Hand It Over!

Nevaeh hated warnings. Instead of a blast, she shot a purple beam plummeting fiercely towards him.

Loki put his arm in front, not only defending himself with his hand but also holding the poisonous beam burning inside the same. Nevaeh stared at him through bulging eyes as he steadied the attacking beam inside his very palm. Loki moved forward by pushing it with his outstretched hand.

How was he handling her attack so callously as if it were some ray of sunshine? The pressure was building up inside her scarred hand which she couldn't handle anymore. She gasped in pain, her wand dropping from her wounded hand.

Loki stopped in his tracks, staring at this newfound injury inside her palm. 'Dear lord! Did I do that?' Loki began towards her with a worried expression over his face, as though they weren't just in the middle of a lethal duel.

Nevaeh backed away, tumbling down on the floor and scrambling away from him. Loki heavily frowned at her, stopping in his tracks to watch her with confusion as she quickly picked up the wand in her right hand and whooshed it at once.

Suddenly, a gold dome was encompassing Nevaeh from all sides.

Loki laughed disbelievingly. 'Why do you suddenly need protection from me? And what happened to your hand? Was it because of the dark spell you so graciously shot me with? Or was it because I defended it?' He tried to peek at it. She hid her hand behind her while sitting under the circular waste of charms, gasping for breath. Loki was feeling deeply annoyed at her stubbornness and lack of co-ordination, especially when he was being such a gentleman by not attacking her back.

'It wasn't you,' she said after a while. 'So, Odin, the one who is supposed to be the King, is he your father? Or did you make up the entire royal blood line?'

Loki realized her sudden willingness to talk things over was encouraged by the protection she felt beneath that dome, but her hand needed to be healed. He figured some answers might lure her out. 'Yes.'

'Yes, he is your father? Or yes, you made that up?'

'The former.'

'So, Frigga is your mother. And Ikol is your brother?' she asked.

'No. Thor is,' Loki said curtly.

'What the hell are you talking about?' Nevaeh stood up inside the dome. 'You told me Thor had a crush on you!' Loki didn't know how to respond. He hated being caught in his lies. 'God,' she continued, 'here I was, imagining a lovesick Thor scribbling your name all over his dusty parchments!'

'Why in the world would the parchments be dusty?' Loki said.

'I knew Ikol sounded made up! It's your name spelled backwards! But all of your names are weird! How was I supposed to know?' Nevaeh muttered to herself.

'Look. I answered your questions. Now, let me take a look at that hand,' Loki said, as if they'd made a deal.

'You aren't coming anywhere near me, Loki,' Nevaeh said coolly.

'Oh? I am not?' Loki said. He stepped inside the dome. 'Show me your hand.'

Nevaeh cursed out loud. 'Were you just waiting to come in at the right moment for dramatic effect?' she said in horror. Her shield was supposed to work! What was happening here? Did the rules of magic differ on Asgard? 'Loki! Stay away from me!'

'I am sorry, little one. But we need to fix that hand,' Loki said, raising his arms in caution, making it clear that he meant her no harm. The golden shell slowly disappeared altogether. She began backing away from him again, readying her wand.

Getting thoroughly annoyed and having little patience left for further pointless colourful blasts, Loki did a pulling gesture in the air.

Nevaeh's wand flew out of her hand and away from her. Loki snatched it in mid air only to fling it aside. It clattered all the way till the terrace behind her. She instantly stopped backing away, a lethal gaze swarming in her eyes. 'How dare you take my wand away from me?' She threateningly moved towards him with a slightly raised fist.

Loki didn't budge an inch, making her abruptly stop in two steps. 'You don't scare me, Nevaeh.'

'Oh, that much is clear! You weren't even afraid of those humongous giants! What am I compared to them?' she spat.

'What did you say?' Loki said in alarm. 'How do you know of that?' Loki's eyes widened. Things had took a nasty turn now. He didn't have time to play games when it came to his plans. During her last statement, Nevaeh had become so frantic that she had exposed her left arm as she stared at Loki through angry eyes.

Loki was pulled out of his thoughts as he saw number-like cuts all over her hand. He cursed loudly. 'Nevaeh, I am not saying another word till you hand your hand over.

'Get lost, Loki!' she yelled. She started towards the terrace, but as soon as she took a step towards it, she was suddenly rooted on her spot, unable to move. Her body slowly turned itself to face Loki, who had his hand out stretched in front of him, his fingers moving through thin air as if pulling on invisible strings.

'Stop doing this or I will kill you!' groaned Nevaeh, frozen on the spot and eyeing him dangerously as a tear drop rolled down her nose. Loki relaxed his hand, with her instantly being able to move again.

'Do you truly think that I will hurt you?'Loki asked quietly.

Nevaeh laughed with anger. 'I don't know what you are capable of anymore! I need my wand.'

'I will give it to you. But you have to show a little cooperation first,' Loki said. They could have a civilized discussion after he heals her arm, but she was being annoyingly stubborn, which was unacceptable. 'You voluntarily stop moving right now, otherwise you would leave me with no other option than to make you stop,' he said quietly and stretched out his palm, hoping that she would at least let him take a proper look at it.

'If you think that I am going to take the hand of a murder-planner, then you are out of your goddamn—'Nevaeh suddenly stopped talking. Her tongue glued itself to its roof and she was once again, unable to move.

She watched the terrace through her peripheral vision and saw her wand lying uselessly in a corner. Anger bubbled inside Nevaeh like hot lava as she watched Loki, a hint of satisfaction spreading across his face as though he had just accomplished something he had been meaning to do since a long time.

'Yes, you understood that perfectly,' Loki nodded. 'I can not only stop you from moving, but also from speaking. Imagine the power of my restraint! During all those times when you were constantly chattering like a berserk bird,' he said, smiling lightly as he watched Nevaeh stand unmoving, as still as a pole. 'Now, your hand, Nevaeh,' he ordered, clearly cherishing this.

Loki flicked his index finger, making Nevaeh's left palm to show itself. She resisted mutely as her hand twisted itself to reveal the three pairs of longitude and latitude cut deeply into her skin. Loki moved his hand to take her palm into his own. Nevaeh wanted to scream, and in her mind she was; she hated when things went the opposite way for her, and Loki was trying to heal her as though she were a lifeless puppet.

His fingers had barely touched her hand, reaching an inch away from hers, when suddenly a huge gold blast erupted from Nevaeh, her eyes turning a dazzling gold just for a mere moment. Loki was thrown away from her and into the air. He landed at the far opposite side of the terrace. His spell had been lifted somewhere in the blast, because Loki quickly watched her straighten herself on the floor. Nevaeh stood up, gasping for breath. Her entire body was shaking and she felt like dozing off right on the floor. She'd no clue what had just happened.

'Do you see that?' he laughed, pointing a finger towards her and getting to his feet. 'Do you recognize it? That was raw power! Your raw power! You don't even know what you are capable of and yet you keep getting distracted by harmless lies!' Loki yelled at her.

'Harmless?' she whispered, gasping for breath while resting both her hands on her knees. Nevaeh was shivering with anger, or was it resentment? She had no clue anymore. 'Harmless lies?' she whispered again, breathing sharply as though suffocating a little. 'You said we were bonding!' she snarled, standing up-right, but Loki could feel that she was weakened. 'Is that how you bond? By lying during every step of the way?' she shrieked shrilly, tears falling down her cheeks. 'You not only lied to me, but also my family! Everything – you – said –since – we – met –was – a – lie!' she bellowed and again paused for taking sharp breaths.

Loki watched Nevaeh quietly, lost for words as tears flowed down her face and onto his lavish carpet. He walked towards her.

Nevaeh punched him in the face as soon as he was within the reach of her fist, but her hand went through a gleaming Loki who disappeared in thin air in a glint of green. She looked confusedly at her fist which was meant for Loki's nose when an arm held her neck from behind. A palm clapped over her forehead, covering her eyes. Nevaeh struggled for a second before she heard Loki's voice whisper in her ear. 'Sleep. Just go to sleep.' Nevaeh fell limply into Loki's arms. He immediately picked her up and placed her on his bed, sitting down next to her.

Loki quickly took her arm to take a look at her hand. He cursed quietly as he analysed the numbers carved deep into her skin. Loki read the numbers; the first half of her palm had Asgard's co-ordinates, of Loki's chambers where he had teleported from her home to confront his mother. The second half were Jotunheim's co-ordinates, precisely where he had landed, and her wrist was slashed with the bi-frost's co-ordinates, where he had teleported and had a word with the gatekeeper before returning home.

Loki held up his right hand and brought it towards Nevaeh's finger tips. He emitted a green light which passed from his fingertips to hers, spreading till her wrist. All the numbers shone a bright green for a moment. Loki frowned as he watched her hand glowing; the charm was supposed to heal it, not make it glow! Her hand slowly turned back to its own scarred and burned self. Loki was frustrated as it is and this was not helping.

An hour later, Loki was kneeling next to his bed, gasping for breath while Nevaeh's hand was looking just as injured as it was before. He had tried all the spells he had known for healing, but with no results. He had tried thinking out of the box, attempted to reverse the dark magic, which was one of his areas of expertise, but in vain.

Loki was on the verge of snapping; in the past several hours, he had contemplated one of his father's murder, his human had attacked him relentlessly, all his lies had chaotically collapsed over him and he knew it for sure that whatever the hell had happened to her hand, it was because of him.

Loki suddenly looked up. He had an idea. A brilliant idea.

He left his chambers and started climbing down the stairs. Loki had tried everything he knew, but he wasn't the best sorcerer of magic in Asgard. Loki entered Odin's healing chambers.

'Mother, you need to come with me' Loki said gravely as his mother curiously looked at him. Frigga smiled, frowning lightly and touched Loki's face. 'Why, you are glowing.'

'I am flattered,' Loki said sarcastically. Frigga rolled her eyes. 'Please, come with me! Someone needs your help! I need your help,' he said urgently. Frigga's face grew concerned as she looked into her son's slightly scared eyes.

'What have you done?' she sighed, getting up, her question clearly a rhetorical one as she didn't wait for an answer and departed the chamber with Loki on her heels.