The Misadventures of Loki and Strange

Chapter 15

He couldn't pinpoint exactly when it happened, but at some point during his negotiations with the stubborn teen, in which he was getting quickly exasperated and close to using magical tactics rather than slick speech, Strange found himself stuck between two bickering siblings who seemed to forget that he was even in the same room.

Physically, he was stood there with his eyes flitting from whichever sibling was talking to the other, mentally he was chastising himself with thinking that reasoning would be better than simple trickery.

Then he cursed himself for thinking like Loki, even though he'd stooped to levels before that would make the God proud.

"You're seriously going to let Death get me because of your stupid ghost stuff?!"

"It's not stupid! You said you believed in it!"

"I said that to shut you up!"

"No! You should shut up!"

Strange sighed, feeling a headache building behind his eyes which he tried to stave off by pinching the bridge of his nose.

"If you would both just settled down then mayb-"

"Stephen!"

Silence fell across the room, finally, and all eyes turned towards the door.

A couple of beats went by before the two looked at Strange, who turned to them with a polite smile and a small nod of his head before he stepped towards the door.

"Excuse me for a minute."

He opened the door and stepped outside, almost walking directly into the back of a dishevelled looking Loki who looked more than a little battle worn as he stared at some glowing green runes that were imbedded within the doorframe.

"It's going well I see."

Loki turned towards him, letting out a long breath while stepping away from the door in a cautiously slow movement, as though he were worried that it wouldn't hold if he stepped too far away.

Once he was sure that the runes weren't going to disappear, Loki turned to Strange and cleared his throat, wiping away a trail of blood from a small cut on his cheek.

"I need help."

"That goes without saying."

Loki gave Strange a withered look but said nothing in return, surprisingly, he instead nodded towards the master room door.

"And how's it going for you?"

"I feel like a glorified babysitter to a ghost and a boy who desperately wants to believe that ghosts are real."

"You could just show him that he's right," Loki said, eyes looking past Strange as his attention diverted elsewhere.

"I know I could but I was hoping to talk some sense into him before going full magic, it seems like such a trivial thing to have to resort to that too."

"I see, it's beneath you."

Strange gave Loki a narrow-eyed look, noting how far away his voice sounded, as though he were no longer on this planet with him.

"I never said that."

Loki only let out small hum and then snapped his eyes back to Strange, his signature 'I'm planning something' smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Excellent, if you're apparently so tired of the children then you're more likely to agree."

"To what?" Strange asked, raising a sceptical eyebrow.

"I have an idea," Loki said, looking at the intricate details of the warding runes on the walls, then back to Strange. "I shall cast an illusion for the boy and you can hold off Death."

"So your grand idea is to swap roles?"

"Essentially, yes, I show the boy some ghosts and you can hold Death in a little pocket dimension until I'm done."

"And here I thought you were so eager to deal with the Reaper."

"And it's been fantastic, great conversationalist but even I can admit that perhaps you may be best for fending them off for the time being, I can only stall for so long and as I said," Loki made an indication towards Strange with his hand as though he were making a grand point, "pocket dimensions."

"Right, so I am to suspend the Reaper until you can convince the boy that ghosts are real with a fake illusion."

"Genius, isn't it?"

"It doesn't sound as genius when you keep saying pocket dimension."

Loki merely grinned in amusement and Strange felt like he had lured into some unforeseen trap but didn't dare ask, suspecting that the God had wanted to hear him say something ludicrous for his own amusement.

"So, it's a plan?"

Strange regarded Loki for a lingering moment then turned to look towards the glowing runes, giving a small nod.

"Yes, I think that's the best plan you've had to date."