All The Little Pieces

Your True Form

Author's Note: This chapter contains sexual content. Please be advised prior to reading, if this topic makes you uncomfortable.

Loki strode briskly down the corridor to his chamber. It was fully dark and the torches reflected pools of light on the marble floor. The meeting had gone far longer than he wanted, and he was impatient to see Elizabeth. Earlier he had asked her to wait for him in his rooms, in case the meeting was lengthy. Although she refused to admit it, he could see the wariness in her eyes at being alone in her chambers, and it was easy for someone to find her rooms, if they wished.

Loki stopped in front of his door and turned the key, then swirled a complicated pattern on the metal lock with his long fingers. He had locked it using both the key and magic after he left her. The door was noiseless as he pushed it open.

His eyes softened at the sight of Elizabeth asleep on the bed. She had clearly been reading and drifted off; a small book lay open against her leg, and her head had slid down the pillows propped behind her. He quietly changed into his bed clothes, took the book from her hand, and climbed into bed next to her, pulling the covers over them both. Loki closed his eyes and relaxed, feeling himself drifting.

The next thing he knew, he felt his shoulders being shaken. "Loki! Loki! Wake up! Loki-" He jerked up to a sitting position so quickly that Elizabeth toppled over backward on the bed.

He stared at her in wide eyed confusion. "What? What's the matter?"

She looked at him as though he were crazy. "What's the matter? You were having a nightmare. You were thrashing and yelling." Elizabeth scooted next to him and rubbed his back gently. "Are you ok?"

Loki nodded, not meeting her eyes. "It was only a dream, I'm fine."

She laid her head on his shoulder. "Will it help if you tell me about it?"

He heaved a deep sigh. "Probably not. I've dreamt it hundreds of times. I was in Jotunheim, fighting the giants. There are too many of them. They knock me to the ground, and I expect them to kill me, but they grab me instead. When they touch me, my skin turns blue and I realize I'm one of them. I scream and try to tell them I'm Asgardian, but they laugh. Usually, I see my parents and brother watching. They don't come to my aid, because they've seen what I am, and when I cry out to them for help, they turn and leave me." He swallowed hard and paused. "Tonight, you were there with them."

Elizabeth stroked his hair. "It was a dream. I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere." She frowned. "I'm sorry you have to go to Jotunheim."

"I hate it," he said quietly. "Not because I fear the giants...I remember the time Thor and I were there, when I discovered that Odin had stolen me away as a baby. My whole life, Odin taught Thor and I that the Jotun were monsters, a race that would have been better wiped from the universe."

"Then I discovered my true parentage, I was one of the monsters...I hated myself, and I hated Odin for lying to me all those years. I still despise that part of me. No one but Heimdall and Odin have ever seen my Jotun form. Everyone would run from me."

Elizabeth's expression was pained. "Loki...I'm, I don't even know what to say. You're not a monster. I would never fear you."

He glanced at her, disbelief clear on his face.

"Try me," she said. "I told you I'm yours, but I want you to be mine, too, even the parts you hide."

Loki gazed unblinking into her eyes. Blue spread from his hairline, down his face and neck, and throughout his body. When his emerald eyes changed fully to a deep red, he finally looked down.

Elizabeth leaned forward and kissed his icy lips. A smile spread across her face and she kissed him again. "Wow," she breathed. "That's incredible."