Daddy's Little Princess

don't be afraid of the dark

Amara and Loki visit a haunted house together, then Loki does his best to help her after she gets scared. 

It was the day before Halloween, and Amara couldn't wait to get out of school, excited to go to a haunted house for the first time with her father. He had promised that he would take her, providing she didn't have any homework to finish up with first. The clock seemed to move so slowly, much to her dismay, and it felt as if the day would never end. She tried her hardest to focus on the lesson, but she just couldn't stop thinking about the fun time she was about to have, not anticipating just how scary it could possibly be. She doodled in her notebook, making it seem as if she was paying attention, until finally the dismissal bell rang. Music to her ears. She smiled to herself and closed her books, rushing over to her backpack and slung a strap onto her shoulder, running out the door; excited to go greet her father, who had said he would be waiting for her outside. Her eyes lit up brighter than a Christmas tree when she saw him standing there, leaning up against the red brick wall. "Daddy!" she squealed, opening up her arms and dashed over to him, a wide grin on her face. Loki turned to her, squatting down to scoop her up into his arms, holding her tightly in a warm embrace. "Hello princess," he chuckled softly, pulling away just enough to press a sweet kiss on her temple," are you all ready for our little outing together," he asked, looking into her soft, doe-like eyes. She nodded eagerly in response, soon leaving with Loki as he rose up, taking her little hand in his much bigger one. He confirmed that she had no homework before heading down the street with her, in the direction of where the haunted house was located; conveniently no more than a twenty minute walk from the school. 

After some time, the pair soon arrived at the haunted house, heading through the entrance; which had some decorative spiderweb-like stuff around the door frame, as well as some other spooky things like bats and skeleton heads placed on the ground, near the bottom of the entrance way. Amara stayed close to Loki, following right by his side as they walked through the halls, and looked around at anything she could see in the mostly dark room. Loki stayed on high alert, not that he was afraid of anything that might pop out, but just in case he had to soothe his daughter, should things become too much for her. The sound of thunder soon began to roar within the house, the lights started to flicker on and off, making Amara turn in every direction as she had thought that her uncle was nearby. "Uncle Thor?" she called out in a quizzical manner, looking up at Loki to see if he knew anything about where he was. "No sweetie, uncle isn't here," he said, giving her a small smile all while thinking 'at least I certainly hope he isn't.' She nodded in understanding, and then they both proceeded forward, unaware of what was lurking around the very corner. A loud screeching sound could be heard just as a bunch of skeletons popped out of nowhere, eliciting a low gasp from Amara as she held tightly onto Loki's hand. "It's okay princess, they can't hurt you," he tried to reassure her, hoping that she wasn't regretting doing this. They weaved around them and continued on their way, going down a narrow hall where a wicked, deranged laugh could be heard, with explosions going off as they walked by the triggers. Amara felt so afraid, with her body tensing up and hoped that they would reach the end soon, wanting to get out of there as fast as possible; though she chose not to say anything, not wanting her father to think any less of her. 

The further they went, the freakier things got for her. Zombies, killer clowns, ghosts, the sounds of witches cackling in the background, the list of spooky beings and sounds went on; sure, she had seen all of these things before on the television, but they were nothing like she had seen in the cartoons she watched. Certain spots of the place felt cooler than normal and then as if any of that wasn't scary enough to possibly scar the poor girl for quite some time, a figure who had make up done up to make it seem as if part of their face had been torn off jumped out of nowhere with an ax in hand, while laughing maniacally, which had elicited a loud shriek from Amara. Tears began to form in her eyes and she grabbed onto her dad's leg, squeezing as tightly as she could; even though she wanted to dart of that place as fast as her legs would carry her, but stayed near her dad out of fear of being eaten alive or possessed by some spirit that may cross her path. Loki knelt down to her level and wrapped his arms around her, gently rubbing small circles on her back. "Hey, it's okay honey, I won't let anything happen to you. They'll have to get through me first before they can even think about causing you any harm," he assured her, wanting so desperately to sheath his dagger within the mewling quim who had frightened his little girl so terribly, though there would be time for that much later on. Right now, calming his daughter down was his main priority. 

She let a soft sniff out and peered up into his eyes as well, her bottom let quivering just slightly. "Daddy, I'm scared," she admitted, looking down again in shame, expecting Loki to think of her as weak. Though to her surprise, he didn't. Instead, he did just the opposite, even confessing a few fears of his own to her. "It's okay to be scared my dear child, and I can tell you that even I get scared sometimes. I'm afraid of losing you, Axel and mommy, I'm afraid of not being able to protect you if anyone tries to threaten our happiness, and there was even a time when really bad things happened to me, I was afraid that I wasn't going to make it," he confessed, offering Amara a small smile, blinking away tears that threatened to fall down his cheeks as he briefly recalled the brutal torture he had endured, shuddering ever so slightly before shaking it off; not wanting to let it consume him. 

Amara smiled back at him a little and nuzzled her head into his chest, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. "We can be scared together daddy," she said softly, not yet breaking the embrace, "and I will keep you safe from all of the scary things out there, I promise," she said reassuringly, making Loki smile more to himself, with her soon pulling back to look into his eyes. "Aw, thank you pumpkin, I'll do the same for you and your brother, as well as mommy," he replied, his heart feeling warm from the sweet, meaningful words of his daughter. She was like this precious angel who had brought him so much light and love into his life, which he was grateful for. He had never felt as blessed as he did at this moment, and knew that there was definitely some of you shining through her; perhaps she had reminded him of Frigga as well, despite the fact that she was only his mother by adoption. Oh, how he missed her so much, wishing that she was here to see her grandchildren grow up. A small tear rolled down Loki's cheek, with him wiping it away before Amara could notice. "Can we go home and have some candy from our secret stash daddy?" Her sweet voice broke Loki from his thoughts, bringing him back to reality. He picked her up and rose back upright, giving her a small smirk. "Of course we can my little princess."