Disclaimer: I only own my character. I do not own any of the characters from Marvel Avengers Assemble, sadly.
Chapter
I walk into my bedroom and look at my fatigued reflection in the mirror. I'm dressed in my gold armour, as a sign of respect and my hair has been pinned back but it has slowly fallen out during the day leaving a few strands hanging down to frame my face. Exhausted, I collapse onto my bed. I feel the familiar lump start to build up in my throat, I try swallowing to get it to go away but with no luck my body begins to shake and tears fall from my eyes. I pull my knees up to my chest and wrap my arms around my legs. I remain like this until I hear a knock at my door. I get up from my bed wipe under my eyes trying, but failing, to remove the dripping black make-up that surrounds my eyes. I push my shoulders back and stand for a minute, trying to compose myself. No one can see me like this. How could someone like myself be caught crying? Even on a day like this someone as strong as I cannot be caught weeping. I open the door and, before I have chance to see who it is, I am swept into am embrace. I don't bother to see who it is because I honestly could not care less; those arms around me felt so familiar and the hug itself felt natural. It's when I am released that I finally will myself to look up and I am met with the gaze of those mischievous, green eyes.
I scream, jump back and squeeze my eyes shut. It's just your mind playing tricks on you I say to myself over and over again. That's the only explanation. I finally get the courage to open my eyes no one is there I let out a breath of air, I feel myself calming down. I turn around to see him standing in front of me. I want to say something but every time I open my mouth, my bottom lips begins to quiver so I embrace the silence for a while until I can no longer bare to keep my mouth shut. I cannot just stay silent in a situation like this.
One word escapes my lips, "Loki".
I lunged forward, my hand raised to strike him right across that stupid face. Then I caught myself at the last moment, arm falling back down to my side, and resorted to glowering at him instead.
"What do you think you're doing?" I hissed. "You may be a fantastic practical joker Loki but this obliterates it all. By far your most outrageous and cruel one yet!"
He opened his mouth to speak but I cut across him."Oh no. You don't get to explain yourself. You lost that right when you died. You're such a... Ugh! I don't know what, but for goodness sake Loki!"
I paused to breathe, and found him grinning at me.
"Don't look at me like that. This isn't funny. I thought you'd died!"
"Yes I know! And the tears were a very nice touch by the way," he said.
"You are so frustrating!"
"I am many things, but I think you'll find that you are the frustrating one, Aria."
"I am not! And don't try to change the subject!" I shouted.
I sighed and then continued, quieter this time.
"Everything that has been going on with you recently... Well, you're changing, and I don't mind, I'll always be your friend, but I don't want you to change too much."
"Change is necessary Ariadne"
"No it isn't, not to this extent."
"What do you mean?"
"Are you not listening? You pretended to be dead! Dead! I thought you were gone forever. That's a horrific thing to do to me Loki! It's selfish and not in the slightest bit funny. One might go as far as to say that it was evil!" I snapped, not bothering to hide the disgust in my voice.
But he didn't say anything, he just stood there looking at me. Then I realised what I had said and my eyes widened. Loki was evil. He had brought the frost giants to Asgard and almost killed us all. His friends and his family. And he hadn't even cared.I took a cautious step back, my eyes still on him. The corners of his mouth twitched.
"Evil is a strong word," he shrugged, mirroring my movement and stepping towards me.
"So what word would you use to describe your actions?" I whispered sarcastically.
I was frightened, but it would do me no good to make it any more obvious. He stood thinking awhile then said 'right'. He thought that what he'd done was was something about the way he said it that made me want to cry. It was like he was a small child, lost and afraid. Maybe even he was questioning his motives, and trying to convince himself that what he did was for a good reason.
I edged back a little more and quietly felt around behind me for the door handle.
"I can see what you're doing you know," Loki laughed, "And I'd just come after you anyway so there's no point."
"Then I'll scream."
"Are you really that scared of me?" he asked with a smirk.
Yes. Yes I am. And I opened my mouth. Suddenly, he was right in front of me, hand clamped over my mouth, pressing me against the wall. I struggled to get free.
"Oh Aria, you are right to be scared," he whispered.
His hand shuddered before he let it fall to his side, giving up trying to control me. He knew it would fail. He had learnt from the mistakes of the past. Part of me just wanted him to leave me alone to cry; to pretend he's dead because maybe things would be simpler. I hated that I thought something so selfish but I did. Then another part of me just wanted to hug him again like we did before. For him to hold me in his arms. Despite his unpredictable nature, there was something about him that made me feel safe. Like nothing in the world could hurt me as long as I was with him when really it was probably the complete opposite. With that, he disappeared. Part of me hoped that he was gone for good (even though I knew that he would probably be back), and the rest of me wanted him here again already.
Authors note: Thank you so much for reading, I know its not that long but I should have a longer chapter coming soon!
