The Myriad Misadventures of a Midgardian Queen-In-Training || Loki x Reader

Chapter 33

Fifteen minutes pass before you are finally - finally - able to pry yourself away from the party. Fifteen minutes worrying about Sapphire, fifteen minutes of different scenarios running through your head, each more terrifying than the last.

You reach her room. The door is slightly ajar, but no noise spills out. Only silence. You feel your heart sink.

Fifteen minutes too late.

You dash back out the door, running down the hall and around the corner. I have to find them. I have to. I -

And then you see her.

Shiny eyes, her cheeks red and damp from tears, allowing herself to be led down the hall by the elbow. And then you see who's leading her.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Loki turns around, dropping Sapphire's arm in surprise. "(Y/N) - "

You ignore him, addressing her instead. "Sapphy, what's going on?"

"(Y/N), stand aside, please - "

"Or what? You'll zap me back to the ball? I'll just come back to meet you again, Loki, you know I will. Even better, I'll lose the gown and underskirt and corset and run out in nothing but bloomers and a shift, how do you think your esteemed guests will react to that?"

"I am doing my best to carry this out discreetly," he hisses. "For Lady Sapphire's sake, I suggest you turn around, return to the ball immediately - fully clothed - and speak of this to no one."

"For her sake? She's innocent!"

"(Y/N), you don't understand - "
"You're telling me you really think Sapphire would do anything to hurt the competition? Or you? Or anyone? She's the sweetest person here, she would never - "

"That's not what - "

"She'll tell you herself that she's innocent! Right?" You look at Sapphire in frustration; she hasn't said a single word yet to defend herself. "Sapphire, you have to plead your case. They can't go throwing around random accusations without any proof to -"

"He's telling the truth, (Y/N)."

"What?"

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"Sapphire Georgas, age twenty two, of Greece!"

Ruby's heart dropped. Across from her, her twin sat quietly on a towel, the radio between them illuminated by the golden-hour light of the setting sun. The ocean had always been a safe place for them - the safe place. When their parents fought, they left the house and walked to the beach. When they got the news of the divorce, of their grandma's death, of the casualties in New York and the rise of a new, not-quite benevolent leader - beach. At the beach, the bad memories they brought with them seemed to evaporate into the salty air. Every trauma became survivable.

Looking at Sapphire's face now, though, she felt that sense of security fade.

She did her best to hide it. Ruby had been born first by five minutes, but she took those five minutes seriously - as a kid, it was a joke thing, a pride thing, but as they got older, it became something she really believed. Sapphy was her baby sister, even if it was only by a few minutes. Putting on a brave face felt like the least she could do.

"Hey," she said, reaching to grab her sister's hand. "It'll be okay."

"How?" Sapphire responded. It was more statement than question. Sapphire had always been the quieter of the two, the opposite of Ruby's extroverted nature, and even now, her fear seemed muted. She sounded exhausted already. "I have to go."

"No you don't."

"Yes, I - "

"No. You won't," Ruby said decisively. And then, to herself: I will.

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"She was engaged. She hadn't even told our parents yet," Sapphire - er, Ruby - sobbed, sliding down against the wall until she was crouched on the floor with her head in her hands. "And I - what could I do? It's not like I ever had a future with anyone. Sapphy was the only person I ever came out to. My parents would have disowned me if they found out, and I just...it made sense."

"And she just let you go in her place?" The letter, you realize. "No. She wrote to you a little while ago, asking you to come home."

"I snuck out the day she was supposed to leave, and locked her in our room." Ruby stares at the ground, tears rolling down her cheeks and onto her neck. "By the time she figured it out, I was already gone."

Loki presses his lips into a thin line, his brows furrowed in sympathy. Your anger dissipates - you see now that he isn't here to crucify her, but to protect her. Damage control. "A guard found the letter and brought it to me. All we could tell from that was that Lady Ruby had switched places with her sister, which is a violation of the rules. But I assure you," he continued softly, kneeling down so that he was looking up at Ruby, rather than the other way around, "you will not be punished. You will be dismissed from the competition much like Lady Li and Lady Juliette, and allowed to return to civilian life."

"I - I can't tell them." She sniffs. "If I tell my parents everything, they really might disown me. Sapphy, too, for helping me lie." She laughs bitterly. "I know they sound like shitty parents, and they kind of are, but they're my family. I can't lose them - "

"If you do not wish to return to your family, we will help you find another place to stay," he says after a moment. "Your sister, as well. No harm will come to either of you."

Huh. After over a year, he never ceases to surprise you.