eight
"lovers gained"

Lycus was a whirlwind of terror as he stormed towards her, grabbing her by the shoulders, his claws digging into her skin, even through the training uniform Casia had given her that hung on her bones, a second skin.

"You idiot," He hissed, spit dotting her face like star-lit freckles at the bridge of her nose and Luisne fought the want to wipe it away, skin itching. "You think these people will trust you after you almost killed one of their own?"

"Lycus, I-"

He cut her off with venom dripping from his fangs, "No, you've ruined it all again. We were going to keep our heads down, merge with the pack and then tear the head of the alpha from his neck, assuming our rightful position." His claws stuck in deeper, grinding against bone.

Lusine grit her teeth. "I lost control," She admit begrudgingly.

Lycus growled lowly, ripping his hands from her and turning away. "No, if you'd lost control we both would have become nothing but the void's property. Your control simply lapsed." He rubbed his chin roughly. "You must hold tighter next time."

"Next time?" Lusine's jaw tightened, barely holding its teeth for the force. "I don't want there to be a next time, but your only advice is 'hold tighter'. How is that going to help me?" She questioned, mouth foaming.

"What else is there left to say?" Lycus said simply, a shrug of his shoulders. "Maybe if you'd held tighter sooner I would be more than a figment of your psyche."

Lusine swallowed her pride and took a step towards him. "I need you to help me take control of my body again so I don't hurt more people I love."

"The only person who can do that is you. Learn the way it works and build around it. Hear the void roar and roar louder," He told her, hands folded behind his back.

"Thank you," Lusine replied lowly, but he'd fizzled away before she'd even gotten all the syllables out.

-

-

Light poured through the crack in her eyelids as they fluttered open, revealing the shining oceans that sprawled beneath, a perfect picture of the beauty blue eyes could hold with a simple glance in the right direction.

Throat raw and dry, she pushed herself onto her elbows. The room span.

"Take it easy," Thor said from beside her, unlike the booming voice she'd laughed along with in Asgard. Even his usual chirpy grin was gone.

"Water," Lusine managed, propping herself up on the pillows, "please."

He handed the glass to her. The first long gulp was heavenly, but the second was otherworldly as it ran down her torn up throat and simmered the uncontrolled wildfire that raged.

"Thank you," Lusine said, already rejuvenated.

"I want to apologise for what I accused you of. I did not mean any ill intent, nor did I mean to anger you, Lusine. My brother... What he did to you is unforgivable and I am deeply sorry that I did not try to protect you from him." Eyes that used to be so full of joy were ringed with a tiredness Lusine had never seen on the god as he sat hunched in the chair beside her bed.

Lusine took another drink of the water as she delved into thought. After swallowing, she said, "Thor, I do not blame you for your thoughts and, while it is true that what Loki did to me was wrong, I do not blame him either. My lack of self-control is to blame and I think that deep down I've always known that."

"He pushed you from the Bifrost," Thor replied, frowning deeply, "you should have died."

When Lusine smiled, he noticed it did not reach those ardent eyes she'd wormed her way into the hearts of many with. A tormented sadness replaced the genuine pleasure that should come with any smile.

She licked her chapped lips. "I let him push me, Thor, I let him." She dragged a hand through her knots of dark hair. "I reprimanded you for not helping me when I didn't even try to help myself." She shrugged her shoulders, letting her eyes lock onto his as he slipped his giant hand into hers and squeezed it tight. "And thank you for stopping me from killing Agent Radcliffe today. I was... I wasn't in control."

Again, he squeezed her hand, his warmth seeping into her life force, melting the shards of ice lodged in her heart. "I couldn't let you have another death on your shoulders."

It was her turn to squash his hand in hers as best she could. "I can never thank you enough for everything you've done for me. I do not deserve your compassion and I am trying to be better." Lusine smiled an empty smile. "Sadly, it seems I fell in love with the wrong brother."

Thor shook his head with a laugh, his golden hair ruffling with the movement. "You must love him very much to have forgiven him."

"Oh, I haven't forgiven him. I don't think I'll ever forget the sting of betrayal in the moment his hands pushed me." She ran a bloody fingernail around the rim of the glass. "But I could never bring myself to hate him no matter how hard I tried to convince myself."

"He is my brother and if I know him half as well as I think I do, he would never do that to you again. Not in this life or the next," Thor said, slipping his hand away from her and rising from the chair. "But, what he's planning, don't let yourself get caught up in it, Lusine. Don't let him draw you in with his lies and wit. It will be hard enough to lock Loki up in Asgardian justice, but it would be even worse to see you locked up too."

"I appreciate that," Lusine thanked, matching it with a bob of her head. "Just a quick question," she put the glass down on the bedside table. "is he still here?"

"Yes, of course."

Lusine raised an eyebrow and gave a hum of approval as she flung the sheets of the hospital bed back and swung her legs out. "Help me to my room, will you, Thor? I'm already sick of being in this damned white room."

Thor rolled his eyes, but looped his arm around Lusine's back to help her walk where exhaustion threatened to drag her down.

-

-

Water had never been as refreshing as it was the moment Lusine took the longest shower of her life, scrubbing at her skin and washing crimson blood from beneath her torn nails. The cool water ran down her body, curving over her shape and down her legs. With the coolness, the veins shrank away more than they already had until their only territory was her hands and feet.

It had been a chore to drag herself from the shower and pull on a dress, not wanting to pull on the training gear once more. After tying the forest green wrap around herself and fastening the bow at her front, she slipped from the room, hair hanging wet around her shoulders and down her bare back.

It had only taken one flicker of her eyes for an unsuspecting guard, now wearing the absent smile of a man in the midst of his undoing, to guide her to the room which housed Loki as if he were nothing more than an animal behind the glass.

He paced like it too, from what she'd seen on the footage.

"Go back to my room and stand guard outside. If anyone asks for my presence, tell them I am resting and will not see anyone," She demanded, her voice strong where it had cried in agony only hours before.

The guard bobbed his head in compliance and marched off to fulfil his duty.

Lusine slipped into the room, surprised to find no guard inside. Perhaps they didn't need humans where technology could take their place. For good measure, she twitched a finger and conjured an illusion, covering up her tracks with the scent of magic.

No one would ever know she was there.

No one needed to know.

"I wondered when you would come to me," Loki said from his glass box, but when she looked upon his face there was no smugness at his comment. Her heart momentarily swelled at what looked oddly life relief upon his face.

"I couldn't find the time to slip away," Lusine replied, striding towards the glass with a conviction in her step that did not match the soreness that plagued her insides. "But I made it eventually."

Loki stood from the chair and crossed his cage towards her. "I thought you might have come earlier today." He braced a hand on the glass between them.

Lusine smiled gently as she felt out the power beneath her, not as endless as it once was, but still there. "I was preoccupied," Her voice wavered a little, but he did not seem to take it as a weakness from the flicker of his eyes to her bobbing throat.

Within the blink of an eye, she was in there with him, sat on the chair he'd been on moments ago, one slender leg crossed over the other. Loki took in the view as he turned, not the least bit surprised at her lack of warning, but finding her just as mouth-watering as the day he'd met her.

"I almost killed someone today," Lusine admit, standing from the chair with a steady grace. "I wanted to kill her, but Thor stopped me before I could." Her deep blue eyes locked with his, flecks of argent shimmering with every blink of her lashes, missing the flicker of annoyance at the mention of his brother. "And I have never been more grateful in my life for something so instinctive."

Loki watched her, waiting for more, listening to every word that poured from her mouth.

"And when I awoke from rest, he was there. We spoke in length and I said something that I think that you should know." Lusine took two steps towards Loki, her fingers reaching out for him and finding their resting place neatly rested on his chest. "I blamed you for pushing me and tried incredibly restlessly to force myself to hate you with every fibre left."

"Lusine, if you came here to kill me, just do it," Loki said lowly, his eyes flickering across every feature of her face for minute details that might just give away her intent to do just that.

"I didn't come here to murder you," She told him. "I want you to know that I am just as much to blame. I let you push me because I'm just as terrified of this power inside of me as you are. You were right to fear for the lives of those in Asgard and of your own because I couldn't control it then and I can barely control it now."

Loki's hands lifted and slipped across her waist as if they'd never left. He smiled the most subtle smile she'd ever seen, but she knew it to be genuine. It was not one of his classic smirks or smug grins. It was a smile of a little piece of happiness.

"I can't ever explain how sorry I am for pushing you off the Bifrost," Loki murmured, "I made a tough decision, the wrong decision, in desperate times and I have regretted it ever since."

"Well," Lusine began, mouth curving into a grin. "Just don't try to kill me again and we might just be able to rule the world."

That grin was his undoing.

No longer able to hold back, Loki pressed his lips onto hers, earning a hum of approval in response as Lusine's fingers curled into the material of his clothes. One hand pulled her tight against him while the other pushed through her damp hair, remembering every inch of her and knowing she was his.

When her back hit the glass, she smiled against his mouth and knew the same of him: she was his and had always been destined to be his for there was no greater match for the god of mischief and lies than the goddess of chaos.

-

2122 words
24.4.18
(thor is such a good friend ok bye)