So... actually, I got this one finished. 

I hope you dont hate it. :D 

No songs for this one... couldn't find any to fit it. 

Chapter Fifteen

~Thea's POV~

Loki doesn't usually stay sincere long, and therefore I'm not surprised when, over the next few days, he treats me with his usual indifference. I don't really care; I'm busy getting ready, trying to convince myself that I hadn't seen Videl in the grocery store, and helping to convince everyone to bring Jack along with us to Asgard.

Finally, I appeal to Max, using the excuse of, "I just want to bring someone who's my friend," paired with an excellent imitation of Jack's puppy dog eyes. This tactic, although slightly...sneaky...works with Max, whom I know is trying to protect me from anything from the broken elevator on the third floor to the amount of times I'm training a day. 

Of course, just because it had worked on Max doesn't mean that it worked on everyone else. So, after a lot of protests, Jack had finally had to accept the fact that I'm the only person under eighteen making the trip to Asgard.

Speaking of training, I'm finally starting to get the hang of jiu=jitsu. I still haven't managed to beat Steve, but he had told me in his brutally honest way that this was probably not going to happen in the first place (I had privately agreed).

However, I have routinely beaten Sam, Max, and (wonderfully) Kyle. So routinely, in fact, that Sam has begun to gripe whenever he is about to fight me.

Meanwhile, I had also been fighting Natasha, Clint, and even Tony. Clint went down relatively easy, as did Tony (Tony without his suit is a fantastic fighter, but not fantastic enough for me). Jack had been positively glowing about me beating his uncle (half an hour later, Clint had beat Jack mercilessly). 

Natasha, however, was a lot more difficult. She beat me the first four times, until I switched around my strategy. Because I was so used to training with men, I was more afraid of muscle and brute force, so I generally kicked around too much to narrow down the weight. With Natasha, who is a lot closer to my weight than, say, Steve Rogers, took advantage of my relative slowness and incorporated more flips and tricks. So, I switched tactics, going more for the fox-brain trick I had used to beat Loki. It had worked. Sort of. Now my record for beating her has gone from zero to about fifty percent. Good enough.  

But that was days ago. Well, two days, but still.  

On Sunday, Thor practically drags me out bed in preparation for leaving for Asgard. I didn't sleep well last night, so my lids are heavy, and I'm only half-conscious as I change and try to do something with my face- it's not even light outside. Finally, I do my makeup by practically drawing panda eyes around my own tired eyes and pulling my hair up. Ugh.

"I'm...tired..." I groan as I trip down the stairs after breakfast. Literally, I trip, and Kyle has to catch me before  I crack my head on the floor.

"Oh, stop your whining," says Kyle, pushing me along the hallway, towards the portal room. 

"Stop being a caveman," I pout. 

"Thea, you're the one who got us into this mess again."

"Oh not this again," I say. 

Kyle, when I insult him and he can't exactly think of an appropriate response, has gotten in an annoying habit of guilt-tripping me. It's hilarious, actually, because he has run out of things to accuse me of. 

I had originally protested most strongly when I heard that we were going to be taking the portal, because no matter how much Bruce and Tony had worked on it, I wasn't so trusting of it anymore. Everyone (literally everyone) had talked me into it, mostly because that was the only way to get into Asgard without Odin knowing, and without Heimdall having to betray his king. So, I guess they hadn't talked me into it, I just didn't have another choice. 

Not all of us are going to Asgard. Not even the majority of us, actually. I'm pretty sure it's just Steve, Tony, Natasha, and me, actually. 

Max and Kyle were originally going to go, but Thor had talked them out of it because of Odin's already suspicious cast to all transit from Earth (and also, I think, to spare me from Max's overly-watchful-borderline-paranoid-eye and Kyle's occasional annoying antics (wait, occasional should not be part of that sentence). Bruce was going to go too, but he had elected to stay behind to man the portal. 

Kyle leaves me with my fellow three travelers. Technically four, because Thor is here too. He is taking me through the portal, after Tony and Steve. Apparently, Loki is going to be waiting for us at the other end, in Asgard. 

I don't have much time to protest, however, because Thor doesn't let me. Before I can get a word out, he has grabbed me and sent us both through the portal. 

This trip is much more chaotic, much longer, than the one I had taken to Videl's lair. Which would make sense, because Asgard is the farthest realm from Earth, I think. I feel myself being sucked through all of space and time, being compressed and tossed like I'm in the blender of gusts of wind and stars.

This is why I fall clumsily to my feet as I am thrown forward onto the ground. "Oh..." I mutter; I had landed funny on my ankle, and it's throbbing painfully. I might have even sprained it. 

"Oh Thea, I see you still have two left feet. And why did you give yourself two black eyes?"

"Loki," scolds Thor, helping to my feet, "Let her be." 

I gingerly test my foot; it seems to be fine, although still painful. As I pass Loki, I make sure to punch him in the shoulder. At least I try; he side-steps so that I once again trip on my own feet. When I look over my shoulder, he smirks at me. I make a note to ask Leah to pester him again soon.

Leah. 

"Where's Leah?" I demand. 

Thor laughs, the warm sound reverberating through the hallway. "Leah is around here some...ah, here she is!" 

Leah must have gotten wind of what was going on- something that seems a little odd to me- because she is running through the corridor as fast as her little legs can carry her, her light blue dress trailing behind her. 

"Thea!" she exclaims, jumping up, grabbing me in a hug. 

My ankle protests at this extra weight, so that I stumble to the ground, holding Leah tight in my arms, but I'm too happy to care. "Hi Leah," I say breathlessly, trying to keep my voice steady. 

"How did you know she was coming today?" Thor asks, kneeling down next to Leah and me. "You weren't supposed to." 

"Loki told me," she says simply. 

"Of course he did," says Thor. 

*

Later that day, Thea's stuck in her room, the same one she had been in while on her last trip to Asgard. She's exhausted, so exhausted that she left Leah with Thor to go to the stables, letting them go riding without her. 

"You seem tired. Now why is that?" 

She ignores him, covering her head with a woolen blanket. 

"Come with me."

"No," she says, her voice muttered from beneath the blanket.

The blanket is ripped from her head, causing her hair to frizzle from the static. "Loki!" 

"Come with me. Now." 

"I'm not moving," she says. "Now shoo." She shakes her hand in his direction as if trying to ward off a dog, "Shoo." 

Loki's eyes narrow. 

"You. Are. SO. Annoying," snarls Thea as Loki pulls her through the halls of the golden palace of Asgard. 

They stop a few minutes to let a few guards go by, but other than that, Loki pretty much drags Thea to a dark corridor, underneath the palace. It's a bit dank, and smells like rainwater, and she begins to get a bit nervous. 

"Where are we-WOW." 

Loki has taken her into a large, low-ceilinged room with a large, cage-like object in the center of it, glowing with the light of a thousand...

"Are those...?"

"Stars." says Loki. "All of the fallen stars of the universe. They are used to forge some of the greatest weapons," he nods towards his scepter, which he is holding in his left hand. 

"They're...beautiful." says Thea breathlessly. 

"Give me that dagger."

"What dagger?"

"The dagger in your belt, Thea." Loki sounds impatient.

"What are you going to do, skewer me?" 

"Give me the dagger."

She makes a face at him, but nonetheless hands over the dagger, which glints in the light of the stars. 

"Now come over here."

Thea doesn't bother to say anything, but she stomps over to where Loki is walking over to the cage of stars. Reaching his hand out, he extracts one of the stars, which is now floating in his hand like a pulsating orb. 

As Loki begins to lower the star onto Thea's dagger, she says, "Wait. Can I hold it?" 

Loki glances at her, then takes her hand, turning it palm side up. Slowly, he lowers the star into her hand, and she gasps as she feels the energy that is now pulsating through her. Her hair begins to blow, and she cannot keep her eyes off the star. 

"Wow..." she breathes. 

Loki, still holding onto her wrist, turns her hand over so that the star begins to sink towards the dagger that he is still holding. 

The star hums as it hits the weapon, then with a slight hiss, it forges in a sort of bluish haze into the steel. 

Thea takes the handle from Loki and holds the dagger up. It seems harder, more resilient, more powerful somehow. 

"There," says Loki. "Now you may stand a change against whatever creature you've angered this time." 

When Thea moves towards him, he puts his arms up. "Absolutely not, Thea, no more hugging." 

So instead, she slaps his cheek. 

His lip curls as he turns back around to face her. 

"Is that better?" she asks sweetly. 

"Oh, so you want to play this way, kitten?" Loki asks, his voice low, but Thea can see the mischief in his eyes. "What happened last time you challenged me?" 

Instead of answering, Thea holds up the dagger, grinning. 

Loki raises his eyebrows, "Very well, Thea, but don't say I didn't warn you." 

Even with the dagger, however, Thea cannot beat Loki. Her weapon works to help push off Loki's, but he is still much stronger than her, and perhaps more clever, and all her tricks are beginning to run out. 

Finally, Loki pushes her against the wall, then, barring her with his arm, grabs the dagger from her grip and pins the sleeve of her shirt to the wall. "There," he says, "I win. Again." 

"Not so fast," Thea growls, head-butting Loki in the face, and then kicking out and slamming him to the ground. Tearing her sleeve, she wrenches herself from the wall, then grabs the dagger, nearly before she has time to-

Her mistake is turning her back on Loki. He grabs her from behind, which proves to be a mistake, because she reacts naturally, jerking around so that her dagger finds her mark: Loki's side. 

She stands, stock-still as Loki grunts in pain and crumbles to the ground. "Loki!" she whispers. 

"Oh, kitten..." he rasps, clutching his side, "I believe that's cheating." 

Her eyes are wide as she realizes what she's done. She falls to his side and hugs him. "L...Loki, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please don't die, please don't!" 

"I thought...I said...no more hugging." he says with a small smirk, reaching up to touch her cheek. 

"Loki!" she exclaims, "Loki, please, please, please, oh my god, what am I going to- LOKI OH MY GOD YOU HORRID BAS-"

Her screams come as someone grabs her from behind, around her waist, and before her eyes, Loki disintegrates into a green mist. Furious now, Thea tries her best to overcome the trickster, but Loki is one step ahead of her, as usual. 

He whirls her around, throwing her to the ground, then uses his foot to put pressure on her diaphragm, causing her to wheeze.

"Admit it." he says, smirking down at her as she grapples, trying to get his foot off her chest. "Admit that I've won." 

"N..n.." Thea is crying, but Loki assumes it's because of her frustration. 

"ADMIT IT!" 

"Fine..." she cries, "Fine! You win, just let me go!" 

Loki squints at her, then lifts his foot off her. She rolls over on her side, gasping. 

Chuckling, Loki walks away, but before he can leave the room, he feels a weight on him as Thea jumps up, trying to pull him to the ground. 

"You... you bastard!" she exclaims when Loki whirls around, causing her to fall, instead of him.

"Now what?" he asks mildly. 

"You...I thought...I thought you had died!"

He shrugs, not looking sorry at all. "Sorry." 

"I thought I had killed you!" she screams, then snarls as, when she tries to reach forward to smack Loki, he catches her wrist. "That's not...you can't do that!" 

"Oh, Thea, Thea, Thea," says Loki, smirking triumphantly, "I can do whatever I wish. Now am I to take it that you actually were frightened at the prospect of your killing me? It was six months ago, was it not, when you were so desperate to kill me?" 

Thea's lip trembles violently, and Loki fully expects her to slap him. 

Instead, she shrieks, "I hate you, Loki!" before running from the room, ignoring the tears on her face, the bruises on her body, and Loki's urgent calls after her. 

Dang it Loki, why do you always have to scew things up! :) 

Anyway, please VOTE and COMMENT! :D Thanks!

~Sierra