ice
"𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐞; 𝐢 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐒𝐮𝐧. 𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐢𝐟 𝐢 𝐚𝐦 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞, 𝐢 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬."
❅
Panting heavily, Belle hikes up her light skirts with one hand as she descends the staircases in front of her in a dazed hurry, occasionally skipping a step or two in her haste.
Thor and Clint, who are sat in an "intense" game of chess, perk their heads up as they hear the growing noise of Belle's rush.
"Lady Belle, what are you doing?" Thor asks loudly, secretly a bit grateful for the interruption of his match.
"Getting out of here," Belle retorts, not breaking her pace as she continues down the seemingly-infinite stairway.
"No, don't go!" Clint shouts desperately, although Belle doesn't have time to analyze his desperation as she nears the large oak doors of the confines of her castle prison.
"Please don't go!" Thor yells as Belle rips her agonizingly light coat off of the small hanger in the entryway.
"It's dangerous!" Mrs. Potts adds, but Belle's mind is made up.
"Please don't go," Thor says again quietly as the doors shut behind Belle. "Please don't leave us here."
❅
The wind whips harshly through Belle's hair as she races through the snowy courtyard of the castle on the back of an all-black stallion that she found wandering the stables. Cold tears leak down her face silently, the girl trying desperately to ignore the ruthless cold.
Terror curses through Belle's veins as she finally crosses the threshold of the castle into the woods, hearing a wolf howling terrifyingly close as if it was signaling her escape from the castle.
She wills the horse to go even faster, praying that she can outrun the wolves although not having a thorough plan. Belle's breath catches in her throat as the stallion hurdles over a fallen tree branch, holding onto the onyx creature for life.
The sound of at least three sets of paws making the jump over the same tree echoes behind Belle almost instantly, and her heart seizes with terror and helplessness. Sparing a glance behind her, Belle immediately wishes she hadn't as she counts five large, sleek gray wolves not even 10 feet behind her.
Belle's eyes bulge as she faces the front once again, seeing a frozen pond in front of her and no other choice but for the horse to cross it.
However, before she can even fathom thinking of an alternate route, one of the stallion's hooves slips slightly on the ice, giving the nearest wolf a window to attack the hind legs of the horse.
Belle tries her best to land as lightly as possible on the thin ice as the horse bucks beneath her, accidentally throwing her off in the process. Her hands scrape against the cold, rough surface of the ice, leaving several thin but long gashes down her palms.
In an immediate act of fight-or-flight, Belle quickly reaches for a nearby stick, swinging it at the closest wolf that was still trying to get near the horse and making contact with the creature with a sickening crack.
All goes silent for a moment, the remaining wolves circling Belle slowly as she brandishes the long log in front of her, although both her and the feral creatures know that she cannot successfully defend herself against all of them at once.
The largest of the pack steps forward tauntingly slow just as another clasps onto the opposite end of Belle's makeshift weapon, tearing it out of her bloodied hands with its strong jaw.
Now rendered utterly defenseless, Belle uselessly backs up as much as she can against the approaching wolf's attack. As the large beast rears its hind legs and pounces, a flash of blue collides with it middair just before it reaches Belle.
Frozen in shock, Belle watches helplessly as the Frost Giant throws the wolf to the side, turning to face Belle with worry in his eyes before two of the four remaining wolves attack his legs.
Falling to the ground with a thud, the Frost Giant wrestles the wolves on top of him, dodging the creatures' snapping jaws and threateningly-long claws. Finally snapping out of her daze, Belle first rushes towards the black stallion, sighing in relief as he appears to be okay for the time being and attempting to lead him off of the frozen pond.
Two more thumps sound out from behind Belle, and she turns to see the Frost Giant struggling on his back against the last wolf. In an act of sheer courage and necessity, Belle grabs her discarded stick once more and swings as hard as she can at the last wolf, flinching as she feels her stick collide with the wolf's body.
The Frost Giant stares up at her in grateful shock for a moment, his shoulder-length black hair matted behind him as he takes a shuddering breath before his eyes flutter shut.
"No, no, keep your eyes open," Belle urges in a quiet whisper, suddenly fearing for his condition. Although he lets out an agitated sigh, the Frost Giants eyes open once more, his blood red irises staring into Belle's electric-blue eyes.
Belle hastily pulls off her thin cloak, doing her best to cover the giant's body before rushing over to the black stallion and grabbing its reigns.
"You have to help me," Belle breathes out as she leads the horse back over to his large body. "You have to stand up."
Something resembling that of utter shock and confusion flashes in the giant's eyes, as if to say 'why help me after all I've done to you?' before quickly disappearing.
Although it takes a bit of time, Belle is finally able to help the Frost Giant atop the black horse who, she has concluded, most likely belongs to the giant himself. Belle does her best to ignore the cold--now even more evident after the loss of her coat--as she guides the stallion and its ill rider back towards the castle.
❅
The Frost Giant lets out a loud, stubborn growl in pain as Belle holds a cloth soaked in antiseptic to the wound on his upper left arm.
"That hurts!" He whines in an almost child-like manner, gritting his teeth at the sting.
"If you held still, it wouldn't hurt as much," Belle retorts calmly, pressing the cloth back into his blue skin.
"Well if you hadn't run away, none of this would have happened," he replies grumpily.
"And if you hadn't frightened me, I wouldn't have run away."
"Well, you shouldn't have been in the west wing."
"Well you should learn to control your temper!" Belle shouts as she scoffs at the same time as the giant.
The pair sit in silence for some time, Belle still hesitantly applying the cloth to his wound gingerly.
"Belle," Belle says finally, breaking the tension.
"What?" He says, still facing away from her.
"My name," Belle answers. "You said earlier that you didn't know my name, so I figured that I would..." she trails off.
Silence.
"Try to get some rest," Belle sighs after more silence, quietly standing up and discarding the bloodied cloth in a nearby bin.
Just as she is about to exit the room, a voice echoes from the bed.
"Loki," he says with a sigh. "My name is Loki."
"Try to get some rest, Loki," Belle repeats with a soft smile, closing the doors softly behind her before retreating back to her bedroom to sleep.
❅❅❅