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

Chapter 15: A Wolf in Wolf's Clothing

Warnings: violence, major injury, blood, character death

If someone had asked you before today whether the scrawny haired, angry little man in front of you would truly be capable of murder, you'd probably have laughed in their face.

For all his front, Erlend had never really seemed the killing type. Oh, he was despicable for sure but more the kind of man to make others do his dirty work. He'd treated you with nothing but disrespect and saw you as little more than an object for his own pleasure. You'd rather cut off your hand than be touched by him but you had never thought him capable of taking your hatred and disgust and turning it back on you.

It was clear by the hard line of his eyes that he had no intention of letting you go now, though. For the first time, Erlend looked truly capable of murder. All the humiliation that he was feeling at having been bested by the villagers of Aumrauth, practically nothing more than simple farmers and traders, had been twisted into a dark hatred.

All directed at you and Loki.

Erlend's hatred and rage oozed from his tense body like a thick and sticky tar; made the air between you cling to you like a slimy second skin. It made you want to claw at your flesh, to tear your skin from your body just to feel clean of his terrible gaze.

The men behind him scowled at you, muscles coiled as equally tense as you stood in a heavy silence waiting for someone else to make the first move. Unlike their leader, they had no personal grudge against you. You were simply obstacles standing in the way of completing their mission. Killing you was a necessary evil but they would take little joy from seeing you dead.

The same could not be said for Erlend.

"Drop your illusion, trickster," he demanded stiffly, shifting his sweaty grip on the hilt of his sword. "You should meet death with your true face and not hiding like a coward."

Your pleads to the prince were ignored and he let his magic fall, the green light barely more than a shimmer as his true form returned. Loki's eyes were sunken and dark, his spiky and greasy hair a far cry from what you usually saw. He'd never been in a worse condition and having to sustain an illusion while tired and injured clearly hadn't helped.

Even though he'd been expecting it, Erlend still tensed upon laying eyes on Loki's familiar face. That soon gave way to a prematurely victorious smirk seeing the bloodstain on the prince's side, from the wound that he had previously inflicted. "You are going to long for pain as sweet as what we dealt you in Aumrauth."

Commanded by some silent signal, Erlend's soldiers stepped forward and charged for you and Loki. Summoning a dagger in each hand, Loki shoved one blade into your hand before turning his attention towards the threat. "Take him down and run, Y/N."

"I can't..."

"You will," Loki ordered, pressing his back against yours. "Get yourself to safety."

You managed to get very few hits on the first man to attack you, but the ones you hit were effective. Smaller than him by over a foot, there was no way you could aim for the throat or the neck. Instead, you ducked out of his first grab and slashed across his thigh. He stumbled ever so slightly which gave you the opening to slit his arm. In shock he almost dropped his weapon but regained his composure and lunged at you once again.

Too slow in your attempt to dodge, he knocked you over and you hit your head against the wall with incredible force. Stars blocked your vision and if not for Loki's cry you would have just lay there and let him pierce your heart. Instead, still barely able to see or even catch a breath, you rolled out the way and narrowly avoided being stabbed in the chest.