All Too Well

Chapter 4

Nottingham, the United Kingdom.

Pieces of fallen leaves crack beneath my feet as I alight from the motorcycle with Loki's shadow following, his eyes clouded with thousands of emotion flitting across. I lag towards the immense garage that stands feebly despite the vicissitudes, leaving only a narrow path for light to illuminate the hollow space. Stacks of worn-out tyres lies abandoned at a dim corner fagged, the irridescence they once possessed extinguished.

"Where have you brought us?" I smirk in content as Loki mumbles hesitantly from behind.

"Not the Refuge."

"Crucial hint." he satirizes. I can almost see him rolling his eyes at my back.

The keys in my hand struggle vigorously as I fiddle with the key ring before inserting one of them into the keyhole of the safe that stays lethargic inside the gloomy storage room, revealing its interior as it opens with a click.

I stuff the suitcase into the safe and fling it close violently with Loki's brows furrowing in doubt.

"It will be super safe here. No one is ever gonna find it." I pat the cold surface of the safe and reassure inattentively as he lowers himself to sit on a car wheel, his eyes laughing with gloat.

"Amen."

I frown with a wry smile and approach him slowly.

"Please...just trust me for once, will you?"

His eyelashes droop in pondering manner as I study his expression carefully.

"The stone...what does it do actually?"

"Expands, shortens, compresses and twists time." he answers shortly and I lean against the blackened wall, the lingering smell of petrol invading my nose.

"I was hoping that it is something like going back in time and...changing the history."

"No one would ever wanna do that."

"Why?" I swallow as he snorts at my ignorance.

"...normally, people change history for a different ending in a particular incident, so they rewrite the process hoping that the ending will turn out different, which is already set and will stay the same for eternity.

They can change the things that happen between all they want. But never dream of having the ideal ending they covet."

I raise an eyebrow.

"That's abstruse."

"To you simple-minded, yes."

I furrow my lips at his sneering attitude and give up as a tension overwhelms us. He won't be the spontaneous one to talk, anyway.

He doesn't seem interested by his surrounding, or essentially doesn't even bother to ask and at least, act like he is curious. I saw his eyes landing on the broken signboard that reads 'McKelty's garage', and his long slender fingers that entwine themselves with his thumbs chasing one another through the hole between.

"Grandaddy's." I explain and he momentarily fixes his sharp gaze on me.

"I didn't ask."

"It's already too late if I give you the answer only after you' ve asked." I retort. "I don't. So I am gonna ask what do you mean by compressing and twisting time as soon as I realize I have to."

"You are smart. But that's beyond your ability to fathom."

"I'm not smart." he flashes a fleeting smile.

"I've dealt with SHIELD. And they don't hire doofus. Say, they know how to survive in a garage without any sustenance and proper beddings."

"Say we go to the store right now. Happy?"

I stride out of the garage as he walks idly in unhurried footsteps watching me in amusement, his lips curving into a disdainful smile.

"Tetchy human."

~·~·~·~

"Get me that." I command quietly behind a tall metal shelter but Loki only stares.

"Do it yourself."

"Are you ever taught to be a gentleman?"

"Do it yourself." he spits slowly and glances at the mega bottle of distilled water askance.

I fake an awfully wry smile and reach for the bottle when an abrupt scream completely catches me off guard, followed by a gunshot.

"Cheryl McKelty!" I back away in a flurry as a boorish voice rings raspily from afar.

"You better come out right now or no one lives here!"

A curbed screech shatter my inside completely.

"What do we do?" I whisper in despair and Loki's finger settle on my trembling form, his breath wintry as chill.

"...you'll do nothing."

I witness in anxiety as he rushes towards the exit and vanishes among the maze-like shelves, too late to stand in his way. I squeeze my eyes shut at the constant gunshots and random yells of my name, turning a blind eye to the ones that run for safety.

A moment of sudden serenity fills the room and I release a tight breath that has been held for so long.

-yet it strays right between my lungs.

"Hi there, sweetie." I shiver at the piercing voice that hisses with false sweetness, the cold muzzle stinging my forehead. "I think it's time you tell your boyfriend over there to stop-"

I stumble backward in startle as the man falls feebly at my feet out of sudden revealing a panting Loki that now stands tall in front of me, his fingers clutching onto a heavy pot.

I close my eyes with lingering dread and my body eases slowly, my fingers creasing the rough hems on my shirt.

"Is that not gentleman enough?"

I have a shufti at Loki, silently appreciating as he picks up a few bottles of water that lie motionless on the ground.

Gentleman. I nibble my lips as my eyes helplessly follow his every graceful move.

That depends.