~ Five Days Later ~

Jane startled awake and peered through the darkness. Another scream came to her ears, causing her to bolt upright in bed. It sounded like someone being run through with a knife. She fumbled around on the night table until she found her phone. She punched a button and the room was illuminated in a pale light.

“Don’t hurt me! Please, don’t hurt me.” the agonized scream came again. It sounded like Loki, but she wasn’t sure. Her first thought was that someone had broken into the apartment and met up with the trickster.

“What is he doing now,” she mumbled to herself as she quickly threw her covers off and grabbed her robe. She knelt down on her knees and grabbed up a baseball bat from under her bed. She bought it and put it there for defensive purposes a few months back since there had been a scare of burglars around the area. She struggled with the lock on her door a few seconds, finally getting it open. Her hand tightened around the bat as she walked out into the hallway. The place was quiet, though, with no sign of an intruder. Curious, she eased her bat down and walked up to Loki’s door and lightly knocked.

“Loki, are you okay?” she opened it and stepped inside, propping her bat against the hall wall. It was dark. She felt around until she found the light switch and turned the overhead light on. She squinted until her eyes adjusted. But what her eyes landed on was an empty, badly disheveled bed. The first thing that came to her was that Loki snuck out of the apartment and the scream she had heard was one of the neighbors. Anger rose inside of her.

“I’m going to bust his backside,” she mumbled under her breath. She was about to turn and leave when something on her right caught her eyes. It was Loki. He was curled into a ball in the corner.

“Loki?” Her anger was quickly replaced by concern as she ran over to him. The trickster jumped at her touch and cowered deeper into himself.

“Don’t hurt me.” he whimpered. “I beg of you. Don’t hurt me anymore.” It didn’t sound like he was addressing her, but rather someone else. This startled her and she quickly scanned the room to make sure they were indeed alone. She got up and walked to the closet, opening it and looking inside. Next, she looked under the bed. No one was there. She returned to Loki’s side and knelt beside him, putting her hand on his shoulder and rubbing it gently.

“It’s okay, Loki, no one’s going to hurt you,” she whispered. Loki pushed her hand away and tried to retreat away from her, hugging the wall. “Okay, Loki. It’s okay. You’re here with me, remember? You’re in my apartment. No one’s here but us.”

She studied the trickster closer. His breathing was labored and his face was all sweaty. His eyes reflected terror as if he had seen a ghost. And he even looked paler than normal, she thought.

“Loki, no one’s going to hurt you.” she combed her hand gently through his hair, skritching the back of his neck and rubbing her thumb over his cheek.

He finally lifted his head to look at her. Though it was more like she was invisible and he was staring right through her. His face was masked in confusion like he wasn’t quite sure where he was or who she was. The whole incident was now starting to worry Jane.

“Come on, let’s get you back to bed,” she said, grabbing hold of Loki’s arm and gently helping him to stand. He stumbled the short distance and lay back down, curling into a fetal position and hugging himself.

“J-Jane?” he said, finally acknowledging she was there.

“Yes, Loki, I’m here.” she reached out and took his hand and held it, rubbing circles into his back. “What’s wrong? Did something scare you?”

“Nightmare,” he simply said as if he was five-years-old. “It felt so real.”

A sudden pang of guilt swept over Jane. Loki mentioned something about nightmares before, but she had shrugged it off thinking that it was just Loki trying to make her feel sorry for him. Apparently, he was serious about it. Now she couldn’t help wondering what sort of nightmare would make the trickster act in such a way.

“What happened? What was the nightmare about?”

“Chitauri,” Loki gulped. “It burns. It burns so bad. I don’t want to be tortured anymore. I don’t want to be tortured!” Loki clawed at his face with his fingers and mussed his hair up. “I DON’T WANT THEM IN MY HEAD AGAIN!” he finally screamed out. His actions scared Jane into stepping back. But she gathered her senses quickly and approached the trickster again.

“The pain!” he cried, scrunching up his face as if he suddenly had a shooting pain from a headache. “It hurts so badly.”

Good gracious, she thought, the Chitauri tortured him? Jane suddenly felt like her stomach was about to turn over.

“Shhhh,” She grabbed Loki and pulled him into her arms. “You aren’t going to be tortured again. The Chitauri aren’t here.”

Loki latched onto her, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in her shoulder. He squeezed her a little too tightly, but she wasn’t about to say anything. Instead, she wrapped her arms around him. “I don’t want them in my head again…” he babbled repeatedly. “No more torture. No more pain, please,”

Loki lapsed into a state of delirium. Jane’s soothing words helped to calm him, but he kept on repeating the same words over and over. Jane picked up the green cape from the other side of the bed and pulled it over Loki’s trembling form and tucked it around him snuggly, hugging him close to her body and cradling him in her arms.

“No more torture…please…burns…it’s so hot…makes me feel ill…and weak…” he continued to repeat under his breath. His body felt limp and lifeless in her arms. If it wasn’t for the death grip he had on her and the fact he was mumbling incoherently, she would have never known he was alive.

“It’s okay, Loki,” she cooed softly, running her hand over his head. “The Chitauri are not going to get you anymore. You’re safe.”

“They hurt me,” Loki mumbled.

Jane didn’t want to admit it to herself, but she was scared. What would she do if Loki didn’t snap out of this? She suddenly realized that the situation was worse than she originally thought. These weren’t just ordinary nightmares. It was posttraumatic stress. She looked down at the man in her arms. Could she have been wrong about him? Had he been telling the truth?

“What did the Chitauri do to you?” she whispered. “I know no one wants to listen to you—no one ever gives you a chance to talk and speak your mind. But I’m here, Loki. I’m ready to listen.” Loki continued to stare blankly at the ceiling. Jane smiled and ran a finger over his cheek and down his nose, his face muscles twitching in reaction to the light touch, his nose scrunching up when she ran her finger down it for a second time. It was then that his eyes moved to look at her face and he seemed to come down a few notches. She could feel his muscles finally relaxing. Gently, she patted his back and continued rubbing soothing circles into it.

“They tortured me.” he got out, his voice getting ready to crack. “Heat...They left me in the heat. It burned.” he winced, putting his hand to his head. “They hurt my mind…telepathically.”
Tears started to flow from his eyes now and Jane held him closer to her.

“They threatened me with pain. They starved me. They made me do things I didn’t want to do.” he sobbed. “Jane, I didn’t want to kill all of those people. I never meant to hurt anyone. I only wanted to rule. That’s all. I only wanted to rule. Agent Coulson…The Chitauri did it! Not me!”

“Shhhhhh…It’s okay.” Jane put her head on his. She didn’t fully understand everything he was talking about, but it seemed to help him to get it all out into the open. But…Coulson…had he died? A momentary pain hit her. He had been so nice to her when S.H.I.E.L.D. relocated her during the invasion.

“I tried to warn the Avengers in the only way I could.” he sniffed. “I couldn’t…I couldn’t do anything else or they would hurt me…possibly kill me…”

Jane still didn’t trust Loki or most of the things he said on a regular basis. He was a trickster, after all, and was known for being a liar. But as she sat there on the bed, holding him in her arms, she somehow knew he was telling the truth…just this once. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she just knew. Maybe it was part of the wisdom Odin gave her. Whatever the case may be, she felt that there was sincerity in his words and his voice. For once, the master of lies was telling the truth and there was no deceit anywhere in it. He was deeply and genuinely scared, as well as feeling guilt for actions someone else made him do. So much so that he resulted to telling the truth and didn’t seem to care.

Jane’s maternal instincts kicked into high gear and she hugged Loki tighter to her and did all she could to make the trickster feel protected. She continued to coo softly in his ear, telling him that he was safe; she hummed simple tunes—anything, just to calm him down.

Finally, Loki went quiet and still. His delirium seemed to have subsided for the time being, which was a good sign, Jane thought. He smiled up at her, wrapping his arms tighter around her. Gently, Jane moved and got up, taking Loki by the hand.

“Come with me.” she said.

She led him to the kitchen where she eased him down on a chair. She smoothed his hair down and pulled his cape tighter around him, patting him on the shoulder. She then walked over to the stove and put some water on to boil and reached into a cabinet for a couple of teacups. She kept herself busy, stealing a glance in Loki’s direction occasionally. The trickster didn’t move much—just sat there, staring forward at the table in front of him.

After awhile Jane carried two steaming cups of tea to the table and set one in front of Loki.

“It’s chamomile tea,” she said. “It’ll relax you and help you sleep.”

Loki sniffed at his cup and took a sip.

“You really are safe here,” she gently said, patting his hand and giving it a squeeze. “No one knows that you’re here except for Thor, Odin, and Heimdall. The Chitauri were sent back through the wormhole. They aren’t going to be back anytime soon.”

“But I killed all those people,” he said, a few tears escaping down his cheeks.

“You said yourself that it wasn’t your fault. The Chitauri made you do it.”

“I know, but I still feel horrible about it.” He turned his teary gaze to Jane. “Y-you aren’t going to spank me for it, are you?”

Jane’s heart went out to him. He sounded so much like a small child. “Oh, no…no, no,” she said, barely above a whisper, giving his hand another squeeze and running her fingers through his hair, brushing it back. “I’m not going to spank you. It’s wrong to punish someone for something they were forced to do. The Chitauri are to blame, not you.” She smiled at a sudden thought. “You want me to spank the Chitauri?” She said it hoping to put a smile on Loki’s face. It worked. The trickster’s lips curled into an amused grin, but it fell as quickly as it appeared.

“You say that it’s wrong to punish someone for something they were forced to do. Yet, I’m mortal and here now for something I didn’t do.”

“Odin doesn’t understand.” she said.

“I don’t like being controlled,” he said suddenly, sniffling and rubbing his eyes. “I don’t like having someone inside my head.”

Loki scooted his chair closer to Jane and wrapped his arms around her. She patted his back. “It’s okay, Loki. No one’s inside your head now. Everything’s going to be fine. Take all the time you need to recover.”

Not knowing why she did it, Jane planted a kiss on his forehead before leaning her head against his.

“You like green, don’t you?” she smiled, holding part of his cape up. It was a cliché question, she knew, but she didn’t know what else to talk about in order to change the subject. She felt like she needed to get Loki’s mind on something else besides the current problem, just to help him relax.

Loki nodded his head shyly, smiling. For some reason, she found that amusing—that someone like Loki would have a favorite color.

“Any particular shade of green or just all?”

Loki shrugged. “All,”

“Anything else you like?”

Loki was silent for a minute before he meekly answered, “Animals,”

Jane grinned, not believing what he had just said. This big bad man who nearly toppled New York was an animal lover?

“You like animals?”

Loki nodded. He looked at her and noticed her expression.

“Not in that way.” Loki frowned. “Your stupid Midgard myths have a few mistakes. For the records, I never did that. Sleipnir existed before I was born, created by magic. I wish you mortals would change that in your books. You make me sound like a perverted sicko.”

“That’s good to know.” Jane cleared her throat. “What sort of animals do you like, then?”

“Any kind,” he whispered. “I can talk to them and they won’t judge or hate me.”

Jane gave his shoulder a squeeze. The air was silent for several minutes as they both sat there in the kitchen. She adjusted the cape around Loki’s shoulder and patted him.

“I think it’s time we headed to bed again,” said Jane, looking at the clock on the wall. “Do you feel up to sleeping?

Loki yawned, pulling away from Jane. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Come on, then,”

Loki drank the last sip of his tea and got up to follow. When they reached the bedroom, Loki crawled back into bed and made himself comfortable. Jane turned to put his cape on the chair in the corner, but he stretched out a hand for it. She looked at him, puzzled as to why he wanted it. Not saying a word, she handed it back to him. He eagerly took it, pulling it into his embrace like a toddler would do with a favorite blanket. A smile formed on Jane’s lips as she struggled to take in what she had just seen. So that explained why his cape was always on the bed. She pulled the sheets tighter around Loki and rubbed his shoulder.

“Don’t leave,” he whispered.

“There aren’t any Chitauri here,”

“I know,” Loki gave a quick shrug. “But I still don’t want to be alone tonight.”

Jane smiled. “Okay, I’ll just go get a blanket and a pillow and I’ll sit over there in the chair. Will that be good?”

Smiling, Loki nodded and snuggled his face into his pillow.

When Jane returned with her pillow and blanket, she tossed them into the chair and walked over beside Loki’s bed. She stretched out her hand and placed something on the night table. Whatever it was made a small clink sound. Loki looked around, his eyes landing on a small green blown glass dinosaur.

“I thought you might like it,” Jane said. “It’s fragile, so be careful with it.”

Loki blinked, his eyes intently studying the pretty trinket as if he’d never seen anything like it before. She couldn’t help but be intrigued by the child-like innocence in his facial features. She wasn’t sure if he was admiring the trinket itself or the animal. Did they have dinosaurs in Asgard?

“Thank you,” he finally whispered, smiling.

“You’re welcome,” Jane whispered back. “It’s to help keep the Chitauri away.”

Loki’s smile widened as he watched her walk over to the chair and attempt to make herself comfortable. He turned his attention back to the trinket on the night table. The lamp’s light made the little dinosaur shine and reflect a green light across the surface of the table. Gently, he reached over and touched it with a finger and ran it down the spikes on the dinosaur’s back. He wasn’t sure how it could keep the Chitauri away, but he was willing to try anything. Finally, he turned out the lamp and settled deeper under the covers.

“Good night, Loki,” Jane’s voice called to him.

“Good night, Jane,” he replied with a yawn.

Notes