Loki's fall (sequel to loss and Loki)

Cleanse Your Heart Of The Stain

"-the last I saw of you was your unconscious body being dragged away by those suits. And I was left...in the debris of the burning house where I used to live." He finished his story, a lost look burning cold on his fatigue-softened features.

A long, heavy silence then brimmed warily in the air, seeming to stifle our breaths and leave us festering in the dull echoes of his lost words. A silence that lasted and loved, caressing us softly with deadened hands that ignited a ceaseless chill within our corpses. And for once I couldn't think of a word to speak, a sentence to pull from within me that would battle the aching clang of his depressing finale.

So, instead I got up from my seat, bones heavy as I swayed where I stood, numb from the alcohol but craving a breath of fresh air to pull me from my state. I took a shaking step forward, holding the liquor bottle close to my chest, almost cradling it. I waved Loki off as he moved towards me to help, and broke the silence then, my jarring footsteps sounding as I walked toward the back door and let myself out into the vibrant garden of youth. My garden.

The floral, fresh smell hit me almost immediately. My nose wrinkled immediately, not an unpleasant reflex, but a soft scrunch that could have almost looked innocent on anyone's fresh face but mine. But paired with my deep blue eyebags, I just looked disgusted, upset, wary. A look I could never seem to rid myself off. Maybe I just reeked of the trauma that pooled from me, seeping from every corner of my face, my bones, my body.

I was quick to work as I trimmed each stray leaf and withered petal off the bushes and plants I passed, finally coming to the grand white rose bush that stood proud in the middle of my garden. It had lost its bittersweet appeal and now I just wanted rid of it. I'd never managed to kill the parasite that leeched off of it and now I had lost hope. I began to trim it, carefully snipping the blackened branches that had been poisoned despite my best efforts. It had been my favourite plant in the garden. Now I looked at it in disdain.

"Beautiful garden."

The voice caught me off guard. unfortunately for me, and I'd only just managed to clip a leaf and get a hold of myself before I jumped at the intrusion and thrust my shears into their neck. I had a feeling the only reason I hadn't done just that was for only the nature of the voice that had carried over to me, soft, with a rosy lilt.

A strained smile had stretched the stiff muscles of my cheeks as I turned to her, picking a stray branch off of my jumper as I watched her bright blue eyes scour the pretty colours that glittered my garden. Her beam was as fresh as the aroma drifting through the air and the blossom close to her face seemed to have brushed by her cheeks, dusting them in the same stunning, flushed coral.

As I stared at her, noting her warm closeness, I began to realise just how much she fit in with the surrounding beauty, her innocence a kind sustenance for the budding life around her. She breathed a new life into every petal I'd dulled and poisoned with my cold fingertips. And in that moment I felt much like another of the unwelcome weeds I'd spent so many hours trying to rid the garden of, to no avail. Maybe I should have just removed myself.

"Yeah, it's something." I breathed in an attempt at a light tone, something I generally excelled at any other time. But I couldn't quite get it right as I spoke this time, and just for a moment her eyes fluttered towards mine, softening as she smiled warmly. Her eyes glittered with a comforting sympathy, a look I usually despised. But when it was her, it just felt like maybe, for one moment, my pain wasn't so bad.

"I wouldn't have pegged you as a gardener, I'm gonna be honest." She admitted airily, her words dropping off into a musical chuckle as she spoke. For a second, it became a little harder to restrain my light smile, but I managed to get a hold of it and nodded a little, leaning to my right to snip a branch from the bush next to me. Her eyes never left me, and soon I grew, almost uncomfortable in her stare, wondering why I felt not a single shred of threat from this woman, why I was so dangerously inclined to trust her.