Shattered Reflection

Chapter Sixteen

Loki's POV

I am utterly destroyed inside.

Reuka is so much like her, too much like her. It feels like the ghost of my love is around me whenever Reuka is near. It hurts. It hurts so much. I just want her back, I need her back. I don't know how I'll ever be able to go back to my normal life without her. 

I sigh and get up from my seat. I walk over to my chamber's window, overlooking the city. I can't stay here forever. I'll have to go back to Asgard eventually. Especially since the challenge for Reuka's hand will be soon. I'll leave before the wedding. I don't belong there and it will remind too much of what I almost had.

I suddenly hear a distant melody. It reminds me of her. Its so haunting, its beautiful. I leave my room in search of the music. I wonder the halls, going where the sound grows louder. The song is so piercing, I can feel it in my soul. 

I eventually come across to the room that holds the source of the music. I peak inside and see Reuka playing the Sou-Lee. I can't see her face, but I know its her. The music she's making is so tortured, so painful. I feel like I can hear all her emotions. 

She suddenly stops and whips around. Her cheeks are stained with tears and she stares at me. Those eyes, they're full of so much pain and fear. I can't look at them. I'll break.

I storm away from the room and down the hall. I hear a cry of agony and a burst of power, its Reuka. She probably destroyed the room again. I stop and lean against the wall and I slide down until I'm sitting on the floor. 

I go to brush the hair out of my face, but, as I touch my face, I realize I'm crying.  I lean my head back against the wall and let the tears fall, rolling down my cheeks. I let my pain out. I feel so hurt and lost. 

I remember her smile and her laugh. All her little jokes and pranks... 

I took it all for granted. I should've been there that night. I should've stopped it. I could've saved her. Its all my fault she died and I hate myself for it. The world has been pulled from under me yet again. 

I don't know how long I sat there, but I eventually drift off.

Its that music again. That music that Reuka was playing. I look around, but I'm not where I was before. I'm in a hallway, no doors. Only windows on either side, the moonlight is the only thing that illuminates the room. 

I make my way towards the music and I eventually come to the end of the hallway and there is a single door. I place my hand on the doorknob and turn it. I push the door open and look inside. 

The music is gone, but someone is standing in the middle of the room. Their blond hair shining from the moonlight.

"Loki...?"  That voice... Its her. Its been too long since I've heard her beautiful voice.

"Darling? Is it really you?" I ask, my voice full of hope.

"Of course its me. Who else would it be?"  She said and I began crying.

I reached out to my love, to my reason to live. I grabbed her shoulder. She's real, she's here. I spin her around. I came face to face with those blue eyes, those eyes I missed.

But they're cold.

"Why didn't you save me? Its your fault I'm dead."

My eyes shift down and I see the red stain around her heart. I pull away in horror. No no no no no no. Please, gods, no.

"Why did you let me die?"

I watch in horror as blood runs down her dress and pools around her feet.

"Do I not deserve to be happy?"

You deserve that and so much more, my darling.

"Did you not love me?"

I feel those words piece me to my core. I feel my world shatter and the floor falls from under me. I fall and fall and fall. I blink and I'm suddenly standing in front of some old gates. It appears to be a garden of  some sort.

I reach out to the gate and it swings open. I cautiously head inside and look around. White roses and vines line the wall and a strange rock is in the center of the garden. I walk up to it and the vines clear and I read the engraving

              "Here lies                                                                                                                                                                             Princess Natalia"

         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"An angel taken too quick..."

I back away from the stone in horror. What twisted reality is this? Why is her grave in a place like this?

I hear a muffled scream behind me and I quickly turn. Its her, but she wrapped in thorny vines and blood drips onto the grass.

I go to run to her side, but a vine wraps itself around my leg and stops me from saving her. I struggle against the foliage and I cut my hands trying to rip it off me. I look at her desperately, helplessly and she cries against her sharp bonds. 

The vines suddenly release her and she looks at me in relief. The vine retracts from my leg as well and I run towards her, but, just before our hands touch, she stops and a look of shock graces her face. She falls to the grass and I cry out.

I fall to my knees in front of her and see a knife sticking out of her back. She's dead again. I lost her, again.

I fly awake and I wipe the tears from my face, her name on my lips.

"Natalia..."