What Lies Beneath

Felicity glanced to Loki for a moment, raising an eyebrow as he stood there, his face still as stone. He had returned not long after Frigga had left, and he looked a little irritated. She frowned a bit, almost afraid to ask what was going on. She tilted her head as she watched him, waiting to see if he'd break, or if she'd have to push. She didn't want to push, not with that look on his face, but the silence was irritating.
“We should return to Midgard.”Loki said, his body still tense, his jaw set as he spoke, almost hissing the words.
“Um...okay.”Felicity said, sounding slightly confused, since she thought they weren't leaving for at least another two days.”Might I ask what's going on?”
“It is nothing to worry yourself with.”Loki said simply, shaking his head as he moved past her and farther into his room.
“You look like you're going to break someone's neck, why shouldn't I worry about that?”She asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
“This is not your issue, Felicity, so please leave it where it lies.”He said, his tone coming out harsher then he had meant it to.
“Excuse me.”Felicity snapped back,”Do not talk to me like that, Mr. Bad ass.”
“I'm sorry.”He said, looking away from her, and towards the big bay window,”But we should depart as soon as possible.”
“Will you tell me what's going on?”She asked, almost pleading with him.
“You don't want to know.”He said quietly, glancing back over to her,”Believe me, you don't want to know.”
“Does it have to do with that...girl...from last night?”Felicity asked, as she studied Loki very closely.
“Some of it, yes, but believe me, you should leave it alone, and we should simply return to your realm.”He said simply, letting her know that he wasn't going to break and give any details about this thing, whatever this thing was.
Felicity scrunched her nose lightly, and frowned, before simply shaking her head. She wasn't going to continue to argue with him, however, she wasn't exactly pleased at this either. She just nodded her head, giving up and going along with what he was saying. He walked over and wrapped his arms around her tightly, picking her up off the ground as his lips crashed against hers with an almost deadly force. Felicity was caught off guard, and returned the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck slowly, letting herself enjoy being held by him for a moment.
“Let us take our leave.”He said lightly as he put her down on the ground.
“Okay.”She replied softly.
He took her arm and kept her close at his side as they left his room, the door closing behind them, without Loki ever touching it. Felicity hated that he seemed angry, that something, or someone was eating at him. She glanced around, keeping her eyes and ears open, wondering if anything or anyone passing near by would give her some sort of clue as to what was going on, why they had to leave so suddenly. She glanced up at Loki, and he was staring straight ahead, the gears turning, and she worried lightly. What happened while she was asleep? What was he not telling her?
They made their way out of the castle, and there stood Thor and Odin, both having already mounted a horse. Loki grabbed the reigns to his own steed as it was brought to him, and climbed on, before holding his hand out to Felicity, helping her up as well. Odin seemed a bit worried, as did Thor, watching the two of them on Loki's horse. What the hell was going on? She almost screamed out the question, but instead she kept her mouth shut tight. If it had the King of the gods looking worried, she probably really didn't want to know what was going on.
“Let us ride,”Odin said simply, and at that, all three men gave a command and the horses took off.
Felicity noticed they weren't heading back towards the big spinning room that Loki and herself had originally come out of. That was a bit unnerving. How many ways were there to travel between Asgard and Earth? She held tightly to Loki, to keep herself from falling off of the eight legged horse of his. She blinked, and thought she had saw something in the tree line as they headed towards the woods.
Surely she was just seeing things, surely the tension surrounding her was just making her nervous. Right? Maybe what was going on now is why Frigga had visited her this morning, letting her know that regardless she was welcome. Felicity was becoming paranoid.
She shook her head as they entered the woods, everything silent as the dead, aside from hooves hitting the ground. She glanced over, and saw that Thor looked tense, his knuckles white he was holding the reigns so tightly. She bit her lip lightly and hid her face in Loki's back, the wind blowing her dark brown hair behind her, turning it into a tangled mess as they sped forward.
She decided to look again, and in that moment she wished that she hadn't. A large wolf came barreling out of the woods, from what seemed like nowhere, and then Odin was thrown from his horse, rolling across the ground with the wolf. Felicity bit back a scream, because a moment later, another jumped, and it took Thor down. Felicity tensed, and she looked behind her, watching as Thor and Odin got up, both ready to fight the wolves that had attacked them, as Loki continued to push forward.
It was as if this was a race against time. Whatever was going on, it was dangerous, and there was this need to hurry, to get away. She could feel it, like something crackling in the air around her. Loki was tense, as if he was ready to pounce at a moments notice, a sense of urgency in his eyes. She couldn't hear the fighting behind them anymore, but the howls coming from the woods made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. What in the world was going on, what were these things doing? She looked around frantically, trying to figure out where it was coming from, if she could spot the creatures as to warn Loki. She wasn't seeing anything however. Her heart was racing as she tightened her grip on him, and felt him reach down and touch her hand just slightly, before taking the reigns again.
There was a blur of movement, and Felicity let out a yelp, which caused Loki to look over, yanking on the reigns of the horse, causing it to come to a dead halt, which allowed the giant wolf like creature to miss them just barely. Loki bared his teeth at the creature, which was staring up at them, as it paced in front of the horse, trying to block their path, it's bright silver eyes almost haunting to look at.
“Felicity, hold on tightly.”Loki ordered her, glancing back with desperate but very deadly eyes.
She did as she was told, not bothering to argue about it this time. The horse moved backwards at Loki's command, and with another command was moving forward at full speed again, taking a leap over the wolf like creature, which let out a howl and tried to come up and bite the horse, just barely missing it. Felicity was fairly certain she was going to puke she was so terrified right now. She heard a noise and looked back to see that the creature had disappeared but Thor and Odin had caught up with them, both looking a bit roughed up, but in general, healthy and alive. She breathed a sigh of relief at that, before looking forward again.
“How much farther?”Loki yelled at Odin as both Thor and Odin came to Loki's side, all horses running at full speed.
“Just up ahead,”Odin replied,”We must hurry though, they wont stay hidden for long.”
Loki nodded, before giving another command to his steed. Felicity wondered absently if these attacks were being caused by Sigyn. Loki had said earlier that the nymph had something to do with why they were leaving, why he seemed so worried and angry. She bit her lip lightly and closed her eyes, wondering where they were headed, and how it could possibly keep them safe from that crazy bitch.
After several moments, All three gods gave a command and their horses slowed before coming to a stop. Felicity looked up and around, wondering where they were. She raised an eyebrow. It was an open field. Yes, that should keep them safe and sound, right out in the open. She pushed back her almost bitter thoughts as she slowly let go of Loki, before watching as Thor and Odin climbed off their horses.
“Brother, you must return to Midgard and stay there...at least until you receive word otherwise.”Thor said, looking almost sad at the thought of pushing his brother away from their home.
“I want to stay and fight, Felicity is the one that needs the safety of Midgard, not I.”Loki said as he too climbed off his own horse, before turning to help Felicity down.
“No brother, for we don't know what she is doing, and how far she'll go...you can't risk leaving Felicity alone, in case Sigyn finds a way there.”Thor argued slightly, crossing his arms over his chest,”You know the risks of these portals, and how easy it is to cross sometimes.”
“Thor is right, Loki, my son, go, protect her, we'll try and stop the nymph from here.”Odin spoke, his voice soft and full of concern for his children.
“She has more power then we thought,”Loki said lightly, shaking his head,”She has her own army, are you sure you're prepared for that?”
“Yes, brother, now go, before they catch up, and the effort to protect you and Felicity is for nothing.”Thor said as he moved forward and embraced Loki tightly.
Felicity had been listening but hadn't said anything. Sigyn was behind all of this, the wolf creatures, the fear in the three god's eyes. All of it. All out of jealousy. Felicity shook her head slightly, before she grunted, being pulled into a tight hug by Thor. She returned it easily before taking a step back so that she was standing with Loki.
“We'll welcome your return once it's safe, little mortal.”Odin said with a small bow of his head.
Loki took Felicity's hand and turned, starting towards what Felicity thought was nothing. She could hear the howls of the creatures not far from here, and that left her a little unnerved. She heard Odin speak, his voice booming, commanding, and then this small portal opened. It was big enough that both of them could walk through, and she knew where it would take them. Earth. They would be headed back to earth. She glanced at Loki before looking straight ahead. They were just about to step into the portal when she heard Thor yell. Glancing over, she watched, with wide eyes as one of those wolves came bounding out of the woods. She let out a scream, before Loki pushed her through, and everything went black for a moment.
Felicity landed on her hands and knees, and looked around. She was in an ally, and it was raining. She slowly got to her feet and moved, turning in time to see Loki come out as well, the wolf not following after him. There was something wrong though. He landed, and didn't move. He just laid there, silent, and Felicity glanced up to see the portal close. She moved forward slowly, and reached down, touching his hand, only to see there was blood. His eyes were closed, and there was blood. Felicity stumbled back away from him, and actually did puke this time. She leaned against a wall and just stared at the motionless body of Loki. She wasn't crying, wasn't even yelling for help, she just stood there, staring, her heart in a million pieces. Shock had her frozen in place, feeling numb, and making her incapable of doing anything other then just watch for something, what it was, she wasn't sure, but she was watching none the less.