Golden Horns and Red Thorns

Memories of the Soul

If the title isn't enough of an explanation of what this chapter is, and you're confused, read until the end for a lil explanation. I'll be posting this chapter and the next back-to-back so it makes more sense :) (added pictures to show time jumps)

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LOKI

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"I love you, Tera. I love you." I breathed out, grabbing her arm slightly as I leaned in to kiss her.

Her lips were soft - so soft. Her hand came up to the back of my neck to deepen the kiss. My hand moved to her waist, pulling her so close to me it felt like we had become one. I pulled away, looking in her eyes. The amount of love that was within stunned me. I felt so strongly for her.

She smiled at me, the dimple on her right cheek appearing, her right eye closing more than the left. I smiled back, but something felt... off. My grin faltered as I realized that this felt right. Too right. The air felt different - stagnant but comforting. Tera's smile began to fade as well.

"What is it, Loki?" She asked. I put my finger to her lips, silencing her, before grabbing her wrist and pulling her away.

"Someone's coming." I said in a hushed tone.

'Someone's coming? What? Why did I say that?' I thought. I had no control over my tongue - my voice. The words that were coming out of my mouth didn't feel like mine, but they were. 'I've seen this before. I've said this before. What the hell is going on?'

I pulled Tera behind a shelf, as I realized where we were. We were in the library. In the palace. On Asgard. 'But why? How? We were just on the battle field. Asgard is no more...'

I looked at Tera and took her appearance in. She was in her guard uniform, her hair pinned up and out of her face as much as she could. It was short, about chin length like it had been years ago. The shiny gold of her uniform made a sound every time she moved, only half of her face was visible by the faint candlelight that was emitted from the center table of the library. 'This isn't making any damn sense'.

I glanced down to the chest plate she wore and came at an utter loss for words when I saw my reflection. It was me. The... old me. My hair was chopped short and slicked back, a strand of it falling into my wide green eyes. I wore the casual attire that I usually did. The dark green of my tunic almost looked black in this light, the silver squares adorning the collar and flaps of my tunic and pants underneath glimmered.

"Who is-" She whispered, but I slapped my hand over her mouth before she could finish, without even thinking.

Then I remembered. This was a memory. The first night I had kissed Tera Rose. Having a relationship with anyone who worked in the palace wasn't forbidden, but it was extremely frowned upon. I had heard footsteps after kissing her, and yanked her to the back of the book shelves in the library.

I leaned down to capture her lips with mine once more. At that moment, I felt the air change for a second time.

--

She pushed me away from her with force, making me stumble backwards and breaking the kiss. She looked at me wide-eyed and angry as her hand came up to cover her mouth. We had been arguing.

"Tera..." I breathed out.

"Did you mean it?" She whispered shakily.

"Tera I-"

"No. Did you mean it?" She demanded, her voice stronger now as she mentally started building up the walls again.

"You know that I didn't, darling." I sighed, taking a step towards her. The words came out of my mouth like muscle memory, I had no control over it.