Hey all!!
Here's another one! :) Hope you like it... 

xoxoxo

Sierra

Chapter Fifty 

~Thea's POV~

For all my chagrin, my arm isn't exactly healed, and my arm is in a considerable amount of pain by the time I arrive at the base of the palace. I, in fact, am in so much agony that I nearly fall off at the end, but stop the gray horse long enough to swing off. Regardless, I don't exactly swing off- I fall off, but manage to grab the horse's reins so that I can steady myself. 

Loki, on the other hand, swings off his horse magnificently, his cape blustering in the wind. He smirks at me as I grab my arm in pain. I glare at him. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything." he says, still smirking. 

"You were thinking."

Loki doesn't even bother to reply. He stalks past me, entering the palace just as Sif exits it. She ignores Loki (he does the same to her) and nods in my direction. "Come with me. We have healers that-"

"I'm fine." I state, still put-off about my arm. "I don't-"

"Loki's not going to let me sleep, or more importantly to you, he's not going to let you leave unless you get that taken care of. Now come with me." 

She vanishes around the corner, her high ponytail swishing behind her with a snap. I don't care for Sif that much, but nonetheless, I follow her down the passageway to the lower levels of the palace. I find it very hard to keep up with Sif, who acts like she is walk-running a marathon. I end up having to trot after her.

By the time we get to what I presume are the healing areas, my arm is burning magnificently. It's somewhat of a relief when a woman with charcoal skin, bright amber eyes, and a solemn way about her leads me into a small room. 

It doesn't take long. She merely washes the place where the arrow pierced my skin (I try as hard as possible not to wince), pours some sort of special Asgardian liquid over it, and then wraps it in a special nylon-like cloth, that I learn is waterproof (I learn it's waterproof because I accidentally knock over a vase of water, which spills all over me.)

The healer releases me, but there is no Sif to guide me back to the entrance. I decide to explore a little; I have a feeling that if Loki wants to find me, he'll find me. Besides, I look forward to him being annoyed and looking all over the Asgardian palace for me.

The palace, by the way, is absolutely beautiful. The last time I was here, I didn't have the chance to appreciate the majesty of it. The majority of the rooms, chambers, and halls are either half-outside or have large, open balconies or windows overlooking Asgard's cliffs, the seas, the gardens, or the city below. 

I step out onto a garden terrace that overlooks the city. It's made of stone, with tendrils of flowers and plants snaking through it. The morning sun is so bright, I have to blink rapidly to get used to it. 

After a few minutes of watching the spectacle of the thriving city below me, of the planes zooming over my head, and a large hawk-like creature that soars above me, I turn back to go into the palace. 

The architecture is gilded... everywhere. As I walk through the halls, my footsteps sound on the marble floors, making me feel very conspicuous. I do not like to be conspicuous. 

Eventually, I turn into a large hall, which I presume to be the throne room, based on the raised chair on a platform in front of me. It's nearly completely empty, save for a few guards, patrolling. They don't pay the slightest bit of attention to me, and I don't pay the slightest bit of attention to them either. 

On a table, there is a series of maps and floating holograms of the kingdom of Asgard, surrounded by...I count eight other realms. I think back to Thor saying that there are nine realms which his father, Odin lords over. I spot Midgard below Asgard, and I know from Loki's constant  belittlement that this is Earth. 

All of the others, I do not have the faintest clue. Some are blackened, as if extinguished of their people, or of their leaders, I cannot guess. 

Tilting my head, I step over to what looks to be an alter, on the other side of the wall. It's adorned with flowers that smell so strongly, I blink rapidly. There are figures and strange writing etched into stone above and around the base. 

I can't read it. It's a some sort of memorial, that I can tell, but I don't know-

I hear voices, loud voices and panicking, I slide behind the wooden door next to the memorial. It's a storage closet, and it's full of flowers, a sort of greenhouse, probably to grow and replace the flowers for the memorial. Regardless, it's making my eyes water tremendously. 

"-and again I find myself in a bewilderment." It's a low voice, scratchy and old. I open the door a slit, so that my eye can see out scarcely. 

It's a man, with gray-specked hair, a staff, and an eye patch. I don't need Kyle's elevated IQ to know that this is Odin, the All-Father, and most notably, Thor's and Loki's father. 

Speaking of the devil,, Loki strides past me, and I resist the urge to jump back, to make a lot of noise. He's wearing a horned helmet (I know I'll be making fun of it later), and carrying a curved scepter that glows an emerald green.

"I've simply come into your realm to procure weapons. I really don't see what the fuss is all about."

"You don't ever, do you." Odin's response is not a question. "Everywhere you go, it's whatever Loki can get out of it. Whatever he can get, he gets." 

"I haven't the slightest idea what you are talking about."

Odin finally turns and looks at his son. "The Chiutari have a death sentence for you, would they still be living. You failed. You failed them. The Imeldi, as you claim, are very similar, the same kin, more like. Their destruction means your escape." 

"You play me as a coward, yet my needs are few and simple." Loki's scepter digs into the marble with a bang. "I seek only vengeance."

"Vengeance for your mother? For Frigga?" At first, I think Odin is pointing right at me, and my blood goes cold. But then, I realize that he's pointing to the memorial in front of me. "No, Loki, that debt has been settled."

"What debt? If I recall, it was not I who failed to save her life." The last few words are hissed through his teeth. 

"You were no help in your cell." snaps Odin. 

There is silence, and I fiddle with my fingers while resisting the urge to cough against the pollen. I tend to have severe allergies with flowers. 

"Now about that little girl." says Odin. "I can't help that notice you protective of her."

"Protective, you say?" says Loki without a trace of astonishment.

"She is not your daughter." says Odin fixedly. "There is no sense whatsoever in putting your life on the line for her."

"As if you care. Haven't I been a bit of a bother to you?" Loki inquires. 

Odin stares at him with an air of resentment. "The Imeldi are cruel, Loki, and cunning. Cunning, even more than you."

Loki chuckles, smiling widely. "Oooh, I rather doubt that." 

"Loki, you would more protect a human child than a wolf pup. What is this? Or is this a game? Or a ruse, perhaps, to earn her trust and then kill her like you killed the other Midgardians?" Odin leans forward on his arms, on the large table. "Tell me, what is she to you?"

I can't breathe. I have broken into a cold sweat. So there's a reason that Loki, the god of mischief has been tolerating with a mere mortal girl.

"Simply an ends to a mean." 

I feel tears spring into my eyes. 

"And that is?" 

Loki says nothing, his eyes fixed to the throne. "Let me put it this way, Odin. That 'little girl' is the only thing that can free me from the Imeldi's revenge. When she is successful, then her means will be completed."  

I don't need to be brilliant to know what that means. This is it. Loki, the poisonous, back-stabbing betrayer has been using me to ensure his own life. To him, as long as he gets out of it alive, anything can happen to me. My means will have ended. 

I will be dead. 

In the midst of my silent tears, I sneeze from the pollen. Thankfully, it's a small sneeze, and I easily conceal it with my hands. Nonetheless, I watch Loki to see if he has miraculously noticed. 

Not a sign. He's too busy smirking at Odin, and I lean against the wall, dissolving in tears, silent ones, but tears nonetheless. 

I've been stupid. I thought I could trust Loki, despite all his tricks, all his spite, all his...murders. Now really, he's been using me. I feel my eyes dilating again, and I know that I have to control myself before I burst out of the closet, killing in my path. 

I take deep breaths, and manage to calm myself, even though tears are still streaming down my face. By the time I'm listening again, Odin is speaking. 

"-you've tried to topple this regime more than once." Odin is staring at his son. "Yet, here I am, still alive, and you are not on the throne."

"The throne!" snarls Loki, "That is my right! I was the king of Asgard." 

"No, Loki." says Odin, calm, but annoyingly not-so-calm at the same time. "You took advantage of it! You have no crown!" 

Loki hisses at Odin, but I don't care. The two stare at each other, and then Odin says, "When the time comes, when you're free from death, tell me this: will you be able to live with yourself for what you've done?"

Loki smiles again, not at all concerned by his father's loud voice. "Oh, but Odin. I've lived with myself for this long. I believe I will be just fine." 

Odin shakes his head at his son. "What what your mother think of you, now, I wonder?"

Loki's lip curls, and his hand tightens around his scepter, the hooked edge glaring menacingly in the light. He stares after Odin vindictively as the Asgardian monarch walks out of the room, the guards following in his wake. 

I wait until I see Loki vanish in the other direction. Then, wiping my tears, I walk out of the cabinet, closing the door softly behind me. I feel strangely open, walking towards the throne and staring up at it. So this is what Loki really wants. Power. Unlimited power. 

"Admiring Odin's chair?"

I whirl around to see Loki at the other end of the hall, walking towards me. I back away, running into the base of the great gilded base of the throne.

He stops only a few feet from me, looking down at me, his green eyes calm. But they're snake's eyes, no better than Kafrandi. Worse. 

"So that's it?" I choke. "I'm your... your 'means to and end'?"

"Thea-"

"NO! The only thing you want is power. And you...you'll do anything anything to get it."

"N-"

"What happens to me when you don't need me anymore?" I say, sobbing. "You'll kill me? Like you've killed all the others? Like you killed my brother?"

"Thea!"

"No...you...you get away from me!" I wrench away from him as he tries to grab my arm. "Don't touch me, you monster!" 

"It's been a while since you've called me that."

I look up at him. "...Because...because I trusted you! I thought that through all of your...your tricks...you actually had a heart! I thought-"

"That I was kind?" Loki asks coolly. "Kindness is not in my nature."

"Well that's obvious!" I screech. 

"Thea," says Loki, "What you heard, what you heard me telling Odin-"

"You tried to kill him too! To get the throne! How many people have gotten in your way? Look at me, I'm standing in your way to your precious throne. What are you going to do? Kill me to climb up to it?!" I'm practically screaming now, and my voice is resonating down the halls, but I don't care. I'm done caring. 

"Thea!" His tone is harsh, scolding, as if I've said something wrong.

"It's the truth!" I yell. "It's the truth, and you're just a selfish bastard who is never going to change, not ever!"

I turn and stalk away, determined to somehow get back to Earth so I can end this now, and so I can-

"OWW!" I yowl as Loki yanks me back by my ponytail, twisting me around so that I am now facing him,

"You need to listen to me, and you need to listen to me right now." 

"NO!" I howl. "I'M DONE LISTENING TO Y-!"

"THEA!" he shouts. The loudness of his voice is so unexpected, so...loud and frightening, that I stop struggling to get away from him.

Once he has established that I am, in fact listening, he says harshly, "What I said to Odin- you misinterpreted it, as you so often do."

"I didn't misinterpret the fact that you're going to kill me!"

"Did I once-"

"I don't ca-"

"Let me finish speaking or I swear upon the gods, I will leave you to rot in Asgard's dungeons for the rest of your life."

I fall silent.

He takes a deep breath. "Did I once utter the words, 'I am going to kill Thea after the Imeldi are extinguished'?"

"Just because-"

"ANSWER ME" he roars.

"No." I say in a tiny voice.

"Did I once tell Odin, 'The only reason I am tolerating Thea is so that she can vanquish the monsters, and so that I may have my freedom?"

"No, but-"

"Did you not notice that when Odin kept questioning me about my protectiveness of you, I did not deny that I am?"

"Yeah, because you need me alive."

Loki roll his eyes, then holds something in front of me. "Do you know what this is?"

It's a cylindrical bottle, but it's not glass, so I say, "What do you think I can do, see through things now?"

"This, Thea, is a vial of your blood, taken from the healers when they took care of your arm earlier."

"So what?"

"Use your brain, Thea, if you even have one, which I am beginning to doubt."

"No." I cross my arms. "You tell me." 

"If I really didn't want you alive, or at least want you along, then I could've taken this bottle at any point or time, left you here or killed you, and been off to kill the Imeldi by myself, or atl

"What makes me think that you won't still do that?"

"Well, here you are, still standing in front of me."

I'm still crying, and collapse on the throne (which I'm pretty sure is a felony, but my level of not-caring has reached exponential levels) "Loki, you're a murderer. If you're telling me that a...a human child means something to you, then that is one lie that I can see through." 

Loki kneels down in front of me and says softly, "In that case, you've fallen for your own con." 

"What?" I say, my voice trembling.

He reaches forward and tries to wipe the tears from my eyes, but I yank back, away from him. "You've told yourself something that seems like a lie I am telling, but in truth, it is the truth. You're fooling yourself." 

He takes my hand, which is dwarfed in his large one, and I stiffly tolerate it. "It is true, that the destruction of the Imeldi means my freedom. But, at any time, I could've killed you, because quite frankly, you've gotten in my way multiple times. I have not. Do you want to know why?"

"Not if it's another lie." 

I can tell that Loki is trying his absolute hardest not to roll his eyes. "It is because I do, in fact-and I cannot believe the words are coming out of my mouth- care about you."

"No you don't." I say, much too quickly. 

He raises his eyebrows. "Well, you're alive, aren't you?"

"I don't know, am I?"

He glares at me. 

"So you're saying you care about me because you haven't killed me?" I demand. "Well isn't that special."

"Of course not, I was trying to make my point, but evidently, you saw the negative, as per usual, in your case." He raises his eyebrows. "I've saved your life constantly, brought you back from the dead, died to ensure your safety-"

"Oh please, you can't even say that you died, because you really didn't. Did it even hurt?"

"Of course it hurt, it tends to hurt when one sticks a dagger in oneself." he snaps. 

There's silence. Then, Loki says quietly, "You're a child, Thea, but you've already braved things that many adults have not."

"Stop calling me a child." I say, mostly because my evidence is waning.

"I will not, I only speak the truth." 

"Shut up."

"I will not, because we need to leave soon." His eyes are twinkling as he looks up at me. "And look at this. I'm kneeling to you, the child-"

"Don't-"

"The child that is sitting on the Asgardian throne."

"I'm not getting up." I say, crossing my arms, choosing to ignore his analogy. "Because you're still a selfish bastard."

Evidently, Loki can see that I don't really mean it. "Fine then. Be a stubborn little imp, like you always are."

I squeal as Loki swoops me off the throne with one arm, throwing me over his shoulder. "LOKI!" 

"You'd better beg if you want me to let you down."

"I don't beg." I say, trying not get dizzy from viewing the throne room upside down.

"You want me to carry you through the Asgardian palace?" he says, knowingly playing on the fact that I don't like to be treated like a kid in front of everyone else. "Because I have no qualms about that."

I weigh my chances, and then finally wail, "PLEASE let me go, Loki." 

"Why thank you, I knew you had it in you." He unceremoniously drops me, sending me tumbling to the ground, hard. 

"I hate you."

He grins down at me mischievously. "And don't I know it." 

----

SO what do you think? Please VOTE and COMMENT!!!!!!
Love you all, and message me at any time if you need to talk to someone!!!!!
Love, 

Sierra