Sins With the God of Mischief

The Plan

Kitri gently opened the door to Loki's chambers and peered inside, finding him sitting on the floor with his back against his grand bed and a wine bottle in hand.

"I figured you would be sleeping..." She murmured, exhaustion coloring her features.

"Mh-mmhh" He slowly shook his head.

"I may not yet know what time it is here for certain, but it seems late to be drinking."

Loki chuckled "With all that is going on? Anytime is red wine time."

Kitri laughed, walking over to sit on the floor beside him. "Fair point." She said as she took the bottle from his hands and took a swig before handing it back to him.

"Thor?" Loki asked.

"He is with Heimdall. Trying to plan. He will gather a council in the morning and announce the evacuation."

Loki let out a deep sigh. "Well... I suppose the peace has been pleasant while it lasted. Here I was, actually getting accustomed to the pleasant life of not being tortured or used as someone's puppet." He said sadly before he took another large swig of wine.

Kitri nudged him, accidentally making him almost choke on it. "Do not speak like that." She murmured.

He wiped the wine running down his chin with his sleeve and stuck his tongue out at her.

She returned this gesture with a half-hearted smile. "How far do you have to be from your double at all times?"

Loki shrugged dismissively. "Once I split, there is no distance limit. Just time. It becomes increasingly difficult to maintain the physical aspect of it. It stops being solid, and then the image itself slowly fades..."

Kitri grew a delighted smile. "How long?"

Loki shrugged again. "A few hours at most?"

This answer seemed to please her. "So I was thinking..." She took the bottle from him again to take her own sip before continuing. "From the little you and others have told me about Thanos, I may have an idea. We can become the last line of defense against him, if need be."

Loki furrowed his eyebrows but let her continue.

"We evacuate everyone to Midgard, and take the tesseract with us, as Thor suggested. This will buy us time. Ideally we take everyone who can fight back from Earth, far from civilians and the tess-"

Loki scoffed "You are already implying I will agree to fight him. That will absolutely not happen."

"Just hear me out first?" Kitri pleaded, while moving closer. She took a hold of his arm and pulled it over her shoulders while snaking one of her arms around his waist, and dropping her legs over his thighs. The quick increase in proximity, the wine, along with the fact that he had not seen her in a while made Loki's body quickly heat up.

"Fine, go ahead." He used the fingers of the hand she put over her shoulder to gently caress her skin, passing her the bottle with the other after taking a sip, and placing the freed hand onto her lap.

"We should consult with Heimdall first about this, because if Thanos catches us, you would make a double-"

Loki couldn't help himself from interrupting again. "It will not work. He can read minds, Kitri... Squeeze the information out of people. I know how he thinks, and he will not buy it."

Kitri grabbed his chin and made him look at her, then kissed him quickly. "Shut up."

Loki pursed his lips in an attempted to look upset, but did not speak further as she continued. "Make a double, and have Heimdall send the real you to Niflheim."

Loki looked at her quizzically. "Realm of the dead?"

Kitri nodded. "Force Thanos to believe that he had won against us... Heimdall will then send me after you. Thanos will not care about me getting teleported, since he does not even know who I am. It will buy us time."

Loki's eyes widened. "Trick everyone... Including Thanos, lure him in with me and the tesseract."

"Exactly." Kitri nodded enthusiastically. "You said he can read minds, yet Heimdall is famed for his sight and hearing as he looks out for Ragnarok. Even with his powers, surely he cannot be read by Thanos. No one else can know, and if Thanos happens to read my mind, it will most likely be after you get moved, and only if he catches me before I get moved as well. In which case it is not surprising that I think of you in Niflheim, worried you are rotting away in Hel... Other than us, no one else can know of this plan. We will make sure Thanos is oblivious, and the Avengers can think I abandoned them for the time being."

Loki looked thoughtful. "They will also believe I am dead. Finding Hel though... As a living being?"

Kitri gently traced his chest before taking another swig of the now mostly empty wine bottle. "If we win after you are moved, Heimdall will bring you back and there is no harm done. We have a better chance of fighting him here if he is mostly focused on your double. If things seem like they are going badly, Heimdall will teleport me as well. If they win, we come back. If not, we avoid the torture and death and try to get help from whoever we can in Niflheim. Or just simply hide there."

Loki sighed "What if we lose Heimdall? How will we return? I would rather not be stuck in Hel for eternity, even if we do have someone agree to fight Thanos."

Kitri shrugged with a sad smile. "As much as I would dread that scenario, the alternative of staying there would be so much better. I would imagine that especially while helping one another, getting out on our own would not be impossible... I have jumped from realms once, and we will have so much time to train while Thanos goes down from realm to realm that I am certain we can figure something out by the time he gets to us. Or more than likely will get killed by the Avengers and whoever else. If not, we can hopefully bring back an undead army." She cracked a smile at the last bit, hoping her joke would make Loki chuckle at the audacity of it.

Loki just shook his head with a bewildered smile. "I must admit, this does sound like our best bet in this predicament."

Kitri grinned, and Loki pulled her tighter into his embrace and held her as she looked up at him, their cheeks flushed from the alcohol. "Just look at you..." He thought to her and Kitri's smile widened. He couldn't help but have his mind finish up the thought.

She heard him think or say these words many times before, but not how he usually sadly completed the thought in his head to himself.

Until now.

"...you would despise me if you knew what I truly am."

Her eyes grew wide and she tried to search his expression, waiting for him to elaborate, but he did not continue or yet realize she heard this full thought slip through. He just seemed happy to be there. A broken man, but currently content.

Kitri placed a hand to cup the side of his face. "Loki..." She thought as he closed his eyes with a sigh from her touch. "What do you mean by this?"

It was then he realized his mistake, and his chest tightened in panic.