Old Friends
“Roxxcart” Mobius handed Loki a file he had pulled from the archives. “It’s a corrupt organization that manages to infiltrate most of the human civilization with its energy industry”
“So what does that have to do with Amora’s file? What I saw, that is” Loki flipped through the papers, quickly scanning over the information.
“There was an obvious thunderstorm going on in that scene you showed me, Roxxcart, and a thunderstorm, is not something that occurs often, in fact, I can only recall one incident”
“Which was?” He pressed for more information.
“Alabama, 2050, a deadly hurricane rips through a small town where Roxxcart set up operations, the supermarket was used as a storm shelter, unfortunately…” Mobius trailed off. “It didn’t hold against the storm and everyone inside perished”
“You think that Amora is here? In 2050?”
“Not permanently, but it does fit your claim, it’s worth checking out”
Loki smiled and handed the file back to Mobius, who made sure the papers were in order before tucking it under his arm.
It was strange, actually being listened to on some wild notion that neither of them knew if it was right. Following closely behind Mobius, Loki shoved his hands into the pockets of his variant jacket. As stupid as it was, the jacket was rather comfortable.
Loki and Mobius made their way down to the dispatch area of the TVA where they met up Hunter B15 and the other Minutemen. Mobius had mentioned that getting a team together on a “hunch” was not as easy as it looked, especially when Ravonna was already criticizing him for taking Loki.
The time portal opened, and the team walked through, right away, Loki was met with a torrential downpour of rain. Looking up into the darkened skies (which he couldn’t tell if it was night or if it was the storm), a grin spread across his face. The storm reminded him of Thor, which made his mind wander to memories of his brother. What was Thor up to? Did he perish on the Asgardian refugee ship as well?
Mobius clapped him on the shoulder, breaking his line of thinking and leading him into the Roxxcart building. Inside the building, the fluorescent lights flickered, and some were even dead from the excess force of the storm outside, which could still be heard. Loki looked down at his soaked clothing, quickly tilting his head and using his magic to dry himself and his clothing.
HunterB15 looked over quickly to Loki in shock, “What the hell was that?”
Loki glanced at her, “That was me, my magic more specifically” he grinned.
*********
Amora glanced down the darkened aisle of the supermarket, straining her eyes in the darkness before noticing the Hunter and Minutemen down near the entrance. Muttering a swear under her breath, Amora flipped her hood over her blonde hair and carefully maneuvered the aisles. Looking up at the signs that hung loosely over the darkened aisles, Amora was only a few aisles down from the plants. Once she was able to secure a few leaves or even a full mint plant she would be able to jump. How did the TVA even track her to this place? Were they tracking her? There was no logical way, she did the calculations over and over, tested her theories time and time again.
Ducking through the shelves and merchandise, Amora finally made it to the plants, applauding herself for not running into any Minutemen on the way. A pair of voices stopped her as she was about to round a corner.
“How will you know what she looks like? Can’t she change her appearance like you?” Looking through the shelves, Amora noticed it was the Hunter speaking.
“Well, yes and no” A male voice spoke, “She cannot shapeshift as I can, but she can change her physical appearance”
Amora had crouched down in the darkened aisle, some large plants were both hiding her and obscuring her view of seeing both of the TVA workers. Carefully and silently, Amora shuffled slightly to adjust her footing. Gently pushing down the leaves of the plant that was in her way, Amora saw the back of the second TVA agent. He was strange to her, especially since he wore a jacket that said “variant” on the back. It didn’t add up, why would they give this singular agent a labeled jacket when the rest of them didn’t have it?
Pulling her hood further over her face, she kept her eyes on the variant agent, waiting for him to turn around and give her a better look.
“Well we need to keep looking, find those mint plants and hopefully we find her,” The Hunter said.
How did they know about the mint? Amora began to panic, she had omitted everything she could from those damn files. They should only know what she allowed them to know.
“It might be down this way,” The variant said, finally turning so Amora could see him.
Amora could feel a chill rupture throughout her body, falling back onto the floor. It couldn’t be, could it? No. Covering her mouth with her hand, using her other hand to keep herself steady, Amora tried to suppress her heavy breathing. An emptiness filled her chest as she took a moment to collect herself. Those bastards at the TVA really had Loki hunting her? This was their play? What was worse was that Amora noticed how much he looked like her Loki.
Amora carefully stood back up, as quietly as she could, wiping the tears from her face. As she stood up, her boot caught a puddle of water and caused her to slip, catching herself on the shelf but making a potted plant fall and shatter next to her.
“What was that?” The Hunter asked. “Let’s go check”
Amora quickly looked down to the other end of the aisle, thinking about a quick escape.
“Stay and watch this side, I’ll check out this side” The Hunter called out.
Amora tried to blend into the darkness as best she could, pressing her body against the shelf behind her, using the large plants as coverage. Keeping her head down, Amora leveled her breathing and listened as the Hunter stalked down the aisle. As the Hunter passed by her, Amora emerged from her hiding spot and trailed behind the hunter. Once they had created enough distance between them and Loki, Amora reached out to touch the Hunter’s shoulder. The Hunter spun around, but Amora had already made the quick move behind her again.
“You seem startled” Amora grinned, keeping her head low as the Hunter turned once more to face her.
The Hunter’s eyes widened as Amora lifted her head, Amora could feel her magic at work. All it took was a single gaze, a look would render even the strongest wills useless. A small green glow came from under her hood and the Hunter’s eyes glazed over with a green mist before returning to normal.
“You’re strong, perhaps the strongest of the TVA’s Hunters…but now I need you to do something for me”
The Hunter nodded.
“Keep Loki busy and away from me for a while, and tell him not of my presence”
The Hunter nodded once more and walked back down the aisle. Amora watched her as she left, but Amora could feel her magic weakening, she needed to be quick. Rushing off down the darkened plant aisle, Amora stopped at the shelves where the mint plants usually were. The entire shelf was empty, she mumbled a curse and slammed her hand down onto the empty shelf. In the distance, she could hear the scuffle between the Hunter and Loki. Peering through the empty shelves, Amora could see Loki get thrown by the Hunter, landing a few feet from her on the other side of the shelves. Doing one quick glance at the shelves, Amora crouched down to the bottom shelf, finding a single plant left. As she reached for it and grabbed it, Loki flipped onto his back, tilting his head back and noticing her. Their eyes locked and Amora panicked, snatching the plant and quickly running down the aisle.
“Wait!” Loki called out.
Amora hugged the plant to her chest as she ran, she didn’t know if she had enough magic left to put it into her pocket dimension. Coming to the end of the long aisle, Amora quickly looked around and headed towards the direction of the front doors, thinking she could escape into the storm and teleport herself back to the Ironwood.
“Sir! We found her!” A voice shouted from the right of her.
Looking down one of the flickering aisles of produce, Amora saw several Minutemen headed towards her. Looking back ahead, she saw an Agent headed towards her as well. Amora quickly took a sharp left and headed down a random aisle of appliances. The Minutemen were catching up to her, their footsteps getting closer and closer.
“Quick! She went this way!” One shouted.
Amora’s breathing became sporadic and she ate one of the mint leaves before discarding the entire plant. Throwing it behind her, Amora hit one of the Minutemen as she intended and continued sprinting. Even though the lights were flickering in some places, Amora’s vision began to tunnel, and she felt as though the storm was louder than before.
The supermarket aisles began to look more and more like the halls of Asgard, switching back and forth, her mind collapsing in on itself.
Loki.
Where’s Loki?
Was there still blood on her?
Her hands.
Looking down at her hands while running, Amora saw them both dry and covered in blood.
It wasn’t her fault.
She had no choice.
Seeming to lose the Minutemen and the Agent once she turned a corner, Amora was met with a comforting presence. Loki was picking himself up from off of the floor, the Hunter was passed out some ways down. All she could do was stare, and eventually, the Prince felt her gaze and faced her.
*********
The figure flipped down their hood and Loki felt a compression fill his chest. Their eyes met instantly, and Loki felt like he was taken back to Asgard. Those jade coloured eyes hadn’t changed in thousands of years.
“Amora” was all that he could say.
The name rolled off his lips as if it were his and only his.
Amora’s eyes filled with tears, but they were blinked away before they could fall.
“Trickster” Amora spoke, her voice was just as melodic and enchanting as he remembered.
Before they could speak another phrase or have any other exchange, the hurried running of Mobius and the Minutemen caught their attention. Amora snapped her head in the direction of the footsteps, hearing Mobius call out to Loki. She slowly looked back at him; he could see anger behind her eyes.
The hurricane outside continued to rage and sound considerably louder than before. Amora raised her hands up to cast a spell, the familiar green magic forming in her palms. The magic collected in her hands before she cast the spell, opening a portal beside her that pulsed and glowed bright green. Mobius was getting closer with each passing second, but before he could get any closer, the roof ripped from the building. Loki was bombarded with rain and tried to use his magic to fight off the many forms of debris that were being thrown around by the winds.
Mobius and the Minutemen fell back to avoid getting caught in the onslaught of chaos. Loki could barely see through the winds and rain, but he heard something that drew his attention.
Amora gave out a guttural scream of pain, instantly drawing the god’s attention. Loki didn’t see what happened, but he saw Amora doubled over in pain with her hands pressed to her stomach. There was a steady flow of blood mixing with the rain and creating a river around her as she knelt on the floor, the portal still open beside her.
Loki could hear Mobius trying to convince him to stay there but Loki had other plans.
Another loose shelf almost hit him as he ducked down next to Amora and pulled her arm around the back of his neck. The portal began to flicker, but Loki wasn’t going to allow it to leave them stranded. He could hear Amora’s groans of pain as he stepped toward the portal.
Mobius and the remaining Minutemen had managed to bypass the flying debris and were headed toward them once again. Even through the torrential downpour, Loki singled out Mobius before stepping through the portal and closing it behind him.
*********
Loki and Amora collapsed onto the floor of a storage room, or at least what looked like one. The deadly hurricane had stopped and there was the sound of distant chatter instead. Loki held his head, trying to stop the ringing in his ears while attempting to figure out where they ended up.
Amora let out a gasp of pain, rolling onto her back and attempting to put pressure back onto her wound. Loki scrambled onto his knees, head still reeling and convinced that he would collapse from being lightheaded. Looking down at Amora, he wasn’t quite sure how he was to handle the situation. The blood was soaking through Amora’s hands, as he watched her struggle to place the right amount of pressure.
Amora’s hand was shaking and dripping with blood as she removed it, waving her hand and tensing her fingers, summoning a canvas backpack.
“The med-pack” Her voice was wavering and barely held a whisper.
Loki understood and quickly pulled the dingy-looking bag over to him. Inside there were half-eaten granola bars, crumpled papers, notebooks with various items shoved into them, and a picture shoved into a leather-bound journal. The journal caught his attention, mainly from its green leather and golden threaded binding but also because of the picture. It was a quick look, slight boxing around the edges and rather weathered. Pulling the picture up from the pages of the journal Loki realized it was a picture of them as children. The word “Home” in runes was written in green ink on the top.
Amora gave another groan of pain which snapped the trickster back to his rather urgent matter at hand. Rummaging somewhat faster through the bag, the picture still fresh in his mind.
“Why don’t you just use your healing magic?” He asked, shoving aside items in the bag.
“I can’t” She spoke through gritted teeth.
Finally finding the med-pack all the way at the bottom of the bag, Loki pulled the travel-sized kit out and tossed the bag aside. Opening the kit, Loki was grateful to see the bandages right on top and a bottle of something called ‘peroxide’ underneath. Examining the bottle, Loki acknowledged the fact that it said its purpose was to clean wounds and decided it was for the best he use it as well.
Focusing back on Amora, Loki hesitated. Pushing her dark green cloak aside with careful precision and focusing on the armor she was wearing. It wasn’t the full-scale metal that the warriors wore on Asgard, it was more of a dense fabric to soften blows. The green colour was vibrant but also dulled from what he assumed was the effects of her time away from Asgard.
“I’m going to have to remove your bodice” He said, looking at Amora for approval.
“Before I bleed out would be nice.” She snapped, placing her bloodied hands by her side.
“Right” Loki waved his hand over Amora’s torso and caused her damaged green bodice to disappear.
Much to his gratitude, Amora was wearing wrappings around her chest, but now the wound was much more visible. The cut wasn’t deep enough to pierce any organs, but it was deep enough to where Loki was sure it would leave a scar. Starting at one side of her abs, the cut looked like someone wanted to cut her in half. Loki once again used his magic, summoning a cloth and dousing it in the Peroxide he had taken from the med-kit. Pressing it down onto Amora’s bloodied wound, she howled in pain and arched her back.
“NORNS LOKI!” She screeched.
“I’m trying to clean your wound!”
“You’re doing an amazing job! Slit my throat while you’re here!”
“What did this to you?” He asked, ignoring her comment.
“A pair of shears. They must have been picked up by the winds or something”
Loki removed the cloth, wiping off excess blood, and carefully began wrapping Amora’s wound with the bandages. Blood seeped through the first few layers, but the more he layered the less noticeable it became. Securing the bandages, Loki carefully placed Amora’s bodice back on, making sure to fix it up with some magic.
“Help me up” Amora lifted her arm for Loki to take.
“I’m no healer, but I think that you should stay laying down” Loki protested, wiping the blood off of his hands.
Amora’s arm flopped back down to her side, “Where are we?” She asked, staring up at the ceiling.
Loki stood up, brushing some dirt off of his pants and shirt. It was relatively warm wherever they were. The room that they were in was stocked with dried foods and fruits. There was only one doorway, and it was covered by a red piece of cloth.
Looking down at Amora, Loki sighed and rolled his sleeves up.
“I’m going to see what’s out there,” He said.
“You’re going to leave me here?” Amora groaned, clutching her wound and pulling herself up.
Loki looked back at her, noting a dark spot on the dirt floor where her blood had pooled. Without another option, and knowing Amora wouldn’t listen, he took Amora’s arms and helped her up the best he could.
“I was going to come back” he mumbled.
Amora scoffed, “I can’t trust that you would”
“That’s rather rich coming from you”
Amora’s gaze narrowed, and a spark of anger lit behind her eyes from the remark. Ripping her arms from Loki’s grasp she headed out the doorway by herself, practically stumbling as she went. It was obvious to Loki that Amora was in more pain than she let on. Loki was sure she would collapse at any moment just based on the way she could barely stand up straight.
Quickly following Amora out of the dimly lit storage room, Loki had to shield his eyes from the bright sunlight, taking a moment to adjust his eyesight. Once he could see better he noticed that he was standing in an atrium. A small fountain sat in the center surrounded by lush greenery all around them. Amora had already stumbled past the fountain, heading towards a doorway on the far end that opened out to a busy street. Before she walked out onto the street she stopped, peaking out of the doorway before ducking back in as if she was hiding.
“Amora what are you-“
“SHHH” She pressed her finger to her lips as Loki approached her.
“We need to know where we are” Loki whispered, standing across from her, the open doorway between them.
“I can tell you WHEN if that’s what you want because it’s not good” she whispered back, shrinking further from the doorway to avoid being seen.
“When?” Loki was beginning to feel a sense of dread. “Where did you take us?”
“Well, I planned on it being the Ironwood, but my magic was scrambled when I got injured so it might have jumped us back to Ancient Rome”
What could Amora want with the Ironwood? Loki pushed the question to the back of his mind and attempted to process the current issue.
“Well, it could be worse,” Loki noticed Amora leaning against the atrium wall, on the verge of collapsing. “Maybe you should sit down”
“Maybe you should-“ Amora’s jaw clenched as she clutched her stomach.
Loki hurried over to help her, but Amora stopped him, putting her hand out in protest. Taking a moment to compose herself, Amora stood back up, using the Atrium wall for support.
“We can’t be seen in these clothes,” She said. “We’ll need something that doesn’t stand out too much and-“
Loki adjusted the purple toga that he had conjured while Amora was talking, carefully making sure that the gold embroidery was placed accordingly.
“Are you insane?” Amora’s mouth hung open in shock.
“Oh! Right, your magic, my bad” Loki flicked his wrist and a sudden green light surrounded Amora.
Just as quickly as the magic appeared it disappeared and left Amora standing in a purple toga with a white tunic underneath and brown sandals.
“Loki!” Amora tried to keep her voice down, but he could hear the strain and want to scream in it.
“What? Now we can blend in” He smiled, examining his handy work. “You don’t look half bad”
“I’m wearing men's clothing…” she growled. “And wearing purple”
“I don’t see the problem, purple is the colour of royalty in this civilization, is it not?”
Amora put her face in her hands, mumbling something about hating that she couldn’t use her magic for the bare minimum.
“You aren’t royalty here, Loki, you aren’t a decorated general either” She snapped. “We cannot be wearing purple!”
“Damn these Romans and their customs” he mumbled.
“You forget that Romans would kill imposters as well as women who wore men's clothing” she gestured to herself.
“They can’t kill us, we’re gods, also, I’m an expert liar and if I am remembering correctly, you can be very persuasive” Loki continued to adjust his toga.
“Please Loki” Amora gently placed her hand on his arm. “We need to lay low”
Loki looked down at her hand and then back up to meet her gaze. The look in her eyes reminded him of the scene he saw on her film, a look of genuine pleading, something that was rare for her. The feeling of her hand on his arm sent a chill through him, even though he had patched her wound just moments ago. The young woman he was separated from all those years ago was right in from of him, pleading with him. It didn’t occur to him until now that this was his Amora, his Enchantress. She was real. She was alive.
Nodding, Loki flicked his wrist and changed their clothing to more casual but still upper-class Romans. Amora glanced down at her stola, Loki had made it her signature colour, a vibrant green paired with some sandals. Loki admired his handy work before using his magic once more to style Amora’s hair into a curly updo with a palla that matched her outfit.
“Green” she chuckled.
“You make it look good” Loki smiled.
Focusing on his own garments, Loki had opted for an off-white toga, it looked slightly golden in the warm sunlight, but that’s how he liked it. Due to the warm weather, he got rid of the tunic underneath, leaving part of his chest and one of his shoulders bare.
“Shall we?” He extended his arm for Amora to take, giving her a mischievous smile for reassurance.
Amora accepted the gesture and wrapped her arm around Loki’s. The two entered the busy streets of the Roman city, it was still unknown where exactly they were. People crowded the streets, going about their daily business and shopping at many of the stalls and storefronts around them. Loki noticed some sideways glances, but no one seemed to say anything. It only occurred to him after they had walked a considerable distance that he was the one being stared at. Glancing over at Amora, he couldn’t help but notice how well she blended in with the people around them. She looked like a goddess, well, she was a goddess, but compared to the mortals around them she was amplified even more. Seeming to notice his stare, Amora looked over at him with a questioning look.
“So” Loki cleared his throat. “Where have you been all this time?” he asked.
Amora pressed her lips tightly together, looking back in front of her. “Everywhere, but at the same time, nowhere”
It wasn’t much of an answer, but it was something, “Have you been alone all this time?”
A smirk appeared on Amora’s lips, “Why?” Her voice became lighter. “Afraid that I’ve forgotten about you, My Prince?”
“Answer the question” he pressed.
“You answer mine” she smiled. “Are you afraid that I’ve found a new prince to suit my fancy?”
“I wouldn’t know how to feel considering we haven’t been in contact in several centuries”
Amora’s grip tightened on Loki’s arm, he could feel her struggling. Without warning, Loki pulled them both into a popina. Slipping silently behind the patrons, he sat them both down at a table near the back. Amora almost collapsed into her seat across from Loki, carefully looking around at the patrons and shifting in her seat. The patrons, all considerably full from the looks of it, didn’t seem to give them any mind. Amora kept her head slightly lowered, using the palla as a sort of covering to hide her face; stealing glances every few minutes at the people around them.
Realizing that this would take a lot more than civil conversation, Loki hailed the bartender, holding up his thumb, index, and middle fingers to order some drinks. While they waited, Loki watched how Amora fidgeted with her hand, specifically her palm. A sense of comfort washed over him, causing him to smile. Even after all these years she still had the same ticks and fidgets that she used to when she was nervous.
It didn’t take that long before a barmaid walked over with two goblets of a dark liquid. Setting them down on the table, Loki summoned some aureus under the table and gave it to the barmaid for the drinks. After accepting the gold coins, the barmaid eyed Amora in either suspicion or disgust and made her way back to the bar.
Loki offered the second goblet to Amora who simply shook her head and kept looking around.
“Why are we in a bar?” she whispered.
“Because we need to talk,” Loki said, sipping his drink. “And if I watched you struggle to walk around any longer I wouldn’t be much of a prince, now would I?”
“Can we go somewhere else?”
“What’s wrong with this place? They seem like a lovely bunch” Loki smiled.
“That’s because they’re all men” Amora sneered.
“You know, back on Asgard you would have pulled the hair from that barmaid’s head for the way she looked at you”
Amora glared at Loki, “Well this isn’t Asgard, and I’m not the same little girl you remember so you might want to move past those memories”
Loki’s shoulders slumped and he took a strong sip from the goblet, leaning his head back as he did so. The alcohol was stronger than he anticipated and was more bitter than the mead he was used to tasting. Amora watched him intently, a look of concern behind her eyes.
Placing the cup back down, there was still a little more than half the goblet full.
Clearing his throat, Loki met Amora’s gaze, “If I’m remembering correctly, you used to like having a drink or two”
Amora scoffed and looked away.
“What happened to the Royal Apprentice that got so full during the winter solstice that I had to carry her to my quarters to recover?” Loki chuckled, resting his arms on the table.
Amora looked back at him with sadness behind her eyes.
“She grew up. Committed several capital offenses, and even committed crimes against time itself” She rested her arms on the table, mimicking Loki. “What came of the Prince that was too scared to kiss me that night at the winter solstice?”
Loki’s heart skipped a beat, he didn’t think Amora knew about his feelings all those years ago.
“I can tell by the look on your face that you didn’t think I knew…” Fluttering her fingers, Amora smiled. “It’s a simple trick I taught myself, I can sense when people are in love”
“But?” Loki took another strong sip.
“But. I can’t sense my own feelings, that is a riddle I must solve on my own”
“That prince…” Loki thought for a moment. “Became a king”
Amora’s attention was peaked, “A king? Of…Asgard?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, you would’ve loved it”
“Are you still king?”
“No. I am not. If I was we wouldn’t be here”
Amora’s lips curled into an all too familiar devilish smirk, “Where would we be…my king?” She asked whilst leaning across the table.
Loki leaned across as well, the slightest hint of mint clouding his senses. “I’m afraid I cannot speak of such things in public, Amica mea” he said.
Loki’s eyes carefully glanced from Amora’s hypnotic gaze to her red lips, almost as if he was being drawn in.
“da mihi osculum?” Amora whispered.
Loki glanced down once more at her lips, noticing the subtle movement of her hand across the table to his arm. Smiling, Loki caught Amora’s wrist and pulled her hand away from his body. Amora’s smirk turned into a frown and her flirtatious demeanor was dropped instantly.
“For someone who is in no position to use the little magic they have left, you are quite valiant in your efforts to play me for a fool”
“Whatever do you mean?” Amora pouted, batting her eyelashes.
“Let me make this clear,” Loki summoned a dagger into his other hand and stabbed it down in front of Amora. “You will not read my emotions so that you can play me as you wish…are we clear?”
“Or what?” Amora sat up straight, acting as if her wound wasn’t hurting her.
“Or I deliver you straight to the TVA, no questions asked, right here right now, I’m sure they would love to know how you managed to evade their clutches and mess with the files”
Amora swore under her breath, taking the second cup of alcohol and downing the entire thing in one take. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the effects of the alcohol. Loki ordered two more drinks, finishing off his drink before the next two arrived.
“How long until they track us down?” Loki asked, pulling the dagger from the table and placing it in his pocket dimension.
Amora chuckled, looking around at the patrons. “I don’t think they will”
“What makes you say that? We aren’t supposed to be here so, by logic, they should be tracking us down”
“Loki” She smiled. “They can’t find us because we aren’t changing anything, us sitting here getting drunk is not going to deviate from their precious timeline”
“I beg to differ; they are a rather proficient bunch”
The barmaid set the two drinks down on the table in front of them, giving Amora another mean look. Lifting her head and glaring at the woman, Amora had an evil look in her eyes. Loki sighed, placing his head in his hands, this wasn’t about to end well.
“Is there something you’d like to say, cow?” Using her allspeak to properly communicate.
“Amora” Loki scolded.
The barmaid scoffed and walked off, leaving the two of them. Amora clicked her tongue in annoyance and tried to get up to go after the girl, but Loki pushed her back down.
“No Amora” he whispered.
“Just a few minutes ago you were doting on the fact that I would have ripped her head from her body, and now you advise against it?”
“Let’s just drink, okay?” He held up his goblet and motioned for Amora to do the same.
Picking up the goblet in front of her, Amora gave him an annoyed smiled before skulling back the liquid. Loki gave out a breath of compliance and did the same.