Let's just say that luck was apparently in short supply on Asgard. You tried multiple times to make it to the edge of the city, but the guards had set up a perimeter while the city was being swept. Clint could possibly make it through, seeing as they were not on the lookout for him and he was the master of stealth, but you hadn't the slightest idea of how to sneak by guards without looking suspicious. There were people still on the streets getting ready to hide out in their homes, so even dodging down alleys and behind buildings was hard to do without drawing attention to yourself. You had to act normal while staying hidden...not an easy task.
You found yourself being pushed back towards the main part of the city. The one bright side of this whole misadventure was the sightseeing. Asgard was simply beautiful. Everything was ornately carved out of pure white stone or marble, and the houses and buildings on the lower levels still bore gold trim. As you were forced in the direction of the palace by an uncomfortably close group of guards, you noticed that the buildings got grander the closer you were to the palace. Torches shimmered off of the gold and white that was everywhere, causing a dazzling spectacle wherever you looked. There were large courtyards and gardens, parks and outdoor venues, and pure magic all around.
Unfortunately, the tranquility and wonder of the scenery was tainted by the fear and adrenaline coursing through your veins. You were practically in the palace now, or at least on the grounds of the palace. However, you decided it wasn't such a bad idea to be so close to your hunter's home. It would be the last place he'd expect you to be, seeing as you were supposed to be looking for Heimdall. In fact, it had been easier to make it onto the palace grounds than one would normally expect. You decided the bulk of the guards must be out in the city and surrounding area looking for you.
Great, so I just chill on palace grounds and hope no noblemen find me.
You covertly made your way through grand courtyards and under balconies, past fountains and around large stone homes. You were looking for anywhere to rest for some of the night, but there didn't seem to be much cover anywhere.
Finally, you came to a garden. It was smaller than the others you had seen, as you had passed what you assumed to be the royal gardens earlier, and it was enormous. This garden seemed to be tucked away on the edge of the palace grounds. The path to get here had been winding as it was, with you taking many turns off of the main road. The nearest house was quite a ways back, the only surrounding structures being that of the palace walls, which circled most of the garden.
On the one hand, it was dangerous to be in such a boxed-in area. There was no way out, should things go wrong. However, no one in a million years would suspect the fugitive to be right outside of the palace walls. You also hoped that this garden wouldn't be heavily populated either, as the royal gardens were much more in the center of the palace life.
You decided to take your chances and venture further in. As you walked down the dirt paths, which you noticed was different than the other gardens and their stone paths, you realized that this one was actually much lovelier than the others you had snuck through that night.
The others were well kept and beautiful in their structure and organized design, but the wild and free nature of this garden entranced you more than the others. There were too many flowers and colors to keep track of, all allowed to grow in random patterns. Some trees had vines growing around the trunks that glowed a slight shade of purple. There seemed to be only the bare minimum human, or Asgardian, intervention in this garden, which you decided is what made it such a cut above the rest. It was nature left to itself.
You continued going deeper and deeper in. You got to a point where you decided venturing into the vegetation to your left would be best, as you judged that a wall to the palace, and nothing more, would mark the border of the garden. The path you were on would simply lead back around eventually, so getting off here seemed like the right call. You didn't want to trample any of the plants, thus leaving a noticeable trace of your whereabouts, so you found the thinnest part of the foliage to enter. This happened to be under a rather large and magnificent tree. You used your hand to lift the low hanging branches before stepping under and into the shrubbery.
As you let the branches drop behind you, everything grew ten times darker. The reflection of any torches against the golden structures was not visible from within the trees. You sat for a minute or two, letting your eyes adjust to the dark. When you could at least see the ground under you, you started moving again.
You were careful not to trample any plants or sticks, but, surprisingly, there weren't very many to avoid. The ground was evidently more grown than the plain dirt road, but at the same time it seemed almost...used? Worn?
No way, you thought to yourself. There's no way this is a path. You had to fight through a tree to get here. And there are plants growing back here. If it was a path, the ground would be cleared out.
You calmed yourself enough to keep going, still heading in the direction you hoped was a plain and solid wall. What you saw up ahead was not what you expected.
Light?
You slowed your pace and tentatively crept forward, careful not to make any noise. Sure enough, the darkness definitely got lighter up ahead. Slowly, the reason why came into view. There was, indeed, a wall, as you had predicted. But splitting the wall was a balcony that looked out over the most gorgeous view you had ever seen. It was Asgard, but not the city. Instead, the view looked out over the plains, mountains, and waterfalls of the lush planet. The sun had set below the horizon, but the sky was still that light shade of blue in the distance. Your thoughts wandered back to two nights ago when you had been sitting in your backyard staring at the sky and that same shade of blue. You felt oddly at peace looking at the one thing that had been even remotely familiar to you in the last two days.
You were brought back to reality by a rustling sound coming from where you'd entered the thicket.
Damn, so someone knows about this secret balcony.
You quickly tiptoed into the surrounding bushes, crouching down and praying whoever it was wasn't coming in to look for you. It was thoroughly dark where you were hiding, so you were confident that your uninvited guest wouldn't see you if they didn't look particularly hard. You peered through the leaves of the bush in front of you as the figure approached the balcony. You could only make out the general shape of the person in front of you, even with the fading light of the horizon. However, you panicked as you could have sworn you knew that figure.
As if on cue, a shimmering green light made its way across the man, and suddenly the shape had changed. In its place was the iconic build of Loki. You'd know that silhouette anywhere.
You instinctively placed your hand over your mouth, as if it would conceal you more from Loki's senses. He walked briskly over to the balcony and sat on the stone bench that was there. Your thoughts were screaming in your head.
What the hell are the chances! Now I know I'm in a movie world cuz this kind of situation only ever happens in movies! No way I choose the one flippin hiding place that is Loki's secret balcony.
You honestly didn't know what to do besides remain perfectly still and hope he left soon.
Wait, this is Loki. There's no way he's spied on without him knowing. How have his finely tuned senses not picked up on the fact that I'm here.
Loki spoke, or whispered really, and your heart jumped thinking he was calling you out.
"I miss you."
Now that wasn't something you expected to hear. You furrowed your brow and leaned forward slightly to hear what else he would say.
"I'm...sorry. I wish you were here, Mother."
Awwww, he's talking to his mom, you thought, How am I honestly supposed to not feel bad for this man?
You were also smiling like a dork because you had just heard Loki's voice, in person, for the first time. A few minutes passed in silence. You couldn't see much of Loki, only his dark form sitting hunched over at the balcony. Finally, he stood up and you thought you heard him sniff.
Had he been crying?
You watched as he turned and walked past you, heading back to the path. You were just about to let out a sigh of relief when he froze, tensing up into that iconic ready stance.
Oh shit, you thought, as he slowly turned around. It was too dark to tell where he was looking, but you suspected it was right at you.
"Well," he said in surprise, "I must credit you, it takes a bold man to spy on me. Or should I say, bold woman."
And with that the darkness lit up around you, torches you hadn't known were there suddenly lighting by themselves. Loki was standing in the clearing, wearing his usual green tunic with the black leather. His blue eyes, which you quickly realized were frighteningly intimidating when he was threatening, were burning straight through you.
"There's no need to hide, my dear. Come on out."
When you didn't respond right away he spoke again.
"I never ask twice."
You stood up slowly, meeting his gaze.
"Much better," he said with that Loki grin, "Now come here."
You walked out and stopped five paces or so from him, not wanting to get any closer. This was weird. Loki had that gloating look on his face, and you couldn't help but smile and roll your eyes.
His face quickly turned from grinning to that silly look of confusion.
"I'm sorry," he said, tilting his head at you, "Did I miss the joke?"
You had to fight to hold in more laughter. Confused Loki was too adorable.
"No, no I'm sorry, continue. You were in the middle of trying to be intimidating," you said, folding your hands in front of you and looking at him expectantly.
"Trying?" he asked, narrowing his eyes and staring at you with the now intense Loki look. Your first instinct was to smile at the expression, yet after looking at him for more than a second, you realized it was a successfully intimidating look. Being on this end of it wasn't so cool anymore.
He must have noticed the change in your attitude, as he grinned while still staring at you with those intense eyes. He walked slowly towards you, and you fought the instinct to back up. Where were you going to go? So you stood your ground, feeling more nervous as he got closer. He stopped inches from you, and you couldn't bring yourself to look up at him.
Ok, give him props for intimidation. He's just too cool not to fear.
As if reading your mind, Loki reached out and grabbed you by the chin, forcing you to lock eyes with him. Again, normally this would be the coolest thing, but right now he had a determination in his eyes that was frightening.
"I'd say I've rather succeeded, wouldn't you agree?" he said, smirking.
You jerked your head out of his hand. It may be Loki, but no one was going to grab you like that.
He surprisingly allowed this, chuckling slightly. His hand dropped down to the clasp on your cloak, and he quickly opened it, letting the cloak fall to the ground.
He took half a step back to look at your clothes.
"Well, Midgardian," he said, opening his arms, "I believe you already know who I am?"
"Loki," you said, a bit of vibrato in your voice. You thought it was going to take as long to get used to seeing Loki in the flesh as it had with the Avengers, but you found yourself settling much faster. Granted, this was possibly out of necessity, and you'd freak out once alone like you had in your room before. Also, the nerves of being a current enemy of Loki's were still making themselves quite at home.
Just chill, you told yourself, It's more important now than ever that you stay calm. Besides, just keep viewing him as the Loki you know and love. Make yourself laugh. Don't view him as the very real threat that he is.
"And who are you to know so much?" Loki questioned, circling you now. "You're not one of the Avengers I fought."
"You mean lost to?" you corrected.
He laughed, "Charming. Your insufferable arrogance and imagined bravery tells me all I need to know. You are an Avenger."
"Wait, the Avengers are the arrogant ones? I mean, most of them are I guess, but coming from you? Seriously? The primadonna of all villains? Do you know how many times you strut about or hair-flip excessively?"
He had looped around to pause in front of you again, looking at you with concealed confusion.
"I do not strut. I carry myself with the strength and composure of a god, you--"
"Yeah yeah, I know. You're a god, we are all of us beneath you, yadayada. Last time you pulled that one you ended up thrown around like a ragdoll by the Hulk."
His glare intensified and his jaw set.
"You won't find that to be the case this time, I can assure you," he said, taking a step closer.
Ok, maybe antagonizing him wasn't the best idea.
So naturally you continued to do just that.
"Personal space is a wonderful thing," you said, holding up your hand to mark the imaginary border of your space.
He ignored you and grabbed you roughly by the shoulder.
"Ok, ouch," you began, but he cut you off.
"You think you're clever don't you?" he spoke softly to your face. "Let us see where that gets you, shall we?"
With that he palmed your forehead, and darkness took you.