Dark Stars [A Loki Fanfiction]

Chapter 4

Warnings: mention of blood

She ran through the woods, as fast as she could in her current state. It was so dark that she could barely see her own feet, but she had to keep running; guards of the Asgardian palace had found her resting in the darkest part of the forest and decided to make her their prey. An intruder, a young woman, poisoned and slowly dying. She had fought, ending more than half of them, and finally managed to escape. But she had been chased ever since. Her reactions in their fight had been too slow, and one of those beasts had managed to impale his sword in her shoulder before she could flee. Now, with every moment her mind was getting more and more fogged. Her vision was blurry with tears and poison, and she knew that death was not far. What a disgraceful way to die; torn apart clothes, covered in scratches and mud. All alone.

She had never been caught before, unless she wanted to be. But with the poison draining her magic and every little bit of life from her, she was not in a condition to do anything about this situation. And she knew what the allfather did to trespassers. She had grown up with the stories about his cruelty and the dangers that lurked in the shadows of the palace. And now, that would be the place she would die. Alone in the darkness of a cell, without anyone who would even mind her fading from this world.

She felt way too warm and yet too cold at the same time. It must be the poison. The pain of her injuries was gone now, the aching of her muscles, it had all faded into plain white heat.

She could hear the guards closing in on her and before she knew what was going on, she tripped over a root and world around her became too blurred to tell when the guards had caught up with her, and she didn't care. She could only think of one thing. Bright green eyes and raven hair. "Loki..." Was the last thing she breathed over and over again before a guard hit her in the head with the end of his staff. Then, she sank into darkness.

She woke up in a bright room, way too bright actually. Her eyes fluttered shut again for a moment. She remembered being carried, roughly thrown to the ground and left alone. She willed her eyes to open and pushed herself up enough to lean against the wall behind her. The pain in her body made her yelp first, then groan in frustration. Looking around in the room, she quickly realized that this must be the prison of the palace. That was all her strength allowed her to see before her eyes fell shut once again.

After a long debate with himself about whether or not he should actually do this, Loki was hiding in the shadows of the hallway, waiting for the guards to pass by. Then he transformed his appearance to be that of a guard as well, with a mere wave of his hand.

While he continued his way towards the prison, he groaned to himself. He must be insane. Walking right into the place he had spent months in, maybe years even, locked up and forgotten. Only for the sake of a stupid, puny, ridiculously rude peasant who had dared to speak to him in such a... teasing... way. He couldn't have explained to anyone why he was doing what he was doing and feeling what he was feeling. It confused him to a great extend. But he just had to see her.

Once he reached the entrance to the prisons, the guards did not hinder his passing. After all, he looked like one of them.

"Where is the new one?" He asked, trying to keep the anger out of his voice.

"The cell in the far back. The large one, you know, where..."

But Loki had already stormed off into the direction the guard had pointed. Why was he even doing this, why why why... Jumping off the balcony seemed perfectly sane to him in comparison to this madness. But he had to see her. It was as if an unknown force pulled him towards that cell. He hated every second of it.