Luminous

Halfway through her cigarette, Nevaeh's fingers trembled a little as she turned around to watch Loki, who was suddenly looking godly under the starry night. She blinked a little as though watching him for the first time, or the last, she had no idea what she was feeling, but she didn't feel like taking her eyes off him.

'You have found out a lot about me today. I admit, more than I would've liked you to know. So, tell me, Nevaeh. What do you think of me?' Nevaeh heard Loki speak, but it felt as though his voice was coming from a far distance, echoing as if travelling through a tunnel. She suddenly had an irrational fear of him not really being here.

Nevaeh took a step towards him, quickly touching his shoulder as relief spread across her face and she felt silly. She inhaled another smoke and closed her eyes for a moment in which she put her arms around Loki's neck. 'I think you are luminous.'

Loki was thoroughly taken aback. Nevaeh had never focused on the way he looks, let alone provide him with a compliment of some sort. He'd intended on understanding what she thought of him, but this response was the last thing he had expected from her. 'Luminous, you say?' Loki asked frowningly as he glanced at her wrist, wondering if the curse was interfering with the flame's effect.

Nevaeh nodded urgently. 'You glow, Loki!' she hushed, as if revealing a big secret. 'You glow brighter than the morning sun! Without you, life has no fun!' Nevaeh said in a sing-song voice. Loki laughed awkwardly. His eyes softly narrowed as Nevaeh suddenly let go off him and slowly turned around to look at the sky.

Her face grew smug. 'I think of you as the sun, even though you lied to me and made my hand burn,' she whispered, looking crestfallen all of a sudden. 'It's like I never learn.'

'Okay, why don't you stop with all the rhyming? You are freaking me out,' Loki said.

'Of course I am,' she looked at him through tearful eyes. 'That's because I am a freak. I am a weirdo.'

'I said you are freaking me out! I did not call you a freak! You were rhyming and it just freaked me out!' scowled Loki. 'You call yourself a freak, how? Look at you! I am the one who is a freak around here!'

Nevaeh shook her head in disapproval, and was about to say something but Loki knew he didn't have much time till the smoke's effect wears off, especially because it would take at least an hour to properly ask her all the questions he had in mind.

'I am the offspring of a Giant. Doesn't that repulse you deep in your very core?' he asked.

'No, Loki! I think you are kind and sweet! You—'

'No repulsion whatsoever?' Loki asked again.

'None,' she laughed. 'What kind of stupid question is that?'

Loki felt a huge wave of relief spread across his body. He slowly took a step towards the edge of his terrace and heaved a huge sigh.

Meanwhile, an annoyed Nevaeh realised that her cigarette was about to end even though she had barely smoked it. She quickly pulled out another cigarette and lit it by the help of her already lit cigarette. Nevaeh felt a burning sensation in her throat and coughed, pulling Loki out of his thoughts.

'You lit another cigarette? With what?' asked an alarmed Loki.

'I found a way,' she said shrugging.

Loki knew that the flame's effect won't last long, especially when she'd lit another one using an ordinary flame. He cleared his throat, deciding to make things quick before she gets back to normal.

'You still haven't answered my question' said Loki quietly as she gazed into the sky. Nevaeh puffed twice before saying, 'Loki, I want to be with you. But you are asking me specifically to stay on Asgard, and I don't understand why. You can teleport and we even have the bi-frost, so I see no reason why—'she was harshly interrupted by Loki.

'I stayed on Earth with you, did I not?' Loki snapped. 'Then why can't you stay here?'

'I haven't really spent a single night away from my home apart from the time I crashed on Asgard,' she said. 'Besides—'

'But you managed to stay away from your home that time. You could easily do it again,' Loki said.

'It's not like I would cry myself to sleep if I'm away from my parents,' she laughed. 'I'm not a kid.'

'Then what's the problem? Is it me?' Loki asked.

'No, it's not you,' she said, distractedly rubbing her eyes. She was feeling a little dizzy.

'Tell me, if you'd met Thor that night instead of me, would you have gotten this close to him as you are with me?' Loki asked.

'Well, Thor isn't really my type,' she shrugged. 'He is so huge—'

'And I am your type?' Loki asked quickly.

Nevaeh didn't respond. She leaned across the terrace edge while running a hand through her hair, glancing at her lit cigarette with a hint of suspicion. She had smoked countless cigarettes in her life, but she had never felt anything like this before. She instantly halted smoking.

Nevaeh clutched her head lightly and closed her eyes for a brief moment, unable to remember anything that she had spoken since she had lit it. Nevaeh sharply turned her gaze on a silent Loki, who hastily changed his concerned expression with an annoyingly casual one. 'You okay?'

'Did you – did you drug me?' asked Nevaeh quietly.

Loki blinked. 'I beg your pardon—'

'You heard me, Loki. Did you do something to me?'

'Your question is deeply hurtful, Nevaeh,' said an innocent Loki.

'What – did – you – do – to – me?' she asked threateningly.

'I did not drug you!' he said hastily.

Nevaeh instinctively looked at her wrist, but it wasn't emitting smoke. On any other day, Nevaeh would've easily trusted Loki's words, but today she knew better. Today, she knew how deceiving and manipulative he could be. She was positive that Loki had somehow tampered with her cigarette, but she had pulled out the second one by her own, so, it definitely had to be the fire that Loki had conjured, or he had right away put a spell on her. Either way she wasn't going to be fooled this time.

The cigarette in Nevaeh's hand was about to end and she quickly lit another one, purposely using the same lit flame at the tip of her ending cigarette this time. A distracted Loki realized it too late that she had did so. He tried to make a grab for it. Nevaeh shifted in her spot and moved her arm away from Loki, raising her eyebrows questioningly. Why would he feel the need to snatch it away from me if there was nothing shady in it? Nevaeh's swift movement caused her to blink a little as glittering sparks appeared in the corner of her eyes.

'Why don't you put out that cigarette?' Loki asked quietly. Nevaeh again felt as though he were saying that from a distance.

'Did you put some kind of spell on me?' Nevaeh asked, sharply moving her head in opposite directions and blinking rapidly to make the glittery stars go away.

Loki made an exasperated clicking sound by his tongue. 'I did not!'

Nevaeh was frustrated as her hand showed no smoke after Loki's rejection of her accusations. 'Well, if you say so. Want to see a witch thing?'

Loki was thinking about snatching away her cigarette to put it out himself; she was meant to smoke just one and she had lit a third. Loki undoubtedly had another million questions for her, but he knew that he couldn't afford to let her inhale any more of that. But he was too late.

Loki watched through bulging eyes as she heavily sucked on the cigarette at once, making the whole, newly-lit cigarette to burn in one smoke till it ended, as if it were a juice box. Loki was beyond baffled. Nevaeh's eyes opened wide and her whole body began blinking green; starting with her neck and spreading in her entire body, including her scarred hand. Her eyes turned a sparkling shade of emerald.

Loki hastily approached a gasping Nevaeh who scrambled away from him as she held the edge for support. She looked at her green hands and squeaked, blinking back and forth at Loki. 'You – you changed my colour?' she said wildly. 'Why is my skin green? Which happens to be your favourite colour?'

'I did not change your colour! I did not put you under a spell! Will you let me come near you?' he yelled loudly.

She shook her head in strongest disapproval. 'I know this is your doing, Loki! I am not naive like before! Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!' said a hysterical Nevaeh.

Loki moved hastily as she let go off the terrace's edge to walk inside the room with the intention of looking in the mirror, but she again shot him a disapproving look, swaying a little. Loki sighed and readied his hand.

She began walking with a drunken, homeless person like feet when she suddenly felt light as a feather. Nevaeh made an audible little shriek. She was lifted into the air and started involuntarily gliding ahead. She watched herself in Loki's long bed-side mirror as she gently swoosh towards it like a bird without wings; her skin blinking a shade of emerald, her hair as black as ever.

Nevaeh laughed faintly as she landed gently in front of the mirror not being able to take her eyes off of herself. She touched her face, noticing gushingly that her skin was twinkling green along with her soft breaths as though she were a star. Nevaeh stood there gaping at herself with mild joy, as though she had completely forgotten why she was glowing in the first place. She caught Loki's eye as he halted behind her in the mirror. 'Oh, I look so pretty!' she cooed.

Loki was looking at her happy face with concern. He had done nothing to modify her mood. 'You do, very much so—'his voice faltered as he saw her expression turn grave again. Clearly the novelty of having green, twinkling skin had faded away as realisation hit her once again.

'It's the flame, isn't it?' she whispered. 'What did you do, Loki?'

Loki sighed, as if she were putting him out of his comfort zone by asking such questions, but answered her nonetheless. 'The flame makes one honest. Truthful. You are literally incapable of lying right now. But that part wouldn't last for long!' he added hastily as he saw her lethal expression.

'You did this on purpose?' she glared at him. She couldn't believe that after everything, Loki had the audacity to drug her by magic.

Loki shook his head in disapproval. Nevaeh's eyes once again filled with tears as she felt a sharp burning pain on her remaining cuts. Her arm abruptly burst into green flames, oddly similar to Loki's.

Loki watched through horror in his eyes as Nevaeh's arm lit up and he gaped, realizing that his mere disapproving nod had set her hand aflame.

'Look at what you've done to me!' yelled a twinkling-green Nevaeh, raising her flaming hand in the air. She turned to look at herself in the mirror and she burst into tears, sobbing hysterically. 'I am looking – like – like some voodoo – voodoo priestess! Her entire body was shaking with renewed sobs.

'You are glowing green because of the amount of smoke you have inhaled! It's toxic!' Loki said. 'You were meant to smoke just one, not three!'

'So, you knew it was toxic! Yet, you went ahead and did that anyway?' asked a flabbergasted Nevaeh, through bulging, tearful eyes. 'What did I ever do to you, Loki? Do you want to kill me?'

'Oh, gods,' Loki muttered faintly; he was so tired. 'Will you please calm down?'

'Why?' she yelled. 'Why would you do this to me?'

'Because I asked you a question and you weren't answering!' Loki snapped.

Nevaeh's sobs faded away as she realised what he was talking about. 'Loki, if you wanted to know how I feel about your question, why didn't you just ask me? You don't have to drug me in order to find out what is going inside my head!'

'I needed to know what is in your heart!' snapped Loki.

After she was composed once again, she was ready to approach that topic. In fact, if Loki hadn't drugged her the way he did, they would have finished this conversation by now. 'You want me to stay here, indefinitely, so what did you have in mind if I do that?'

'What do you mean?' he asked, mostly glad that she was talking like a normal person again, despite her emerald appearance.

'I mean, will you teach me new things? Would I be, like, your padawan? Would we go on quests together? Would you teach me battling and swordsmanship? If I stay, you have to tell me about your grand plans and I could help!' Nevaeh said enthusiastically.

'Why don't you leave those plans to me?' Loki smiled.

'But if I am living on Asgard for you, then don't I deserve to—'

'With me!' snapped Loki.

'You mean like, in your room? Oh, I don't think so!' said a disgruntled Nevaeh, finishing off the sentence solely with her eyes.

'Get your mind out of the gutter, Nevaeh!' Loki scowled. 'You shall have your own room.'

'Okay. But if I am staying here, then I should know—'Nevaeh jumped. A shrill voice echoed in her ears as Loki fumed in anger. 'NOOO! Why can't you just stay with me, without doing anything? The way I stayed with you! Did I make any additional demands? Did I ask for anything? Did I badger you with questions? I did not!'

'So, you just want me to stay here while doing nothing? And you won't even tell me what your plan is, let alone allow me to help you with it?' Nevaeh asked slowly.

'More or less. I wouldn't be gone for too long. I am rather quick at finishing my work. Till then, you can roam the palace, explore the real Asgard, or read a book, watch one of your movies—'

'Oh, more or less, huh?' Nevaeh was desperately trying not to sound bitter. 'So basically, I just have to sit inside one of the beautiful chambers of your palace, looking pretty and waiting for you to return home? Maybe share a talk or two with your mother, say once a day?' asked a kind Nevaeh.

Loki nodded. 'Sure, if you want—'

'Who do you think I am, Loki? Your wife?' Nevaeh snapped disbelievingly. Loki's face turned red in anger. She instantly knew it was time for another one of his tantrums, so she quickly continued. 'Loki, your question was really flattering, but the way you asked it is just wrong. You tried to drug me in order to understand what I was feeling which was a petty move and I don't know how to express how I feel about you when you are constantly tricking me!' finished Nevaeh. Loki blinked; he already knew what she thought of him, but apparently, she had forgotten her little sing-song poetry.

'You don't have to tell me how you feel about me!' Loki said impatiently. 'Just tell me if you would live with me. In my palace.'

Nevaeh's cheeks were visibly crimson and the cold night's breeze was feeling like a hot cave mine on her neck. 'Look, Loki. I just found out about you hours ago. It is a big deal for me. I have barely had time to process any of this. I mean, you are the King for god's sake—'

'Is there a point hidden somewhere amidst your redundant repetitions?' Loki asked exhaustedly, as if she were boring him to death.

Nevaeh felt like pummelling him. He was so moody and bitchy at times. Even after doing so many despicable things, the boy didn't have the patience to at least allow her to finish her answer. 'The point is, no.'

'Excuse me?' Loki's eyebrows disappeared in his hair, no longer visible.

'No. I will not stay with your arrogant, royal, spoilt—'Nevaeh's fuming response was interrupted by Loki's.

'What if you had no other option than to live right here?' asked Loki.

A green Nevaeh slowly turned to look at him. 'Excuse me?'

'You heard me. What if there is no way back home anymore?'

'Why wouldn't there be? I can use the bi-frost,' she said.

'Bi-frost was closed before you even arrived here,' Loki shrugged.

Nevaeh remembered Heimdall saying the exact same thing, which was, apart from her not burning wrist, yet another guarantee that Loki wasn't lying. 'I don't need the bi-frost. You can teleport me—'

'And what if I refuse to do so?' Loki asked calmly.

Nevaeh blinked rapidly under the deadly-serious gaze of his. She scoffed after a long pause. 'You wouldn't do that' Nevaeh said quietly, glancing at a silent Loki who was refusing to drop his look. 'You wouldn't!' she repeated in a louder voice.

Loki's face cracked a mischievous smirk.