Chanel and Chivalry

Loki had made himself invisible and teleported inside S.H.I.E.L.D. to have a word with his brother. An agent puppet departed, leaving Thor alone in a sealed room and closing the door behind him to take a call. As the door shut close, Thor blinked rapidly, clearly surprised to see Loki standing inside the room wearing mortal clothing, worlds away from their home. Loki's eyes were fixed on his brother who was looking oddly ordinary in his muddy, worn out clothes.

'Loki, what are you doing here?' Thor asked. 'Is it Jotunheim? Let me explain to father!' Thor was saying, but Loki was looking gravely into his eyes. He wondered how his brother might react if he told him everything that he had discovered about himself immediately after he was banished from Asgard. But, Loki grudgingly remembered that he wouldn't have found it out if his brother hadn't dragged them all the way to Jotunheim in the first place. No, Thor had this coming.

'Father is dead.' Loki wrongfully informed him.

'What?'Thor whispered, his eyes filling with tears.

'Your banishment, threat of a new war, it was too much for him to bear,' Loki said quietly. He unblinkingly stared into Thor's watery, blue eyes and continued. 'You mustn't blame yourself. I know that you loved him. I tried to tell him so, but he wouldn't listen.' Loki had indeed tried to tell that to their father when he was about to banish Thor, but Odin had screamed at him like a maniac to shut his mouth, so he had. Soon discovering an agonizing lie that ruined his life, after which, it was his turn to scream. Now staring into his brothers devastated eyes it seemed as though he were cursed to scream for an eternity in the pain and misery forced upon him by his family. His palms clenched into fists.

Thor silently cried, his face contorted with pain, but it wasn't enough for Loki. 'It was so cruel to put the hammer within your reach, knowing that you could never lift it,' Loki said pityingly. 'The burden of the throne has fallen to me now,' Loki said, although it was only a burden till the uncertainty over the time period of his rule over Asgard vanishes. Thor looked up into Loki's cold, green eyes, through his own blue ones.

'Can I come home?' Thor asked slowly. Loki had seen that coming. Sure, when his little brother is on the throne, he wants to come back to hog the place.

'The truce with Jotunheim is conditioned upon your exile.'

'Yes, but couldn't we find a way—'Thor was pleading, but Loki interrupted him. 'And mother has forbidden your return,' said a cold Loki, looking at his brother's tearful face. Usually, Loki was the last person who would want to see Thor in pain, but considering the fact that Loki's pain was caused by Thor's asinine act of invoking the peace treaty with Jotunheim, he figured that a little pain will do him no harm. Especially, when his own pain had led him to embrace such new ventures for the sole purpose of diminishing that said pain. HE hoped Thor would make something productive out of it too. For example, finding a new geological power source hidden in someone's basement.

'This is goodbye, brother,' Loki said, 'I am so sorry.'

'No. I am sorry. Thank you for coming here' Thor said, his face glistening with tears.

'Farewell,' Loki said and stepped outside the cabin. Instead of teleporting back to New York, an invisible Loki went downstairs in the S.H.I.E.L.D quarters in order to attempt to pick up Mjolnir; it hummed and vibrated, recognizing Loki and his presence at once, but he couldn't lift it. A hammer wasn't his style anyway, thought Loki and stepped outside.

He closed his eyes to feel Nevaeh's presence; she was walking on a road with a girl not very far from her home. Within a second, his visible-self teleported onto the busy street and was welcomed on the other side by a startled shriek of an old man who was walking down the road with a little kid. Both of them had halted mid-track to stare at Loki's sudden appearance.

Loki tilted his head to look at the wide-eyed man, brushing his suit as he did so. 'What?' snapped an angry Loki; he didn't like to be stared at. He moved ahead without waiting for an answer, quickly spotting Nevaeh far ahead, and hurrying to catch up with her. Even from behind, Nevaeh appeared to be in a deep, serious conversation with the mortal girl next to her. Loki decided to walk a little behind them for a while in order to listen to their conversation, AKA eavesdrop, one of his low-key hobbies.

'Is he cute?' asked Joe, as Nevaeh ignored her. She kept badgering her, but Nevaeh refused to co-operate. 'I am not going to encourage this,' she said, shaking her head in disapproval.

'Just tell me if he is cute and I will stop. I promise!' she pleaded.

'He is sort of more charming than cute,' Nevaeh said quietly. Joe made a shrill, high-pitched sound. 'Shut up!' giggled Nevaeh.

Suddenly, Joe lost her balance. She fell side-ways and was quickly caught by Loki who came out of nowhere.

'Are you alright?' Loki asked smilingly.

Joe was looking completely flustered and Nevaeh had a feeling that Joe had forgotten all about David for the moment.

Nevaeh frowned; apart from human clothes, Loki had a certain glow to his face which made his eyes sparkle even more in the sunlight, which Nevaeh found to be suspicious. There was plenty of sunlight on Asgard, they had never glowed that much! She paid attention!

'Thank you! I have no idea how that happened!' Joe blushed, 'Maybe it was the champagne at Prada,' Joe whispered the last sentence in Nevaeh's ear.

'Chanel?' Nevaeh asked, raising her eyebrows and eyeing Loki's clothes. Joe frowned at both of them, unable to understand why her best friend felt the need to identify the brand a stranger was wearing in the middle of a sidewalk.

'That was your first choice, wasn't it?'Loki said, smiling gracefully and brushing his new clothes. Joe shot her a questioning look.

'Where did you come from, anyway?' Nevaeh asked, and shushed a gasping Joe, who was coming to the realization that he was the alien she had brought home with her.

'I spotted you from across the street and came by, when I caught your lovely little friend here. Loki,' he added smilingly, extending his hand. Joe shook it. 'Hi! I am Joe! Her best friend.'

Joe again looked questioningly at Nevaeh, after finding no hint of recognition on Loki's face. 'You never once mentioned me?'Joe asked disbelievingly as Nevaeh started walking ahead

'I quite understand. She still hasn't told me her last name,' Loki said, sympathizing with her.

'Typical,' Joe muttered,

They had almost reached her home during which Joe cross-checked with Loki about everything Nevaeh had told her about Crystal and he was participating, which Nevaeh registered as odd. Loki hadn't said anything sarcastic or mean to Joe, which was too polite to stomach for her.

She was suspiciously glancing at the two of them talking, when two boys made them stop in mid-track. Joe grunted in frustration. Loki sensed an unusual amount of tension between all of them.

'Nev, I am so glad I ran into you,' said one of them. He was about 5 feet 7 inches tall and had tiny white hair between his brown strands as though his hair had aged untimely. The boy looked at Loki with a questioning look, as though he was an anomaly that wasn't supposed to be here. Loki raised an eyebrow.

Nevaeh smiled, nodding at both of them. 'Daniel. Carl.'

'I don't believe it's been a week since I saw you!' Daniel said seriously as if it were a big deal. 'What's up Joe?' Joe's face remained stony.

Daniel again looked at Loki, who was in turn sizing him up. Loki didn't like him. Daniel frowned a little, pointing a finger at Loki, 'this was the same guy I saw in your window yesterday, but his clothes were weirder. Who—'Daniel was cut off by a thug Joe, who was approaching him with a slightly raised fist.

'Why were you looking at her window, Daniel?' she asked slowly. Even though Loki had a strong urge to smack the ape-boy himself, he was enjoying all the drama.

'Joe, be nice.' Nevaeh said, quickly pulling her behind and away from him. Daniel scoffed, as his friend glanced at him anxiously. 'I was down at the beach. It isn't illegal, Joe, especially when you see a – gothic dude – in her room at like, three in the morning,' he laughed snidely. Loki wanted to kill him after 10 seconds, but this pissed him off more than he had expected.

'Let's see,' Joe made a sarcastically calculative face, 'what are the odds of Nev running into her ex stalk—'Joe was loudly interrupted by Nevaeh who urgently shushed her, 'Not now, Joe! Can we pick this up later? Please?' whispered Nevaeh, turning towards Joe with a knowing look.

'Yeah, Joe. Shut – whatever,' Daniel stammered as though he wasn't physically capable of shushing Joe in a disrespectful manner. 'I came over the other day and your parents were totally freaked. I talked to your mom, and she told me you were gone since two days. Where were you?' he asked.

Nevaeh's eyes slowly widened with each word he spoke, while Joe simply rolled hers. Fury bubbled inside Nevaeh as soon as he uttered those words. 'My mother told you this?' she asked quietly, barely audible.

'Yep,' he said.

Nevaeh closed her eyes as her heart began racing rapidly with anger, thumping against her chest. Mom knows I have forbidden them to say anything to Daniel about me, yet she told him this! How could she? After everything?

Nevaeh opened her eyes sharply when she felt Daniel's hand touch hers. Daniel yelled in pain; he felt like he had received an electric shock. He clutched his hand, backing a few steps away from them. Nevaeh looked at her own hand and sighed, again looking up at Daniel with a slightly apologetic face.

'Haven't changed a bit, have you?' he said, angrily showing off a burn mark on his fingers and palm.

'Shouldn't have touched me,' Nevaeh shrugged. She started walking briskly with Joe on her heels. Loki lingered behind to take a look at the boy till they disappeared.

'So, that happened,' Joe said, looking anxiously at Nevaeh.

'I am glad it happened! It just didn't have to happen in front of Loki!' retorted Nevaeh. 'But I didn't mean to hurt Dan. I was furious that my mom told him all this, and hasn't even informed me yet that he stopped by the house. I have forbidden him from stopping by.'

'He should've known better Nev, this is not on you,' Joe said warmly, 'And screw his hand! Who cares?' she added, making Nevaeh chuckle.

'I could use a chuckle right now, what's the joke?' Loki asked, suddenly appearing behind them and startling the pair.

'Nothing.' they chorused.

As they reached towards her home, Loki realised that despite being inside her house for a day, this was the first time he was looking at it from the outside. It had greyish white walls and the front lawn was neatly trimmed and tended, with many trees and shrubs. He noticed a name plate, which read 'Queens' nest'

After reaching home, Nevaeh quickly went inside to find her parents sitting out on the deck. Loki and Joe stayed behind as she went ahead to have a word with them.

Loki watched Joe as she watched the trio anxiously out on the deck. 'Who is that Daniel guy?' Loki asked casually.

'That is a jerk, yep,' Joe said, but didn't say anything further. Loki stretched out his mind; Joe's prefrontal cortex was lit up, and he was amused at the amount of thinking she was applying to what they might be saying.

Samuel came outside, glancing behind once at his wife and daughter before greeting them. 'Come on fellows, sit down! We will start dinner soon. I hope you don't mind eating so early?' Samuel asked to the pair as they took a seat.

'Is she mad?' Joe asked.

'Yeah, pretty mad, but she will come around,' Samuel shrugged. 'Loki, those clothes suite you well. How was your shopping?' Samuel asked, making small talk and fetching drinks for them.

'Where is Pablo?' Joe asked.

'For some reason, he didn't show up today! Who knows why!' Samuel said from a distance, eyeing a bottle of aged scotch from the bar. Loki's eyes stood still on Samuel as he casually took the glass bottle in his hand and came trotting towards them, with no hint whatsoever that he might be hiding an ancient mystic stone in his basement.

As Sam placed the bottle on the table, Ariel and Nevaeh approached them with noticeably cold expressions on their faces. Loki stood up. Samuel quickly looked at him, mildly surprised by his gesture, but scoffed internally. 'Show off, he wouldn't even have bothered to do that if I weren't here.' Loki quietly sat down again. Ariel gave him a half-hearted smile.

'Joe, come up with me. Loki, I would be gone just for a few minutes. I need a change of clothes,' Nevaeh said taking Joe with her upstairs. 'I – I want to show you what I bought,' she added, beckoning Ariel upstairs as well.

Samuel smiled approvingly. 'See, I told you she will come around,' he told Loki.

'Well, you raised her right,' Loki said as Samuel poured them drinks.

'We, yes.' said Samuel smilingly. 'What about your folks? Do they know where you are? That you are okay?' he asked.

Loki paused a moment. 'I – I am an orphan, sir. Ever since I was a child – I have been – alone.'

Samuel felt a sharp pain inside his chest as he heard Loki's words. He sat there and looked at him during a long moment of silence. Samuel leaned forward in his seat to put a hand over Loki's shoulder. 'Loki, I am – I am so sorry to hear that,' he said quietly. Loki was fascinated as he literally had a flash back of Nevaeh saying, 'Oh my god! Loki, I am so sorry' when he had told her the exact same thing. He looked into Samuel's eyes; the same look of sympathy, and the wish to make everything better for Loki was reflected in them, just as Nevaeh's had that night.

'It means a lot, sir,' Loki said quietly.

'Call me Sam, I insist,' Samuel said smilingly, the empathetic look still lingering in his eyes as he smiled at Loki. He quickly picked up his filled glass, gesturing Loki to do the same.

'A toast. To the journey that brought you here and to the able man you have become – whose parents, if they were here, would've definitely been proud of.' finished Samuel genuinely.

'Cheers' Loki said, clinking his glass to Sam's and taking a hearty sip.

'If you don't mind me asking, is your last name Queen?' Loki asked politely.

Samuel looked at him in surprise and laughed. 'Nev hasn't told you her last name yet? After all the adventures you both told us about? Well, I am not surprised, she is an odd kitten!' he said with a hearty laugh, 'But yes, my name is Samuel Queen,' he said, once again extending his hand as though they had just met each other. Loki quickly shook it, getting a rising suspicion regarding whom Nevaeh had inherited her odd behaviour from as he smiled at Samuel.

Loki was listening patiently as Samuel told him one of his million stories, none of which included anything about the stone. He needed to know about it, his quest depended on it and he was hungry for knowledge. After talking to Samuel, Loki realised that Samuel was nowhere close to being as secretive about his life as his daughter.

So far, Loki had learnt that Samuel was the founder of a major company called Global resources association of Conserving Environment, whose main headquarters was in Oregon where they owned acres of forest land. Loki had assumed that Ariel must be working along with him because she came out as someone who would be genuinely interested in protecting the nature, whereas Sam looked like a tough guy with an even tougher heart. But, Sam quickly corrected his assumption by telling him that Ariel owned her own brand of clothing; women's wear, shoes, bags and such. Loki, being the former prince of Asgard, now the King, very much liked the name of her brand; Prince's Paradise. All of the information came as a mild surprise to Loki, but he turned overly surprised when Samuel told him about Nevaeh's education.

The girl had blabbered about what not, yet had failed to mention even once that she had started her college at fourteen and completed her Bachelors at seventeen. In fact, she had received her Masters' degree in neurology a mere three days before she had landed on Asgard. After every new piece of information, Loki had told Sam that Nevaeh had never once mentioned any of this to him, followed by Sam chuckling fondly as if she had lived up to his expectations.

Sam was talking non-stop about his work; How his association employed the finest scientists; physicists, ecologists, biologists, geologists, zoologists etc. who were working very hard in achieving their respective goals. Loki's attention drifted in and out of focus as his subconscious kept thinking over how a bragging Nevaeh had failed to mention her impressive assets. But, he wasn't the right person to question this, at the moment. He himself was the King of a planet and had "failed" to mention it to her.

'You know, when Nev was little,' Samuel began and Loki's attention was quickly alert once again. Sam was telling him about the time when they were on some special vegan diet for a whole month to study the effects of craving what they loved the most; non-vegetarian food. During that period they had taken Nevaeh to the aquarium.

'There were so many pretty little fishes – and – and she wanted to eat them all!' Samuel chortled, making Loki genuinely laugh out-loud.

He told another story of how a 5th grader Nevaeh kicked her dentist on the face who was about to remove her milk tooth, making Loki choke a little on his scotch. Loki was intrigued by the way Samuel described Nevaeh as a little flower princess, while the climax of every story pointed towards her being a wild thug.

Loki was compelled to tell Samuel about what happened with Pablo. For the first time in a very long time, Loki expressed his thoughts honestly. 'She was this harmless little girl, putting ice-cream bowls in the sink, and offering me a kind tour of the house – and the next moment she is jumping on that guy, holding him by the throat!' chuckled Loki, visibly pleased with the incident.

Samuel blinked in silence. He slowly got up by the excuse of fetching another bottle when they hadn't even finished this one.

Loki who was smiling to himself, nodded to him as Sam got up, quite ignorant of her father's stunned silence, apparently having a moment with himself. And then there was another moment, the three of them came downstairs. Loki stayed rooted in his seat for two seconds longer before standing up.

Maybe it was due to the fact that he had suddenly gotten to know so much about her, or because she had wished to fry all the fishes of the aquarium as a kid, but Loki thought she looked simply breath-taking. She looked at Loki and smiled, just before Joe said something to her and she turned her attention towards her. Loki's fist clenched; couldn't she wait another moment?

Soon, the dinner was served and they all were seated. This time, Loki was sitting next to Ariel, and sitting opposite to Nevaeh and Joe. 'The food is delicious! I have missed this! I love it when you guys cook,' Joe said. Ariel smiled at her. Loki had frowned once again when he witnessed the Queens' spoon feeding each other with morsels of food, even though they all were eating the same dinner. He looked at Joe for similar reactions but she was humming to herself while sipping her wine, as if this was a regular occurring. Loki revised his mental note of enquiring with Nevaeh about this strikingly odd behaviour.

Samuel was looking at Nevaeh with cautious eyes. Finally he said what has been bugging him. 'Sweetie, I know what happened with Pablo.'

Nevaeh looked alarmed. 'How? Did he stop by?'

'Was all that because of Daniel? It hasn't been that long—'he was interrupted by Nevaeh. 'That has nothing to do with this! Pablo's hours were done and he was still here! And he had changed his hair! He had put on a new shirt!'

'It is completely understandable to be a little jumpy after every—'Sam was interrupted again.

'Dad, please! Will you not?' Nevaeh said with a hint of neurosis, piercing her fork right into the chicken wing in her plate. Ariel wanted to ask what happened to Pablo, but judging by her daughter's voice, she knew better, so she remained silent and glanced at her with caution.

There was a long awkward silence which was broken by Joe. 'So what exactly happened to Pablo?'

Nevaeh shot her a glaring look. Loki sensed an unusual amount of tension in her. She wasn't even this tensed when she had "came to his rescue" during the demon encounter. He stared at her as she played with her food.

After the dinner, her parents were all packed up and ready to leave. 'Be good, all of you. And Loki, take care of yourself, son,' Samuel said. Nevaeh frowningly squinted at him as he leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek, immediately followed by Ariel doing the same. They bid their farewell and closed the door behind them.

'What was all that about?' Nevaeh asked, turning to face Loki. 'My dad called you son?'

'We bonded down there for a moment. I think he likes me,' Loki said haughtily.

'No, he doesn't' she retorted. Loki ignored her and sat down on the sofa.

'Your dad doesn't like any guys!' whispered Joe urgently in Nevaeh's ear and she nodded, still suspicious.

As they re-filled their drinks, Joe was telling Loki all about David, to which he was listening just as patiently as he could. 'What gel do you use for your hair? Is it a hair spray?' she asked after a while. Loki chose to ignore that personal question. He had perceived her aura, she was smart, which is why she liked him and he could use that to his advantage. She could be the key for unlocking everything he needed to know about that little stone in the basement.

Nevaeh watched Loki and Joe with a thin smile on her face. Joe hated Daniel and she usually hated all the bad guys; she was smart at telling them apart, unlike Nevaeh. She laughed watching Joe try and touch Loki's hair as he dodged her hand, when the door-bell rang.

Joe was about to stand, but Loki quickly got up. 'Allow me.' She shot an 'Aw!' look at Nevaeh, standing up and heading to fetch ice cream from the kitchen. Nevaeh sank low on the couch.

Loki opened the door to find Daniel standing out front, holding a white rose. After all the events that occurred that evening, Loki knew that this boy wasn't allowed to prowl anywhere near her house. He stared at the boy with fury, internally wondering whether to handle the situation with words or wounds...