Both Monsters (Loki X Reader)

8. Follow your Gut

Y/N's POV:

"Stupid, damn thing! Just work!"

"You know, something tells me hitting it like that, won't actually do it any better." I growled at Loki's sarcastic little observation. Reaching an arm up to the sky, while clutching the teleporter in my hand, I continued to trek up the road. Loki keeping up behind me with ease, his hands buried in his coat pockets.

"If your 'kind' actually bothered to keep devices charged, this wouldn't be such a problem." Pausing to bring the device back down to my face, squinting at the words on the screen. We'd unfortunately come back in the middle of the night, so all I could do was use the dim street lamps along the street to decipher the words.

"I don't think that..."

"Yeah I know! They didn't have the correct type of charging equipment. So how could they..." I quipped, bashing a palm against the gadgets side again. Watching as the screen flickered slightly.

"Well, no actually. I was going to say, ''I don't think that charging your teleporter would have been their priority when you, my Darling, had been sentenced to life in prison." Loki snickered, his smirk appearing under the yellow light. I huffed, rolling my eyes as I began walking off again. A sharp gust of wind nipped at my cheeks as the leaves crunched under our feet; weak, yellow lights occasionally flickering overhead. Hunkering down in my coat further, I watched my frustrated breath leave my body. "We've been walking for hours, why don't we pause for tonight? We can figure out a new route in the light." Loki offered as my body involuntarily shivered again. I sighed, finally taking in our surroundings. The street seemed fairly abandoned.

We continued walking a bit further, turning off the main road. Tucking the teleporter away into my coat pocket, I pulled my arms up and around my body, hugging myself tight. House after house passed. Eventually linking an arm through Loki's, pressing us closer together, suddenly feeling something prickle up my neck. Hairs standing on end. Another shiver ran down my spine, but this time it wasn't from the bitter wind. Something wrapped around my legs, dragging me to a halt. I could feel Loki's questioning eyes on me, yet mine were too busy darting around the neighbourhood we'd just strolled into. It felt oddly familiar. My grip on Loki loosened as I was drawn to a particularly derelict building to my left.

The old porch creaking with every movement as I gingerly climbed up the steps to the front door. Despite the level of decay around it the lock appeared fairly new; titanium perhaps. Running a hand under the window ledge, situated to the right of the door, my fingers brushed against something cool, like I had done this so many times before. Gently tugging what seemed to be a key from its hiding place, I took a deep breath before sliding it into the lock. With a single click the door slowly shuddered open on its own. That same force dragging me across the threshold. Then I was choking again.

That smell. It lived buried deep in my bones. The way it clung to my clothes. Catching in the back of my throat, building up that sickening feeling it left burning in me. Overwhelming me.

Walls that had been a dull white once, a white that could have slowly turned you insane. Now they were grey and speckled with mould. Corse, navy carpets, flowing from one room into the next, coaxing you in further. Wires hanging from the ceiling like a dead man, with their bulbs blown out long ago, along with the hope of any fresh running water. As you get closer to the stairs the white paint on the walls appear to bubble and char more. The bannisters coated in a thick layer of soot, stairs screaming with every ascending step. Somewhere distant Loki's voice came from behind as I continued climbing upstairs, now entranced.

Reaching the top was almost like flicking a switch. A jarring shift between what downstairs had looked like and what remained above it. Rotting boards continued to creak as they struggled to hold my weight. Absentmindedly running curious fingers over the ash that clung to the walls, leaving a discoloured trail behind me. The stench of smoke and iron tugged me closer to the end of the landing. Bleeding out from the room ahead. A metal door stood between me and the heady smell. Reaching out a hand, and gently brushing my fingers over the surface the door gave-way. Watching as it collapsed in front of me, sending a cloud of ash into the air.

Distant screams echoed from the room, or were they in my head? Coughing the ash from my lungs and deciding to take an advancing step over the fallen door into the room. As the grey cloud settled once more, it unveiled the destruction of an unrecognisable room. Completely gutted. There was no longer a carpet, the walls were bare and dark, and the ceiling was caving in on itself. The furniture no longer looked safe enough to touch without the fear of it disintegrating into a pile of dust. Yet perfectly set in the middle of the room was some torn paper and a one eyed, stuffed rabbit...

"Bunny" my voice came as a whisper, creeping towards the items on the floor. Kneeling on the ground I reached a shaking hand out to the toy, which like the rest of the room had accumulated a heavy coating of ash and dust. As my fingers brushed the surface, I squeezed my eyes shut.

"Here you go Darling, a bunny for my lil Bunny." my hand recoiled with a snap, as if the Rabbit had spoken the words itself. I grimaced, turning away. Quickly collecting the shredded remains of what appeared to be a photo. Rearranging them on the floor to reveal a family. Father, Mother and Daughter. Sighing, I squeezed my eyes tightly, forbidding the tears to escape.

"Still weak!" Snapping my eyes back open and glaring at the photo again, I shook my head. "You can't mock me anymore!" I growled to myself, as something gently touched my shoulder.

"Darling? Are you okay?" Loki's soft, concerned voice was like a lifeline, dragging me back from the depths. "Y/N, say something. You're worrying me." Lifting a hand I placed my fingers over his, hearing Loki's slight sigh of relief from above me. "I thought you were in a trance. You wouldn't respond. I was calling your name, almost yelling." He continued, and yet he had been right. Not once had I heard him speak my name. Consumed by the invisible string wrapped tightly around me. Loki had moved around to crouch in front of me, tilting my chin up to look at him. "Are you okay?" his voice close to a whisper, face saying it all. A straight line that was supposed to be his lips, headed tilted slightly and eyes lowered to search over my features. Clearly hoping to find the spirit still left somewhere in this body.

"Sorry." it was more blunt than I had intended to come out. He pulled his hand from my chin, taking a step back and further into the room. Immediately I wanted the contact back, it had been grounding.

"I suppose you never heard my question either?" Loki mused, glancing down at you. Plainly the expression on your face must have given him his answer, as a smirk tugged at the corner of his lip. He eyed what remained of a metal bed frame, before lightly resting against it. "What do you think happened? Other than a fire of course, because no-one could have survived with this amount of damage left behind." Loki's eye once again taking in the room we occupied. I sighed, this was going to be difficult.

"There was one survivor..." Loki's eyes snapped back to me, trying to work out if he had heard me correctly. Eventually scoffing.

"That's impossible. Unless you're talking about that creepy, stuffed rabbit." I could feel his eyes rolling through his words. I lifted my lips into a small smile, reaching back out for the bunny. You aren't creepy I thought, running my other hand across the matted fur.

"No, not the bunny." I mumbled, letting my eyes drift over its battered body. Chunks of its fur now missing and limbs crudely sewn back on. "It's not impossible for someone to survive if they started the fire." I smiled at the bunny, brushing a thumb over its missing eye.

"How could you know that?" I could feel Loki approaching me again, lowering his body to be level with mine. Eye's flicking briefly to look at the photo I'd put back together before locking them with Loki's.

"Because I started the fire..."