The Man in the Iron Mask

I’d been in hiding for a week or so now with Loki, and he still wasn’t talking to me. I wondered if he’d somehow permanently lost his voice, and the mask had only been a precaution. I was curious to hear his voice, and to know what was on his mind. Most of all, I wanted to have that argument he deserved – the one about trapping me in this situation with him, without my consent. I figured he was okay though. He hadn’t been writing to me, either, except to tell me that he needed food and that there wasn’t any in our hotel room.

Sneaking back into my own home had been the scariest experience of my life. SHIELD had already been there, and had been through all my things. I couldn’t see my living room floor anymore, but I guess it made it easier to just grab things and go. On my outing I thought I might take the time to visit the supermarket, and get something that wasn’t takeout. We’d been living on takeout for far too long. I was starting to feel bloated from all the hot chips I’d ordered in, but it didn’t even seem to touch Loki’s appearance. He was still thin, still toned, and I still found myself staring at him as if I was supposed to be keeping an eye on him. Loki hadn’t cared much for the things I’d brought back for him from a thrift store on the way from the supermarket. He’d taken to wandering around shirtless in a pair of black jeans, and it was going to do my head in. I wasn’t used to being around a guy so often let alone a gorgeous, half-naked one. I felt like such a pervert.

We did our usual thing of watching the news for any signs that SHIELD were going to appeal to the public to have us found, but our faces hadn’t been splashed over all the screens just yet. I felt somewhat safe in that hotel room, but I knew we couldn’t stay there forever. I wanted to trust that Loki had a plan of his own. He couldn’t expect us to stay there forever and if that was the case, then he wasn’t really that much more free than he had been back in the institution.

“Well, goodnight,” I said, turning off my lamp and crawling beneath the covers of the bed we were forced to share. Loki was no gentleman, and hadn’t offered to take the couch. I certainly hadn’t been up for sleeping on it for that long, either.

“Don’t you wish to talk?” The sudden sound of his voice in the dark sent a cold shiver down my spine, and I knew that he’d felt it as his lips twisted into something of a smirk. He had some horrific scarring going on, which made it look all the more sinister. “Don’t you wish to have that argument?” My entire body went limp as he said those words and moved only an inch closer as he, too, slipped beneath the covers, but he left his lamp on.

“You seem to have read my mind,” I said rather slowly as I tried to figure out if it was merely coincidence, or if the papers had been right about him. Did he have some kind of… gift?

“I don’t know how much you might have learned about me from that prison, Madeline. I’ll find that out in time. I think you have some things to get off your chest, and I’d like to explain myself.” He sounded far too sincere for having done the things he had.

“You trapped me here, Loki. It’s cold, and I miss my own bed. I’m sick to death of eating crap food all day and there’s nothing here to entertain when you won’t even communicate with me.” I paused for a moment, but started up once I saw his lips beginning to part. “And SHIELD are probably going to fucking kill me once they find me, which is going to be all too soon if we stay here.”

“I have a plan, darling. I wouldn’t have put you through this if I didn’t have a plan.” This somewhat surprised me. “Did you see the weather forecast?” I nodded my head, though I couldn’t remember what it had been. “There’s a big storm coming next week. This is what we’re waiting for. I knew he would come for me.” Loki smiled wide, closing his eyes.

“… Who?”

“My brother,” Loki said, and his smile finally faded. “I certainly have some questions of him…”

“Like what?” I was surprised by this. I had thought they’d been together in New York, though obviously fighting on opposite sides. Loki must have realised why Thor perhaps abandoned him here.

“Why did he leave me here? There is so much black, it’s hard to recall what I might have done…” How could he not see his actions as something of a monster? My mouth probably dropped as he turned to me with tears in his eyes, like he didn’t know.