It was getting dark, but we had made some progress. We'd been walking for hours.

"I think it's time to call it a night," Loki said, looking at the sky. It was starting to get dark.

"Yeah, I guess that's a good idea." We began to collect firewood and made a fire between some trees. We decided to camp out with some distance between us and the path.

We sat around it for a while, much like the previous night. This time, it wasn't very cold.

I looked at the tattoo on my arm. I found myself staring at it a lot. After all, it was new and unexpected.

"Hopefully, we'll make it back soon," he said, interrupting the silence. "We need to eat. We might even have to hunt our food if we don't make it in time."

I hadn't thought about food. Now that he mentioned it, my stomach felt kind of empty.

I watched the fire as it danced around. Despite major leg pain, I wasn't really tired. I looked to Loki. He looked as if he hadn't slept in weeks.

"Loki?" He looked at me. "Why were you in that cell?" I knew the general reason, but I wanted to know his answer. He looked away from me before speaking.

"I was weak. Something dark had formed inside me. I tried to control it, but I failed miserably. I was offered help. I was willing to do anything at that point." He three another stick into the fire. "Little did I know, help wasn't really being offered. No, I was being manipulated into doing another's bidding. I was merely a puppet."

"Oh."

"He released the darkness in me when all I wanted was to lock it away. It was too much too fast. It took over me. The worst part is, I enjoyed it. I didn't feel any remorse until it was too late." His eyes were hollow. The fire reflected in them, highlighting the anger.

"Loki, you don't have to tell me if it's too personal."

"No, I want to," he said. "I need to." I nodded understandingly. "He was a monster, but so was I. I can only pray that you never have the horrible misfortune of meeting him."

"Who is he?" His expression became grim as he looked me in the eyes.

"Not someone that you need to be concerned with. Actually, I don't want to talk about this any longer." He looked away and laid down.

"Loki, you can't just shut down."

"I can, and I shall. Are we done?"

"Yes," I grumbled. I lay back and looked at the sky. I tried to find some constellations, but this sky was different than the one I was used to.

I just sat there and thought for a while. Thinking about our situation, about being criminals, and... Loki.

I tried to divert my thoughts, but they always found their way back to him. To be fair, he'd been the center of all the recent events, so it was hard to not think about him.

Eventually, I fell asleep.

******

"Hello?" I said as I tried to navigate my way through the darkness.

It was strange. There was nothing around me. It was just emptiness.

"Who's there?" a familiar voice asked.

"Loki?"

"Who are you?"

"It's me. Lilith. Where are you?" I searched as much as you could search through nothing.

"Lilith?" I turned in the direction his voice seemed to come from and saw his piercing green eyes glowing through the darkness. "You can't be here."

"What? Loki—"

"Hello, child," a deep, booming voice said.

"Lilith, run!" I didn't listen, not how he wanted me to. I ran towards Loki. When he came into the light, he was in chains. "You have to go. Now."

"No, I can't."

"That will be the death of you, girl," the other voice said. "Kill her."

"No, please. I can't," Loki begged. I froze where I was, looking at Loki. He had begun to cry, but he drew his blade. "I am sorry."

"Loki?"

"Please, forgive me."

Loki took the dagger and shoved it into my gut, just like last time.

******

My eyes jerked open, and I tried to sit up. I could only manage to wiggle around and realized that I was strapped down to something. Something moving.

"What?" I looked to my left to see Loki also roped down. I realized we were on some kind of trailer, undoubtedly being pulled by horses. I could hear their hooves hitting the dirt path.

Loki stirred and woke up. His eyes were a bit red.

"Loki," I whispered. "What's going on?"

"A kidnapping, no doubt," he said drowsily. I noticed that a tear had fallen from his left eye. I furrowed my brow.

"Loki, what's wrong?" His eyes widened when I asked.

"I just had a bad dream, that's all." What could he have possibly dreamt that made him cry?

I thought about my dream. Now that could make me cry. But it didn't.

"Me, too. Enough about dreams, though. What's going on, exactly?"

"Again, kidnapping."

"But why?"

"Well, I'm the escaped prince, and you're a wanted Valkyrie. So my guess is money."

"Makes sense, I guess. How do we deal with this?"

"Well, I don't know about you, but I've never been kidnapped before. I suppose we should try to escape."

"Yeah, okay." I looked around to see if I could do anything. "How?"

"Well, I would summon my blades but my hands are behind my back, so I'd end up impaling myself."

"And we definitely don't want that." He scowled at me.

"You could summon yours." My hands were tied in front of me, unlike his. I imagined bringing my blades to my hands. It seemed more difficult now that I was tied up. "Concentrate. You've almost got it."

"I'm trying."

"Try harder."

"Can you just shut up for a second? Thanks." He pressed his lips together with a sarcastic look on his face.

I opened my eyes when I felt a cool surface touch the palm of my hands. "Yes!" I exclaimed.

"Shh. I'm guessing that there's at least one other person here. We don't want them to know we got out until it's too late."

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry." I carefully cut myself free. I only scratched myself once. Luckily, it wasn't on any major veins or anything. Unluckily, it was deep enough of a cut that blood dripped out.

"Please, be careful," Loki said as I sat beside him.

"What, you don't want me to cut your pretty little face?"

"I'd rather you didn't, but at least I know you think it's pretty." I felt myself blush. I hadn't meant for it to sound like that. Although, there was no denying his stunning features.

I finished cutting him free, and he sat up. "You're bleeding," he said.

"Oh, yeah. I accidentally cut myself when I was trying to get out. I thought you saw that."

"No, I didn't. Give it here." He reached for my arm. I tensed, unsure about what he was doing.

His cool hands brushed my arm as he examined the cut. "It might scar."

"Even if you heal it?" I asked. He nodded.

"Without my magic at its full capacity, it won't completely disappear."

"Okay, then I guess I'll have a scar." His hand started glowing, and he delicately ran his fingers over the cut. "How long will it take you to get your magic fully back?"

"Hopefully, not much longer. That cell was designed specifically for the chance that I escaped. So I suppose Odin wanted a better chance at finding me. He made it to leave an impact. He wanted to wound me so he could find me and throw me back in." He finished the spell and released my arm. "There."

"Thanks." I ran my hand over the scar. It wasn't large, but it was still weird. "If he wants to punish you so much, why are we going back?"

"We can't just live in the woods forever. I thought perhaps we could at least get to the Bifrost. You're Midgardian, so I thought I could take you to where you're safe." I scoffed. "What? Is that alright?"

"In theory, yes. But Valkyries go to Earth all the time. And they know where I live. They know what college I go to. So what make you think—Fuck."

"What?"

"Elisa is probably worrying her ass off about me. She nearly had a heart attack when I disappeared for two days. I can't imagine what she's thinking now."

"All the more reason to go back to Earth."

"Yeah, I guess."

"I'm assuming whoever is driving this is going towards the castle. They plan on turning us in, no doubt. So, we'll enjoy our free ride until we get closer to the kingdom. Then, we'll hop off and be our way."

"Sounds like a plan."

We sat in silence for a while. I knew the ride ahead would be long, but I didn't know how long. Hours passed, and it grew dark out. Loki was trying to stay awake, but I guess I wasn't as resilient as him. I tried to fall asleep, but the back of some wooden trailer thing isn't exactly ideal for comfort.

Loki must have noticed, because he scooted closer and put his arm around me. I was too tired to do anything to stop him. Although, nothing in my head was telling me to stop him. I leaned my head on his chest. I could hear his heartbeat. It was rather calming. I kept listening to the song of his heart until it lulled me to sleep.