Book Three - Part One: Two Worlds (Prelude)

Chapter Nine

Loki is one of the first to breach the Alfheim palace, he will not let another find Nienna first, it has to be him. He weaves his way through Jotun, ignoring them in order to seek out his friends. Iorek's roar fills the hall and Loki looks up to witness the Panserbjørne charging a Jotun archer. Loki's heart is beating wildly in his chest, Iorek is alone, he would never leave Nienna unprotected....if she were alive. Loki darts through a doorway to avoid the fighting and hurries towards the center of the palace, he knows that would be the most defensible place, and if the royal family was anywhere, that is where they would be. There is a blast of blue energy ahead and he knows it is her, he knows that she is alive. He rushes forward and around the corner to reach her.

"Nienna!" Loki yells seeing her standing there, fighting, of course, she would be fighting. Jotun numbers are strong, they came here in force, and they are still many now, even after the numbers that the elves killed, as well as the ones the Asgardians killed on their way in. Her eyes find his as he produces his daggers. Nienna lets out a scream and throws her powers forward with it, a shockwave of blue glowing energy erupting from her, taking out the Jotun left. She stares at their bodies and then collapses. Loki is running towards her before she even hits the ground, Odin's scolding falling on deaf ears. "Nienna" Loki begs as he falls to his knees at her side. "Wake up" he whispers lifting her into his arms, he's never seen her use her powers to that extent before. "Please" he whispers touches her face. "Please, please, I am sorry" he pulls her closer. "I am so sorry, please, wake up" she groans in his arms. "It's me" Loki assures her, his fingers brushing her hair back from her face. She stares up at him.

"Loki?" she asks, he nods and helps her sit up. She cries out and touches her side where pain spreads, her hand comes away bloody. "Ow," she complains as she leans into Loki's shoulder. He kisses her head and just holds her. She pulls back. "Neremy?" she asks him, his eyes stare at her, and she sees the answers there, but she looks anyway, turning her head to look over the field of the fight, he had been at her back, fighting alongside her but....she lost sight of him, stopped hearing the ping of his bow.

"No, look at me," Loki tells her drawing her face back to him. "Just...look at me" her eyes are wide, filled with devastating pain. Because he can see that she knows that her new family is dead. That her husband is dead. Her future has just been utterly decimated by this attack. "I'm so sorry," he tells her, she closes her eyes sending tears down her cheek. He may not have liked the idea of her getting married, of her leaving Asgard, but he never wanted her to be hurt like this. Odin appears at Loki's shoulder.

"Loki?" he asks, Loki looks up at him.

"She is alive" Loki assures him. "Iorek?"

"Injured but....he will live" Odin assures them both. "He is asking after you, my dear," Odin tells Nienna who shivers in Loki's arms. "Get her up" Odin whispers to Loki. "Keep her warm, we shall take her home soon enough" Loki nods and looks back at Nienna.

.............

Loki sits against a wall with Nienna in his arms, she clutches to his jacket as he holds his hand over her wound, he's no expert at healing, he had no interest in that side of magic, more interested in the illusions and the trick spells. He wishes he had spent more time in those lessons now, maybe then he could fix this, make her better. He could fix her. But he can't. He has no way to fix this. He holds her closer to him.

"It won't be long now" he assures her as her eyes flutter slightly. He knows that Jotun weapons affect Asgardian healing, but he didn't think they would affect her this much given her hybrid nature, the Celestial in her should be fighting harder. He thinks it isn't all down to physical pain, he thinks she's stopping herself from healing because of her grief, because her husband is gone. Because she feels as though she has nothing worth living for. He lifts his knees slightly to pull her further into his lap, his arms tightening around her. He presses his head to hers. "You have to fight, Little Bear" he whispers to her, his hand coming up to brush her hair from her face. "Fight for me" he pleads. He looks up when Iorek is carried through the hall on a specialized stretched, that was created in consideration of his size and weight. Odin follows behind but veers off in Loki's direction.

"Go ahead with them," Odin tells Loki. "Make sure they are seen to" Loki nods as the two Asgardian guards lift Nienna out of his arms, he wants to keep hold of her but he knows them taking her isn't malicious, they're taking her to help her, they lift her onto the stretcher like device. Loki looks down at his hands, covered in her blood. His lip quivers at how much of it he is covered in.

..............

Loki doesn't leave Nienna's side, not when they arrive back on Asgard, not when the healers take over, and not when they are finished with her. He can't bring himself to. He partially blames himself for what has happened to her. If he had begged her to stay, if he had just told her how he felt, she would never have gotten married, she would have been here, with him, safe. None of this would have happened if he wasn't such a coward. He almost lost his best friend because he was too afraid to admit that he loved her. He holds her hand close to his chest as his free hand brushes through her hair.

"I am sorry" he whispers to her sadly, a tear sliding down his cheek.