Chapter Text
I avoided Loki and the team the rest of the day, choosing to pretend that I needed to focus on training. Loki didn’t buy it, but he didn’t question it. He could tell I overheard him, and that I wasn’t too happy about what I heard.
He had loved this woman! I shouldn’t be so surprised or so hurt by it though. Of course, Loki had other… adventures… in his life before me. That was only natural. I had dated other people before him, too. I mean, none of them turned out to be powerful sorceresses but still.
It was silly for me to feel upset about it, yet my heart was acting on its own. So I focused that energy on training instead. If we were to face her in battle, I wanted to be ready.
Today I was concentrating on expanding my range. To be able to have little strands of my powers disentangle from each other and spread out around me. It would be especially effective in the case of fighting more than one enemy at once.
This was how Tony found me.
I had lain plants around me in all directions. My eyes were closed as I took deep breaths and pushed my energy to the surface. I felt the little tangles uncoil and move around me. Opening my eyes slowly, I saw the strands curl onto the plants, killing and rotting them immediately. It happened to every one of them.
“Seems you’re ready for a fight,” Tony remarked when he came to me.
I sighed, wiping sweat from my forehead. This achievement was hours and hours of work with no sleep or breaks.
“I try to be as prepared as I can be,” I responded as I drank from my water bottle. I had placed it on the bench near the door where Tony was standing. His eyes were on me.
“Kid,” he started with a deep breath.
“Don’t even say it, Tony,” I interrupted. “You heard what Thor told us. Her powers involve manipulation of men. Well guess what? This is team is a majority of men. You guys need help; you need me.”
Tony tilted his head as he listened to me snap. “Dana, what were to happen if you got hurt?” he asked, genuinely. “I could never live with myself. I made a promise to you before.”
“Yes, you promised to protect me, but keeping me locked up and out of a fight that so desperately needs my help is not protecting, Tony.”
“It is to me.”
I squared my shoulders back as if bracing myself for a blow. “Tony, I can win this,” I whispered.
He didn’t say anything back, but his eyes told me that he knew it. His protective instincts on me couldn’t win over his need to protect all of Earth.
“I can stop her.”
He dropped his head to look at the floor, considering something. I waited patiently and hoped to God he would stop fighting me on this. I deserved to be let out.
His head snapped back up. “Fine.”
My heart jumped out of my chest. “But!” he yelled. “If you get even a little hurt, I take you out.”
I was too excited to care. “Yes, yes of course, thank you!” I wrapped my arms around him a little too hard, but he hugged me back. We stayed like that for a few moments before JARVIS alerted him to a phone call.
Then, I started to laugh. This was what I had been waiting for! My heart became overfilled with joy and relief. I was now going to be able to show people who I really am. I’m not just a weapon of chaos; I can help save people.
This was it. I was finally an Avenger.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thor was the second to find me, but this time I was in the kitchen. I had just finished eating lunch and was in the process of cleaning up when he joined.
“I hear we have a new recruit,” he teased.
I smirked at him. “Yes, you will no longer be the strongest Avenger.”
That made him laugh with a boom. He sat down on the stool across from me as I washed my dishes.
We were in comfortable silence for a few minutes before I couldn't hold back any longer. My mouth opened on its own, ignoring my mind's orders to shut it.
“So, what do you know about her and Loki?” I questioned innocently.
But Thor grinned at me. He was the only one who knew, and the only one I could go to.
“Well let’s see,” he started. “We first met Lorelei when we were children. Frigga was teaching Loki magic by then, trying to get him to find his place among Asgard.” His eyes drifted as he mentioned Loki’s loneliness.
“Lorelei was also gaining magical abilities, and they bonded over it. Soon Frigga was teaching Loki who was teaching Lorelei. Eventually, when we grew up, a relationship started between them. Soon enough they were betrothed to each other.”
“They were engaged?!” I hadn’t heard about this.
“Yes, for quite a while. Then, one day Frigga told me she was in prison, and Loki refused to acknowledge her existence after.”
My breathing came short, then. What could she have done to make Loki hate her so?
As if reading my mind, Thor answered, “I was told that she was imprisoned for killing someone of nobility. I wasn’t too shocked about it because, you see, at this time, Loki and Lorelei had begun to dig through dark magic. It slowly overtook Lorelei, making her mean and cruel. She played nasty tricks on people, harming guards and even Loki. We all saw it coming.”
“Except for Loki?” I asked, looking down to the sink.
I didn’t look up to see, but I knew he had nodded his head. “He was blinded by love,” he spoke gently. “It was his first love. It drives everyone mad.”
I wiped my hands off with a towel, forgetting entirely about the dishes then. My eyes were shut as I tried to stop any tears from flowing. But I had to ask.
“Do you think he still loves her?”
Thor paused a moment before answering, choosing his words carefully. “I believe they still have a bond, but ‘love’ is not the right word. He didn’t look at her the way he does you. And besides, he’s intent on killing her.”
“But why? For killing a noble?”
Thor shrugged. “Before then, Loki had never killed anyone in cold-blood. Only in battle and when necessary. Maybe he thought she had gone too far and betrayed him.”
It still didn’t make sense to me. Even if he hadn’t killed anyone for no reason, Loki is loyal. He would’ve stood by anyone he cared for that made a mistake.
Unless she didn’t make a mistake. Unless she really did betray him.
“I’m sure he will tell you more of it himself,” Thor reassured. “He doesn’t speak about it to me or anyone else, but you’re different to him.”
When Thor left, I decided I had to calm myself down before speaking to Loki. All of this was news to me. And while I hadn’t known Loki intimately that long, we had spent hours speaking to each other of our pasts. He knew of mine, my former boyfriends. He had even told me of some of his.
But not her.
It left me feeling cold. Did he not trust me? Or did he not tell me because he still harbored feelings for her?
Either way, I had to be alone for a while to process it. My mind told me there was a logical reason as to why he hid it. However, my heart felt betrayed and angry.
And it’s foolish how the heart usually wins.