If by chance(just trust me...)

Part 1

"Maybe it's not about the happy ending... Maybe it's about the story"

Cara westward swallow-vale  was having a perfectly good evening till the boy showed up, thank you very much. A bubbling cup of hot chocolate and battered copy of the princess bride cluttered her side board and for once, maybe... just maybe... she could have forgotten about... oh that didn't matter now. But she was having a good evening. The best in a while actually. No nightmares the past few nights. No screams. Just peace. And then of course the bloody universe just had to ruin that.
The boy hit her wooden tiled floor like a rhinoceros raised by pirates and stumbled to his feet with a confused expression on his face, rather reminding Cara of those little blue face monkeys you see in the mountains.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry, shit what happened I didn't think... OH Odin, where am I...?" He stammered as the words tumbled out of his gaping mouth. His monologue was cut short as he noticed the girl looking at with with something reminiscent of... was that annoyance? He'd just flown out of what looked like... yes was that a mirror and she hadn't even batted an eye lid. But now she was talking and in his confusion he managed to make out her words.
"OH NO YOU DON'T YOU ASSHOLE COME ON *CHANCE* GIVE ME ONE NIGHT WHERE THE MUNDANES DON'T COME CALLING OR WHEN YOU FIRE A 'CHOSEN ONE' THROUGH THAT BLOODY MIRROR" she seemed to be addressing the house itself and for a second Loki, yes that was his name now wasn't it, thought she must be quite mad. But then she turned her gaze on him and all thoughts of madness were blown quite clear from his jumbled up mind as her clear honeycombed eyes of molten amber met his sparking jade ones and he felt the pure heat radiating from her.

Cara took a deep breath to calm herself and took a step closer to the skinny young man standing shakily in front of her. "Name?"
"Pardon?" He gulped; oh dear god Cara thought, this is ridiculous.
"What. Is. Your. Name?" She stated slowly. I mean she was used to the newcomers being slow to catch in but this was... really!
"L-Loki " the tiresome adolescent male replied; finally finding his voice.
"Loki, prince of Asgard, god of mischief, now if you would be so kind as to tell me where in the purgatory abyss I am?"
This was so bizarre Cara couldn't help but find herself laughing.
"You think you're in hell? Well isn't that a surprise, usually when they come in here they think that place up there first but as I'm about to disappoint the ass off you on both factors i hope you take kindly to what I am about to tell you to do." Here she gestured to an old melted wax candle. "Ok to wrap this conversation up - light this candle and sniff it. You have no reason to trust me but after 83 years of trying to explain the universe to idiots I had to ask for a better solution.
The scent should place you in a trance of about 5 seconds long, it explains everything and leaves my butt free to read for an extra while. Got it?"

Loki was far from having got it, but this girl was rather terrifying and he thought it best for once to listen to someone's orders. He scrambled over to the mantle the candle rested on, feeling the heat from the fire beneath burn into his legs. He lit the candle.
*Memories flooded over him, he saw faces, strong blue eyes and tears as a scarred man wept over his dead body, he saw the light dancing around his fallen spirit and the chaotic spin of silence as he heard a tale. A tale of chance. A tale of a place called chance. A place where fallen soldiers are sent. Where humans... people, were give a choice. A choice of a fresh start. A start that begins in the place called chance.*
Loki reeled backwards, his head spinning in panic. "Wait so-so I've-i can try again?! I can go home?"

Cara paused. She looked at this snowy haired boy in front of her, his dark skin contrasting vividly with his open, hopeful eyes and wondered how anyone could bear it, bear going home after seeing death, seeing the people they loved torn from you in one hundred ways. But of course she hid this from her face. "Sure," she shrugged, "you died and were given another chance, it's not up to me what you do with that." "You can stay here for as long as you like, try the fifth room one the left, just stay out of my way." Cara turned to go.
"Excuse me?" Loki asked; Cara sighed without turning round.
"Yes?"
But this time it was Lokis' turn to surprise her.
"What, if I may ask, is your name?"
Cara hid a sudden smile. It had been a long time since someone had bothered asking her that.
"Cara." And with that she strode out of the room, her bobbed blonde hair quickly ducking out of view.

Loki grinned. It was the grin of someone who had seen a lot. It was the grin of someone who had been the cause of that lot. But it was also the grin of someone who had found hope again; and, in his eyes, Cara was the one that had given him that hope. He made his way hastily out of the room, strode up the spiraling stairs of tawny mahogany and walked along the whitewashed candle lit corridor counting the doors as he went. Gently tapping on the fifth door along before going in he slipped the door shut as to not cause inconvenience. He turned. His mouth fell open. The room(if it could even be called that) stretched high above his head, great boughs of carved wood depicting legends of Greek, Egyptian and his personal favorites for he was depicted in many a tale, the Norse myths.  It held host to an ornate desk and a glass wardrobe displaying an array of clothes. The bed was plain, with white bed sheets and wooden knobs. But Loki didn't mind. Of course he didn't. To him plain was perfect.
"So this is why Cara was talking to you, I thought she was quite mad, but no... you're alive." He whispered, breath-taken. Quite unexpectedly he giggled.
"My lord, I could have gone anywhere, but no I got thrown into the only living house in all the realms." He elegantly slipped over to the window.
"Oh and on Earth too how delightful, nice to see those ignorant pessimists again,"
Loki sat down on the bed, it creaking like an old man at his weight. Soon enough he was taken over by the strangest desire to laugh.

And that was the last Cara heard from the god of mischief for the rest of that night, his loud, eager, and most importantly vividly happy laugh. And as it tailed off into silence she allowed herself a small chuckle too. A chuckle at the clumsy boy, who also seemed to have the same grace as a swan, who had been thrown into her life at five past nine in the evening and asked her her name. Because, as she knew too well, once you know someone's name, well, you know them for life.