Unfettered (Loki x Reader)

Chapter 15 - The Truth Will Out

Shaking your head at his stubbornness, you pull out a roll of gauze and a dropper of saline from the medkit and approach the god. Loki's nostrils flare as you get close. But he does not move as you wet the gauze, and dab lightly at the split in his lip until the bleeding stops. Satisfied, your eyes roam his face, cataloguing every inch. Several long, shallow cuts mar his perfect skin, but the one of most concern is a deep gash on his temple - still oozing. They all need to be cleaned. But you're not tall enough to reach them at the right angle.

"Come on," you order, gesturing for him to sit on the sofa.

Loki inhales and closes his eyes, his face pinched in an expression you can't place. Though tempted to use your Perception, you simply wait until he finally relents, crossing the room to sit and allowing you to kneel before him. You soak a cloth in sterilizing alcohol.

"This will sting," you warn, your hand hovering above the giant gash in his forehead.

As you place the cloth on the cut, Loki does not move. He does not even breath. But the slight tear in his eye gives away his discomfort.

"I'm sorry," you whisper, wiping as gently as you can before covering the wound with ointment, and finally a bandage.

You quickly cleanse the other small cuts - cleaning the blood and wiping away the dirt and dust on his cheeks. As you work, his gaze flits to the hand you keep at your side - the one you drove through your own mirror. But he says nothing, his gaze lingering only seconds before returning to stare straight ahead.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" you ask.

"I am fine. This was unnecessary. Your help is not required. You may go." hisses Loki averting his gaze and standing from the couch, putting distance between you.

Anger once more tightens like a noose around your own neck, making it difficult to breathe past your own indignation. "No," you say firmly.

"No?" Loki sneers, turning on you.

"No," you echo. A sadistic grin casts shadows over Loki's face as he lets out a low, murderous chuckle. Fear licks the inside of your stomach at the pure animosity in his gaze, but you stand tall in his shadow. "I think we should talk," you say.

"Talk? About what? About how you were stupid enough to let me take advantage of your obvious attraction to me to put my escape plan into motion? About how you were naïve enough to think I actually cared about you?"

You recoil as each of Loki's words strikes you like a hot iron across the face.

"Listen well, mortal," he hisses, towering over you. "I have toppled kingdoms, raised rebellions, and changed the tides of history. I have lived a thousand lives and learned more than even exists in your ill-defined heavens. And on my righteous path I have met a million faces not even worth remembering." Loki takes your chin roughly between two long fingers and peers deeply into your eyes. "Yours will join them soon enough," he spits, tossing your face roughly aside.

Stunned, you bring your fingers to your chin. A part of you shrinks, and is desperate to escape to the safety of the security chamber where Steve waits - safe and secure. But the other part, the piece that survived all those years locked up in experimentation chambers, claws its way to the surface. Angry. Defiant.

"I might not mean anything to you Loki," you whisper, fighting the tremble in your voice. "And you might hate me. Hate all of us. But...I know you're not really...this," you say, gesturing to his own posture and his own sick, demented snarl. "I know that you're not whatever it is that you're pretending to be."

"I pretend to be nothing," Loki hisses.

"You're lying," you say quietly.

"Prove it," Loki snarls.