His True Kingdom

Chapter Fifty Five - Goodbye:

"Was it absolutely necessary?" Loki softly asked as he pushed the big door open to where you'd been led to by one of odd looking servants of Freyja. You bit your lip and decided to keep quiet about anything he would say whether it would be something as trivial as whining about bringing lots of food and supplies to your room or something as serious as what happened with him and Thanos after your teleportation. You didn't dare to ask anything about that just yet but you were going to very soon.

You pushed back the door and closed it with your right foot after thanking the servant and had a good look around the room. It was not as detailed and royal as your place in Asgard. First thing that caught your eyes was the simple king size bed on your left and a sturdy looking wardrobe by the wall. The room was dimly lit by candles on the walls just as every other place you'd been in the castle. There were no rugs, no golden embroidery anywhere but simple carved stone work. The big window across the room was very catchy with silver lights peeking in and contrasting with the radiance of the fire of the candles. It was morning when you left Asgard but time in Vanaheim reminded you of a calm night back on Earth.

You saw that Loki slowly headed towards the bed and sat down; his back was turned to you while he kept his silence. You sighed and placed everything in your hand on the bed far away from him as you were too occupied in observing his jet raven hair. You waited so long to talk to him but now you were almost too scared to ask him anything and you didn't understand why that was. Before you started to approach him, you heard a little grunt from his direction and realized that his right hand was a fist. You frowned in your suspicion and approached him from his back. He slowly turned around to look at you with an odd, criticizing face. You jumped back as a green layer of light started to clear away from his features like a silky blanket—a snake changing its skin. There was a mortifying detail about Loki's change in his appearance because what came out under did not turn out to be better.

"Oh my god, what have they done to you?" you whispered and your eyes instantly filled up with tears to see him this way. You absentmindedly dropped your backpack by the bed and approached him. Loki could hardly keep a good feature on his face and took a deep breath.

"I did not wish you to see this. But I am drained of strength to even keep my illusions intact at the moment" his dark eyes glared at the window, "so forgive me for allowing you to witness the parting gifts of Odin" he snarled.

You shook your head and said nothing. Loki seemed to be completely destroyed other than still having his playfulness. His seemingly unaware eyes were glued to the window not to look at you—you saw that his hair was very messy and his skin whiter than snow. His cheekbones seemed too high and almost forcefully carved outwards; you could almost feel the dryness of his lips. You regarded the small cuts on his face and the big marks going around and down his neck. His ripped shirt was barely there not to expose the horrors marked across his chest. Your expression turned to an expression of disgust, yet it was not towards him. It was towards Odin who you immediately felt an undeniable urge to punish. You suddenly walked away back to where you brought in various supplies and grabbed the wide wooden bowl of water and brought it to him. Doing so drew his notice on you.

"You don't have to hide behind any mask around me Loki. Try to relax for once... as hard as it may be for anyone right now" you dreamily said and looked around in search of a cloth to dip it in water. Loki clenched his jaw and stared at you. You gave him a questioning look and tore apart a piece of the blanket on the bed and dipped it in water and tilted your head.

"Take off your shirt so I can clean you up" you said with fear and a twist in your tummy.

"I don't wish to be impertinent..." he defied your order quickly but you were also quick to interrupt his words.