To Withstand the Force of Storms (A Loki Laufeyson Fanfic)

Chapter 2: A Departure

"No man is exempt from saying silly things; the mischief is to say them deliberately." -Michel de Montaigne

***

Days tick by, and Annaka soon has a routine. She wakes up in the morning, eats breakfast, and visits Loki for the remainder of the day.

"I know you grow weary of spending time here," Loki insinuates, glancing up from his book. He knows he would get tired of the same thing all the time (much like he's hating his cell time) and imagines it's similar for her.

"I really don't."

"I feel like you do."

Annaka meets his eyes, her expression soft but slightly annoyed. "Loki, if I were to leave do you know what I would do? I would sit in my room and do exactly what I'm doing now. I'd much rather be in your presence then be alone."

Loki gazes back at her. "I just feel that you would be happier doing something else."

"This is all I do," she says, holding up the book. "Read. Stop worrying."

After multiple hours of reading, Loki became drastically bored like every other day. He begins making the objects in his cell fly to the opposite side with magic in an attempt to become occupied, twirling them in circles and shrinking them to ant size. Tables fly and crash against the walls, along with chairs, books, or anything that moves. Annaka can't read with all the noise and watches him for a while before interfering.

As Loki casts a table to the left, she redirects it to crash into the ceiling instead. Loki looks confused first, but then turns to her. She grins, making the same table come at him this time, but he stops it without looking back. She narrows her eyes and tries again with one of the smaller novels, trying to be sneaky.

"I could do this all day," Loki claims, stopping it as easily as the table, flinging it aside like a rag doll.

"Well, we have nothing else to do," Annaka says mischievously. She starts twirling her hand, and the furniture collects into a tornado, random objects flying everywhere. Loki remains calm as ever, slashing a hand at the wind storm to halt it.

"This isn't exactly fair if I can't get back at you," Loki realizes.

"There are an awful lot of things you could hit me with out here," Annaka points out.

"I'm not going to hit you with anything," Loki pauses, thinking. "Try to get in here. You can do magic inside, so try to teleport inside."

"And what if I end up in one of their cells?" Annaka asks, gesturing to the other cells full of monsters and unknown creatures. It isn't uncommon for teleporters to end up somewhere that isn't their desired destination, especially if they're unpracticed, but the second time is always a charm.

"Then you'd be able to get out quickly and unharmed because they're asleep," Loki replies.

Annaka sighs. "If I die because of you, I'm calling off the wedding."

"Fair enough." Loki stands up because something exciting is actually happening for once. He might actually get to touch another person for the first time in months.

Annaka stands also and focuses on the inside of Loki's cell, pinpointing all the important details that are crucial for her to get inside.

Loki watches her disappear and scans his cell for her. She was nowhere. Loki sighs despondently and turns back around, expecting her to reappear outside.

She never does.

*

Annaka lands right in the middle of Thor's bedroom. How appropriate.

Thor stops playing with Mjolnir when she appears, dropping it on the ground like a boulder. "What are you doing here? How'd you get in?"

"Uh, mis-teleportation," she says. "I'll just go."

"Wait! I nearly forgot; Odin wants to speak with you immediately," Thor tells her. "He is in the throne room."

Annaka groans internally. Odin is not her favorite person on Asgard.

"Okay," she sighs, teleporting to the throne room successfully this time.

Once there, she stalks up to Odin, not unlike Loki would have. She stops at the base and looks up at Odin with the most respect she could muster.

Odin sighs at her presence. "Annaka, I'm sure you're wondering why I called you here."

Annaka says nothing, but glances at Frigga, who's standing to Odin's right. She keeps her eyes down.

"It's come to my attention that Loki's punishment is not exactly a punishment," Odin says monotonously.

Annaka almost laughs. "You have him trapped in a cell. How is that not punishment?"

"It is not a punishment if you are there," Odin clarifies. "With you there, Loki is not learning his lesson."

"Learning his lesson? He's not a child," Annaka snaps involuntarily, calming herself before continuing softly. "All his lessons have been learned. And for the first half of his punishment, I couldn't see him. Wasn't that enough?"

Let the arguing begin. "Then why is he in there? If his lessons are learned, he shouldn't be causing trouble and getting himself locked up!"

"You lock him up! He's the god of mischief; it's in his nature! That's not something you can strip away from someone! Intrinsic qualities aren't meant to be disfigured." Annaka is used to having these quarrels with Odin. The first week she was here, Odin had laid down the rules a lot more harshly than necessary, almost blaming her for having to have the rules.

"I forbid you to visit Loki until his punishment is up!" Odin exclaims in a final tone. "Guards will make sure that you do not use magic. Go say farewell."

Annaka turns around immediately and stalks back out of the throne room, making sure her boots leave dents in Odin's precious walkway. Rage fuels her circulatory system.

Leyna and Linnet meet her at the doorway where they'd been eavesdropping, which was typical of them.

"That's not fair," Leyna says.

"What a bastard," Linnet adds.

Annaka just shakes her head, forcing a smile on her face. "It's okay. I'm not letting him get to me. I can go a week without Loki."

Leyna and Linnet exchange glances. "Without getting in trouble?" In a way, Loki and Annaka were each other's advisors; they decided what was a great idea and what was a stupid-ass idea for one another's schemes. That's why the twins were so skeptical. "Sure you can."