet."

Steve grabbed her arm and looked in her eyes. "How bad is it? He's been sick."

"Well . . . he's not himself, but he's still Loki. Okay?" Then, "Loki, can we come in?"

"Yes. Come in." ---------- Steve hadn't known what to expect when he walked into Loki's room, but seeing Loki with blue skin definitely wasn't it. Even if he hadn't been warned, he would have known the man was Loki. He had the same black hair, the same lean build to his body, and the man was wearing Loki's clothes.

He still stood there in a defensive stance, ready for a fight if one were to start.

"I am obviously missing something," Steve said. "When did this happen? How?"

Loki briefly summarized what Arianna knew and Steve especially paid attention to the race war bit. He'd had enough of that just living with the Nazis thinking the Jews weren't the perfect humans and so deserved to be eliminated. Steve knew there had been experiments done in the war camps, and the Nazis wanted to create the perfect race. He didn't know all the details because science wasn't his thing, but he knew enough to know it had been horrible.

He also knew that America had been less than kind to the Asians living in the country once Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor. People usually blamed a whole race for the acts of a few individuals. It wasn't fair, but that was usually how it worked.

He still didn't understand the whole of what Loki explained. He wasn't into mythology or any religion that wasn't Christianity, but he understood enough to understand that Loki had been treated unfairly. It didn't excuse anything Loki had done, but it did help Steve get into his mind a little. It didn't change how Steve felt about him.

"Blue or not, I don't particularly like you. I don't trust you, and I probably never will. You wanted to take over my world. That being said, that has nothing to do with where you come from. It's about what you did."

Loki seemed to accept that. He probably would've been the same way had someone come in and destroyed part of his world and tried to take over.

"Arianna knows how I feel about you two. She came to me before you went on your date. I'll tell you what I told her."

Loki tensed. Steve could tell he was waiting for something negative to be said. It was what he was used to. He hoped what he said next helped Loki get over that at least a little.

"I don't know how you feel about the rest of us, but I know you care about her. You've risked your life for her, fought to protect her – killed to protect her. I don't believe you would ever harm her on purpose, and would never willingly let harm come to her."

He looked at Arianna then. She had a small smile on her face even though there were tears in her eyes.

"I know you weren't asking for it, but that's my blessing. Or as close to it as you're going to get from me."

"You're right. I wasn't asking for it. But it's nice to have it anyway."

To Loki Steve said, "If you do hurt her . . ." Steve shrugged. "Let's just say I've survived being frozen before. I can probably do it again."

Ironically, that was what made Loki relax.

Go figure. ---------- Natasha was surprisingly accepting of Loki's backstory. All she did was give a nonchalant, almost uninterested shrug. Clint was almost as uninterested. He really didn't care about Loki; he tolerated him for Arianna's sake and that was it.

Letting three people know in one day was enough for Loki. He would let Bruce and Tony know later. As for that moment? He just wanted to rest, and he knew Arianna needed rest. He was emotionally drained from all the worry he'd had about how she and the others would take his change, but Arianna was physically exhausted.

Loki had been selfish, not that that was an unusual trait for him, but he usually didn't care about selfishness, much less who it was directed at. This time he did, because it was Arianna.

She hadn't complained once about having to bring him meals or spend time only in his room because he didn't want to leave it. She was better, healthier now than when she'd come with food the first time. She had her color back and she hadn't had a fever since taking the antibiotics, so the medicine had obviously worked.

Still, she was recovering and taking care of him at the same time. He wondered what he'd done to deserve her loyalty because he couldn't think of a thing. He was almost one hundred percent certain that it would not have turned out as well had anyone else been tasked with being his keeper.

His mother had done the right thing by leaving him there with Arianna. His mother had known how kind she would be and how much Loki needed that kindness. She'd also known that had he had his magic as a defense mechanism he never would've let Arianna get as close as he had.

Well played, Mother, he thought.

"You're grinning," Arianna said. "What's funny?"

"Nothing. Passing thoughts."

"About?"

"You," he admitted freely. "And my mother. About how she knew what she was doing when she left me in your care."

"Well, she couldn't have left you completely defenseless."

"No."

They were both seated on his bed, side by side. She turned to bring her hand to his cheek, where she caressed him despite his skin color and despite the cold.

"For what it's worth, I'm glad she made you stay. I'm glad you're here with me."

Since no one was around to see or hear him he admitted he was glad too. ---------- That night Arianna left Loki to his own devices. Speaking of, she needed to talk to Tony about upgrading Loki's room. The only form of entertainment he had was books. He didn't even have a phone. Until recently he hadn't needed one because he hadn't even wanted to leave the tower.

He would need one, however, because they couldn't not go places. They couldn't not live their lives. Plus, they would take care of the people tailing her and they'd be free to go wherever they wanted.

The point she'd been thinking of, though, about upgrading Loki's room was . . . he at least needed a TV or a laptop. Especially if he was planning on staying in his room for the foreseeable future.

She'd get with Tony about it. She'd even buy the stuff herself if Tony had a problem spending money on an ex-villain. He'd never had a problem doing it before.

Loki was on her side, at least, and that meant he was on their side. This whole getting kidnapped thing had brought them all closer together and Loki had slowly let them all see his softer side. The side that allowed him to care about her.

She could worry about talking to Tony later though. Right then she just wanted to sleep. She felt better than she had just days before, but taking care of Loki's insecurity issues was emotionally draining on top of everything she'd been through.

Once in bed she pulled up a book on her phone. A murder mystery series with a leading woman who reminded her of Natasha and a leading man who reminded her of tony, sarcasm and all.

Given the recent circumstances of her life, she probably should have chosen something else to read before sleeping. She didn't need another reason to have a nightmare, not like the ones she'd been having since being kidnapped and tortured.

And that was where she was when she dreamed – back in that warehouse with Blondie and Brown Eyes. She was bound to the chair like she had been in real life. As usual when she was going through something traumatic, she flashed back to her original trauma.

As she normally did when she relived the violation, she jerked awake with a scream dying on her lips. What was not like usual was that when she woke up Loki was at her bedside. Thankfully he had thought to have Jarvis turn the lights on or else she may have gone on the defensive. His hands were on her shoulders, chilly but not ice cold. He hadn't shaken her awake but had grabbed her when she'd jerked into a sitting position upon waking.

"Loki? What're you doing in here?"

"You were screaming. Again."

He stood up straight then, pulling away from her now that she was awake.

"Is this because of your recent capture? You didn't have these nightmares before then. Or if you did, it never led to you screaming or crying."

She wiped her tears away quickly, having noticed them only after Loki mentioned them.

"Perhaps it is something else," he said. "Something from your past."

Her body tensed and he sat back down beside her.

"I have a feeling I know what happened to you, and I'm not asking you to talk about it. That's not something you have to do. Just know that you can."

Her heart was racing and her eyes were stinging now. He knew. He definitely knew at least some of it and he was still there, not looking at her or treating her any differently.

"It happened a long time ago. Years," she said. "It's hitting me again because of what happened when I was taken. And that's all I have to say."

"Okay. Do you wish to be alone?"

"No. Thanks for checking up on me."

"Well, you know." He shrugged. "Damsel in distress and all."

"Hey!"

She shoved him playfully, still slightly shocked by the coolness of his skin, and something loosened in her chest and stomach. For years she'd woken up alone and she was mostly okay with that. It was lonely, though, when she woke up from a nightmare and there was no one there to comfort her.

Before she could stop herself, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his cheek. She felt the marks on his skin but didn't let it bother her because she knew who was underneath the marks.

It didn't last long, the kiss being more a thank you than anything else, and once she pulled away she let herself fall back against the mattress.

"You don't have to stay all night, but can you stay until I fall asleep?"

"Of course." He sighed. "You know, if I had my magic, I could give you good dreams."

"Hm?"

"I could stop you from having nightmares. Build a whole dream world for you every night."

"Oh. I didn't know that."

"Illusion, but very much like the mind-walking you do."

"Well, that sounds nice, but you were here when I woke up and that's just as good." ---------- Loki stayed with Arianna for about an hour, which was how long it took her to go back to sleep and for Loki to know she was at peace. Loki slept too, but he had to wake up earlier than he really wanted.

In Asgard, he'd been used to getting up almost as soon as the sun came up. Asgardians didn't have clocks, didn't tell times as Midgardians did. Since becoming mortal, however, Loki had taken to sleeping until at least ten. He seemed to need more sleep now that he was human – or whatever he was considered now, what with his new skin color and body temperature.

That was why he was awake. He was going to see Tony and Bruce in the lab. Maybe they could help him go back to how he normally was. It was what he wanted most at the moment.

He got up, got dressed, and walked out of his room only to see that Arianna was leaning against the wall across from him. She was not dressed for the day, he noticed. She was still in her sleep wear.

"I asked Jarvis to let me know when you woke up. I didn't know if you wanted me to go with you or . . ."

Loki had learned to be a solitary person. Even in his youth he preferred to surround himself intimately with only a few people, and even then, he craved his alone time away from them. With Arianna there was none of that. He'd be with her always if she allowed him to.

"Of course."

He held his hand out to her and she grabbed it. They began walking hand-in-hand. It hit Loki then, while her hair was a mess, her cheeks still a little pink from sleep, and her clothes wrinkled from lying in them all night that he more than fancied this girl. He believed he loved this girl.

That revelation almost had him stopping mid-step. He probably would have had she not been there with him. As it was, there she was helping to keep him steady without even knowing it.

He didn't know what to do with that information, but he shouldn't have been surprised by it. He wasn't ready for her to know, not from his own lips, that he loved her. Besides, she hadn't admitted it, either, not in that way.

He couldn't be blamed for hesitating. ---------- Tony stood in his workshop with Bruce, both unmoving and looking at the blue man in front of them. Arianna was beside the guy and Tony's system read that it was Loki, but . . .

"Why are you blue?" Tony asked after the shock wore off. "Decide to fall into a vat of paint dye?"

"That's obviously what happened," Loki answered, sounding mostly unoffended and a little amused.

"The short answer, Tony, is that he isn't biologically an Asgardian," Arianna said.

Tony shrugged. "Thor did say he was adopted. Still doesn't answer why he's blue."

Loki briefly explained why he was blue and after he was done seemed confused.

"Why is everyone so calm about this? I explain that I am a monster and you don't even bat an eyelash."

"It's not like you're being particularly frightening right now. Besides, people change, and you are not defined by your race or what it's known for."

If Tony had let something like that stop him, he'd probably still be making weapons and selling them, no matter how unwittingly, to other countries to use against his own. People could change once they had their eyes open to something they'd been blinded to.

"And I happen to be able to change color too," Bruce said. "And at least you're not smashing things."

Tony liked that Bruce was lightening up about the whole Hulk thing. He was learning that people accepted him too, green beast and all.

More than that, they weren't afraid of him.

Aware of what the green guy could do, yes, but also aware that the Hulk and Bruce were two different individuals. Sometimes Bruce wasn't even aware of what the Hulk was doing until he became Bruce Banner again.

"We're all assuming Fury doesn't know about this, and we should definitely keep it that way," Arianna said. "I don't want SHIELD to find out."

"Agreed," Tony said. A moment later he continued with a different subject. "We found out those darts are manufactured by SHIELD."

"What?"

"Let me show you."

Tony pulled up the file he'd accessed and downloaded when he'd hacked SHIELD's database.

"It's from the science and weapons department. We, uh – we did some research while you were recovering."

He explained that the weapon had originally been manufactured in case Steve Rogers went rogue after becoming a super soldier. He went through the brief history of the weapon, even brought up the fact that there were other humans like her, humans with powers, and this weapon was basically a reassurance that SHIELD could incapacitate them if need be.

"Or control them if they don't do what SHIELD wants," Loki said.

"They'd never admit that, but yes."

Tony noticed the room's temperature dropping quickly – he almost thought he had to be imagining it.

"Jarvis?"

"Yes, sir?"

"What's going on with the temperature down here?"

"I believe it's Loki, sir."

Tony looked at Loki, as did Arianna and Bruce, and saw him standing there stiff, hands fisted at his sides.

"Loki?" Arianna spoke softly.

"Yes, I'm changing the temperature. It can fluctuate with my mood. It will settle in a moment."

"I didn't know you could control the temperature," Arianna said. "I just thought it made you cold."

"I'm not used to having such an emotional response."

The temperature did in fact settle within a minute or two, and they continued talking about SHIELD and what they could possibly want with Arianna. The fact that she no longer worked for SHIELD was probably a contributing factor as to why they seemed to be picking up the pace on the experimental serum and seeing what it would do to her when used.

They probably thought she would now be more of a threat since she no longer worked for them, but they also probably wanted to use her if they could get their hands on her. ---------- As Loki and Arianna walked to their rooms, Arianna couldn't help but notice that Loki was oddly quiet, not that he was particularly super talkative to begin with.

"I told you they wouldn't care," she said gently, more reassuring than triumphant.

"So you did."

She grabbed his hand when they reached his room only to pull him towards her room.

"We can watch TV or something."

Once inside the room, Arianna basically plopped onto the bed. She felt better than she had in days despite the new information she'd received. Maybe it was because she'd been proven right in her theory that Loki didn't have to hide who he was. Or maybe it was something else, but she didn't want to question it.

Loki continued standing there beside the bed, as if he didn't know if it was okay to sit down.

"You can sit. I brought you in here. You don't need an invitation to get in my bed."

Loki's eyebrows quirked up and he pursed his lips to hide a grin. When Arianna realized what she'd said and how it could've been taken she face-palmed and felt her cheeks heat up.

"You know what I meant. I should've stopped at you can sit."

"Oh, but then your face wouldn't have taken on that very appealing shade of pink," he teased as he sat down. "Oh, look, now you're turning red."

"Hush."

He was quiet as he gave her time to settle down, but he eventually said, "Should we talk about what we learned just now?"

"What's there to talk about? There isn't anything we can really do about it."

"Not right now, that's true enough. But we could start planning ways to keep you safe."

She sighed, her mood coming down just a bit.

"I – I know we need to do that. But can we do it later? Right now I just . . . I don't wanna think about it."

"All right, but you can't avoid it forever."

@voteforevilthoughts, @purplekitten30

[loveisnotadagger]

Love is Healing - Chapter Thirteen

Chapter 13/?

Loki/OFC

Author’s Note:  I don't know what to say as a warning for this, but self-loathing? Internal racism? Anyway, it's Loki's feelings about his Frost Giant heritage.

"You need to sleep," was the first thing Natasha said when she saw Arianna basically holding herself together on the bed. "You really need to sleep. But I know you won't be able to for a while. You had a nightmare."

Of course she had. She was exhausted and hurt, vulnerable to her memories. Vulnerable to the demons she'd never been able to fully exorcise. She'd had to wake up alone, afraid, and in the dark.

Where was Loki? Natasha knew from experience that when Aries woke up from one of her nightmares about that night that she woke up screaming. Why hadn't Loki come running? He had to have heard her?

Maybe he'd gone to sleep. He'd been through a lot too and had been just as exhausted as everyone else.

Considering the nature of Arianna's dream, a male presence may not have been welcome anyway, and she had asked for Natasha specifically.

"Do you need anything?"

Arianna usually wanted water or just to have Natasha sit with her. This time it was the latter, so that was what she did. Arianna even fell asleep after about thirty minutes. Natasha allowed herself to rest too, there beside Aries, and it was mostly peacefully.

It helped, not being alone. ----------

When Arianna woke up for good at around noon Natasha was still there, though she was seated on a chair, not lying on the bed. Arianna wondered how long she'd been awake and sitting there.

Arianna still felt sluggish, and her eyes were dry and gritty. She was probably dehydrated, to be honest. She hadn't had anything to eat or drink since the blueberry muffin and the French vanilla cappuccino at the café and the glass of water she'd had when Tony had brought her back to the tower. Her fault, really, because she should've taken better care of herself.

"You okay?" Natasha asked.

"Been better."

"Banner contacted me about an hour ago. He's got the antibiotics, but you were sleeping peacefully and your temperature hasn't spiked, so he said to wait for you to wake up. I'm supposed to take you back down to the lab."

"He'll want me to stay down there to make sure the medicine works, of course."

"Of course." Natasha sent her a small smile. "There shouldn't be a problem, though."

Arianna slipped on a pair of jeans but didn't bother changing out of the sleep shirt. She didn't bother putting shoes on either.

"Ready?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah. Sure."

They left her room and Arianna stopped at Loki's, knocked on the door. She didn't hear anything from the other side.

"Loki, are you awake?" No answer. "I'm going down to the lab, if you –"

Her defenses went up. She didn't know what had happened and she didn't owe Loki any explanations at all.

"Whatever. I'll be in the lab."

She didn't miss the questioning glance Natasha sent her, but she didn't feel like talking about it. ---------- Tony was about to crash. He was actually planning on going to bed. He just wanted to make sure the antibiotics worked and that Arianna didn't have an allergic reaction or anything like that.

He and Banner were the only ones in the lab at the moment, Steve and Clint having gone to bed hours ago, and were now waiting for Natasha and Aries to make an appearance.

He'd been over the security feed again. He'd been more worried about the men that had taken Aries when he'd watched it before and hadn't watched the whole thing. Now that he was watching the whole thing, Tony realized that he had missed a very important thing by not playing the whole video through. Aries had thrown a table at the two men. She'd flicked her wrist and there the table had gone.

She was getting stronger and learning how to control her abilities in different ways. Tony was proud and surprisingly not worried about having a backup plan in case she suddenly lost control.

Pain made her lose control, but if someone was hurting her, they deserved whatever they got when her defenses kicked in.

The security feed from the coffeehouse was still up and running when Natasha and Arianna reached the lab. They both seemed stronger than the night before, but they still weren't at their best. He hadn't expected them to be.

Arianna had stopped right inside the entrance way, eyes on the screen replaying her burst of power from the day before.

"I forgot I did that," she admitted sheepishly. She looked at Banner. "I guess I can smash things too."

Her tone was soft, non-judgmental, and Bruce responded by actually giving her a small smile, bashful in the way Banner usually was.

"Guess you can. I think your reactions are slightly tamer than my own."

She moved farther into the lab, Natasha close behind her, and seated herself near Banner. Bruce cleaned the spot in the crook of her arm before injecting the antibiotics into her. Once it was all over, he put a Band-Aid over the spot.

"Done," he said. "That should break the fever for good, and you shouldn't need another injection since we caught it so soon."

"Good."

"I'm gonna give you two weeks worth of antibiotics. Take one in the morning and one at night. Make sure you take all of them even if you start feeling better."

"Sure thing, Dr. Banner. ---------- Arianna stopped by Loki's room again as she was on her way to her own. She felt only slightly better, but it was something. She'd stayed down in the lab for an hour to make sure she didn't respond badly to the antibiotics and she hadn't.

So now she was knocking on Loki's door again. It was pathetic, really. She felt as if she were begging for attention and she didn't do that.

"Loki, I'm back from the lab. Got a shot of antibiotics, and the geniuses think I'll be okay again soon."

When she didn't get an answer, she tried the door knob. Loki had locked the door. He obviously didn't wish to be disturbed.

"Loki? At least let me know you're okay. Please?" Again no response. "I will break this door down, and you know I can do it."

"Don't come in here." His voice sounded strange, deeper and growly. "I'm really not well."

Not well? What did that mean? Had the same bacteria she'd contacted been introduced to his system? A system that until a few months ago had had no need to build up immunity to Earth's germs and so had no defense against them? And why hadn't she thought about that before? That was something they probably needed to look into, but that was more Bruce's department.

"Loki . . . if you're sick, you really need to let me in."

"No. I . . . I wish to be alone. I need rest."

"Okay." She could get behind that. Maybe he'd feel better later. "But I'm checking on you later if you don't come out to eat. You have to eat and drink."

"Your concern is noted." ---------- Check on him she did. She brought him soup and water on a tray. He remembered it was the kind where he could eat in bed. She wasn't up to her normal strength and yet she was still taking care of him.

He did not deserve such loyalty, such care. The door was still locked when she came to check on him, to bring him food and water.

"I'll get it. Just leave it outside the door."

"Why?"

"Because I asked you to."

"Well, I'm asking you to let me in. I was angry at you because of last night, Loki, but now you're worrying me."

"I'll be fine. Just . . . don't concern yourself with me."

There was silence. She had obviously set the tray down and was leaving. Good. He still had no clue how to make his Jotun appearance fade to the background. He was still blue, and the room was cooler than it should've been. Luckily each room's temperature could be controlled from the inside and Jarvis probably thought – sensed? Whatever thought was to Jarvis – that Loki had the AC on high.

Suddenly the lock clicked and Arianna was coming in and he had no clue what to do.

"So I didn't break the door down, but I did –"

Her voice cut off when she caught sight of him. The tray in her hands fell to the floor and the noise made her jump. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly opened them.

To her credit, she didn't scream. Though that was probably from shock and not from lack of fear.

"I told you not to come in," he said.

Her eyes snapped to his face at the sound of his voice.

"Loki?" Her voice was a whisper. "What happened? Why're you blue? Why's it so cold in here? And why're your eyes red? I . . . they're supposed to be green. Am I hallucinating?"

"No. You are seeing exactly what you think you are."

"How? Why?"

There was still no fear, only confusion. Loki knew then that Arianna had no idea what he was.

"Close the door. You and I need to talk."

"You think?" she asked even as she did as he'd told her. "This started last night, I assume. When you started acting weird. You wanted me to leave so I wouldn't see. I get that. And this, this is why your hand was cold, why it's cold in here."

"All is correct, my very clever Arianna."

She sighed. "I'm gonna clean up this mess, then we can talk." ---------- Arianna took her time cleaning up the mess of soup and water. She was glad the room wasn't carpeted. That would have caused even more of a mess.

Loki was standing on the other side of the room, obviously wanting to keep away from her. He hadn't moved since she'd come into the room.

She'd been shocked when she'd first walked in. Why wouldn't she have been? She'd entered the room expecting to see Loki and had found a tall, blue man that she didn't know until he'd spoken. Underneath it all Loki was there.

She didn't speak until she'd finished cleaning and even then she didn't know what to say.

"Loki . . . Maybe you should start."

"With what?"

"Maybe by explaining why you're blue and why you never thought I might need to know you could turn blue."

"I didn't think it would be a problem now that I am mortal. It hasn't been." Loki sighed. "As for why I am . . . in the form I am in currently, this is my true form. I am a monster."

"Because you're a different color?"

Arianna tried to make light of it. She wanted Loki to relax. She wasn't afraid, not now that she knew it was Loki there with her.

"I mean, yeah, the red eyes are kind of creepy, and I miss your green ones, but the blue skin is okay."

"This is not a joking matter!" Loki almost yelled. "This is not about what I look like. It's about what I am."

"And what exactly are you?"

"A Frost Giant! I come from a race of people who do nothing but kill and brutalize." Loki stepped forward then. "My touch can freeze you to death or give you frost bite."

Realizing Loki wanted to be as serious as possible about this, she switched tactics.

"How did you come to be an Asgardian Prince then?"

"Jotunheim and Asgard were at war with each other centuries ago, more than a millennium actually. I was still a baby, and I don't remember it. I only know what Odin and my mother – Frigga – told me. I was born and abandoned in Jotunheim while the war was still happening. I was small for a Frost Giant and so I was cast out."

"Small? You're like six-foot-two!"

Loki actually let a smile grace his lips. At least he could still do that. She could still reach him.

"I'm tall now, but at the time I was considered a runt. Thrown away because of it. Odin –"

"Wait. You said this happened over a millennium ago? How old are you?"

"Old enough for there to be legends written about me. I wouldn't know how to age myself in human years."

"Fair enough. Go on."

"Odin found me, took me to Asgard. Used a simple charm to make me appear Asgardian. I spent ages – centuries – not knowing my heritage, centuries being Odin's son but always feeling second best, always in the shadow of Thor. Odin taught us about the things the Frost Giants did, taught us to hate them, fear them, because they were monsters."

"No," Arianna said. "That's one side of the story. Odin's side. I don't know him, but I know history. When there's a war, each side tries to make the war justifiable by vilifying the other side. Not every individual of a race is evil. It doesn't work that way."

"Perhaps, but I was brought up to hate them and when I found out about my true nature, I hated myself. And Odin for keeping it from me. He admitted to hoping I could create peace between the two realms."

Arianna sat down on the bed and pulled the blanket up around her. She was getting cold, but it wasn't anything she couldn't fix with a blanket.

"How did you find out?"

"It was by chance. I played a not-so-harmless prank that went farther than I had planned, and Thor became offended. It ended with us taking a trip to Jotunheim."

"A prank?"

Loki began pacing back and forth.

"Thor was to have a coronation. It was becoming time for him to accept his role as the next king of Asgard. I did not believe he was ready. I caused a distraction by allowing a few Frost Giants into Asgard. I only wished to disrupt the ceremony. I knew Thor would react and I needed Odin to see someone impulsive would never be a good king."

Arianna didn't say it, but she thought Loki acted on impulse a lot, especially when he was under an emotional strain.

"A battle ensued once we were in Jotunheim and one of the Frost Giants grabbed my arm. He was probably trying to freeze me, to be honest. Instead, my skin reacted by changing color. And just like that, I was devastated."

"Loki . . ."

She had no clue what to say. She couldn't make this better with words, and he no longer had his illusions to hide behind.

"What caused this to happen?"

"I don't know for certain, but I believe it was your fever."

"You were reacting to my body temperature," she surmised. "You were able to touch me without hurting me."

"True, but I hadn't completely transformed then."

"Not the point I was trying to make. Whether you meant to or not, you lowered my temperature enough to help me. Your intention wasn't to hurt me."

"I didn't even notice until I pulled away. I just thought you were overheated and that was why I felt cooler to you. The coolness made you feel better."

"Yes. Have you tried touching anything? Just to see?"

"I already know the end result. Why would I?"

"Because you're mortal now. Or were – or whatever."

"So maybe my power isn't as strong." Loki shrugged. "Good theory."

Arianna stood up, leaving the blanket behind, and held her hand out. Loki stepped backwards.

"You have more incentive to control yourself with me as opposed to something or someone else."

She smiled softly and moved towards him.

"If you were a monster, you wouldn't care whether you hurt me or not. Your personality hasn't changed at all, it doesn't seem.

She turned her palm up and waited for him to place his hand in hers. He was definitely hesitant, and she completely understood why, but he eventually let himself touch her.

His fingertips brushed against her palm and she jerked away slightly as it tickled her skin. She slipped her fingers between his and held on despite the cold. He tightened his grip when he realized he wasn't hurting her.

"Okay?" she asked.

A half-laugh half-sob pulled from his throat.

"Okay." ---------- In Asgard, on a completely different realm, Thor and Frigga were standing with Heimdall while he was checking on Loki. Frigga had requested frequent updates on her son after having stranded him on Midgard. If he had come to any real danger, she would've sent Thor to help him. She had never truly abandoned Loki.

She'd been completely aware of the risk of leaving him on Midgard, but she'd taken a chance when she'd met Arianna. The chance had been worth it and well-calculated. Arianna had seen and brought a goodness out in Loki, the kindness and playfulness that had always been there, that he'd hidden away after finding out about his true birthplace.

True, he'd fought against it at first, but she'd broken down his defenses. He'd asked for help when first courting her – from an old enemy nonetheless – and had put Arianna's comfort and well-being over his own many times. He'd protected her, killed for her.

He loved her, and he had never loved anyone outside of his family. Arianna had his heart and was slowly helping to heal it. She'd even handled finding out about his Front Giant form well. She may not have been able to make him believe he wasn't a monster, but she had made him believe she didn't think he was one.

It was a good start.

"Will his magic come back soon?" Thor asked.

"Perhaps." Frigga smiled. "More than likely."

"And he'll come home?"

"If he chooses to. He may choose to stay with Arianna. He's never known love like that."

"She could always come here. She's not a normal human by any means. Father could grant her a longer life span, to match our own."

"He could," Frigga agreed. "We shall see."

There was still a hurdle or two Loki had to get over before he had to make any decisions about the rest of his life.

@voteforevilthoughts, @purplekitten30

[loveisnotadagger]

Love is Healing - Chapter Twelve

Chapter 12/?

Loki/OFC

I’m updating earlier than planned because I’m going to be busy all weekend.

Warning: Arianna has a nightmare about her past assault.

Arianna didn't sleep that night even if she was physically exhausted. She kept going over everything that had happened from the time the first dart had hit her in the back. There had been so much pain, more than she had ever felt before. The pain wasn't the worst thing about it, though. The worst thing had been the complete helplessness she'd felt.

Her life and her comfort had been in the hands of two psychopaths. She'd had no control and she couldn't not be in control. No control meant she could hurt people – kill people.

She knew everyone else saw it as self-defense, and she did too, to a certain extent, and she was even glad she never had to worry about these guys again, but she wasn't happy about her part in hurting Blondie.

The two from earlier had been shot in the head, which wasn't her fault. Tony had blasted them to knock them out, and someone had come in after them to finish the job.

She would rather have had them locked up. At least that way they would have been useful. They would have had information she and the others might need. Who they worked for being the most important, and she didn't mean SHIELD. She wanted a specific name, the one or ones who had hired them.

She guessed that couldn't be helped now. They were dead and that was that. ----------

Loki was having trouble sleeping as well, and for the same reason.

Guilt wasn't new to him, but having it affect him so was. Had he not mentioned wanting to go out he knew Arianna wouldn't have been out there even if she'd wanted to be. She'd only done it because of him. Before then she'd only gone outside to do her job.

Loki hadn't known that the tower had been being watched. He never would've suggested going out if he'd known. It wasn't like he could protect her, not now. If he'd had his magic, or even just his Asgardian strength, he could have kept her from being taken. The dart never would have even pierced his skin, and the men wouldn't have been allowed to get their hands on her.

When she'd been brought back, she'd been bruised and unconscious. Loki didn't know what pain she'd been through, but he did know pain. He never would have wished it on her or any of his new friends – if he could call them friends.

The way she'd reacted when he'd touched her . . . she'd yelled, and she never yelled, not even when she was furious. She'd been afraid – only for a few seconds, only until she'd realized what she'd done. It made him remember when she'd been angry at Tony for snooping into her past. She'd gotten over it rather quickly, but she had been angry for a short time. From her anger Loki had realized there was something she was hiding.

Her reaction to him touching her made him think he knew what she'd been hiding. He wasn't certain, but there wasn't very much doubt. The man she'd killed had deserved to die if he'd done what Loki thought he'd done.

On Asgard if a man forced himself on a woman, he was disgraced if caught. Sometimes the man was thrown into exile, cut off from everyone and everything he'd ever known. If he was allowed to stay, he was shunned, treated as a pariah by others.

And Loki hadn't been able to protect her. He would have fought for her. He would have done whatever had been necessary to keep Arianna from further pain, but he'd been completely defenseless against their weapons. If he was being completely honest, he was defenseless against this whole mortal world, and he hated it.

He'd finally found a place he could belong – or at least feel like he wasn't living under someone else's shadow – and he'd found a home, made real potential friends, and he was most likely going to see them die. He would most likely die along with them because he would fight alongside them as long as they were protecting Arianna.

He didn't know how he felt about any of it. He just knew he wanted Arianna safe. ---------- While Loki and Arianna were in their rooms everyone else was in the workshop with Tony. He was both grateful and annoyed, if such a combination could be accomplished.

Bruce was always welcome, of course, and he was the one running the tests for Arianna. He suspected blood poisoning that could lead to a serious infection. It was good they had caught it so early.

Natasha was sprawled out on a rolly chair, legs spread wide, pants back on. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her head was tilted back against the chair. Clint was standing beside her, and Steve as there as well in a resting parade stance, ever the soldier.

They were all worried about Aries, about her mental state since being rescued, and about someone else coming for her. And there was nothing they could do but wait for it.

Jarvis had been keeping an eye on Arianna's vitals. She had a low-grade fever, but she was otherwise showing no symptoms of an infection. She'd finally fallen into a fitful sleep. Nightmares were to be expected, but Tony was more worried about monitoring her temperature.

"Are the antibiotics she'll need in ready supply?" Tony asked.

Bruce nodded. "It's not a problem. I can make them here if I need to."

That was good news at least. Something had gone right.

While Tony was still theorizing about how best to make body armor for the others, he received a call from Fury. Two phone calls in one night . . . had to be their record.

"Yes?"

"One of the scientists came forward to talk. There is apparently a league of agents who banned together when Arianna chose to show mercy to . . . the Asgardian. They all seem to think that Agent Grace could be a threat if she chose to be."

"Is the guy giving you names?"

"In return for protection, he's given us quite a few names. They hired outside help to get her, which is why her capture was handled so sloppily. Since they didn't kill her right away, we have to assume they were only the delivery system."

"Great." Tony sighed. "And you didn't send her any pictures showcasing how those two guys were taken care of?"

"No. My intention was to arrest them, not to kill them."

Basically everyone in the room was at attention now. Natasha was still seated but sitting upright and tense. Clint was standing stiffly beside her. Steve was still in his resting parade stance, but Tony could tell that he was more alert now. Bruce seemed unaffected aside from what this information probably meant for Arianna.

Tony imagined if Bruce was around when these people came around next time – if there was a next time – Bruce might go into Hulk-smash mode in under five seconds.

"What are you doing with the scientists?"

"Locking them up. They may have information. To my knowledge, the ones I'm locking up haven't hurt anyone or actively gone after Agent Grace, so given the proper incentive they will probably talk."

The proper incentive being threats and torture. Things Arianna wouldn't approve of.

Tony was glad that he was only technically and not legally working with SHIELD. He didn't agree with their methods even on their best day, but he understood the necessity for it.

"Keep us posted."

Like they didn't have enough to worry about. As long as Arianna stayed in the tower she would be fine, but that couldn't be the long-term plan because whoever was after her would eventually get tired of waiting.

"Can you pull the security feed from around the café they went to?" Natasha asked.

"Sure."

He'd been going to do that anyway. He just hadn't had time. He could take a break and watch the playback, see what they could see. ---------- Loki still hadn't made it to sleep when Arianna came tapping at his door. The sound wasn't loud enough to be considered a knock. She obviously hadn't wanted to risk waking him had he been asleep.

When he opened the door the first thing he noticed was the flush in her cheeks. He then saw the weakness she was feeling, weakness from the poison or venom or whatever they had injected her with and the pain that had followed.

"Arianna?"

He was surprised, to say the least, that she had come to visit at however late it was in the morning.

"I wasn't sleeping very well. Can I come in?"

"Of course."

Arianna moved sluggishly and Loki kept close beside her until she made it to the bed. At least she hadn't fallen over. She sat at the edge of the bed and Loki, not knowing whether he should sit beside her or not, just stood beside her until she grabbed his hand to pull him down so he could sit.

"It's your bed. You don't have to stand."

Loki's gaze focused on where their hands connected. Her skin was warmer than it normally was. Add in the flush in her cheeks and Loki knew she probably had a fever.

"Does Stark know your temperature is higher than it should be?"

"Jarvis is keeping track of my vitals. Last check I was at 101. 98.6 is the norm."

"If it gets higher?"

"Then I will feel worse."

"Hm. May I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Next time you are being watched or followed, will you let me know? I can't do much, but I would have been better prepared had I known."

"I thought with Happy there, and Natasha . . . But yes, I will let you know."

Arianna laid back as gracefully as she could and seemed to relax a little once she was against the mattress. Loki's hand, having still been in hers, landed on her stomach. She shivered when he caressed the skin with his thumb.

"Your hand is cold."

"No, you're just warm."

Her eyes closed and she brought his hand to her head, where her skin was even warmer. She sighed even as she covered his hand to keep it against her.

"How are you alive?" she asked, eyes still closed. "Not healthy to be this cold."

He had no clue what she was talking about because he wasn't even a little bit chilly. She was just overheated. He knew Banner was deciding what medicine would be best to give her, but Loki might have to ask him to hurry that up a bit.

Loki allowed her to use his hand as a human ice package until the heat began to bother him. He pulled his hand from hers and his eyes widened. There was a bluish tint to his skin.

He scanned Arianna's face for anything that shouldn't have been there – like ice or frost burn. Nothing. If anything, she seemed slightly better. The fever flush was gone from her cheeks. Her eyes were still closed, but Loki knew she wasn't sleeping.

He quickly placed his hand under his leg in case she decided to look at him. Loki wasn't sure how much Arianna knew about him, didn't know if she even knew what a Frost Giant was, if she knew what monsters they could be and that he was one of them.

He hadn't thought he'd ever need to worry about it since becoming mortal, and he hadn't worried about it until just then. Who knew he'd be able to access his Frost Giant ability? He was lucky he hadn't given her frost burn or that he hadn't turned her to ice.

Arianna sat up then and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Why couldn't you sleep?" she asked.

"I suspect for the same reason that you could not sleep."

Loki clenched his fist under his thigh. He could feel the chill slowly making its way up his arm now that he was focusing on it. Fortunately, he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt.

Loki knew his skin didn't always feel cold. He'd hugged Thor many times and his body temperature had never been an issue. Thor would have mentioned it had he ever noticed a major difference between them. His body only turned blue and cold when he called on his Jotun form, but now that he was mortal, he apparently had no control over it. He'd been reacting to her warmth, was still reacting to her warmth.

He needed to get Arianna away from him before the skin she'd be able to see turned blue, before the patterns etched themselves into his skin, before his green eyes turned red . . . Before he turned into a monster.

Arianna was breathing quietly against his shoulder, half-asleep. She was resting, finally resting, and he had to move her.

"Arianna, you cannot fall asleep here," he said, gently jostling her into a straight-up position.

"Mm. Not sleeping." Her speech was slurred from exhaustion.

"You will be in about two minutes." He forced a coldness into his voice that hadn't been there for months. "I think you should leave now."

"I – I . . . uh, okay."

Loki could tell he'd hurt her and confused her, but she got up anyway. She was still shaky and weak.

"I don't want anyone to think ill of you, Arianna," he said, trying to ease the pain he saw on her face. "Spending the night with me wouldn't be proper."

That had been the wrong thing to say apparently because Arianna became tense.

"Since when do you care about being proper?"

She went to the door and opened it. She slammed it on the way out. ---------- Arianna stalked into her room, or stalked as much as she could considering how weak she was. She did not slam her own door, though she did close it.

She vaguely wondered if she'd overreacted by storming out of Loki's room. For all she knew, he really was looking after her reputation. Maybe on Asgard it was a big no-no to sleep in the same room unless you were married. He had never tried to get her to let him into her room. He had never been inside until she'd asked him in earlier to help her.

Whatever the reason, she had sought him for comfort and he had turned her away. She'd needed him, had showed that she needed him, and he'd rejected her. Why? It made no sense. Loki liked affection, no matter what he might claim, and he especially liked being affectionate with her. He'd seemed accepting enough when she'd first arrived, though he had seemed to have been uncertain whether his presence would be welcome on the bed.

Something had made him shut down and shut her out. Maybe he was getting sick; he had been a little cold. And they both were exhausted. Maybe things would be better in the morning – or seeing as to how it was almost four in the morning, later that day. ---------- Down in the lab, Natasha and Clint were identifying the two guys that had taken Aries. It turned out they were not the same guys that had been stalking the Tower. It had been easy to identify them once Tony pulled up the security feed from inside the café and from the surrounding areas.

Once again, Tony had to make a call to Fury to explain the situation.

"The agents posted outside the Tower are mine. I put them there after the first kidnapping attempt."

"Oh, that – that would've have been nice to know," Tony said. "Where were they when the café was attacked?"

"I assumed she was safe during the day. I assumed she was safe with Agent Romanoff. I wasn't expecting someone to have stolen tech to use against anyone."

"I told you they were trained," Natasha said. "Do we have any information on the woman driving the getaway car?"

"Not as of yet," Tony said.

"What if this was just a trial run?" Clint said. "What if they didn't care if they got caught? Maybe they just wanted to see if the serum would work on Arianna."

Tony had an idea. He'd hacked into SHIELD's database to find out about Arianna a few weeks ago. It wouldn't be too hard to do it again, only this time he decided to check out the recent files uploaded to the science and weapons department.

"Director Fury, you have incoming." He began tapping the keys on his computer. "In three, two, one . . ."

"Stark –"

"Bye."

After only a few seconds, he had access to what he wanted.

"And there it is," he grumbled.

PROJECT ARIES, in black and white. The file was encrypted, but Tony had no problem accessing it.

"They've been working on this serum on and off for decades, it looks like."

Tony quickly scanned the file. Research for the serum began right around the time Steve Rogers became Captain America, the first super soldier.

"Probably a contingency plan in case you decided to go rogue. No one really knew what would happen to you once you became Captain America."

They didn't start thinking of weaponizing the serum until the 80s when a bunch of mutants popped up. X-Men – mutant humans, people with abilities.

Research picked up even more when Bruce ended up being changed by another serum. That was when they really began trying to make a dart that could make you feel pain everywhere to the point of incapacitation.

The real thing had started because of Steve. Due to the name, however, Arianna seemed to be their new target, and Clint had been right. This had been a trial run.

"They just wanted to see if it would work. If it would incapacitate her."

"And they wouldn't risk trying it on me," Bruce said. "Cowards."

"The scientists, the ones who made this, made the original one because I could have been a loose cannon," Steve said. "Now they're just using it because people are different. Not bad, just different."

"Yup. These mutants are the unknown. People don't like or trust what they don't know."

"But Aries is just about the nicest person I've ever met," Natasha said. "These people just want a way to control her."

"It's a line of defense," Tony said. "There's stuff about Thor and Loki in here too. Not sure if the dart would even pierce Thor's skin. Not that we need to worry about that."

Everyone knew SHIELD had been housing the Tesseract to build weapons strong enough to take on more-than-human enemies. Now they were going after people who were very much human but also enhanced with more-than-human abilities.

"This all started when she was . . . released from duty," Steve said. "But they've had this on standby the whole time she worked for SHIELD."

"She was never shy in making it known that she wasn't the biggest fan of SHIELD's methods," Natasha said. "It was probably a security measure in case she turned rogue."

"Had she ever given them reason to believe she would?"

"No," Clint said. "She was never called in for the battles. She always took care of the aftermath of the fights. She would've done that with or without SHIELDs help." ---------- Upstairs, in her room, Arianna was having a nightmare. She was in an alleyway. She was seventeen, still considered a minor, and she wasn't as strong as she would be one day.

She didn't dream about being attacked and assaulted much anymore, but when something bad happened like it had that night it could bring everything back and it would cause the dreams to happen.

She'd been hurt, tortured, made to feel helpless, so of course it would bring the memories and nightmares again.

The night David had raped her had started out innocently enough. She'd been walking to her friend's house after having had dinner with her parents. It was only a few minutes away and she'd felt safe walking it, but she hadn't been safe at all.

She'd had no way of knowing that David had been keeping tabs on her, had decided to follow her and give into the temptation he'd been feeling towards her.

David had grabbed her, started kissing her, had surprised her into complete stillness until she'd realized what was happening. Then came the struggling and the roughness. She hadn't even known who she'd been fighting against at first.

She had screamed and pleaded and yelled for help that wasn't going to come. She had cried and David had hit her more than once.

She'd wanted him to stop – had never wanted him to start to begin with – and had wanted the pain to stop. She still remembered the pain she'd felt when he'd taken her even though she'd said no, even though she'd fought to push him away.

Some time after he'd pushed into her was when she'd tapped into her powers for the first time. He'd been in so much pain he'd pulled away from her. She'd crawled away, huddled against the wall of the alley even as David continued to be crushed by nothing or by air or however that worked.

He died and she was alone, bottom half of her body almost completely naked, bleeding from his rough treatment. She'd slipped away into her own mind and didn't fade back into complete consciousness until a policeman found her.

Arianna jerked awake, aware of someone screaming bloody murder. Were they under attack again? Why couldn't they just leave her alone? But no, she wasn't under attack. She had, however, been the one screaming.

She slapped a hand over her mouth and then grimaced as she agitated the wounds already there.

She curled herself into a tight ball as tears burned her eyes.

"Jarvis, I need Tash." Her voice came out as a strained croak. "I need Tash." ---------- Loki heard Arianna scream and wanted to go to her. If she had been in danger he would have, but Jarvis had assured him that she'd only been having a nightmare. It must've been a terrible one considering she'd been screaming, but that was all it had been.

After Arianna left earlier, Loki's skin had continued to turn blue. Now he was in his true form. Why couldn't he have just gotten his power back? Why did this side have to appear first? He didn't want anyone seeing him this way. He wouldn't be able to face anyone until he could get this under control.

"Is someone seeing to Arianna? Someone needs to check on her."

"Her vitals are normal and within a healthy range. Agent Romanoff is on her way. Agent Grace asked for her."

"Good."

Now Loki could try to figure out what he could do about his new problem.

@voteforevilthoughts, @purplekitten30

[loveisnotadagger]

Love is Healing - Chapter Eleven

Chapter 11/?

Rating: T

Loki/OFC

Arianna woke up in the backseat of a car. She was no longer in pain, but her body was sore. She felt as if she'd run a marathon and now her body didn't want to cooperate.

She was in between her captors. She wondered what their plan was for her. They obviously weren't professionals. They didn't have guns trained on her. They hadn't taken her phone; she could still feel it in the back pocket of her jeans. They hadn't hidden their faces from her or from anyone else, really. She wondered if that meant they planned to kill her.

At least she still had her phone, which meant someone could locate her that way through the GPS. Tony could do it, or Bruce, or even Natasha and Clint.

Speaking of Natasha, Arianna hoped she was okay. She and Happy and Loki. She couldn't remember much aside from the pain she'd been in.

"We should search her," said the man on her left. He had blond hair, icy blue eyes. She would henceforth call him Blondie.

"Now?" the other guy said. "In the car?"

This guy also had blond hair, but his eyes were brown. Maybe he could be Brown Eyes.

"Yes, in the car. She lives with Tony Stark. She could have some kind of toy on her that'll lead to us."

Arianna stiffened as Blondie turned to her. His eyes dared her to try something. She jerked away as he began feeling over her chest and stomach and then her sides. Blondie got joy out of her fear – and she was afraid.

"She's clean," Brown Eyes said. "Leave her alone. She doesn't like it."

Blondie reluctantly stopped touching her. "She better be clean, or it's on you."

Blondie jerked her head back, gripping her hair roughly.

"You be good. Or I'll shoot you again." ----------

Tony's head had just hit the desk he was falling asleep over when he saw Happy, Loki, and Natasha heading toward the door to the lab. He opened it for them so they wouldn't have to use their prints to open it. None of them looked as if they were having a good day, and Natasha looked downright worn out. She was also limping.

Why had he stayed up so long? He felt as if his eyelids were made of sandpaper and whatever had happened, he wasn't sure he was mentally capable of dealing with it.

Happy was there with Loki, who had been on a date with Arianna, and Natasha had been an added security detail. Three of the four people that had gone to the café were in his lab looking unwell.

"Where's our littlest Avenger?" He slipped a metal band on either wrist. "Please tell me you didn't lose her."

Nobody said anything and Tony felt his chest tighten because this was bad. No one was answering, so this had to be bad.

"She was taken," Natasha said. "Whoever it was shot Loki and Happy with tranqs and took her. They shot her too, and me, but it was with something else."

Loki stepped forward then. He held a dart carefully in his right hand.

"I don't know what it is," Loki said, "But it made her whole body flare up with pain."

Some chemical that messed with pain receptors in the brain, Tony assumed. He'd get Bruce to check it for him.

"By the way, thanks for not answering your phone," Happy said.

Tony rolled his eyes and gestured for the dart. Loki tried to hand it to him, but since Tony didn't like being handed things, he told Loki to put it on the table.

"You were dosed with this too?" he asked Natasha. "Side effects?"

"Other than the pain? I'm exhausted. My muscles are sore and twitchy."

"Hm. Trackers. I am making trackers for you guys so I'll always know where you are." He sighed. "Do you have her phone?"

"No, it –" Natasha's eyes widened. "It wasn't there. It wasn't removed at the scene and, even if it was removed later, we'll have a direction to start in."

"Definitely making trackers."

"I don't understand," Loki said. "Why is her phone important?"

"Cell phones have Global Positioning Systems built in. If her phone is on, we can use it to locate her."

"When the situation isn't quite so dire, I'd like to be taught how to do that." ---------- Arianna and her captors had arrived at a warehouse moments ago. She and the two men had been dropped off by the driver, a woman whom Arianna hadn't spoken to or heard speak at all. The woman had left soon after assuring they had gotten into the building. She was now tied to a chair. They hadn't hurt her anymore, but she wasn't letting her guard down, not now that she knew what their darts could do. Whatever had been in those darts had attacked her nervous system. She'd never felt that much pain before. What kind of monster would invent something like that?

"You have a lot of people scared," Blondie said. "You have so much power, and you're supposed to be on the good side, yet you side with a terrorist."

Loki. He had warned her about this, about what people would think about her now.

"There are extenuating circumstances there. He's not . . . He was pushed into that."

"Is that what he said? And you, being a naïve little girl, believed him."

She wasn't going to go into how she'd seen why he'd been pushed into it. Besides, Loki wasn't the problem here. If they'd wanted him, they would've taken him too. And yet . . .

Blondie's fist connected with her cheek and her head snapped to the side from the force of it. If she hadn't been tied to the chair, she would've grabbed her face. It would bruise and there was a trickle of blood flowing down. The man must have been wearing a ring.

He hit her twice more, seeming to get angrier every time he looked at her. Maybe he really believed she'd betrayed humanity by befriending Loki. She had pretty much been on Loki's side since she'd seen the torture he'd been through, since she'd felt some of it.

It wasn't until Blondie pointed the gun at her again that Arianna became afraid enough to do something about her situation. She couldn't feel that pain again, not if it was going to affect her whole body like it had before.

The air in the place thickened and Blondie grabbed his throat. She realized then that he couldn't breathe. She was suffocating him. She didn't know how, but she was.

Something in Blondie snapped – a bone, that was what it sounded like – and he doubled over, dropping the dart gun. She was crushing his ribs, and if she wasn't careful, she would do to him what she had done to David.

She was smacked across the face again and everything stopped. Brown Eyes was staring at her now, fear in his eyes. She was scaring him.

"I'm sorry," she cried. "I can't always control it. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt him."

"I believe you," Brown Eyes said. "I'm sorry too, but you can't be allowed to concentrate.

He grabbed the dart gun that Blondie had dropped. The dart he fired hit her in the chest, making pain flare from there and outwards.

She wanted to curl up in the fetal position and die. As it was, she could feel her heart racing erratically, and if the pain kept up, it might actually give out on her.

She might even welcome death if it meant never feeling this pain again. ---------- Tony crashed through the door of the warehouse he'd tracked Arianna to. He was surprised to find only two men, one of whom was pretty beat up.

Arianna was tied to a metal chair in the center of the room. She looked pretty beat up herself. She had a dart sticking out of her chest and was screaming, so the dart was obviously one of the pain-causing ones.

Panic seized Tony's own chest and his heart felt as if it were being squeezed. Not a good feeling.

"Aries," he shouted, and landed by her. She wasn't coherent enough to even realize he was there.

The two men had begun to run, but Tony took care of them with an energy blast to each of their backs. Neither was dead, but they would be locked up for a long time once Tony made a call to Fury.

Arianna stopped screaming and began whimpering, which might have been worse to hear, to be honest.

"Tony?"

"Yeah."

He was relieved she was aware enough to notice him now.

"Next time you want coffee, you can just go to the kitchen. Or I can order it from anywhere you want it. Being Tony Stark has its perks, you know."

Tony untied her from the chair and quickly pulled the dart from her chest.

"I – I knew you'd come," she said breathlessly, voice hoarse.

Arianna had faith in him and Tony really didn't know what to do with that. Panic was high up on his list.

"Ready to get out of here?" he asked. All Arianna did was grunt. "How do you feel about flying?"

"Mm . . . Do you mind if I pass out?"

"Go ahead as long as you promise to wake back up."

Tony took in the bruises on her face and wondered if she might have a concussion. He hoped her brain hadn't been rattled too badly.

Instead of passing out, Arianna began to quiver and cry, and this was so not Tony's area of expertise. What was he supposed to do? Why hadn't he brought someone with him? Clint or Steve, Natasha even? She couldn't have fought in her condition, but she would have been able to help with this.

Not knowing what else to do, Tony drew her into his arms before taking off out of the building. This was as close to a hug as he could give her.

He hoped it was enough. ---------- Loki was waiting outside on the balcony when Tony landed with Arianna in his arms. She seemed to be sleeping. He hoped she was only sleeping.

Steve was there, as were Bruce and Clint. Natasha had tried staying awake, but the trauma had finally caught up with her and she'd gone to bed.

Tony placed Arianna on the couch in the living room before stepping out of his suit.

"She's wiped out," he said.

Loki noticed the bruises on her face, the slice on her right cheek. Her wrists were damaged from having been bound, from struggling against whatever had been binding her.

Rage filled him, and it was more than the simple anger he felt whenever a woman was brutalized. This was his woman, so of course it wasn't simple.

"Her wounds need to be cleaned," he said. "Warm water should do for now."

"She's probably gonna be down for the night," Tony said. "They dosed her again."

Loki had no clue what to say or do. He knew what he would have done before, when he'd had his powers. He would've found those men and he would have killed them for hurting her. He didn't have powers now. The only thing he could do was clean her wounds and sit with her until she woke up. She didn't need to wake up alone.

"Thank you for finding her. For bringing her back."

Tony shrugged. "She's a friend, and the Littlest Avenger. Can't lose the baby in the family."

Tony cared for her, Loki realized, and she was more than a friend. Tony had called her part of his family. The Avengers were a team and a type of family.

Loki wondered if that title would ever extend to him. ---------- While Arianna slept, Tony received a call from Fury. Tony had already gotten in touch with him on the flight back to the tower. Fury had already known that Aries had been taken. Tony had arrived before the SHIELD agents had gotten there.

"How did you know?" Tony asked. "You claim you're not after her, so how did you know she was taken?"

"A few of my scientists hired people outside of SHIELD to get her. They obviously weren't professionals. It was very sloppy, the whole thing."

"No kidding."

"I'm cleaning house, and these guys will never work in the field of science again. The ones who took her will be dealt with, but I can't promise no one else will come after her."

"What did they use on her? Bruce is running tests, but is this gonna cause any lasting damage?"

"She'll be sore for a few days. Nothing else."

"Okay. What was it?"

"Our weapons department was working on a serum that could make someone feel as if they've been shot without having been shot. It's meant to incapacitate without causing actual damage."

"You were working on a torture device. It affected her whole nervous system. Did you know Agent Romanoff was hit as well?"

"I did. I assume she's fine."

"Yeah, sleeping it off." Tony sighed. "Let me know if you need help cleaning house." ---------- In the living room, Loki was cleaning Arianna's face of the little blood that had dried there. Her muscles were twitching even though she was sleeping. He knew that was because of the exhaustion the pain must have caused her.

Tony had just gotten off his phone and was now watching them with an odd expression.

"What?"

Tony shook his head. "She did that for you once, when you first became mortal. You were unconscious too."

"Hm."

That had been before she'd even begun to care for him. Though to be completely honest, she'd always cared about him – not as an individual, not as Loki, but as someone she had to heal and protect. She'd cared for him like she cared for everyone.

"Where are the others?" Loki asked, suddenly realizing he'd been left alone with Tony and Arianna.

"Rogers and Barton are watching over Romanoff. Banner is in his room. We've got Aries. It looks like the swelling in her cheek is going down. It'll be quite a shiner, though"

Tony sat on an arm of the sofa and Loki noticed he allowed himself to touch her hair.

"The ones who did this are probably going to be arrested. The ones who hired them are probably not. I don't know if she'd want any of them killed even if the thought has crossed my mind. It's just not her."

"Oh, I know," Loki said. "I'm here and alive. Relatively free."

He paused from washing her face and pulled the rag away.

"She was there because I wanted to go outside."

"She was getting stir crazy herself. No one expected an attack in public, or one during the day. And I provided the transportation."

Before either could say anything else, Arianna began to stir. She groaned once and seemed to try to lift her arms. They didn't get very far and a frown found a place on her mouth. She was waking up even though she should've been asleep for at least a few more hours.

She opened her eyelids, her irises green but glazed over from exhaustion. She looked around frantically, as if she didn't know where she was, until her gaze fell first on Loki and then on Tony.

She groaned again and tried to sit up, to which Tony stood up and pressed her back down.

"Hey, whoa. Easy. You're not at a hundred percent."

"Mm. Really? I hadn't noticed."

Her voice was scratchy, Loki noticed. Her throat had been made raw from screaming.

"She needs water."

"Got it," Tony said and went out of the room. He seemed happy to have an excuse, actually.

Arianna grabbed his hand and Loki was grateful for the warmth of it. It provided proof that she was okay – or would be.

"Did they hurt you?" she asked.

"No. They used the tranquilizer on me."

"Oh. Good."

Warmth spread through him at that one word. She cared whether he'd been hurt or not. He knew he didn't deserve her affection towards him, didn't deserve any of the things the Avengers had given him – a home, almost friends, perhaps a found family, or what could be one day.

Whether he deserved it or not, he did want it.

"Where are Natasha and Happy?"

"Both sleeping. Once they found out where you were and that Stark was going to get you . . ."

"I know Happy got hit with a tranq, but what happened to Tash?"

"She was dosed with the same thing you were. She's fine, a little sore. She had a limp because she was shot in the leg. She recovered rather quickly, was inside when Happy and I woke up. They got her when she got out of the car to try to come inside the café."

"Oh. I knew she would've been in there to help if she could."

Tony came back with a glass of water, but Arianna's hand was too shaky for her to hold it on her own so he handed it to Loki.

"I'll be in the lab if anyone needs me." ---------- Tony needed a break, that was why he was slipping away to his workshop. Working was the best solution to help him get his mind off of things. Besides, no one would have been able to find him had he actually gone to bed like he knew he should have.

"Jarvis, keep an eye on Agents Romanoff and Grace. If anything changes for the worse, let me know immediately."

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Other than that, no distractions."

He had in immediate problem in that dart thing that had hit two of his team members, two of his friends. No one else could be allowed to be taken down by this new weapon.

Tony had been working on this new liquid body armor, planned on making a suit of it for each of his team members. It was flame resistant, bulletproof, and would have kept Natasha and Arianna from getting hit with those darts – Happy and Loki too, but they hadn't been hurt.

He wouldn't have his friends tortured, not when he could stop it. Everyone was safe and they had found Aries relatively easily, but what if it happened again?

They had to be ready. ---------- After Arianna got her motor functioning skills back, she decided to go to bed. At least she'd be more comfortable there. She'd be able to sleep. She was so exhausted and she didn't think she could stay awake much longer.

"Loki, will you help me to my room?"

"Of course."

She still couldn't move much on her own, and she still felt as if she had pushed her body to the max. Loki helped her off the couch and helped her walk the distance to their hallway.

"You might have to come in. The bed covers need to be folded back. You might have to do things you probably never had to do as a prince."

"I believe I'll be able to manage. How shall I serve you tonight, Miss Grace?"

Her heart stopped – or stuttered – at the innuendo in Loki's voice. This was the first time he'd ever used that voice on her. If she hadn't been hurt, she probably would've been more affected. As it was, she knew Loki was only messing with her and he really meant he was willing to do whatever she needed him to.

"I do need you to pull down the covers. And I may need help changing. Okay?"

"I am centuries old. I promise not to lose control at what is probably a perfect body."

"Doesn't feel too perfect at the moment."

Loki opened the door to her room and helped her inside and onto the bed. He glanced at the dresser and then at her.

She realized then that this was the first time Loki had actually been in her room. She was glad she kept things relatively neat. The worst thing she had out was a shirt that was draped over the edge of the bed.

"This will work," she said, gesturing at the shirt. "I just need –"

She lifted her arms, winced, and Loki stepped forward. He grasped the edge of her shirt, brought it up over her head.

She let her arms fall back to her sides, even the small amount of energy expended by lifting them having reminded her that she'd been shot in the back and the front. Both ached when she moved.

One of Loki's hands found its way to her chest, the part that showed over her bra. She jerked away, ending up on her back, her weight on her elbows.

"Don't touch me!"

Loki's eyes widened as he stepped back, hands fisted at his sides. She had hurt his feelings. She felt guilty almost immediately because she hadn't meant to react that way. Loki hadn't done anything wrong, not really. She just hadn't expected him to touch her that way.

"I'm sorry. I don't – I just –"

"I should have warned you. There's something on your skin."

"What?"

She glanced down only to realize that there were dark lines branching out from where the dart had struck her. It looked like blood poisoning.

"There's one on my back too. Is it the same?"

"Uh . . ."

"It's okay to help me sit up. I won't freak out. I shouldn't have before. You just surprised me."

"Sorry." He sat beside her and began helping her up. "Do you not like being touched in general?"

"I do like some warning. Sorry."

Loki stroked the bare skin of her back and she flinched. She could tell the injection site was fevered because his skin was cold.

"It is the same – maybe worse."

"Makes sense. They shot me there first." Arianna groaned. "Jarvis? Will you alert the others that Natasha needs to be checked over? We all need to meet in the lab. Get Bruce down there, and tell Tony we're coming."

"Yes, Miss Grace." A pause and then, "Is this about your condition? Mr. Stark doesn't wish to be disturbed. New project."

"We need to run some tests. And yes, it's about my condition." ---------- Tony had finally lost himself in his work when everyone showed up outside his lab. Natasha was sandwiched between Steve and Clint, and Loki was helping Arianna along. Both women appeared to have been through a war.

Arianna was holding a shirt to her chest, but her back had no cover aside from the thin line at her bra. Tony didn't even want to know why that was or how it had come about. He didn't want to deal with it.

Bruce came in behind the group and stopped right as he reached Arianna. He placed a hand on her back and appeared to be examining something there. He spoke and Arianna nodded.

Bruce let them all in and led the two women to a work station. Despite Bruce being able to turn into a green giant, he was best for this. He was kind and gentle, not abrasive, and he probably wouldn't frighten Arianna. He would be careful with her.

"What's wrong?"

"You should see this," Bruce said. "We might have a problem."

Tony stood from where he was working and walked over to Bruce and the two women. He saw what Bruce had been talking about and cringed. There was a small dot with red lines around it on Arianna's back. It reminded Tony of when his own body had been at war with him, when his blood toxicity levels had been off the charts, only his lines had been black.

"Is the other area the same way?" he asked, and she nodded. "Tash?"

The red-head shrugged. "I was shot in the leg. I haven't noticed."

"Maybe you should check," Steve said. "Then we'll know whether or not Arianna's the only one it's affecting this way."

Without hesitating Natasha began taking her pants off. Tony rolled his eyes; Clint smirked; Bruce and Steve looked away; Loki appeared as shocked as Loki could be. Tony figured most Asgardians didn't ever strip in front of a group of people.

"Tash, I don't think he meant for you to check in front of everyone," Arianna said.

"Nope, definitely not!" Steve said.

"It's just skin," Natasha said, shrugging. "And mine isn't like Aries."

"Oh, great. I must have an infection or something."

"Or you could be having an allergic reaction," Bruce said. "I'll run some blood tests. I'll check for infections or viruses. I'll need you to keep a list of symptoms you start to experience and keep an eye on your temperature. I'm gonna give you a round of antibiotics, just in case, but I won't really know how to treat you until I get results from the tests I'm gonna run."

"Can I – can I put my shirt back on?"

"Please put your shirt back on," Tony said. Then to Natasha, "Please put your pants back on."

"I never thought I'd see the day that you'd be telling a woman to put her clothes back on," Natasha said.

"Well, I'm no longer a single man, ya know."

"As much as I'm sure we all care about your personal life, Stark," Loki said, stepping forward, slight impatience in his voice, "can we focus on finding out what is happening to Arianna? She is the one who needs help now."

With that, Bruce began running his tests. ---------- Arianna didn't appreciate being poked and prodded with needles after what she'd already been through that day, but she knew Bruce needed blood samples. He also had to shoot the round of antibiotics into her in case she did have an infection.

It was while Bruce was working on her that Arianna's phone vibrated in the back pocket of her jeans.

Who was trying to contact her? Almost everyone she knew was there with her. Whoever it was, they were sending her an ongoing list of messages.

She pulled her phone out to see who was trying to get in touch with her and found most of the messages were images of the two men who had taken her. They were now dead, both having been shot in the center of their foreheads. There were other pictures of the man she had hurt, the man she would have killed had the other not stopped her.

Who was sending this to her? And why? The only other person who had had anything to do with her abduction was the driver who had taken her and her captors to the warehouse, and the driver hadn't stuck around for long.

"What is that?" Steve asked.

"Nothing." She shook her head. "It's nothing."

"Aries," Natasha said quietly. "Give me the phone. Whatever is on there doesn't matter."

Arianna tossed her phone to Natasha a touch too hard, and her eyes began to burn.

"Those men were scared of me! They were scared of me. That's why they shot me with that – that thing. They knew I had to focus to use my powers, and they didn't want me to be able to do it. And now they're dead."

"Fury said he was taking care of it," Tony said. "I thought he meant he was having them arrested."

"But why would he send me pictures? He – he knows I wouldn't want to see that."

"You're right. He wouldn't send pictures," Natasha said. "Can we track where these came from?"

"We can try," Tony said.

"I lost control on one of them," Arianna said. "I would have killed him if –"

"Aries!" Natasha stepped in front of her and grabbed her shoulders. "Stop! The pictures don't matter. What you did doesn't matter. They were hurting you. They were either going to kill you, or they were waiting for someone to come get you. You had every right to defend yourself in any way you could."

"I understand self-defense, Tash, but these men are dead now."

"But you didn't kill them."

"I could have. If they hadn't shot me the second time, I would have. I would have, and there are others after me from SHIELD who are probably responsible for these two guys. What if more people die because of me?"

Loki stepped closer to her but didn't take Natasha's place in front of her.

"To be clear, if the others are out to harm you, I'll be glad to see them meet the same fate as these two."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Tony said. "Anyway, there's nothing we can do until we get the results from the blood test. You should really get some sleep."

"You should really get some sleep," Arianna said back to him as she hopped off the table. "I'll let you know if anything gets worse."

@voteforevilthoughts, @purplekitten30

[loveisnotadagger]

Love is Healing - Chapter Ten

Chapter 10/?

Loki/OFC

Loki knocked on Arianna's bedroom door at exactly six-thirty. Within seconds she opened the door. Loki stood there staring for a few seconds because he'd never seen Arianna in anything other than casual clothes, but now she was wearing a black dress with bell-shaped sleeves and a flowy skirt that ended just above her knees.

She had straightened her hair and it was hanging loosely over her shoulders. Her cheeks were pink and her lips were glossy, but her face was otherwise void of makeup.

He'd noticed that her breath had caught when she'd noticed his makeover. He was just glad that he wasn't the only one who had put in an effort to look nice.

"You, um . . . actually look like a prince tonight," she said, having found her voice.

"Is that . . . good?"

"Yes."

Something loosened in Loki's chest then and he could breathe easy all of a sudden.

"Well, you look lovely."

He offered her his hand and she took it. She didn't seem nervous about that at least.

"So . . . what are we doing?"

"Chinese food, talking, perhaps a movie." Loki glanced her way as they began walking down the hallway. "Tony set up the floor below this one. I hope that's okay."

"It's fine. I didn't know we would be alone-alone."

"Are we ever really alone while Jarvis is online?"

"True." She squeezed his hand. "Sorry I'm being silly."

"You are not being silly. You're just nervous."

"I really am."

"Maybe it would soothe you to know that I, too, suffer from nerves at the present time."

"Really? But you're a prince."

"I was a prince," he said. "I'm only mortal here."

"Being mortal is okay," Arianna said, "if you give it a chance."

"That's what I'm trying to do," he said, his tone most definitely flirty.

Arianna grinned and Loki noticed her blush before she turned her head away. Her reaction made Loki feel as if he had a chance after all. ----------

When they got to the room Tony had picked out for them, Arianna was surprised to see that a table had been set up. A deep red tablecloth covered it, and a flaming candle was seated on top. Two plates – fresh and steaming – of chicken and broccoli with rice and brown sauce awaited them.

"Did you do this?" she asked.

"The candle was my idea. I would've gone with a green tablecloth."

Arianna shook her head but smiled anyway.

"I don't know if I like Chinese food, but Tony said this dish is your favorite, so that is what I ordered."

"Thank you. This is nice."

Ten minutes into their dinner Arianna finally settled down. She even felt safe in knowing that Loki meant her no harm. She had felt it when she'd taken his hand earlier.

They were eating together, as they had done many times before. They were talking about normal things. Most importantly, there was no pressure coming from Loki at all.

They were just spending time together, and that was okay.

"I was surprised you actually went to Tony."

"In order to get what I wanted I had to. For me to get what I wanted, you had to have what you wanted."

After a brief pause, during which Arianna took a bite of rice, Loki shrugged.

"Stark and I have an understanding." Then with a small, self-deprecating smile he continued, "Besides, I really don't understand this . . . dating."

"That makes two of us." ---------- After dinner, Loki and Arianna moved to the living room to find something to watch. Loki, not knowing what was good and what wasn't, told Arianna to pick something.

She chose a series called Sherlock and they watched the first episode. Loki decided he liked the show and would continue watching it in his own time. He found Sherlock Holmes amusing. Loki sympathized with him; he normally felt as if he were surrounded by morons as well.

"So this is a date? By Midgardian standards?" Loki asked once the episode was over.

"It's considered one, yes. It depends on what one likes to do."

"Is there something you would like to do? That we can do together?"

"We always do stuff together."

"You know what I meant. Together, as a date." A thought occurred to him suddenly. "Unless you've not enjoyed yourself."

Her eyes widened then, and Loki knew that Arianna had been enjoying herself.

"I usually enjoy the time I spend with you. I just didn't know what to expect from this, or what you expected of me."

"For you to be you. You being you is what made me fancy you. Why would I want anything different just because we're on a date?"

Arianna's face brightened as she smiled.

"I think I've been thinking about this way too much. Worrying about you being different because it's a date. Most guys I've been with only wanted . . . you know."

"What's beneath your clothes."

"Yeah. That."

"Well, maybe you just need better taste in men."

She shrugged. "I did agree to go on a date with an ex-villain, criminal mastermind."

Loki grinned at her playful banter. He wasn't even hurt by her words because he knew she hadn't meant anything by them.

"Ex-villain but not ex-criminal mastermind?"

"You still have the same brain. I just think you'll find better uses for it."

Loki hoped he wouldn't let her down. ---------- Arianna soon found herself outside her bedroom door with Loki, much like the night before. He had walked her there, but unlike the night before, he hadn't tried to kiss her this time.

"You never did say what you would like to do," Loki said. "For our next date."

"Yes, I did. Just spend time with you. Besides, it's your turn to pick."

He must've been thinking about it already because he was quick to respond.

"I'd like to go outside. I have not been out since the last time with you."

Arianna realized he was right. He hadn't been outside since then. She hadn't really either aside from going out to visit hospitals. She hadn't been outside for fun in what felt like forever.

"You will have to pick the place, however, as I am unfamiliar with Midgard geography."

She grinned. She knew just the place to go.

"I'll get with Tony tomorrow to ask about transportation. We can go for coffee tomorrow and then take a walk. Night time is probably best. Less of a chance for you to be noticed and recognized."

"Great. Good night then, Arianna."

Arianna said good night too, confused when Loki just turned around and started walking towards his room. She also found herself disappointed. Wasn't he going to kiss her? Hadn't the whole point of the date been about him wanting to kiss her? And now he was just going to walk away?

"Loki, wait."

He turned back around. "Yes?"

"I . . ."

She moved forward, stopping when she was close enough to touch. Where had her fear gone? What had happened to the girl that had been so nervous about Loki trying to become intimate with her? Where had she gone and why wasn't she stopping her from doing this? She was only going to make a fool of herself doing this. She was no good at it. She was a horrible kisser. She could never get her mouth to move with someone else's. She knew that she would freeze if she actually let her lips touch his.

Only she didn't freeze. In fact, she came to life under Loki's attention. She had initiated contact, her hands pulling him down to her only to card her fingers through his silky black hair.

She hadn't planned on kissing him like that or for as long as it looked like they were going to, but she soon found herself requesting entrance to his mouth. He let her, and she scratched his scalp with her nails.

Loki was being so pliant, which wasn't like him, but she was glad he was letting her lead. Even when he placed his hands on her sides, he wasn't demanding anything. His fingers squeezed gently, but he seemed content with just this.

She pushed him against the wall, knowing the angle much have been hurting his neck, but she didn't want to pull away. She hadn't wanted to be trapped against the wall either.

Arianna was not used to this, the heat and the ache at her core. She was not used to wanting anyone. She'd never wanted anyone to ease the ache before. It had never been this intense.

She'd never been the one in control before either, and for it to be Loki that she was leading made it even better. He was always in control of himself and yet he'd let her come to him, had let her initiate whatever this was.

Loki moved his hands to her behind only to begin kneading the flesh there. Instead of freaking her out, it made her lean further into him.

"Loki." She gasped and pulled her mouth away. "Please, I –"

She what? Wanted to stop? No. Wanted to keep kissing him? Yes. Right then and there in the hallway? No. Did her body agree with her mind? Definitely not, but was she going to listen to her body? No . . . not even if she wanted to. Badly.

She pulled away fully then, slowly but deliberately. She wasn't rejecting Loki. She just couldn't do this here.

What had she been doing anyway? What was wrong with her? She didn't do things like that. Ever.

"I think . . . I think I'm gonna go now," she squeaked.

She refused to meek Loki's gaze until he lifted her chin. He pressed his lips to hers briefly before pulling back. He wasn't mad at her for stopping in the middle of things. Though his green eyes did appear glazed over.

There was a flush in his cheeks – a healthy one, not a fever flush – that went down his neck. It disappeared underneath his shirt, but Arianna knew his upper chest was probably pink too.

She had done that. With a sudden bout of giddiness, she quickly planted another kiss on Loki's lips. She nipped at him once before pulling away again.

"You want me," she said, happy yet terrified. Not in the normal way she felt terrified by intimacy, not in the way in which she thought she would be physically hurt, but terrified in the way that told her if she gave in and let Loki want her, care about her, it could emotionally damage her because she wanted him too, and she already cared about him.

"It was not my intention for this to happen," Loki admitted. "Though I am not at all sorry that it did."

She breathed in, held it for a few seconds, and then let it out.

"I'm not either, though I didn't expect to like it so much."

Loki grinned and looked smug, causing Arianna to shake her head.

"Don't let it go to your head, Loki. Good night." ---------- Still warm and slightly out of breath, Arianna entered her room. She felt like a teenager, or what she thought a teenager should feel like after making out with someone they were obviously attracted to.

"Did you enjoy your date?"

At the sound of Natasha's voice Arianna quickly asked Jarvis to activate the lights in her room. Her friend was seated on the bed, right at the edge. She appeared to have been waiting there for a while.

"Hey, Tash. Been there long?"

"Maybe ten minutes. You didn't answer my question."

"Well, I – yes, I did. We ate and watched a show. Talked a bit, nothing too heavy."

Natasha nodded but also looked at her knowingly.

"I don't think you did much talking at all judging by the flush in your cheeks and your loss of breath."

"Tash!" This really wasn't Natasha's business. "We kissed. That's it."

"No. You went on a date without telling me." Tash stood then. "You always tell me in case you need a way out."

"We never left the building, Tash."

Arianna could see that Tash was kind of hurt that she hadn't been included in the list of people that had known about the date beforehand.

"If it makes you feel any better, you can be my potential way out tomorrow. Loki and I are going to get coffee and then go for a walk."

"No, you're not."

Natasha was in full agent mode now, so Arianna waited for an explanation.

"The building is being watched. Clint and I noticed recently. Tony has been made aware. It's not safe for you to leave."

"I've been stuck inside for weeks. You and Clint can be our security detail, but I need to get out."

Natasha frowned. "You mean Loki needs to get out."

"That too."

That wasn't the only reason there was, but now that Loki looked different and there was less of a chance of him being recognized, Arianna felt she could introduce him to the outside world. Something told her that he hadn't taken much in the last time he'd spent more than an hour outside.

"I just ask you to keep this in mind. He's forced people to do things they didn't want to. You don't –"

"I know what he did, and I know it wasn't fun for Clint, okay? What Loki did was wrong. I know that. But what Loki forced people to do is not the same thing as what David forced me to do. I don't appreciate the comparison."

Natasha's face remained blank aside from blinking once.

"I wasn't trying to compare. I was reminding you of what he's capable of."

"I've been in his head, Tash. I know what's in there." She sighed, suddenly exhausted. "Please leave."

She didn't want to dismiss Natasha like that. She knew Tash would be hurt even if she didn't let it show, but Arianna needed to be alone. Tash had gotten her to think about what Loki had done. He could be manipulative, she knew that. He could be cruel, though he hadn't been towards her since she'd gotten to know him better. He could also be funny and kind in his own way.

"I need to think," she told her friend. "I'll remember what you said. But you need to remember this, Tash. Loki wants what he wants and he's proven he'll do what he has to in order to get it. He wants me. He knows he can't be that way with me. He didn't even try anything tonight. He was on his best behavior. I kissed him."

"Hm." Tash opened the door. "Let me know before you leave tomorrow night."

Before she left, she turned and said, "Just be careful, okay? That's all I meant." ---------- Loki lay in bed that night thinking about how well the night had gone. Arianna had been nervous at first, but she had settled quickly as she had begun to eat. He'd found the reason for her unease had been because of past experiences with men, but after she had realized he didn't want her to act any differently than normal she'd relaxed completely – enough to gain the confidence to kiss him.

She hadn't seemed too terribly experienced, but she'd more than made up for it with passion – until she'd realized they'd been in the hallway. Then she'd been embarrassed even if she had quickly regained control of herself.

Loki hadn't wanted to let her go, but he'd finally gotten a response from her and hadn't wanted her to go back in her shell.

He was just glad that he'd gotten her to agree to another date, this one outside. Loki didn't know if he liked coffee or not, but he would definitely enjoy the company. ---------- The next day it rained and everything was soaked. That didn't stop Arianna from wanting to go get coffee, so she found herself in Tony's lab at four in the afternoon asking for transportation for later that night.

It was how she found a buzzed-on-something Tony Stark. It wasn't alcohol – it was probably some energy drink he had concocted himself.

"Uh . . . you okay?" she asked as she came in.

Tony had recently changed all the security codes and the door to the lab now opened only if your handprint was in the system.

"Always. What d'you need?"

"A car or a driver. For tonight."

"Why?"

"Coffee and Central Park, if it stops raining. I wanna go for a walk and I wanna take Loki with me."

Why did she feel as though she were talking to her dad? Tony Stark was not her dad. He was more of a cool uncle, and she did enjoy the fact that he cared about her enough to ask questions.

"Why are you hyper?" She cared enough to ask questions too.

She could tell he hadn't been sleeping well. There were dark circles around his eyes and his skin had lost some of its normal color.

"Caffeine. Lots of it."

"Maybe you should try sleep. Lots of it."

"Can't. Working."

"O . . . kay. Probably not healthy to live off of caffeine, but it's your life, I guess. You'll crash eventually and you'll sleep the sleep of the unconscious."

"'Til then, I'll work."

She assumed he was working on his suits because one of them was on display, chest plate opened up.

"So . . . the car?"

"Happy will take you. Pepper can spare him for the night."

"Okay. Thanks."

She'd only met Happy a few times, but she knew enough to know Tony trusted him more than he trusted most people. She would trust Tony's judgment.

"Tash will wanna tag along."

"Sure."

Tony went back to fiddling with the suit in front of him, not that he'd ever really stopped, and Arianna stood there in silence for a few seconds before saying something she felt needed to be said.

"All joking aside, you really should try to get some sleep. Don't wanna lose our genius, or you know, you in general, whether you're a genius or not."

Tony glanced her way before turning more fully towards her, stopping his tinkering for the moment.

"All joking aside? If I could sleep, I would."

"What d'you mean?"

"I mean, I can't sleep. I haven't been able to since the attack here."

"Oh. I . . . Is there anything I can do?"

"I don't think so. It's all up here," Tony said, gesturing to his head. "What I saw."

"With the . . . When you –"

"When I went into the giant hole in the sky to keep the nuke from going off here?"

"Yeah, that."

"Yeah, that," Tony repeated.

"You've never talked about it . . ."

"No one's ever really asked." Tony shrugged. "Working helps a little. It's the only thing that really does."

"Does Pepper know?"

"Not so much. She's getting a place in Malibu set up. We're moving in together."

"Oh." More excitedly, Arianna said, "You never told us that either."

"Not happening any time soon, but yeah, in the future. It's why she hasn't been around."

Arianna had only met Pepper a few times, but she seemed to have things together pretty well. To be able to handle Tony, she had to have things together.

Arianna wanted to reach out and offer some type of comfort, but she knew Tony wasn't always open to touching, so she refrained.

"For real, though, you're not alone here. I mean, you can talk about it if you want to – or need to. But we can't help if you don't let us know you need it. Okay?"

Tony nodded once but didn't say anything.

"I'll let you get back to work now, but thanks again." ---------- Not even two hours later Loki and Arianna were on their way to a nearby coffee shop. It wasn't completely dark because Tony had basically told them he didn't want them out at night time. Arianna understood, remembering Natasha's words about people watching the tower.

The rain from earlier had become even heavier and there was even thunder in the distance. Loki did not seem thrilled. Their connotations, she assumed.

"We may not get that walk, but we can fill up on sugar at the café."

"I like sugar."

"I know." She smiled.

Loki looked out the car window – he and Arianna were in the backset. Natasha and Happy were in the front – and sighed.

"Everything is being rebuilt, or being removed if it can't be rebuilt. It will almost be as if nothing ever happened."

"People try to move on when they can, ignore it when they can't. There are a few who hang onto things."

They arrived at the café, a small white and brown building in a row of many others. Loki and Arianna got out of the car, while Natasha and Happy stayed behind.

When Loki and Arianna went inside the café they quickly took in the place. There were maybe ten tables on the floor, only two of which were actually occupied. To the right, against the wall, was the counter where customers ordered. Beneath the counter, in a display case, Arianna saw all the baked goods.

"Blueberry muffins! Fresh blueberry muffins."

She grabbed Loki's arm and tugged him to the counter, where a small blond woman greeted them with a smile.

"How can I help you?"

"Two blueberry muffins and two French Vanilla cappuccinos, please."

The café door opened as Happy came in and took a seat in the back corner. Arianna rolled her eyes without any real frustration.

"Black coffee for the guy who just came in, and a couple of chocolate chip cookies. I got it."

After Arianna paid the woman, she told Loki to find a seat. The barista would bring their order to their table, and after about two minutes of waiting, she did. Happy nodded her way when he received his own coffee and cookies. She sent him a small smile before focusing on Loki, who was looking suspiciously at his drink

"It's sweet," she said. "I think you'll like it. And I know you like muffins, and these are fresh so they're even better."

Loki lifted the cup and took a small sip. His nose wrinkled in distaste at first – probably the first bitter taste before the vanilla hit his tongue – but his expression cleared within seconds and he hm'd his approval.

"See? It's good."

Although she was suddenly wondering if he should have caffeine. It could make some people hyper.

Loki's eyes scanned the room and Arianna wondered if he felt okay, felt safe, being out in the real world.

"Loki, we can leave if you want to." She leaned forward, closer to him. "If you feel overwhelmed."

"I don't. I . . . it is a habit to look for threats wherever I go."

"Oh. Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Why are you afraid of storms? I mean, I get that Thor is the god of thunder and all that, but is there more to it? I mean, he didn't cause you to get struck by lightning or anything, right?"

Loki blinked, shocked, before letting out a genuine laugh. Arianna would have been offended by him laughing at her question, but she was distracted by the beauty that was a happy Loki. No manic smile, no craziness in his eyes, just pure enjoyment, pure amusement.

"What? No. He probably could have, and I probably deserved it many times over, but he would have considered that unfair. I am, however, used to storms meaning that he is in a bad mood. I don't feel any real fear, just a sort of apprehension."

Loki was still grinning. "Have you always had such a low opinion of my brother?"

Until then Loki had refused to call Thor his brother. She didn't mention the slip up, though.

"Well, I didn't know." She laughed herself now, knowing that there was no trauma that caused Loki's 'apprehension' about storms.

The front door slammed open suddenly. Both Arianna and Loki jerked their heads in that direction. Happy was probably at full attention at the moment, but Arianna hadn't been paying attention to him. She was, however, paying attention to the men that had just walked in. There were two of them and they both had guns.

Great.

"Everybody out!" they said. "Nice and easy."

They let everybody out – everybody that wasn't Arianna or Loki. Happy refused to go anywhere, so one of the men shot him in the leg. He went down and Arianna was shocked to find that there was no blood.

Were the men using tranquilizer darts? Happy wasn't moving and his eyes were slowly closing.

The two men, who were wearing all black, turned to her and Loki then.

"You'll come with us." They were speaking only to Arianna. "If you don't, I will kill both of them and we will get you anyway."

Why had they left Stark Tower? Even after she'd discovered they were being watched she'd wanted to go out. She'd been stupid. And where was Natasha? Was she okay? If she'd been able to come inside, she would have by now.

"Do you promise not to hurt them? If I come with you, do you promise not to hurt them?"

"Arianna, no."

"I can't let them hurt you or Happy."

Arianna took a deep breath, moved forward, and then, even as she was moving, she let a burst of power through. A table lifted from the ground and flew towards the two men. Surprised, they ducked, and Arianna grabbed Loki's hand. They ran toward Happy. What were they to do with him? They couldn't just leave him.

Something struck her back and then she was screaming, and Loki was grabbing her. Pain tore its way through every nerve in her body, or so it seemed. It was red hot and almost unbearable.

Had she been shot?

"Arianna!"

Loki didn't know what to do. She knew that. He couldn't fight guns. He wasn't bulletproof, not anymore. ---------- Loki saw the dart sticking out of Arianna's back and quickly pulled it out. She was still screaming and had begun to convulse. Had the dart been full of poison? Was she going to die?

No. These men wanted her for something. That gave Arianna an advantage. She needed to stay alive – they needed her alive. He, however, had no such luck. They would kill him, or sedate him – or torture him.

Who cared? Who cared about a little pain? They couldn't have Arianna. He would fight for her. His chest twisted uncomfortably at the thought of her dying or being taken from him.

He lunged, knowing he couldn't take both the men at once. They both reacted, and Loki felt a sting in his neck. He was aware enough to know he hadn't been dosed with the same thing Arianna had been. He wasn't in pain.

He was just going to pass out.

@smallangryandpink, @purplekitten30

[loveisnotadagger]

Love is Healing - Chapter Nine

Chapter 9/?

Author's Note: There is talk of Arianna's past trauma in this. There's a part where she is opening up about it to someone and so it's in her own words, what happened to her.

Tony and Arianna made up over the next week. She was still upset that he had looked something up about her, something he'd had no right to, but he hadn't mentioned it since then. She hadn't really thought he would, but that part of her life wasn't something she liked people knowing about.

Tony had insisted that no one would ever be able to use those files against her again. The files had been deleted from SHIELD's database and from their source of origin. She had no idea how it had happened, but she was thankful nonetheless.

They continued her physical training and the testing of her abilities, Loki now helping her with both. They had to build up her strength before she could continue sparring, but she was doing well with the magic part. Tony tested her responses when she used her abilities. Her heart rate elevated each time and her brain waves went wild, but there were never any negative side effects. Tony never pushed her enough to cause a headache or a nose bleed.

At the moment, however, she was enjoying a hot chocolate while watching a movie with Loki, who was also enjoying a hot chocolate.

"This is very satisfying," Loki said, taking a sip from his cup.

"Mm-hm. This is the good stuff, made with milk. They have the kind you make with water, but it's gross."

Things were silent between them for a few minutes until Loki spoke again.

"You and Stark seem to be on agreeable terms again."

"We are. I still don't like what he did since he didn't have permission, but I have forgiven him."

"SHIELD is no longer able to use you. You no longer have to stay here, nor do you have to be responsible for me."

Arianna's cup stopped halfway to her mouth, and her attention snapped to Loki's face. He was trying to remain closed off, but she could see he didn't want her to up and leave.

"Loki, SHIELD never used me in a way I didn't want to be used. I healed people. I would've done that with or without government backing with SHIELD. And I chose to stay here, and I didn't take care of you because you were a responsibility. You know that. Or part of you does."

Arianna reached over and squeezed his hand briefly before letting go and returning her attention to the movie. ----------

Loki was not paying attention to the movie. It was about a boy with a yellow car that used radio stations to talk. The car could turn into a large robot.

The movie wasn't boring, but Loki had other things on his mind. Ever since the first attack on the tower and on Arianna Loki had been waiting for another attack. Granted, Arianna had been under strict supervision since then, but the fact that nothing else had happened didn't set well with Loki. Maybe SHIELD's leaders hadn't expected them to fight for the girl, let alone kill for her, and were regrouping.

"Loki?"

He hadn't realized how tense he'd been, that he'd let himself become, until then. There was pain in his palms from clenching his hands into fists. He hadn't broken the skin, but his fingernails had been digging in sharply.

"You're not enjoying the movie," she said, almost teasing. He could hear the concern, though.

"My head is full of other things."

"Yes?"

"SHIELD has known about your ability all along. Fury said he didn't, but his superiors must have."

Arianna was silent as she nodded.

"That's what they had on you. They knew you could do more than heal people. They didn't come after you, though, until Fury knew and until Stark started researching."

"Okay?"

"So what changed? They were obviously keeping watch or they wouldn't have known about the blood sample or where to find it."

"Tony's new security system should block things like that in the future."

"I'm sure it will. I hope it will. But the point I'm trying to get across is that I do not think the timing of the attack was random. I think SHIELD does not approve of you progressing your powers. They are likely afraid of what you can do. Not to mention, you did side with a terrorist."

"Loki . . ."

"I helped terrorize Manhattan. I brought destruction to this city. You can still see the results of that if you step outside. Your power combined with mine, if I were to get it back . . . who knows what could be done with that? That's probably what they're thinking."

"Loki, I don't use my power that way."

"No," he agreed, "but you could, and that is what frightens them."

Arianna caught her bottom lip between her teeth and bit down for a few seconds before speaking.

"When I first got my powers – or at least when I first found out I had them – I . . . accidentally hurt someone. Fury found out about me through my healing people. His superiors are the ones who looked into my background. That's why they knew and he didn't."

"See? They know you could hypothetically hurt someone."

Loki noticed that she seemed relieved that he hadn't really reacted when she'd told him about her accidentally hurting someone when she'd first come into her abilities.

How could he blame her, though? It had been an accident. He knew she would never want to hurt someone. She hadn't even wanted to hurt him when she'd first met him and he definitely would have deserved it if she had. ---------- Loki and Arianna went to bed around midnight, the hallway dark and without windows. They could've asked Jarvis to turn the lights on, but what was the point? They could've found their way in complete pitch darkness.

"Have you been sleeping better?" she asked.

Loki shrugged as if it didn't matter, which was answer enough.

"Are they happening every night, the nightmares?"

"No. Mostly, but no."

"Well, that's good." Arianna gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "Believe it or not, but dreams help you. Psychologically, the dreams mean your brain is trying to process everything. It means you're healing."

"Hm. Funny way of healing. I think I prefer your way."

They had reached Loki's doorway and both stopped as he pushed the door open.

"Well, um, good night, then," she said softly and turned around to go to her own room.

"Arianna, wait," he called after her. "Please."

That word seemed like an afterthought, but she obeyed nonetheless and turned back around to find him close enough to almost run into. Heat filled her cheeks at her almost blunder.

"Sorry."

"My mistake. I did not realize I was standing so close."

"It's okay. What did you need?"

"You and Stark . . . you care about him."

"Um . . . yes."

"It's been said that the angrier you can get at someone the more you care about that person."

Not knowing what Loki was getting at, Arianna remained silent.

"I realize he is older than you, but –"

"Oh! No," she said, finally catching on. "I know what you're thinking and no. I've known Tony for about as long as I've known you, which isn't that long in the grand scheme of things, and he's more like a brother anyway. Or an uncle would probably be a better word."

"Oh."

Arianna could almost feel the relief that seemed to roll off of Loki as a small but genuine smile graced his lips.

"Good. I don't have to pretend to feel guilty."

"Pretend to – why would you have to pretend to feel guilty?"

She didn't have to ask. She knew from the way he was moving his face towards her own and from the way he'd threaded his fingers of one hand through her hair what he was going to do.

"Loki." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Part of her wanted to shove him away. She wasn't capable of giving him what he wanted. She knew she wasn't. It wasn't like she hadn't tried with other men before; she just couldn't get her body to respond the way she thought it should.

The other part of her wanted to be able to respond to Loki's advances. She liked the way his fingers felt as they caressed her scalp, but she still turned her head slightly when his lips nearly met hers. He brushed the skin of her cheek instead.

"Loki, I'm – you don't really want this with me."

Surprise flickered in his green eyes at her words.

"Why would I not?" And then, "Am I not doing this properly? On Asgard, it is all arranged marriages with no real courtship rituals. How does this work on Midgard?"

"Marriage? I never plan on getting married. It kind of fills me with a childlike terror at the thought of ever being married. In fact, relationships in general terrify me. They're not my area of expertise."

"We are friends. That is a type of relationship, is it not?"

Loki refused to step away from her, but he did let go of her hair. Arianna tried not to let it show when she decided she really wanted him to continue massaging her scalp.

"You are a very compassionate person. Why would you not do well in a relationship?"

Arianna didn't know what to say to that. Her idea of a good relationship included complete trust, support, and commitment on both sides. She'd never seen a relationship work that way outside of movies. Maybe her standards were too high or something.

"I don't know what you want from me, Loki, but whatever it is . . . I can't. I don't know how."

She worried her bottom lip with her teeth, not liking the situation or the conversation at all. It was too personal for her.

"You have to know more than I do."

That made her smile softly.

"Most Midgardians date first . . . before they kiss."

"Date?"

Loki seemed to really not know about Earth relationships. It made her feel a little better.

"A night out or whatever, depending on what each person likes. I prefer movies or dinner, or even just drinks and talking."

"Hm."

Loki took one step back, appearing to be thinking. Maybe dating would take too much effort and he would want to just be friends.

"Tomorrow, then. We can have dinner and we can talk," Loki said, grin on his face. "If you are amenable."

Amenable? She was not amenable, but she didn't want to hurt Loki's feelings, either.

"A'right, but just a date. I want Chinese food. Get with Tony. He'll tell you how to order food over the phone."

Was Loki serious enough to go through Iron Man o get a date with her? Tony was very protective. Plus, he knew Arianna's past now and would probably give Loki the shovel talk – not that she thought Loki needed it. He hadn't gotten mad or aggressive when she'd turned her head away when he'd tried to kiss her.

That had to be a good sign. ---------- Loki waited until he was sure Arianna was down for the night before he left his own room to find Stark. He knew the genius would be in his lab doing something. Most nights Stark fell asleep there, if he slept at all.

On the elevator ride down, Loki thought about Arianna's weird yet fascinating reactions to his advances. At first she had appeared awkward, and then she had appeared nervous. Worst of all, she had seemed afraid and ashamed, maybe even insecure.

Someone had made her feel as if she was unable to love someone else, which was a load of rubbish. She wouldn't exert all of her energy into helping people if she didn't care, if she didn't love. On Asgard, it was the people who loved the most that went into the field of healing.

When Loki arrived in the workshop he found Tony working on his latest Iron Man suit. He didn't know what was being done to it, but the chest area had been pulled open.

"Stark," Loki said, gaining the man's attention. "How do you order food over the telephone?"

"You havin' late night cravings?"

"No." He stepped toward Tony and said, "Arianna and I are having dinner tomorrow night, and she wants Chinese food. She said to ask you."

"Dinner? Together? What made you think that was a good idea?"

Loki had to admit he was offended even if there was amusement in the other man's voice.

"I have made my intentions quite clear, and she had decided to give me a chance."

Tony stopped what he was doing and crossed his arms over his chest.

"And what exactly are your intentions?"

"Well, I believe she called it dating. Is that the proper term?"

"I wouldn't know. I don't date," Tony quipped. "And I mean on the more physical side of things. What are your intentions there?"

Loki could hardly believe the audacity of the man in front of him.

"I do not believe that is any of your business."

"I'm making it my business. It's a thing I do when something happens that I don't like. And I don't like you trying to cozy up to our littlest Avenger."

Loki wanted to tell Tony that littlest wasn't a real word, but correcting the genius wouldn't help his case at all so he kept his mouth shut on the subject.

"I would not be here if Arianna had not made it clear I should ask you about this. I remember your promise to hand me over to SHIELD if I dare hurt her. I can assure you it is not and never has been my way to force myself on a woman."

Tony's body tensed to the point that he looked as if he would shatter with one hit.

"That is what you were implying earlier, was it not?"

"What do you want with her then?"

"Has it not occurred to you that I might just fancy her? She has been nothing but kind to me even when I didn't deserve it. Why would I not fancy her? Why would I not want to date her?"

Tony surprised Loki by grinning and then by briefly laughing.

"What? What did I miss?"

"You actually care about her. I knew you appreciated her as the one who made sure you were kept safe, but . . . you like her."

Loki rolled his eyes. "Yes, that is what I just said. Are you going to help me or not?"

Tony shrugged, turning back to his work.

"Come find me in the morning. You'll need a little touch up before your date." ---------- The next morning came and went without Tony helping Loki at all. He had bigger problems to deal with. The problems being SHIELD agents following everyone around. Natasha had come to him around six that morning to let him know that she'd seen at least three undercover agents watching every visible exit of the tower. There had been two men and one woman.

"They were good, Tony. I might not have noticed them if I hadn't had as much training as I have."

"Do they know you know about them?"

"I don't think so. I went on with what I was doing. I mentioned them to Clint. He's noticed them too. They're clearly staking out the place."

Tony added installing extra security cameras outside to his 'things-I-need-to-do' list. Maybe add in some facial recognition programming as well.

"I've only noticed them since your meeting with Director Fury. Maybe they are his people. I don't want to ask him, though, because if they aren't . . ."

"It would let other people at SHIELD know we know."

"Yes. Those people that I saw, they followed me. Again, I wouldn't have noticed had I not been trained. They would've appeared completely normal to anyone else. I don't know if Aries would've made the connection. She's never been that into the training part of being an agent."

"You're sure these people are from SHIELD?"

"If not, they were trained the same way. They use the same methods."

"Hm. If it's only three people, I'm not worried. If they try to get in, my security system will let me know."

"And Jarvis."

"He's part of my security system."

"Obviously."

"Are we both in agreement that it's Arianna these people are keeping tabs on?"

Natasha nodded. "Makes the most sense."

"Speaking of keeping tabs, did you know your friend has a date tonight?"

"What? She doesn't date."

"Apparently she does now. Reindeer games convinced her to give him a chance."

"What?"

"He asked for help getting ready. I should probably go find him." ---------- Arianna was in the gym, sort of working out but mostly watching Steve hit a punching bag. He'd already knocked a few off of their chains and onto the floor.

She'd done several sets of crunches and pushups already. She despised exercise of any kind when Natasha wasn't with her to encourage her, but she had an excess of nervous energy at the moment and it had to go somewhere.

Steve was silent as he continued beating up the very non-threatening punching bag. To be fair, he wasn't much of a talker anyway. Unless he had something to contribute, he usually didn't speak. He wasn't anti-social, he just didn't feel the need to fill the silence with useless chitchat.

Arianna usually didn't mind the quiet, but she needed to talk to someone and Steve was right there. Plus, he probably wouldn't make fun of her for what she wanted to say.

"Steve? What do you think of Loki?"

Steve grabbed the punching bag, bringing it to a standstill, and glanced at her. She was seated at the edge of the mat he was standing on.

"Why?" he asked, seating himself beside her.

She shrugged and refused to meet his eyes. "Just asking."

"Oh. Well, I don't know. He's not trying to take over the world, which is good. But he's also human and powerless. We don't know what he'd do if he got his magic back."

That was not the answer she wanted and she didn't want to admit that it was true that Loki didn't have access to the power he'd once had and they didn't know what he would do if he ever got his abilities back.

"I think he cares about you though. He cares whether you live or die." Steve's mouth formed a small smile. "I don't know how he feels about the rest of us, but he's proven he'll protect you."

Her heart skipped a beat when she noticed that Steve was looking at her with such pure compassion. It was as if he already knew her problem: her upcoming dinner with Loki. He'd actually gone to Tony for help. Loki had set aside his own pride just so he could find out about dating and what she would expect from him. He knew nothing of human dating traditions.

Maybe Tony wasn't the best option to give advice on that after all.

"Loki asked me to have dinner with him tonight. Just him and me."

Steve tensed just a bit as he processed that information and then he nodded.

"I'm nervous," Arianna admitted. "I haven't dated in – well – years, really. Not, you know, properly dating. Not getting-dressed-up-and-having-dinner dating."

"Are you afraid? Of him?"

"Not exactly. I mean, not of him exactly."

This was what she needed to talk about. Even though she hadn't wanted anyone to know, she needed to talk about it now, needed to talk to someone who wasn't Natasha because she already knew what the redhead would say.

"You know those files Tony had Fury delete?"

"Yeah."

"There was this guy that I hurt when I was younger. He was – I thought he was a good man, but . . . but he wasn't. I had – I had known him for years. He was a friend of my parents and he was one of my teachers when I was a senior in high school. He would always bring me gifts when he came over to our house. They were just small things like cute stuffed animals, things like that. I just thought it was because he knew my parents and he'd started looking at me like an uncle would. I was . . . unbelievably stupid."

"You were young," Steve said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You were a kid, by the sound of it. He took advantage. It wasn't you fault."

Arianna knew that. For the longest time after it had happened, she had blamed herself for not seeing the signs – and for seeing them and not realizing what they meant.

"He told me he loved me, and I thought he had to be telling the truth because he treated me better than all the other students. That's what I thought then. Now I know he didn't treat me better. He just treated me differently."

Arianna shut her eyes as they began to sting with tears.

"I . . . enjoyed the attention until he started to become physical. Even then, I never thought he would hurt me."

Arianna took a few breaths to steady herself before continuing.

"The night I was . . . raped was the night I got my powers. It was like they were triggered or something. I didn't know what was happening, so I hurt him. I didn't mean to. By the time I was done with him, his insides were so damaged the police said it appeared as if he'd jumped off a very tall building. Most of his bones were shattered, his organs ruptured. Needless to say, he was dead.

"I did that. That's something I can do, what SHIELD might want me for. The murder and medical records, police reports . . . Those are the files Tony unlocked, that Fury deleted. SHIELD threatened to have me locked up because I was a danger they didn't understand. I chose to work for them instead."

There it was. Her story laid out in front of her and Steve. She'd left out a few parts, of course, but Steve now knew what had happened to her. He didn't need to know the details, didn't need to know that David had been needlessly rough with her, or that he'd hurt her even more because she'd been scared and tense, didn't need to know that David had been the first man to ever touch her that way and had tarnished her mind against intimacy for a long time afterwards. It still forced its way in if she even thought of becoming close to someone in that way.

"Have you told anyone else?" Steve asked, his voice gentle and curious.

"Tash knows, and Tony, obviously. I think Loki knows something is wrong, just not what it is. He knows I was hurt and that I got my ability because of it. But he doesn't know how I was hurt."

She brought her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. She hid her face against them as tears began to fall.

"Please don't tell him. I don't want him to know."

Even though her voice was muffled she knew Steve must've heard and understood because he suddenly had his arm around her and was letting her lean against him. She didn't mind because Steve was just a friend and wasn't looking to date her or kiss her or eventually have sex with her.

He was safe, and he was Captain America. He had a pureness about him that settled her nerves.

"I don't know why you came to me with this, but thank you for trusting me with your secret. Loki will never learn about it from me."

"Thanks."

She just needed to put her big girl panties on and get ready for her date. She would do this for Loki, and if she didn't have a good time or if things went south, then at least she could say she had tried. ---------- Loki couldn't believe what he saw in the mirror. He actually recognized himself.

Tony had made good on his promise of helping, and Loki had gone through a series of changes over the past hour, the most obvious of which was the haircut he'd allowed himself to indulge in.

His reflection showed that he looked much like he had before allowing himself to let go of Thor's hammer only to fall into the place of torment he'd landed in.

His hair was clean, shiny but not oily, and he knew the dark locks would be silky smooth. His skin was pale but not sickly-looking, not like it had been when he'd first arrived in Midgard. His eyes were different – he didn't know why, but they appeared more peaceful than they normally did.

His clothes weren't new exactly. They were from the batch of clothes he'd been presented with once Tony had decided he could stay there at the tower. He had chosen a dark blue sweater and a pair of black jeans that fit his form quite well. He'd seen Arianna glance his way once or twice when he'd worn the sweater before, and she'd seemed to like it.

He would never admit out loud that he'd chosen it for her. It was a casual outfit, but if they weren't going out, then it wasn't supposed to be formal, right?

They were having dinner and hopefully stimulating conversation. Tony had recommended planning for a movie just in case conversation didn't come easily.

Loki was to meet Arianna at her bedroom door at six-thirty. It was six now. He didn't know what else to do other than wait, so that was what he did.

@smallangryandpink, @purplekitten30

[loveisnotadagger]

Love is Healing - Chapter Eight

Chapter 8/?

Author's Note: There is talk of Arianna's past in this chapter. It was mentioned in the first chapter that this story deals with trauma and part of hers is that she was raped when she was seventeen by an adult male that she had known for years and had trusted. I just wanted to warn you guys before you read this chapter that it is brought up here.

Over the next week the Avengers and Loki worked out a schedule of sorts.

Tony was redoing his whole security system and having better windows installed. He didn't want a repeat of anyone breaking in to steal Arianna. She had to be protected.

Bruce picked up the new technology fairly quickly – Tony never doubted he would – and Natasha was in the process of learning. Loki caught on quickly as well. The former god was practically a natural. He was intent on keeping Arianna safe, for which Tony was grateful.

Arianna had taken up sparring with Natasha. Tony watched sometimes. He was glad Arianna had people who would fight for her because she really was terrible at defending herself. She held back because she didn't want to hurt anyone. She had very few survival instincts.

She could block most of Natasha's blows, but that only worked for so long. Arianna wore herself out quickly doing that, and Natasha didn't put the full force behind her movements. If the red head had wanted to hurt Arianna, she'd have had no problem doing so.

Loki took up sparring too, even though he wasn't at full strength. He obviously knew what he was doing; he'd had centuries to hone his skill. Tony was surprised by how the violence of it didn't seem to excite him. Tony had thought Loki would be the type to get off on it, considering what he'd been like when they'd met.

Loki was almost brutal in his movements, but he expended no more energy than he had to. He was quick and precise, and he went for fatal blows. Loki didn't draw out the pain like he could have. He didn't enjoy torturing people. Loki didn't hurt anyone he sparred with, but Tony could predict his fighting technique by the way he moved. Plus, he'd delivered a killing blow to the agent that had slashed Arianna's leg open.

Loki could have made the man suffer and yet he'd ended the man's life in seconds. Tony could confidently say that Loki was not a torturer. ----------

"You are a terrible fighter," Loki teased as Arianna slid out of the boxing ring she'd been in.

"Tell me something I don't know."

Arianna had trained with Natasha before but never as hard or as much as she had been since she'd been a target for kidnapping. Her body hurt, but she knew she had to push through it.

"Okay. You are a terrible fighter because you try to imitate what you are taught."

"Well, yeah. I'm learning from Tash, so . . ."

"You misunderstand me. Your body is not Agent Romanoff's body. You have to fight in a way that fits you. For example, I fight in a completely different style than Thor does. He uses brute strength. I fight . . . gracefully. In a way, it's almost choreographed. I have to get closer, move quickly."

"It's like a dance."

"In a way," Loki admitted reluctantly. "And you still need to use your energy correctly."

"You mean my ability. Sadly, no one can really help me with that."

Loki grinned. "I can."

Arianna began walking towards a table that had bottles of water seated upon it. She picked one up, opened it, and took a few swallows.

"Can you help me control it?"

Loki hesitated. Did he doubt his ability to teach her?

"I can help as much as you allow me to help. This ability, if it is anything like my magic was, will require extreme concentration."

"Well, I can do that. I have to do that every time I heal someone."

"And if you had to concentrate on harming rather than helping?"

That was the question, wasn't it? She never wanted to hurt anyone with her ability, not on purpose, not if she had any other option.

"We'll see. We'll try," she said.

Who else could help her with this? Loki was the best choice even if he was the only one. ---------- That night Loki and Arianna met in his room. He'd never entered her room. Centuries of training and tradition engrained in Loki told him that unless a lady stated otherwise a man should not go where he was uninvited.

That was complete rubbish, of course, because Arianna wouldn't have minded him going into her sleep chamber – or bedroom, as Midgardians defined it – but she had come to him.

"You said you can help me," she said. "I want to know how. What do I have to do?"

Loki admired the determination he saw in her and knew that she really did want to learn.

"I can only show you how I learned, and my magic is – was – quite different from yours. Mine was mostly illusion. Yours very much is not."

"Okay, but do you think I can learn the same way?"

"Maybe."

Loki gestured for her to sit on the bed. It was the only thing on which they could sit other than the floor. Loki had a bed, a closet, a dresser, a bookcase, and a bathroom, but not much in the way of furniture.

Arianna hesitated before sitting down, and then he sat beside her.

"Where did you learn your magic? Were you born with it or . . ."

Arianna shook her head. "I read that if someone goes through something traumatic, it can sometimes cause someone to gain abilities. Almost like something in their brain was dormant until then. Something happened to me when I was seventeen and then I could do things I hadn't been able to before."

Loki had never heard of such a thing, but he wasn't from Midgard, so he didn't know if her theory was correct or not.

"I spent many hours studying and practicing my magic," Loki admitted. "Mother gave me access to many books on the subject. I wish I could let you read them."

Loki had used most of his time on Asgard studying and perfecting his skill. While Thor had trained to be a warrior, Loki had become a Master of Illusion. Training with Thor had never ended well. Loki had usually come away with bruises. Thor had even bloodied Loki's lip one time – not on purpose, Loki knew. Thor had apologized, of course, but Odin hadn't been pleased that Loki had been so easily hurt.

It had been one of the last times Loki had fought his brother while sparring. He'd always fought alongside his brother in battle, but he'd never given Odin the satisfaction of having them fight each other while training.

Loki was pulled out of his thoughts by the touch of Arianna's hand on his arm. He'd gotten lost in his memories and was thankful she'd distracted him. It didn't do to dwell on things he couldn't change.

"Were you listening in?" he asked.

"No. I try not to at all unless someone wants me to."

Loki shook his head even as a smile graced his lips. If Loki could read people's thoughts, he would think nothing of another person's privacy. He would always want to know everything that was being thought because he hated not knowing things – and he was paranoid.

"Okay, I did hear that, and I think it's a good thing that you can't hear other people's thoughts. Sometimes you don't like what you hear." ---------- Tony had just exited the elevator that led to his huge loft when Natasha basically ambushed him.

"Fury wants to come by tomorrow morning."

"No."

The red head nodded. "Agreed. I told him that we'd come to him. You, me, Agent Barton, and the Cap."

"And leave the smallest Avenger alone?"

"She wouldn't be alone, but no. She'll want to come. I just don't know about leaving Loki alone."

Tony didn't really want to have a meeting with Fury, not after everything that had happened. Fury had been made aware of the break in at the tower but had denied any pre-existing knowledge. Tony didn't know if he believed the man.

After assuring Natasha that he'd go with her, Tony asked Jarvis to hack into SHIELD's database and to search for any existing files on Arianna. Tony knew next to nothing about her, and she wasn't upfront about herself.

He didn't need her whole life story or anything, but he did want to know why she was working for SHIELD and for how long she'd been employed.

A half-hour later he had what he needed. Arianna had been recruited at age eighteen. She was now twenty-eight, so she'd been an agent for ten years. They'd found her through a freak accident. A bus has turned over with children inside. No one had died, but Arianna had followed the injured to the hospital and had healed them. She hadn't been seen healing anyone, but people had made the connection anyway when all the wounded had miraculously been healed.

Natasha Romanoff had been sent to collect her. Politely put, she'd been sent to offer Arianna a job, but with SHIELD everyone knew there was no offering. You did what they told you or your life turned to crap.

There were two locked files under Arianna's name, but it took only a few seconds to get them open. The first one was filled with medical records.

She'd been part of an experimental drug program as a child and had been on SHIELD's watchlist ever since. Apparently, she'd been sick a lot when she was younger and her parents had been desperate. The drugs were meant to strengthen her immune system – and they had; she had gotten better after multiple treatment sessions – but since the drugs had come from the SHIELD science department, they needed to make sure there weren't any other side effects.

There hadn't been until she was eighteen. Whether or not she could do anything before that, Tony didn't know, but she hadn't been caught using her abilities before that.

Once Tony had gone over the second set of locked files, he wished he hadn't. He found out things he hadn't wanted to know, things he knew Arianna wouldn't want him to know.

She had been assaulted when she was seventeen. There were medical records for that as well, and police reports that stated how badly she'd been hurt. She'd been put in a psych ward for a month because she'd withdrawn into herself. She had stopped talking, stopped eating, kept having nightmares. At some point, she'd been fed intravenously and she'd been prescribed sedatives and anti-depressants.

Tony didn't want to know this. He didn't want to know any of this. He did, however, want to know who had done it, which meant he had to continue reading.

Once he was finished, Tony knew what he wanted to know and he knew things he had never wanted to know. ---------- The next morning Tony made sure he got to SHIELD headquarters first because he wanted to talk to Fury before anyone else arrived.

"I've already told you I know nothing about the attack on your tower," Fury said.

"Just like you didn't know about the blood sample?"

"We already have samples of Agent Grace's blood. There would've been no reason to steal yours."

"Sure there would've been. You didn't want me to have it."

Fury didn't say anything to that, but he did speak. "There was a security breach last night."

Tony shrugged. "It's only fair. You guys hacked my tower – physically and technologically."

"You don't do things without a reason," Fury said. "What do you want?"

"I want everything you have on Arianna Grace deleted from your database."

Fury's brow furrowed and he glanced at the computer on his desk.

"Why? There's nothing in it that concerns you."

"No. It should, however, concern you. Do you even know what's in the locked files? Well, locked but not safe. It took me seconds to break into it. A few key strokes and I was in. Medical files, police reports, you name it."

Something changed in Fury's face. His usual confidence had been replaced by confusion. Did Fury not know about the locked files?

"There are no police reports on Agent Grace. She's not one for causing trouble."

There wasn't much that happened that Fury wasn't aware of, but it seemed that Arianna was a mystery to the director.

Tony stood beside Fury and tapped a few keys on the keyboard to bring up the file Fury seemed to know nothing of. He hated showing it to anyone, but Fury needed to know. He could help them in the future if more agents decided to go after Arianna.

It took Fury a few moments to read through the information on his computer. When he was finished, Fury didn't speak immediately.

"This is news to you then?" Tony asked, not sure if he should believe him.

"Until Arianna told me, I didn't know she could do anything other than heal people. That's why I sent Agent Romanoff to offer her a position at SHIELD."

There was a brief pause as Fury glanced at the screen again.

"Agent Grace killed someone."

"It seems that way."

"Does she know that you know?"

"No."

Tony had researched last night. He'd wanted to know the name of the man who had hurt Arianna. He'd found it.

The man had been older. Arianna had known the man for years. She'd probably been groomed. That's what older people did when they were attracted to younger ones. They bought them gifts and made them feel special, told them what they liked and expected nothing less. Arianna was so nice and caring, she probably hadn't suspected anything so wicked, so she'd fallen for it.

Something had happened to Arianna's attacker that the police hadn't been able to explain, so the police reports documented the attack but it didn't list her as a suspect in the death of her attacker.

There had been no sign of an actual murder, but there had been something else. The man had been crushed to death by apparently nothing. Some of the bones in his body had been crushed, and his organs had burst. His death had been quick but painful.

If Arianna had done that, Tony knew why she refused to hurt people with her ability. If that had been the first time she'd ever done anything like that, she probably hadn't been able to control it. She'd been reacting instinctively to protect herself, had been reacting out of fear and pain, maybe even anger.

"I want all of this deleted," Tony said. "From here and from their source. I know you can do it."

Fury agreed without complaint. ---------- The Avengers were just walking into SHIELD as Tony Stark was coming out. Arianna was the first to spot him and it brought her to a stop.

"We wondered where you were," she said.

She was in the middle of her group, boxed in between Natasha, Steve, Clint, and Loki. Banner had opted not to come in case he got angry.

"Yeah, uh, change of plans. Fury will be busy today, but I talked to him already. I believe that there's a lot going on here that he doesn't know about in this situation. He was made aware and is now on our side."

Arianna didn't know what to say to that, but Natasha and Clint seemed relieved and Steve seemed to accept Tony's words at face value. Loki seemed to just want to get out of there as quickly as he could.

Arianna would have grabbed his hand to offer comfort, but she knew that with so many people present he wouldn't have accepted it.

"Fury promised to go over your files and delete anything incriminating," Tony said.

Arianna tensed. "Incriminating? What does that mean? I've – I haven't done anything."

The way Tony had spoken had put Arianna on edge. She knew about everything SHIELD had on her, of course, especially the file about the man she'd murdered.

No. Not murdered. Killed accidentally. That sounded better. Murder meant she'd had the intention of killing him, and she hadn't. Not even after he'd hurt her had she wanted to hurt him back. She'd never wanted to see him again, but she hadn't wanted to hurt him either.

"He's getting rid of anything SHIELD can use against you," Tony said, about as gentle as Arianna had ever heard him be.

So Tony knew. He knew and he wasn't joking around with her like he normally did and he wasn't being his normal sarcastic self. He was being cautious and Tony Stark was never cautious.

Arianna felt the sudden need to disappear. None of the people there had known before then aside from Natasha, but now Tony knew and Fury had obviously learned about it as well.

"Are we done here?" she asked, voice lower than she'd intended. "We had to wake up early for nothing."

She felt the others eyes on her, but she didn't care. Once she knew they weren't going to have to stay at SHIELD she went back out the way she'd come in. ---------- Arianna hopped out of the limo as soon as it stopped outside of the tower. She couldn't believe Tony had dug into her life like that.

Actually, she could believe it, but she didn't have to like it. Tony Stark was innately curious, as most geniuses were, but he'd had no right to pry into her past. Why had he wanted to? What had happened to attract his curiosity?

It had to have something to do with the break-in and the consequent theft of her blood sample. He hadn't seemed interested in anything other than studying her abilities before that.

Arianna made it to her room and slammed the door. She made sure to lock it behind her. She didn't want to be disturbed by anyone. Natasha had been following her, but Arianna didn't want to talk to her either, and Natasha was her best friend.

Arianna sat on her bed, scooted up close to the headboard, and brought her knees up to her chest. She didn't know why she felt so angry, really, she just knew she hadn't wanted anyone to know she'd ever been hurt in that way, and she definitely hadn't wanted anyone to know about her having killed someone.

No one had proven it and no one could ever prove it, but SHIELD had made the connection. They'd forced her to agree to work with them. It was true that Natasha had been sent by Fury to offer her a job when they'd found out about the bus accident and her healing the children at the hospital. She'd been told they could use someone like her, someone who could go on missions not to fight or cause damage but to help fix the damage that was done.

She'd accepted the job offer only after meeting with the World Security Council and Alexander Pierce. They were the ones who'd found out about her assault and everything that had happened because of it. They threatened to lock her up if she refused to work with them. Because of what she'd been able to do to the man who had attacked her – a man named David – she was a threat to society. No one could defend against her ability unless that person also had an ability, or unless they killed her.

It didn't matter that she'd only ever hurt one person. They didn't understand what she could do – she barely knew herself – and so she was considered a threat and needed to be watched over. Whether they could do that while she was free or locked away had been up to her.

She didn't know how long she sat there, knees drawn up, but she knew it was long enough for her to have grown stiff. There were tears on her cheeks too, and she hadn't been aware that she'd been crying.

A knock sounded from the door and she firmly told whoever it was to go away.

"Aries, open up."

It was Natasha. Arianna still didn't feel like talking, but she knew Tash would understand, so she got up to unlock and open the door. Natasha stood there, a stack of folders in her hands. She silently handed them over to Arianna.

"What're these?"

"Files. Tony's files. He made a dossier of everyone on the team. He's curious and paranoid. He didn't single you out or anything. Anyway . . . he knows your dirty laundry, so . . . here's his."

"Those files were locked because I requested them to be, Tash. My medical files, the police reports, none of that was his business. The only reason you know is because you're my friend."

"He hasn't said anything to the others. I don't think he will. He wanted to know for the sake of knowing. He won't hold it against you or use it against you."

When Arianna didn't say anything, Natasha did.

"Tony won't apologize. He'll try to explain why he did it and try to justify it, but he won't admit he did anything wrong. He might not think it was wrong. But he will make it up to you in his way. I think he's starting with those files." ---------- Later that night Arianna risked leaving her room. She'd wanted to avoid Tony for at least another day, but she was hungry and she wasn't going to starve herself because she was upset about Tony finding out her secret.

She made her way to the kitchen silently and made herself a sandwich. It was only when she'd put everything back in the refrigerator that she realized she'd been followed by Loki.

She jumped as she closed the refrigerator door and saw him in the archway of the door. She almost dropped her sandwich.

"Loki, don't do that," she scolded. "Make a noise when you walk."

"I wasn't trying to be silent. You were . . . distracted."

"I was hungry."

"Obviously."

Arianna sighed. She didn't want to play games, not that night.

"Why'd you follow me, Loki? Did you need something?"

"To see how you're doing?"

He made it sound so much like a question that it caught Arianna off guard for a few seconds.

"You've been hiding away all day. I confess that I was . . . concerned."

The negative feelings she'd been having for Tony softened at Loki's admitting to having been worried about her.

"I'm fine. Tony surprised me and I didn't like it at all. I still don't."

"Stark's surprise upset you, that much is true. But you are not fine. Whatever he did, it would not have made you react as you have if you were fine."

Arianna sat down at the table, which seemed to invite Loki to sit as well. She began eating her sandwich so she'd have an excuse not to talk right away. She didn't have any such excuse once she was done, however.

"Tony gained access to files he was never supposed to have access too. They had information on me and my past that I don't want anyone to know about."

She stood up, went to the freezer and pulled out a pint of ice cream. She grabbed two spoons from a drawer – one for her and one for Loki, since he liked sweets. She could share the dessert with him.

They ate in silence, which was just as well for her. She didn't want Loki of all people to know her secret. He had been tortured. She had been too, in her own way, and she had hurt someone because of it. It didn't compare to Loki's own torture or his actions at all, but she still didn't want him to know.

@smallangryandpink, (thank you so much for commenting!) @purplekitten30

[loveisnotadagger]

Love Is Healing - Chapter Seven

Chapter 7/?

Rated: T

Pairing: Loki/OFC

Arianna jolted awake when she heard the alarm signaling that someone had broken into the tower. She looked around her room, relieved to see that no one had broken in there, at least, before hopping out of bed.

SHIELD training involved having to learn to wake up under any and all circumstances, so Arianna was alert within seconds. She crept to her door, still in her pajamas, and opened the door slightly.

There was nothing in the hallway her room was located in, but it seemed that Loki had been alerted by the alarm too, because he was also peeking through a crack in his doorway.

"What's happening?" he whispered.

"I don't know. Someone's here. The others will be looking as well."

Arianna went past Loki's room and was surprised when he grabbed her wrist. She looked at him and was shocked to see the concern on his face.

"What?"

"I'll come with you," he said. "I can fight. You said that you don't know how."

"No, but someone might get hurt, and I can help with that."

"Then maybe you should wait. You do not want to be caught in the crossfire."

Loki's logic made sense. She would probably only get in the way. She didn't know how to fight at all, and she didn't have a weapon. Logically, she knew she should go back into her room and lock the door behind her, let the others deal with whatever this was, but she couldn't.

"Loki, they're my friends. I have to go."

She gently withdrew her wrist from his grip and continued down the hallway towards the main room. When she got there, she noticed nothing out of place aside from the fact that Natasha, Clint, and Steve were in the middle of the room. They were all in their pajamas, but they each had a weapon: Natasha a dagger; Clint his bow and a quiver full of arrows; Steve his shield.

"Jarvis? What's going on?" Arianna asked.

When she didn't get an answer, she looked to the three Avengers in the middle of the room.

"What's going on?"

"Jarvis is offline," Natasha said. "Has been since we tried contacting Tony a few minutes ago."

"Where is Tony?"

"In the lab with Banner."

"We have to get to them," Steve said. "Right now we're divided and they're only two people."

"One is not technically just a person," Loki said. "Banner is more than capable of protecting himself and Stark."

"Hate to say it," Clint said. "But he's right."

"You'd be surprised how often that happens."

Arianna would've smiled at how open Loki was being at the moment, but it just so happened that that was the moment that the window looking out over the balcony was broken into as several people crashed through it. There were about six people in all, dressed in black, with guns. One of them launched a smoke bomb into the middle of the room, and the Avengers plus Loki covered their mouths as smoke filled the room.

Arianna dropped to the floor and began crawling in the direction of what she hoped was the hallway where her bedroom was located. She'd lost sight of the others, but she could hear them coughing and moving around. She was coughing too, dizzy from the lack of oxygen.

Before Arianna could get far someone grabbed her ankle and dragged her backwards. She let out a small yelp of surprise and then an even bigger scream as she felt whoever it was grasp her shoulders and yank her to her feet.

A gloved hand covered her mouth and she tensed as her mind filled with panic. Who was this person? What did he or she want? Why had they gone to so much trouble to get in here?

The room was slowly clearing of the smoke and she was still being dragged backwards, towards the shattered window. She could see outlines of the other people now. Most of the people in black had been disarmed by Natasha and Steve, and now they were fighting along with Clint and Loki.

Arianna would have to find a way to free herself, as the others were busy. She did the only thing she knew to do: She lifted herself up and made herself become dead weight in her captor's arms. It threw her captor off balance, and she dropped to her knees to try and scamper away.

She was grabbed by the ankle again, only this time she was able to turn and kick out. The kick landed on the person's abdomen, and a male grunt reached her ears. Then she kicked again just for good measure, but he was ready for her this time and was able to block and catch her leg.

That was when she became aware of the shining silver dagger he was holding and fast arcing towards her thigh. She jerked away enough for his aim not to be completely true, but the blade still sliced through her pajama bottoms and over her skin deep enough for her to feel like fainting from the pain.

Instead, she screamed.

This seemed to cause the man to become angry. He slammed his fist down towards her and she clenched her eyes shut, anticipating the pain she was about to feel. She'd been hit before on missions – and during training – so she knew she could take it even if she would black out for a few seconds.

The blow never landed. In fact, the man's weight had been lifted completely off of her. When she opened her eyes she found out why.

The man that had been about to hit her had been tackled by Loki and they were grappling for the knife now. Loki looked dangerous and angry, but there was none of the insanity he'd displayed a month ago when she'd first seen him.

He knew exactly what he was doing when he finally got the knife and plunged it into the man's side, twisting and yanking it up to insure the man's death.

"I think you'll find the mistake you made was, in fact, hurting her," Loki said, knowing that all who heard it would hear the possessiveness he'd used while speaking.

He watched as the man went limp and stopped breathing. Loki stayed the way he was for a good fifteen seconds before checking for a pulse, and then turned to face Arianna, who had let out another scream, this one of pain.

Natasha and Clint had come to her, and Steve was on his way. The people that had broken in had been killed with arrows or by broken necks. Loki wouldn't be punished then, for killing the one that had hurt Arianna.

Loki went over to the others and knelt beside Arianna, who was not bleeding profusely from the gash in her right thigh. Her usually tan skin was pale now, and her face held an expression of pain.

"Why does she not heal herself?" he wondered out loud.

"She needs a source of energy and she refuses to take it from a human," Natasha said.

Loki, always quick on his feet, said, "The lab. There's plenty of energy down there."

Once the others realized that what he'd said actually made sense, Steve, who Loki still mentally called The Patriotic One, carefully picked Arianna up and they all went to the elevator, Natasha holding the shield now.

"Why did the intruders not cut the power?" Loki asked. "That would've been the smart thing to do."

"Jarvis was cut off," Natasha said. "That's the main security. Whoever broke in first . . . it wasn't the guys we fought or the alarm wouldn't have sounded until they smashed through the window."

"Maybe they hit the lab first," Clint suggested as they all stepped into the elevator.

Loki was surprised that no one said anything against him accompanying them. Then again, everyone was preoccupied with the crying girl in Steve's arms. Arianna didn't seem to be aware of her tears. She was more worried about not jostling her injured leg too much.

Loki wanted to ask if she thought she would be okay, but he also didn't want to do so in front of anyone else.

He would wait until he could get her alone. ----------

Once they reached the lab, they found both Tony and Bruce unconscious. Tony had a tranquillizer dart sticking out of his neck; Bruce had several in many places on his body.

Arianna hadn't known Bruce could be tranquillized, but there he was on the floor, completely knocked out.

Steve gently sat her down on one of the many tables there, and then he went towards the two scientists on the floor. Natasha and Clint followed him, but Loki stayed with her.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked quietly.

She nodded even as she swayed from the pain she was feeling. Arianna usually didn't have any negative wishes for anyone, but she was glad the one who had hurt her was dead. He wouldn't be able to hurt her or anyone else again.

"Thanks for saving my life."

"You've saved mine countless times," Loki said. "Consider it a returned favor."

Arianna tried to smile, but her expression quickly turned into a grimace instead.

"Or it could be that you consider me a friend and you were looking out for me."

"Perhaps. Just don't tell anyone. I've got a reputation to keep up as a heartless monster."

"I think that ship has sailed," she said, swaying again.

"Maybe you should lie down. Just don't go to sleep."

"What I need is for Tony to wake up. Or for Jarvis to be put back on."

Arianna knew Tony had been working on finding a source of sustainable energy for Earth. He was trying to create something much like the Tesseract, only not as volatile. If she could get her hands on it, she could heal herself easily.

"May I see?" Loki asked. "The wound, I mean. We need to stop the bleeding. You've lost a lot of blood, and I'm not sure what the limit is for a Midgardian."

"I'm – okay. Yeah."

Arianna wasn't sure what her limits were either. She knew she was dizzy and fading fast. She needed to stop the bleeding until Tony woke up.

"You will have to lie down for this."

She did as she was told even though she didn't really want to lie down. What if she passed out?

Loki drew out the knife he'd used to kill her attacker and used it to rip through the right leg of her pajama pants.

Loki was very clinical about it, focused on stemming the blood flow more than anything else. After he'd ripped the pantleg enough to reach the wound, he tore a strip off so he could tie it around her thigh and keep the blood from coming out too fast.

"Done," he said, "but keep still and do not sit back up."

Arianna relaxed as much as she could and did as she'd been told. She probably shouldn't have been upright to begin with. It had only helped the blood flow out more quickly.

Natasha ended up by Arianna's side once she'd done everything possible to help Tony and Banner. They were fine, but she didn't know how long they would be out. They had no clue how much of the tranquillizer had been used or how strong it had been.

Arianna was set, though, and Natasha had a hard time admitting to herself that Loki was the one responsible for that. He'd also been the one responsible for saving Arianna's life earlier.

Everyone else had been too busy with the other attackers. Even though Natasha knew Arianna couldn't fight to save her life, she'd still taken her eyes off of her friend and had left her to her own devices.

"Are you okay? We still have to wait for Tony and Banner to wake up."

Arianna nodded weakly.

Steve and Clint came over as soon as they were able, and they all formed a circle around where Arianna was lying.

"I still think you should take energy from us," Loki said. "All of us. You won't hurt anyone that way."

Arianna shook her head, but she didn't seem certain anymore. Natasha wondered if Arianna had ever thought about channeling from a group. It made sense, and she was all for it if it would close the wound on her friend's leg.

"I'll do it," Natasha said.

Clint nodded, as did Steve, but Arianna still shook her head.

"Why not?" Loki asked, a note of impatience in his voice. "You do realize if the two over there don't wake up soon, you could die?"

"I don't know how!" she exclaimed, putting more energy into her response than she probably should have.

Natasha noticed that her answer seemed to placate Loki, however, because he no longer seemed impatient. In fact, Natasha saw understanding flash over his face.

"If forget they don't train you in the art of magic on Midgard," he said and put a hand on Arianna's leg. "Everyone put a hand on her. We will all be connected while she does this. If it works, you'll feel your energy draining into her."

"And what do I do?" Arianna asked.

"Start with one of us," Loki said. "Focus on one touch at a time until you've reached us all."

As it turned out, Natasha was the one Arianna reached out to first. They were best friends, so it made sense. Natasha had found Arianna when she'd been at her lowest point and when Arianna had only just found out about her ability to manipulate energy. Natasha had tried to help her and had somewhere succeeded by offering her a job with SHIELD.

As Natasha's mind connected with Arianna's the red head almost flinched. She'd never had her mind invaded before, and she didn't want anyone seeing what was there.

"Sorry," Arianna muttered. "I've never done this when I was so weak."

Natasha relaxed when she felt the other's presence leave her brain. She could still feel Arianna's energy, but not Arianna's thoughts. That was better.

She eventually felt Clint's and Steve's presence as well, which made her feel oddly vulnerable, but it got much worse when Loki's energy merged with theirs.

It was worse because she could feel Loki's emotions. She realized that Arianna was naturally connected with the former Asgardian. She'd formed a bond with him when she'd brought him out of his mind prison. Through Arianna, Natasha could tell that even though Loki was all the things Natasha thought him to be, he was also what Arianna thought him to be.

He was a victim as much as he was a villain, and Natasha knew that meant that Loki might be redeemable. He'd already found someone he wanted to protect. Whether he'd done it because he cared for her or because he felt he owed her it, it showed that Loki did have a code of ethics, even if that code was unique to him.

Natasha had reason to believe that Loki wouldn't hurt Arianna. She wasn't sure about anyone else. ---------- Arianna tried to keep her mind out of everyone else's, but it was hard because she was so weak she could hardly focus. In the end, she got flashes of memories from everyone.

From Natasha she'd gotten glimpses of some school for girls, though it must've been more than that because Natasha had been angry at and scared of the memory of the place. Natasha never spoke about her past, so Arianna wasn't sure exactly what she'd seen.

Clint had been thinking about a family – his family. A farm house with acres of land. A wife, children. Arianna hadn't known that Clint had any family.

Steve had only one thing on his mind: A woman named Peggy Carter. Arianna already knew that story, but she hadn't known that it still filled Steve's thoughts.

Finally, there was Loki. She saw more from him because she'd been in his mind a few times before. It was much easier to connect with him because of that.

In Loki's mind now, Arianna could feel that no matter what Loki showed to the outside world, he was still plagued with memories from his year of torture. Why wouldn't he be? One didn't just get over something like that. Thanos had made Loki believe that no one had ever, could ever care for him.

Since he'd been on Earth – or Midgard, as he still called it – he'd found someone who did care. He didn't want to admit it out loud, but he knew Arianna didn't take time out of her day to check on him and keep him company just because he was her responsibility.

He was still waiting for the moment that Arianna realized that she was dealing with a lost cause and would give up on him. Loki had been alone and tortured for so long that, until he'd met Arianna, comfort from an actual person had seemed a thing of mere fantasy.

Loki had believed that no one could ever understand why he'd done what he'd done in coming to Midgard and trying to conquer, but Arianna did. Because of her ability to see what had happened and feel some of it, she did understand and she didn't hate him.

'Of course I don't hate you,' Arianna sent the thought to Loki only.

She had blocked Loki's thoughts and feelings from everyone else. In fact, since she was acting as a sort of filter, nobody had felt anybody else's feelings once she'd figured out what she was doing, which hadn't taken long.

After Arianna was healed – healed but still weak – the room fell silent. No one really knew what to say, it seemed. Arianna wanted to talk to Loki but knew he would not be open to conversation with everyone else around.

There was movement where Bruce and Tony had been lying. Bruce was waking up now, hands over his eyes, as if his head was aching. Side effect of the tranquillizer, maybe. His hands began roaming over the rest of his body – probably checking for the darts he'd been shot with, but they had already been removed.

The room was tense as they all waited to see if Bruce was going to turn green and angry, but he seemed fine even if he was moving slower than normal.

Tony came to not long after that and he was the first one to speak by asking what had happened.

"Someone broke in," Natasha said. "They were trained fighters and they were after Aries. There are a few bodies upstairs."

"She was hurt, but we helped heal her," Clint said.

"Bet that was awesome," Tony said. "The healing, not the hurting."

"I know what you meant." Arianna looked around the lab. "Was anything taken?"

Tony went rigid before stumbling to his feet. He hurriedly went through all the tables around him, searching for something.

"We were testing your blood. It's gone."

"Three guesses as to who has it," Loki muttered.

"SHIELD," Arianna said.

"No," Natasha said. "No way would Fury –"

"He did threaten me," Arianna reminded her. "But I wasn't talking about him. The council – or someone about Fury's authority. If they knew about me . . ."

"Are you in danger?" Loki asked.

Arianna didn't want to believe her own people would go against her just because of how different she was, but it was more than possible for that to happen.

"If they believe me to be a threat . . . yes."

"We can protect you, though," Steve said. "We'll take turns watching over you."

Tony nodded. "Absolutely."

Natasha nodded as well. Arianna knew how hard this would be for her. Natasha looked to Fury as a father figure – to actively go against him would tear her apart inside.

Bruce would do whatever he thought was right.

Clint would protect whoever he considered to be innocent.

"Loki?"

The black-haired man shrugged. "I've already killed once to protect you. Nothing more needs to be said on where my loyalty lies in this situation."

"Thank you."

A few seconds later, Tony lightened the mood by opening his mouth.

"So . . . who's picking up the cleaning bill?"

Arianna threw her hands up in a gesture of backing away from the responsibility.

"You're the billionaire here, so . . . you." ---------- Back upstairs now, the whole group was sitting around Tony's living room. None of them felt like sleeping, not even Arianna, who was definitely in need of rest.

When they had reached the living room, the first thing Tony had done was call someone to get rid of the bodies there. He'd take care of the cleaning crew in the morning – or later that morning.

"I think I need to teach each of you how to override a system shutdown," Tony said. "I was hacked into tonight, so I'll have to create a whole new program to work with."

"Yeah, um . . . the problem is that you and Bruce are the only ones smart enough here to pick up your technology quickly," Arianna said.

"Agent Romanoff does okay," Tony said, earning a smirk from Natasha.

"We should start sparring again," Natasha said. "I know you hate fighting, Aries, but you need to learn. You could've been killed tonight."

"They didn't want me dead. They just didn't expect such a fight to keep me here."

The people who had broken in had indeed been SHIELD agents. The outfits they'd been wearing had told them as much.

"Sometimes, Arianna, death is a kindness," Loki said and got up from his spot on the couch.

He'd been thinking about how he'd almost lost the only friend he had on Midgard. Maybe anywhere, to be honest. He hadn't even really thought about what he'd been doing when he'd killed that guy. He'd just known that Arianna had been in trouble and that he'd been the closest one available to help her.

He quickly went to his room and sat on his bed. He became lost in his own mind at once. So much had happened to him in the last year, most of it more than not good. Pain, so much pain. He had become something he'd never wanted to be, something monstrous. He'd become a killer.

Hundreds of people had died because of his actions. He'd been in battle before, of course, but killing just to kill . . . that wasn't him. He'd brought death and destruction to Midgard.

"Please stop," Arianna's voice came from his doorway. "I can feel you thinking all the way in the living room."

Loki looked her way. She was leaning against the wall. He could tell she was tired even though she was fighting against it.

"You feel my thoughts?"

"Yeah. It happens after I connect with someone a few times. It'll fade eventually."

"And I . . . heard your thoughts earlier?"

She nodded. "That doesn't happen often, but I thought you needed to hear it. I don't hate you. If I didn't know what happened, I might. But after everything how can you not see that I do care?"

Loki stood up. "But why?" He hadn't meant to yell and he definitely hadn't meant to make her flinch. He didn't want her to be afraid of him. "Why care about me? What could you possibly gain?"

Arianna shook her head and seemed infinitely sad.

"You don't need a reason to care, Loki. And you don't care for someone just so you can get something from them. I don't know where you learned that, but it's wrong."

He knew that – within his whole being he knew he'd always wanted someone like Arianna. He didn't deserve someone like her, but oh gods, how he wanted. She gave and never expected anything, didn't even want anything in return. She cared about him and only ever wanted him to be who he'd been before he'd found out who he really was.

"And who are you?" she moved forward. "And does it really matter? You've been given a new start."

This girl could ruin him.

"I agreed to help you because I know you're better than you let yourself be. You don't believe me because you think you're unlovable. But that's not true. If you didn't have good in you, you wouldn't have saved me tonight."

Every fiber of Loki's being wanted to believe her, wanted to look into Arianna's green eyes and get lost in the naïve faith she seemed to have, but he wouldn't allow himself that pleasure.

"Are you really so foolish as to accept a monster? You know no one outside of this building will ever understand why I did what I did. They will never be able to forgive. And SHIELD will never forgive you for siding with me."

Arianna scoffed and Loki saw a determination there that he'd never seen before.

"They are not my friends. They tried to kidnap me tonight. I know what will happen to me if they get their hands on me and I refuse to do what they want. You know what will happen."

'Pain,' Loki thought, shuddering. Kind Arianna in so much pain, being used for someone else's gain. He wouldn't allow that. Not ever. Even if he had to burn SHIELD to the ground.

"Not everyone is a problem."

"Get out of my head," he said, no real malice in his voice.

"Then stop thinking so loudly."

@smallangryandpink @purplekitten30

[loveisnotadagger]

Love Is Healing - Chapter Six

Chapter 6/?

Rating T

Arianna's life went on undisturbed by the fact that Loki was in it. She still took trips to hospitals to heal the wounded, and she didn't hate the fact that she was living in the same building as Natasha. Tash was her best friend, but they didn't usually get to spend a lot of time together because they weren't usually called on the same missions. The Manhattan fiasco had been an exception. They usually weren't called to do anything so large scale as that had been.

Aside from Natasha, the other Avengers were good company as well. Steve kept to himself mostly, but he was nice and polite when he did talk with Arianna. He sometimes treated her like a kid, but she chalked that up to the time jump he'd had to deal with after being frozen for seventy years. Bruce spent most of his time with Tony in the lab in the basement. Natasha and Clint spent their time together with Arianna unless she was with Loki, though they remained nearby when Arianna was with the Asgardian.

On this particular morning Arianna was in the kitchen making herself some toast and a fruit salad to go with it. She was making enough fruit salad for everyone, actually. She'd been the first one up and had made a pot of coffee. The aroma had pulled Tash out of bed as well as Steve. Arianna almost grinned at the mess that was Tash's red hair. She hadn't even taken the time to brush it.

Steve's hair wasn't in place either, but it didn't matter. It was so unfair that people with short hair looked okay even if their hair was a mess.

"Jarvis, can you tell Tony and Bruce that there's coffee if they want some?"

"Yes, Miss Grace."

Arianna smiled, remembering the first time Tony had spoken to Jarvis in front of her. She hadn't known what to think when Jarvis had responded. She'd basically praised Tony's genius after he'd explained what Jarvis was exactly.

Over the few weeks that she had been there, Tony had taken to treating Arianna as if she were a kid sister, which basically meant that he teased her constantly but was also protective. In fact, he was protective to the point of being almost paranoid. It didn't really bother Arianna at all, so she let him get away with it. If knowing she was safe gave Tony Stark a small amount of security in his mind, she would allow him to do what he deemed necessary.

"Is Clint still asleep, Jarvis?"

"He hasn't left his room, Miss Grace."

"Okay. Thank you."

"You know he likes to sleep in when he can," Natasha said.

Once the fruit salad was prepared Arianna took some of it and her toast to the living room where she sat on the couch and began to eat. After she was done, she took a medium sized bowl of fruit to Loki's room. He had yet to come out and socialize with the others, though he did leave the room at night when most of the others were sleeping.

He barely talked to anyone who wasn't Arianna. She didn't know what to make of that, but it probably had something to do with the fact that Loki seemed not to trust anyone else but her – if trust was the right word for what he felt for her.

She knew that he at least enjoyed her company. ----------

Loki was reading when Arianna brought him his breakfast. The Man of Iron had bought him a set of books that would help Loki learn more about Earth. He had to admit that Midgardians were adept enough, considering they didn't know magic existed. From how many wars he'd already read about, it was probably a good things humans couldn't do what Loki could – or what he'd been able to do before he'd been made mortal.

It seemed Midgardian leaders would fight over anything. It reminded him of the time Thor had raced off to Jotunheim to declare war on them. It would've caused war against all of Asgard had Thor's antics worked. Loki had played his own part in getting Thor to go, but he had hoped he'd be able to talk his way out of a fight. Thor had been impulsive then and quick to anger, quick to fight, and words were said that Thor had reacted badly to. That was when the battle had begun.

He looked up from his book when Arianna came in. She gave him a small smile and came over to the bed to sit on the edge. She offered him a bowl of fruit, which he accepted and began to pick at. Some of the fruit he recognized because they were also grown in Asgard, but others he had to ask about as he came across them.

For instance, he had no clue what a banana was.

"We're going to have to get you acquainted with the kitchen so you can learn to make what you want and not just what I make."

"I like the food you make."

Arianna never made any complicated meals, but they always satisfied. Besides, as a prince, Loki had no knowledge of cooking.

"Be that as it may, you still need to know. And it's okay to come out of your room when the others are awake. It isn't meant to be a prison cell."

"I'm under constant watch," he reminder her. "And I am still not at my best."

"Well, no one's going to attack you," she said gently. Then with humor, she said, "I think everyone is afraid of what your mother would do if something were to happen to you here."

Loki shook his head. "It would depend on whose fault it was."

Arianna stayed long enough to let Loki finish eating and then she immediately stood up. Before leaving she said, "In all seriousness, you should come out. We could watch a movie or something."

Loki had read about movies – moving pictures – but hadn't yet watched one. Maybe he could try just once. If he didn't like it, he would just say so and he wouldn't have to watch another one.

Loki carefully got off the bed and went to his closet to pick an outfit. Arianna had ordered him clothes the first day he'd agreed to stay with the Avengers. He had to admit that Midgardian attire was easier to get into, but it left Loki feeling vulnerable and exposed. How did Midgardians feel safe without armor on at all times? On Asgard, the only time Loki's armor came off was at night when he was sleeping or when he was bathing and, even then, he took precautions to ensure his safety.

He decided on a dark blue sweater and a pair of black jeans, which he had to admit he looked good in. He went without shoes and found the sensation not unpleasant. He'd seen Arianna go around barefoot at all times of the day; many times she had visited fully clothed aside from her lack of shoes.

She'd definitely made herself home in Stark's Tower. ---------- Arianna had just put a movie in the DVD player when Loki came into what would be the living room in a normal home. The room had since been fixed from when it had been destroyed by the war that had been brought to Manhattan.

Tony had taught her how to use the TV because he had a remote that controlled all the electronics in the room – even the lights. Arianna didn't know why Tony couldn't have just invested in some light switches. When she'd voiced her opinion, he'd given her a sarcastic grin and had called her cute.

"You said I could join you," Loki said as he appeared out of the hallway.

She nodded, not surprised by his sudden appearance as she could feel his presence when he was close by. Side effect of being connected to him for so long even though it had been almost a month now.

The movie she'd chosen was the first Harry Potter movie. She'd chosen it in the hopes of Loki coming out of his room to watch it with her. She hoped he'd like it because of the magic in it, even if it wasn't the type of magic he was used to.

"The type you're accustomed to then?" Loki assumed when she tried to describe the movie without giving too much away. It was about a boy who found out he was a wizard and was allowed to go to a school for magic.

"I can do some of the things in the movie."

"So you can make things float?" Tony asked, suddenly appearing in the room. Bruce was with him. They had just come from the lab.

"Depends on what I'm trying to make float. And I've never actually done it, but theoretically, I know how."

Arianna wasn't surprised that Tony had known what she and Loki had been talking about. There were cameras everywhere in Stark Tower and Tony could pull up the video feed from pretty much anywhere.

"Would you mind testing that theory while you're living here?" Tony asked. "I just wanna know why you can do what you can do."

Arianna knew Tony was coming from a place of genuine curiosity and that he didn't want to use her for anything. She also knew he was asking her respectfully. If she'd been anyone else, he probably would've mentioned that he was letting her live there for free while also having her every need met with his money, but he hadn't said a word.

"I don't mind furthering your research," she said. "Better you than Fury and the science team at SHIELD."

"And Banner? He'll want to take your pulse and check brains waves and such."

Bruce looked uncomfortable for a slight moment. He'd obviously known nothing about Tony's request until just now. It was kind of cute and ironic that the guy that could turn into the Hulk was so bashful when he wasn't green and smashing things.

"It's fine," Arianna said. "I have a few conditions, though, because I've heard about how excited you get when you start a new project. You act like a kind with a new toy."

Tony looked as if he agreed with that statement, so Arianna felt confident enough to continue.

"I am not a toy and I'm not a machine. I have limits, so . . . I guess these are my conditions. One, I want to know what we do before we do it, and two, no pushing if I say no."

Tony agreed almost immediately and then said, "What exactly do you think I want to force you into? I gave up my dreams of world domination years ago."

Arianna rolled her eyes at Tony's joke and responded with, "Just covering my bases." ---------- After Arianna and Tony came to an agreement, which didn't take too long. Arianna was finally able to play the movie. Natasha watched the movie with them, even though Arianna knew Natasha wasn't much into movies – especially ones like Harry Potter. She didn't know why Natasha was being so protective when Loki really wasn't a threat at the moment. If he'd had his powers, Arianna would've completely understood, but as it was . . . even Arianna could beat Loki, and she couldn't fight to save her life.

By the time the movie ended, Arianna had decided to get Loki the Harry Potter series for him to read. She knew he liked to read because he had responded well to the encyclopedias she'd gotten him already – or that Tony had gotten him, at her suggestion.

After having been inside Loki's head, she'd found out more than he'd probably be comfortable with, but she couldn't help that. It had helped her decide how to approach Loki. Helping him understand the world he now lived in would make him feel less helpless.

He could learn their culture and try to fit in if he so desired. She could introduce him to other movies, her favorite ones and ones she thought he would like. She could bring him music, see if he liked it. She didn't even know if Asgard had music, but she knew music helped her relax. It could settle her when she felt anxious or it could help her have fun if she felt like dancing around. She'd even hopped around to Tony's music a few times when she'd stumbled upon him jamming out.

That night before Arianna went to bed, Natasha stopped her and asked to come into her room.

"Sure, Tash. What's up?"

"Loki."

"What about him?"

The two women sat down on the bed and Arianna gave Natasha her undivided attention.

"Loki is better now, right?" the red head asked. "I mean, there's nothing more you can do for him. He has to build up strength himself."

"Yeah. I mean, I could share energy with him, but there's no need. He's awake and able to eat and drink. It would sort of be a waste of time."

Natasha smiled slightly. "Yes. It would be."

"What's this about?"

If Natasha was taking the time to have this conversation, it meant she had something to say. Tash wasn't one for idle chitchat.

"Aries, you are good. Loki is not. He killed eighty people in two days. He didn't blink; he didn't flinch. That's not counting the people that were hurt during the battle."

"You mean the battle where the people we worked for were going to bomb the city? That would've killed a lot more than eighty people. And correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't those eighty people that died the ones that were buried beneath the rubble that Fury himself decided to bring down?"

"To try and keep Loki from getting away."

"I know that. The point I'm trying to make is that we're responsible for some of the blood that was spilled."

Natasha didn't say anything to that, but she looked as if she'd had the same thoughts go through her head at least once.

"Besides, it's not like I like him or anything."

She didn't trust many people enough to get close to them and Loki was no different. Arianna had known Natasha for a long time. It had taken Arianna two years to get close enough to consider her a friend and not just a co-worker.

"All I'm saying is . . . don't coddle him. He's not a pet."

"I'm not coddling him."

"You bought him books. You're watching movies with him."

"I didn't buy him anything. Tony did. Besides, Fury said I needed to help Loki acclimate to life here. He needs to know things about this world."

Natasha sighed and her body deflated from losing its purpose for being in the room.

"All I'm saying is be careful, okay? I've been alone with him. He can get in your head."

Arianna smiled. She knew her friend was coming from a place of love and that Natasha was only looking out for her.

"Tash, I think you're forgetting the fact that I can get inside his head too." ---------- Over the next few days, Arianna and Loki spent time going over things he would need for everyday life

He had learned about the shower within the first few days he'd been strong enough to stand on his own. Loki preferred baths, and until arriving on Midgard he'd never taken a shower. No such thing existed on Asgard. Loki had always had servants to draw his bath for him. On Midgard there was plumbing and they had knobs that controlled the temperature of the water.

It was practical and convenient. It beat having to boil water to pour into a tub and then having to wait so one wouldn't scorch oneself.

Loki had also been introduced to an invisible person named Jarvis – or at least he'd assumed the voice had belonged to a person until Arianna had explained what exactly Jarvis was. It was brilliant. Loki didn't like the fact that Tony Stark could pull up an image or video from anywhere in the Tower, but he did appreciate the genius behind it.

This particular day, Arianna was showing Loki around the kitchen. Mostly she was just letting him know where everything was, so if he needed something, he would know where it was located. That was easy enough to remember.

On Asgard there wasn't anything remotely like an oven, a microwave, or a refrigerator, but they were all brilliant inventions. Loki was used to a pit of fire for cooking – not that he knew how to cook, but he knew what was needed – so the oven was a nice touch. One was able to control the heat by setting the degree one needed for a specific dish.

The refrigerator was practical and kept things from spoiling when left over. Asgard should invest in such things in the future.

He wasn't sure about the microwave. It was brilliant, of course, but it didn't seem healthy. He didn't understand how it worked, so he didn't trust it.

As it was, Arianna had shown him how to use the toaster and they were both slathering butter and jam over the toasted bread.

"Is there anything you want to do today?" Arianna asked. "Maybe watch another movie or something. I have to go down to the lab, but I can set you up before I go. I can show you how to use the DVD player and the TV. Or I can show you how to use the computer."

Loki didn't really want to do any of those things. He didn't mind movies or TV, though he thought people needed to be careful in choosing what to watch. Some of the things he'd seen could only be called moronic and probably lowered the intelligence level of the people who regularly watched them.

He didn't mind reading, but it seemed to him that the only thing he'd been doing was reading.

"Do you mind if I come with you? I'm interested in what Midgardians consider science. Maybe you could teach me the computer later."

Arianna smiled softly. Loki's gaze fixed on her face when he noticed that when she was genuinely happy her green eyes would dance with light.

He didn't know why she was still being so nice to him. He'd heard her arguing with her red-headed friend. He knew Agent Romanoff didn't agree with Arianna treating him as kindly as she was, but Arianna hadn't changed despite knowing how her friend felt.

Loki didn't know what he would've done had Arianna begun to show hatred or indifference towards him. She was the only thing making his stay on Midgard bearable. He didn't really miss Asgard, but it was his home; it was what was familiar to him. His mother was there, and he did miss her.

Arianna was what was familiar here. She was what he clung to so that he would not be completely alone.

"I'll teach you the computer. Will you teach me about you and your people? I mean, you're from a different realm."

Loki could see the obvious curiosity Arianna was expressing. She was sincerely interested in learning for the sake of learning.

"How about you let me come with you and I'll tell you more about Asgard."

"I don't mind you coming with me. You probably should explore the building a bit. Although the lab is usually off limits when Tony is working."

Loki did want to explore, but he wasn't up to his usual strength yet. He didn't know what his usual strength was anymore. He would no longer have the strength of a god. He would have only human strength. He wasn't sure what that meant. He knew he would probably be one of the weakest ones there.

The patriotic one had the power of science making him strong; Dr. Banner became a green beast when angry enough; Agent Barton was an excellent archer and a fair fighter; Agent Romanoff knew how to fight and could probably wield any weapon one put in her hands; Stark had his suit of metal that he could call on in an instant; Arianna had her powers even if she didn't know how to use them to her advantage.

Loki could fight, but he'd always had his strength and magic to rely on. He'd told Arianna once that he'd preferred magic to fighting, and he hadn't been lying. Most of the men on Asgard were big and burly like Thor. They had their build to work with, whereas Loki was tall and lean.

He was brought back to himself by hearing the cling of dishes being put in the sink. Arianna was done with her breakfast and she was waiting for him now.

Without a thought, he took a large bite of his toast. It wasn't polite to keep a lady waiting. ---------- The first thing Tony did when Arianna and Loki got to the lab was attach her to a heart monitor. He was also going to scan her brain waves so he could record activity while she did whatever it was she could do.

Tony explained what everything was before getting started. That had been one of the conditions of their arrangement, and he didn't mind upholding his end.

The first thing he said was, "Why's Reindeer Games here?"

Arianna mock-glared at him. "He wanted to come see the lab, and that's not his name."

"Right. Loki. My bad."

Loki didn't seem offended in the least. Tony was sure Loki didn't care what anyone thought of him, let alone what Tony thought. In fact, Loki seemed uninterested in anyone that wasn't Arianna Grace.

"I am here to speak with you, Man of Iron," Loki said. "If you had directed your question to me, I would have more than happily answered."

Tony was shocked, to say the least. Loki had barely spoken to anyone aside from Arianna, and now he was requesting a conversation with Tony.

"It can wait until you are through with this . . . session of experimentation."

"Research," Tony corrected. "Not experimentation."

None of it would be documented. Tony was just curious. Plus he didn't want to risk SHIELD hacking into his database and stealing information on their littlest Avenger. He wouldn't endanger her that way.

The elevator doors opened to reveal Dr. Branner, who was in a lab coat. He stepped forward and quietly greeted everyone, even Loki.

"Is it all right if Bruce takes a blood sample?"

"Sure, but I can already tell you I'm A positive."

"That's good to know if you're ever bleeding to death," Tony quipped. "That's not why I want a sample, though."

Tony gestured for Bruce to begin. All in all, Arianna was only in the lab for about thirty minutes. Tony was only testing her normal responses at the moment. He wanted to know what her heart rate and brain activity were when she was relaxed. Only then could he compare it to results he hoped to get at a later date.

"You're all set," he said.

"That's it?" Arianna asked, a cute and confused look on her face.

"Yup. We can do other tests later."

She hopped off the hospital bed she'd been sitting on, looked at Loki, and raised her eyebrows a bit.

"You don't have to wait for me," Loki said. "I'll find my own way back."

She nodded and sent them all a quick smile before heading to the elevator. Tony found the bond between Loki and Arianna interesting – troubling, but interesting nonetheless. Arianna hadn't given voice to her question, but Loki had understood her facial expression. He'd known her a few short weeks and whether Arianna would admit it or not, she'd formed an attachment to the former god of mischief.

Tony didn't know what that meant.

"I mean her no harm," Loki said. Apparently Loki was just good at reading people.

"Good. Because if you hurt her, the kid gloves will come off and you'll be given to Fury so fast you won't know what hit you. And you're not immortal anymore."

Loki nodded soberly. "That's why I wished to speak to you."

Tony looked at Bruce, who was pointedly pretending to study a drop of Arianna's blood that he'd placed on a slide and onto the plate holder of a microscope.

"Go on," Tony said.

"I am mortal now. I don't know what that entails. I don't understand myself in this form."

Loki stepped forward.

"I'd like to learn. I'll need your help. I need to know my strengths and weaknesses, my limitations." A small grin graced Loki's lips. "Research, Mr. Stark."

Because Tony Stark was ever the curious genius-playboy-philanthropist, he gave in.

@smallangryandpink, @purplekitten30

[loveisnotadagger]

Love Is Healing - Chapter Five

Chapter 5/?

The next day Arianna focused on healing Loki's burns since she hadn't been able to the night before. Arianna knew that Frigga and Thor had to leave that day, so she let them stay in the room with her as she worked. Plus, she didn't want to be alone with Loki. He had gotten under her skin the night before and she was still a little irritated with him.

Loki had been right about one thing, however, and that was that she hadn't been able to draw power from the Tesseract the night before because she'd been too tired. She had since slept and was using it fine now.

She worked on Loki for a few hours before leaving him, leaving the tower to go out and see how much destruction had actually been done.

"Oh my God," she said as she stepped out of the building and into the world outside.

She hadn't really seen everything the day before. There were buildings still smoking from yesterday, and there were piles of rubble on the ground from the buildings and the streets having been hit. Seeing as this wasn't a residential area, most of the buildings were businesses and restaurants. It hadn't lowered the death count or the amount of people that had been hurt.

Police were still out, so she wondered if they were still searching the ruins for victims.

"Let's go," Natasha said from behind her. "Tony has a helicopter waiting for us. We'll go to the closest hospital and work our way out."

They had to cross the street and use the helipad there because the one on Tony's tower had been destroyed. As they walked Arianna began to feel as if she were in a movie about the end of the world. The apocalypse had come to Manhattan.

She felt like crying, but tears were for victims and people who had time to cry. Arianna, however, had a job to do.

"We've got clearance, right? No roadblocks?"

"We should be good." ----------

When all was said and done, the injured were numbered in the hundreds, as were the dead. Arianna healed in a logical, systematic way, starting with the most injured and ending with the least.

She spent about two hours each day with Loki and by the end of the week his burns and lacerations were completely healed. The only injury he had left was his broken ribs.

She brought him meals each day – breakfast, lunch, and dinner – and he was now able to eat solid food. She noticed he had quite the sweet tooth when she brought him some ice cream and a small piece of pie for dessert once. He's asked for more and had neglected his dinner.

It made sense when she found out that Asgard didn't really have any sweets. The sweetest thing he'd ever had was fruit, so she hoped the extra sugar didn't make Loki sick.

On the day Fury was supposed to come and retrieve Loki Arianna brought Loki pancakes for breakfast. He didn't know what they were, but he enjoyed them. Arianna had basically drowned them in syrup. Loki was able to eat only one, but Arianna ate the rest.

"Those were mine," he said, though Arianna could tell he really didn't mind.

"I made them," she reminded him.

"They were quite delicious."

"Thank you.

"So . . . Fury is supposed to come today. I'm not sure exactly what that means. He'll probably take you away and lock you up. I don't think he'll put you with other people, so you'll be safe at least."

"Or they might just torture me some more.," Loki said quietly. "Even mortal I have much information that could be useful."

"Then don't let them know."

Arianna didn't know why it made her almost want to cry at the thought of Loki being hurt further, but it did and she had to take a deep breath to steady herself.

"Pretend you have memory loss if you have to, but don't let them know you know anything that they don't unless you intend to tell them."

Arianna was under no delusions of thinking SHIELD was all good. It was a government agency and, therefore, could get away with a lot of things nobody should be allowed to do. They would torture him if they found need of it.

"Would you like to go outside? If you don't today, you may not be able to for a while."

Loki considered for a moment before smiling weakly. "That would be nice." ---------- Loki didn't know what he had expected, but being allowed to go out of the building without any restraints wasn't it. He hadn't expected the other Avengers to let Arianna go out alone with him either, but there they were.

They'd just stepped out of Stark Tower and onto the sidewalk, and Loki suddenly wanted to go back inside. Things outside were horrible. Buildings had been destroyed and roads had been turned to rubble. The costs of the war he'd brought upon this city . . .

He really shouldn't have left the tower. What if someone recognized him? They would probably try to kill him. Try and fail. He knew Arianna would never allow harm to come to him while under her watch.

"This isn't what I want you to see," she said. "But we need to cross the street to get to the helipad."

"We're going to fly?"

"For a little bit. Low enough so you can see things. I don't know if you should be walking around outside."

Loki couldn't help the relief he felt at Arianna's suggestion. He shouldn't walk around outside.

Once they had reached the helipad and the helicopter and were in the air, Loki felt a freedom he hadn't felt for a long time. He'd learned to fly when he was just a boy – not a helicopter, of course, but they did have machines that could fly in Asgard.

Arianna was silent for the most part until they had been in the air for a while. She didn't even seem to be enjoying the view, and what could be seen now was beautiful.

"May I ask what is bothering you?" he asked.

"I hate this," she said immediately. "This . . . us giving you up to Fury. I mean, no, you're definitely not the most upstanding citizen, but you were pushed into this, pushed into coming here and trying to take over. You would've been tortured if you hadn't. Most people would've done the same as you have."

Loki stared at her. Arianna had this way about her that made Loki feel as if he was cared about. His heart craved it and rejected it at the same time. If he was being honest with himself, Loki knew he craved affection from someone who could love him for what he was. He was nowhere near as bad now that Thanos wasn't playing with his mind, but he was far from what a normal person would consider good.

Arianna could accept him as he was, but he also had to admit that such open affection wasn't completely welcome. Feelings got in the way of other things.

Besides, right that instant he was feeling only gratitude. This girl had done more for him in a week than many had done in his entire lifetime.

His thankfulness wasn't misplaced. ---------- Fury was already at Stark Tower when Loki and Arianna got back. Arianna came to a halt and she felt Loki run into her before he stopped as well. He'd barely touched her back and she barely moved.

Fury stood between two agents, both of whom had a gun. Tony was there, as were the other Avengers – minus Thor, who, along with Frigga, had left days before taking the Tesseract with them.

"Are the guns really necessary?" Arianna asked. "He's in no shape to put up a fight."

"The guns aren't for him," Fury said, firm but also somewhat uncertain. "It's to ensure that you don't put up a fight."

"Me?"

Arianna was honestly confused about this. She wasn't a threat to anyone.

"Yes. My superiors are not happy about you siding with the man that attacked this city. Consider this a warning. You were dangerously close to treason."

"I was doing what I knew to be right."

"Not to mention, she'd promised Loki's mother that she would take responsibility for his healing," Tony said. "Who knows what would've happened had she refused?"

"Indeed," Fury replied. "I wasn't finished. Agent Grace is a valuable asset to this team. One I don't wish to lose. The Council and I agreed that she could very well help the Asgardian acclimate himself to our ways."

"What?"

"In exchange for information Loki can remain free. He'll be under constant surveillance, of course. Agents Barton and Romanoff will be watching him. Everyone will remain here, and –"

Tony interrupted. "I think everyone keeps forgetting that this is my place."

Fury ignored Tony's words. "If you are amenable," he directed at Arianna, "I will alert the Council and things can proceed as usual."

Arianna looked at Natasha and Clint. "Guys? Are you willing to give up time to do this?"

Arianna already knew her answer was yes, but it wouldn't matter unless the others went for it as well.

Natasha agreed, but Arianna knew it was only because Fury had asked it of her and not because she had any real desire to do so. Clint agreed because Natasha had agreed.

"Tony?"

Arianna turned to him now. This was his home. He could turn them all out at any time and Arianna wouldn't blame him.

"You guys haven't been too much of a nuisance," Tony quipped. "You can stay. But no touching my stuff."

Arianna grinned. "Seeing as to how I don't know how to use most of your stuff, that won't be a problem."

She then looked at Loki, who had been strangely silent throughout the entire exchange, only to find that he'd wrapped his arms around himself and was staring suspiciously at Fury and the two agents with him.

"Loki?" She touched his arm gently. If he'd withdrawn into himself, she didn't want to alarm him. "What's wrong?"

"Why?" he asked. "Why not lock me up?"

"Information," Fury answered. "As long as you cooperate . . ."

Arianna tensed, as did Loki, though each had a different reason for becoming tense. Arianna was angry but not surprised that the people she worked with would stoop to threats to get what they wanted. She was also furious that Fury and his superiors were no better than the monster named Thanos.

Loki had tensed because of the threat itself. It had reminded him of the words Thanos had said about him failing to conquer Midgard and failing to bring Thanos the Tesseract. There would be pain. He was in the same situation now with another enemy.

"Loki, just say yes and you can stay," Arianna said. "Don't make this harder than it has to be."

"Okay," he said. "I accept the arrangement." ---------- That night Arianna made plans with Tony to have someone get her things from her apartment in Washington D.C. and to have them brought to the tower. She also needed to break her lease, which she was going to get Fury to take care of since it was his fault she had to relocate in the first place.

She talked Tony into giving Loki an actual room, which really just meant that Loki would be able to have more than just the bed and closet space that he had at the moment. He would eventually be able to have things in there.

Loki still had the room next to hers, which she didn't really mind. He actually was fairly harmless at the moment. She could probably do more damage than he could right now.

It was true that she had healed him almost completely, but he still wasn't at a hundred percent energy-wise.

That first night, Loki caught her before she could make her way into her own room.

"Agent Grace?"

His voice stopped her. He'd never said her name before, had never even shown that he'd thought to remember her name, but here he was using her name with what could only be described as respect.

"Yes, Loki?"

She turned to him. He was standing in his doorway, his posture a little slouched due to his still injured ribs. He didn't have any hostility in his face or eyes, so she assumed it was safe to approach him. When she reached him he grabbed her hand, which she hadn't expected at all, but he was being gentle and careful so she didn't pull away.

When he set his lips upon the back of her hand for a few brief seconds she froze. Heat traveled up her neck and settled upon her cheeks. Loki obviously noticed because he smirked slightly before lowering her hand back to her side.

She would have been angry, but she couldn't see a hint of an ulterior motive in Loki, and she would've felt it from the skin-on-skin contact if he'd had a negative reason for kissing her hand.

"Thank you," he said. "For everything you've done for me. For what you're still doing. I don't quite understand why you're doing it, but I don't think I have to. My mother said I should befriend you because you have a good heart. I do believe she was right."

Arianna had no clue what she was supposed to say to any of this. No one had said such things to her before without wanting something in return. What did one do in a situation like this?

"Um . . . thank you?" She sounded unsure to her own ears, so she had no idea what Loki would think. She told herself she didn't care.

"There's no need to be nervous. It's just a thank you."

Loki gave a small but genuine smile, and Arianna answered with her own.

"Well, you're welcome," she said sincerely. "And you can call me Arianna. Good night, Loki."

"Good night . . . Arianna."

@smallangryandpink, @purplekitten30

[loveisnotadagger]

Love is Healing - Chapter Four

Chapter 4/?

Warning: There is a brief mention of when Loki let go of Thor's hammer when he was hanging from the Rainbow Bridge and how he had basically tried to kill himself by doing that. It's literally maybe three sentences, but it's there if that triggers something for you.

The only thing Loki really saw was the girl – no, Arianna; he remembered her name now. She has shoulder-length, honey blond hair, much like the color of his mother's hair, and bright ocean-blue eyes. That was all he noticed at that point and that was only because she was standing over him.

He took her in within the few seconds it took for his pain to register and then he felt as if he couldn't breathe. So intense was his agony that he couldn't even find the strength to scream out loud even though he knew he'd opened his mouth to do just that.

"Your ribs were broken," Arianna said. "I couldn't heal them completely. I'm sorry. I know it must be extremely painful."

She went on to tell him every other thing she'd found that needed to be healed. He no longer had any bruises, and she had healed his lungs, which had been damaged by the broken ribs.

"What you really need is food and water."

"Food sounds wonderful," Loki admitted weakly.

He couldn't actually remember the last time he'd eaten. He did, however, remember that when he'd been under the control of Thanos he would sometimes miss many days' worth of meals when he wouldn't cooperate.

"I think we should start with broth. See how well that stays down before we give you solid food."

Before Loki could reply the door to the room opened.

Loki hadn't been paying attention before, but now that he could focus on something other than pain, he realized he had no idea where he was.

He would have to worry about that later, however, because the only thing that mattered at the moment was that he was weak and in pain, and the person who had opened the door was the man who could turn into a beast.

Loki had never moved so quickly in his life. It caused him more pain, but he didn't care. This man wasn't going to get hold of him again. He wouldn't survive another round of being smashed around.

He threw his legs over the side of the bed, intent on getting to his feet and running, using whatever strength he had left to push past Banner and get away.

"Loki," Arianna exclaimed, but he ignored her.

A sharp pain went through his chest and it had nothing to do with physical wounds. He'd trusted Arianna as much as he could trust anyone. He'd allowed her to lead him out of his tormented mind only to have him awake here with the one being in the whole of Midgard that had been able to hurt him.

As soon as Loki's feet hit the floor, he stood up only to fall right back down. The pain that fired throughout his body took his breath away and jarred him enough to break through his adrenaline-addled body.

So he couldn't even stand? How was he to escape his fate if he couldn't walk?

"Loki," the girl whispered, kneeling beside him. "I know what you're thinking, and it's not true. I didn't betray you, and Bruce will not hurt you. He has no reason to now."

Loki didn't respond vocally, but when Banner tried to help him stand and sit back on the bed Loki allowed it without complaint. The doctor was surprisingly careful and gentle with him.

"He needs water and food," Arianna said. "Broth to start off with. He is extremely malnourished."

Banner nodded. "I'll have Tony get something brought here. What should I tell Thor and –"

"They'll want to see him."

Loki noticed that Arianna was looking at him. She wasn't dictating that they had to see him. She was giving him a choice. He could decide for himself.

He gave a quick nod and Banner left. Only a few seconds passed before both Thor and his mother flooded into the room.

"Loki. My son," Frigga said and sprinted to his bedside. "You're awake."

"Careful," Arianna said. "He's still in pain. I wasn't able to heal him as fully as I wanted to."

"He is able to be awake," Thor said. "That is enough."

"Okay, well . . . I'll leave you guys to it."

Loki stiffened when Arianna touched his shoulder, but she didn't remove her hand.

"I'll be back shortly with some water and your food." ----------

Once outside the room, Arianna slid down to the floor with her back against the wall. She was exhausted mentally and physically. She'd had to break through Loki's defenses and she'd had to fight against Thanos. If he was that powerful in Loki's mind, she hoped she never came across him in real life.

She'd been anxious to get outside and help the victims of the earlier battle, but now she was glad she had to wait. She probably couldn't hold up against a flea at the moment.

Unbidden, tears stung her eyes. What was she doing? What had she been doing for the past however many hours? She'd been helping a criminal. True, Loki had been through a lot, but did that matter, really, in the grand scheme of things? Who knew what he'd done before he'd been tortured? Maybe he'd been bad all along. She didn't know.

A quiet sob escaped her and she clapped a hand over her mouth. She would not do this here where just anyone could walk by and see her.

"Aries?"

A figure hovered over her – short, dressed in black, red hair. Natasha – before sitting down with her. Arianna should have known that Natasha would be nearby. There was no way Tash would've gone far knowing her friend was in the other room with a psychopath.

"What's wrong? Did Loki hurt you?"

"No. Loki can barely sit up or stand. He's . . . he's – if he'd been human before now, he'd be dead."

"But he's not."

"No. I helped him a little bit . . . he's not him. Or . . . maybe he's more himself than ever. I don't know. But he's not the guy who tried to take over the world."

"That's a good thing. Why are you crying?"

"Because he's been through a lot, Tash. And I felt some of it. And I'm tired, and I just can't do anything else today."

"Then don't. You always push yourself too hard and then you end up feeling awful for days."

Arianna knew that was true, but she also knew she had several reasons for doing so. Because her best friend was a superhero, whether Natasha believed that or not, Arianna felt the need to prove that she was as useful as the other Avengers. She couldn't actually fight the bad guys, but she could clean up their messes. That was her job – or it had been until now.

"Am I crazy for wanting to heal him?" she asked. "I mean, I feel it was the right thing to do, but –"

"It is unprecedented," Natasha said. "But you also wouldn't be you if you didn't want to help. Just because he's a villain doesn't mean he can't also be a victim."

"He is," Arianna said. "He is a victim."

Natasha smiled softly. "Sometimes you care too much, Aries. Sometimes I think you're in the wrong line of work." ---------- Inside the room, Frigga was apologizing to Loki.

"Why did you not say anything before I stripped you of your powers?"

"I did not wish for you to know," Loki said.

What Loki wished was for Thor and Frigga to leave him alone. He was sitting up to save face, but he needed to lie back down. It was physically hurting him to stay upright.

And where was Arianna? He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he felt just a bit better with her in the room, and he would definitely need her with him once his mother and brother left. None of the other hero-types would dare touch him with her present.

Just as he was getting close to keeling over, Arianna came in. She was balancing a tray with a bottle of water and a steaming bowl of what Loki assumed was the broth she'd mentioned earlier.

"Hey," she said. "I got some vegetable soup and, obviously, water. You should lie down. I've got you covered."

She gestured to the tray she was holding. It had two legs that came down, one on either side.

Loki relaxed against the mattress, but he couldn't say he felt any more comfortable at all.

Arianna placed the tray down, one leg on either side of him, and then she reached down on the side of the bed. There was a small click and then then head of the bed was moving upward.

Loki stiffened. What kind of magic was this?

"It's just a hospital bed, Loki," Arianna said. "It'll help support you while you eat."

The soup looked good and smelled even better. He was so hungry, though, that the smell almost turned his stomach.

"Don't force yourself to eat, but you do need water. Drink it slowly or you'll get sick."

Why was she being so nice to him? What did she want?

"How long are you going to stay?" Arianna asked, looking at Thor and Frigga. "Not that you have to go, but you probably made the records with that energy spike you let loose by coming to this realm."

"In the morning when you begin the healing sessions again, we will leave," Frigga said. "You need to sleep and someone will need to stay with Loki."

"I am not a child," Loki said. "No one needs to stay."

That was a complete and utter lie. He needed someone with him because he really couldn't do for himself at the moment. The only thing that had been keeping the pain at bay had been his magic, and now he didn't even have that.

And . . . Arianna was going to continue to heal him? Why? For what purpose?

"Why would you do this for me?"

Arianna smiled softly. "Why wouldn't I?"

"I tried to destroy this city," he responded as if it were obvious.

"You didn't want to destroy it. You wanted to rule it."

Those were his own words from earlier and now she was throwing them back at him. Before he could respond, however, Arianna saw her way out of the room.

Both Thor and Frigga had small grins on their lips and Loki rolled his eyes.

Loki didn't find anything funny about having his words thrown back at him. In fact, it only made him remember her earlier words. She'd wanted him to help save her city even though he'd been the one to bring destruction down upon it.

Lost in his own thoughts, Loki was surprised when warm liquid filled his mouth. It was the vegetable soup. It had a savory flavor as if it had been made with chicken broth.

His mother had brought a spoonful of soup to his mouth. Thankfully, Thor had already gone; Frigga must've sent him away.

Loki was able to eat a few of the vegetables, but he stuck mostly to the broth. He was able to finish his water, however. ---------- Down in the lobby area, Arianna and the other Avengers were lounging around on the furniture, waiting for word on what they were supposed to do next.

Director Fury had called Tony to schedule a meeting, which just meant they'd been given about a five-minute heads up on Fury's arrival. He'd probably gotten readings of energy when Frigga had arrived on the balcony of Stark Tower.

What if he found out they were harboring Loki there? What if Fury already knew?

They would try to take Loki away and Arianna didn't know if she would allow that, not without healing him first. If she intervened, however, they would probably take her away too. They would arrest her for aiding and abetting – or they would try to. Natasha would probably stand by her and Clint would too, not because they cared what happened to Loki, but because they cared what happened to her; Thor would help her if only so she could continue helping Loki; Tony would stand by her just to make Fury angry.

The only wild card was Steve Rogers. If he thought them taking Loki was the right thing to do, he would let them.

Bruce wouldn't want to be involved at all.

When Fury arrived, Arianna basically shrank into herself. He was one of the most intimidating men she'd ever met. It had nothing to do with his height or the fact that he wore an eyepatch. It had everything to do with the way he carried himself. He had a no-nonsense attitude along with all the confidence in the world.

He could back that confidence up, too. He had the power and ability to do pretty much whatever he wanted, and he usually did whatever he had to do to get a job done.

"Where is he?" were the first words that came out of Fury's mouth.

"Where's who?" Tony asked.

"Don't play dumb with me. Where's the one who killed Coulson?"

"He is hurt," Arianna said softly. "And he can't be moved."

"Can't be moved? If I were to try and take him from here, who would stop me?"

Thor was the first to step up and then it was Arianna. Standing next to the god of thunder, Arianna didn't think Fury was all that frightening. Tony stood by her as Arianna had thought he would.

Natasha and Clint hesitated, but Natasha did say, "Director, from what Agent Grace says Loki was tortured into submission. He was promised more pain if he didn't obey."

"And did Loki just offer up this information freely?" asked Fury, sarcasm lacing his voice.

"Not exactly," Arianna said.

And here was the turning point. She could either fess up and be turned into a weapon or she could keep quiet about everything and let Fury find Loki and take him away.

"Director Fury, I saw into his mind. I . . . didn't want to, but –"

"You what?"

"It's complicated," she said.

"I suggest you uncomplicate it," Fury demanded.

"I manipulate energy, Director. That's how I heal, and you know that. I can do pretty much anything I put my mind to."

"Like reading minds . . ."

"It was more like I could see what was in the forefront of his mind, and I didn't mean to do it. Our energies merged together and I just did."

"Why wasn't I made aware of this? Do you know how much you could do?"

"Yes, and that's why I didn't let you know. I mean, I'm basically a power source – like the Tesseract, and you wanted to make nuclear weapons out of that. I refuse to be used for destruction."

Arianna was aware she was exaggerating a bit. She couldn't really do anything she set her mind to, but she could do a lot. She had never really practiced, though, and she didn't really want to. She was fine not knowing how much she was capable of. She could heal people and that was enough for her.

"We have everything under control here," Tony said. "The guy is contained and no longer a threat."

"The energy readings you received earlier were from another Asgardian coming into our realm, sir," Natasha said. "Thor's and Loki's mother. She stripped Loki of his powers, so he really is harmless."

"He's mortal now," Thor said.

"He's still a terrorist and needs to be taken into custody," Fury stated.

"Not until he's better," Arianna said. "Give me a week."

"A week and he'll be better? Strong enough to be moved?"

"Yes. There are emotional traumas as well, but I can't really mend those."

"Well, we have psychologists to deal with that," Fury said. "You have a week, Agent."

Without further ado, Fury walked out the same way he came in.

"Thor, do you mind getting me the Tesseract? I can't actually heal Loki in a week, not by myself."

"What do you intend to do with it?" Thor asked, not suspicious but curious.

"Borrow energy." ---------- Loki was lying down and trying to sleep when Arianna came back to his room. He'd thought she was gone for the night but he'd obviously been wrong.

Thor was with her and he was carrying the container that held the Tesseract. What were they doing with it? He'd failed in his mission, and he couldn't get the Tesseract to Thanos now that he was mortal.

"We have a problem," Arianna said. "Fury wants to take Loki away. I bought us some time, but . . ."

"But?" Frigga asked.

"He only gave me a week." Arianna looked at Loki. "You don't want to be hurt when they take you from here. They might not hurt you further, but they won't take the time to heal you either."

"Are you sure no one would harm him?" Thor asked. "When Fury had him before, he asked me to . . . torture Loki to get information. He didn't seem to like it when I refused."

Arianna wasn't surprised when she found out Fury had suggested torture, but it had been different then. Fury didn't need information anymore and they already had the Tesseract.

"I want to spend another couple of hours healing you tonight. I can't heal the lashes until the infection leaves your body, but I can take the burns away, as long as you don't fight me this time."

"Of course I won't fight you," Loki said. "I don't think I was the one blocking your power last time."

Thanos, Arianna thought. Of course.

"Okay. I'm gonna need the room again," she told Thor and Frigga. ---------- "Oh, why isn't this working?" Arianna cried as she tried for the fifth time to draw the Tesseract's power into herself. "I did it without a problem earlier."

"Earlier you had not depleted your own energy," Loki said. "Your body is simply tired, as is your mind."

Loki had been watching her struggle for over thirty minutes now. Perhaps he was not meant to be healed that night. Pain was not new to him, so he could endure it.

"How did you end up with Thanos?" Arianna asked softly.

"I was . . . I fell off the Rainbow Bridge in Asgard."

"The what?"

"It's a bridge to other realms. When used with the Bifrost, it can take you anywhere in an instant."

"Oh."

Loki explained that he and Thor had been fighting and then Thor had destroyed the Bifrost. Both Loki and Thor had been hanging over the edge and Odin had stepped in. Odin had grabbed onto Thor and Loki had grabbed onto Thor's hammer. Loki had let go.

"And you woke up in a hell dimension?"

"If I'd had it my way, I wouldn't have woken up anywhere."

Arianna froze where she sat with the Tesseract in front of her, the blue cube shining bright but its power still not accessible to her.

"You wanted to kill yourself?"

Instead of answering directly, Loki said, "When I was a child I would spar with Thor. We had little toy swords and battle armor for children. He always won due to brute strength. Odin would pit us against each other in all things physical until I eventually just stopped fighting him."

"Did Odin get angry?"

"Yes."

Loki didn't know what he was doing. He shouldn't have said any of that. He didn't open up to people and especially not to people he'd just met. He blamed it on the pain he was in and the gratitude he tried not to feel for this girl for caring enough to help him. The extreme exhaustion didn't help him hold his tongue either.

"So, Thor is a warrior," Arianna said. "And you? What did you like to do?"

Loki was surprised to find Arianna was looking at him with open curiosity. She wasn't just asking. She really wanted to know.

"I spent most of my time in the library or studying magic with my mother, which made me an outsider."

"Why?"

"In Asgard men are expected to know how to fight. That's how they are recognized as men. It's how they are ranked. If you don't know how to fight, it is frowned upon."

"But you know how to fight."

"Yes, but not the way Thor does. He's stronger and bigger. I can't just punch my way out of a situation."

"Oh. And magic? What do they think of that?"

"It's considered underhanded. I can fight hand-to-hand if I must, but magic is my strength. I use it when I fight."

"I see nothing wrong with that."

"Of course not. You're a woman."

Loki noticed his remark made Arianna tense up and he realized how condescending he must've sounded.

"I assure you I didn't mean that the way I said it. I only meant that it was normal for women to study magic. Not so for men. There are very few warriors who are female."

"Hm. I hate fighting, so I would fit right in there. And I don't consider what I do to be magic. Others might see it as such because they don't understand how it's done, but . . . to me it's as natural as breathing. Or it normally is."

Loki realized that he knew next to nothing about this girl – and to him she was a girl. He was almost fifteen-hundred-years-old and she was probably twenty-five at the oldest.

Loki had been able to look into the other Avengers before he'd even attempted to fight them. Since Arianna had been called in only slightly before the attack on the city, he hadn't thought to ask Barton about her. He hadn't even known she existed.

She was by far the most interesting of the Avengers. She had so much power yet to look at her made one think otherwise. She was treating him like a friend would even though they couldn't be friends. They barely knew each other.

"Why're you being so nice to me?"

"Why not?"

That was the same answer she'd given earlier when he'd asked her why she was doing everything she could to heal him. It was infuriating.

"Don't give me that. I tried to take over your world. I destroyed half this city. You have every right to hate me. Aren't you angry? Do you not want revenge?"

To Loki's surprise, the girl laughed softly.

"You forget, Loki, that I saw into your mind. I know enough to know that your psyche was messed with enough to twist you into something you really aren't. And you're right. I could hate you, but I choose not to. Hate is a poison, one of the most lethal kinds.

"And correct me if I'm wrong, but I get the feeling that you hate yourself enough for everyone. We don't need to do it for you."

For some reason, unknown even to Loki, her response made rage flow through his veins.

"Why do you care?" he almost yelled. "What are you getting out of this?"

Loki noticed with some satisfaction that Arianna had flinched when he'd raised his voice. That was when he realized the conundrum that was Arianna. She was both one of the boldest and most easily frightened people he'd ever met. She didn't care for confrontation, but she wasn't afraid to tell anyone what was on her mind either.

"I care because . . . I don't know. I don't really have a good reason. I just care about people. I don't like seeing people hurting or suffering when they don't need to."

This she said softly, as if she were trying not to wake a sleeping child, but then she looked at Loki more seriously, almost glaring.

"As for what I'm getting out of it, it's peace of mind. I don't help people just because they need help. I help because I can, because I have the power to. I find it revolting that there are so many people in this world who can help but choose not to.

"So to ease your troubled mind, this has nothing to do with you. I'm trying to heal you for the sole purpose that you are suffering and I can end it. It makes me feel better when I help those in need.

"Now if you don't mind, please shut up. I'm trying to work."