Do not ask me why I chose these songs, I was listening to them as I wrote and yeah.. but this is a really long chapter and I hope you like it. Please vote and comment!!
"This is the ' apartment'?" I ask in disgust looking at the rundown three story building. It was so dirty that it was nearly black.
" wait for it. " Natasha smiles and walks up the creaking stairs.
Loki is handcuffed to me (thanks fury) which makes it extremely difficult to climb up the stairs; which apparantly were made for one very thin person to use.
Finally we make it up the stairs. The corridor looks like a scene out of a horror movie. I sigh as Natasha begins to open a door that looked like a feather could knock it down. Then she opens it and walks in.
I never expected to see what I see! It is stunning. The walls are white, There is technology everywhere. It's honestly a dream, most importantly - there's tv!
I look over at Natasha who smiles at me. I grin and run over to my room. Which was a terrible idea considering Loki almost fell.
"Oh crap! I'm so sorry! "
" I don't think you are. " he said looking at me with a really Nasty expression, which I reciprocate with a smile.
"I'm not! " I giggle.
The day went on fast as I practiced my powers with Loki who guided me. As the evening drew I turned on the t.v.
" hey Natasha? "
She looked up.
" what's hatchiko about? " I ask as I flip through movies that Tony had laid out.
" I don't know. Sounds good. "
" hmm alright let's watch a nice movie."
Biggest mistake of my life.
In about two hours I was sobbing. Loki let me sob on him as I kept saying, "itdoesntknowthathe diesanditssosad. AndIwanttopetandcomfortit. "
"I can't understand you when you talk like that Beth. "
"He's never coming back Loki. It's gonna die alone thinking that he hated it and that it wasn't good enough. Andthatissosaditbreaksmyheart."
He tensed and let my head rest on his shoulder.
"It will cherish their memories. " He said with his face rather close to my head...it's kinda...cute...ish. Shut up.
I let out a whimper and eventually stop crying.
"How was the movie? Natasha cheerfully as she walks into the room. I look up to her with a tear streaked, morose face while Loki shakes his head for a 'no'.
" the dog died. " I pout
" Oh.. was its owner there? " She asks
" NO! " a new flood of tears begin to flow.
"Oh.. ok" Natasha says rather awkwardly as Loki comforts me again.
Third person POV :
"Are you awake? " Loki whispered.
Annabeth and Loki slept in conjoined rooms due to fury's orders.
" a little" she whispers.
" You weren't talking just about the dog, that time, were you? "
"No one comes back.. "
"Sleep. I wake you for practice tommorow. Sleep well. "
"Goodnight. "And she slept. Loki stayed by her for a while and then left as well.
-------------------------------------------
"No! "
" it's 5:30! "
" ten more minutes!! "
" Annabeth stone get off the bed and get ready now! "
"Loki!! Go away! " I whined.
"You leave me no choice"
"What do you... AHH LOKI! NO.. OW!! "
with one swoop he picked me off the bed, sheets and all, and dropped me on the floor. I sat and looked up at him angrily from between my tangled hair.
He smiled, " now unless you want me to throw you in the bathroom as well I suggest you get up. "
" fine."
In 30 minutes I was ready.
" How long does it take to simply bathe and wear clothes?"
" hey, I had to shampoo my hair. "
He sighs and we begin to practice. Just as I almost gets the couch to levitate without turning into the hulk. Natasha bursts into the room.
" we gotta go, now! "
" what? Why? "
" HYDRA. they're on the way. Pack your bags and I'll explain." We nod and run to get out stuff. Not that we have much.
" ok what's going on? " I ask as we assemble into the room. Only Natasha, Loki and I stand. Tony had left along with Steve.
" we have to split up. You and Loki stick together ok? Never split up. Make your way out of the city by nightfall. Take this. " she begins to give us packets with identification and money.
" don't trust anyone except us. We will call you on that cell when we have a place to settle. Understand? "
" yeah.. " I never complete my sentence as an explosion is heard in the corridor. HYDRA takes the dramatic entrance notion to a whole new level. Here I thought loki was a diva.
I run out the broken fire exit with Loki next to me. We run into the streets and begin to walk like civilians. After walking around 4 blocks we enter a small coffee shop.
" where do we go? " I ask Loki.
" Yes, ask the man from a different realm for directions. How resourceful." he says sarcastically.
" haha." I deadpan. "Ok so she said to leave the city. However we are smack in the middle of it." I say as I take out the map that Natasha had given us." ok. We take a train and a bus and one cab ride. We should be out by night. "
" why isn't there one long journey instead? "
" because my dearest man from another realm, taking one mode of transportation is risky. We have to shake it up and take stops in the middle."
" where did you learn that? "
" HYDRA" I say as I get up to leave, " come on we have a train to catch. "
We walk a couple of blocks acting like tourists. According to our identification we were Mr. And Mrs. Smith. ( yeah I know. Not a suspicious name at all. Cue sarcastic eyeroll)( Thanks fury)
We walked right opto the train stations and bought the tickets. Then we were to wait for 30 minutes. I pulled out my phone and pretended to text for a while.
"What are they doing?" Loki asks pointing towards some street performers.
"Performing for money."I reply and walk over to them.
" They are good. Why do they have to do this here? "
" Because they're poor. And talent is very hard to earn from in this world."
"I do not like this realm. "
"Amen sister" I murmur as I drop money into their hat, " come on, the train is nearing." I pull at his jacket and lead him to the train
We get on and somehow get two seats. An elderly man and lady stand near us.
" Loki get up and let them sit." I whisper.
" we paid for this seat." He said with a righteous indignation.
"Loki! It's a good thing to do." I said
" I tried to take over this world,I don't think their best interest is at my heart."
I give him a stern look which he responds with a roll of the eyes.
So we get up and give them our seats. They were so grateful and sweet.
" see? Pays to be good." I grinned
" I am yet to see the benefit." He deadpanned
" You are the grinch of Christmas aren't you? "
"I do not know what that means. "
" basically the sum up of your personality"
" attractive? " he asks with a smirk.
" painful" I reply mimicking his smirk.
The train stops and many people get off thus giving us the opportunity to sit. We sit across the old couple. There are around twenty people other than us. I look around and notice that they are all grown ups above 30. Except the old couple. I stare at the couple. I hadn't really seen their face. Then I realize the predicament we are in and lean toward Loki.
" don't let this convince you that helping people is bad. "
" I am already convinced, but what are you talking about? " He asks rather confused.
" this." as I say this the train stops and I wince. Loki gets a knife out( Natasha had provided us each one), as do I ( mine was bigger much to loki's chagrin and my delight!)
As soon as the train completely stops every passenger turns to us with guns in their hands ( talk about bringing a knife to a gunfight. Wow. )
We stand up slowly as they aim their guns. With a Sudden motion I use the bars as a catapult and knock out the lights, as Loki does the same. A mad fight ensues. Knees collide with jaws, elbows to ribs and guns fall to the ground.
they don't easily shoot for fear of hitting their own whereas I just blindly hit any and every moving object. ( I think I accidentally kicked loki in the no no region...oops)
I see a faint out line of the door and begin to fight my way towards it. Once there I find Loki right next to me. I use the dagger to push the door open as Loki continues to fight. Once the door opened we fall out. Loki is about to run but I pull him in the dark gap between the train and the walls, and signal him to be silent. All the agents get off and run in the direction that they assume we went. When the tunnel clears we slowly get up and walk. We walk until we see the station that we had passed earlier.
" good deeds are a waste of time" Loki smirks.
" shut up Loki, how was I to know that grandma was a spy? I think I hit her in the fight though." I giggle.
" what do we do now? ".
" well thanks to HYDRA we are running a bit late. But if we run we should be able to catch a bus. "
" very well. "
We run (well he walks fast, while I run. Ah, the perks of being short. )
We reach the bus stop just in time and get on the bus. Thank fully its pretty much empty and we get seats.
" this is stressful."
" I know. Like maybe if we actually were touring this would be fun. But running is not very helpful and.. wait. "
" what? "
" why aren't you stopping me? "
" stopping you in what? "
" in rambling. You generally tell me to shut up. "
" oh right. Please shut up. "
I roll my eyes as another old lady sits in front of us. I examine her well before deciding that she was indeed old. She had a cat with her.
" I miss coco. "
" where is she now? "
" agent hill took her home. "
"Then I pity agent hill. "
I poke him in the rib and stare at the cat. Eventually the lady turns around.
" Are you married? "
Loki puts on his best smile, "yes we are. "
"How sweet you make a great couple! "
" thank you! " I smile.
As she turns away, Loki leans toward me, " great couple I see. "
" old people. Can't trust them." I snap. I hear him chuckle.
The journey goes uneventfully. I sleep off at some point.
" Beth wake up. I think we're here. "
I groggily wake up and rub my eyes, standing up to exit the bus.
" wish you a happy life together dear! " the old lady smiles
" thank you so much. "
" You think we'll have a happy life together? " Loki smirks.
" You are enjoying this way too much aren't you? "
" I am."
We get of and decide to eat lunch, it was around 3:00.
We enter a small pizzeria and I order a pepperoni for us.
" what is this? " Loki asks looking in disgust at the slice.
" pizza"I say as I bite into it, " oh it's so good! Have a bite come on. "
He looks skeptically at me. I roll my eyes, " come on! Please? "
He sighs and bites it. I look at him expectantly.
" this is the best thing I have tasted. " he exclaims.
" I told you. "
" I should teach the cooks at asgard to make this. "
" yeah you.. " I am interrupted by a small child who drops a letter on my lap.
" Turn around"
" what is it? " Loki asks, his hand at the hilt of his knife.
I turn around and nearly choke.
"Beth?" Loki asks concerned as tears well up in my eyes.
"Its her. "
" who? "
" the caretaker. Loki.. get me out of here please" I become hysterical as the dark haired lady gets up and begins to walk towards us.
Loki grabs my hand and begins to lead me out. However she cuts us off.
" please Annabeth I just want to talk. "
" STAY AWAY FROM ME! " I yell.other customers stare at us. Loki draws closer to her.
" walk away or else I will make sure that this knife goes through your neck. "
She gulps, looks at me and walks away. I almost run out of the place with Loki.
" Beth, who was she? " Loki asks. I keep walking and keep my hands on my mouth to stop crying.
"Beth?"
" Loki. Let's just focus on getting a new route. "
" All right but you will tell me later ok? "
" mhmm" I nod.
We catch a cab and go to several other places before reaching a motel that was just on the outskirts of the city. We checked in on one room. Husband and wife having different rooms is suspicious.
As we enter the room I walk to the bathroom and splash water on my face.
" Beth? Talk to me. " Loki called out from the room.
I slowly walk out of the room and sit on the bed next to him.
"In HYDRA they had a person look after us. Kind of like a controller. We used to call her the caretaker, she coerced us into complying. Threatening us if we didn't. I uh.. I killed my first person because of her. "
" How? " he asked.
" his name was max. " I say as my voice begins to crack, "he had a family. She said that if I didn't do it. The others would get the collar. "
" what's the collar? " he asked rather softly.
I wince as memories flood my mind.
" it.. was like what it sounds a collar. It was made of leather and had tiny metal pins on the inside that would Pierce us as they put it on. It would release electric currents every five minutes. It.. caused you to remember every bad moment in your life. Every tear. Every death. It was my worst nightmare. I didn't want others to have it and so.. I killed him. Three bullets. And he died. A man, with a family, kids and a whole life in front of him. All gone. "
" I'm sorry you had to go through that"
" hmm" I placed my head on his shoulder as he pulled me close.
The phone rings and I get up to pick it up.
" Natasha? Yeah we're out... hmmm. Once yeah. Ok. Ok. Bye. "
Another phone call comes this time from Tony. I smile as I see loki completely baffled by the tv remote. As I talk on the phone, I walk over and switch it on for him.
" yeah ok. Bye. "
"I have never heard music like this " Loki says.
I turn to find him seeing nicki minaj's song 'anaconda'
" yeah it's a new song. "
" oh. I just understood the meaning.hmm she's very.. well proportioned. "
I laughed, " I know right.but here this isn't your kind of music. At least to hear. Visually this might be up your alley.! "
" what is my music according to you? "
" hmm let's see.. highway to hell? "
"Lets see. "
I smile and plug in my mp3 player.
In two minutes Loki was enjoying the song and tapping his foot.I was miming the words and rummaging through the bags for new clothes.
Then the song changed to a slower older song however before I could change it he stopped me saying, " wait. Which song I this? "
"Its really old. It's called sang to me. Is a love song.it's by Marc Antony
" I like it. "
He heard it once more before we got another call from Natasha telling us to stay the night.
This was a problem considering there was only one bed.
" stay in your side.! "
" my side isn't big enough! "
" I don't care! I need sleep so do what you want and stay in your Half of the bed! "
" fine!"
Apparently somewhere In the night I forgot my own advice because the morning found me cuddled up and nesting in his chest with his arm around me.
After 13 years I had slept without waking up in tears. I was happy.