Thaw

"𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞, 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫: 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢 𝐚𝐦, 𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭? 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞, 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐢 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐭: 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭?"

❅

"Thank you, Belle," Mrs. Potts remarks softly as Belle quietly shuts the doors to Loki's bedroom.

"We are eternally grateful," Thor adds, uncharacteristically quiet and somber.

"Why do you care about him so much?" Belle asks quietly, approaching the group of former servants.

"We've looked after him all of his life," Mrs. Potts answers simply.

Belle's brows furrow in confusion. How could these 'people' still be so loyal to him after all the pain and suffering he's caused them? she wonders.

"But he's cursed you somehow. Why? You did nothing," Belle finally says, sitting down on the step next to Thor, Clint, and Mrs. Potts.

"You're quite right there, dear," Mrs. Potts says with a sigh. "You see, when the master lost his mother, his father ignored the sweet and innocent boy to instead favor his eldest son."

Thor winces at the teapot's words. "My brother felt neglected; and, quite honestly, I don't disagree with how he felt."

"Brother?" Belle gasps before she can stop herself, her mouth gaping at the candelabra's confession.

"Loki was adopted as a baby," Thor continues. "He was found abandoned in a small chapel in a war-ridden area that my father and his soldiers were scouting out during a small skirmish with a surrounding nation.

"Our mother and father never told either of us, for they feared that it would cause a rift between us. Mother made Father swear that he would never treat Loki differently because of his parentage, but after Mother died, it was only so long before Father turned his attentions solely on me. The breaking point was when Loki was mischievously snooping around Father's study one day to look for something to play a joke on me with when he came across the adoption papers."

Belle's heart twists for both of the brothers and their unfortunate circumstances.

"Finding out that he was raised by a lie twisted Loki's heart and made him to be just like his father," Mrs. Potts continues. "And we did nothing to help him."

As Belle looks around the group of unwillingly cursed individuals, she suddenly feels a bit of understanding towards the Frost Giant asleep in the other room.

"We should let you sleep, Lady Belle," Thor finally says, breaking the silence. "It's been a long day."

"Good night, you all," Belle replies softly, standing up from her perch on the step before descending from the wing and back towards her own bedroom.

How, in the midst of all this sorrow, can such hope and love endure? Belle thinks to herself silently as her footsteps softly echo against the ornate stairs before her. Through Thor and Mrs. Potts' story, Belle has suddenly learned that her and Loki shared more in common than she originally had thought.

Belle barely remembers her mother at this point, only blips of memory here and there that feel more like dreams at this point. Losing her mother at such a young and formative age had forced Belle to grow up much faster than a young child should--but she had her father there with her every step of the way.

It was unfathomable to Belle what pain and loss Loki must have been subjected to as a child, losing the only loving person in his life and being forced to stand in the shadow of his older brother's greatness and legacy.

I was innocent and certain--now I'm wiser but unsure, she continues as she crosses the hall to the opposite staircase that houses her bedroom. Belle had been subjected to such losses in her life--ones that Loki understood.

If I am damned to stay here for the rest of my life, I may as well make the most of it--for myself and every other unfortunate soul in this place.

❅

The next morning, Belle finds herself climbing the stairs to the west wing before she even has a chance to acknowledge what she is doing.

After her resounding conclusion last night, Belle had sworn to herself that she would do whatever she could to help the unlikely group of friends--is that what they were? friends?--that she had found in the castle.

Knocking softly at the bedroom door, Belle awaits Loki's response as she juggles a few more fresh linens that Mrs. Potts had given her in case Loki's wound had bled through the bandages throughout the night.

A soft grunt follows in response to her knocking, and Belle takes this as an opportunity to speak up.

"It's me," she says, mentally slapping herself for sounding so simplistic and idiotic. "I wanted to check on you and see how you were feeling this morning."

She doesn't her an answer from Loki, but a few seconds later, the door swings open.

"Good morning, Lady Belle!" Thor remarks joyfully as he greets her at the door. Surveying the room, Belle notes Loki still in bed but faced away from her, the emerald green sheets pulled over his figure as his chest rises and falls in short bursts, indicating that he's awake.

"Good morning Thor," she answers kindly, setting the folded linens on a small table set up near Loki's bed without disturbing him.

Thor attempts to make a poorly-exectuted coughing sound, tapping Loki's bed frame harshly in an attempt to get him to pay attention.

"Brother..." he whispers not-so-subtly.

"Good morning," Loki grunts, still not turning over to properly acknowledge Belle's presence.

"How is your arm?" Belle asks, accepting Loki's attempt at civility, as coerced as it may have been.

"Hurts," he grunts in reply.

"My brother is just being a baby, as always, Lady Belle," Thor reassures hurriedly, and Belle lets out a giggle as Loki scoffs.

"Who was the one who couldn't stop crying for hours when he got bit by a snake in the gardens?" Loki quips, shocking Belle at his playful nature.

"I was eight!" Thor defends. "And it hurt!"

Still giggling, Belle cuts in, "well, let me check on the wound and then we can deem if it is snake-bite worthy."

"It is," Loki huffs at the same time as Thor says, "it isn't."

Carefully unwrapping the bandage on Loki's arm, Belle notes that the wound hasn't reopened through the night, which she takes to be a very good sign.

Relaying her observations to Loki and Thor, she takes a clean piece of fabric and dips it once again in the antiseptic.

"Just for precautions," she says, catching Loki's wary eye as he spots the rag in her hand. The Frost Giant huffs but doesn't stop Belle as she applies the fabric softly onto the wound in order to fight any possible infections.

"Good morning, Belle!" Clint says as he, Peter, Mrs. Potts, and Natasha enter the room.

"Good morning, you all," Belle replies, glancing over her shoulder to give them a smile before rewrapping the bandage around Loki's arm.

Seeing that she was done, Loki stands out of bed slowly, his tattered skirt from last night still hanging around his torso as he disappears into a doorway that Belle can only assume is a bathroom.

Her suspicions are confirmed as she hears the unmistakeable sound of running water a few moments later, and Belle turns to survey the rest of the room around her, only seeing it in daylight for the first time now.

Soon, however, Belle's attention is once more drawn back to the unmistakeable blue rose under the glass jar.

"What happens when the last petal falls?" Belle asks, not really directing her question at any of the specific people behind her.

"The Master remains a Frost Giant forever," Clint remarks sadly. "And we become..."

"Antiques," Mrs. Potts says.

"Knick-knacks," Thor adds.

"Lightly-used houseware," Natasha sighs.

"Rubbish," Clint finally says. "We become rubbish."

"I want to help you," Belle says resolutely, sitting on the edge of Loki's bed. "There must be some way to break the curse."

"Well, there is one-" Thor begins, but Clint quickly silences him with an 'arm' to the 'side.'

"It's not for you to worry about, darling," Mrs. Potts says quickly. "We've made our bed, and now we must lie in it."

Belle's heart pangs in her chest as she glances back over to the rose just in time to see another blue petal fall from the rose's limp frame.

❅❅❅