CHAPTER 11

Three days had passed since the Bilgesnipe incident and Thor and Skollia kept the palace and did the hunting, for Darcy and Loki still remained in their slumber. Thor wished they would wake soon, every day he grew more and more worried and restless; his only solace was when he went to take care of their wounds. The swelling on Darcy's ankle and leg had gone down a little more every day and Loki's wounds were gradually mending as well, the scrapes he had received were almost nothing but thin scars, making Thor thankful that beings like them healed quickly, the only wounds that remained were the shoulder gash and the side gashes. Yet, even then, Thor was still not himself. He was down and emotional and he'd lash out at Skollia every time she asked what was wrong. Skollia herself was a bit saddened, as she could sense his emotions well. What was Thor's problem? First of all, he was worried about Darcy and Loki…particularly his brother. What would happen when they awoke? Second, Thor was confused and angry about the Jotun that had attacked him. What was it doing in Jotunhiem? Didn't Loki kill them all? And of course, the scars he'd seen on Darcy's back…those lingered like mist in the back of his mind, haunting him like ghosts.

xXx

Finally, nearly a fortnight after the incident, Thor's pained suffering ended. He went to check Darcy's wounds one morning, only to find the maiden yawning and stretching in bed, blinking open her green eyes to the gentle gloom that came from her window.

Darcy blinked. Where was she? She couldn't remember. The last time she'd been awake she remembered being in complete, utter misery and pain, outside in the freezing cold, dark weather, the roar from some beast behind her, a bright-eyed she-wolf ahead of her. But now, here she was, lying underneath the covers of a soft bed, feeling refreshed and awake, yet confused. She yawned and stretched, sitting up in her bed, her eyes starting to adjust to the dim light around her. "Where am I?" she said into the gloom, not sure who exactly she was asking. This wasn't her room in London that was for sure. The room was huge and the bed and covers did not belong to her, neither did the purple dress she wore.

"You're awake." Came the deep, gentle voice of a man. She turned her head to her side; a tall muscular form was sitting at the foot of her bed with his hand resting on her knee. She studied him; blonde hair, scruff, a warm, friendly smile, and sparkling blue eyes…Thor! Suddenly she remembered. Loki. Jotunhiem. Frost Giants.

"I was so worried. You returned to the palace weak, wounded, and cold. You've been asleep and delirious for a fortnight. Thank Valhalla you are awake." He threw his muscular arms around her and gave her a bone-crushing hug. She was at first surprised but then returned the notion. Then she stopped.

"Delirious? Asleep? A whole fortnight."

"Aye, yes." Thor replied.

"Oh, dear, my poor sister must be so worried! I have to get back."

Thor sadly shook his head. "I cannot take you back. Not without the consent of my brother."

"Your…Loki…that lying monster! Why would you need his consent!?" Darcy spat.

Thor knitted his eyebrows together and his friendly gaze turned into fiery and angry. He clenched his teeth and fisted his hands. How dare she! How dare she speak of Loki that way! "My brother is not a monster!" Thor's voice rose to a shout and he lurched off the bed, towering his full height over her. She shrunk back. "How could you say that!? He's done nothing but care for you and protect you! And this is how you thank him! Calling him a monster!?" Thor bellowed.

"He lied to me!" Darcy shot back, "He's a ruthless Frost Giant and he hid that from me since the moment we met!"

"He did it because he loves you! He knew how much you hated his people, he knew you would treat him with the same bitterness and coldness, and that you would hate him because of what he was! He wanted to be the man of your dreams, he tried to be! All he ever wanted was to help you!" Thor's fuming mind would not cease, so he let his mouth run on.

xXx

Loki had been awake for a while now. Unlike Darcy, the Jotun prince remembered everything. He was refreshed, he had discovered his wounds had been tended to, and he knew instantly it was Thor who had done it, however, despite that fact, his broken heart remained clouded and well...broken. He was saddened. He didn't want to get out of bed. "Why did I have to sleep?" He asked himself, "Why couldn't I have just died?" He flopped back down on his pillow and just lay there, staring up at the ceiling, his red eyes misty. "Why the Hel am I shedding so many tears?" He thought. "Why do I have to feel? Why can't I be the heartless Jotun prince I am supposed to be?"

"Because you are not a monster." Said another voice. A female voice. Skollia. She could read his thoughts. He peered down beside him. She was in the bed he had made for her and was looking straight at him, Amber eyes intense. She jumped up on the bed and lay beside him. He put his blue hand on her warm head and she rested her chin on his chest, looking right into his eyes. "You are different from other Jotuns. You are gentle, kind, and caring. You weren't raised in cold, harsh ways, you were raised by a mother and beside a brother who both love you very much. You are a beautiful soul, Loki."

Loki shook his head. "I am a monster...look at me Skollia!" Loki cried back to her.

"No. Just because you look one way on the outside does not mean you are the same on the inside. Loki, you are beautiful at heart and on the exterior too, and you are my best friend. Please don't loathe yourself so."

"Skollia, no...I am not beautiful. I am horrid! There is evil in my heart...I lie, I kill...I am responsible for hurting the only woman I ever loved."

"You didn't mean it. Loki, the evil in your heart...if there was any, is gone. The things you did...although they may not have been the best, were with good intentions. Letting yourself turn into a Jotun to save Darcy was what you knew what right."

"That is not the point Skollia!" Loki replied, "I hurt her! I wanted to help her...but instead, I broke her heart. I am a monster."

"Loki, you..."

"Skollia...turn away...do not gaze upon the face of a beast like me." Skollia whimpered and hung her head. "Fine." She jumped off the bed, preparing o leave, but then looked at Loki again and messaged, "But I want you to think about what I said, and, know this, no matter what you think about yourself, you are my best friend, I know you are not a monster, I love you, and you are beautiful...Thor feels the same way, and deep in her heart, so does Darcy, she's just a bit too blind to see it yet." Then Skollia was gone, leaving Loki to stare after her, and he began to process what she had just said. And thus, after a long, painful mental argument Loki finally began to understand..."Maybe..." He said to himself, "Maybe..." with that, he got out of bed, feeling a bit better, and decoded he'd go and find something to eat. He felt alright, better then he had...that was until he walked back Darcy's room. He heard angry voices coming from inside, arguing voices. One belonged to Thor and the other to Darcy. He pressed himself against the door and listened.

"He's suffered with you, he's watched you get broken down bit by bit!" Thor was shouting "All he ever wanted to do was help you! But he was afraid! He knew you would never love him because of his race! He disguised himself and appeared when you most needed him because he couldn't take it anymore. He wanted to be the man you need, the man of your dreams, the one man that didn't disappoint you! He almost killed himself because of it! Don't you see, loves you Darcy!"

"If he really did, he wouldn't have lied to me!" Darcy yelled back, "Even if he did I could never give my heart to a Jotun! They killed my father and they tried to kill Jane and I!" Loki's heart snapped and he grew sad all over again...for Darcy's words burned. He knew it. He knew it, he knew it. Why did he bother anymore? You love her. Said a voice. But she hates me. He replied. He listened again as his eyes clouded with fresh tears.

"LAUFEY IS DEAD! LOKI KILLED HIM! AND DO YOU RECALL THAT LOKI IS NOT HIM! LOKI IS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT JOTUN! AND HE IS NO DIFFERENT FROM YOU AND I!"

"You are acting like I hate him because he is a Jotun!" Darcy said.

"Because it's true!" Thor replied, "You loved him until you discovered that. He lied, yes, but he never wanted to, but he did because he loved you! He risked everything for you Darcy! Why should you not love him back?"

"He lied. I fell in love with a man not a beast. He betrayed my trust. As far as I know his love for me could have been a lie as well!

"Do you even know what you are saying!?" Thor snapped, "He doesn't need this! He's already endured enough pain, and to know that someone...the woman he loves...hates him just because for what he is...is the most horrible thing imaginable. He may be the God Mischief, Lies, and Chaos, but the love he gives is more sincere than you could ever know. Believe me! Open your eyes, Darcy, go beyond your own feelings and yourself and understand him. Understand who he is and why he did the things he did. Think about what I've said. Open your eyes!"

Up on hearing this, a very unsettled, sad Loki went quietly down the stairs to see Skollia sitting tall at the throne, looking at him worriedly. It took Loki less than a few seconds to buckle down beside her and bury his face into her warm neck fur and cry.

xXx

"Open your eyes, Darcy!" With that, Thor turned tail and whisked out of the room. Darcy stared after him. At first she was too angry to even think straight, but then she calmed and began to process everything Thor had said and everything that had happened to her. Meeting Loki, remembering how he had helped her carry her things, remembering how, despite her episodes he was always there, remembering all of the fun they had together. Remembering that he knew exactly how to cheer her up. Remembering how well he had treated her. Remembering his words to her. "You are perfect..." She also remembered all of the pain she had seen welled up in Loki's eyes... Then suddenly, it hit her like a ton of bricks...Loki really did love her...she broke down and wept for all the horrible things she had said about him and the Jotuns. He had been perfect. Then she discovered he was a Jotun and everything was forgotten. "Oh...What have I done..."

xXx

Loki cried and cried for many minutes. Weeping and weeping. Hoping that he could wash away everything. Thor and Skollia were at his side's and Thor cradled him like a child and Skollia pressed her warm pelt against him, licking him gently, and comforting him with her presence as Thor rubbed his back. No one said a word, they just let him cry.

It may have been two hours when Loki at last began to calm down and sniffle, wiping the tears from his eyes. Loki knew he couldn't cry forever. So he just decided to silently stroke Skollia in his Jotun form as Thor went outside to prepare a deer for them.

He spoke seldom...definitely not himself, and let his hair loose and a few stray tears fall, not bothering to care as he stroked Skollia's pelt. It was calming to him and soothed him helping him feel a bit better. That was when they heard footsteps coming from the stairs. Looking they saw Darcy. "I'll let you alone." Skollia messaged and then went to join Thor.

Loki got up and shrunk into the shadows behind the throne as she approached.

"Loki."

"Just go, please. Do not look upon my face, for I know how much you loathe it. Tell me you don't love me. Tell me you hate me. Tell me how ugly I am. I understand."

"No." Darcy said, "Please, come out of the shadows, in your true form."

Loki was at first surprised, but then followed her gentle demand. He came out from behind the throne and stood there, turning his face away in shame as more tears formed on his face. "Go ahead. Tell me I'm ugly. I know I am." Darcy shook her head and walked closer to him, looking small as she approached his tall form. She gently touched her small, pale hand to his cheek, shivering a bit, he felt like ice, but it was all fine. She turned his face so she was staring directly into his misty eyes and tear stained face. It looked even more sad with those red eyes that she'd always been scared of... but now they looked beautiful, as did his blue, ridged skin.

"You are not ugly." Darcy said, tucking a strand of raven hair behind his ear. "I'm so sorry for the things I said. I realize now that you are different in a good way, and how much you care about and love me. I can get passed the Jotun form. You are the one I love. You are not ugly...You are beautiful.

"You think I'm... beautiful..." Darcy smiled and gazed into his eyes before she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head closer, pressing her lips to his. He froze before he slowly slid his hands down to her waist. They kissed deeply. She felt like she was pressing her lips against ice...but she didn't mind the cold. They stopped kissing.

"Yes." Darcy said with a real smile.

xXx

Meanwhile, in the darkest, coldest, deepest cave in Jotunhiem, a large, lean Jotun returned home, stepping in through the entrance of the cave, which looked like a gaping mouth with many rows of sharp, pointed teeth. A shadow moved from a corner and approached the Jotun, a Giantess, tall, dangerous, beautiful, and intimidating. She wore fur around her chest and a fur skirt as well, her eyes glowed, and her ridges and markings were accented by the candlelight. Her long, black her extended to just below her waist, flowing in gentle waves behind her. "What news?" she asked the Jotun.

"We didn't see him. But we found a reindeer carcass, half eaten, no doubt hunted, the teeth marks of a wolf in its neck. We also found a dead bilgesnipe, and footprints. And one last thing…the body of one of the men…it was Hunding." The normally heartless giantess's face now etched in pain. She didn't ever show much emotion, but Hunding had been her lover, and now someone had murdered him, and she knew perfectly well who that someone was.

The male Jotun continued, "He did have a stomach puncture, no doubt by the hands of another of our kind, his face was also beaten pretty bad as well, the indents of a hammer. Loki is here, Irina, and he is not alone."

An evil smile crossed the Giantess's face. "All we have to do now is find him. And kill him slowly, by first taking all that is dear to him. I will avenge my father, mother, and now my lover's death, Njal, you can count on that. It is only a matter of time. We are regrouping slowly. Send another patrol out to look for more dispersed Jotuns. But before you go, bring me the prisoners."


A/N: Luv rolling in. Hehehehehe. What will happen next? Who is Irina? What are her intentions? Who are these "prisoners" she speaks of? Stay tuned. Reviews please.