Bibbidi Bobbidi Asgard: A Cinderella AU (Loki x F!Reader)

Chapter 12: Hope Is Not Lost

Warnings: violence, injury, bruises, blood, mentions of death

The entire trek to Aumrauth, Erlend and his men made no secret of their intentions towards you. Their jokes and jibes were beyond crude, filled with such unpleasantly vivid images that you'd soon rather fight a bilgesnipe than spend a moment alone with any one of them. It filled you with such a hatred that you thought your head might explode but you stayed quiet, mainly out of fear of what they'd do if you didn't.

You weren't the only one put on edge by their frankly disgusting adolescent behaviour; every time they so much as opened their mouths, Loki stiffened beside you, edging ever closer in an attempt to protect you. Despite his clear posturing, the rebel soldiers were clearly unimpressed by a palace guard - or at least Loki's illusion of one.

When one of the less subtle members of the group brushed uncomfortably close to you for the fifth time in as many minutes, you narrowed your eyes at him and hissed, "Touch me again and I'll rip your pathetic, little..."

"Darling, hold your tongue," Loki said, his gentle warning far more effective at silencing you than the shouts and threats of further violence from Brynjar's rebel soldiers. He wanted to reach out to touch your arm, to lace his fingers through his and reassure you that he was right there by his side, but his hands were stilled tied behind his back. Of course, Loki could have broken out of them at any point but he feared making such a move would put you in danger.

"What was that game that you and your brother used to play as kids?" you whispered, so quietly that even standing right beside you Loki had to strain his hearing to make out your words. Loki was so tense, his muscles coiled up so tight, that you feared they may snap if he didn't relax soon. The men surrounding you were also becoming wary of him, their hands twitching around the handles of their weapons, ready to attack at any moment - you feared with or without provocation. "Get help?"

"We are not doing get help," Loki said before you'd even finished speaking. He wasn't even convinced that you'd be able to pick him up and there was certainly no way that he would ever throw you at these brutes. However, when he caught your smirk and realised that you were only trying to lighten his mood, he shook his head and asked, "How do even know of that? That was long before you joined the household."

"The servants know everything. Stories like that aren't easily forgotten."

"I wish they were," Loki grumbled. Despite his frown you knew that he was looking back on those memories with a twisted fondness; the same way you thought of your childhood with Inga. All the times that she had picked on you growing up, teased you and made you do ridiculous - and often dangerous - things. The curse of being the younger sibling but something you'd never have traded for the world.

"Will you two shut up?" the nearest man to you hissed, swinging his arm around and backhanding you across the cheek.

Before either you or Loki gathered the courage to make a counter attack on the filthy men escorting you, the far edges of Aumrauth came into view. What you saw was enough to stop you in your tracks.

Your beautiful home, the place you had so many wonderful memories of, was in ruins.

Aumrauth had always been such a lively village. Children ran around playing with no care in the world. The women sat in communal circles preparing the meals and fixing the armour of returning soldiers, late into the night under the light of the stars. All, regardless of status, celebrated each and every victory together with the most legendary of parties, second only to those of the palace.

Of course, it hadn't been perfect. There weren't always supplies to go around and what was available was never cheap but the community looked after one another. The hardships of living this far out from the capital had never seemed so bad with the company of those around you.