Of Greater Sires

It did not take long at all to move into the room Loki had prepared for her. In fact, besides her favorite flavor of Pop Tarts, she carried nothing with her from her floor to Loki’s. Her first assumption that his floor was quite like hers was actually false -- it was only a portion of hers, and then a lot of outdoor room as well. As she munched on her strawberry Pop Tarts, she followed the smell of paint and rapid commands coming from down the hall. What she found nearly caused her to drop her Pop Tarts from fits of laughter. However, in the presence of her king, she refused to laugh or mock and settled simply for staring wide-eyed and attempting to oppress a giggle. In the small room, all the furniture was piled in the center of the room and tarps covered everything. Some of the walls were covered in an interesting, yet probably accidental, splatter paint job. The others were occupied by a few awkward Chitauri soldiers painting robin's egg blue paint onto the walls with rollers like any mortal would do. Loki stood opposite them, still talking authoritatively in their language and seemingly absorbed in his work so that he did not notice Raeyn until she gave a little cough.

"Well you must be having a slow day at work," she joked as she stepped into the room. Loki turned to look at her, his lips parted and eyes a little wider than usual in surprise.

"I was not expecting you to come for a few more hours at least," he said quietly, almost embarrassed. She bit her lip and gave him a sweet smile in response to his sudden shyness. "I figured I would at least try and make this feel a little homier for you... and you seem to like that dress plenty so I figured I could give you a room that matched.

She glanced down at the dress that had several new holes in it from the wear and tear it had experienced these past few days. Besides at night, Raeyn felt like she never took it off.

"It certainly does remind me of home," she murmured, looking down as her fingers ran through the lace dappled blue dress. "But you must think I am quite odd for wearing it all this time. I assure you, it is not on purpose. It is my mothers, and the only true Asgardian dress I own -- all others were destroyed the night my parents died. And I thought that it would be... unfitting of me to wear my mortal clothes while I lived with you."

Loki's eye brows glided up his forehead higher the more words spilled from her lips. She was quite the girl to keep him on his toes, he finally decided before speaking. "Well, in that case I surely will have more made for you. I am surprised you did not say anything before now, for it must not be comfortable washing and wearing the same clothes every day."

Raeyn shrugged. "I thought that you had already done so much for me, my King, that I could not possibly ask for anything more. Living here under your protection is more than I could ask for already."

Loki, yet again, looked surprised and couldn't seem to come up with a response to this, so Raeyn changed the subject. “Surely they must not be very happy with such trivial jobs,” she said lightly, nodding to the two Chitauri who were just about to finish up.

“They are new recruits,” Loki commented nonchalantly. “It was a pity... I was quite hoping for some that spoke a bit more of the common tongue.”

Raeyn tilted her head to the side. “So none of them would be able to understand anyone else? What if there was a complication?”

Loki shook his head quickly. “I highly doubt that there will be with anyone who is not guilty of a crime against me and my reign. There really is not true need of them to speak it; it would simply be easier for me. Their language is quite dull, quite unlike ours...”

Raeyn shrugged, giving up. It surely did not concern her. There was a brief pause as the Chitauri placed their rollers back into the paint and stepped out of the room. Loki glanced up to see that their job had gone perfectly, and then snaked a hand around Raeyn’s waist to pull her out of the room as well.

“If you don’t mind...” he murmured in her ear, but his eyes did not leave the room nor did his hand leave her waist. Instead, he raised his other palm to the furniture in the center, and with a small flick of his wrist, the tarps were gone and the furniture was gliding across the floor to its original state. Raeyn’s eyes widened as the windows opened and curtains appeared, now fluttering from the breeze from the outdoor patio. A green and blue rug unfurled itself onto the dark wood floor, and a few extra cushioned chairs appeared out of nowhere. Loki loosened his arm and seemed to be about to let go of Raeyn, but then after a last moment thought, added a door to the porch and the room was finally complete. Her box of Pop Tarts was even placed delicately on the bedside table, still open and ready to be eaten.

Raeyn stepped into the room, her lips parted in awe as she looked around her new environs. After a moment, she turned back to Loki with a grin from ear to ear.

“So I can assume that you like it-?” he began, but she cut him off mid-sentence.

“It is amazing!” she cried and flew into his arms. Had she not been so excited, she may have remembered where their relationship actually stood and noticed him stiffen in her embrace. But either way, he eventually relaxed after a moment before she spun back around, a wild happiness beginning to seep out of her. “I have not had my own room since I lived with my father and mother,” she whispered, more to herself than to Loki. “And it is so marvelous...”

He smiled warmly down at her. “And I am happy that you like it so.”

And so began Raeyn’s life free of loneliness. It ended up that both Loki’s throne room and living area really were quite close to her room, and it comforted her more than he could imagine hearing him pacing about. It just felt so domestic to her, and she couldn’t help but smile to herself before continuing whatever it was she had been busying herself with before.

Some days later, while Raeyn and Loki had their usual quiet dinner together, it was announced that Loki would be leaving Stark Tower for a few days to check up on how the rest of the rebuilding was progressing. Raeyn nodded, her face only showing a mild curiosity, but her heart sank as he spoke. Who knew what a “few days” meant to an Asgardian? How long would she really have to live with the Chitauri all by herself? That night they said their goodnights as usual, but Raeyn lingered in the corridor for a moment longer as he slipped past her and into his room; he would be gone by the time she woke tomorrow.



As she had expected, the days she spent alone trickled by slowly. Every so often she would venture out into Manhattan (under disguise, of course) simply to keep from being locked up in the Tower. It was one of these particular nights, the fourth day after Loki had departed, that she had found herself in the middle of an outdoor market place, selling all sorts of fresh food and vegetables. As she wandered further and further, an idea formed in her mind for her to take advantage of walking halfway across New York City to this, and buy some of these fruits and vegetables. It had been four days, and perhaps even Loki could come home and enjoy a home cooked meal, compared to constantly ordering from different restaurants. She hummed to herself lightly as she picked what she wanted, paid with money from Stark's internal safe, and began her adventure back home. Once she arrived back to the Tower, she was a little weary from the long walk and carrying fifty pounds worth of food all the way, so she hardly noticed when she tapped the 'twelve' elevator key rather than the 'twenty two.'

Raeyn set all her paper bags down as she waited for her ascent, and once the elevator dinged to register its arrival, she busied herself with picking them all up once more before setting out into the hallway. Keeping an eye on the bags and making sure nothing spilled out, the quick and violent speech of the Chitauri registered in her mind as she thought to herself that there seemed to be quite a few more than usual.

After just a few more steps, though, she ran into something quite tall and quite solid. Stepping back quickly out of surprise, she lifted her gaze to meet the eyes of two Chitauri soldiers. Her lips parted in surprise, apparently about to ask them what they wanted or to excuse herself, she finally took a glimpse around. All around her were different unknown instruments to her, with several wide-eyed mortals starting as well as a few dozen Chitauri glaring at her. She stood perfectly still for a moment, and no one else moved.

"She does not have clearance to be here," one spoke suddenly. Raeyn's eyes grew even wider as he spoke in Norse, her first language. But when her eyes met the soldier, they caught the blue marker on his armor, marking him as one of the few Chitauri who could speak in the All-tongue. "She must be a spy."

"Please, I didn't mean to come here," she said desperately, yet seeing as she was never taught the All-tongue, none of the soldiers understood. She backed up fruitlessly as several more Chitauri surrounded her, now all speaking their own language, and not a word of it was understandable to her ears.

"Please, I'll just go on my way back to my floor, I promise!" she begged, but by now the marked soldier was gone and all those around her could not understand a thing coming from her lips. They continued to move closer, and Raeyn began to panic. Her sense driven away by fear, she tried to make a mad dash between two of them, using a pathetic attempt at new magicks to push them out of her way.

To the Chitauri, this apparently seemed to be a form of aggression. With a shriek from the Asgardian, they attacked her; they never actually shot her with their weapons for this was not a crime punishable by death, but instead knocked her down with the butts of them. Still trying to crawl away, they hit her arms, legs, and back until she had crumpled to a miserable heap and gave up trying to move. After what felt like an eternity to the barely conscious girl, the marked Chitauri finally bent down to look her in the eye.

"Let this be a warning to you, outsider," he said maliciously. "Do not come this way again. Now leave before I allow my men kill you instead."

Raeyn gave him a terrified look, and once he stood up to his full height, she scrambled to the elevator, just barely pushing herself off the ground enough to slap the 'up' button and then into the elevator where she slumped over in a corner. When the elevator did not move, there was a threatening pounding on the door just outside, and Raeyn threw herself up once more to hit the correct floor's button, only the collapse once more into the carpet. This time, when the doors slid open, Raeyn attempted to drag herself to her room, to no avail. She barely made it outside the elevator doors before they closed tight. The pain was now overwhelming and she curled into a bloody heap on the carpet, probably staining it irrevocably. She stared at the ceiling for quite some time, wondering if she was going to die. There was surely some severe internal damage, otherwise the pain would not be this crippling. Had she been raised in Asgard itself, she would have eaten the Golden Apples there that gave the Asgardian warriors their famed strength and endurance. However, being raised here, she had never come in contact with the magical food and was quite a bit weaker than the average Asgardian. All these things she pondered as she fell in and out of consciousness.

After what felt like an eternity, but in reality had only been a few minutes, she heard a voice calling down to her. Opening her eyes once more, she glanced around apprehensively to try and find the new creature addressing her. She saw nothing.

"Miss Raeyn," the serious voice said once more, seeming to come from nowhere.

"Who are you?" she asked hoarsely, her green eyes darting around once more to no avail. "Where are you?"

There was hardly a pause before the same monotonous voice answered. "I am JARVIS, Mr. Stark's former intelligence computer program."

"Jarvis?" she asked hazily -- a wave of blackness had just passed over her, and her body yearned for her to stop trying to keep awake and simply succumb to the darkness.

"Just A Rather Very Intelligent System. A ridiculous acronym if you ask me."

Raeyn blinked, the words not truly seeping into her mind. "Where have you been all this time?" she asked, her eyes no longer seeing straight as they swam all about.

"I have been here all along Miss Raeyn, simply watching. The new master of the house, so to speak, has no use for me other than a security system."

Raeyn had many questions, but her mind was not thinking well or fast enough for any of them to reach her lips. Instead, JARVIS continued to speak.

"Would you like for me to call for the king, Ms. Raeyn?" he asked finally. Her eyes blinked open once more as she gave a whispered "yes," before finally closing as she fell out of consciousness.

Half way across the world, Loki's earpiece began to buzz into life. Surprised, he turned away from his observing to press it closer, so he could hear whoever was trying to contact him.

"Sir, we seem to have had a security breach," the serious voice informed him.

Loki interrupted before continuing. " Seemed to have had a security breach? What is that supposed to mean to me, you inferior-"

For the first time ever, JARVIS did not wait for his human to finish speaking. "It means that someone who you gave clearance to entered a zone she should have been able to enter, but your soldiers stopped her and punished her." Loki could almost detect a bit of malice in the computers voice, but that must have been impossible. It was not programmed to feel.

"Who?" he demanded, pushing all other thoughts aside. He had several women working for him, and each one was rather dispensable. He, however, did not want to have to find a replacement for such people, since that would be quite time consuming.

"Miss Raeyn, sir. She has made it back to the floor you two live on, but she is in serious need of medical attention. I believe that she accidentally came to the twelfth floor rather than the twenty-second, based on what speech I picked up from her on my microphones. I would suggest you go to her now, unless you wish for her to pass on. Her vitals are not looking well."

There was a short moment of silence as the shock set in and what JARVIS had said seeped into Loki's mind. But after that moment, he suddenly was gone from where he once stood, and just as quickly he was by Raeyn’s side. JARVIS had fallen silent, but Loki surely did not notice. His tensed hands floated above her broken body, sweat beginning to bead down his sharp features. As he worked on healing Raeyn, nothing else entered his mind except his goal of her eventual well-being. By the time the sun was rising, Raeyn had not yet woken up but otherwise would be fine, and Loki was heading silently down to level twelve. His lips were pressed to a thin line and fury danced in his eyes. The door opened and he stared at the scene in front of him for a long moment before, gripping his glowing scepter, he surged forward, letting the power of the Tesseract free as the creatures in the lab began to scream. Loki watched the destruction of level twelve and all its inhabitants with seemingly calm eyes, yet rage and maybe even a bit of guilt burned deep inside him. Once everything was no more, he simply closed the elevator doors, ascended back to level twenty two, and waited by Raeyn’s bedside for her to wake.