A Helping Hand - Chapter 6

   As Loki gathered his strength enough to shift into a wolf and pounce upon Thor’s back, furthering the man’s surprise as they went down, he wondered just what possessed him to do so; he knew perfectly well Thor wouldn’t hurt Daria or Miruna, after all. He couldn’t quite explain it, but when he saw Daria backing away, the fear on her face, something snapped within him and his only instinct was to get in the way of her and the thing that had scared her. He had to keep her safe; it was all that mattered. Thor knocked him back, and Loki yelped in pain as Mjolnir collided with his ribcage, feeling something snapping under the force of the blow.
Hearing his brother cry out gave Thor pause; he hadn’t meant to hit him that hard, and as Loki shifted back and wrapped an arm around his midsection, gasping for breath, he knew he’d done a fair bit of damage. Thor rushed over to Loki’s side, a flash of guilt stabbing through him when the downed trickster tried to back away, and knelt by him.

   “You fool! Why did you do that??” - Thor asked, hesitating to actually touch him for fear of making things worse.

   “Stay.. away...” - Loki said with difficulty.

   “I’m trying to help you!” - Thor replied, misunderstanding Loki’s concern.

   “From them.” - Loki finished saying, then pain won over and he passed out, barely registering his now thoroughly bewildered brother calling his name.


   Daria had never felt such fear in her life; not even when she had fallen into a lake as a child and almost drowned before anyone had even noticed she was in trouble. When the stranger had turned and began walking towards her, she had backed away on instinct; she didn’t know if he would hurt her or her baby, but after seeing what he’d done to Loki, she wasn’t too eager to find out. And then she had seen how Loki had leapt on his back and what happened after, and she had reacted just as instinctually; she had hurriedly set Miruna down in the car seat she had left on the kitchen counter when they had gotten back from the hospital and rushed outside.


   Thor was calling to his brother worriedly as he lost consciousness, when he noticed movement on his peripheral vision and looked up to see the woman he had been moving towards running over to them. She stopped short three feet away from them when he raised his head in her direction and stood there; seemingly conflicted. He still couldn’t understand why she was afraid of him, though the way she looked at Loki told him she clearly knew him, and his first thought was that Loki had mentioned him and likely told her he was dangerous; it was the only thing that made sense to him.

   Slipping Mjolnir back onto his belt, Thor turned to face the woman more fully, raising his hands in a non-threating gesture, and attempted to reassure her, “I assure you, my lady, I mean you and your child no harm; I am merely here for my brother.”
Instead of calming her, his words seemed to have the opposite effect, and she looked at him with an utterly horrified expression.

   “Your brother??” - She cried, her voice sounding slightly shrill, “You could have killed him!”

   “I was not...” - Thor began indignantly, then stopped and looked back down at Loki. While the fight had left both of them quite battered, Loki was clearly the worst off; he could see how she might think that. Looking back up at the woman, Thor said earnestly, “I swear to you, I did not mean for this. Is there somewhere I can place him to rest, so that I may tend to him?”
The woman looked back at him uncertainly, then over at Loki worriedly; after a moment she seemed to make up her mind and nodded at him, turning and walking back to the house. Thor carefully picked Loki up in his arms and followed her. Once inside the house, the woman directed Thor towards a couch and he set Loki down upon it as she went to see to her baby.


   Daria walked back into the living room after calming, feeding, and putting Miruna to sleep to find Loki’s apparent brother kneeling by his side; he had removed Loki’s shirt and was rubbing something on the bruised area over his most definitely broken ribs, and as she looked on, the bruise began to fade until it completely disappeared.

   “How did you...?” - She began to ask, then trailed off, not exactly sure how to finish the question.

   “Healing stone.” - The stranger replied, getting the gist of her words. He stood and took a few steps towards her, stopping when she countered with as many steps back, and said, “I know not what you have been told of me, but I swear to you I truly mean you no harm.”

   “I haven’t been told anything.” - Daria responded, “But you show up here out of nowhere, break my door down and attack my friend. What exactly am I supposed to think?”

   The man looked down for a moment, then back up at her apologetically and said, “I’m.. sorry. I can see now how my actions could leave a poor impression. But you have no idea how dangerous my brother is.”

   “Probably not; then again, you’re not the one lying unconscious, are you?” - Daria retorted, crossing her arms at her chest.

   “Fair enough.” - The man nodded in acquiescence, then said, “I am Thor, of Asgard.”

   “Asgard? So that’s what he gonna say...” - Daria said, more to herself than her present company. The man, Thor, sent her a curious look, and she said,  “Never mind. I’m Daria.”

   “Daria. Well met. Or.. well...” - Thor trailed off, bowing his head guiltily.

   “Tell you what; fix my door, we’ll call it even.” - Daria offered.

   “Of course.” - Thor replied quickly, eager to make amends. Besides him, Loki stirred slightly, and Daria looked over at him, concern filling her features. He looked between the two, then asked her, “Tell me, Daria; what exactly is your relationship with my brother?”

   Daria looked back at him and replied, “I told you, he’s my friend.”

   “Merely a friend?” - He pressed.

   “Yes.” - She replied, clearly becoming annoyed at his insistence.

   Thor raised his hands in surrender, then looked back at Loki curiously, “He seems to care for you a great deal. And your child.”

   “I know he does.” - Daria said, looking back at Loki fondly.

   “Enough to risk great injury over you.” - Thor added, looking back up at her. Daria looked at him questioningly and he explained, “The last words he spoke before losing consciousness were to stay away from you and your babe.”
Daria looked at Loki in surprise, then guilt, and she took a few steps forward before stopping abruptly and looking back at Thor warily, clearly still not comfortable getting near him. Thor stood back, understanding of her caution, and she continued walking; she kneeled next to Loki and placed her hand on his cheek, running her thumb along his cheekbone slowly.


   The first thing Loki noticed when he began to awaken was that he didn’t hurt nearly as much as he should given the aftermath of the fight, the second was that he was lying on something far too comfortable to be the ground outside, and finally he noticed a warmth upon his cheek and a feeling reminiscent of skin. He opened his eyes slightly to find familiar yellow orbs staring back at him, filled with concern that quickly turned to relief. He opened his eyes fully and, upon seeing Thor standing on the far side of the room behind Daria, got up quickly, pulling her with him by the same hand that had been on his cheek, and stood between them.

   “Are you alright?” - He asked Daria, not taking his eyes off Thor.

   “Hardly.” - She replied, “But I’m not hurt.”

   “Loki, do you truly believe I would harm her?” - Thor asked, clearly offended by the suggestion.

   “I have believed many things; not all of them have turned out to be true.” - Loki replied bitterly.

   “I am protector of this realm, and all others; I would not harm an innocent within them, much less a mother and child.” - Thor said firmly, then added, “Now, I don’t know what your involvement is with her, but it ends now; we will return to Asgard and you will face punishment for your crimes.”

   “My crimes? Funny how mine seem to be the only ones worth mentioning.” - Loki spat. Daria tried to interject, but Loki continued, not noticing, “But of course; what wrong could Perfect Thor do? You do a tiny amount of good and all you break is ignored.”

   “‘A tiny amount of good’?” - Thor repeated angrily, ignoring Daria’s second attempt to intervene, “I have protected the realms!”

   “From the mess you caused by your own idiocy!” - Loki retorted, shaking off Daria’s hand as she placed it on his arm to try and calm him, “Who was it that broke the peace treaty with Jötunheim to soothe his pride?”

   “You led me to that!” - Thor accused loudly.
Daria threw her hands up in frustration when she heard Miruna start crying through the baby monitor nearby, something that was missed by the other two in the midst of their arguing.

   “I did not!!” - Loki yelled back, “I wanted you to defy Odin to get you into more trouble, not for you to spark a bloody war and cost me everything!”

   Thor was about to reply, but Daria stepped out from behind Loki to stand between them and yelled, “Will you both shut the fuck up!”