Hello everyone! First of all, thank you SO MUCH for all the reviews, you have no idea how happy they make me and also, they force me to write more :)) So this chapter comes earlier, I loved writing it :) Unfortunately, it is a bit shorter than previous one, but I hope you will enjoy it either way. But the good news is that I am already halfway through the next one! Leave more reviews, if you can :) Love you all!

Let me know if there are some spelling or grammar mistakes.

I own nothing but my OC and plot.

XIII

I am dead anyway.

It was her voice, echoing in his mind and at that second, Loki froze on the spot. He couldn't hear anything more, no matter how hard he tried. She was somewhere close, but where? There were dozens of empty buildings around and he had no time to search every one of them. He and Johnatan separated from the others before sunset. First he wanted to go alone so nobody will slow him down and he could use his powers freely, but Johnatan insisted.

"Why do you think she is here?" Johnatan asked him a few minutes ago when they entered an abandoned complex of warehouses and storage houses. At that time, Loki was not sure, he only hoped. It was the only logical explanation.

"If I kidnapped her, I would go here." He was here, earlier this week, walking around the town to get to know it in case of emergency. But he never thought it would be this one.

They separated to cover bigger area. It looked like Loki was closer to her. His heart was beating rapidly and his breath was shallow. He was afraid of what awaited him in one of those buildings. He still didn't hear more from her. And it was impossible to prepare for anything.

"What did you do?!" he heard a man's voice in one of the smaller warehouses on his left. Immediately, he ran to the entrance. The door was half opened, but he saw nothing from this angle, only a faint candle light. "Why the fuck did you do that? I wasn't done with her!"

"You should thank me!" a woman's voice shouted back. "Or did you want to torture her? Burn her?"

"Frankly, yes. She could tell me where the others are. Now, I have even more work to do. Thank you indeed."

"Did you enjoy that?" another voice joined the conversation. But this one was different, bitter.

"Stabbing her? It was surprisingly even better feeling than I expected. I would gladly do that again."

Loki heard enough. With a massive rage growing inside her, the door blew open without a touch. He did it just in time for the woman was raising a bloody dagger prepared to stab Milla again. In a heart beat, all three people flew to the other side of the room and hit the wall with a loud thud. They didn't have time to see who came in and did it. Loki made sure they all lost consciousness for a couple of minutes.

Milla had her hands and ankles tied to the chair. Her head was hanging down and she didn't react to any of the noise. Loki swallowed the fear when he got to her. There was blood all over her breasts, the cut on collar bones too deep. He touched her face to see a bruise on her cheek and feel more blood in her hair. With one hand movement, he untied her and very carefully took her in his arms. Blood was dripping from the cuts on her sides and most importantly, the stab wound where her stomach was. She was very pale and very dead.

Without a hesitation, he took her to their rented house, straight to her room. "Emma!" he shouted from inside while he tried his best to remember all healing spells he used to use a lot during the time he spent living and fighting besides Thor. Somehow, she still got pulse but it was less than weak. The bed was full of blood in seconds.

"Felix? How did you- OH MY GOD," Emma cried and lost the balance when she saw the that horrible sight. She had seen Milla come home bloody or bruised, but never so terribly. For a moment, she forgot what to do and Loki had to remind her.

"Get bandages, water, herbs, potions, everything that could help. NOW!" he shouted. Thankfully, it helped and she was gone before he could blink. His hands were trembling when he removed her corset and skirt, revealing all the wounds. And they were trembling when he put them on cuts and tried to heal the worst. The internal organs were damaged and she was loosing too much blood too quickly. He couldn't think straight.

When Emma came back, her hands were full of everything she could find and it all almost fell when she saw them. His hands were glowing in gold and white and his eyes were closed for the concentration. The wound that looked the worst was slowly mending and there was less blood than before. He did the same for other cuts, on her thighs and sides and collar bones. And after that, he turned to her. "She still needs to have the wounds disinfected and put bandages on it. I can't heal it completely, there was magic in that dagger."

Emma had millions new questions, Loki saw it in her eyes, but now was not the time for talk. She knew it too, so without another word, she rushed to her friend and took a needle to stitch her up. She took a moment before the start and looked at him as he took a step out. "Where are you going?"

"Back. There are still people I need to talk with." Loki took a deep breath to steady his motions and calm down his breath. After a few seconds he looked back at them. Emma was nursing Milla with a great care and confidence. She was in good hands. When the younger girl looked back at him, she had tears in eyes. "I will come back." With those words, he disappeared again.

The three of them were just waking up when he came back. He quickly searched them for any more weapons and tossed them all as far as he could. He noticed that his hands were no longer shaking. His fear stepped aside and fury took it's place. There was no way the three of them are making it out of here alive. Only a few short questions and then death. He hadn't decided if it should be the slow or quick one.

The prince of Asgard took his distance and for the first time really looked at their faces. Two men were complete strangers, but as he saw those radiant blue eyes, he raised eyebrows in confusion. He wasn't expecting that, not even in the wildest of dreams. And as she realised who was standing in front of her, a sly smile brightened her face. There was blood on her teeth and she looked half mad.

"A good guard saves the day. Well, almost," she stood up, a pain flashed through her face. "Too late, handsome."

"I am sorry to disappoint you, Sarah," he put both hand behind his back to prevent strangling. "She lives."

"Then she will die soon. The dagger was made to kill, not harm."

"Magic can undo magic."

By that time, the other men were slowly getting up and eyeing him suspiciously. They heard all and were just as puzzled as Sarah. Loki took advantage of that and without any words, they flew back to the wall, but this time, he didn't release them. They couldn't move and he could, and when he took a step forward, panic rose in their eyes. Loki walked to Sarah first.

"Who are you?" she growled as he grasped her throat and made breathing a bit harder.

"Not important. The real question is," he pushed a little harder. "was this worth your miserable life?"

There was quiet for a long time. Loki already knew the answer, it was written in her half sane eyes. "Yes." She whispered. Loki released her and she laughed. It took some really serious self-discipline not to cut her in half right there.

"You must be Sebastian," he faced a man on her right. "And you are Noel, I believe." The man that slept with Milla two nights past. there was a whole new form of emotion for that man, pure jealousy. They said nothing, so Loki continued. "There is one thing you should never forget when planning a murder. That there are other players in game. This time, people went looking for her. And here we are and you have nowhere to run nor hide," he smiled, but without a glimpse of happiness in his eyes.

"You love her, don't you," Sarah spoke up again. He tried to ignore her, but she apparently decided she had nothing to loose and tried faith. "Oh, you do. What a pity her heart will never be yours. It died with Arthur, you know?"

"Shut up," he said more calmly than he expected. She grinned, but obeyed. "You chose wrong girl to kill."

"Did we?" Sebastian said. He was still not aware of the fact that they were all going to die. The question was, how. "She fell to the trap very easily. I did it once, I could do it again."

"Sadly, there will be no next time. Any last words?"

"Are we the bad guys?" the third man spoke. He was pale as Milla some minutes ago and sweat was falling down his temples, but there were the last bits of determination on his face. "Isn't she the one who was going to kill Sebastian? The one that killed Christopher and as far as I know, dozens of other people? And not always the bad ones. Not even adults. Isn't she the one that should be stopped?"

Loki tilted his head in interest. Yes, he was right, he knew she wasn't always the one in right. But did he really think he would convince him with this talk? "No. She did not kill for power. And she is the one that I care about, not you really." Another smile appeared on his lips. It was time to kill them. The sooner the better.

"Tell me, who you really are, Felix?" it was Sarah again who spoke.

He took one step back, and then another, and another. "My name is Loki. Maybe you have heard of me."

"The Mad Prince?" Noel asked with a shock. Sebastian looked suddenly more scared as he realised who was standing in front of him. And Sarah laughed.

Loki ignored the question. "I hope you enjoy fire. You wanted to burn her, didn't you?" he looked at Sebastian. The pure panic in their eyes made him feel satisfied. He had his revenge.

He walked out of the building and looked around to find Johnatan. He was just walking towards him, terrified by the blood on his clothes.

"I found her. She is badly injured, but at home. Emma is taking care of her."

"What? How?"

"A trick she taught me," he lied. "We should go."

They hurried back to the house. And as the were passing the last storage house, Loki snapped his fingers. And burned them. He burned them all.

"How is she?" Loki asked the moment they entered the house. He hadn't spoken a word on their way there, even though Johnatan had been asking one question after another. Speaking about the previous events could be dangerous for his rage was still too great. He felt too many emotions at once and that was just as dangerous as any battle - fear weakened his muscles, anger worsen the instincts, guilt crippled his wits. He had his revenge but oddly, it wasn't enough. There was no satisfaction in knowing the ones that hurt her were dead. She was still on the edge of death.

Emma was just in the bathroom, carrying some more bandages and looking for more medication. He recognized a cream against burns and painkillers. It made him dizzy again. She still looked pale too, but her face showed no emotion, only deep concentration. When she looked at him, a he saw a flash of distrust in her eyes, but it was gone quickly.

"Still unconscious. I stopped the bleeding, but she has a fever. Fighting it." She said quietly, handing him all she carried with a frown. Loki was left alone as Emma turned around and went to Johnatan who was looking at them suspiciously from the kitchen. The prince had no time to think about that.

Carefully, he sat on the bed, his eyes never leaving her face. She was still deadly pale and had dark bags under her eyes and sweat on the brow, like all life was drained out of her. When he touched her cheek, her shin was burning against his palm. Emma was right, she was fighting the magic with that little of the strength she still had. Also, her breathing was steady and heartbeat a bit stronger than before. Furthermore, the young girl did a great job with the wounds. It made him wonder how many times did Milla come home injured and how many times did Emma have to take care of her. He didn't like the thought. Almost just as much as the fact that Emma will be the one nursing his Milla and he will be nowhere around. No matter how much he didn't want to go, it was the only logical thing to do. Because he was still sure the look in her eyes if she saw him back would hurt a lot more than knowing that she lived and was safe but not with him.

He hated this feeling. Helpless looking on the person you care about while she was in the battle of her life. It happened before, during many wars he was in for Asgard and for peace in Nine Realms. There were times when he had to watch his brother or former friends get injured, but he could do nothing about it, for his strength was almost gone because of the wounds he had taken. He watched as they fell, from the ground, moments before by some miracle, the Allfather came and somehow, they won. It happened only once, long time ago, and it still felt like yesterday. Like now. All he could do was look and wait. And hope, but that had never been in his nature.

"What happened to them?" A soft voice caught his attention. Emma was leaning agaist the door frame, exhaustion and worries on her face. The adrenalin had gone by now.

"Dead." He answered and looked back at Milla. She was shivering.

"Good," Emma walked to the other side of the bed and put another blanket over Milla's body. It didn't help. "I told Johnatan to go and find other Guardians and Jon and tell them what happened. He thinks that you found her in that warehouse, fought those people, whoever they were and killed them. And that after all, Milla was still awake, so she used her magic and got here with the remains of her strength. That's the official story."

Loki looked up at her. "Thank you." The girl looked so fragile, so innocent, but he knew better to believe everything he saw. He learned some time ago, that this is no girl, but a woman, capable of lies, respect and fear. And so intelligent. "It was Sebastian, Noel and Sarah."

"What?" she asked in shock.

"Yes, it was all her doing, apparently. But she is dead now. Happily burning in hell."

There was a quiet for a while, Emma had to sort out her thoughts. Loki knew he had to go, that Milla was in the best hands, but he couldn't. Weak again.

"Johnatan is still angry that you left. Me too. And Andrea. You son of a bitch."

For some reason, that made him smile. And Emma too. He missed her so much. "I had to."

"No, you didn't. She has been defending you, that you had to, wanted to, because you had to figure something out. But I don't believe that bullshit. I am not asking you about the reasons, I only want you to know that what you did was stupid and selfish. You left her wrecked and us confused and full of questions."

The words didn't make him feel better. Only more guilt, more regrets. "It was right thing to do. For now."

"Does that mean that you are leaving again?" her voice was almost a whisper. He had to nod. "In a moment."

"At least wait till she gets better?" she tried.

"No. She can never know I was here. Promise, she will never find out." He stressed every word. Emma looked confused by the urgency in his voice. But after a few seconds looking at him and thinking, she nodded. He let out a relieved breath. No matter how much he wanted her to know he didn't forget, that he still cared, this was the best and safest thing to do.

"But you still owe me some answers."

"Yes. I will answer you. But I need to say a goodbye this time."

Emma understood and walked out of the room withou any more words. They were alone again, right next to each other, but not quite. She was so far away, somewhere, where he could not find her. His cold lips touched her burning ones before he once more checked her pulse and then, without another look, he quickly left the room. Wake up, my lady, wake up.

She was waiting for him, sitting on a chair in the kitchen and looking out of the window. No one was coming back. Loki stayed standing.

"Where are you going now?" Emma asked.

"Far away. To another realm, perhaps."

"The Bifrost is destroyed."

"Milla had other ways."

"Oh yes. You stole those."

He smiled. "Yes. I will return them."

"No need. She has rewritten it all."

"Of course she did." He took a step closed. "Go on, ask."

"Who are you?" she did and looked at him with a puzzled expression. "You told us you were Felix, that you went away from home to discover the world. It anything of that true?"

He hesitated for a while. She deserved to know the truth. And besides, he promised. "No, it's not. The truth is, I am Loki of Asgard."

She couldn't hide the surprise on her face when her jaw dropped. Loki smirked, raising one eyebrow to let her know how funny she looked like. And when the amazement was gone, she stood up and slapped him. Yeah, he deserved that too, probably.

"That was for your Asgard. They call you Mad Prince, you know? But you are only an idiot. Loki," there was disapproval in her voice, but not hate. Not after what they had been through tonight. "Does Milla know?"

"Yes. Felix was her idea."

"Of course it was. She is a fool too." Emma shook her head. "So the illusions were all yours. She didn't die twice because of you." It was obvious to him that she could not understand how someone, who was believed to be crazy and sadistic could be capable of being in fact, gentle. Loki didn't answer, only nodded. "And all this time, we had been hiding a criminal. Oh my, I need a drink." And then, she laughed. He walked to her and hugged her. It was time to go, they both knew it, and this time, there had to be a goodbye. She was holding him a little longer, than was necessary, but he let her. And when he faced her again, there were tears in her eyes.

"Be careful, no matter what you are going to do." No matter how much she wanted to hate him and no matter how much he had hurt her before, she still was going to miss the man. And the fact what was his name and what he did tonight didn't matter either. They were friends.

"Take care of them. They need you more than they think."

She nodded and brushed annoying tears off her eyes. "Come back one day, maybe?"

"We will see. Farewell Emma."

As he was leaving the house, the sun was slowly rising. The last sunrise he would ever see in this realm for some time. And hopefully, one day, if he will survive, he would come back. To see her again, healthy. Maybe alone, maybe with somebody else, maybe even with children running in her gardens. But she will be happy. She must be. She is the only one that really matters in this universe. And always will.