What else can I possibly say but thank you so much to each and every one of you. Your words are so SO appreciated! I adore reading your reviews and I couldn't help but the squeeze in a few extra hours here and there in order to finish the next chapter for you all, seeing as you left me such beautiful reviews!

This one was hard to write, mostly because I can't wait to get to the next one ;)

I hope you enjoy!

The earth shuddered with every breath that the Creature took in. Every time he should move, it sounded like an earthquake… for the Thing was of the earth and the earth of him. He was older and younger than anything in creation. Wiser and more naïve than any other being. More innocent and more heartless. Alive and non-existent.

The Forest Guardian.

He looked to be made of dirt and rock, vines and tree trunks, moss and ferns and light. Light burst from deep within it and everything it touched would explode into bloom. The truth was that they were one – the earth and forest and the Giant whose mighty steps thundered throughout the serene woodland. He was the embodiment of life, it seeped out of him and into everything else around him.

The creatures that lived amongst the greenery were unafraid of the almighty Giant. Somehow, they knew just what it was. Any human who should ever come into contact with the Creature never left his side again. Hunters looking for game would drop their weapons. Woodcutters left their axes behind. Small children who wandered too far into the wilderness, never again called for their mothers. All would stand awestruck with the sight that they beheld. All fell in love. And so they became his children, for that is what they always were.

For thousands of years the Creature lived this way, in peace… in happiness. Until one day something went wrong… and all felt it. Animals of the forest warily sniffed the air. The flowers refused to open for the coaxing sun. And the Guardian's followers emerged from their sleeping nests in horror and despair to find their Forest God had fallen. He lay on his back, wheezing. Though he had no true face, he looked sad… mournful. He reached out to his children and they came to him with tears in their eyes.

He was dying…

But… why?

What had happened? What had changed?

His children cast helpless glances to one another as they wept. What were they to do-

Rosa let out a frustrated sigh. She did not care. She wanted to, but she just didn't. All she wanted was to go to the Library and to speak to him. It did not matter what the subject was, she just wanted to hear his voice. It had seemed like a good idea at the time – not speaking so that they would each complete the books – a game of sorts, but this was no fun at all. Rosa simply could not believe just how much she missed his company. She sincerely hoped that Loki was trying his best to get through his own novel quickly.

Rosa rested the book upon her lap and gazed out the window for a time. She sat upon the window sill in the room which she and Lyora shared. The entire room was a pale cream colour, with simple (and minimal) wooden furnishings. No one would think that just outside this room, and those surrounding it, was a corridor which led out into the rest of the Royal Asgardian Palace. Outside her window, the view was always breathtaking. There wasn't a point in the Palace that didn't look out over something glorious. Asgard truly was something to behold. If she craned her neck at the right angle she could even see the end of the Rainbow Bridge, where the ever watchful Heimdall stood, guarding the Bifrost. Rosa had seen the light of the Bifrost shoot out into the Universe twice in her lifetime; it had filled her with wonder and longing. What she would give to see it all...

As she stared out over the wonders of Asgard, her mind wandered back once again to the Library. To Loki. Her knuckles tingled where he had pressed his lips to them and over the past few days, Rosa had taken to rubbing at the spot absent-mindedly when her thoughts had wandered, inevitably, back to him.

What had it meant? Their almost-kiss. Her entire body tingled at the thought of it. Of all the times they had been alone for hours on end in that place, why did it have to be in that moment that they were interrupted? She had cursed her own cowardice at their next encounter. She had wanted to address it, to ask him what it had been, but she had been incapable of doing so.

Perhaps, that was why she had implemented this 'no speaking' rule upon them both; so that she had given herself an excuse as to why she could not address it. Just a few more days of ignoring it, of not knowing. A few more days that she could pretend that Loki had not just been caught up in the moment and that he had actual, real feelings towards her.

She shook her head at herself, she was being foolish. He was Prince…

Her train of thought was interrupted by Lyora bursting through the door, her face adorned with the widest smile Rosa had seen in at least a century.

"Rosa!" she practically sung, "You will not believe it!"

"What is it?" she asked, fighting a smile.

"Hersil," she said, flopping down upon her bed, "Hersil has been restationed in the corridors in which I am assigned."

Lyora rolled onto her stomach to face Rosa, "I near fainted at the sight of him, Rosa. What sort of generous being is watching over my fate?"

Thank you, Loki… Rosa thought to herself as she smiled at her ecstatic friend, who rambled on joyously about her good fortune.

Why had he not just agreed to read her book? She had done this on purpose, he had no doubt of it. The characters in his book seemed to jeer at him from the pages, taking a painfully long time to do each of the banal tasks penned down for them. Loki made a mental note to incinerate the cursed novel the moment he and Rosa were done with it.

Amongst his everyday duties, he had spent every spare moment he'd had pouring through the infernal book, and it had been three full days yet he had still not completed it. Three nights of barely any sleep, yet the imbecile of a protagonist had not yet managed to figure out that his agitating love interest was the beast he had set out to rescue her from. Several times now, Loki had thrown the book across the room in frustration, taking care to aim it at something fragile and breakable. The sound of shattering glass seemed soothing to him at times.

Why did he have to pick such a ridiculously long book?

He let out a groan of frustration. An image flashed in his mind of Rosa, laughing along with faceless others, her book left forgotten under her bed. How was he to know that even if he should finish his novel, she would too? Surely, she had not been sitting locked up in her room, pouring furiously over the pages of her book, desperate to have it over and done with.

Perhaps he ought to just forget this little deal, abandon the book and speak to her anyway. No, she would stubbornly remain silent until he complied, he could picture it already; the smirk on her face and the finger to her lips.

Was this a punishment of sorts? She had told him that he was forgiven, yes, but perhaps she had not meant it and this was some clever ploy to torture him. No… she was too sincere, too honest, and too good to pull something of the sort…

He should have just kissed her, be damned whoever saw it! The wrinkled old thing that had disrupted them most likely would not have seen it anyhow – she looked as if her vision were failing. It had taken a great deal of self control not to blast the woman through the wall so that he could have Rosa to himself. And when she had turned to leave, how desperately he had wished to seal the door, locking them in there for however long he should see fit.

But he hadn't.

The whole point of Rosa, the thing that made her so important was that she chose to be around him. She wanted his company. A rare thing indeed, in the Prince's experience. And so he had let her go, he wanted her always to choose it.

His whole body suddenly tingled, his magic awakening inside him. Would it be cheating for him to spy on her? She would never know… and they had agreed only not speak, he was still permitted to see her… wasn't he?

As the magic within him gave another tempting surge, there was a booming knock at his door. Loki scowled, as he heard the voice.

"BROTHER!" it boomed, "Open the door at once! I shall not have you cooped up in there, alone, for a moment more!"

Loki knew too well that Thor would not leave him be until he was admitted into the room. Loki stood and moved towards the door, taking no pleasure in it opening to reveal his beaming, golden brother.

"Loki" Thor clapped him on the shoulder, "do you not feel as if a great many moons have passed since we were last in each other's company?"

"On the contrary, I think it far too few."

Thor laughed at what he took to be a jest.

"Come Loki, we are to spend the afternoon riding with Sif and the Warriors Three. It has been some time since you got any fresh air and I have, of late, been contemplating the idea that you might make to court the Lady Sif. She is a fine specimen of a woman and you, brother, are sorely in need of a woman's company. It should do you no end of good. Do you not think yourselves a fine match, indeed?"

"She is not to my tastes." Loki sneered. It surprised him that the suggestion offended him. Sif was a fine woman... but not the right one... "And it is common knowledge that she has eyes for you, Thor. Do not attempt to palm issues that you wish to ignore off to me."

"Brother, you are spending too much time in solitude, it has made you delusional. Sif is my dear friend and we see each other as nothing more."

Loki knew the truth, though. Thor could not picture Sif as a romantic possibility as she was too strong minded. As a comrade, there was no one better in Thor's eyes. But Thor wanted a feminine woman, someone gentle and graceful and quiet. Sif was independent, self assured and unafraid to voice her opinion to Thor and any other man she came across. Thor wanted only a trophy wife, one who would fawn over him. And while Sif was indeed a strikingly beautiful woman, she was in no way what Thor hoped to find in a partner.

Loki was ripped from his thoughts as Thor seized his book from his grasp. The blonde frowned disapprovingly as he thumbed through the pages. No pictures, Loki could not help but to think to himself.

"Why do these things hold your interest, so?" Thor asked.

"Give it back, now, Thor…" his voice was laced with a venom that Thor merely ignored.

"Or what?" Thor challenged, he cocked an eyebrow.

"Has it slipped your simple mind, the fact that I am capable of turning you into a goat?"

"And should you do so, I vow to munch upon the pages! I have heard paper to be quite the delicacy to livestock."

Loki scowled.

"Brother," Thor's voice becoming gentle, "come spend some time in my company. Have some fun. I shall even allow you to bring the blasted book."

He handed it over, and Loki snatched it, "You do not allow me to do anything, brother. I shall come with you for a time. If only to placate your nagging for but a few hours."

Thor beamed and threw an arm around the dark haired man, and Loki could not help but to let the smallest of laughs escape his lips. Thor may have been thick-headed, arrogant, and downright irritating, but there were times that Loki found himself genuinely enjoying his presence (though he would never admit to it). Had he not been in such a foul tempered mood – wanting only to see Rosa again – this might have constituted as one of those times.

The Forest God thundered along through the forest… ever slowly… ever steady… The light from within him both blindingly bright and peacefully dim at the same time. His followers were gone, returned to their homes and families. Save for one… the one who had saved him. She stood upon what might have been his shoulder and held on to one of his many branches, staring out unblinkingly… ever watchful over their forest, with glowing eyes.

Soon, the world would forget about the Creature, the one they had united to save. They would forget the woman who had refused to give up.

But the Forest God would not.

He would forever remember the love that the creatures of this Earth were capable of. The devotion that his followers and strangers alike could possess. Even when he was the only being left in existence that would know what had happened upon that day, the Forest God knew that the love they had expressed would live on for eternity. Whether they were aware of it or not.

It would exist beyond the end of existence.

The end.

Awake in the darkness…

Awake in the darkness…

She lay on her bed with her book clutched to her heart, as she stared out of the window. She had finished it at last…

His book laying in the far corner of the room where he had flung it, the pages bent and the spine broken. Finally, he was done with the infernal thing…

She smiled in the darkness, she would see him tomorrow…

He tossed restlessly in his bed. Would she be done by tomorrow?

She missed him…

He missed her…

She sighed and closed her eyes, waiting for sleep to come. Tomorrow…

He stared coolly, at the ceiling. Tomorrow…

Loki pushed open the door of the Great Library and strode inside. One book down… halfway there. The thought made him groan. This was impossibly frustrating.

At the sound of the door opening, Rosa ducked her head out from behind one of the many bookshelves. She had been waiting for him. Loki caught the movement out of the corner of his eye immediately and turned to face her. They stood in silence, and Loki felt a strange mix of both relief and sadness wash over him. Just this – her very presence – seemed to ease the tension in him. Yet having her right here with him, without being able to speak a word to her was infuriating.

Rosa moved towards him, her book clutched in her hands and though she kept her lips determinedly closed, she offered him a small smile. There was that light in her eyes, the one Loki saw whenever she looked at him. If she was still enjoying this little 'game', Loki decided that he would not be the one to cave. If she had the discipline to remain silent, then he would too.

They stood only inches apart, without a single word exchanged. As Rosa looked up to meet his eye, Loki smirked and she quirked her eyebrow at him, holding out her book. Loki took it and handed over his in return. Their fingers brushed together during the exchange and both slowed their actions to a stop, savouring the contact. Rosa sighed as her eyes fell upon their touching hands and Loki gazed at her face intensely, a sadness welling up inside each of them. Loki wanted nothing more than to freeze that moment and live in it forever.

Rosa finally pulled the book from his grasp and looked up at him as she hugged it to her chest. With a grin, she took hold of one side of her skirt (book still clutched to her heart) and she gave a graceful curtsey. Though his eyes were sad, Loki smiled and bowed low to her, his gaze never leaving her.

Then reluctantly, Rosa made her way towards the door. She moved far slower than she needed to and she did not look away from him until the door was completely shut between them. Rosa leaned against the door and let out a deep sigh, which turned into a groan as she looked down and saw just how thick the book in her hand was.

Well, there it is, chapter 5. It was insanely hard not to let them speak to each other! I hope you all enjoyed it :)

I'm thoroughly looking forward to reading what you have to say! Thank you once again to everyone who took the time to read, I adore each and every one of you!