Innocent

In the garden within the palace walls, a young girl sits against a tree with a book in her lap. Lost in the text in front of her, the girl fails to notice the group of children entering the garden. The children see the girl and they all smirk seeing that she is alone. The leader of the group, a boy, no older then fifteen waves over his shoulder for the rest to follow him. Walking across the garden the boy stops right in front of the young girl.

“What are you reading?” the boy asks and the young girl jumps.

“Oh! You gave me a fright...I'm reading-” The young girl stops talking when she looks up and sees the large group of children surrounding her. “...I-I have to go,” she mutters and stands up. Holding her book close to her chest, the young girl looks for a way out, but none of the children move out of her way.

“Where's your bodyguard today?”

“It's her boyfriend.”

“No. He's her master! She's the pet.” The children all make fun of the young girl and she bites her lip.

“Is that right?” the leader asks. “You're the prince's pet? Well lets see it then. Get on your knees and crawl,” the boy orders and the young girl shakes her head.

“I-I'm not a p- Hey!” The leader snatches the girl's book out of her hands and throws it across the garden.

“Fetch,” the boy says and moves out of the way, making the others move as well. “Go on Cora, you know you want to.”

Tears sting at the girl's eyes and the other children laugh. “She's going to cry,” they tease and laugh harder. “Cry baby, cry baby,” they chant and start to mock the young girl.

“Cora?” The voice cuts through the laughter and the children all tense up. Turning around they stare at their young prince and bow.

“Loki...” the leader breaths as he quickly stands up. “W-what brings you to the garden?”

Loki takes in the scene in front of him. His book that he let Cora borrow is on the ground, Cora looks like she is about to cry, the other children look scared and just a moment ago they were all laughing. Loki turns his icy blue eyes on the leader and cocks his head to the side, “Come pick this book up,” Loki orders and the boy takes a step forward, but Loki shakes his head stopping him. “No. No...crawl to it.” The boy stares at Loki with a frown on his face, but lowers himself onto all fours.

“L-Loki...” Cora whispers and Loki looks at his friend. She stares at him with sad eyes and Loki sighs. “...C-can we just leave?” Loki opens his mouth to protest, but Cora cuts him off, “Please my Prince?” she begs and Loki sighs nodding his head. He turns his attention to the children.

“Apologize and leave my sight. If I see messing with my friend again, I'll have my Father deal with your families,” Loki threatens and the children quickly apologize to Cora before they run off. Taking a few steps forward, Loki bends over and picks up his book. Dusting it off he walks over and hands it over to Cora. “You have to start sticking up for yourself Cora,” Loki states.

“I don't like fighting,” Cora mutters and takes the book from Loki.

“You don't have to fight, just tell them to leave you alone.”

“You know that will never work my Prince,” Cora says and Loki shakes his head.

“Come on, I know what will cheer you up!” Loki grabs Cora's hand and together the two run out of the garden to the stables.

“Archer!” Cora squeals when she sees Loki's horse. Letting go of Loki's hand, Cora runs over to the black horse and starts to pet it. Loki smiles seeing his friend no longer upset.

“My Prince...would you like me to prepare your steed?” The stable boy asks and Loki nods his head. His horse, Archer is five years old and loves to be taken out. Cora steps back and lets the stable boy get Archer ready for his ride.

“Where are we going?” Cora asks turning around to face Loki and Loki smiles.

“You shall see when we arrive,” Loki teases and Cora pouts.


Loki pulls on the reins making Archer stop about a forth of the way on the Rainbow Bridge. Loki swings himself down off of the horse and he holds up his arms to Cora.

“We're stopping here?” Cora questions looking around and Loki nods his head.

“Come on. I promise it's not a trick,” Loki makes an x over his heart with his finger and Cora nods her head, letting Loki help her down off of Archer. Loki walks over to the edge of the bridge and sits down with is legs hanging over. Looking over his shoulder, Loki stares at Cora. “Will you sit down, please? You're making me nervous just standing there...like you want to push me off,” Loki mutters and Cora frowns.

Sitting down beside Loki, Cora looks out over Asgard. “I could never hurt you Loki...you're the only friend I have,” Cora admits sadly and Loki glances over at her.

“What about Thor and the others?” Loki asks and Cora shakes her head making a face.

“Thor is...well your brother is just as bad as those kids that bully me,” Cora whispers and Loki laughs.

“My brother is a handful, but he would never hurt you,” Loki states defending his brother.

“That may be true my Price, but Thor would never stand up for me like you do.”

Loki thinks over Cora's words and he agrees with her. Thor might be friendly to her, but Loki knows that Thor would never put his reputation on the line for Cora, like Loki would. “I suppose you are right, but lets not talk about that. Look,” Loki points out in front of him over towards the palace. “The light well be gone soon.” Loki kicks his legs back and forth just watching the sky as it starts to turn into a swirl of pastel colors right before his very eyes.

Cora sighs in content and rests her hands at her side, taking in the beauty of her homeland. The light casts a halo of gold over her and from the corner of his eyes Loki watches as the light turns Cora into a vision he will never forget. Glancing down, Loki notices how far apart their hands are and he smirks to himself. 'Cora wouldn't get mad at me for holding her hand would she?' Loki asks himself and in the end he decides to find out. Slowly Loki slides his hand closer and closer to Cora's, not once taking his eyes off of the palace that he calls home.

The sky turns a brilliant shade of pink, yellow and orange before it starts to darken. Loki's pinkie brushes up against Cora's pinkie and Cora links them together. Loki picks their pinkie's up and slips his hand fully underneath Cora's and she laces their fingers all together. Loki's lips pull up into a grin and his face starts to heat up when Cora scoots closer to him and rests her head on his shoulder. Loki kisses the top of her head and Cora giggles.

“Thank you Loki,” Cora whispers and Loki smiles.

“You are welcome, my dear,” Loki mummers and the two sit on the edge of the Rainbow bridge holding hand until the stars shine in the sky.

Notes

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Love,

MamaZ