Hi all! :D 

Here's another chapter! I hope you like it...

~Songs~

*I would like to make a note that usually, the songs' lyrics don't apply, but I like the mood. Sometimes, of course, they do.

1st Part- Drops of Jupiter- train

2nd Part- My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark- Fall Out Boy & Can't Be Tamed- Miley Cyrus

~Edit: lokidottir 

Chapter Twelve

~Thea's POV~

That night, I get the honor of room-mating with Steve. It was supposed to be Kyle, but I know why they changed it; Natasha and Bruce had reported that I was a- gently put- restless sleeper and had technically kept them up (not that they said that, of course). Steve, who doesn't need quite as much sleep as the average human, volunteered for the job. 

Tonight, I get a surprise before Thor departs for Asgard. Tonight, he is taking both Loki and Jane with him. 

He and Loki generally take turns sleeping at Stark tower. The other one goes to Asgard to be with Leah and the rest of the realm. 

As you can imagine, Thor usually is the one who goes to Asgard. Apparently, Leah still doesn't like Loki that much; from what Thor has alluded to, he still scares her. 

I get a good idea of why, tonight. Thor hands me a piece of parchment written in what I recognize with a thrill as Leah's handwriting. "This is for you," he says in his deep voice, "I forgot to give it to you this morning. I haven't looked at it yet, but she wanted you to have it. You have time to write a response, if you wish."

As Thor begins conversing with Bruce outside the portal room, I open the parchment, and a small, pressed flower falls out; I catch it before it hits the ground. I read Leah's large childish scrawl that's actually very neat for her age: 

Thea,

Asgard is fun. When Jane is here, she teaches me things; I learned what a cell is today- it's tiny and we have lots of them in our bodies. It's cool. I still miss Mama though. I hope she and Daddy and Bryce are watching me from Heaven. I think they smile down at us.

Loki jumped out and scared me today when we were playing hide-and-seek. He's scary like that. Once, he turned the rope of my dress into a snake and laughed. I didn't think it was funny- it was slithering.

I like Thor still. He taught me how to ride a horse, like he promised a long time ago. It's very fun, but a little scary. maybe if I get back to earth one day, we can ride our horses together.

How is Jack? Tell him hi! I liked him, and Max too.

I miss you. When can i see you? Nobody will tell me. The journal doesn't work good, does it? I wish it did. Maybe Jane can fix it. She can do anything, I think.

Thor says I have to finish this now so he can go see you. He's worried. Why, Thea?

from Leah.

I stare at the letter, the beautiful tangibility of it feeding through the pages of the parchment. I want to hug it. 

"LOKI!"

"What is it now?" he asks, from the other end of the room, looking bored.

I struggle with two very different points I want to make to Loki. "Are you tormenting my sister?"

He rolls his eyes as he walks over to me. "Did she tell you about the snake?"

"Yes! And she's eight years old!" I hit him with the parchment. "Don't do that!" 

He snorts, "I do whatever I desire." 

"Oh, and there's something else," I smirk, "You weren't actually playing hide-and-seek with my little sister, were you, Loki?"

His eyes narrow down at me and he says shortly, "It was a dull day, I wouldn't look into it that much, Thea."

I give him my best Jack-puppy-dog face and say in a miniature voice, "Will you play hide-and-seek with me, Loki?" 

He smacks the back of my head relatively gently, and I giggle. 

"Thea, I need your reply soon!" calls Thor. "I will be leaving momentarily." 

I zip away from Loki, grab a pen and paper from Bruce's desk and sit down to write my reply to Leah. 

Leah,

I miss you too. How are you doing? Yes, we will definitely need to ride horses after you come to earth. But I'm coming to Asgard soon! :D Maybe we can do it then, if I have the time. You will also have to show me what you are learning. 

I miss Mom and Dad and Bryce, too. But I'm sure they're happy for us.

I pause. Well, I'm sure that they're happy for Leah, maybe not for me, who is running away from a shadow creature. 

And they're definitely watching us from Heaven. I'm sure they're having lots and lots of fun.

Jack is good. I see him a lot now, because I'm in New York, and I will tell him you said hello. 

I don't know what to write next. I know exactly why Thor is worried, but I don't want to lie to Leah or tell her the truth. I'll write something else to distract her. 

"Loki!" I call, "Are you sorry for what you did to Leah?"

"Absolutely not." 

I smirk as I continue writing. 

Loki says he's dreadfully sorry he scared you with the snake and that he'll never do it again, not ever, and even make it up to you by making Princely appear for you (Just beg him until he does it.)... ;) 

I miss you too, but hopefully, I'll see you soon. Thank you for the flower, by the way. It's very beautiful. Just like you.

Lots of hugs and kisses, xoxoxo

Thea 

*

The next day, after Steve wakes me up, he tells me that we're going to practice jiu=jitsu after breakfast again. It's Thursday, which means that Jack normally wouldn't be here, but he convinced his dad to let him out of school for the day (Jack gets perfect grades, so he can do this). Meaning, he joins me in the hall with an evil glint in his eyes. 

"This, I can't wait to see." he says. 

"Why not?" I ask, slightly dreading trying to wrestle Captain America to the ground as we head towards the training room once again. 

I find out as I open the door. Kyle is standing with Steve and Sam, and he wiggles his eyebrows at me.

I actually laugh, saying, "Seriously? I beat you in the Ural Mountains, remember, Kyle?" 

He snorts. "How could I not. But you see," he smirks devilishly, "You had a dagger that time. Not to brag," he says in a tone that says bragging is precisely what he's doing, "But I was my high school wrestling champion."

"What about Max?" I ask dryly, "You're skinnier than him."

"First of all," says Kyle, "Skinnier doesn't always mean weaker, unless I'm talking about you. And also, Max is four years older than me and if you use that brain of yours," he taps my forehead, "You will know that this means it's impossible for us to go to high school at the same time."

I roll my eyes, ignoring Jack's laugh. "Let me just kick your ass, okay?" 

Kyle rolls his eyes, "You can try, Thea." 

*

~Nobody's POV~

Leah and Jane walk down the gilded hallway of Asgard's palace, about twenty minutes before Thor and Loki will be departing for earth. Jane has decided to stay in Asgard, with Leah. Leah is clutching Thea's letter. 

Thor is in one of the gardens, talking to some of the guards. Loki is a bit off the side, holding his staff as he looks over the city of Asgard. The sun shines off both of the demigods' armor, reflecting brightly. 

As Jane heads over towards Thor, Leah hesitantly approaches Loki. She almost backs out, her large eyes frightened, but then Loki turns around, his cape blowing heavily in the wind from the height of the balcony. He raises one eyebrow. 

"Can I have Princely?" she asks in her sweet angelic voice. 

"What?"

"My stuffed rabbit," says Leah, still regretting this act of bravery as Loki peers down at her.

"Now why would you ask me that?" 

"Because Thea said you would!" As any sibling would, Leah is happy to pass the blame off to Thea. 

Loki's eyes narrow. "And when did she say this?"

Leah holds out the letter, which Loki snatches. "See?"

After Loki's eyes scan the page, he rolls them and hands the letter back to Leah. "Well, as if this should surprise you, your sister lied to you." 

"So you're not sorry about the snake?" asks Leah. 

Loki opens his mouth to say 'absolutely not' but then takes in Leah's big blue eyes blinking up at him and averts his answer, "Yes, I am slightly sorry about that. But I am not going to give you your toy, no matter now much you beg." 

He turns around, looking back over the balcony. 

Leah looks back down at the letter Just beg him until he does it.

"Please, Loki?" 

"No."

"Please, please, please, please, please?" he voice rises an octave at each 'please'. 

He looks back at her, "You and your sister need to learn what 'no' means, Leah." 

"Please?" she clasps her hands together and blinks innocently, her eyes growing watery. "I just want my bunny." 

Loki's expression is getting more and more impatient and he walks away, calling back, "No, Leah." 

She trails after him like a little shadow. "Loki, please? He's all I have..." she sniffs, wiping her eyes with her little fist. "I forgot him. PLEASE." 

"I am not going to repeat myself again. Now stop annoying me and be off with you." 

"Loki!" she whines. "Please?!" 

"Leah..." his tone is warning. 

"Pwetty please?" she says in her adorably angelic voice. 

Loki looks beyond exasperated, "Do you honestly think I can conjure something that has been burnt to splinters?"

Leah's lip trembles at this reminder. "Can you...try? Please?" 

Loki turns to look down at her; he towers over her and she stands in his shadow. 

"Pleeeeeeee-"

"Enough!" snaps Loki, and Leah falls silent, startled. For a moment, he just stands there looking at her. Then, he sighs. "I am going to kill Thea." 

"Please don't!" pipes Leah- evidently, she knows she has won. "I love her." 

"Magic isn't supposed to be used for such petty things," he tells her sternly.

"You gave Thea that book!" 

Loki raises his eyes to the ceiling, "Why?" he mutters to himself. Then, he turns back to Leah. "Fine."

Ignoring her excited grin, Loki opens his hand and concentrates; a fine green mist begins to settle over his palm, twisting and spiraling into the shape of a floppy blue rabbit. "There," he says shortly, tossing the toy to Leah roughly, "Now leave me to contemplate how I'm going to kill Thea." 

Leah giggles, then, holding Princely tight, throws her arms around Loki; she is so short, she only reaches his waist. "Thank you." 

His lip curls as he detaches her tiny fingers from his armor. "Run along, Leah." 

With one last grin, Leah skips away, the stuffed blue bunny swinging from her arms gaily. Loki's face is still slightly annoyed, but also slightly amused, as he turns around and walks back inside the palace.

*

~Thea's POV~

Half an hour later, Kyle has beaten me over and over, causing me to eat my words from earlier. There are two reasons for this: one, I somehow haven't gotten into my fighting rage, and two, Kyle is much better at wrestling than I had previously imagined. 

"Why isn't this working?!" I exclaim as Kyle pins me to the floor for the umpteenth time, hovering over my torso in a sitting position victoriously. "Kyle, get off! You're asphyxiating me!"

"Asphyxiating?" asks Kyle as he gets off my stomach- I gasp for breath, "When have you been reading the dictionary?"

"Thea, can you tell me what you're doing wrong?" asks Steve, who is standing beside Sam at the far end of the room. 

"I just can't get into it," I gripe. "And he's cheating." 

Kyle laughs, along with Sam. "How am I cheating?" 

"You just are," I say grumpily. 

"I think she's doing fine," says Jack, who has been watching from the sidelines with increasing disappointment. 

I groan. "Jack..."

Kyle, in the meanwhile, snorts and says, "Of course you think she's doing fine. You would be doing a lot worse than even her."

"Not unless she goes in her crazy mode," points out Jack, an assumption that is absolutely correct. 

"Well seeing as she hasn't," Kyle reaches forward to tweak my nose (I slap his hand). "It looks like I'm coming out as the winner." 

"Okay," says Steve, crossing his arms. "Let's try again.Thea, concentrate- your focus just isn't there today." 

"Sorry..." I mutter as Kyle pulls me to my feet. I want to ask 'how much longer?' but I don't want to whine in front of Jack and Kyle. 

"Try to get mad," says Steve, "And mind you, I don't normally recommend something like this, but that's what seems to work best for you. This is Kyle we're talking about- that shouldn't be that hard."

"Yeah," says Kyle, faking punches at my arms. "C'mon, Thea, give it to me." 

I glare at him and then kick out. I'm too slow though, and he manages to catch hold of my ankle, sending me tumbling to the ground. After that, it's over: Kyle dodges my upward kicks, flips me around on my back, and is sitting on my abs- or my lack of abs- while pinning my arms out to my side. "Lazy," he says as he pulls me back up. "Very lazy. You're making this too easy for me, Thea." 

"It's not like I'm trying to lose!" I exclaim, trying to ignore my sore muscles. "I just can't get it!" I kick the edge of the boxing ring, causing it to vibrate madly. 

"Try again," instructs Steve, "And maybe not focus on trying to knock Kyle out. Concentrate on outsmarting him."

I want to point out that outsmarting Kyle is about as easy as outsmarting a fox, but I decide not to elevate Kyle's already inflated ego. 

"C'mon Thea," says Kyle in a taunting voice as I approach him once again. "Give me whatever you got in those skinny arms of yours." 

I try faking left and then doubling back to strike his left shoulder, but it's like trying to hit a brick wall. I stagger back, and that's when Kyle seizes his opportunity. In no time at all, I'm lying on my back like a stranded guppy. 

"I see that your fighting skills haven't improved at all, kitten." 

I groan, because I can hear Loki, but Kyle is basically straddling my torso, so I can't see him. "Go away, Loki!" 

I hear him chuckle, and he's close by, meaning that he's probably leaning against the rubber boxing ring. 

Kyle lets me up, and I find that I am correct. He's wearing an expression of utmost amusement, and also some of his lighter armor. I shoot him a glare, "Go away," I repeat.

"Why would I do that?" Loki holds his hands out, gesturing to the boxing ring, "This is such entertainment for me, watching you get beat." 

"For the record," I snap, standing up unsteadily, "I'm plenty good, especially with my dagger, but I'm just having a little bit of trouble with this stupid wrestling thing." 

"A 'little' trouble?" Kyle asks with a smirk.

"Shut up, Kyle, you're not helping me." 

"I wasn't trying to." 

"You know," I say, taking the water bottle from Jack's outstretched hand, "For two guys who hate each other, the both of you make fun of me all day long. You should bond over that or something." 

"Nah," says Kyle, leaning against the ring's barrier lazily, "Not my style." 

"Do you want to take a break Thea?" Steve asks kindly.

"No way," I say, punching Kyle in the arm. He pretends to wince, because my fist probably had little to no effect on his biceps. "I'm going again."

'Again' means two more times, both of which end with me slammed to the ground. The bright side is that I managed to land a hit on Kyle's cheek, which will probably leave him with a bruise. 

I can't seem to get into my 'crazy mode' at the moment. Occasionally, I feel myself getting close, but it only works with anger, not utter frustration. And I'm definitely frustrated right now.

Loki ducks underneath the rubber railing as I unsteadily get to my feet. "All right. My turn." 

"Oh no, no, no, no," I say, barring my hands in front of my face as a sign of my incredulity. 

"Oh yes, yes, yes, yes," Loki smirks. 

"Absolutely not." 

"Do you think you're going to lose?" he jeers. 

Damn it. 

He's cornered me, and he knows it. If I say 'yes', which is honestly what I am thinking, I will be humiliated until I am dead. But if I don't, then I'm going to be forced to fight against Loki, an action that is most likely also going to  cause humiliation until death. 

"Fine," I mutter, and Loki's grin widens. "Let's go." 

I'm right; literally two-and-a-half-seconds later, Loki has pinned my arms to the ground, lording over me. I try to head-but him off me, but he's too far away. 

"Absolutely pathetic," he says, not bothering to help me up. 

We go at it two more times, and I feel myself getting more and more worked up. This is what Loki's good at: striking me when I'm too frustrated to use my head and humiliating me in the process. 

On the third time, Loki taunts, "Would you like to go again, or would you prefer to just admit defeat again? It would save us all the time."

Finally, finally, I snap. 

Just like Loki had been hoping I'd do. 

"Okay, here we go, here we go," says Jack excitedly as I lunge at Loki, my strength increasing so that he slams up against the ring. 

He grunts in pain, and I use that momentary weakness to strike him again, flipping over him in a graceful arc as I do so, then use my twist in the air to push him to the ground. He grabs my wrists and bends them backwards as I try to pin his arms, and I stifle my cry of pain. 

Blocking out Jack's and Kyle's very loud commentary, I grit my teeth, concentrating all my strength on pinning him to the ground. I know that if I were my normal self, I wouldn't even come close to beating Loki like this. 

He chuckles as he begins to push me off of him, slowly but surely, "Now this is more like it." 

I feel my eyes narrow and dilate as I get more and more furious. Using every bit of strength that I have, I push him back downwards. He is clenching his jaw in concentration, and slowly, Loki is forced back to the ground. 

Finally, I manage to pin his wrists to the ground- I'm in a perfect jiu-jitsu position, straddling his torso and using my weight to prevent him from rising. I'm sure Steve would be-

I shriek as Loki manages to free his left hand while I'm gloating to myself, and then reaches up and grabs my throat. 

I know it's over; sure enough, he flips us around so that he's over me. 

Both of us are panting, although as my eyes widen back to normal, I'm feeling much fainter than him. 

"I...won..." I gasp.

"You're mad," says Loki, who is still looking down at me mischievously, "Look at yourself right now."

I try to get up, but he's crushing me, and my energy has been spent. My head falls to the floor. "F...fine." 

Once Loki releases me, I stand up shakily. 

"All right," says Steve, "That was better, especially considering that you're fighting someone stronger than Kyle." 

"What?" snaps Kyle. Loki smirks at him. 

Steve ignores all interruptions. "How about we stop for the day- we ended on a good note. Let's grab lunch."

"And Thea," Kyle calls after me, "You and I are going into the city today. We're going grocery shopping."

"We're going what?" I moan. "Why are you even grocery shopping? And why do I have to go?"

"One, I'm making apple pie tonight because we're all going to be here for dinner tonight, and Tony has crap ingredients for pie. And two, because we all know you have absolutely nothing to do." 

"Do we have to?" Jack and I had been planning on watching a movie after lunch and then watching Tony test out some of his Iron Man suits.

"Stop whining," says Kyle, handing me a towel as I duck out from the boxing ring, "Clint wants to train with Jack this afternoon anyway." 

"Fiiiiiiiine." 

"Good. Be ready in an hour." 

I walk up to Loki, who, unlike me, doesn't look like he's even broken a sweat, "What was that for?" 

"What was what for?" His lips are twitching dangerously. 

"It's not like you normally volunteer to help me train," I say, trying to keep my breathing normal, but failing. 

"Ah," Loki's smirk deepens, "Well, that was a bit of revenge, actually. Your little pint of a sister has been nagging me all morning because of you."

This time, it's my turn to smirk, "Did she get Princely?" 

He doesn't answer, but his annoyed, narrowed eyes are enough. 

"Oh, you caved in to her, didn't you?" I gloat. 

"Loki gave in to a seven year old," taunts Jack, who has come up behind me. "Pathetic." 

I don't bother to correct the fact that Leah is eight, not seven, because this opportunity is too prime, "Wow, Loki, who knew that Leah could get to you like that! Maybe you do have a heart." 

"Eh," says Jack. The both of us are surrounding a very put-off Loki, who looks like he is a hissry cat surrounded by two labradors. "I still doubt it." 

"Hey, Thea, Jack!" Steve calls. "Stop annoying Loki before he takes one of your heads off. That would mean a lot of bothersome paperwork."

"You wouldn't really cut my head off, would you?" I ask Loki sweetly as Jack scampers off to annoy Kyle. 

Loki raises his eyebrows and then reaches into his belt to take out his silver dagger. Without actually touching it, he traces the blade across my neck in an upside-down smile. "There," he teases as he replaces the dagger, "Consider yourself beheaded." 

I stick my tongue out at him. "That was actually a slit throat. If you're going to behead me, do it right." 

I squeal as Loki throws me over his shoulder- Steve and Kyle look up half-interestedly- and then backwards onto the boxing ring. "You're a bully!" I call after him. 

"And you're an imp," he says as he leaves the room.

"Kyle, can you give me more than an hour?" I ask as I drag myself up and back onto solid ground. "I still have to shower."

"Thea, it's the grocery store, not the runway." 

"C'mon, Kyle," I say as I gather up my water bottle, pouring some it over my head. "I'm a girl." 

"I know you're a girl. I can tell by your bitchy moods." 

"KYLE!" 

He looks up from where he and Jack are putting up some of the exercise equipment. "I'll give you an hour and a half. We leave at twelve, no exceptions." 

Ninety minutes isn't that much time, because I have to actually blow-dry my hair to avoid it frizzing outside and I still have to eat lunch. That being said, I shout, "Okay!" as I run out of the room. 

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Thank you all!
~sierra d.