Loki's Last Chance

Running out of Time

Loki POV

Mari rested her head against my chest as she kept applying pressure to her abdomen.

"Loki?" she asked weakly.

I was careful to be aware of where I was running as I answered, "Yeah?"

"Do you have any fears? Wh-what scares you?"

I quickly looked down to see that she was just staring at my chest, her eyes sort of glazed with shock. I had to keep her conscious and aware.

"At the moment, I'm scared of losing you. I've lost both of my adopted parents and Thor believes me dead. If you die, I lose my best friend."

"We haven't talked since you started getting really distant. I'm still your best friend?" She asked.

"You're my only friend." I smiled slightly at that truth.

"What... what about Thor?"

"I've pushed too many of his buttons for him to ever trust me again."

She got quiet as I ran past the waterfall. I looked to make sure she was still awake. She looked exhausted and her breathing was slightly labored.

"You know what I'm worried about?" Mari asked.

"Dying?" It seemed like a good guess to me.

"No." She let out a slow breath. "I'm worried about what will happen to you."

"What? Why?"

Her answer really caught me off guard. Why should she feel anything towards me? Let alone worry over me.

"I'm scared of what will happen when people find out that you are posing as Odin. How they'll punish you... That's one of the reasons I w-went to talk to you... If there's any chance for you to get out unscathed is if you confess and turn yourself in to Thor. He might grant you amnesty."

I thought about what she said. Gripping Mari a little tighter, I made a silent plee to any real god out there. 'If she lives through this, I swear, I will confess to my brother and take care of Mari untill she is at full strength. Then Thor can punish me any way he sees fit.'

I looked down again and saw that she was struggling to keep her eyes open.

"Come on, hang in there for me! We're over half way there."

"I don't know Loki... I'm just so tired." she sighed as more tears formed in her eyes.

"You can do it. Just stay awake untill I get you to the nurses." I prompted.

"Loki... Can you promise... me something?"

"Anything, Love... What is it?"

Mari gave a weak smile and looked up at my face. "Make up with Thor? He misses you so much and he blames himself for your death. All he did to you was out of love and concern... He just wishes you knew that he forgave you... a long time ago." she took a deep, painful breath. "Just... Ease his pain a little."

I let out a small laugh as my heart did a little dip in my chest. "Even in your possibly last moments, you put others before you. I'll try, Maria, I'll truly try."

I sped up my sprinting as I realized her eyes were barely open and her breathing was slowing.

We arrived at the tunnel leading back to Asgard within a couple minutes. It was a good thing I was always a fast runner. I was never strongest, but I could sure leave them in the dust.

Mari was just barely holding on.

The tunnel was dark and dry, and the only sounds were my footsteps and breathing. I looked down to check on her as I ran and what I saw made my gut do a flip. Her eyes were fully shut and I could feel her heartbeat slowing ever so slightly.

It didn't take long to get to the palace from there, but in my mind it felt like an eternity. I ran through the halls down to the small hospital wing that was always full of highly qualified nurses.

When they saw me, they immediately took Mari from my arms and rushed her into an intensive care room. I stood there for a bit, just watching the women rushing around, in and out of the room.

I slowly walked to my room and washed the blood off of me. Changing into a clean set of clothes, I felt almost numb.

All this time, Mari had tried to put me in a better spot, believing I could still change. How could she think that a murderer like me could ever be saved. A monster that left nothing but death in its wake.

Now even she might be dead because of me.

I sat on the edge of my bed. My room had been kept in good condition after my 'death'. My queen-sized bed sat in the centre of the room with a closet to the left and side table to the right. On the wall across from it sat my bookshelves that were full with my favorite books.

I stared at the spines of those books and remembered all the fairytales Frigga had read to us as kids with all their happy endings. There wasn't going to ever be a happy ending for a villain like me.

Standing back up, I left my room. The hallways were quiet as I walked. When I got back to the infirmary, the nurses looked considerable more relaxed.

They gave me odd looks of course. I was supposed to be dead. But apparently it wasn't unusual anymore for me to show up alive.

A light haired woman walked up to me and smiled slightly. "She should make it through, my lord. She's unconscious still, but is now stable."

"Thank you." I said turning away and walking back down the hall.

I got to the throne room and found a young servant boy.

"Boy! Has prince Thor returned from Midgard yet?" I asked.

"No, sir." he replied, bowing.

I knelt to be at his eye level. "Do you know how to ride, son?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good... Take a horse from the palace stables and go to Heimdall. Tell him to call Thor back as soon as possible, OK?"

The boy nodded and ran off.

I walked over and sat on the steps leading to the throne, putting my face in my hands. I sighed.

Mari was still alive and Thor was on the way. This was how I wanted it to go, didn't I? Mari survives and I confess to Thor. So far so good, but why was I so nervous?

A/N
Some of you may have noticed the 'Maria' I slipped in there. No, it wasn't a mistake. I wrote a couple head cannons for my characters as a writing exercise, and the Maria is significant to one of them. I may post those head cannons separately at some point, but untill then pay no mind to the random Maria's I slip in.