Bibbidi Bobbidi Asgard: A Cinderella AU (Loki x F!Reader)

Chapter 5: Dancing With Death

Warnings: injury, blood

It took a few seconds for your brain to restart amid the earth shatteringly loud screams that filled the great palace hall but when it finally clicked over you knew exactly what to do. Pushing yourself through the crowd, which was full of people with absolutely no idea where they were going or what to do - honestly, nobles were beyond useless in times of crisis - you squished through the bodies until you reached the next nearest servants' door.

Clicking the panel open with ease, you began shepherding people through the door and down into the secondary tunnels. Once people started funnelling their way down, you shoved your way over to the final door and opened that one up too. With all three servants' doors open, the crowd began to disperse a lot faster and the overwhelming feeling of panic within the guests subsided a little.

As the sounds of battle grew closer, you told the nobles in the tunnel to follow the path down to the safe rooms and wait there until someone came to find them. Thankfully they didn't make you tell them twice, shuffling through the dark underbelly of the palace without questioning your authority once.

Closing the nearest floor behind the final guests, you went to cross the room and hide the entrances to the other passageways when a battalion of soldiers backed their way into the great hall, weapons clearly in defensive. Whoever had attacked the palace had the best warriors on Asgard practically running away with their tails between their legs. The sensible part of your brain told you to get the hell out of there but for some stupid reason you stayed put.

From where you were hiding behind the throne - Odin's throne... Oh, how he would kill you if he found out you had gone anywhere near it - you couldn't see much but the second you laid eyes on the armoured warriors charging their way into the great hall you knew who they were. Dissidents from the outlying villages who weren't happy with the way Asgard was being run. Unfortunately, they were some of the best metal workers in the entire kingdom and had obviously been training hard too.

It soon became clear that the dissidents weren't just here to ruin the ball, though. They were looking for something. Or someone. Almost certainly Odin, you reasoned. It wouldn't be the first time that a group of people had invaded the palace to try and kill him. It certainly wouldn't be the last, either.

Looking around the hall for a way out, grateful that someone had had the sense to close the servants' doors from inside the tunnels, you found yourself trapped. Hiding in the shadows wouldn't work for long, you feared; a worry that was quickly realised when a nearby attacker laid eyes on you.

He struck down the palace guard that tried to jump in his way with ease and strode towards you, a dark focus in his eyes. Holding his sword out so the tip touched your chest, he grinned as your breathing became uneven and your entire body began to shake. "You would make a wonderful trophy, my lady."

"I'm only a servant, sir," you breathed, trying and failing to keep your wits about you.

"That's even better. No one to miss you." He leant closer, backing you even further against the wall. You had nowhere to go, no space to try and fight back - not that you would, for doing so would definitely get you killed. You felt the sharp tip of his blade pressing against your chest as he said, "You must know where the royal safe rooms are."

You merely nodded, not trusting yourself to speak now that the blade was getting ever closer to piercing your skin.

"Odin and the princes will be there?" You nodded again, your earlier suspicions of their motive for being here confirmed. "Take me, then."

He grabbed you by the arm and spun you against his chest, his blade against your neck as he held you from behind. He called over two of his friends and the four of you slipped away from the battle unnoticed by the palace guards - who were far too caught up in the fighting to notice you leave the hall.