Once they were safely out of earshot, Kitri's tone was far less polite.
"Alright, that is enough." She stated, slowing down to a stop far outside of the walls surrounding Hel. "I know it is you... Feel free to stop pretending."
Odin turned around to glare at Kitri. "You are in far too much trouble to be speaking to the me in this way, woman. And after I welcomed you into my realm!"
Kitri stood her ground, crossing her arms. "I am in no mood for jests, Loki."
"Nor am I..." Odin stated, as he slowly closed the distance between them. "And when I say you are in trouble with me," he growled as he began to transform, stretching taller and more slender than Odin's burly form.
His voice changed more and more with each spoken word, until the fully formed Loki stood directly in front of her, his tone growing sensual. "I mean you are very much in trouble with me, kitten."
He leaned in, stopping only inches away from her face. "And believe me, I very much plan on making you submit to me as punishment..."
His last words were but a sultry whisper, and Kitri closed her eyes as she shook her head, trying to avoid having any of the flooding unpure thoughts be noticed by him.
She was still upset with him, but seeing him again after what had taken place in Hel was not unpleasant, as much as she hated to admit it.
She tried to think of what to say to change the subject and just noted the first thing that came to mind.
"Stole Odin's horse and everything, huh? I guess I did not completely see through your acts, as I had expected that to be a part of the illusion." Kitri nodded towards Sleipnir, who was happily stomping his eight hooves around the cool ash covered ground, watching the ash rise up into the air in small puffs.
"I prefer the term borrowed." Loki said with a sly grin, placing one hand on her hip and forcing her to look up at him by lifting her chin with one of his fingers of the other.
"In a sense, Sleipnir is more mine than his anyhow." Loki said with a chuckle. "A gift of good will. From me to my undeserving father, from many years past."
"What do you mean more yours? You found him?" Kitri asked pointedly as she furrowed her brows, gently pushing his hands off of her.
"Not quite..." Loki said with a sigh as he rolled his eyes. "Nevermind that. I am aware you are upset with me, but I need you to know the full truth before you end up running off again."
Kitri stepped back with a light scoff. "The god of lies wishes to come clean? You jest..."
Loki suddenly looked angry and somewhat hurt, and he grabbed onto her wrist and harshly pulled her toward him.
With close to no restraint, he funneled the entirety of his memories of her into her mind. The memories of how they met and quickly started spending more time together. All the sadistic pleasure they shared at the cost of others, along with the simple mutual understanding of true companionship that came to be as time went on. All the events leading up to her death, along with his success at resetting it all was laid out in front of her.
For her... In some twisted way, but all for her.
Although she initially began to protest, she went silent, absorbing it all and even pulling more details out of his mind than he originally meant to share. She was practically starving to know what had happened once she got a small taste, and was unable to control her desire to find out.
They were both completely different people now. In the same time and space as the time Loki jumped from, but the circumstances had changed enough to feel like this other reality was nothing but a fabricated fever dream.
Kitri collapsed to sit on the ashen ground as he let go of her, overwhelmed by what she had just seen.
Loki looked down at her in anticipation, before he decided to sit down on the ground across from her with his legs crossed, to be on her level. He studied her expression without saying a word, hesitant to see what her initial response would be.
Her breath quickly became uneven, and she began hyperventilating from the weight of all the new information. He gently reached out and tightly grasped her hands in his.
It put her past experiences into a pervasive unfamiliar context. Thanos' death had a strong reason behind it that she was not previously aware of. Every action Loki took after their initial night together had a hidden motive.
His kindness, his cruelty, his commands, and all of his interactions toward her had another layer of intent she was kept blind towards.
"To be fair..." Loki said carefully, as he dug through her thoughts, selfishly tossing aside the ones that were not related to her opinion of him. "I had not known of this at first when we met in Midgard either."
She just stared up at him in awe, silent burning tears streaming down her face, eyes wide and unblinking. For the first time in his life, Loki felt uneasy with the silence.
He had exposed himself in a way he could not have with any other, and this put him at an uncomfortable disadvantage that he was not used to experiencing.
He had prepared something his previous self never could have even dreamt of. Causing war between realms, manipulating even the most powerful beings with one simple goal in mind; to ensure what happened the first time could never end the way it did again.
"Now you see why I did what I had done..." Loki admitted quietly.
Kitri swallowed while casting her gaze to the ground, prolonging the cold silence that surrounded them.
"Still believe I am lying?" Loki asked softly.
Kitri shook her head. "Even if those memories are falsified, my reactions in them were all seemingly genuine... You could not have faked that, or have known how to do that." She answered, nervously massaging the palm of one hand with the thumb of the other.
"There is more-" Loki said with a sigh.
"Take me back." Kitri said suddenly, disrupting his words as her head snapped back to meet his eyes. "Let us speak back in Asgard, or elsewhere. The idea of remaining in this realm any longer makes me want to present the contents of my stomach..."
The whole interaction with Baldur and this revelation put a bitter taste in Kitri's mouth, even if it was the realm they trained in so often. Having found out she had previously pledged her loyalty to him in Hel without her previous knowledge, as Loki had so strategically used this space as their training ground made her suddenly very uneasy.
He pushed himself up onto his feet with a sigh, and walked over, reaching his hands out to help her up. She obliged, grasping his hands and pulling herself up onto her feet.
Loki pulled her up a bit too roughly on purpose, and her body collided against his as he wrapped his arms around her.
Kitri looked up at him, her frustrated expression softening as their eyes met and her thoughts travelled to some of the more pleasant memories he had shown her.
"Have we not changed too much from all this, Loki?" She asked.
"I refuse to believe that, my sweet." Loki answered as he shook his head. "And not because of any absurd implications of fate. I simply know that when given an unlimited amount of time, any type of fun I could have on my own will become dull. I have seen it. Experienced it." He admitted, thinking back to his time on Odin's throne.
"So your plan is to use me until my fateful end..." Kitri said quietly.
"Mmm in all possible ways, yes." Loki answered in a low devious voice.
Kitri noticed something in his tone then. It was present all along when he spoke to her, but she had been oblivious toward its origin. Just a small hint of admiration in his every word, and it made her chest squeeze tight. It felt so familiar, yet so foreign in the same breath.
"Even with all this unasked for sacrifice, I will still not bend a knee for you, Loki..." She let out softly, and Loki grinned.
"I expected not, but in time, my sweet... You will in time." He said, his eyes filled with desire.
"And if I continue to refuse?" Kitri shot back.
Loki just chuckled. "Let us just say that time is on my side for this one... Now the question I have for you is: Do you really wish to go back to Asgard, or perhaps stay here and see Baldur cast out along with a punishment of your own?" Loki mused.
Kitri's face flushed, as she realized that he knew far more about her fantasies than he had let on this whole time.
"The latter..." She murmured in defeat, and Loki pulled her body even closer against him with a soft satisfied sigh.
"As I had hoped..." He whispered into her hair, before he let go and pulled away, holding on to her hand as he teleported them back to Hel's gate.
He tied Sleipnir's reigns around one of the pillars of the base of the bridge, and placed a gentle hand on his horse's forehead as he said a quick temporary parting word with a command to stay put.
Kitri watched in amazement at how the horse reacted to him with such obedience. "As if a child..." She whispered to herself.
"Ready?" Loki asked with a chuckle at her observation.
Kitri nodded.
"Shall we bestow the harshest punishment on this cowardly man that banished you?" He asked, and she nodded again, her previous reservations fading as a wide smile grew on her face.
He grinned back to her, before transforming to disguise himself as Odin once again.
"Then let us play..."