Desolated - book 3 •StrangeFrost•

Turning around again and again

•Natasha's POV•
I stood up and walked towards the front door.
Loki was standing there, he weakly looked at me as the door closed.

Wow.
He was a mess.
Loki was pale, it looked like his hands were literally frozen, he had dark under his eyes and his eyes were red, puffy, and glossy.
Or, I mean, his eye. Singular.
He looked like he hadn't slept for weeks.
His hair was a bit longer than I remember,  and he looked physically scarred to see me.
His eye was wide, I could see him shaking, and I could hear him heavily breathing.

"Umm, hi? What do you need?" I asked, confused and awkwardly smiling.

"Wh-where's Stark?"

"Not here."

There was a silence for a minute. Loki crosses his arms and looked down at the floor.

"Sooo," I started, rubbing the back of my neck. "Why are you here? What'dya need?"

"I want to help."

"What?"

"I want to help you. Can I stay here? I'm sorry.."

"I thought you were staying with Thor, did that change?"

"Yes? I mean, I just-" he cut off. "Can I help you or not?"

"Yes! Yes you can I was just wondering."
Silence again.
"So what happened with Thor?"

"I umm," Loki stopped. "Can we sit down?"

"What? Oh, right." I said awkwardly, walking to my desk where I always sat while surveying channels.

Loki sat in the nearest chair.

"So, what happened with Thor? He kick you out or something?" I asked.

Loki closed his eyes and rubbed his face tiredly.
"Well, first of all," he mumbled. "I didn't stay with Thor, I stayed with burnihilde."

"And who's that?"

Loki, without opening his eyes, answered. "A woman I saved Asgard with. She was one of the warriors a few millennia ago."

"Oh." That answer surprised me, but then again, nothing is normal anymore. I literally talk to a raccoon on a daily basis.

"So, anyway." Loki started again. His voice was a bit cracked, and it sounded higher too. "After the, after the.. after...." Loki trailed off, not really saying anything else.

"After it happened, I umm, I tried to find a cure without the stones. Something that could bring back everyone. For two months I spent, two months of dreadful and sleepless nights, where all I did was read and read and read hoping I would find something.
But I never did."