The Difference In Capital Letters

Pixie is Misty

When I wake up I'm covered by a brown leather jacket, it smells of smoke and rain, it's unmistakably Loki's. Thinking of the devil, he sits across from me, absorbed in cooking breakfast. Seeing me awake, he moves a little to sit by me, I can't be bothered to sit up properly so I just lean my head on his leg staring numbly into the flames. It's the first night I've not had a 'reality dream' in ages but I don't feel happy, just strangely detached from everything, Loki's the only thing keeping me from being completely detached. Underneath the jokes, he can be serious, but he's serious because he's pained - I don't know what from but I can feel it in the air and in the strange quietness surrounding him right now.

We sit with the silence hanging there for a while, but then it becomes unbearable - this isn't the Loki I've come to know and it hurts to know that it's an act. That's when everything turns upside down, that's when I change. I can suddenly hear everything so much better and I can feel a fierce and animalistic loyalty that wasn't there before, everything is so much sharper and everything smells stronger. I look up at the same time that he looks down, I see a flicker of shock in his golden eyes and then he barks a short laugh.

'Alright there princess? Nice of you to give me a warning before you turned into a wolf.'

I go to answer but a small bark escapes my mouth and as I look at him I can see my reflection. I am a wolf. I don't know how I changed, so I begin to panic - he can sense the panic as I start to whine and in seconds he's turned into a chocolate-brown dog. He playfully licks my face then bounds over the fire.

'Coming princess?' His voice sings through my mind.

'You're kidding right? You're a mongrel pup and you're asking a fierce wolf to come and play tag when I could just rip you to shreds?'

'You wouldn't.'

'Want to test that pixie-boy?'

'I'm not a pixie-boy, I'm a dog - gosh your wolf eyes must be worse than your normal ones, we better get you to a vet.' Loki crows in mock concern.

I lunge at him, springing gracefully over the fire, diving with snapping jaws to catch his leg. But suddenly he's not there, looking around in confusion I notice a raven eyeing me with a strange look, a look of...amusement...Loki. What a cheating dog! I spring up trying to grab at the bird but he takes off with a triumphant caw and I find myself sprawled over the branch in the form of a cobra. I spring from the branch, hissing angrily, landing in the fire. The flames lick the wood I rest on as I search for the raven - only to discover a small mouse eyeing me.

I feel myself changing this time, getting smaller and smaller until I'm smaller than the mouse, I inwardly chuckle as the mouse Loki looks around trying to see where I am. Only when I'm right behind him do I change back into myself and grab him by the tail.

'What a disappointment you are Loki. I was hoping that you were actually going to make that game a little difficult.' I drop him next to me, but before he hits the log, he's changed and just sits there calmly like nothing happened.

'Don't tell ice-king.'

'Why not?'

'He can't that's why - he'll just freak.'

'How do you know he can't, you asked him?'

'It's like a fifth sense, I knew you were a changer and a lighter when I met you - it's like you know I smell of smoke and rain.'

'Oh, okay, anything else you know about me that I don't?'

'Sorry shadow, I thought you knew.'

As he said that Kazi came out the tent, but my mind was still with Loki, as he'd said those words his mind was somewhere else. He was distant. He was alone and remembering something painful, it broke my heart. With Kazi here, Loki's back to normal, cracking jokes and arguing with him. Even his eyes take on their pixie-look again, well I used to think it was a cheeky look, now I realise it's a pained and experienced look, and he's hiding from his past.