His True Kingdom

Chapter Twelve - Blending In:

A couple days later...

You woke up to find yourself in the position you'd fallen asleep. Your eyes immediately seeking Loki but he was not on his mattress like he usually would be. Where was he then? You didn't hear any noise in the house either. Did he just leave? You got up from the bed and sharpened your senses. Pushing your hair away from your face, you walked out and looked down at the house from the stairs. There was no one.

"Loki?" you said calmly. There was no response.

"Loki, where are you?" you tried again with a persistent voice. There was no reply again. However, your acute sense of hearing detected a thud. You went downstairs and stood in the middle of your home. Your feet disliked the cold tiles and you headed into the kitchen.

"What was that?"

You spotted a shadow on the curtain of your kitchen window which faced the backyard. You undid it and sighed in relief. You slowly opened the door to the graveyard of your plants and flowers, only to spot Loki's figure distressed under the sunlight. You realized he was not wearing your dad's jeans anymore; this one was an even darker color. His t-shirt was a lighter tone of your ____(f/cf) coffee that you'd have with your boyfriend every afternoon. You pushed the memories out like the plastic chair you just pushed to make more room for Loki.

"What... on 'Earth' are you doing?" you asked with a voice that almost sounded like you were going to interrogate him for a crime. Oops, you didn't mean to sound that way. You bit your lip in your vexation. He stared at you boldly while sunlight glittered on his skin, his eyebrows scowling in desperation to protect his eyes that seemed a darker shade of blue today.

"Blending in..." Loki said as he kept plucking some vines from the ground. You didn't understand what he meant by that, so you stared at him with a blank expression.

"You know, acting mortal and simpler" he looked upon you with a smirk. He always knew a way to make you mad. You sat on the chair and sighed.

"You're going to ruin the garden that is already ruined, Loki" he cautiously put away the plucked dead plant pieces aside and was about to water some nearly dead flowers.

"Are there things like this in Asgard?" from the way he cared for the plants you could feel his sagacity in the subject. Loki smiled.

"I actually had a garden of my own in Asgard. Although the plants here are way more delicate and weak, no wonder why. Nonetheless, they are still similar" he said in a hearty tone.

You were totally blown away by his interest in plants. Before you knew him in person, you always pictured him as an ugly monster that used the extent of all his power to kill and destroy life. You could scarcely contain your astonishment. Little by little, to think that there he was tendering your plants, you felt like you were insane.

"This is just like the flower of grace" Loki's eyes sparkled as he touched the yellow flower that was almost dead.

"That is called rue here... and the plant's meaning is quite the opposite of grace" you spoke as you looked down at the poor plant that you were sure wouldn't come back to life even if Loki cast magic on it.

"I never thought... someone like you would be interested in things like this." you chuckled, worrying he'd get offended at the same time.

Loki chose not to reply, his forehead was barely covered in sweat. He wiped it off with the back of his hand and walked into the shade where you were sitting. He sat down on the chair next to yours, keeping quiet. You felt horrible. What could he do to reverse his mistakes? Nothing could replace the lives he took or people's hearts he broke. What people mistook for madness was a reaction to betrayal. Your heart was growing louder with the pain of your lost lover regardless of your constant internal arguments about Loki's justification.

"I'm sorry..." you stared at his thoughtful face. The dreadful silence was going to kill you. You realized he was looking down at his hands again. Your tummy felt a sharp twist.

"Someone like me..." he whispered. You couldn't breathe for the next five seconds with the extreme terror of guilt. Nothing was heard in the next minute but the birds chirping in a distance.

"Why do you always look at your hands when you are uncomfortable?" you filtered your words carefully. You didn't want to say sad, this would make him become offensive. It was a sign of weakness for him. In the last couple of days that went by super fast, he wasn't doing a very good job hiding himself from you anymore. He'd deny that too, you knew it. He sighed and turned his gaze upon you. His stare made you feel uneasy.

"When I was in Jotunheim, fighting alongside Thor, a frost giant happened to touch my arm with the intent of hurting me. That's when I figured who I really was..." he got up from the chair to go back inside. Without thinking, your hand reached out to his arm to make him stop. He turned to you with a mad and peculiar expression. You immediately wanted to let him go after his intensified glare, but your determination kept you steady.

"There's nothing wrong with who you really are... you were a good kid who happened to go through bad things" you pleaded with a sad face.

"Yes, I 'was'. And I will find peace once I cut my precious BROTHER'S throat for it!" he snarled, shaking your hand off his arm violently and went back inside.

You almost forgot him but he was still there. The trickster and his blackened heart overflowing with anger and hate, they were still there.