Young God | L. Laufeyson

20. Vulnerability

"The Queen has fallen."

The announcement is stuck in Aurora's mind as shock paralyzes her body, her throat suddenly feels awfully tight as if lead was captured under her skin. Her head suddenly feels heavy and dizzy, tears well in her eyes and her hands slightly tremble. Frigga was nothing but kind like a mother to her, a gentle soul and now she's gone. Another innocent life ended.

Loki, his name instinctively shoots through her mind and she looks at him while the guard leaves. His facial expression is still blank, no sorrow or shock, no emotion at all. And this scares Aurora. Putting the book aside, he stands up and turns around, facing the wall now. The auburn-haired girl stands up slowly and takes a step closer towards the force field, her eyes solemnly focused on the way that his hands are clenched into fists.

"Loki, I'm- " And in the next moment, a powerful impulse breaks the weak force field between them and throws Aurora away, Loki's magic acting crazy now. Luckily, it's not strong enough to let her hit the wall, she manages to regain her balance with her rear foot while her arms are crossed in front of her face to protect herself.

His furniture flies around, landing against the wall or the force field around them and Aurora dodges a flying book that heads towards her. Her heart shatters when she hears his furious scream of agony, a pain stinging in her chest. She feels so bad for him, so damn bad that the tears run down her face. But Aurora can't think of herself right now, she has to take care of her friend. There's nothing that separates them anymore but rage and pain.

"Loki! Stop it, you're gonna hurt yourself!" She walks towards him as glass shatters around him and he steps on it forcefully. "Loki!"

He's demolishing the cell until nothing but destruction is left. Trying to reach him with her hand, the broken man only slaps it away. Now that he turns around, Aurora's eyes widen in shock. It isn't his Asgardian appearance that looks down at her but rather the Frost Giant. His eyes are glowing dangerously red like the devil's eyes and his skin, marked by light lines, is drowning in the darkest blue Aurora has ever seen, the fury on his face is genuinely intimidating, even for her.

"I really appreciate you, Aurora, but if you don't leave me now, I'll kill you!" He roars with such a gravity that she flinches back, still staring with wide eyes at him while his shout is ringing in her head. He is blinded by rage, so numbed by anger that he doesn't feel the blood running from his foot.

"I can't... I can't leave you alone." Aurora whispers with a quiet, yet steady voice. Shaking her head, she takes another step closer towards him, no longer scared of the Jötun. "I won't."

She grabs his hand and a pang immediately spreads through the part of her skin that touches him, Aurora scrunches up her face in immense pain. The ice bites its way through her veins, freezing the blood and her skin turns dark. Cold smoke erupts from her hand, a sizzling resounds and it feels like it was completely frozen to stone, Aurora cannot bear it any longer and screams in pain.

Loki realizes that it's his fault that he's hurting her like it's his fault that his mother died. He showed the Kursed the way to the only woman who loved him, he is guilty. Without hesitation, he pushes Aurora away without getting in contact with her skin. He has done that to her, that pained expression on her face was his doing. He always hurts the people he cares about because it's in his nature. Because he's a monster.

"I said stay away from me!"

Aurora stares at him in pain, her hand still shaking and burning like hell. Her palm is now dark, pounding and aching to a limit she cannot describe and the tears still sting in her eyes. She can hear his heavy breath, how his temper is taking over his mind. Her wound is unbearable, yet Aurora refuses to give him up.