Mister Dazzles

Nevaeh was speechless; they'd never planned on this happening. She was stunned with silence as she stared at her parent's happy faces.

'You know, there are no fees involved! I mean, you don't have to go through all that trouble and travel to another planet—'Nevaeh was saying but her voice faltered at the dangerously questioning look her mother shot at her.

'We are not leaving our daughter on an alien planet without knowing where she is going to stay or who she is going to stay with!' snapped Ariel.

'So if your requirements aren't fulfilled, my wish dies?' asked a puppy-eyed Nevaeh.

'No, kiddo. We will buy you a house with extra security if it comes to that,' Samuel said firmly. 'But we need to make sure everything is up to the mark.'

Loki's lips curled into a thin smile; he was just waiting for a solid reassurance that her parents' were indeed considering to voluntarily allow her stay on Asgard.

'That will not be necessary, sir. Asgard is the most peaceful planet in the entire universe. You will see for yourself tomorrow,' Loki said in an assuring voice. Nevaeh anxiously glanced at him, wondering what was working inside that cunning head of his.

'It's settled, then. We leave for Asgard tomorrow morning. Grace will teleport us,' Samuel said, trying to slip that information subtly, but Nevaeh sharply looked at him.

'Wait! Grace can teleport?' Nevaeh asked in an overly flabbergasted voice. Samuel nodded as though it was implied, but she knew it wasn't; her father had never mentioned that Grace could teleport people according to their wishes. 'You never told me that!' Nevaeh voiced her thoughts in an accusatory tone.

'Sweetie, don't you remember the time when it teleported you in my arms after that accident?' Ariel asked.

Loki and Nevaeh exchanged a few subtle, knowing looks with each other. 'The one with the fancy, fashionable horns?' Loki inquired.

Samuel chuckled. 'We used to call it Satan's horns. Do you remember how scared you used to get when we were to bait you into behaving properly by telling you that he will eat you if you do not obey your elders?' Her parents started giggling heartily as though reliving a fond memory.

Loki was horrified by her parent's techniques on training a kid Nevaeh. 'EXCUSE ME? That is horrible! Why would you do that?' Loki asked wildly. Her parents abruptly stopped laughing and blinked at him. 'You threatened her by saying the person who owns the horns might eat her?' he asked in a high-pitched voice.

'Well, it wasn't that bad! She was a handful when she was little!' Samuel said defensively.

'You scarred her for life! Is this why you behave oddly?' Loki asked, suddenly looking at an incorrectly-delighted Nevaeh who nodded in approval.

'Shh! Do not tell anyone!' she said in a dramatic whisper, unable to suppress a laugh.

'Well, we will leave tomorrow morning. Good night sweets,' Ariel said, quickly taking Samuel by the hand and heading towards the door. Loki was still looking annoyed at the recent revelation, but Nevaeh hastily went ahead to stop her parents.

'Listen guys, we don't need to use Grace for teleportation. Loki has that device from before and it would be much convenient because it has the exact location fed in it, so we wouldn't need to trek even a bit,' Nevaeh said. She didn't want Grace to know that they weren't going to Asgard, because she knew it would rat her out in an instant.

'Alright, kiddo. If you say so. Is he going to be okay?' asked a worried Samuel from the door, nodding lightly at Loki who was standing near the window and running a hand over his forehead.

'He is fine, dad. He just frowns upon harsh conditioning techniques used by humans over little kids who just want to be happy,' Nevaeh said and kissed them good night. She closed the door behind them, again putting on a silencing spell over the door and turning around to look at a now-sadly-staring-out-of-the-window Loki.

'Dude! Do you realize what you just did?' Nevaeh said happily, approaching him. 'You made my parents feel guilty! This is party time!' Nevaeh turned him around by his arm.

'I do not like the fact that your younger self used to be terrified by my fabulous helmet,' Loki said, waving his hand in front of her in a this-cannot-happen manner.

'Younger self? I am still terrified of it,' Nevaeh said, patting a hand on his back, apparently trying to comfort him, but her words hurt him deeper than a dagger. She sat herself down on the couch to light a cigarette. 'You do understand that I fainted when I saw it? And I never faint! Just – never' she added shaking her head.

Loki felt like screaming, but he merely sank low on the couch. He loved his helmet and he wanted her to love it as much as he did. The only reason Loki wasn't wearing it right now was because they were on Earth and he intended on wearing it throughout their journey afterwards.

'Loki, don't worry about your helmet. I will learn to be cool with it,' Nevaeh said, patting him on the shoulder.

'Cool? I want you to be dazzled by it, as you are by me,' Loki said.

'OOO! Dazzled, huh?' Nevaeh said in a mockingly seductive voice, running a finger down his chest and making him chuckle. 'Should I call you Mister Dazzles now? My dazzling, dark, darling?'

'Okay, stop!' Loki chuckled, as she began tickling him.

'But, why am I feeling so happy right now?' Nevaeh said as their laughter died. 'My parents wish to see Asgard! Meet a master who doesn't exist! Inspect where I plan to live, regarding which we are still clueless because we haven't planned our stay! I mean, what are we going to do? Oh, I know, maybe I can fake—'

'Your death? That won't be necessary,' Loki said in a shrug.

'I was going to say a head-cold, but okay. And why isn't that necessary?'

'Because I have a plan,' he said with a thin smirk, 'it would take efforts to truly achieve what I have in mind, but I know I will enjoy doing it.'

'Is this one of those times again when you will not tell me what is going on inside your head?' Nevaeh asked.

'I am afraid so.'

'So when will you tell me about your plan?'

'You will see for yourself along with your parents. I will leave early at dawn and return here without your parents knowing that I was gone. After which, we shall teleport together to "Asgard" and they will do the needful,' Loki said.

'Okay, but if we are not going to Asgard, then where are we going?'

'I told you the destination is a secret. Do not worry about that, I am not planning on taking you to Muspelheim,' he laughed.

'That's the realm of fire, yeah? I wouldn't mind going there once,' Nevaeh said. 'But for how long would you be gone?'

'Three or four hours,' Loki said.

'What? I don't want you to be gone for so long!' Nevaeh complained.

'I can take care of that,' Loki said, looking at her once through slightly narrowed eyes. 'I am quite talented at being on several places at the same time. But you can't touch me once I leave, even if I am present here, so if you want to do anything to me, you better get started,' Loki said spreading his arms wide over the couch's back and closing his eyes as though giving away his body. Nevaeh chuckled and punched him on the chest, quickly resting her head over it shortly after.

'I really appreciate you doing all this,' Nevaeh said quietly, moving her fingers down his forearm to hold the back of his hand.

'Doing what?' Loki asked, glancing down at her as she wrapped her arms around him.

'Going through all this trouble to convince my parents. I mean, you don't have to do all this, yet you are. Even though you can leave whenever you want to,' she said.

'I am not leaving without you,' he said quietly. Nevaeh tilted her head upwards and kissed him on the chin, only to lean her head against his chest once again and closing her eyes for a few minutes.

***

Morning dawned. Today was a big day for them. Loki didn't waste any time to commence his plans, unless he counted the minutes when he woke up Nevaeh to let her know that he was leaving and she'd pleaded in her sleep to let her tag along with him to see him do cool, magical stuff, after which his instinctive reaction was to charm her to sleep until he was safely out of reach of her said pleas.

He'd teleported to his secret destination. Loki inhaled a deep breath; the smell of dense woods and mist of the early dawn entered his nostrils. He was standing amidst the wild cover of forests where nothing was visible other than sheer greenery. Loki placed his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes a little as he stared ahead, wondering how he can achieve what he wanted inside this thick canopy of trees.

Out of nowhere, two long, slender arms slid above Loki's stomach and wrapped around his chest from behind, embracing him tightly as though the person wanted nothing more than to feel his touch.

Loki sharply whipped around, withdrawing his dagger from thin air as he did so, and halted it a mere inch away from the neck of the person. His dangerously glowering expression slowly returned to its normal, cold one when he set his eyes upon the person who was holding him. She was dressed completely in green, with long blonde hair flowing behind her and a sly smile slapped across her face.