AN: Thank you to those incredible people who are still following this story. I'm terribly ashamed to realise that I started writing this in 2013 and here we are in 2019 and I STILL haven't finished. Anyway, each time a sporadic review notification unsettles the dust of my inbox, I'm reminded to at least TRY to bang out a few sentences or two... Even if I've all but forgotten what the plot I'm on about and I don't think any of us really believe Frigga will ever be rescued (that was supposed to happen in this story at some point, right?) This time around, I want to thank ArafelSedai in particular for dropped me some feedback recently. It caused me to revisit my draft folder and finish off enough of chapter 19 to deem it somewhat publishable if ridiculously short, and cobble together a good start on chapter 20. Freakin yay!

The Enemy of My Enemy
- Chapter 19 -

Loki brooded. Not that he would admit to such a thing if anyone would care to ask.

Not that anyone would care to ask, given that he had become suddenly and irrevocably invisible. At least so far as his two 'companions' were concerned.

He watched them quietly from atop his rocky knoll as they sat beside the early morning fire. Heads together in intimate conversation. An occasional peal of laughter spilling from the mortal's lips. The grunt of a chuckle from the boorish one in return.

Oh, he wasn't entirely invisible to them, he supposed. Once in a while, one would cast a sideways glance in his direction - usually moments before an aforementioned peal of laughter would make a new round. He bristled with indignation, though only for a moment. He couldn't, after all, care any less about their worthless opinions

Scooping a handful of stones from the ground, Loki began pelting them with carefully denied fury at a portrait he'd scratched upon the dirt. A tight smile furled a corner of his lips as each stone strike hit its target.

Fools. At this rate, the entire Elven army would be alerted to their presence. At this rate, Odin would cross the desert, rescue Frigga, and have the lot of them cast into a tenth realm. Well, that would put an end to the laughter, at least.

"Geeze. What did that piece of ground ever do to you?"

Loki froze as the figure loomed upon him. How the hell did she manage to get up here without his notice?

"Hey, is that Thor?" A foot tapped an edge of his crude land art, causing a portion of chin to collapse.

"No. It's the bearded lady." Loki snapped, dropping the rest of his stones and brushing the dirt from his hands. "What do you want, Jane Foster?"

His scowl didn't shift for a moment. Even as her eyes widened in surprise. Perhaps, he hoped, she'd forget what she'd come up here for and toddle off again.

"You know, it wouldn't hurt to allow people in sometimes." She said, dropping down beside him.

Now, as the shift of air carried the honey warm scent of her upon it, it was Loki's turn to flinch.

"Allow people in where?" he blinked, "what are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb." Jane scolded. "We worry about you, Loki."

"We?" He repeated, voice carefully uncaring. "So you and Thor are a united 'we' again?"

"Well, yes," Jane straightened her back, perplexion furrowing her brow. "Of course. Why wouldn't… Wait, what exactly is your problem, Loki?"

"Nevermind." The dark prince snapped his attention towards a gathering sandstorm on the desert's horizon. Irrational anger had begun to burn a trail through his stomach - worsened by the fact that even he could recognise it as such. "How about you run along now, and go tell your love-struck paramour to dismantle every last trace of that fire. It's time we break camp and move on."

He closed his eyes then, face turned towards the slowly arching sun. At least he could enjoy a few moments of peace, alone on his rock, before being reined into their company again.

"Actually, no. Not yet." Jane snapped, impatient with Loki's stupid moods. "You shouldn't talk about your brother that way. Thor cares about you, you know."

"Thor's an imbecile." Loki snorted. "And you speak of things you know nothing about. Nor are they of your business."

"You really don't have any interest in maintaining a relationship with anyone other than yourself, do you?"

"Well to put it quite plainly," Loki paused, "I really don't see the point."

"I just can't deal with you," Jane pressed a knuckle against her forehead, the words hissing from between clenched teeth. Why was she bothering? What had actually compelled her to think that coming up here to try and talk to Loki was in any way a good idea? Why was she sitting here still - pursuing this hopeless cause?

"You know, for all your talk throughout this journey about wanting people to trust you… Why can't you try trusting us a little?" She paused to formulate her own churning resentment into words. "We'd get along a lot better if we weren't always waiting for a knife to the back. Figurative or otherwise"

"Oh, that's rich - coming from you!" Loki hissed, eyes blazing as he sat forward to meet the challenge Jane was so eager to present.

"Me?" She gasped, "what are you talking about?"

Why don't you try trusting us a little." He repeated in a sing-song voice thick with mockery. "Are you even listening to yourself?"

Jane flinched at the acidity in Loki's voice, her throat tightening against any attempt at a response. It didn't matter though. He had come out of his reverie now - with a vengeance.

"Granted, you had no reason to trust me when you first entered my cell - I'll give you that. But I have tried, Jane. I have tried again and again to prove myself trustworthy to you. And what reward do I get? Scorn, ridicule, and more distrust - that is my thanks! That is where 'letting someone in' gets me!"

Loki snapped his head away as he finished his tirade and stared back to the distant mountain range; a furious knot upon his brow.

Something strange shifted within Jane's stomach at his words. She dug her fingers into the frozen earth, feeling its icy chill press back against her nails. Her muscles felt taut; coiled ready to spring upwards, as if a primitive part of her brain felt suddenly endangered by this exchange, and was willing her to leap up and run. Away from Loki. Away from this strange turn her attempt at a pep talk had taken.

But still… Another part of her was incensed by his accusations. At the way he'd turned everything around on her when he was the one who still lay at fault.

"So let me get this straight." She started, forcing strength into her wavering voice. "You've tried to prove yourself trustworthy to me by… By treating me like I'm little more than a passing whim to your brother? By belittling me and-"

Biting off her words, Jane closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could feel her pulse racing and silently willed it to slow, half afraid Loki would hear the blood thrumming through her veins.

When she opened her eyes, Loki was watching; expression pensive. His countenance surprised her. She'd expected a smirk to be playing at the corners of his lips. Some kind of gloating self-satisfaction for baiting her, at least. Not this disquieting seriousness.

She pulled herself away from his sharp-eyed stare; dropping her gaze to her lap. Her fingers still clawed idly at the frozen ground. It's chill made them ache to the bone, but she willed the coldness to travel upwards - to cool her flushed skin. She was angry with Loki - she was. But his words had thrown her off-guard. She didn't even know how to deal with his talk of letting her in. Her? She'd been referring to Thor...

"And that game with the pool in the ruins down there." She continued quietly. "I can only assume that was your doing. So how was that stupid prank an attempt to gain my trust?"

Swallowing tight against the hot tears that seared her eyes, Jane pulled her hands into her lap. They were stinging now - searing. And she twisted them in the filthy silk of her dress as she waited for Loki's reply.

"Come on!" She said finally, her voice rising. "You at least owe me that!"

"I owe you nothing." Loki stood then; unfolding himself from the ground with the grace of a cat. "You, however, owe me an apology. Of course, you probably won't realise that until it's too late."

She watched as he stalked away. Suddenly a thousand times less sure of her convictions as she had been just a moment earlier. She hadn't meant to accuse him of playing games with her in the ruins. It hadn't even come into her mind as a possibility until she said it aloud. But somehow she found herself flinging the first accusation at him that she could think of. As if she could try to determine his guilt or innocence by his response. As if that tactic had ever worked!

A hard lump of guilt wedged itself into her throat and refused to be swallowed down. This was like the marauder thing all over again.

Watching Loki disappear over the rocky outcrop, Jane's heart leapt with the sudden need to call him back. To say something to fix this entire stupid conversation. Instead, she held herself still, counting the erratic beats that pulsed in her chest until they slowed. Ridiculous, she told herself, to care what Loki thought. Ridiculous to care about Loki at all.

It was this place, she decided. There was something wrong with this place - with these ruins. The trickster was right in that, at least. They had to break camp and get away from here. They'd wasted enough time already.

"There's something wrong with your brother," Jane slammed to the ground beside Thor; striking the dirt with a tightly balled fist as if were at fault. "Something's not right inside that head of his."

Thor raised a brow in surprise. A reaction that was both feigned and genuine. "You think there might be something wrong... with Loki?" That one was feigned. His surprise to the way in which Jane pummelled the ground beside him, however, was genuine.

"I mean, more wrong than usual." Jane clarified hotly. As if that lack of elaboration explained everything.

"You worry for Loki because he chooses to sit alone and scowl upon our enjoyment of each other's company?" A weary sigh escaped Thor's lips. "Jane, dear, that is almost all I've ever known of my brother."

"No, it's not that." Jane's hands now move to etch out a repetitive pattern upon the ground. "It's this place. Those ruins. That…" She stopped herself there. That pool. She wanted to say. But there was no pool within the ruins. Nor had there been a terrible image of Frigga within its imagined depths. It was all a strange dream. Bourne of her striking her head on the cold stone floor. No more than that.

"Look. We just need to go." Her body thrummed with the need to escape this desert landscape. She could feel the desperation leaking from her pores. Grabbing a handful of dirt, she moved to her knees and threw it on the fire. It hissed and crackled, but continued to consume. Another handful. Then another. Thor moved to join Jane in smothering the flames.

Endnote: The next chapter - I swear - catches up to the prologue. If I can at least get that much achieved before we all die of old age... I'll probably keel over from the shock of it.