Hey readers! Thank you to those who faved and reviewed! I'm actually really happy to hear from you.

Guys, I'm not dead regardless of how long it took to update.

Anyway, here's the update! Chapter 20! (Can you believe that this has actually reached 20 chapters?)

Disclaimer: I only own Mandy and my OC's. Marvel owns Loki.

Mandy P.O.V.

It felt good to finally get through to Loki as well as to understand where much of his pain was coming from.

Though the concept of him being something from another world was a bit difficult to process, I knew that somehow it was the truth. There were things that people could easily fake, but the emotions I felt from him were too real to be an elaborate lie to mislead me. Besides, if it was simply a ruse, he would have given a more believable excuse. I knew that he was smart enough to think of a better story yet he did not. He had also hinted some time ago that his secrets were hard to believe. It all added up.

Loki was definitely different but not a monster. The things he had done were difficult if not impossible to forgive, but he could still atone for them if he really wanted to. What was difficult was making Loki see the error in his ways so he could change. Unfortunately, he seemed to be one of those people who believed that if they were seen as bad, they would show the world just how terrible they could be instead of proving them wrong.

For the moment, getting Loki to see the good in himself was the priority. If he was capable of attempting suicide, there was a high possibility that he could try it again.

I never liked the idea of killing one's self. It was an act of cowardice and selfishness. Aside from giving up and succumbing to one's problems, it was also abandoning the people who loved and cared about the victim.

Why did she do it? Did she think there was no way out? Wasn't being with us enough? We needed her! How could she do this to us?

I shook off the painful memories. It was not the time to dwell on the past. I had Loki to deal with at the moment.

"Feel better now?" I asked him, though careful not to sound insulting or insensitive.

He gave a heavy sigh before admitting, "How am I supposed to be with all that is happening? I no longer know what I am to do. I do wish to be saved, but what happens then? There is no place for me out there."

I tightened my hold on his cold hands and consoled him. "Why do you think I let you stay here? I have no clue where I'm headed either."

"Great. I'm stuck with a lost cause too." He responded with sarcasm.

I did not make it evident to him but I did notice his slight change in demeanor. It meant he was getting back to his normal self and I was glad about it.

I brought us back to the couch before saying, "Let's just wait and see what life will throw at us next."

"By sitting here and pretending we have a purpose." He went on to add, though of course, I did not take it seriously.

"Oh come on, you make it sound like nothing good comes from this. Treat it like a vacation: time away from life and all your problems." I told him while I leaned into the soft foam of the couch.

I felt him shift in position before asking, "Is that how you see it?"

With a light smile, I replied, "Yes, if I could see that is."

Loki P.O.V.

I said nothing in response. Though it was evident that she was trying to make me laugh at her last statement, I was not yet prepared to do so.

It bothered me how easily she put aside the current situation as if it were nothing. Of course, her faith in me was comforting to say the least but it made me wonder just how much of my darkness she could put up with.

Apparently sensing my discomfort and silence, Mandy spoke up.

"Hey, don't worry about it too much. It's in the past now. Let's just stick to the present."

I was unsure whether she meant something else or had somehow known exactly what was troubling me. Either way, my thoughts were not her point of interest.

"Presently, I look like a hideous beast and am stuck in a house with a delusional blind girl. I'm not sure how I am supposed to feel better." I told her bluntly.

Mandy, as she always would, simply smiled off my sarcasm. She then excused herself and disappeared into her room.

She did not state why she left or what she was intending which led me to think of several odd scenarios before she finally returned.

"Loki, are you still on the couch?" I heard Mandy ask as she approached.

With an unconscious nod I replied, "Yes, I am."

She then moved closer to me and took out a piece of cloth saying, "Close your eyes and hold still, ok?"

Though confused with what she was trying to do, I complied without argument.

Her hands slowly made contact with my face, tracing my features once again. I then felt her place the cloth over my eyes and tie it snugly behind my head.

"What are you doing?" I asked her while I tried to remove the annoying thing. Unfortunately, she put it on too tight.

"You said your appearance bothers you so I decided to help you forget what you look like for a while." Mandy explained.

"And you think a blindfold can erase what I am?" I asked, while still struggling with the cloth.

Calm and composed, Mandy replied. "I never said that. It'll just help you distract yourself for now. "

"Pray tell, how does that work? Just because I cannot see does not mean I do not know what is really there." I said, raising my voice slightly.

Mandy's voice began to sound farther away as she told me, "It will be there but it won't be your concern for long. You'll forget about it once more important things come along."

Getting more irritated by her cryptic words and actions that made no sense, I hissed asking, "What are you talking about? What important things?"

There was no response that came. I waited for a few seconds before calling out to her again.

"Mandy? Are you even listening?"

As before, I only heard silence. I tried reaching in front of me to locate her but there was nothing.

"Where are you?" I asked as I began to blindly search for her.

I had only made a few steps when I bumped into the first out of several items in my way. I was certain I had knocked over many objects too but I could not identify what they were or where they went. Frankly, I could not care less about them. Mandy was my focus for the moment.

As I continued to scan for my missing companion, I felt lost and isolated. It made me even more desperate to find something familiar.

At some point I stumbled into tiny arms that helped me regain my balance.

"Mandy?" I said, hoping it was her.

I could hear her supress a giggle before asking me. "So, how's the experience?"

"Dreadful. Remove this infernal thing." I demanded.

"Not just yet. I want you to get the full experience." She told me with a tinge of excitement in her voice.

Mandy slid her hands to my wrists and led me to another area. I took careful steps but she eased the way by walking slowly.

"Sit with me." She instructed as she brought me down to the floor. I did not know where we were exactly, only that we were facing a gentle breeze.

Mandy stayed silent for quite a while that I felt the need to hear something. "What now?" I inquired.

"Just relax. Feel the wind and listen to the sounds around you." She replied.

Already helpless without my sight and still slightly emotionally drained, I decided to simply comply with her.

The coolness of the breeze eased me a little but I could not shake off the sensation of eeriness that I felt in the darkness. I was never fond of the dark. Prior to reaching Midard, I was engulfed by the black emptiness of the void. The incident further increased my hatred of it.

Unable to keep still, I slid my hand to the side until I came in contact with warm skin. I instantly felt relieved. It was the only thing that seemed recognizable and safe.

I suddenly recalled how Mandy would tend to hold on to me when she normally did not need support when moving around and only touched things when she required it.

I began to wonder if it was because she, like me, was in need of familiarity not just identification.

"So this is how things are like for you." I mumbled unintentionally.

Before I could tell her so, she responded. "Yeah. Lucky for you, this is only temporary. Once things get hard or you feel like you need to check if you're doing things right, you can just take the blindfold off and peak."

That was not what I had meant, but instead of taking it against her, I asked her a clearer question.

"Does it scare you to feel so helpless at times; to be trapped in the dark?"

She audibly sighed before admitting. "I always hoped I could get over it after a while, but I don't know if I ever will."

"You always seemed so sure of yourself." I honestly told her.

She often acted confident and capable of living without her eyes. Her blindness did not really seem like a hindrance for the most part.

Mandy did not take offense at my statement. "I try to be." She said in a soft voice.

I nodded in response, overlooking the fact that she could not see it.

"Isn't that what you do too?" Mandy suddenly asked.

"Me?" I repeated, confused as to what she meant.

She explained it to me patiently. "You always try to be strong when we both know you've been hurt."

I looked down at that and confessed. "I don't want to be weaker than I already am. I don't want anyone's pity."

Mandy's hand crept up on top of mine and said, "Neither do I."

In mutual understanding, we went silent and enjoyed the calmness of the moment. With our hands still in position, the two of us continued to sit there unmoving.

After a while, Mandy decided that it was time to remove the blindfold.

"I hope I did not cause any damage to your eyes." She said, already expecting that my vision would be affected after being forced shut by the tightly tied cloth.

"I don't think you have." I assured her as I blinked repeatedly and rubbed my eyelids until my sight had finally normalized.

I found out that we had been staying on the porch outside. It did not bother me at first but then I noticed that I was still in my jotun form.

"Mandy, you brought me out here while I look like this." I told her, trying not to sound as upset as I really was.

She turned to me and asked, "Were you afraid that someone would see you? No one ever comes to this area so you don't have to worry."

Still unconvinced, I said, "You can't rule out the possibility."

Mandy simply rolled her eyes and got up.

We entered the house once again and it was at that point that I saw the mess I had created. There were objects on the floor, overturned small tables and a cabinet whose contents had fallen out.

Mandy noticed it too but she did not seem too bothered by it. Instead she knelt down and began to tidy the area.

Feeling guilty about it, I too began to clean up. I set the furniture upright and grouped several items together but I was uncertain about where to place them. I turned to Mandy to ask, but she seemed to look just as confused that she had stopped cleaning.

I decided to ask her. "What's wrong?"

She was still holding on to some of the objects when she answered. "I'm not really familiar with some of these. Where did they come from?"

"There was a cabinet that opened up earlier. They must have been stored there." I replied.

Mandy looked down for a second before giving a response. "Oh okay. Let's just pile things together for now while and try to stuff them back in later."

"Later?" I asked, as I turned to face her.

Shyly she confessed, "I'm a little hungry. Can we eat first?"

"Why did you not say so earlier? We had been out there for a long time." I scolded while pulling her to her feet.

We left the living room to have a meal even though it beyond the proper eating time. Looking at the dining area, I realized that we had also abandoned it in an untidy state. The table had not been cleared out since this morning and a small puddle had formed where the ice had fallen and melted.

As Mandy prepared some food, I took the liberty of cleaning up the rest. While wiping up the water however, I accidentally froze it.

I hissed in frustration, causing Mandy to turn to me and ask. "Is everything okay?"

Reluctantly, I replied. "My skin is too cold to touch liquids. I don't think I need to wipe this anymore since it's now solid."

To my surprise, she laughed at my statement. I was a little offended but seeing that there was no malice on her face, I let it go. I then picked up the sheet of frozen water and placed it in the sink to finish my task.

"I bet that skill of yours could be useful for something." Mandy suddenly said as she sat herself down on the table.

I followed, while telling her, "This is not exactly something that I find amusing."

"Fine, fine, I'll stop." Mandy said, raising her open hands before proceeding to eat.

After we had finished our late meal, the two of us returned to the living room to sort out the several remaining items on the floor.

Various books, papers and containers had yet to be returned to their proper place in the large cabinet and we both found it difficult to stuff it inside in a way that they could all fit properly.

Being able to see, I attempted to rearrange some of the things inside of it to create more space. Suddenly, something strange caught my eye. There was a box-like object pushed into the corner of the cabinet.

Pulling it out, I called my companion's attention. "Mandy, I found something. It appears to be some kind of machine."

Immediately, she stopped what she was doing and came to where I was. I handed it over to her and she proceeded to touch the surfaces of the mysterious item.

"It feels like a record player. If I'm right, it's supposed to play music. I wonder if there are records for this." She stated, sounding quite curious about it.

Though confused as to what she meant, I searched through the cabinet again for something that seemed connected to the so-called "record player."

"There are circular discs that appear to fit into it." I informed her of what I found.

I could see her face brighten up at my discovery. "I didn't know we had them. Does it all still work?"

"Let's find out, shall we. Do you know how to operate it?" I asked, just as intrigued as she was if not more.

Mandy scratched her head nervously saying, "Not really. That kind of technology is before my time. Let's just try something."

I complied since the concept of learning something new about the strange contraption was quite exciting.

Mandy P.O.V.

I could hear Loki fumbling around with the record player but I left him to work on it. He seemed very interested about it and I wanted him to have fun figuring it out.

After a while of waiting, a tune started to emerge from the machine.

"I did it!" Loki exclaimed in celebration.

I smiled and patted his hand to give him some recognition before putting my focus on the music that was playing.

"This is one of those slow dance songs." I muttered.

Hearing me, Loki asked, "Have you ever done such things?"

Surprised by his choice of question, I responded. "What? Dance? Not really."

"Why not? Is it also before your time to dance?" He inquired curiously.

I gave him a response that did not mask my embarrassment. "Well, no. It's just I never really learned how. That and no one ever asked to go with me."

"No one?" He repeated incredulously.

I could feel my cheeks getting warm that I hung my head while I admitted. "None."

Suddenly, Loki stood up and pulled my hand towards him as he said, "May I have this dance?"

My eyes grew big in horror. "What? No, I told you I can't! Loki!"

Despite my protests, he pulled me off the floor and into the center of the living room. He then positioned one of my hands over his shoulder while taking the other in his gentle grip. Next he slipped an arm to my back, making me jump slightly. It was strange that he was the one initiating contact when normally it was me.

"I hope my skin is not too cold for you." He said not knowing real reason behind my reaction.

In my nervousness, I stuttered in telling him, "No, it's fine."

I could not understand it. I was already used to holding Loki but in this moment, I felt weird and shy. He was not usually so bold.

"Why do you stand so far away?" He asked, pulling me closer to him.

I bit my lip, in response before blurting out, "Are you sure we're not too close?"

"Don't tell me you find this uncomfortable. You've put me in more awkward positions before. I believe it is only fair that you take the fall this time." He answered, sounding very devious.

I pouted slightly knowing he was taking revenge on me. Unwilling to go down without a fight, I warned him. "Don't blame me if I start stepping on your feet. I can't see anything."

"If you could not dance before you were blind, what difference would it make now?" He told me, rendering my argument invalid.

Defeated, I spat, "Fine, you win."

We began to sway slowly, before taking small steps around the room. In fairness, he seemed to really know how to dance. He led me in a way that I moved with enough ease to keep me from hurting him.

"How is the experience?" He asked, seemingly repeating the way I did to him earlier.

Despite the oddness of the situation, I honestly replied, "It's nice. You're really good at this."

"I accept the compliment." I heard him say smoothly.

I attempted to take control of the conversation. "I would ask you where you learned this, but I bet princes like you are trained in such things."

"It helps to know when attending social gatherings." He answered simply.

"I just realized that I'm dancing with a prince. I should have curtsied before we started." I said, thinking out loud.

Out of nowhere, Loki stopped, causing me to nearly trip.

"Oh, don't start with that. Just because I informed you that I was raised as a prince does not mean you have to change the way you treat me." He spoke with irritation in his voice.

It took a second before I realized my mistake. I had already begun to judge him.

"You're right. I'm sorry. " I told him sincerely.

He sighed and then started to dance again. I in turn went along, hoping I had been forgiven.

"I do thank you for acknowledging it." Loki said in a calmer tone.

Loki P.O.V.

"What do you mean?" Mandy asked, casting her gray eyes in my direction.

Before I gave her my reply, I twirled her around gently. "You believed in the strange things I told you, even if they seemed impossible."

Her response was very simple. "Oh that."

It did not provide me with what I wished to hear so I probed her to give a better answer. "Why did you?"

"Because you promised you'd let me in and I said I would believe you no matter what it was about." She told me with no hesitation.

It took moment before I remembered when that event occurred. I had been persuading Mandy to explain her nightmares that time and we had agreed to be honest with each other. Ironically, I had given my share without even noticing it.

"Do you really think what I said was true?" I challenged. Mandy was a smart girl so I had always assumed that she would have questioned my tale.

Her voice softened as she said, "I don't think anyone can fake that much pain"

"I suppose not." I muttered before slipping into the silence and continuing the dance.

Mandy said nothing too, but it did not feel wrong. She was always good at reading the atmosphere and knew when no words were necessary.

As we swayed to the rhythm, I felt her loosen up and allow me to take full control of our movements. She trusted me to lead the way, more than she had when we first began. It felt good.

When the song finally came to an end, we stopped moving but did not separate just yet. It felt too soon to release her. We stood there for a while before Mandy decided to take a step back.

"Thank you for the dance, but it's late. We can finish cleaning up tomorrow." She said, though I could see a light blush dusting her cheeks.

Choosing to tease her a bit, I lightly kissed the back of her hand and told her, "It had been my honor to give you your first dance."

Though shocked and a little flustered at my gesture, she gave me a smile and said, "Thank you for not regretting your offer."

Mandy then excused herself and headed for her room. Unbeknownst to her, I watched as she walked away. It was evident how uncomfortable I made her feel, but I could also tell that she enjoyed some part of it. I did as well.

Finally alone, I contemplated all that had happened. My darkest secrets had been revealed along with my hideous true form. I had given Mandy every reason to hate and fear me but she did none of those things. Instead, she remained steadfast in her belief that I was capable of good even if my past actions were not forgiven. This day could have turned out far worse than it did but by some miracle, it did not.

To encounter a person almost as broken as me was already rare but to know that she had more faith in a monster like me than in herself was even more unusual.

Mandy had broken down more walls than I had initially allowed her to. Normally I would have lied to protect myself but when it came to her, I did not. Perhaps it was because she was so honest with me that I chose to return the favour.

Now that she knew so much, I dreaded what changes may come.

End of Chapter 20

YAY for fluff! I really tried hard to make this good so hopefully it satisfied you guys.

Please let me know what you think or if you have a suggestion or a criticism. It makes me happy and inspired to keep writing….and I also wanna know if people are still reading this.

See you in the next chapter!