Love's Labours Lost

'Don't do this,' Nevaeh said. 'You don't have to wipe my memory! Loki, please!'

'Why are you so adamant on keeping these depictions in your mind?' Loki said with wonder. 'Is it because you fear I might become the monster from those stories? You don't have to answer that. Your face reveals your fear.'

'I will be with you to make sure that nothing bad ever happens to you,' Nevaeh said. 'I will not leave you, no matter what! Just please find some other way to fix my mind without wiping my memory! Such revelations will only bring us closer not drive us apart!'

'That is precisely what baffles me,' Loki said in confusion. 'You fear that someday I might do something so horrible that I might end up the way in myths. Yet, you want to stay with me? Why? Suppose the darkness is just waiting to envelop me ahead, then why would you wish to be a part of that? Why risk your own life? Do you have a death wish?'

'Not a death wish, no,' Nevaeh cried. 'Love! You jerk, it is love! Please don't do this! I love you, Loki!'

'Not more than I love you,' Loki whispered, 'which is why I must do this.'

Loki knew the scar on his hand was left by the stone, which he was assuming had attacked him, because Nevaeh's both hands were grabbing onto Loki's at that time. But he also knew that he couldn't possibly remove the tiara from her head without hurting her or himself, and the odds of the latter getting hurt were pretty severe.

Loki smiled lightly as an old school method crossed his mind, quite different from the modern-flashy ones they usually used these days.

Nevaeh was too flustered to talk, so she readied her wand instead. She felt pretty sure that she could defend herself like before, especially with the help of her tiara.

'I am asking you one last time. Do you understand what is happening to you? That I am doing this for our own good? If you do, then come here,' Loki gestured her to come near him by offering her his hand.

'What's done is done! You can't save my mind by altering it and lying to me! You even thinking of doing things like this is what scares me in the first place! What if you keep behaving like this? What if—'Nevaeh was interrupted by a neurotic Loki.

'You see? This is exactly what I knew would happen! The tide of "what-ifs" that would follow from this point forward! No matter what I do, you will try and connect everything with what is stated in those books! "Oh, Loki, don't stab anyone! What if Odin punishes you by tying you to a big ass rock?"' Loki finished in a horrible, girlish imitation of Nevaeh's voice. 'You are not even thinking about yourself! Let alone about us!' Loki spat.

'It doesn't matter what you say! Irrelevant of what's going on with my head! I am not letting you do this! You are not erasing my memory!' Nevaeh kept her wand ready in front of her as though expecting an attack any second.

Loki sighed in disappointment. All his attempts at making her realise were draining down the eternal gutter. He shook his head and started pacing the room again. 'Do you know the speciality of a Norn Stone, or any of Asgard's belongings, for that matter? Odin has unlimited power over snatching them away from anyone he wants. It has always been baffling for me, the way he has a firm control on everything within Asgard,' Loki said calmly. He watched her grow confused, whereas the stone inside her tiara was turning fiercer with every word he uttered.

Nevaeh was confused as to why Loki had suddenly entered an educational character, but she figured he was trying to distract her and would eventually try to catch her by surprise.

'Anyway, the point being, that the Norn stones are the extensions of Odin's powers. Your Norn stone, fashioned into a tiara by me, on Earth, is no longer on Asgard. On this planet, I, being the only rightful heir of Asgard, am the only one strongly bonded with the All-father, giving me unstoppable power to exercise the same,' Loki finished with a mischievous grin.

He straightened his posture and raised his chin up. 'Nevaeh, you overused the powers of Norn, even when I had told you how exhausting it could be. Even carrying the stone all the time could be lethal, but you – you used it like some piece of jewellery,' he whispered shrewdly.

He raised his chin again and took a deep breath. 'The Norn Stone being a possession of Odin all father, I, Loki Odinson, the heir of Asgard, rightfully take from you your power!' bellowed Loki with his hand stretched out in front of him.

Nevaeh felt as though she watched it in slow motion; her tiara willingly leaving her head, in turn making it throb horribly in pain, the stone abruptly halting its gleaming, as if it were petrified by Loki's words, her wand falling from her slightly limp fingers and landing on the carpet.

'NOOOOO!' yelled Nevaeh, stretching out her own hand to grab the tiara in midair but she missed it by inches. There was a sudden, constant buzzing echoing throughout her head. Hot tears developed in her eyes and her temple started throbbing violently.

Loki had his hand outstretched. He had just given the mightiest, heroic speech to ever exist and had expected the tiara to come straight in his rightful hand. Nevaeh's hand was still extended in front of her. The tiara halted between them, right in the middle.

Nevaeh wanted to snatch it from midair but it had soared several steps ahead of her, and she couldn't muster enough strength to move forward.

'Come here,' Nevaeh grunted, trying to pull the tiara towards her by swapping her fingers in the air. On any given day, Loki would've found this event highly amusing, but the occurrence of this phenomenon in the involvement of a Norn stone, violated Asgard's code of ethics.

'This is not possible! How dare you defy my command?' hushed Loki, staring at the tiara with disbelieving eyes as though it had just betrayed his trust. His eyes flickered on Nevaeh who was refusing to relax her arm. He gasped horribly.

Her head no longer had the tiara atop of it, but instead, innumerable needle-like, red sparks were fluctuating across it. Loki's eyes widened as he realised the familiar, thin sparks all over her forehead; they were a replica of the stone's internal structure.

Without giving the stone's unfaithfulness another thought, he hurried towards Nevaeh after flicking his finger. The tiara instantly received a strong tug and it crashed ahead in the room, falling unblinkingly on the ground.

Nevaeh hit her knees, immediately getting devoid of her remaining energy as though the stone was the only thing keeping her from vulnerability. Her knees buckled over the carpet, but Loki caught her before she hit the floor.

Daniel was staring at them constantly, but this time he made an audible shriek as the golden dome protecting him slowly began to falter.

'Nevaeh, look at me!' Loki's eyes were hurting by merely gazing at the fluctuating red streaks around her head. She had rested her head on Loki's thigh, who was kneeling on the floor to keep her head from touching the ground. Her eyes were shut and unmoving.

'It's alright. You will be okay. I will fix you.' Loki hunched his right arm to clutch her scarlet-streaky head.

Loki took one deep, shaky breath. He placed his palm over her scarlet forehead. He had never wielded her Norn stone in his entire life, but he felt a familiar twinge on his finger-tips. Maybe it was due to the fact that the stone eventually was an extension of his father's powers, or because he was trying to wipe her mind, either way he held onto her head.

'Heaven is and shall always remain an abode of peace and purity,' Loki closed his eyes and said those words in a chanting form, as though it were a spell of some sort.

Loki's hand shone red. The sharp, red lines slowly began leaving her head and spreading throughout his arm. He could feel it rising up above his chest, colliding with his own Norn stone dangling from his neck. The red streaks immediately turned green at his chest-level, but kept moving upwards till they reached the very top of Loki's head. His forehead grew greener as though he had a stone inside his very skull.

Loki closed his eyes as he felt the memories of the past two and a half hours leave Nevaeh's mind and wriggle into his. During the transferring of her memories, Loki's breaths turned sharp as he witnessed Nevaeh's arrival and her entire conversation with the mortal boy. Loki tried his best to retrieve all the memories regarding this event as quickly as he could. Nevaeh's stiff body was relaxing a bit. The red sparks over her head had faded to the lightest shade. Several minutes later, a piercing jolt shot through Loki's veins, which was his cue of the nearing end of his process.

He opened his eyes, his pupils glowing greener than ever. Loki took a few long breaths before running both his hands over his face. It was more tiring than he had expected it to be.

Apart from a few leftover faint scars across her forehead, Nevaeh was looking as though she was in sleep. Her hand was lying limp on the floor. Loki took a proper look around the house for the first time.

He picked Nevaeh up and walked towards the foldout bed to place her down. The disgusting, second-rate bed, as Loki had first recognised it, changed a second before he laid her down on the comfortable one with extremely soft sheets, which wrapped themselves around her without needing anyone's assistance. She was looking deeply asleep, and Loki was assuming it to be a peaceful one. He kissed her on the forehead for good measure. Sighing quietly, he tore his gaze away from her.

Loki couldn't believe all of this had happened today. Everything was perfect a mere three hours ago, yet here they were; Nevaeh lying unconscious with an angry and frustrated Loki standing above her, trying to avoid staring at her face in order to run away from the pang of guilt that was gradually trying to take over his mind over wiping hers.

Loki whipped around; he had completely forgotten about the mortal in the past few minutes. A dangerous smile spread over his face and he turned his gaze towards Daniel who was standing at the far opposite wall in the same spot, minus the layer of protection. Nevaeh's protective shield had disappeared the moment she'd fainted...