A/N: I wrote a thing. Its a thing in which I ignore canon and pretend that Loki was banished to earth. All will be explained my chicken nuggets. I apologize for my story but I thought it was a good idea at the time.. Sorry sorry sorry..
The first Winter...
It was going to be a cold winter. It was hardly October and a soft blanket of snow already dusted the trees and the forest floor surrounding a lone cabin with smoke billowing from the brick chimney. To be truthful though, Hazel loved the snow. She wouldn't have moved to extreme northern California if she didn't. It seemed to be coating the redwoods sooner and sooner every year, which wasn't a problem but it did mean more shoveling.
Hazel stood at a tall window of her small cabin looking out to the trees. She watched the powdery snow fall to the ground. The petite brunette lived by herself on a small plot of a land near a lake at the edge of a small town. She liked the peace of being alone. She liked the way she could hear the wind whistling though the trees on cold nights and the way snow fell undisturbed to the street during the day.
She breathed deep the steam coming from the cup of blueberry tea wrapped in her pale fingers. She didn't do much in the winter. In the spring, summer and fall she ran a nursery, a vegetable stand and a pumpkin patch. Nothing grew in the frost and snow of the winter time though. She read a lot when it was cold. Her house was like an antique gallery. Books lined the walls and a record player sat where there should be a TV. Candles filled empty spaces on shelves. She was one of the only people in her small town that owned a tiny rabbit eared television in the kitchen and almost everything else was antique. Other than reading though, winter was boring.
As Hazel sighed again, a bright flash lit the light sky. It illuminated the trees with a white light and a noise that sounded like thunder shook her windows. She jumped and her tea cut hit the rug with a loud crack. Her wide mossy colored eyes scanned the shadowy forest.
"What in the world was that." She muttered to herself. She pulled on a pair of boots over her thick wool socks and grabbed a coat from the rack by her door. She scrambled out the door after grabbing the flashlight from her counter. She clicked on the light and scanned the trees.
The chill of the night air closed in around her and her breath appeared and then disappeared into the dark. There were no clouds in the sky so what she heard wasn't thunder. The night was still. The sound of a voice yelling into the night echoed from the trees and she stumbled down the stairs into the snow. The white powder crunched under her boots as she made her way towards the grey trees.
"Is someone there?" Her voice shook with the cold.
Something blue flashed from the shadows in the trees and she jumped. The flashlight shook in her quickly numbing fingers. The crack of shattering bark echoed out from the trees and she was suddenly not only shaking from the cold.
"Who's out there?"
One last shout and flash of dim blue light leaked from between the long grey shadows of the thick forest and the night grew incredibly silent.
"Seriously, if you're here to kill me I'll call the police!" She threatened before patting down her pockets and realizing she had left her phone on her kitchen counter. "Shit.."
In another flash a shadow began to make its way from the trees. A tall pale man appeared under the beam of her flashlight. Emerald eyes peered at her curiously from under a raised eyebrow.
"Stay away from me!" Hazel scrambled back towards her cabin. She threw her flashlight at the strange man without hesitating.
"Please stop yelling." He was suddenly in front of her with a soft hand around her wrist. "I have a headache."
She tried to pry her arm from his grip and leaned away from him. "Let go of me!"
"If you insist." He smiled mischievously and let her fall back into the snow.
She hit the ice and frantically backed up. "Who are you and where did you come from?"
His smirk turned into a grin. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Where did you come from?"
Hazel stilled and tried to stand on her quickly freezing legs. "I'm not the one crash landing in people's backyards. Besides, I asked you first."
The pale man's smile softened and he tilted his chin up at her. His emerald eyes turned to the sky. The silvery starlight lit his delicate features. Hazel saw the ghosts of tear tracks trailing over his high cheekbones.
"Have you been crying?" She held her elbows, trying to keep the cold away from her skin.
"Do you always ask so many questions?" He countered easily.
"Did you.. Um.. Did you want to come inside? I could, I don't know make you some tea or something?" Her voice shook wildly from the cold.
He laughed humorlessly. "And if I'm here to kill you?"
"Something tells me you're not." She said quietly. "You don't have to come."
The pale man was quiet for a moment then conceded with a nod. "I will join you then."
After a short hesitation, they made their way to her quiet cabin. He sat at the table after she held out her hand for him to take the chair farthest from the door. He watched her with shining eyes as she filled the kettle with water. She crossed her arms across her chest.
"So.. You never answered my question." Hazel leaned back against the counter.
He set his hands on the table. "What would you like to know?"
"Where did you come from? Are you like an alien?"
He laughed quietly. "An alien? Ah, yes I suppose you could say that." He looked down at his hands as the kettle began to whistle.
Hazel poured the hot water into a pair of mugs as the smell of blueberry filled the room. She brought the pair of mugs across the room and sat beside him. His long delicate fingers wrapped around the steaming mug. He sighed deeply.
"I got in an argument with my brother and so I ran somewhere where he couldn't follow. I didn't know there would be a little mouse spying on me."
"My name's Hazel." She scowled but kept her eyes stubbornly on his. "So that light? It was you?"
"Like I said, I hadn't thought that someone might be watching." He gave her a tight smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Also it's very nice to meet you Hazel. I didn't mean to drop in on your quiet evening."
"Well you did literally drop in out of the sky and take out your frustration on one of my poor trees." She sipped at her tea. "And you haven't even introduced yourself properly, Mr. Martian."
The pale man's eyes slipped shut. "How rude of me." He said almost sarcastically and set a hand over his heart. "You may call me Loki. I am a Prince of the realm of Asgard, god of Mischief and son of Odin the All Father. It is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance."
"You're a Prince?"
Loki nodded and his bright eyes opened.
"Was I.. Have I been rude?" She stuttered nervously. Hazel practically knocked her mug over as she clumsily leaned forward and bit her lip. "Your highness?"
Loki waved his hand dismissively. "Please don't. You've been wonderful."
Hazel felt her cheeks warm up suddenly. "Well you're welcome then."
The dark haired prince leaned back in the chair, setting the now empty cup down on Hazel's worn table. He scrubbed his hands over his face. "I should return to Asgard. My brother will beat himself up if he can't apologize."
"Oh. Yeah you should let him then." She tapped her fingernails against the coffee mug on the table top. "Will I ever see you again?" She asked nervously.
Loki stood with a smile. "If that is what you wish, the very next time I am feeling frustrated I will return here to you." He bowed deeply.
Hazel stood and smiled back. "Okay! I mean yes! Yes! Um I mean I would like that very much."
He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. "Thank you Lady Hazel for inviting me to tea."
She curtsied. "Your highness."
With that he was gone in a whirlwind of glittering magic. Hazel stood stunned with her flashlight suddenly in her hands. No one would believe this. A magic prince from space dropped out of the sky and into her life.
Two months passed and the snow grew thicker and thicker in the trees. It weighed on the branches and bogged them down. December set in in full and Hazel had already read almost all of her books. She had also been ignoring shoveling snow until an early morning when she wrapped herself in bundles and bundles and stumbled out of the house dragging her snow shovel behind her.
It was an incredibly cold morning. He hands were frozen even under her thick gloves and she could practically feel her skin turning blue under the thermal onesie she had slipped on beneath her clothes. Her breath puffed out through her scarf into the morning air as she struggled to hold the shovel in her knit covered hands.
Hazel hit a patch of ice and her boots slipped. "Shit.." She managed as she fell backwards.
"Not doing a very good job shoveling are you." A soft voice said in her ear as a pair of hands caught her back.
Hazel screamed and slipped down to the cement anyway. She landed on a pair of boots and looked up at the man who had suddenly appeared in the snow behind her. "Loki." She breathed. "You scared the shit out of me."
"You do have a dirty mouth when you are scared don't you." He winked. "Could I offer my assistance?" He held out on of his pale hands.
"How are you not freezing your highness." She muttered as he pulled her to feet with a mischievous smirk.
"The cold doesn't really bother me. Shall we go inside? I can't even see you under all of those layers." His bright eyes searched the spaces of her face that weren't covered in a scarf or a hat.
"Fine. But only if you make me tea?" She smiled and together they made their way into her small cabin.
Hazel instructed the mysterious Prince how to work the stove, and the tap water and where her tea pot was as she ran into her bedroom to strip off a few layers. She made it down to the thermal onesie before she sighed and slipped on a pair of slippers. "Well how did the stove go?"
Instead of the kitchen though, she found Loki inspecting a half decorated Christmas tree in the living room.
"This is confusing. You haven't finished have you?" He tapped one of the shiny red orbs hanging from the branches. He eyed her thermals critically. "Is that normal?"
"Well no I haven't. Unfortunately being able to walk down my sidewalk took precedence." Hazel leaned up against the wall. "And yes it is when it's cold." She pouted angrily. "Tea?"
"On the table." He nodded into the kitchen as he turned back to the tree. "Curious. I haven't ever seen one before." The pale prince held out his hand in order to balance one of the shining ornaments on the tips of his fingers, before it shimmered into the air. It disappeared and then reappeared in his other hand. He smiled softly as she reappeared in the doorway with two tea cups.
"You're incredible." She whispered as he caught the ornament and hung it carefully on the tree.
"No I wouldn't say quite that much." He smirked and took one of the tea cups from her.
"You said you would come next time something had you feeling down. Did you want to talk about it?" She sank into her overstuffed couch.
Loki sighed. "You are so young."
"I'm 24. You can't be much older than that Your Highness. You don't look a day over 25." She sat on the couch and curled around the steaming cup.
He hesitated before taking the seat beside her. "I have watched centuries pass and hardly noticed. Time is very different where I am from." Loki watched her carefully. "You don't seem very surprised."
Hazel narrowed her gaze at him. "You are a Prince from space who was just performing magic in my living room and you want me to be surprised about your age?"
"Point taken." He paused for a long time before taking a breath. "Do you remember that I told you before that my Father has always favored my brother over myself?"
Hazel nodded and leaned closer to him.
"I believe my father has been lying to me for a very long time. Only I don't exactly know what to ground my theories in. I feel as though I'm going mad." He picked absent mindedly at the side of his palm. "Something bad is welling up inside my heart and I fear I don't have the strength to stop it."
"Let me help." Hazel's voice surprised even her. He looked up suddenly.
"What should I do?" He whispered. "My father isn't someone I can go to. He has always favored Thor for the throne, even though we grew up together and he told us countless times that we were both born to rule." He paused and looked back and his hands. "I don't want it, anyway. I never wanted it. I only want to be seen as an equal."
"If it's any consolation I think that you're amazing."
"It is thank you. Not many people pay me compliments you know. Other than my mother, who loves me unconditionally. But I am not as strong as my brother and people tend to gravitate towards the sun, the Mighty Thor. Not the moon." He paused to gauge her reaction.
"Well." She leaned back and crossed her arms. Her tea cup was empty and she pushed it back on the coffee table with her painted toes. "I've always liked the moon better. It's quiet and the light is comforting. The sun is too harsh and if you get to close it'll burn you. The moon is soft and kind. Not to mention shy. It only shows its light to a few in the dark and disappears every once in a while to be alone. It would never do anything to hurt you. It's too beautiful…." She trailed off with a shaky sigh. "I'm sorry." Her gaze met Loki's who was watching her carefully.
"I should go." He whispered.
"I'm sorry. Please don't."
"No I am feeling much better. What you said, it was unabashedly kind Hazel." He stood and bowed to her. "I will return. That is a promise. Though, I don't know what terms it will be under. My brother's coronation grows near."
Hazel stood and set a hand on his arm. "Loki." She started then bit at her lip. "Um.. You're welcome here whenever you find time."
He smiled tiredly. He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. "Thank you." He muttered against her skin. "I will be back."
Loki disappeared again, leaving her alone in the living room. She felt light headed and fell back into the couch. He was widely charming and sweet and smart. She wished that when he found her again he was in better spirits.
Another two months passed in a flash. Hazel was alone on New Years, somewhere in the back of her mind she had hoped her prince would fly down from the stars but he didn't. Days and then weeks and then months passed and Hazel was alone. She would spend days staring up at the stars and hoping he would come to her but he didn't. It was nearly the end of January. The snow was thick still on the ground, but now more like sleet and less like powder.
She was cleaning up the kitchen in the evening and putting away her dishes. Hazel was humming along to a record that was playing quietly in the other room. The scratchy sounds of big band jazz music made her temporarily forget the Prince from another world as she cleaned up.
"Hazel something terrible is happening." The voice made her scream and hurl a plate across the room. With a wave of his hand the plate disappeared and reappeared in Loki's pale hand.
"You scared me." She whispered. The distraught look on his pale face made her relax. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"Thor's coronation is tomorrow." He set the plate on the counter. "Something terrible is bubbling up and I can't control it." Loki sat at the table and covered his face with his hands. "I can't stop it Hazel. There is darkness in me."
The brunette hesitated then made her way to where he sat. She knelt in front of him and took his hands from his face, holding them tightly between hers. "What is it that's bothering you Loki. Please tell me."
"He's brash and rude and violent." He spoke quietly. "I never wanted the throne. I never did but I find myself feeling so envious. I can't stop the feelings. They are filling me with anger and hate."
Hazel let out a shaking breath and squeezed his hands tightly. "No, you have never been like that. Stop thinking like that."
"How would you know?" His thin fingers traced the backs of her knuckles. "You have only met me three times now. I could be a murderer and a traitor."
"But you're not."
"How do you know that." He hissed dangerously. "How do you know that I would kill you. I come here and you kneel before me on the floor and you blindly trust that I will not hurt you."
"Loki, you're gentle and kind and.." She trailed off as his bright eyes met hers. "You have never been anything but sweet to me."
He laughed dryly. "No one in Asgard would ever say such things to me. They all gravitate to Thor. You would be ridiculed for your affection." His hands tightened around hers. "Why do you wish to keep me from these dark thoughts."
Her gaze fell to his hands. "Because you're worth it your Highness. I think you are one million times over and I would do anything I could to keep you sane."
"Why?"
Hazel didn't know how to answer his question without pouring her heart out in an embarrassing way. Her heart pounded in her ears and she held onto the prince's hands like he was going to float away. "You're special to me. I think about you constantly. You're the only thing that makes sense to me anymore, isn't that ridiculous? Space royalty, and you make sense. I have nothing else but you. I don't know why you ever disappear at all. You could just stay here with me.. Forever."
He let out a held breath and smiled softly. "I am going to disappoint you Hazel. I have shadows cast all over my heart."
She didn't look up at him. She couldn't bring herself to.
"I don't know what to do."
They sat in silence after that. The breaking prince and the human who saw the light in his eyes. She clung to him like an anchor and him to her.
"If I do something horrible, what will happen then? If the shadows become too much."
"I know they won't." She answered. "You're strong."
"I'm a jealous beast." Loki insisted.
"Maybe, but you're a good man."
They were silent again. The record ended in the living room with a scratch.
"My mother will be looking for me." He muttered after a long time.
Hazel nodded. "Will you come back? Regardless of what happens you come back to me."
He searched her face. "No matter what you will have me?"
"No matter what. You come back to me." She repeated.
Their gazes met and he gave her a small smile. "You are a strange little human. I have never spent time with any others really, to be fair. Strange that you would not be frightened of me." He paused and he's hands moved idly over her fingers. "Strange that you want to save me from myself. Stranger still that you see light in me."
"You're worth it to me."
"I should take my leave. The coronation will call for my assistance and I must be there for Thor. Regardless of where I will end up, for this moment I feel I must be there for my brother." Hazel nodded. She felt his hands on her face and he turned her to look up at his face. A weary smile sat on his lips. "You must smile for me now. We don't know what storm is coming towards us from over the horizon. I never break my promises and I will return for you."
She nodded and tried to return his smile. "You are going to be very bad aren't you."
His expression faltered. "I can't say exactly. I can feel the shadows and the darkness changing me. Please promise you won't think differently of me after all of this."
"I won't if you come back to me."
He smirked, then leaned forward to place a soft kiss on her cheek. "Always."
He was gone after that. She leaned her forehead onto the chair where he had been only seconds before. It was a wonder that he had come back at all, and all she could do was hope that he would come back again. She hoped she hadn't scared him by rambling on about how much she cared about him. But he had promised, and in his own words he had never broken one of those before.
"Please, please, please. Keep him safe and bring him back to me."
A long time passed after that winter.