"Aemilia. Wake up."
The flat, severe tone was nothing like the one that woke her up from her nap earlier, and Aemilia jarred awake very much against her will. She squinted and rubbed her eyes, grimacing when a firm hand on her shoulder shook her for good measure.
"Get up."
"Why? What time is it?" Aemilia asked, slapping the hand away and sitting up in her bed. She felt as if she hadn't slept for more than five minutes, but when she looked down at the nightgown that she was wearing under the sheets, she realized that she couldn't remember either getting into bed or changing her clothes for it. The room was darkened, barely lit, and it couldn't have been much past midnight. She looked up at Loki, still squinting with heavy eyes, and immediately felt her breath catch in her lungs at the expression on his face.
He was pale - more so than usual - and there was a tension etched on every inch of his face that also visible even in his shoulders. He looked as if he was on the verge of panicking and trying very hard not to.
"Loki?"
"Stand."
She obeyed his tight single-word command, furrowing her brows as she did, rising to stand before him.
He quickly grabbed her hand, and a blink of an eye later, she was out of her room and standing in the middle of a dimly lit room she'd never been in before.
A shrill sound of shock and the sound of breaking glass greeted them, and Aemilia clutched Loki's hand as she searched for the source of the sound. Dim as the room was, she managed to identify what it was as well as the source of the shriek in a single sweep of her eyes - they were in the palace's healing room, and a young female healer had dropped a glass basin in shock when they'd appeared mere feet away from her.
"You," Loki said to the girl, his voice disturbingly menacing, "what's your name?"
"I - ah - Kyr, Your Highness, my name is Kyr."
"And you are a healer?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
He jerked his head towards Aemilia. "Examine her."
"What?" Aemilia asked, whipping her head around to glare at Loki. "Why?! Is this about what happened earlier? I told you I'm fine -"
"Enough," he snapped, never taking his eyes off the slightly terrified healer. "Examine her. Now."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Loki!" Aemilia protested as the healer brushed aside the pieces of broken glass with her foot before moving forward, to guide her to a long table that she hadn't even noticed sitting in the middle of the room a moment ago. "This is ridiculous!"
Loki said nothing, merely moving aside as the healer took her respectfully by her forearm and led her to the table, but she caught him eyeing her midriff with an unreadably blank look that made her blood instantly run cold as she passed him.
Something prickled at the back of her mind, something that she immediately decided to ignore, because ignoring it was far safer than giving voice to it. But she felt the frigid grip of fear settling deep in her gut as she climbed up on the dark, narrow exam table, casting one more glance at Loki as he stood awkwardly off to the side, apparently unable to meet her eyes.
"Lie back, my Lady," Kyr said gently, and Aemilia took her gaze off of Loki and complied with a nod. The poor healer looked as nervous as Aemilia felt nauseous. "Can you tell me what ails you?"
"Uh..."
She'd never been examined by a healer before - she'd always been perfectly healthy, and never had she suffered an injury worth involving a healer. So she stared somewhat in wonder when the healer lifted her hands and up into the air above her rose a shimmering reddish-gold outline of her own body, floating there as Kyr's hands kept moving.
"My lady?"
Aemilia cleared her throat. "Right, um... well, earlier, I... threw up, and... my appetite hasn't been quite right."
Kyr's hands moved and the golden image swirled and dissolved as other ones formed. Organs, blood vessels, other things she couldn't identify, all passing through the healer's vision as Aemilia stared at it all. "Anything else?"
"I've been more tired than I normally am," Aemilia replied. She turned her head and glanced at Loki again. He was watching the images intently, a finger over his lip as he appeared to be in rather deep concentration.
Her entire circulatory system was on display now, and it was fascinating to watch golden wisps representing her blood race around through the air, through visions of her veins that all linked to her heart, which was pounding rather harshly.
Kyr isolated a vein, twirled her finger through the air, and a tear-drop shaped image of blood rose up and stilled before her eyes. She did some more work with her fingers, eyes intent on what she was doing, and then her expression changed. "Ah."
"What?" Aemilia demanded, eyes going wide.
Kyr glanced nervously at Loki before turning back to her and gently answering, "You are pregnant, my lady."
She froze, gaping at the healer, as her vision narrowed and her heart nearly stopped beating.
It was a cold punch to her chest to hear those words, regardless of the suspicion that had been creeping through her mind since she'd caught Loki looking at her stomach. Immediately her brain scrambled to find a way to deny the words she'd just heard.
This could not be actually happening. Not now, not so soon after so much had gone wrong. Not like this.
"But I take a potion! That's impossible!"
"I'm sorry, my Lady, but your blood contains hormones that are only present during pregnancy," Kyr replied gently. "Very low levels, so you are quite newly with child. Perhaps two weeks."
"But... I... it's impossible!" she said again, sitting up, inadvertently causing the images to disappear. She looked desperately to Loki, but he merely stared at the space where the images had been, his expression lacking even a trace of surprise, or really of any emotion at all. How could he be so calm when she was on the verge of completely losing her mind?
"I'm sorry, my lady, but-"
"Enough," Loki suddenly said, at last turning his gaze to Aemilia as he dismissed the healer. "Leave us."
Kyr nodded and gave the Prince a respectful curtsy, but as she made to walk past him, he suddenly seized her forearm and then turned his narrow eyes to her wide ones.
"You will speak of this to no one," he said, voice low and threatening. "Not to Eir, not to the Queen, not to the King, not to anyone. And if you do - if what you just told us passes through another's lips anywhere in this realm - I shall know. And I shall make your life, and the life of every living member of your family, so heinously miserable that you will long for the respite that only Helheim can offer you. Do you understand?"
Aemilia watched in a stupor, caught between her shock of the pregnancy and the instinct to scold Loki for threatening and terrifying the poor girl, but no words left her mouth. She watched as Kyr nodded frantically and then dashed off when she was released, then looked at Loki as he set his eyes upon her once again.
He didn't hold eye contact for more than a moment before he looked down to his feet and crossed his arms.
Aemilia shivered, due to both the draft in the chilly room and to the fear that seemed to only grow with each passing moment of silence. She was almost sure that she'd rather hear Loki rant and rave at her than just be silent, not even looking at her.
"You are angry with me," she said quietly. He blinked, and it was her only sign that he'd heard her. "How could this have happened? The potion -"
"The day you came here," he interrupted suddenly, snapping his eyes up to hers. "You didn't take the potion until the next morning."
She suddenly felt like an idiot. Of course that was when it had happened. Such a small, minute window of time was all that was necessary for this enormously profound thing to happen.
It raised so many questions. Too many, in fact. They all swirled through her head and left it spinning, and one of them shot out of her mouth before she had the chance to stop herself. "Do you want children?"
He looked at her incredulously. "Certainly not like this."
The last word came out like a hiss, and it hit her like another punch to her chest. She knew full well what he meant. They were barely courting, let alone engaged, and certainly not married. It was a scandal just waiting to burst open, and while Loki wouldn't care about that, surely his parents would, and Aemilia could only imagine that Loki would be urged to either marry her or send her away - the former by Frigga, and the latter by Odin, she suspected.
Truthfully, she couldn't imagine Loki following either command. Her stomach sunk even lower.
"What would you have me do?" she asked quietly, staring at his again-averted eyes. "Drink a cup of poison and end this?"
He didn't look up, didn't flinch, didn't so much as breathe as she desperately searched him for a reaction, any sense of approval or disgust for what she'd just suggested.
But he gave her nothing. And she was suddenly overcome with the urge to vomit.
Very little was in her stomach to eject, so when she lurched forward and began heaving, nothing came up. But Loki was suddenly in front of her, thrusting a basin under her face, and she grabbed it from him before shoving him away as angrily as she could manage. He stumbled back a step or two, having not expected her to push him away.
She clamped her eyes shut as they watered,under the force of her pointless heaving, clutching the bowl tightly and sobbing a little bit when the sickness finally ebbed. She drew in deep, noisy breaths, trying to calm down, knuckles white as she continued to hold the bowl as if her life depended on it.
When she opened her eyes, she nearly gasped in shock of finding herself no longer perched on a healer's exam table, but on the end of Loki's bed, back inside of his chambers. She looked up as Loki knelt before her and pried the basin away from her, then vanished it between his hands. Their eyes met in silence for a moment, and then Loki stood to walk a few long-legged steps to an armchair that he sank tiredly into.
She was cold, she was trembling from the aftershocks of sickness and she grew more frightened the longer she watched that terribly blank expression remain etched on Loki's face.
"Should I expect to be sent away?"
Loki looked to her, rolling his eyes slightly as he did. "Don't be ridiculous."
"Forgive me," she said tersely, almost sarcastically. "I have not a single clue as to what's going through your mind right now."
"I don't believe you would particularly enjoy hearing my current thoughts spoken aloud."
"So you are angry with me," Aemilia deduced quietly.
"More with myself," replied, leaning on his hand, staring at the floor again. "I should have thought to cast the spell that would have prevented this. I should have remembered, I should have..." he grit his teeth and fell silent.
But Aemilia could not fault him. She remembered that night vividly, her first night here at the palace, the first and so far only night they'd spent together that had been filled with truly gentle and loving touches. Her mind had been nowhere near the consequences, nowhere near anything beyond Loki and how deeply and completely she needed him after having been separated for far too long.
And for that one night to have been in a window of fertility, which for Aesir women did not come around often... it was so improbable that it barely warranted the worry.
"You couldn't have known," she said after a long pause.
"But you could have," he replied, his tone sharper than she'd expected to hear. "Don't you women keep track of these things?"
Her mouth hung open for a moment before she replied, "I... yes, but... I'd been taking the potion for so long that I stopped thinking about it. And when I stopped, when we... separated, I didn't..."
"Our options are extremely limited," Loki interrupted, still not looking at her. "And I won't send you away."
"What are you saying?" she asked cautiously.
Loki let his hand drop from his face as he stared at nothing. A long moment passed before he shrugged and muttered, "I don't know."
"Then I will leave you to think," Aemilia said, standing on slightly wobbly legs. "I suspect that I should do the same."
She began to walk towards his door without another glance, but he was behind her and grabbing her arm before she could reach it.
"I can see your legs shaking," he said softly before gripping her arm a fraction harder and transporting them to her room in less than a second.
She looked up at him as he let go. "Thank you."
He nodded stiffly. "I will... see you tomorrow."
She nodded, then watched as he disappeared. She stared at the empty place that he'd stood for a few seconds, then barely consciously carried herself to her bed.
She crawled under her sheets and pulled them up to her chin to chase the chill away, finding the bed to be just as cold and uncomfortable as she was. She closed her eyes and curled up into a ball, trying to wrap her head around the fact that there was a person - a baby, tiny as it was - growing in her womb.
Things like this were meant to be a joyous occasion, something meant for celebration and feasts and happiness, not fear and anger and secrecy. Creating a new life with a man you loved wasn't supposed to be like this.
Tears fell from her eyes, but she didn't notice them. She didn't know how long she lay there until she fell into a fitful sleep that was full of confused, loud dreams that woke her each hour until dawn. She faced the night alone, wishing that Loki were with her to help her through it, but too stubborn to go to him herself.
Across the palace, the Prince himself didn't sleep at all.
He paced, he sat, he laid upon his bed, and then got up and paced again. He repeated this routine until dawn arrived, and when it did, despite all of his critical thinking, he found himself no closer to a resolution.
The truth was, he was unwilling to choose any of the options he knew that he and Aemilia would be faced with once the pregnancy became known. He would not send her away and have her raise a child he'd refuse to acknowledge. He would not be forced into a marriage with her - or anyone else - for any reason, including the conception of a child. And he was not particularly fond of the idea of terminating the life of a child that he'd helped create, as unintentional and unplanned as it was.
What he supposed he wanted to do was carry on with Aemilia as he already was, and when the child came, raise it with her in the palace, regardless of their marital status. But this was, of course, impossible, because he was a Prince, and he would be forced to choose between letting the child grow up a bastard or marrying Aemilia and ensuring its legitimacy.
If there was one thing Loki loathed above all else, it was being forced to do anything. Especially regarding drastically life-altering decisions.
The humorous thing about it all, he mused as he watched the sun rise over the horizon from his balcony, is that he did want children. Very few others knew this about him, but it had always been true. Ever since his days as a youth, using his magic to both terrify and entertain the little ones of the court, he'd had a strange fondness for the tiny creatures that surprised even him. They seemed to adore him in return - the ones he didn't traumatize with projections of giant serpents or spiders, that is - and though he could never quite picture himself with a wife, he'd always imagined at least one child fitting in somewhere into his future. But not like this.
And now, he realized that the idea of actually being a father was uniquely terrifying. It was one thing to desire offspring as an eventuality, but to actually face the prospect as a reality was quite another.
There was only one thing he could think to do that morning, as he tried to navigate the restless, twining paths that his mind was racing through all at once. It wasn't something he'd normally ever choose to do, but today, in the midst of this odd and unexpected crisis he was facing, nothing sounded better.
He headed to the training arena, and just as he'd expected, found it empty save for his brother.
"Brother! This is most unexpected."
Loki strolled to the center of the arena, shoulders back and head held high as ever, the grin on his face in direct opposition to the raging scowl that he wanted to wear. "Indeed it is. But what a lovely morning it is to spend outside, breathing the fresh air, avoiding taking flying hammers to the face."
Thor grinned, holding out his hand and summoning the aforementioned hammer that he'd previously been throwing at now-demolished marks a moment ago. "And why would you possibly want to spar with me, rather than spend the morning warm in your bed with your lady?"
Loki merely shrugged and replied, "My lady's presence does not negate the value I hold for my brother's company."
If Thor had been a more perceptive man, he may have caught the double meaning in Loki's words, and how he meant them to be slightly accusatory. But, Thor was not a more perceptive man, and he would most likely never take notice of Loki's jealousy of his other relationships and how Loki felt their brotherly one always came last.
"Ah, yes, I believe that," Thor laughed. "Did she kick you out of bed?"
Loki rolled his eyes and then suddenly manifested a thin dagger in his hand. "She did not. Now can we fight before you bore me back to sleep?"
He then threw the dagger at Thor's face, but just as Thor swung Mjolnir towards it to shatter it, Loki flicked his wrist and the dagger returned to his hand.
Thor raised an eyebrow and remarked, "That's a new trick."
"I always have new tricks," Loki grinned. "You should know that by now."
"Indeed I do," Thor replied. "Tricks and secrets."
Loki frowned and then ducked away when Thor suddenly lunged at him, swinging his fist and missing his face by an inch. He straightened quickly and then aimed the dagger at Thor's side, and the tip caught at his armor as Thor swung his hammer back towards Loki, narrowly missing him as he vanished into thin air.
"Secrets, brother? Really?" Loki's disembodied voice asked as Thor looked around, unable to find a single sign of him anywhere. "I am an open book."
"Ha!" Thor replied, turning in a circle, scanning the arena. "An open book in an alien language and encrypted in an unreadable code, perhaps."
"I'd like to think I'm merely subtle," came Loki's voice suddenly much closer to Thor's ear, and the elder brother stiffened as he felt the tip of an invisible blade press against his throat.
"Subtle and invisible?" Thor ventured, careful not to move an inch. "You will never learn to fight fair, brother."
"Fighting fair - where's the fun in that?" Loki asked, just as Thor felt the dagger leave his throat. He relaxed, then tensed up all over again at the unmistakeable sound of a blade cutting through hair behind his ear. "Loki. Loki!"
Thor reached into his hair and gaped at the feel of a rather large chunk of his blonde locks missing, just as Loki became visible once more, laughing and holding the severed chunk in his hand. "Let's face it, brother, you were due for a trim."
"I've been attempting to grow it longer, you fool!" Thor bellowed, tightening his fist around Mjolnir's handle, his blue eyes absolutely livid. "Fix it now, Loki!"
Loki feigned confusion and asked, "What do you think I am - some sort of master of magic, to be able to fix something like that?"
"Do I look to be jesting?" Thor retorted.
"No, but you do look a bit uneven. Shall I trim a bit more?"
That apparently did it, and Thor let out a snarl as he lunged at Loki.
Oddly enough, getting thrown around and throwing some punches of his own was exactly what Loki needed. Thor tried to press him for details a few more times over the next several hours, but Loki didn't budge, keeping the storm inside his head to himself and making his brother bear the brunt of it.
Aemilia's morning was, by contrast, considerably less eventful than Loki's.
She awoke feeling exhausted, cold, hungry, and nauseous all at once, still unable to believe the prior night's events, but she put on a brave face when Gunnvarr arrived and hustled her through her usual morning routine. It was difficult, having next to no energy and barely enough will to pretend otherwise, but she persevered, and even managed to eat about a quarter of the breakfast that was delivered to her room.
Once she was dressed and somewhat full after having forced herself to eat, she dismissed the handmaid and set out to find some fresh, warmer air that would hopefully chase away the stubborn chill in her bones, and maybe even provide her ever-racing mind with a respite.
Nobody looked at her twice as she navigated the hallways, which assured her that the healer had indeed kept her mouth shut. Not that she would have expected anything different after the way Loki had threatened the poor girl. Still, she felt as if she had the word "pregnant" stamped across her forehead in bright red paint.
Oh, the things her mother would say if she found out.
Her thoughts were beginning to converge on themselves when she reached the palace gardens, and she had to steel herself and force them away before they broke her tentative calm and left her in the midst of a public breakdown. She disliked having breakdowns as much as dealing with the attentions they garnered.
The gardens were empty, as she'd come during a rare hour of the day where the Queen's gardeners took a break from tending to it. The Queen herself was not present today either, being away in her native Vanaheim for some sort of business. The exotic smells that wafted through the air as she passed row after row of exquisitely trimmed roses and orchids and other specimens that she couldn't name helped to quell the uneasiness in her belly, and before she knew it, she was relaxed enough to begin absently humming a tune to herself.
Humming eventually turned into quiet singing, and she didn't even realize that she held a hand lightly on her belly as she walked.
It was still such an unreal concept - how could a baby really be forming in her womb in that very moment? And not just an abstract idea of a baby - her baby. Loki's baby. Their baby.
She had ceased her walking and was standing amid two lush bushes of multi-colored roses that rivaled the rainbow bridge in their vividness. Her eyes were closed and her voice was still carrying over the wind, and despite the thoughts and feelings that she could barely make sense of, it provided her a sense of peace that she could not have found anywhere else.
It was only after she'd sang the final note of her tune that she heard a friendly voice ring out from behind her.
"What a coincidence," Fandral grinned, approaching her in his training gear. "I've also ventured to the gardens to enrapture nature itself with the unrivaled beauty of my voice."
She chuckled and folded her hands behind her as the warrior came to stand beside her. "In that case, do not spare nature on my account."
"I'd rather not watch the Queen's roses wilt and die in the face of the sheer horror that is my singing," Fandral grinned back. "Actually, I was on my way to the arena when I heard you, across the way. This is the first I've seen you unaccompanied in your time here."
Aemilia nodded, again feeling that invisible stamp of shame on her forehead. "I suppose we all need a moment or two to ourselves now and again."
"More than that, considering whom you're courting," Fandral replied, though she knew he meant it in good nature. "Speaking of, where is his highness at the present time?"
She shrugged. "I do not know."
Fandral eyed her curiously, and she wondered if there really was a stamp on her forehead. "You do not? That's odd - I've not seen the two of you apart for weeks."
She shrugged again. "It's not a big deal," she lied.
"Well, either way," Fandral shrugged. "You know that if you ever require companionship beyond that of the Prince, my friends and I are more than happy to oblige. You are both welcomed, of course, but Loki's been a rather more solitary creature throughout the last few centuries."
"Thank you," Aemilia nodded. "And I've noticed that about him. He was not always like this?"
"Oh, no," Fandral shook his head. "But, as time has gone on and he and Thor's interests have taken drastic turns in opposite directions, he's become more and more solitary. Understandable, I suppose. But you have no reason to follow his example. We are all eager to know you better."
She mustered up a smile. "I'll keep that in mind. Can I ask you a question?"
"Anything, my lady," Fandral smiled back.
"What exactly is said about me when I am not present? Not among you and the other warriors, but others - nobles, courtiers."
"Ah," Fandral nodded. "In large part, you are a mystery to them. All manner of rumors have been circulated by the more unsavory ones, especially among the ladies. Some think you are a plaything for both Princes. Some think you are an opportunist looking for any way in to royalty that you can manage. There was one rumor that you were moved so quickly to the palace in order to mask a sudden, scandalous pregnancy."
Fandral laughed at this, and Aemilia weakly copied him. She'd never been one to care much for what others thought of her, but when "others" now constituted the King's court and the entire kingdom... it was disconcerting, at least. Still not exactly consequential, but disconcerting, especially for a rising singer of her couldn't overestimate how an out of wedlock baby would affect her career. Mostly, however, she feared for the child that would be born into this environment, this situation, and how those others would treat him or her.
"What troubles you, my lady?" Fandral asked quietly. "Even for one such as I who only just knows you, I can see that something is amiss."
Aemilia took a deep breath. She pictured the imaginary stamp on her forehead to now be covering her entire face, surrounded by brights flashing fireworks for good measure. "It's just... I'm dealing with several things at once, and... it's a bit overwhelming, is all."
"Ah," Fandral nodded. "I see."
"Living here, in the royal palace, suddenly being in this world - it's very strange. It's so different from anything I've ever known before, and I come from a noble family." It was a partial truth, but she certainly couldn't tell him the full true reason for her current mood.
"Well," Fandral said cheerfully, "if what Thor has told me is true, you and Loki have already overcome a great deal to be where you currently are. And if you've come this far, I wager that you can go much further yet."
Aemilia smiled at Fandral, and this time it wasn't forced at all. "Thank you."
He nodded and gave a little bow. "You are quite welcome. I shall take my leave now - the arena awaits."
She nodded and inclined her head. "All right. I am sure that I will see you soon."
"Likewise," he replied, taking a few steps back. "And I speak for the entire kingdom when I urge you to please continue singing!"
She chuckled, watching him walk away before turning her gaze back to the sprawling gardens before her. She could only hope that his encouraging words would come to fruition.
Loki and Aemilia's paths did not cross until late that night. They did not seek the other out during those hours, but used the time to mull everything over, partially in the hopes that when they did reunite, it would not be in the same tense, contentious spirit as the night before. They ate in their own rooms, and when they both finally tired of the solitude and left to seek the other out, they met in the hallways that laid between their rooms.
They both stopped when the other came into view. Aemilia instantly studied Loki's face in the dim firelight, searching it for a sign of anything, but she saw nothing but blankness, as she'd come to expect. But blankness was better than anger.
"Loki -"
"Shh," he quickly hushed her, darting forward to grab her hand. When he grasped it, she closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, they were standing out on his balcony, under the darkness of the night sky.
She looked at him questioningly, and he sighed, "Fresh air seems to be rather helpful to me today."
She nodded, then watched as he slowly sank to the floor against the long railings on the balcony. He sat there, long legs stretched out in front of him, and she moved to sit at his side.
She was the first to speak again, after a long moment of silence. "Are you still angry?"
He shrugged. "Anger solves nothing in this case."
"What does?"
He turned to her and smiled. "That's the question, isn't it?"
She sighed and laid her head down on his shoulder. "Yes. One I do not know the answer to."
He was silent for a long moment before he inhaled and answered, "Neither do I."
She closed her eyes when his hand came to rest on her side, pulling her closer to him. She welcomed the touch, relieved that he wasn't pushing her away or blaming all of this on her.
"I may not know what the wise course of action is," Aemilia said softly, "but I will not end the pregnancy. That much I've decided. Even if you commanded me to, I will not."
He was silent for another long stretch, and for those moments, she suspected that she'd angered him with those words. She was wrong.
"Good."
She closed her eyes in relief. At least they agreed on that much. It was a start.
"I can place an enchantment on you that would hide the pregnancy as it becomes more evident," Loki said quietly. "But once the child comes... everything will change."
She nodded, her chest feeling tight. "I know."
He sighed, hand running slowly up and down her back. "I've never claimed to be wise. I can't discern what the wise course of action would be."
"Perhaps," she suggested softly, "we should ask your mother."
"My mother will simply insist that I marry you within the week, if not the very hour that we tell her. And ask what colors we wish her to knit the child's blankets in."
Aemilia frowned. "I know you don't want to be forced to marry me. I don't want that either."
She felt Loki sigh again as he shook his head and muttered, "It would be so much easier to simply end the pregnancy."
"Then why do you not wish for me to do so?"
He paused again, this time longer than the others. She fought the urge to peek up to his face, instead wrapping her hand more tightly around his arm.
"Because the child is mine," he eventually replied, an edge to his voice.
And he had so very little that was truly his, Aemilia knew.
She unwrapped her hand from his arm and slid it over his chest, to his side, and she embraced him as tightly as she could. He responded by dropping his lips to her hair and pressing a kiss just above her forehead.
"We will figure this out," Aemilia said softly. Then she echoed Fandral's words to her from earlier. "If we've come this far together, we can surely go yet further."
"Optimism," she heard him note with faint amusement. "Strange, coming from one who is always so keen on realism."
She shrugged as a finger found her chin, lifting it to make her meet his gaze. "Perhaps it was time for a change."
"Perhaps," he murmured before leaning down and capturing her lips.
His kiss was sweet and slow, and it was enough to almost rid Aemilia's mind of its troubles, if only for a moment.
In that moment, as they sat on Loki's balcony, Aemilia let her newfound, extremely tentative and shaky, optimism point out to her that things could be much worse. Because after all, as uncertain and daunting and frightening as the future now was, and as little of a clue as she had of how to even begin to proceed, at least she and Loki were facing this together.
This being her one and only comforting thought, she clung to it with everything she had, and kissed him until she nearly forgot about it all.
A/N: so this is short... I know, I know. Sorry :/ next one should definitely be my usual length. Thank you guys for your reviews and feedback following the last chapter and the latest twist in things :D this part of the story I've had planned since the very beginning, so don't worry guys, I've got this :p I'm ESPECIALLY excited for next chapter :D So! I have a treat for you guys! The lovely and amazing midnightwings96 has written a tie-in oneshot for Ruin, titled Look Who'a Kneeling Now, and I urge all of you to read it and leave her a review. It covers what happens between Loki and Aemilia in ch 14, when she's got him tied up and at her mercy, and let's just say, it is asdfghjkl wkdndkdksm (in other words, it's amazing and hot and sjsnksksjdkd) :) I've recently adopted a no-smut writing policy (sorry, guys, long story), so she is helping to fill in the blanks, with my full & complete permission. So go give it a look! It'll be on my favorite stories list too, as an added shortcut. The lady is amazing. :) One last note before I go - as of this week, I am officially a college student (woot!) so, my updates are probably going to stay on their current slower schedule. No more being able to sit around all day and crank out fics... I have to be all grown up and crap now. Meh. But updates will still come! Just wanted to give a heads up. Thanks again to each and everyone of you! *enormous e-hugs to all*