Katrina:

"You have magic?" 

Were the first words that I heard him speak. 

I look at him and nod my head slowly, hesitant. 

This is what I was going with, I knew that telling him I had magic would not be as surprising as telling him I changed into a beast. 

I knew that he would be more accepting with knowing I have magic rather than finding out I could kill him if I got too angry. 

"That's why I was able to disappear from your sight, I used my magic..." I explain.

I sigh and then close my eyes. 

Was this a bad idea? Would he have preferred not to know I had magic and just live knowing I was normal?

I turn away from him, afraid of rejection.

Maybe this was a bad idea telling him that I had a gift. 

The gift that so many feared, even though I knew he wouldn't fear me seeing as he himself had magic, although I could be wrong.

He could hate me for not being normal.

But there is one thing I know for sure...  

You cannot stop having magic. It's near enough impossible.

Just like my curse...

"I shouldn't have told you that. I'm sorry, now you'll hate me," I say and I feel a tear trickle down my cheek. 

I take a small breath in and crane my head down. 

He will hate me. 

"Katrina, I don't hate you." He says gently shaking his head. 

I quickly open my eyes. 

He has to be lying. 

He cannot be serious. 

I don't want to look at him in fear that he would reject me and reject my friendship as many had because of me having magic. 

"Why would I?" He asks me.

I think my mind is so preoccupied with the idea of him rejecting me that I forget about him having magic.  

Everyone who has magic is hated, no one understands what it's like to be me. 

To have magic but to also have this curse.  

"Because everyone else does. Nobody understands, Loki. They all fear magic and most who think that they can handle it can't. People hate me and my kind so why should I not hate them back? They do not understand..." I tell him, remembering the harsh words I received when people found out what I was. 

He looks at me sympathetically. 

"I used to love having magic and then one day someone rejected me for having it, they called me a monster... a freak!" I exclaim as tears roll down my eyes. 

I changed the words "my curse" to "magic" in my previous sentence to still protect myself from the rejection.

"When my kingdom found out what I was like they feared me," I say gently, my tears producing faster.

I remember back when my kingdom found out that I was a monster, it was when I lost control and transformed into the thing I hated.

I might have been fearful of what I could do before they found out about my curse but at least I accepted who I was back then, now... I don't want this curse to be apart of me. 

"I am nothing more than a monster to those people who don't understand," I cry out, letting the memories flood my mind.  

He takes my shaking hands and places them in his own. 

I feel a welcoming warmth when my hands touch his. 

"There are people who understand you, Katrina. There always is, no matter what." He reassures me.

"You may have magic, Loki, but you don't know what it's like to be hated because of it, to be rejected by people you once called friends... to be feared by those who care for you..." I blubber, my breathing becoming ragged and heavy. 

"People will have me burned at the stake if they find out what I can do or who I am. My own kingdom fears me for christ sake!" I cry out. 

Loki pulls me into his chest and shushes me. 

He rocks me back and forth and then kisses my head lightly. 

"Katrina, no one will harm you. You are safe, I promise. No one will hurt you under my watch. I will not let anyone touch you," he tells me, trying to reassure me. 

All I can do is nod my head and bury it in his neck, my tears rolling down his neck.

"People wish witches dead. I am one of those." I inform him and then push him away lightly. 

"Look..." I lift my hand up and a light appears out of my hand. 

The lilac beam floats and turns into a small sphere. As it floats into the air I click my fingers. Purple butterflies fly everywhere and one lays on Loki's shoulder.

"When my kingdom saw I could do this, they feared me..." I say partly lying. 

My kingdom was never afraid of my magic for my mother had it and so did many others in Vanahiem, as I explained before, they feared the tigress, the other side of me. 

"Beautiful," he whispers and stares at the butterfly and then touches it lightly, as he does the butterfly turns to the colour emerald.

I gasp and he takes the butterfly on his finger. I watch as he snaps his own fingers and then the butterfly transforms into a serpent. 

I then quickly stand to my feet and watch the serpent in fascination. 

I watch as the serpent goes up to Loki and he wraps his finger around it.  

Loki looks at the snake smiling gently before throwing his hand in the air and the snake is gone, in its place is a green bird. 

It flies towards me and lands on my own shoulder.

I look at it and then feel my heart stop.

"How can you believe that I would reject you when you already know that I possess magic?" he questions softly smiling. 

I watch as the bird chirps happily on my shoulder before I touch it lightly.

The bird turns violet and flies into the air before disappearing.

"Magic is beautiful. It is a gift only those special enough to be granted it possesses," he begins to explain as he takes my hand gently in his own. 

"Katrina, I would never reject you, no matter whether you do or don't have magic. I will always care about you no matter what," he tells me gently as I feel heat brighten up my cheeks again.

But would you accept the monster I am? I think to myself, but before I can further ponder on that thought our hands light up.    

A loop of gold light surrounds them.

"What is this?" I question. Loki grins and then rubs his finger lightly over my hand. He looks at me in my own jade eyes and replies.

"The ring of eternity." He says. 

I nod my head, I knew what this is as I researched it when I was a child, I was merely curious of the powers it possessed. 

I look at the ring binding us together.

"What does it do?" I inquire wanting a reminder but also to clarify that I can fully trust Loki. 

"It binds us together." He tells me and stops. 

It looks like he hesitates for a moment before saying after.

"Our souls, our bodies. Katrina, we are now united," he tells me, speaking only the truth. 

The ring then vanishes, but Loki still has my hand in his. 

He places our hands up in one swift motion.

"And it is unbreakable." He informs me, lifting my hand gently up to his lips before quickly giving it a small kiss. 

I smile pulling away from him before placing my arms around his back and pull him close. 

I hug him and hold him close, he accepts me for my magic, something which people had feared in the past. 

Loki wraps his arms around me, comforting me. 

"Why me?" I ask him still a little unsure of why he would be willing to bind our souls together, to a woman that he barely knew. It wasn't unheard of but soulmates usually did this to protect their other half and to feel closer to them... more intimate. 

He places his head on top of mine, kisses my head lightly, as I feel him smile in my hair. 

This is a softer side to him, the kinder side to Loki, the one who I can trust.

He was the man that I felt as though I knew forever, as though he was always by my side. 

"Because I care about you, Katrina. I don't care about your flaws or the for the things you hate about yourself, even if you hate them I will always love them," he confesses pulling me closer to him as if it was possible. 

At this moment I felt for the first time in a year that I was loved, that I was cared for.  

He holds me tightly and just when I am about to say something else, we are interrupted.

"My Prince! Princess Katrina!" 

I let go of Loki and look at the doorway. 

There stands Will. 

I see the glance that he gives me and Loki. Will looks between us with a little hurt in his expression before he shakes it off and growls at Loki. 

"Will, what is it?" I ask him with a small amount of concern. 

His eyes turn orange for a second until he looks at me and then they turn back into their normal brown, he's trying to control himself... the wolf... 

"It's the Queen, she wishes to speak with you both," he informs me. 

I nod my head and me and Loki run out the door.

*****

"Oh my, when did this happen?" I ask. I see there in his bed, Odin asleep. He was in one of his legendary Odin Sleeps.

"He fell gravely ill just yesterday before you came back," Frigga sighs.

"I'm afraid he might not make it through this time," she tells me. 

A tear falls down her cheek as I shake my head and then wrap my arms around her, comforting the woman who was like another mother to me. 

I feel a small tear drip from my cheek. I let it dissolve.

"You're wrong. I know he will pull through. He is strong, you know that, I know that, do not lose hope Frigga," I tell her gently smiling at her. 

She nods her head and pulls me close. I hug her and then smile myself.

"My Queen, it is time." I hear Killian say. 

I look up and he has Odin's staff in his hands.

"What's going on?" I question. 

Then the staff gets handed over to Loki. 

Oh...

"With Odin here and Thor banished we have to give it to the next legitimate heir," Frigga says. 

Loki takes the staff and then looks at it in his hands. 

I look at Will and then at Killian. 

They look sceptically at Loki. 

But that was when I looked into the Fallen Prince's eyes, something had changed in them. Something had turned the emerald green eyes dark and I only fear for the worst.

He was not the same man only a few mere moment ago...